The Divine Hunter

From this day on, the Witcher and Roy took up residence at the Temple of the Goddess Meritelli in Elland.

They were arranged in a clean and unadorned room, two wooden beds covered with pale yellow blankets, a desk and chair still strong and durable for a certain age, an oil lamp, and a shattered window covering the wooden window. Flower curtains.

Roy jumped onto the bed, crossed his hands behind his head, raised his right leg and opened the curtain, just in time to see the girl in the gray dress bending over to fertilize the vegetable garden in the temple.

"Lesso, when will we start the trial?"

"Wait tomorrow or the day after, I hope that Karak's royal advisor can be kind and help you!"

"It will take a while, so don't waste time!" The young man rolled his eyes, clasped his right fingers together, and suddenly made a movement of holding a sword and slashing the air, "Today you should honor your promise?"

"I knew you had been thinking about swordsmanship..." Lesuo shook his head, suddenly squatted down, and pulled his muscular arms under the bed, and then he took out a brown wooden sword. "I've asked Nannick to be ready."

Roy regained his energy now. He also found a training sword of the same style under his bed. He weighed it with his hands. production.

"Don't you teach short swords?" Roy remembered that what the bald man was best at was the double-sword swordsmanship of the Viper School, and he was not satisfied with the wooden sword. "How about training directly with Guvihir?"

"Learn longsword swordsmanship first," said the witcher coldly. "As for real sword training, you are not qualified enough to hurt yourself easily."

The two passed several rooms along the way. Through an open door, the priestess could be seen treating patients. In another room, the new children were reading under the guidance of Erola in the yellow light. Literacy.

Roy saw Ali and Ade in a blink of an eye...

The two little guys sat upright in the chairs and read simple vocabulary with everyone shaking their heads.

The boy nodded and followed the witcher to a remote and uninhabited corner of the temple courtyard, under a lush tung tree.

The burly witcher stood beside the boy, and his amber eyes looked him up and down.

"You keep talking about swordsmanship in your mouth, and today I will fulfill you! As a rookie, you must start training from the most basic movements. But don't underestimate them, any advanced swordsmanship is a basic evolution."

The boy raised his eyebrows when he heard it. With the benefit of Guweihir, he also had several dead souls under his command... How could he be useless in the mouth of a demon hunter.

"You're not convinced? Come on, if you have the ability, hold the sword in your hand tightly and chop it at me!" The bald man's amber eyes flashed with anger, he suddenly shook his wrist, danced the training sword into a sword flower, and provocatively said, "Dare to give it a try?"

"Exactly what I want!"

Roy's heart was hot.

Straightening his body, his hands naturally clenched the hilt of the sword, but he saw that the big man had already taken a strange posture, raising the training sword over his right shoulder with both hands, his knees slightly bent, and his feet in a T-step. His expression was serious, his eyes were cold, and he was suddenly like a knight with a spear, ready to charge him at any time.

Seeing this, Roy was ruthless, so he simply took a preemptive strike, stepped forward with his left foot, and stabbed the witcher's shoulder with his right long sword.

It's a pity that his intentions were too obvious, the sword was easily blocked by the witcher's slash in the middle of the slash. During the slashing process, the witcher leaned close to him, and the long sword was raised by the side of his face, in the shape of a bull's horn. The trend, followed by a spurt.

Roy didn't have time to react at all, and was stabbed in the chest with a sword.

Excruciating pain!

The boy jumped back and opened the distance, and the witcher stepped on his side almost at the same time, and the long sword that was held horizontally lowered to the waist on the other side, tilting upwards.

The real blade of the long sword was facing Roy, the tip of the forefoot pointed at him, and the tip of the sword was also pointed at his throat.

It reminded him of the plow that plows the land, and he is the mud that will be broken open.

Cold sweat broke out, and Roy finally realized the huge gap. He didn't dare to attack recklessly. He took small steps and circled around the witcher for a while, watching for flaws.

The steps under the witcher's feet are very simple and efficient, and it is easy to keep up with Roy's rotation, and the tip of the sword never leaves the vital position.

After two laps, no flaws were found. Roy decided to change the way, cautiously holding the sword in his right hand and feinting at the opponent's waist, thinking of tricking the opponent into using the sword, and then launching a counterattack.

Unexpectedly, the witcher didn't play cards according to common sense, and suddenly took a step forward, facing the direction of the long sword's swing, using the strong blade to support the wooden sword that the young man had swung halfway, and at the same time, the figure-eight-shaped sword was accurately locked. up.

With a twist and a flick, the weapon that Roy grasped with one hand was instantly released!

The witcher smirked and slipped into his open arms.

"Bang! Bang!"

The knee hits the belly, the hilt hits the collarbone.

Roy wailed miserably and shook his body helplessly.

