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The surviving knights had a look of despair on their faces. They gazed at the body of their departed leader, and tears of respect welled up in their eyes. None of them held any grudges though. Dying in a fair battle was no insult to a knight.

“Your Highness, please allow us to collect our brothers’ remains.”

“Go.” Adda nodded. She held the bowl of holy water and came to the knights who were tied up and started persuading them to drink the water.

Roy came to Vivienne. “Milady, the dust has settled, but I have a question. I saw a sliver of black smoke darting into the bloodstone right after Rudolf died. What was that smoke?”

Letho had been watching the whole affair, but he had not seen any smoke coming out of Rudolf’s body. He arched his eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re not seeing things? You must be too tired.”

“No. And I was not seeing things.”

“You saw it? Then there must be something special about you.” Her tail swayed as she walked down an invisible ladder, but then her nose wrinkled. “My champion, you have returned victorious. You deserve better.” Vivienne did not even do anything, but Roy felt himself enveloped in a layer of refreshing water. It swept away all the blood caked on his skin, hair, and armor.

The young witcher came back out looking clean and refreshed. Vivienne nodded in approval. Her hair billowed in the air, the sweet scent of plants wafting across the air. “And now it’s time for answers. Every living being leaves a trace of them behind after their death. That light is what we call ‘soul.\'”

Roy heard Vivienne loud and clear, but Letho could only see her lips move. He knew Vivienne had excluded him from this conversation. Standing by while Roy battled apparently upset her, but Letho did not regret what he did. Or in this case, what he did not do. He nodded at Roy and went over to where Adda was.

“So you mean to say the smoke is Rudolf’s soul?” Roy looked at the bloodstone Vivienne was holding. He could vaguely see a dozen slivers of black smoke swimming in the crimson stone. There was more than one soul residing in that little stone.

“As you can see, the bloodstone is not merely a vessel for the people’s faith; it can also store souls.”

Wow. That stone can store anything. Roy had a feeling the bloodstone would come in really handy someday.

Vivienne noticed the look in Roy’s eyes. “You have assisted me greatly this time. Our connection is stronger now. I can tell you more about the secrets of these lands. Remember, the most important thing in these lands isn’t money, power, or even weapons. The most important thing is souls. For most of the ancient entities in No Man’s Land, souls are an important resource. It’s a source of strength. Bloodstones that are infused with souls are a special currency. If you sell these souls, you can invoke the power of these ancients and employ their services. Of course, they’re as cunning as a fox, so be careful. They might take the payment without fulfilling their end of the bargain.”

Roy was reminded of a certain tramp. Is she talking about Gaunter O’Dimm? Hm. I guess a lot of ancients know one another well.

“Does it go for you as well?”

“I do not dabble with souls. All I want is faith.”

“Rudolf is not the only one in there, is he?”

“No. My most devoted believers, vodyanoi that perished in battle, and valiant knights of the order reside in this stone as well.”

“What will you do with them?”

Vivienne bit her lip, her brows furrowed in a frown. She looked sad and vulnerable. “Moving their souls into this stone is the first step. You shall witness their fates in a moment.”

Roy was silent for a while, and then he asked the question that had been haunting him. “Milady, if you had not interfered, where would their souls have gone after their demise?” He had seen countless deaths thus far, but Roy had never thought about that matter before. Does the witcher world have an afterlife? An ancient being was standing right before him, and she could answer his question.

“One of three things could happen.” Vivienne was patient with the young witcher. “One, they could turn into vile creatures. Wraiths and wraiths from the painting are a few examples of the monsters they could turn into. But that is a fate worse than death. Specters linger around because they are tethered by a strong obsession. Most obsessions stem from a painful past. Staying around after their deaths would be nothing but torture for them, and this torture is eternal. They will only be released from this coil during the moment of their destruction.”

Vivienne suddenly looked into the distance. A commotion was happening there. Adda and the knights who just pledged loyalty to her were chiding the captive knights. They were probably trying to coerce them into serving Vivienne. Letho was watching from the sides. “Two, they could eventually disappear. A few moments, a few hours, it does not matter. Without their flesh sustaining them, souls cannot exist by themselves. And three, they could be devoured or imprisoned.”

