They came to a Renaissance-style restaurant in Oxenfurt. The sea breeze blew through the windows, and the gentle sunset shone on the great food on the table. The witchers were wolfing the food down. Their speed and ferocity when they ate shocked the academy's faculty members. Most of them came from rich families. They either scoffed at the witchers, gave them weird looks, or observed curiously. The witchers did not care. They just kept eating.
"You should give the stewed triggerfish a go, witchers. It's limited." Linus pointed at a yellow fish soup. It had butter in it. He praised, "The fish only live in the area between the river and sea near Oxenfurt. It's fresh and barely has any bones. I managed to get one because I'm a lecturer."
Roy put his caviar biscuit down and had a taste of the fish soup. He closed his eyes in enjoyment. "This is life. All the stewed fish I had is nothing compared to this. But Mr. Pitt, if this fish only exists in that area, doesn't that mean it's endangered too?"
Linus shook his head and explained, "Don't worry about it. It's protected by law. Nobody can catch too many of it at once. And the academy's Natural History Faculty spends some time cracking down on illegal fishing of the triggerfish, so their numbers are at a safe level. It's not endangered. I might spend my life saving endangered animals, but I'm no vegetarian. Here, have a taste of the steak. It's stewed in broccoli juice, and the students love this."
All the Oxenfurt dishes surprised the witchers. They had great plating, taste, and balanced nutrition. The food provided by the inns were no match for this.
"I can get used to this place." Auckes leaned into his chair and rubbed his slightly bulging belly. He let out a burp. "Aside from Roy's cooking, this is the best food I ever had."
Everyone nodded. They had a little cider. The academy's cafeteria didn't provide any liquor to keep the intellectuals from running amok on campus. It wasn't of much use, though.
Letho cleared his throat. "We've seen the mini ecosystem and had our fair share of Oxenfurt delicacies. Now let's get back to the topic, Mr. Pitt." Letho stared into Linus' eyes and smiled. "Cut to the chase. What do you want? Is it a request? And please don't bring the association up. We're not interested in it."
Linus looked at Roy. The young witcher shook his head. Linus heaved a sigh. He said regrettably, "I won't force you into this if you don't want to, but please don't tell anyone about the mini ecosystem. Some aristocrats love endangered animals, though they only want the creatures to be their playthings. Some of them would even kill the creatures off to make a trophy. I will never allow those bastards to lay a finger on the creatures."
"You did treat us to a good meal." Letho nodded. "We'll keep the secret. It's a witcher's promise."
Serrit half-joked, "We can't join your association, but personally, you're a visionary, Mr. Pitt. The world needs more leading experts like you."
The number of monsters were dwindling, and the witchers knew that. Perhaps all monsters would be nothing but specimens in a museum decades in the future. However, they wouldn't change their hunting tradition just because of Linus' opinion.
Now that Linus had gotten the answer for his question, he made his request. "The ecosystem aside, I did run into some trouble lately. I'm busy taking care of my creatures, so I don't have time to look into it. I need your help."
"Tell us more."
"I hired a couple of assistants to look after the ecosystem. They're students of my faculty, and they passed my test. They're honest people who come from honest families. I can trust them."
Roy remembered him talking about that before.
"But one of them ran into some trouble lately." Linus clasped his hands. He said worriedly, "He took three days off last week to settle some family matters, but it has been seven days since he left, and he still hasn't returned. He didn't even send any letters either. I'm concerned. Can you travel to his home and see if he's fine, witchers?"
"I see." Letho looked at his companions, and they nodded at him. "It's not a hard request. Sounds like a little errand. We can handle it. Tell us more about him. We need his details, his address, and who he knows."
Linus was delighted, and he explained everything to them. The missing student went by the name of Whishaw. He was tall, had short grey hair, and his eyes were black. The student was twenty-one years old and a freshman in Linus' faculty. The guy was a little naive, but his reputation was decent.
"Did he get into any fights with anyone?"
Linus shook his head.
"Where's his home?"
"On a small hill about three miles due northeast of Oxenfurt. I'll mark it on the map later."
"It's out of town?"
"Oxenfurt is an expensive place. Whishaw comes from a family of farmers. He doesn't have enough money to buy a house in town. But he works hard. He managed to pass the entrance exam, but even after that, he spent a lot of time on work every day just to make enough money for his tuition fees. I hired him partly because of that. To be honest…" Linus praised, "Whishaw has potential to be a scholar. He's a great lad. He's been working for me for six months now, and he finishes his job excellently. And he keeps up with his studies too. One of the top students in my faculty." Linus talked about Whishaw's life on campus.
Roy sorted out the information and confirmed that nothing was missing. He said, "We'll take the request. Don't worry about it. He's probably still busy and can't come back. It's not easy sending messages when he lives in the wild."
"Three miles due northeast of Oxenfurt? I'll be going on horseback. I'll bring back some news tonight. If nothing else happens."
"My turn to shine, mates," Auckes quickly said. "I did nothing but watch you guys do everything in La Valette's place. My skills are getting rusty. This is the perfect chance to get back in shape. I can do it alone."
"Take me with you," Kantilla said. She had been eating for free the past few days. Kantilla thought she should do something in return. "I wanna see how witchers deal with requests."
The witchers discussed among themselves.
"Do as Auckes say, Kantilla." Roy patted her shoulder.
"No prob. I won't drag him down." She smiled heartily, excitement shining in her eyes.
It was settled. Auckes and Kantilla would scout the situation out, while everyone would stay back at the academy and wait for their news. They would also keep touring the place."
"Oh, and about your reward—"
"We'll talk about that later. If everything is fine and dandy, then this meal is more than enough for the reward." Letho was being generous for once. "We'll talk about the reward if everything is not fine and dandy."
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