Bear School Astartes

”What is this? Is this all that Hacksaw asked you to hand over to me?”

Lann questioned the young scribe, but ever since handing over this tome, he seemed dazed, as if a piece of his heart had been carved out.

Soon after, Lann flipped through the tome and found a letter.

It was signed by Hacksaw, addressed to Lann.

At this moment, Geralt, Ged, Dandelion, and Ciri also gathered around, looking at the things Lann held with confusion and puzzlement.

The fifty-nine warriors around them seemed to have their backbone removed the moment Lincoln handed over the journal.

The bodies that had been standing straight collapsed instantly, and the crossbows and longswords in their hands fell.

Lann silently scanned the circle of warriors, then opened the envelope of the letter.

”Respected Master Lann, I’m pleased to be able to bid you and your companions farewell in this way. On behalf of all the refugees, I thank you all for your contributions to this small group since the war began. This grace, the Sintra People cannot repay.”

”Of course, if things have indeed developed as I planned, you must now feel that I’m gloating, at least Master Dandelion would mock me this way. I’ve heard many of his poems; he would probably act so.”

Next to him, they looked at Dandelion; these glances made him awkwardly shake his head.

”I must offer you and your companions my sincere apologies, Master Lann. Because when Lincoln hands you this letter, it means he already thinks your future path no longer involves the refugee group.”

”And this also means that the despicable and shameless methods I employed have indeed driven you and your companions away.”

”In this, I must have exploited those pitiable people in the refugee group, making them suspicious and selfish, then using their darkness to hurt you who offered aid.”

”I have no choice, nor do I dare ask for your forgiveness. My wisdom only allowed me to conceive of such lowly means.”

”Because I have long known of your moral character, and Master Geralt, Master Ged, also displayed their noble character in our long-term collaboration. I know very well that conventional methods would not make you abandon us, these burdens and weaklings.”

”You would surely escort us burdens beyond the border, surely. So, it must be us... who ’drove you away’.”

”It must feel terrible to be driven away by those you saved. But I have no choice because ultimately... in reality, very few people in the refugee group are destined to survive.”

”Among these over a thousand people, in my most optimistic estimation, no more than... fifty will survive. Because the Battle of Sodden, which I mentioned in a previous speech, ended two days ago, and we lost. The North lost.”

Reading up to here, everyone widened their eyes.

Lann looked away from the letter to watch Lincoln, the young boy just hung his head, sobbing, without any response.

”A large part of the scouts I sent out were tracking this matter, so I can be certain.”

”And this means that beyond the border is not an uninvaded foreign land but already a Niflgaardian camp. Even because a major battle just ended, the Niflgaard Army there would be more than ever.”

”What else can I do, Master Lann? The swift and fierce Niflgaardian spearhead is unprecedented, and I, I spent the first half of my life serving the Queen and King in the Royal Palace as a Royal Steward. My knowledge and experience can’t tell me what to do.”

”When I received this news, I went mad, cried, prayed to all the gods I could think of, then complained, even cursed. This should not be the pressure and predicament a mere Royal Steward should bear, should it?”

”Before the war began, the greatest pressure I bore was when Princess Ciri couldn’t find the ingredients for the dish she wanted, merely angering Queen Her Majesty.”

”This shouldn’t be the pressure I should bear, but whenever I have such thoughts, I remember... what I saw in Sintra City... Hell!”

”Then I understood, Master Lann. There’s no should or shouldn’t. The Niflgaardians slaughtered everyone in this country equally, so everyone equally has the obligation to resist them. Even if I am just a Royal Steward... I must continue!”

”After all, the bravest, most responsible, most honorable people in this country have died with the castle. My master, Queen Calanthe, also jumped from the castle. If I gave up, surrendered, how would they feel?”

”I must resist! No matter the cost! No matter the outcome!”

”Even if the damage I can cause to the Niflgaardians seems laughable to them, I must do it. This is my duty as a Sintra person!”

”Lincoln will hand over this journal to you, and I boldly request you to publish this chronicle of what has been seen and heard since the start of the war to the North, to the whole world. This is what the Niflgaardians have committed!”

”Trust me, Master Lann. Only in these views do I believe I have greater insight than you and your companions.”

”Maybe in your eyes, the Niflgaardians’ crimes are as glaring and undeniable as ink on white paper. But in the eyes of the kings in the North, in their courts, it’s just an event occurring thousands of miles away.”

