"What is this? Hacksoll just let you hand it over to me and it's over? ”

Lan asked the little notekeeper, but he had been stunned since handing over the tome, as if a piece of his heart had been gouged out.

Then, Lenn pulled out a letter from the middle of the tome.

The signature is Haxel, and the recipient is Lanne.

At this moment, Geralt, Gerd, Dandrien, and Ciri also came close, and they looked at what Rann was holding in confusion and bewilderment.

The fifty-nine soldiers around him seemed to have their bones pulled out the moment Lincoln handed over the notepad.

Everyone's originally straight bodies collapsed in an instant, and the bows and crossbows and long swords in their hands fell down.

Lan silently glanced around the warriors before opening the envelope of the letter.

"Dear Master Lanen, it is a pleasure to say my final goodbyes to you and your companions in this way, and on behalf of all of you, I would like to thank you for your dedication and dedication to this small group since the beginning of the war. The people of Sintra could not repay this kindness. ”

"Of course, if things do go the way I planned, you must now think I'm gloating, at least that's what Master Dandrion would have mocked, and I've heard a lot of his poems, and he probably does."

The one next to him looked towards Dandrien, and these glances made him shake his head awkwardly.

"I must sincerely apologize to you and your companions, Master Lanen. Because when Lincoln handed you this letter, it meant that he already decided that your future course was no longer relevant to the refugee group. ”

"And this also means that the despicable and shameless methods I used did eventually kick you and your friends out."

"I must have taken advantage of the poor people in the refugee group to make them suspicious, dark and selfish, and then let their darkness sting people like you who help you."

"I can't help it, and I don't dare to ask for your forgiveness. My intellect can only support me in coming up with such inferior means. ”

"Because I have long known your character, and Master Geralt and Master Gerd have also shown their noble character in their long-term cooperation. I am well aware that conventional methods are not enough to make you abandon us burdens and weaklings. ”

"You're going to escort us out of the border, you will. So it has to be us. 'Chase them away'. ”

"It's certainly not a good feeling to be chased away by someone you're saving. But I have no other way because in the end. In fact, there are not a few people in the refugee group who are destined to survive. ”

"Of the more than 1,000 people, in my most optimistic prediction, there will be no more than those who will survive. Fifty people. Because the battle of Soden, which I mentioned in my previous speech, ended two days ago, and we lost. The North failed. ”

Reading this, everyone's eyes widened.

Lan looked away from the letter and looked at Lincoln, the half-grown man just sobbing with his head down, not saying anything.

"A large percentage of the scouts I sent out are tracking this, so I can be sure."

And this means that beyond the borders of the country is not an uninvaded foreign country, but already a military camp for the Nilfgaards. Even because the big battle has just ended, there will be more Nilfgaard troops there than ever before. ”

"What else can I do, Master Lanen? The swiftness and ferocity of the Nilfgaard men had never been seen before, and I, for the first half of my life, was only a steward serving the queen and the king in the royal palace. My knowledge and experience can't tell me what to do. ”

"I went crazy and cried when I got the news, I prayed to all the gods I could think of, followed by complaining and even cursing. This shouldn't be the pressure and predicament that a royal head should endure, should it? ”

"Before the war began, the biggest stress I was under was that Princess Ciri couldn't find the ingredients for the food she wanted to eat. It just made Her Majesty the Queen angry. ”

"It's not supposed to be a stress for me, but every time I think about it, I remember. What I saw in the city of Sintra. Hell! ”

"Then I understood, Master Lane. There is nothing wrong with this, the Nilfgaard people slaughter everyone in this country equally, so everyone has an equal obligation to resist them. Even if I'm just a royal head, I have to do it! ”

"After all, the bravest, most responsible, and most glorious people in this country have died with the castle. The master I served, Queen Caranther, also jumped from the castle. If I give up and surrender, how will they feel? ”

"I have to fight! At all costs! Regardless of the ending! ”

"Even if the harm I can do to the Nilfgaard people seems ridiculous to them, I have to do it. This is my responsibility as a Sintraite! ”

"Lincoln will give you this notebook, and I have the audacity to ask that you make this record of what you have seen and heard since the beginning of the war known to the North and to the world. This is the crime committed by the people of Nilfgaard! ”

"Trust me, Master Lanen. It is only in these views that I believe I have greater insight than you and your companions. ”

"Perhaps in your eyes, the crimes of the Nilfgaard are as conspicuous and irrefutable as ink on a blank sheet of paper. But in front of the kings of the north, in their courts, it was just a thing that happened thousands of miles away. ”

"I've seen too much in the court, really too much. The peasant in the countryside could not stand the harsh treatment of the lord, so he came to the throne and cried with tears. ”