***

Vivenne noticed the look of shock on Roy’s face. “And now, my champion, it is time to witness the fate of my believers.” She waved her hand, and a layer of mist covered the young witcher. It took him away from the island like a boat floating through the air, ferrying him to the lake.

Vivienne descended upon the surface of the lake, her beautiful tail submerged under the water. She cupped some water with her hand and allowed it to trickle through the cracks between her fingers. She placed the bloodstone into the water and crushed it. The bloodstone shattered into pieces, and ten slivers of black smoke darted into the river. She blew on them, and the smoke turned into rainbow-colored fish. They swam around her, touching her lovingly.

She spun in the lake, touching the fish with her fingertips. A silvery laughter rang out across the lake, and she had a pure look of delight on her face. The fish played around with her for a while, and they shook their heads at her, saying goodbye as they swam deeper into the depths of Lake Vizima.

Roy was in awe. He held his pendant, which had been shaking violently for a while now. “Those fish are your believers? I mean, the souls of your believers?” He cast Observe a while ago and noticed that the school of fish was not real. They were made of pure mana and were more nymph than fish.

Vivienne looked up at the sky, her face shining with grace. She said firmly, “As the daughter of Lake Vizima and the goddess of the church, the only thing I can do is create bodies made entirely of water for their souls to reside in after their demise. They would begin another life in the kingdom of Lake Vizima’s depths. At the very least, my poor believers would not fade into nothingness.”

This is the benefit of being her believer? They can live even after they die? Roy was reminded of a prayer he had heard many times before. “May your souls reunite in the kingdom of Melitele.” And the kingdom of Lake Vizima’s depths is Vivienne’s kingdom in a sense. “Do they get to keep their memories?”

“This is a new life. They will exist as nymphs. When Lake Vizima is under attack, they shall become its guardian.”

Roy said nothing. Losing all their memories was better than fading into nothingness after all.

***

“Do you still have the stone I gave you?”

Roy opened his hand and revealed a bloodstone. It was pure and had no faith or souls inside.

“I have a question. You have had the stone for more than two months, and yet there are no souls inside. Not even the soul of a beast. That is… odd. This shouldn’t happen unless you haven’t killed anything.”

Roy massaged his temples and talked about what he had killed so far. “The wolves and rabid dogs in the wilds, Brokilon’s pale widow, Verrieres family tomb’s wraiths… I never stopped killing all this time.”

“Which begs the question: the stone did not collect their souls, but they couldn’t have disappeared for no reason.”

Where would the souls of the beings I killed go? Roy thought about that for a moment, and then he came to a shocking conclusion. When I killed Rudolf, his soul went into the bloodstone, and I gained no EXP from it. Is this the secret behind the character sheet? The souls of everything I killed turned into EXP for the character sheet.

“Ah, I see you have your answer.” Vivienne approached him, and the wind blew her hair in the witcher’s direction. She stared straight at the witcher, her eyes looking like whirlpools that could suck the souls of those who saw them. “I told you all my secrets, my champion. I hope you can do the same in return.”

Roy shook his head. He tried to say something, but he decided against it in the end. It was impossible to come up with an excuse just like that, but he would never tell anyone his biggest secret.

“You are unwilling to share?” Vivienne stared down at the lake and shook her head. She pouted, and she said, “But I will not force you. Someday, you will tell me all your secrets. Now let’s talk about something else. You teleported to Azar Javed right before you killed him. How’d you do it?”

So she was watching. “It’s an ability I acquired after I went through the trial,” Roy lied. Auckes told him to keep this his secret. “I can only teleport short distances, and I have to spend a lot of mana to use it.”

Vivienne sighed. She probably believed it, or maybe she did not. Roy had no way of knowing.

“You should be rewarded for your assistance. You have three choices to choose from. Pick one. One, there’s a pile of ancient coins in the kingdom’s ruins. I can give you a part of it. From what Adda told me about this era, the coins are worth a thousand crowns. Two, you can give me Aerondight, and I can strengthen it further for you.” Vivienne looked at the witcher, his eyes, and his pointed ears. “I noticed the magic coursing through your veins, but it is far too weak. I can grant you a part of my blood to strengthen your bloodline. That is my third reward.”

“What about Letho?”

“Haven’t you noticed? Your mentor did not lift a finger to help me. Obviously, he disagrees with our ideology and existence. He shall gain no reward this time.”

***

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