The Divine Hunter
chapter-409

A reflection of the sun slept on the surface of Lake Vizima. The waters shimmered and glimmered, dancing with the wisps of fog that blanketed it all. Before the lake, a young witcher stood. On the other side of the lake was where the bustling trade quarter sat, covered in a thin, foggy veil.

A morning breeze blew, bringing with it the scent of lakewater, seaweed, and fresh soil. Into the waters Roy went, his destination the center of the lake. Slowly, the water covered his boots, then his pants, and then he was already waist-deep.

Aerondight swam through the water, cutting the water that lay ahead of it. It trembled and dispersed mana into the water, and Roy's pendant shivered.

A beautiful silhouette emerged from the depths of the lake, circling the witcher at unbelievable speeds. Like a beautiful mermaid, she swam around him, celebrating his return. Eventually, the silhouette broke through the surface, revealing a slim, slender body. Beads of water slid down her silky-smooth skin, her body gleaming like a gorgeous pearl under the sunlight.

She flung her hair around, letting it tumble upon her shoulders before flinging it one last time, covering half of her face. Her face was as petite and gorgeous as a doll, her nose aquiline, her eyes as clear as gemstones, and her lips as lustrous as the petals of a blooming rose.

An innocent smile tugged on her lips, bewitching those who had the honor to lay eyes on it. Her dimples were like little whirlpools, sucking in the attention of those who would stare for a moment too long.

'Vivienne

Age: Three hundred and fifty-five years old

Status: Lady of the Lake/Nymph, patron goddess of the Church of Virtue

?? (Requires higher Perception)’

***

"A lovely morning to you, Lady Vivienne. Roy of Lake Vizima hails you." Roy sheathed Aerondight and put one hand before his chest as he bowed to Vivienne.

"I have been waiting, Roy of Lake Vizima." Vivienne's tail swayed under the water, and she slowly approached him, her eyes trying to see through his soul. Surprised by what she saw, she said, "It has been but a year, and yet your powers have grown tremendously. I sense power in your bloodline, your flesh, and… something beyond that. Something terrible."

A frown furrowed Vivienne's brows, and she took in the scent around her as if she wanted to feel something. But then she let that curiosity go.

"You were but a fledgling a year ago, but now you possess the strength to fend for yourself. This is a very pleasant surprise."

"It’s all thanks to the Trial. I've passed my second one." Roy held her outstretched hand and kissed the back of it. For a moment, all he could smell was the scent of lilies. He ignored the last part of Vivienne's comment and answered, "But you too have grown, and at a much faster rate than I. You shine like a star in the night sky. I cannot begin to fathom the depths of your power."

Vivienne kept all her magical energy in check, and nobody could tell how powerful she was. The fish tail aside, she would look like a beautiful girl next door, but every movement she made radiated a sense of regality. Whenever Roy laid eyes on her, he would see the whole of Vizima within her. He could see countless whirlpools spiraling around her. She was nature itself. She was Lake Vizima itself.

During his training, Roy vaguely saw the nymph of the elemental dimensions, and Vivienne reminded him of that.

"Leave the pleasantries for your lover. We shall do away with the formalities." Vivienne smiled and waved her hand. "Let's take this somewhere else. I don't want to get them in trouble. And you should see Adda as well."

Clouds of chilly fog encompassed Roy and Vivienne. Everything around Roy spun, and he lost his footing, but the young witcher didn't resist. A moment later, he found himself standing on solid ground once more.

Vivienne had taken him to her mist-covered palace. The pillars were as dilapidated as the last time Roy saw them. Seaweed and dewdrops hung from them. Vivienne had taken her seat on the throne. It was something made out of a gigantic seashell decorated with pearls and seaweed. She placed her arm on the armrest and rested her chin on the back of her hand, her tail swaying languidly before her. She was like a fish who left its habitat that flapped its tail around.

A sigh escaped her lips, and bright lights shone in the air. Within the light, an irregular, spherical item sat, and then it burst apart like fireworks. A lean woman in an oversized white dress appeared in the palace seemingly out of nowhere.

Her rosy brown hair tumbled down her torso like a gleaming waterfall. Her skin was almost shining, and not an inch was blemished. "Good morning, Lady Vivienne. Is something the matter?"

Vivienne smiled at her and nodded at the witcher standing behind Adda. Her behavior suggested a sisterly relationship between her and Adda instead of a master-servant bond.

"Roy? What brings you to Vizima? You should have told me you were coming." Adda's eyes squinted as a big smile curled her lips. She happily approached the witcher and extended her hand.

Roy bowed and looked at Adda calmly. Not a hint of makeup was seen on her face. The hard lines around her face spoke of her stubborn nature, but her eyes were slightly slanted, granting her a certain allure. A confident smile tugged on her lips. The same confident smile successful men had.

