Chapter 302 Do you want to be the chief?
Unlike the bright and sunny fantasy in the morning, it is cloudy in the Ancient Sea Fortress today.

Due to the high altitude, gray and gloomy clouds floated twenty or thirty meters above our heads.

It was as if some god in charge of weather had specially spread some dark clouds just to block the sunlight above the castle.

The already empty Kaer Morhen was made gloomy and dark like a ghost town.

Walking on the brick road leading to the chief's residence, Ailin's expression was not very good and his mood was not very good.

It wasn't because he was interrupted while excitedly testing the evolved Mirage Pearl, but because Vesemir's facial expression at that moment made him feel a little uneasy, as if something bad had happened.

But what could happen in Kaer Morhen, the witchers' own territory?

Thinking about Vesemir reporting his itinerary to the Chief yesterday...

Could it be that the Chief rejected Duke Mason’s invitation to the Migration School?
But this doesn't seem to be enough to make me look sad, right?
After pushing open the main castle gate with Vesemir, Ayling couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Master Vesemir?"

"You don't look very happy today..."

Vesemir paused as he entered the main castle hall. He hesitated for a few seconds for some unknown reason, tilted his head to look at Arryn, and continued walking forward.

"Nothing..." He shook his head slightly.

"Don't worry, it's my own problem..." After a pause, Vesemir probably thought of something, patted Ailin's shoulder again, and explained:

"When I talked to Chief Soi about this journey yesterday, he praised you as the future of the Wolf School."

"That's a high compliment. I've never heard the Chief praise anyone like this."

"So don't worry. I'm not looking for you because of your knighthood in Elland."

Ailin remained silent upon hearing this.

Ever since Vesemir revealed to him that Chief Soi was a great noble, he really hadn't worried about his own ennoblement.

If he hadn't mentioned it at this time, Ailin would have almost forgotten about it.

But Vesemir's own problem...

What he wanted to know was why the Demon Hunter Master had such a sad face so early in the morning...

Ailin sighed inwardly.

However, seeing that Vesemir seemed to be avoiding the question, he thought about it and did not ask any more questions.

There are only so many people in Kaer Morhen now, there will always be a chance to find out.

Chief Soi is on the top floor of the castle, not far from the south tower.

After entering the castle hall and climbing a few stairs, we arrived soon.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

Vesemir knocked on the door and opened it directly.

As soon as Ailin walked into the room, he found that Vesemir was still standing at the door with no intention of coming in. He asked in surprise:
"Aren't you going in?"

Vesemir shook his head. "I have other things to do."

There are only a few people in Kaer Morhen, what could happen?

Ailin suddenly felt a little uneasy.

He originally thought that he was called over to discuss the invitation to Duke Mason's Migration School.

After all, Vesemir had been looking up information in the temple's library at the time, and had not spent as much time with Duke Mason and High Priest Ianna as he had.

But there doesn't seem to be any need to avoid Vesemir for such things, right?
Or maybe it's really as he said...

Does the Demon Hunter Master really have other things to do in this empty ancient sea fortress?

"Bang~"

The wooden door was closed.

Ailin, who had never been alone with the Chief, twisted his neck a little uncomfortably and turned to look inside the room.

This is a reception room, very large, with a ceiling height of about six or seven meters, and an area roughly the same size as the apprentice training ground under the south tower.

Large rattan chairs, a long table, and dim candles.

The chief was not in the reception room at the moment, so Ailin found a rattan chair to sit down and looked around.

Directly opposite the wooden door you came in through is an iron door that leads to the trophy gallery of the Demon Hunter Master's meeting room.

Ailin still remembered that there was a ferocious dragon head hanging on the iron door of the conference room.

However, the dragon's might cannot be felt from this position of the wooden door, probably because it is blocked.

to be frank.

It was quite a shock when I passed that trophy gallery.

you could put it that way.

The heads of werewolves, vampires, deer-headed demons, forest spirits, great griffins, and even high-level vampires...

Even without talking about the dragon, every monster head in there can be said to have a name.

This made Aelin, who had just become a master demon hunter, want to point at the chief and shout:
"A man should be like this!"

"Deng Deng Deng~"

At this moment, heavy footsteps suddenly came from behind the wooden door in the conference room.

Follow the sound.

"Squeak!"

The wooden door opens.

