The Witcher: Make the Witcher Great Again

Chapter 144: I Need to Muster the Troops Immediately

Massimo noticed that these scavengers all had calluses on their hands.

But those calluses didn't look like they came from using farm tools.

Instead...

Massimo instantly understood the true identities of these scavengers.

He had heard recently that an unprecedented and massive uprising had erupted in Nazair.

This great uprising initially centered on the provincial capital but quickly spread throughout the entire province.

The Nilfgaardian side mobilized the Alba Division, the Second Vicovaro Brigade, the Delannoy Seventh Cavalry Brigade, and other units, taking eleven months to finally suppress this tumultuous uprising.

It was said that the Nilfgaardians subsequently carried out extremely bloody reprisals, erecting guillotines in every city, every town, and even every village in Nazair.

In the capital alone, countless heads rolled, and blood flowed like rivers.

Many innocent civilians who hadn't participated in the uprising at all also became victims of the guillotine.

As for the prisoners of the Nazair National Army who had dared to resist Nilfgaardian rule and participated in the uprising...

The Nilfgaardians impaled them on crosses all the way from the Nazair capital to the border.

The scene was extremely cruel.

These people were probably the last sparks of the Nazair National Army.

Massimo sighed and advised, "Captain Damien, let it go. They are also pitiful people."

Damien, on the other hand, wanted to kill all these people.

Because of them, important clues were likely lost.

But his knightly spirit did not allow him to slaughter unarmed civilians at will.

However, he couldn't just let it go like this either.

At the very least, they had to be sent to jail to reflect properly.

On the other side, the two witchers investigating the scene had also found a clue:

Not footprints.

But a scent.

Lynn found a piece of cloth on the side of the wagon.

He held it up to his eyes and examined it carefully.

He found that it looked like part of a surcoat that knights wore over their armor.

Judging from the remaining part of the cloth and the torn edges,

It was likely snagged by a nail on the wagon and ripped off due to excessive force in a moment of urgency.

Lynn picked up the piece of cloth.

He smelled it himself first, then handed it to Geralt.

The latter also smelled it.

Then came to the same conclusion as Lynn:

It retained the scent of wine.

Unfortunately, Lynn and Geralt were not wine connoisseurs.

Based on the scent alone, they couldn't tell what kind of wine it was.

However, Lynn quickly thought of a solution.

"The fine wines produced by each vineyard in Toussaint are different."

"Perhaps Captain Damien and Sir Massimo, as locals, could find us a professional wine taster?"

He knew that in Toussaint, there was a very peculiar profession called a wine taster.

Somewhat similar to experts who appraise antiques.

Except that they appraised fine wines.

It was said that the wine masters of Toussaint could identify the variety and vintage of a wine with just a sniff.

If they tasted a sip, they could glean even more information.

In short, it was a very magical profession.

So Lynn took the piece of cloth and walked towards Damien and the others who had apprehended the scavengers.

"Sir Massimo, Captain Damien, we've found something."

The two couldn't help but their eyes light up. "Really?"

"This piece of cloth still has the scent of wine on it. As long as you find us a professional wine taster, I believe it won't be long before we can follow the clues and find the mastermind behind this."

Lynn handed the piece of cloth to Massimo.

Massimo took it and subconsciously smelled it.

Then he took another deep sniff.

His face was filled with disbelief.

"Sir Massimo, what's wrong? Did you discover something?"

Damien, who was close by, noticed the drastic change in Massimo's expression.

The ranger-knight hesitated, as if unsure whether he should speak.

After hesitating for a long moment, he finally stammered, "I recognize this scent."

"What?"

Everyone was taken aback.

They all looked at the ranger-knight in surprise.

The latter's expression was complex.

He would never forget this scent.

It was the scent of rosé wine.

Although the scent of wine remaining on this piece of cloth wasn't much...

Although more than a day had passed, and much of the wine scent had dissipated...

But this familiar memory, he would never forget.

Every vineyard in Toussaint produced different wines.

Therefore, there was only one vineyard in the Duchy that produced rosé wine.

That was the Castel Ravello estate.

Which used to belong to the Maclino family.

But when Massimo was very young, the Castel Ravello estate was lost by his drunkard father in a ridiculous gambling game to Sir "White-Cheeks" Gobert Witten.

Sir Gobert Witten was a good man.

Although he became the new owner of the Castel Ravello estate, he still left a few rooms in the manor for Massimo's family.

To prevent them from sleeping on the streets and starving.

Massimo naturally remembered Sir Gobert Witten's kindness and goodwill.

But Massimo's father not only didn't pull himself together but also became addicted to poppy powder after losing the estate.

Making this already precarious family even worse off.

Later, Massimo's father fell into a river on his way home one day and drowned.

And his mother, unable to bear the decline of the family and the successive blows of losing her husband, also passed away soon after.

Massimo lived under other people's roofs until he was twelve years old, then left the Castel Ravello estate to become a squire to another ranger-knight.

After putting in enough effort and with a bit of luck, he also became a ranger-knight.

Although he had never returned to the Castel Ravello estate since leaving it,

The scent of rosé wine had never left his memory.

It was still vivid in his mind.

"I remember Sir Gobert Witten passed away a few years ago, and his only son, Philibert Witten, inherited the baronetcy and the Castel Ravello estate."

"I often hear bad rumors about him from my other knight brothers."

"I used to try my best not to believe those rumors, but now it seems those rumors are very likely true."

The piece of cloth left at the scene of the attack retained the scent of rosé wine produced by the Castel Ravello estate. Even if the owner of that estate wasn't the mastermind, he was definitely involved.

"I need to immediately gather the nearby knight brothers, Captain Damien, and then we will go to the Castel Ravello estate together to demand an explanation."

(End of this chapter)

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