The pain gave birth to a surge of anger, bloodshot eyes suddenly, picked up the wooden sword on the ground, abandoned all defenses, and slashed wildly with the determination to lose both.

"Den-", the wooden sword collided twice, and the figures crossed.

With two red marks on his face, Roy let go of the wooden sword and fell back to the ground.

Close your eyes in despair.

No matter which direction he goes from, what moves he uses to attack and defend, he is full of flaws. In front of that weird posture, he is like an unarmed little brat with no power to backhand!

To be more precise, it was automatically sent to the witcher's sword after washing his neck.

"Do you understand the importance of foundation now?" The witcher squatted down, patted his cheek, and the corners of his mouth opened in an indifferent arc, "To tell you the truth, I have suppressed speed and strength to the same level as yours. .You're still vulnerable."

"Am I really that weak?" Roy expected to get a word of encouragement from the witcher, but he was disappointed.

"If you are a stupefied soldier, you will die ten times in five seconds if you fight with a sword!"

The witcher kicked the boy's calf fiercely. The latter was not pretentious, and a carp stood up straight.

"Do you still dare to get carried away?"

"Don't dare."

"Then stand me up!"

The witcher began to go around him and teach the basics of the basics - holding the sword.

The beginning of the long sword swordsmanship is more boring than expected. Most people are wrong in the first step and the grip of the hilt.

Likes to hold the hilt of the sword in a ball with both palms in the same position, or close to each other.

The correct grip is just the opposite. Use the sharp hand to hold the hilt near the sword grid as the fulcrum of the lever, and the non-sharp hand to hold the handle at the end of the hilt.

When swinging the sword, the sharp hand is responsible for controlling the attack direction of the long sword and bearing the weight of the blade, while the non-sharp hand holding the handle gives extra power to the blade. The blade will slash downwards.

After all, there is a foundation, and Roy immediately understood.

He held the two-handed sword according to the corrected posture again, "The source of my sword dancing is wrong, but why do I feel so comfortable? In the Smirk Mine, I used the wrong grip to kill a lot of evildoers. ghost."

The new grip made him feel awkward for a while, and it was difficult to adapt.

"Your initial grip is not much different from that of an ordinary person who is not proficient in swordsmanship, but if you encounter an expert or a dangerous humanoid monster, you will be full of flaws. You are naturally at a disadvantage in terms of strength and flexibility, and you clearly use nine points of strength. , but only five points left when attacking the opponent or blocking defense. Think about the process of learning just now."

Roy's face was stunned when he heard the sound, and he remembered the scene of being beaten up without the strength to resist.

"I see!"

"According to the correct posture, practice more."

The boy did what he said, walking around the lawn at will, waving a wooden sword with both hands, but frowned quickly. When the left and right hands hold a certain part of the hilt at the same time, he can easily exert and retract force, but according to the orthodox grip, the left and right hands are in the upper and lower positions when transporting the sword, but he can no longer cooperate skillfully. , and sometimes the strength from both hands will even cancel each other out, causing confusion.

If the two hands are not well coordinated, if the strength of holding the hilt is wrong, you may even accidentally injure yourself.

No wonder the witcher wouldn't let him train with Guvisher.

"The way of holding the sword is the foundation of the foundation, the most important thing. If the foundation is not solid, the future swordsmanship study will not be able to understand and fully understand. Now I will demonstrate it again and look carefully."

The witcher had no footwork, and his feet were bowed and motionless. From the plow, he demonstrated the simplest slashing and stabbing swords, while explaining the tightness of the grip and the essentials of movement.

"What's the point of your posture?"

"Only practice the grip today, depending on the proficiency, and learn the basic footwork tomorrow or the day after. As for the start of swordsmanship, we will see it in a week."

Roy nodded. From this personal experience, he realized that long sword swordsmanship is by no means as cool and exciting as he imagined at the beginning. Every basic movement has theoretical and practical support.

But for a whole afternoon, I kept thinking about a simple action, which was really boring, and most of the excitement in my heart was worn away.

Seeing his expression, the witcher was not surprised. "Regret? The training in the future will be more boring and painful than today."

"Come on, you want to hit me with just a few words?" Roy was aroused instead, "I shouldn't be a tortoise!"

This kind of tedious training he experienced when he was getting started with crossbow shooting.

One afternoon, the boy was sweating profusely with his training sword.

As the sun glided over the towering dome of the Temple of Meritelli, a long and pleasant bell rang out in the temple.

It's some kind of signal.

The priestesses who were still working heard the sound and put down their work, and walked in groups of threes and fives, chatting and laughing, to the place to eat in the temple.

After finishing training, Roy and the witcher followed the crowd and entered the hall next to the main hall. The hall is spacious and bright. Under the support of dozens of columns, rectangular tables are neatly placed around it, which can accommodate two or three hundred people at a rough glance.