"It has been a year, Princess Adda. You seem a lot healthier." Roy looked at her hair. No longer was it as pale as it used to be.

"Oh, don't call me princess. You saved my life. You're my friend. Just call me by my name." Adda noticed where he was looking, and she twirled her hair. "My hair color changed not too long after you lifted the curse. Lady Vivienne said that's the sign the curse is truly gone. My hair is now back to its original color. Speaking of which, you changed as well."

Adda stared at his hair for a moment before she shifted her gaze. "You used to be about my height, but now you're half a head taller than I am. And your eye color changed. And you got muscly."

Adda pinched Roy's arm, and Roy's cheek twitched.

"Didn't expect you to come. So, finally decided to join the church and make a change?" Anticipation glinted in Adda's eyes.

"I'm already a member of another organization."

"That's too bad."

Roy looked at the ladies for a moment and changed the subject. "Adda, Lady Vivienne, it's been a while since I was here. How's the church doing? Everything well?"

Adda looked at Vivienne, and the nymph nodded.

"We made the right move changing our plan." Adda raised her head and circled the witcher with pride in her heart. "Two-thirds of the one hundred and twenty-eight villages in rural Vizima have opened their hearts to the church. We have overwhelmingly more believers than the Eternal Fire and Melitele in Lake Vizima and nearby Temeria River." She balled her right fist and swung it up happily.

"Our believers now number in the thousands. Excluding ten priests and thirty vodyanoi." With a wave of her hand, another light screen appeared in the air, this time showing devout faces of the churchgoers. They were all praying to Vivienne's statue.

"Incredible." Roy's eyes were filled with surprise. In just one year, a nameless church managed to amass a thousand believers, and that was just in Vizima. Roy couldn't imagine how much power they would hold if they expanded.

"This is what Destiny wants, Roy. This is an eventuality that would have happened one way or the other." Adda looked at Vivienne with respect in her eyes. "Unlike the other gods, Lady Vivienne requires no tithing. All she wants is pure, unadulterated faith. She just needs her believers to pray once every day."

Vivienne switched positions. She placed her hands before her belly and sat up straighter. It was an attempt to look holy, but when Roy looked at her, she shot him a wink.

"And the lady provides her blessing in return. The church has helped with the fishing, changing the lives of fishermen for the better. No longer do they have to worry about how they will get their next meal. No longer do they have to worry about floods or drowners."

She nodded. "Our more fortunate brethren have also chipped in for the underprivileged believers, tiding them through tough times."

Roy nodded. Vivienne never did anything evil. She never stepped out of the lake, and she did her best to keep the lake monsters in check, keeping the civilians safe. Adda was the high priestess and the only member of the top brass. Her ambitions lay in expansion. She would never take any donations for herself.

Roy thought the church's mission of guiding its believers to the light of kindness and living by the knightly order was a bit too idealistic, but having some idealists around was not a bad thing. At the very least, the church cared for its believers, and its patron goddess would grant her blessings from time to time. Roy could see how they managed to get this far.

"What about Foltest? What's his stance on your operation?" Roy asked. "Still trying to keep you guys down?"

Adda took a deep breath, her chest heaving. With frustration in her voice, she said, "That old git got his royal consultants to do his dirty deeds. Those whores go around barely wearing anything in an attempt to seduce every man they meet. They come to the lakeside and disrupt our activities."

"Scantily-clad women?" Roy interjected. "You mean the sorceresses?"

"Yes. Keira Metz and Triss Merigold, who else?" A tense Adda shook her head, scoffing. "Cunning women, they are. They scare off the believers but don’t lay a finger on them. They complete their task and don’t get on the lady's bad side, but they're getting on my nerves."

Adda continued. "It's worse in the city. Anyone who's caught mentioning the name of the church or the lady is carried off to the dungeons for interrogation. Same thing goes for anyone who prays to the lady. The city folk have no choice but to do their prayers in the sewers. The same place the Lionheaded Spider set up its altar. But you cleared it out. Foltest is incorrigible." Adda shook her head. Matter-of-factly, she said, "The church's rise will not topple his reign. On the contrary, it'd build rapport with the citizens, consolidating his rule. But he is blind to that fact. He insists on the act of oppression. Even tried to marry me off to that Redanian brat. But I refused."

The Redanian brat? Wait, is she talking about Radovid the heartless?

"But his oppression will fail." She chuckled. Adamantly, she announced, "In a matter of years, the whole of Lake Vizima and Temeria River will be filled with the lady's believers. By then, even Foltest will have to think twice before trying to oppress us again."

***

Roy turned his attention to Vivienne. She was playing with her hair and giving him a gentle smile.

"The church will see a successful rise, no doubt about that. But if I may ask, what's the purpose of expanding the church's influence?" Roy asked softly, "Once you convert everyone around Lake Vizima into Lady Vivienne's believers, will you set your sights on all the lake areas in the Northern Realms? What then after that? Will you set foot in the south and expand your influence there as well?"

