Chapter 40: The City of Vijma
Negotiations with the wealthy merchant Levardon were quite smooth, he was a merchant from the south, and he was naturally interested in everything northern, and he did not have the deep-seated dislike and hatred of the witchers in the north.
When he heard that the two witchers were willing to go with him, he readily agreed.
And he was quite generous, directly offering a hundred Oren as a payment, and hired two as escorts to escort his caravan.
The journey from Floating Harbor to Virjema takes about five days, and there are no irresistible dangers along the way, which is quite a fair reward.
Of course, Levardon is not a generous rich businessman on the surface, in Wayne's memory, this guy will become the representative of the Southern Nilfgaard Merchant Guild in a dozen years, and has been staying in Vijma City in Temeria, presiding over the trade of the Merchant Guild in the North, and most likely working part-time as a spy.
However, unlike the Nilfgaard officers who advocated slavery and destruction, he was not willing to engage in destructive plundering of the North.
Rather, it is hoped that the North will maintain stability, maintain industrial backwardness, and become a place for southern merchants to purchase resources and dump goods, so as to obtain wealth peacefully and sustainably.
The journey along the way was quite smooth, the caravan of Revaden was not small, counting the ordinary guards and workers, there were forty or fifty people in total, and the number of carriages and donkey carts was even greater, and no unsightly thief dared to provoke such a large detachment.
And most monsters, unless they are mentally retarded, will not take the initiative to appear in front of so many living people.
So peaceful, they traveled for five days in the wilderness, and on the way, under the guidance of their guides, took a break in a village to buy some produce and subsidies.
Wayne even took the time to help the village deal with a mad brown bear, and then invited Rayvarden, Dandrien, and Geralt to enjoy a delicious meal of steamed bear paws, which was praised by everyone.
In particular, Dandrion and Rayvarden, who had never enjoyed Wayne's cooking, were amazed after eating the delicious steamed bear's paw, and felt that this was a delicacy that they had never enjoyed in their lives, and they will always remember it.
By the morning of the sixth day, the group had made their way through a forest and finally reached the outskirts of Vigema.
Vigema was the capital of the northern kingdom of Temeria, ruled by King Foltest.
Located at the intersection of important trade routes, on the shores of Lake Vigema in the Ismina Valley, a tributary of Pontar, the city was once an elven city, but after the human occupation, all the ornate elven buildings were destroyed, leaving only a vast sewer system, still in use by humans.
The city is divided into several crowded areas, housing thousands of residents and travelers from all corners of the world.
The city is quite well built, and you can find castles, shopping malls, temples, blacksmiths, merchants' stalls, banks, workshops, inns and prostitution halls, and all kinds of functional facilities, which is already considered prosperous in the northern kingdom.
Unlike the others, looking at Virgin City from afar, Wayne's mind involuntarily had memories of living here in the past.
Of course, this is not his memory, but the memory of the original owner of the body, the half-elf boy.
He had lived in the slums of Vijmar as a child, and his mother, an elven prostitute, had been seriously ill and unable to take care of her young children, and could not bear to see him grow up in the slums and fall prey to the gangsters or evildoers, so he entrusted Wayne to Viselmir, who was looking for a commission in Vijma.
Speaking of which, when Viselmir took him, the elven mother Martha was running out of time, but now ten years later, the poor man was buried.
Dandrion rode at the head of the procession, humming a song and soaking in the beauty of his surroundings.
Suddenly, he turned back to Wayne and Geralt, pointed to the city of Virgina, and shouted:
"Hey! Geralt, Wayne, look, Virgin looks like he's building a new city, and a lot of people are working. ”
Wayne and Geralt looked in the direction Dandrien was pointing, and sure enough, they saw a large number of workers working in full swing on another piece of land next to the old city of Virgin.
Many of the buildings have already laid their foundations, dense and simple shacks are scattered around the construction site, and countless construction materials are transported to the construction site from several directions, piling up into many hills.
Looking at the scale of the huge construction site, which is almost several times the size of the old city, if it is completed, it will definitely be a rather magnificent city.
Hearing Dandrien's words, Révarden, a wealthy businessman sitting in a nearby carriage, also stretched out his head and interjected:
"Well, that's New Virgin over there."
"Since last year, King Foltest of Temeria has been preparing for the construction of the new Vigema, and Mayor Vidral is in charge of the preparation of the new city."
"That's why I got the news that I came here with the caravan."
"For businessmen, the establishment of a new city contains countless business opportunities, and it is the opportunity for wealth that we are pursuing."
Hearing this, Geralt touched his stubble chin and said thoughtfully:
"I remember that under this piece of land, there is a sewer system built by elves, and there is a lot of space inside, and there are many ancient ruins buried underground, which should hide a lot of monsters."
"If they're going to build a new city on it, the monsters in the sewers will definitely have to be cleaned up, and they need a monster expert, which should be a good commission."
Dandrien seemed to have some inspiration, and immediately took out the lute and played a melody, and then said:
"Great, it's another epic event, and I'm going to take a good look at it, and write a new poem for the establishment of New Virima, which will surely be loved by the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Temeria."
Révarden seemed to admire Danderian's talent, and he immediately said that if Danderian's new poetry satisfied him, he would pay for a performance for him, inviting a large number of celebrities to watch his performance, and making him famous in high circles.
Dandrion was so pleased with this promise that he immediately sang and danced, and praised Levarden in a roundabout way, and Geralt got goosebumps when he heard the meaty praise.
Listening to their lively conversation, Wayne's thoughts also diverged.
Others may not know, but Wayne, who has played the game and read the original book, knows very well that the main reason why King Foltest is in such a hurry to build a new city is because his daughter Yada has suffered a curse, and at this time she should have awakened from her grave and turned into a powerful vampire demon bird.
As the daughter of the king, this monster is protected by Foltest, who does not allow others to kill her, but there is no way to lift her curse, so she can only let it go.
However, due to the nature of monsters, vampire demon birds often leave the tomb in the middle of the night and run to the royal city or the surrounding residential areas to kill people and eat meat, which has an extremely bad impact.
Dozens or hundreds of victims die at her claws every year, creating a terrifying legend in the old city of Vigema, and at the same time exposing King Foltest to the hostility and curses of other nobles, even affecting his rule.
This went on for a long time in the books, and many powerful warlocks and witchers tried to lift the curse, but all failed.
King Foltest even offered a high price of three thousand Oren, and no one could complete the task.
It wasn't until a few years later, when the white wolf Geralt passed by, that he finally managed to lift the curse of Yadan, making her a human princess again, and thus befriending the warlock Triss and gaining the friendship of King Foltest.
Now, because of his intervention, Geralt and him came to this country ahead of schedule, and many things in the future will definitely change because of this.