On the delicate tablecloth with blue stripes, the candlesticks shed warm yellow light, reflecting the calm and joyful faces, and the large urns with food on the tabletops.

The priestesses took their seats, and spontaneously lowered their voices.

Sitting among such a group of women, Roy kept playing with the spoons and forks on the plate in front of him, making him feel a little restless.

Looking around, except for a bright bald head, there are all faces full of youth - most of the girls in the temple are fourteen to fifteen to twenty years old, which is the most beautiful age in their lives. Under the loose gray dress, the delicate body is full of elasticity, the skin is delicate and exudes a healthy blush, and the voice is clear and pleasant.

And all the males in the banquet are less than one palm together. He and the witcher were among them, like a little green in a thousand flowers, which was really eye-catching.

There was a curious look from a young and daring girl towards the two of them, and a shy and introverted girl turned her face away awkwardly, but she couldn't help but glance at them occasionally.

Of course, he often only swept past the cold-faced and burly demon hunter, and didn't dare to look at him, as if he was some kind of beast. Roy was very uncomfortable seeing the flowers.

Men have always molested women, why did they turn around when they arrived at the Temple of Meritelli?

"Girls, be more reserved!" Roy complained in his heart, trying his best to turn his attention to the steaming urn in front of him. He could smell vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, and radishes, as well as the rich aroma of vegetables. Chicken, pork flavor.

At this time, the hall was full of people, and the chubby cook began to distribute bread from table to table, took it out from the bamboo basket, and put a small piece on each person's plate. After a while, pour the vegetable broth from the large urn directly onto the bread. After eating the vegetables and meat, the bread will be almost blanched and soft and ready to eat.

After the cook finished distributing the bread, the manager of the Temple of Meritelli, who was sitting at the center table, folded her hands together, and began to recite the prayers silently and perform the routine prayer before the meal. Also learned in a similar way.

The young man couldn't help but wonder, in just a week, the little guy who made the members of the sea scorpion devastated has become so well-behaved? The priestess of the temple is indeed unique in terms of education.

Cantila, who was sitting next to the two little guys, noticed Roy's gaze, showed white teeth, and waved at him.

He smiled and nodded.

At this time, all the priestesses and believers in the entire hall began to pray.

All the noises were gone, and prayers such as "kindness, tolerance, kindness..." echoed faintly in the hall, and a piety and solemnity emerged spontaneously.

The teenager turned around and looked at it again, feeling that he was too maverick, and lowered his head and pretended to read a few words.

After a short while, the prayer was over, and there was the sound of knives and forks colliding with plates, and the witcher asked in a low voice, "Little devil, what were you talking about just now? Could it be that you want to change your gender and become a woman?"

"Don't you think that when everyone is praying, it's too different for the two of us to just sit around?" The boy took a bite of the potato, all kinds of spices and the faint aroma of meat poured into his mouth, the temple cook The craftsmanship is surprisingly good!

"Goddess Meritelli is a typical woman's belief, a standard goddess who manages conception and fertility, and is also a guardian of women during childbirth." The big man put a piece of chicken in his mouth, chewed and swallowed the chicken bones together, "Generally Only women believe in her, what are you messing with? Besides, witchers don't need to be brainwashed by belief."

"Okay, you're the boss, you have the final say, and I won't do it next time." Anyway, Roy was not interested in believing in any god, and while he was talking, the boy's dark eyes suddenly hit an apple-faced person in the distance. Little girl, the other party lowered his head like a quail,

Roy's cheeks twitched,

"But I'm curious. This temple accepts girls from all over the world to teach knowledge and provide food for free. It costs a lot of money, right? Where does the money come from?"

"The priests will charge some treatment fees when they treat people."

"Most of the patients are poor. Is this a loss-making business?"

"There are a lot of rich people..." The witcher swallowed the last piece of chicken and poured the broth into the plate, "In addition to general diseases, the temple also treats intractable diseases such as infertility, although it does not It must be effective, but many nobles are convinced of it. And the priestess of Meritelli won't show mercy to the rich."

"Every year, many wealthy believers donate a sum of money to the temple. After all, this temple is the center of belief in Meritelli in the north, and it must not fall."

Roy suddenly realized that the old mama Nannick was probably still a "rich woman".

"Don't look at the women in the temple, but no one in the north dares to challenge the idea of ​​the Temple of Meritelli," the witcher continued, "because their wives, daughters, and sisters are all followers of Meritelli."

Men rule the world, women rule men, this sentence suddenly popped into Roy's mind.

When the women around you are Meritelli believers, then you have to respect him too.

Meritelli is really a goddess full of wisdom.

...

After the meal, the witcher entered Mammy Nannick's laboratory to process herbs

And Roy explained and went to the forest near the temple again. It took two hours to hunt two rabbits with a hand crossbow, and he gained ten experience points.

Then go back to the house of the temple for a meditation break.