The Witcher – Uchiha Madara!-Chapter 192 - The enemy in the shadows.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]

Third Person POV

Kaedwen.

...

...

"My king! A messenger from the west has just arrived in the capital!" a man informed Henselt in the throne room, while the king merely raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

It had been a week since the events at the castle. The witcher had left the capital.

Henselt, although no longer waking up battered and bruised, was still nervous. The idea of meeting Madara again terrified him deeply. He knew his plans were hanging by a thread, and that everything could fall apart the moment that monster decided to act again.

Obviously, Henselt did not want to see him in front of him again, much less face him once more. And he had told no one what had truly happened. His advisors even found his behavior strange—especially the silence about the campaign in the West. After all, he had barely asked any questions about it in the last week, or about the reason for letting the witcher from Kaer Morhen leave without any retaliation.

He had made vague statements about those who had died in Kaer Morhen, requesting secrecy from the few who knew the truth, under the pretext that he would keep his word to the witcher and give it all up.

Now, it was only a matter of time until news began to arrive from the West—likely about his men being killed and his entire attack against the non-humans turning out to be a failure.

"Let him in," Henselt ordered upon hearing his man's report, despite the slightly nervous tone. No one there noticed.

A moment later, a soldier appeared, visibly worn down. He was disheveled, with deep dark circles under his eyes, clearly having not slept in days. He had ridden straight to the capital with urgent news and needed to deliver them to the king personally.

"My king," he said, kneeling. Henselt noticed his nervousness and made a gesture.

"Rise. Tell me what is happening in the West. Are the plans proceeding as expected? What happened for you to come to the capital at this moment?" The question was direct. This man was no appointed commander, so it was strange to see him here as a messenger.

"My king... we were attacked." He began, hesitant. "The camps are being destroyed. Someone... no, a group is killing all our forces and attacking the camps directly, massacring all the soldiers!"

The court was stunned upon hearing that.

"Speak more. Now." Henselt demanded, already suspecting what was behind it, but wanting confirmation.

The man continued, voice trembling: "A group of people... men, I think... in black clothes and cloaks with red clouds. They appeared in the non-human towns and villages... and even outside them, in our camps. They started killing everyone without mercy."

"We even managed to start some of the attacks against the non-humans, but quickly... they began to be repelled. Then, the attack shifted. They left the non-human villages... and began to directly massacre our camps."

"Some camps were completely destroyed... with some kind of powerful magic. Everything exploded in flames and we could see the fires burning like beacons across multiple regions in the same night!"

"Fire magic?" the sorceress Sheala in the room murmured, surprised.

Although fire magic was still allowed since the war against Nilfgaard, its large-scale use remained taboo.

"How many of you survived?" Henselt asked, with a calm tone that surprised everyone, since he normally exploded in anger upon hearing such things—it was deeply concerning for him to be that calm.

The man hesitated, even more nervous with the question.

"My king... no one survived as far as I know... Only I managed to escape," he murmured, lowering his eyes.

The atmosphere in the room immediately turned grim.

"You're telling me... that only you survived? And fled?" one of the ministers stood up, furious.

Henselt merely sighed.

"I want you to send a group to see what's going on there. We'll just verify before taking any action," the king said, leaving his men even more surprised by this.

"My king, perhaps we should launch an even bigger attack and summon more men. If a group is killing all our soldiers, we must retaliate immediately," one of the advisors said.

"It could be the Scoia'tael!" another said, thinking of the group the soldier had mentioned.

"I think you were right all along, my king... maybe in the end the non-humans really were united with the Scoia'tael, being a group of non-human terrorists. We should never have let those damned creatures remain on our lands for so long," he said angrily.

"Let's forget that for now and deal with the situation calmly. Let's verify it first," Henselt said in the end.

"But, my king, shouldn't we summon a large group of soldiers for this? We can't let those abominations stay in the kingdom," another advisor said.

But Henselt shook his head.

"No. I want to verify the situation first," he said, not wanting to risk attracting the furious demon who might come to kill him and destroy his kingdom.

Since he needed to do something, sending men with scouts would be the best way to avoid angering him and show the kingdom that he was taking action.

Internally, he was furious over the loss of his soldiers. But what else could he do? His life was more important than that.

The discussion continued in the throne room, but no one managed to change the king's mind. Sending only a few soldiers to verify was the final decision. Even if everyone disagreed, the king stood firm.

At nightfall, a man descended to the laboratory within the castle. He was one of the two mages residing in the capital, at the service of King Henselt: Lord Detmold of Ban Ard.

The man went to his magical items, as this was his personal laboratory as court mage, and activated his magic mirror, which in the next moment began forming a bubble of energy before opening a magical screen like a portal before him. An image began to emerge.

"Detmold," the person on the other side saw, responding quickly, while Detmold himself looked through the mirror.