"Worry not, my knight." Vivienne finally spoke, her voice as silvery and delightful as the spring breeze. "The other lakes belong to my sisters. I have no desire to take their territory from them. My ambition does not extend that far. Our expansion will eventually come to an end," she said seriously. "All I want is for the people of Lake Vizima and Temeria River to put their faith in me and live in peace. When my believers meet their eventual death, they can start a new life in my kingdom."

Roy was reminded of the time Vivienne converted some souls into creatures that lived in the lake.

There was a hint of complaint on Adda's face. Her ambition extended much, much further than just Lake Vizima and the river, but she wouldn't go against her patron goddess. "The lady's wish is my dream."

"Then perhaps I can lend you a hand in this journey of yours." He looked at the ladies once more. "And that brings us to the point of this visit."

Two pieces of information. He was going to use those in exchange for a favor or two. The first one would be the news of Foltest's illegitimate daughter. The one he sired with Louisa. But then he promised Louisa to never tell anyone about this affair. Dragging an innocent girl into this matter was low, so he forgot about that.

He organized his words and cut straight to the second piece of news: the first Northern War. Or at least part of it.

At first, Adda looked bemused about the news, but then her eyes shone. "The Nilfgaardian troops will be invading Cintra and annihilating it by July next year? Are you sure you're not joking, Roy?"

"My premonition is the result of my Trial, and it has withstood the test of time. I can guarantee it's real." Roy turned his attention to the ladies once more. "And this is what I saw. Cintra, once a regal country, reduced to a hellscape filled with the blood of its people. The smokes of war billowed in the air, and the Nilfgaardian army pilfered and plundered the fallen nation. You might think it preposterous, but it's true. Whether you wish to believe it or not is up to you."

"My knight, I can glimpse into moments of the future and the past through the waters." Vivienne smiled. "I've been expecting this visit, and I knew you'd come with important news."

The lady believes him? Adda swung her fists in ecstasy and quickly paced around the chamber. "This changes everything! Now that I know how that war will end, I can concoct a plan around it. I can make a huge profit and gain even more following. If I'm lucky, I can even change how Foltest sees us. This is a big boon, Roy." In the heat of the moment, Adda gave Roy a tight hug.

The young witcher enjoyed the hug. The princess smelled nice. After all the teasing Lytta did to him, this was nothing.

"How should I thank you?"

"There is no need for that." Roy shook his head. A witcher could never gain anyone's trust in Vizima. The information would be wasted on him, but if he divulged it to the princess, then that could change the game. Adda could maximize the profit gained from this nugget of knowledge.

"Six months ago, I and a few witchers established a brotherhood in Novigrad. But we only have about a dozen members as of now. The brotherhood's foundation is still shaky, and expansion will prove to be difficult."

Roy pleaded, "Lady Vivienne, Adda, if it's possible, I would like you to lend us a hand when the brotherhood finds itself embroiled in a crisis it cannot handle alone. If it's possible, I'd like the lady to step in herself."

"Roy, you are the knight I personally appointed." Vivienne shook her head, her tail slapping the wet ground. "Even without this nugget of knowledge you so generously shared with us, I would’ve still lent a hand if you were in trouble. I trust you would do the same for me."

"You underestimate the importance of this information, Roy. You deserve an extra reward." Adda put on her princess act and said seriously, "Say the word. What would you like? Coins, or something else?" With praise in her voice, she said, "I like your idea of the brotherhood. You're different from the other witchers. All they do is wait around and twiddle their thumbs."

Roy rubbed his chin. "Well, if you insist, then I'd like some Temerian orens. The brotherhood will be needing more funds in the coming year."

"How does ten thousand orens sound? I can get more if you need."

***

And with that, Roy managed to fill his dried-up money reserve. That's plan one done.

"Stay for a bit, Roy." Adda patted her chest. She offered, "I'm going to pay for all your expenses. And I might need your help. Some of our areas need professionals."

Roy was ready to hear what Adda needed, but Vivienne interjected. "Adda, Roy has something else to do."

She waved at the witcher, her eyes clear as water. "Do what you have to do, my knight. We can solve our problems ourselves. But don't forget that you always share a bond with us. We'll have your back. Come visit if you have time."

"Thank you."

Before Roy left, Vivienne said something cryptic.

"A piece of advice before you leave. I sense the presence of something terrible and ominous within you. It was there the last time we met, but the feeling wasn't that pronounced. But this time, I can feel it wriggling and squirming right at the edge of reality. Control your power. Use it wisely. Do not let it corrupt you. Don't lose yourself to it."

Is she talking about the tentacles? But that's the sign of my will. Roy nodded. "Worry not, lady." He had a strong feeling that his power would never devour him. He had a feeling that was an absolute truth. "I will always be the same Roy you know."

***

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