Ailin stood up and was about to greet his immediate superior.

Unexpectedly, in the dim candlelight, the chief walked in and suddenly said:
"Want to be the chief?"

When these words came out, Ailin was shocked.

What happened?
You, a demon hunter grandmaster, can also read minds?

But when he looked up in horror, he was stunned for a moment.

When I first saw her, her long black hair looked a little dull, with a hint of silver visible at the roots.

For some reason, the gray cat's eyes, which seemed to be hiding the snow that never melts in the Blue Mountains, seemed to be more turbid and tired.

However, after not seeing him for more than a month, Grand Master Soi looked like a decadent middle-aged man who had suddenly aged ten years.

what happened?
Ailin stared at the backbone of the Wolf School in surprise, his mind full of question marks.

And asking him if he wanted to be the chief at this time seemed... seemed a little ominous!

"Chief, are you...are you okay?" he asked carefully.

The chief cannot have any problems at this time.

If anything happened to him, not only would Ailin's hard work in the first half of the year be wasted, but it would also be hard to say what would happen if the school became turbulent due to the covetousness of foreign enemies.

"It's okay." Soi smiled gently and pointed to the rattan chair under Ailin, motioning him to sit down.

then.

The chief sat on the rattan chair opposite and did not raise the question of whether he wanted to be the chief, but instead gave a simple greeting and compliments.

It was probably similar to the process before his leader in his previous life assigned him a demanding task.

However, this made Ailin feel relieved.

Yes!

This is the normal procedure. The first thing he does is ask people if they want to usurp the throne. I almost had a heart attack if I didn't have one.

Although now the total of Aelin's attributes has surpassed Vesemir.

But Ban Ade still remembers clearly the scene when the Chief dealt with six or seven water ghost kings and giant swamp fairies at the same time with ease.

The skillful method of cutting the demon into a stick cannot even be judged by the level of its attributes.

Ailin even doubted whether he would be able to use only swordsmanship to deal with several monsters that could use magic shields as smoothly as the chief when his attributes reached the chief's level.

"Vesemir told me yesterday about the invitation from Duke Mason of Elland. What do you think?"

The real show is about to begin. Ailin immediately sat up straight, considered his words for a while, and said:

"The invitation from Duke Mason should be credible. And Iannadan from the Temple of Meritelli..."

"No..." The chief shook his head and interrupted, "I'm not asking whether Mason's invitation is credible or whether Ianna welcomes it..."

"But you..."

The chief's gentle expression suddenly became serious, and he looked seriously at Ailin's azure cat eyes:
"Do you think the School of the Wolf should leave Kaer Morhen, should leave Kaedwen?"

A faint sense of pressure emanated from the most powerful man in the Wolf School.

The demon hunter seemed to have returned to the afternoon several months ago when he proposed to exchange the authority of the leader of the Demon Hunting Corps for the potion formula in Vera's alchemy room.

However, the feeling of oppression now is much weaker than it was then.

Ailin didn't know whether he had become stronger or the Chief was just like what he showed on his face...

Suddenly got old.

Shake off the disrespectful thoughts from your mind.

Ailin looked at the Chief's serious expression and observed for several seconds but couldn't tell whether he agreed or disagreed.

Thinking back to the question at the beginning, "Do you want to be the chief?", Ailin considered for a moment:
"It's easy to dodge an open attack, but it's hard to guard against an arrow from the dark. Being hated by Ban Ade and the royal nobles in Kaedwen, there will always be trouble."

"But moving to Ireland wouldn't be a problem."

"At least now, the nobles of Elland and the priests of the temple need us to deal with the monsters that may exist around Elland."

"To this end, they will also protect us from malicious intent from Kaedwen or elsewhere."

After observing the chief's expression for a moment, Ailin saw that he had no reaction and continued:
"The death rate of each trial has decreased, new magic potion and sword oil formulas and sigils are becoming more popular, and the Demon Hunting Corps has also achieved good results in terms of system..."

"Now, the most important thing for demon hunters is time."

"As long as there is time, the school will grow rapidly."

"Therefore, there may be some problems, but the migration of the school to Elland should still have more benefits than disadvantages."

"At least that's what I think now." After a pause, Ailin added a disclaimer.

Just say it.

The chief's momentum subsided, he smiled gently and nodded:

"Migration is indeed a good idea for the current Wolf School..."