"Master Vilgefortz," the man said, looking at this figure who had kept a low profile in recent years.

Vilgefortz stared at him with his single eye. A portion of his face was disfigured, one of his eyes gone and part of his mouth and cheek destroyed, revealing the inside of his mouth with no teeth left on that side. It was all held together only by magic, and he also used magic to speak, since his words would come out distorted with his mouth destroyed in such a way.

Vilgefortz was covered by a cloak in the image, but it was possible to see bandages around his neck and also the absence of one arm.

He was no longer the same Vilgefortz who had been at his peak before the war against Nilfgaard, the mage respected by all the realms, even between the North and the South. He had been attacked on the eve of the final battle and survived only because, before falling dead, he had managed to reach his laboratories and consume some of his own potions that kept him alive—but the cost was still extremely high for his wounds.

It was thanks to Detmold that Vilgefortz had managed a reunion with Henselt.

Detmold looked at Vilgefortz not knowing what to say about it. He no longer saw him as the powerful mage of before and even despised him now, but still, he could gain many benefits working with him—his sharp mind still worked very well. That's why he accepted, as soon as Vilgefortz tried to contact him some time ago, even though Vilgefortz now remained hidden in the shadows of the continent.

He also needed help. Detmold saw a great opportunity, since he knew Vilgefortz had lost a large part of his magic and accepted Detmold's terms.

Vilgefortz hadn't only changed in appearance. He now had a look of pure hatred. His face was no longer known for its elegance—now it was hideous and disfigured. The look of hatred was visible in his single eye, with an intense glow.

Not even Detmold, despite knowing that Vilgefortz was now only a shadow of his former self, wanted to carry the hatred of that man.

"So, tell me. Is there anything else I should know about Kaer Morhen, besides the damned curse the king received precisely when they were against the Witchers? And one of them even... even saved the king, changing the whole situation?" Vilgefortz said, gritting his teeth with hatred, spitting out the words upon hearing the reports from Detmold in the last week.

The plan was to destroy the School of the Wolf. Now, without enough power, all he had left was to manipulate the kings. But his first attempt, which he had succeeded with Henselt, had failed the previous week.

"Not just that," Detmold said, and continued.

"But something happened in the West. The soldiers sent to exterminate the non-humans were killed, according to a man who arrived in the capital today. They are being hunted. The king, strangely, doesn't seem to care much about it, he's even running away from his own plan... It was expected that he would send an army after hearing that... but all he asked for were a few scouts to check the situation. He's acting strangely," he finished.

"Yes. To begin with, he shouldn't have forgiven that witcher in the first place. You need to read his mind," Vilgefortz said, knowing that King Henselt was hiding something.

"But sir, that's a bit risky... If he finds out, I'll be dead," Detmold said.

"Even so, we need to know exactly what's going on. Don't you want to take a high position in this kingdom? Maybe it's time then, and we'll approach this information from another angle—maybe that's for the best..." Vilgefortz said.

"What do you mean by that, sir?" Detmold asked, looking straight at him.

"First, tell me about the situation in the West. What do you know?" he said, as Detmold began to recount everything he had heard earlier in the court, coming from the soldier who had returned.

"It's certainly very strange for the king to have forgiven the non-humans so easily, but a group wearing clothes that hide their faces, black with red clouds... I've never heard of that. Besides the camps wiped out with fire explosions... There's something wrong here. But it might also be an opportunity," Vilgefortz said, placing his only arm on his deformed chin before looking at the mage in front of him.

"Go check it out yourself. The king certainly won't frown upon it if you find out what's going on. The Scoia'tael shouldn't be acting on this side of the continent. It's quite strange. And also... we can't let this slide. If you can convince him, you'll gain the king's trust and with that, anything you want. Besides, we'll be in a better position in the kingdom and we'll be able to uncover what's really going on," Vilgefortz said firmly.

Detmold nodded slowly.

"Sounds reasonable, sir. Very well, I'll do it," Detmold replied, while Vilgefortz already felt the plan was in motion.

"Very well. Good luck. Keep me informed of everything that happens. Also... we need to check Kaer Morhen. It's strange to see fifty men fall. Witchers shouldn't have that much strength to take down so many men in such a short time, not just two... It's just as I suspected... He's on this continent. He never left," Vilgefortz said with a tone of hatred, referring to someone.

Detmold nodded again before turning off the magic mirror with a sigh. Surely, from what he knew, Vilgefortz was now doing everything he could to take revenge on Madara, for what had happened.

But setting that thought aside, Detmold began to prepare. That same night, he opened a portal. He would begin to act on his own in the West.

-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------

Chapter 197 - An Investment for the Future.

Chapter 202 - We'll have to leave Kaer Morhen.

Chapter 212 - Ciri vs Madara 02.

Chapter 221 - The Threat Is Already Chasing Her.

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