"He thought that the injury he had suffered was an irrefutable fact, but in reality? The lord didn't even need to be present, just a few more eloquent lawyers, and he could easily turn black and white upside down, portraying the oppressed farmer as a dangerous person intent on revolting in the territory. ”

"This war, the wind in the courts of various countries will also be like this, this is not new. I know, I understand. Even I can think that the defeat of the battle of Soden this time may not be without the reason for the disunity of people. Not everyone wants to come to the rescue of Sintra. ”

"And it's because I understand that I have to send these records out. I must thwart the diplomatic offensive and propaganda of the Nilfgaards, and I must not allow them to hold in their hands the interpretation of the cause and course of this war! ”

"Otherwise, those who have died, those who have fought to the death, what will they be described as in the future? What would this war be portrayed? ”

"Can't the invaded retain the justice of their resistance?"

"I couldn't accept that future, so I made a decision!"

"It was a crazy and cold-blooded decision, and every moment after I thought about it, I felt so terrified of myself that I was even woken up in the middle of the night."

"I'm upset, Master Lan. Because I was neither a wise man, nor had I ever really participated in the affairs of state, I was only a steward in the court. But in this time of crisis, I can only do my best to do what I think is right. ”

"Everyone in the refugee group can't survive, so I should at least let them die worthwhile! I'm going to take them to death on the border, and I'm going to find a way to kill as many Nilfgaard as I can. Intrigues, stratagems. I will do my best! ”

"I want to find a stage for their sacrifice to show the world! The roar and sorrow before death cannot be buried in the hands of the Nilfgaards! ”

"It wasn't an easy decision to make, Master Lanen. For the enraged Nilfgaard people are bound to put us to death by the most cruel means, and this troubles my conscience, but there is no other way. After all, this is war. ”

So I had to pray to the gods again, day and night. Pray that they punish only my soul. ”

"The sixty warriors I sent out are all good guys. They have more hope of survival than anyone else, so I let them follow you, and I will march with great fanfare and attention with the refugee group. I hope you don't mind. ”

"Stewart should have been in there, but I don't know whether to be relieved or sad that he decided to join me when he learned of my plan. He used to be a good boy who was polite and loved to laugh, but he didn't smile much lately, which was also my failure as a father. ”

"What is due to you and your companions has been said in this letter. I'm ashamed to say that I gave you a commission, but with my current financial resources and status that no longer exists, there is really nothing I can give to the three masters. Only a little gift is placed on the last page of the notepad. ”

"So it's a commission, but you might as well treat it as a friend's entrustment, how about it? I don't know if I'm qualified to be a friend of the masters, and hopefully it's not my wishful thinking. ”

"Once again, I apologize to you, but I have made you see and feel the unbearable side of the people of Sintra. But please don't blame the poor refugees. We are all just mortals, looking ahead and hesitating, in the midst of this war. Stewart and I were just a little bit braver than they were. ”

"The people of Sintra are not so bad, and the 'roar and sorrow before death' that I am looking forward to is also hoping to wake them up more. We people in Sintra are very brave people. ”

"It's really strange that I never seemed to care much about them in the days of stability and prosperity in the past, but after these days, I realized that we are actually the same people."

"Oh, if Her Majesty the Queen knew that I called myself a 'brave man,' she would laugh at me, wouldn't she? In her mouth, I have never been a standard good Sintra man. But whatever? She can't laugh at me now. ”

"Farewell, Master Lanen. Farewell, my old friend, Geralt. Farewell, Master Ged, Dandrien. And."

"Farewell, little Ciri. I watched your mother be born, raised, married, and give birth to you, and I took care of three generations of the royal family. I thought I could take care of you getting married."

"I just hope that during the last period of contact, you were not intimidated by the smile on my face."

At the end of the letter, there are autographs of Haxel and Stewart, as well as the seal of the ring.

In the final annex, they honestly explain what the Witchers are doing in the Refugee Mission, and do their best to refute all the stigma and discrimination against the Witchers in the market.

Claims that he 'has never met anyone more humane than the three Master Witchers'.

Lan closed the letter indifferently and opened the last page of the notepad.

It was emblazoned with a Sintra coat of arms, a lion coat of arms on a blue background.

The coat of arms is elaborate and elegant, and in the place where the coat of arms is printed, there are some clichés written.

'In recognition of your virtues, honours, and loyalty to the royal family, I, Caranther, Queen of Sintra, recognized by the gods, hereby canonize you as a knight by my power and privilege. Serve us faithfully. Bear this sword, and no longer suffer. ’

And on the inscription, the name of the person who was canonized is indicated-

Lanne of Sintra.

(End of chapter)