As soon as this sentence came out.

Ailin, who was experienced in cattle and horses, knew the Chief's position.

If you really agree with what he said, you won't use the word "now" at this time, so you will definitely follow it up with...

"But not Elland."

Sure enough, there is a but... Ailin thought.

But just when he thought that the chief was going to give him a list of things, deny him, suppress him, make him recognize his position, and then find other points to praise him, give him some benefits to stabilize him, and complete the workplace PUA process.

The chief was silent for a while, then suddenly stood up from his seat and walked slowly to the window.

The sky outside the window was still overcast and the clouds were very low.

As the Chief walked over, a gray cloud happened to block his view.

But he did not look away, as if what he wanted to see was not the sky and mountains that were obscured.

It’s something older, longer-lasting, and more consequential.

"Humans cannot be trusted." He stared at the hazy clouds and suddenly said, "All the promises and contracts of the short-lived species will be torn up one day."

"The elves have suffered this painful lesson before, as have the dwarves, and the former witcher cult..."

"… and now the Wolf School."

"Alin, you must always remember this." The chief turned around, his grey eyes flashing with an indescribable light, "Especially when you become the leader of the Immortal Race..."

Ailin was stunned when he heard this.

This……

This seemed to be different from the PUA rhetoric he had imagined.

And hasn’t the chief’s character in the past always been that of a knight who protects humanity?
What stimulated this?

Or was he always like this, and just pretended to be great and righteous in the past?

In addition...

This tone... This tone sounded strange to Ailin, as if something was not right.

"Remember, Ailin?" the Chief asked again.

"Remember." The witcher immediately came back to his senses and replied.

The Chief nodded, walked to the desk, picked up a map on the desk and unfolded it, then motioned for Ailin to come closer.

"Elland is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and only one side is accessible. The school moved there, and the demon hunters can only go up and down the mountain through Elland..."

"And most of the other places in the Mahakam Mountains where fortresses can be built are occupied by dwarves..."

The Chief pointed to the terrain around Ireland on the map.

While explaining why Elland was not suitable for the migration school, he carefully explained to Ailin the important factors needed to build a fortress based on the mountains and rivers of the Mahakam Mountains.

As he listened, the chief even went into great detail about the pros and cons of the types of stone and wood used to build the fortress, as well as the defensive advantages and disadvantages of various fortress designs.

Ailin felt that the Chief really wanted to teach him, a demon hunter who had been practicing for half a year, how to build a fortress from scratch in one day.

This has nothing to do with the PUA rhetoric he was just thinking of.

Chief... Chief seems to be serious...

He seemed to really want to pass the throne to him...

But why?

Witchers can't have children, so he is definitely not the "Crown Prince".

Although he has done a lot in the past six months and has made some small contributions to the school.

But do other Demon Hunter Masters do less?

They have contributed to the school for hundreds of years!
Could it be that just because he is so talented, he can offset everything that other demon hunter masters have done in the past?

The Wolf School is a little simpler than the outside world, but when it comes to their respective interests, it must be very difficult for such a young newcomer like myself to take the top position.

Would the Chief be willing to pay such a price for a stranger?

The demon hunter felt that it was a little unreliable.

From the time he traveled through time until now, he has actually only seen the Chief a few times, probably less than ten times.

He would rather believe that this is a new type of PUA from an ancient fantasy world.

But even so.

He still tried his best to absorb everything the chief said, even the details such as the placement and direction of the catapults and crossbows.

Knowledge is extremely precious in this era, and the more you learn, the better.

What's more, after the properties of the brain such as perception and mystery were improved, he could remember things really quickly. Basically, he could remember most of what the chief said.

But I don’t know whether it’s a pity or not.

While the Chief was explaining this knowledge to him, there were no clues to trigger the knowledge skills in the Demon Hunter's Notes, and he was not given the opportunity to activate Level 1 of Architecture.

“…Did you remember?”

The chief, who had poured out all his knowledge of fortification, turned his gaze from the dark map drawn with charcoal and looked at Ailin.

Ailin nodded: "I remember it roughly."

Then he suddenly remembered that the chief had said just now, "Migration is indeed a good idea for the current Wolf School...", so he asked:
"Chief, where do you think is a suitable place for the school to migrate?"

(End of this chapter)