”I have seen too much in the court, really too much. A farmer from the countryside couldn’t bear the harsh treatment of the lord, so he came before the throne, weeping and complaining bitterly.”

”He thought the harm he suffered was an undeniable fact, but in reality? The lord didn’t even need to be present; they could easily hire a few eloquent legal workers to turn black into white, portraying the oppressed farmer as a dangerous person intending to spark rebellion in the territory.”

”This war, the trend in the courts of various countries will be the same, it’s nothing new. I understand, I understand it all. I can even imagine that the reason for the failed battle of Sodden might have been disunity. Not everyone wanted to come to Sintra’s aid.”

”And precisely because I understand, I must send these records out. I have to ensure that the diplomatic offensive and propaganda tactics of the Niflgaard people are thwarted; I cannot let them hold the right to explain the causes and processes of this war!”

”Otherwise, those who have already died, those who fought to the death... how will they be described in the future? How will this war be depicted?”

”Does the invaded have no right to retain their moral justification in their resistance?”

”I cannot accept such a future, therefore... I made a decision!”

”This decision is both crazy and cold-blooded, and every moment since I made it, I feel immense fear of myself, even waking up in terror at night.”

”I am very uneasy, Master Lann. Because I am neither a wise man nor have I ever truly participated in national affairs; I am merely a steward managing affairs in the court. Yet at this moment of crisis, I can only try my best to do what I think is right.”

”The refugee group cannot survive, so at least I should let them die with value! I will lead them to die at the border and try to inflict as much damage on the Niflgaardians as possible. Plots, strategies... I will do everything I can!”

”I want to find a stage to showcase their sacrifice to the world! The roar and sorrow before death should not be buried silently at the hands of the Niflgaard people!”

”It wasn’t easy to make this decision, Master Lann. Because the enraged Niflgaard people will surely use the most brutal means to execute us, this makes my conscience uneasy, but there is no other way. After all, this is war.”

”So I can only pray to the gods again, day and night. Pray that they only punish my soul.”

”The sixty warriors I’ve dispatched, each one is a good lad. They have more hope of surviving than others, so I let them follow you, while I will lead the refugee group ostentatiously forward, attracting attention. I hope you don’t mind.”

”Originally Stuart should have been among them, but to my mixed feelings of relief and sorrow, after learning of my plan, he decided to join me. He was a polite and cheerful boy, but he hasn’t been smiling much lately, which is my failure as a father.”

”What needs to be explained to you and your companions has been said in this letter. It’s shameful to say that it’s a commission for you, but with my current financial capability and non-existent status, I really have nothing to give you three masters. There’s only a small gift at the last page of the notebook.”

”So though I call it a commission, it wouldn’t hurt to treat it as an entrustment from a friend, would it? I don’t know if I have the right to be friends with the masters, I hope this is not just my wishful thinking.”

”I apologize once again for letting you see, feel the unbearable side of the Sintra people. But please don’t blame those poor refugees. We are all just mortals, hesitating and doubtful, in this war... Stuart and I are just slightly braver than they are, that’s all.”

”Sintra people aren’t that bad, the ’roars and sorrows before death’ I anticipate are also to awaken more of them... We Sintra people are indeed very brave.”

”How strange, in the peaceful prosperous days before, I seemed to have never cared much about them, but after living through these days, I realized that we are actually the same.”

”Ha, if Her Majesty the Queen knew I called myself a ’brave man’, she would surely laugh at me, wouldn’t she? In her eyes, I have never been a standard good Sintra man. But who cares about her? She can’t laugh at me anymore now.”

”Farewell, Master Lann. Farewell, my old friend, Geralt. Farewell, Master Ged, Dandelion. And also...”

”Farewell, Little Ciri. I watched your mother be born, grow up, get married, and then have you. I took care of three generations of the Royal Family. I thought I could still take care of you until your marriage...”

”I only hope that in the last moments we met, you weren’t frightened by the smile on my face.”

The letter ends with the handwritten signatures of Hacksaw and Stuart, along with a seal.

They earnestly stated in the final attachment the actions of the Demon Hunter among the refugee group and strenuously refuted all market slanders and discrimination against the Demon Hunter.

Claiming that they ’never encountered more humane people than the three Demon Hunter masters.’

Lann closed the letter indifferently and opened the last page of the notebook.

There was printed a shield emblem of Sintra, a lion crest on a blue background.

The emblem was intricate and exquisite, and on the printed position of the emblem were written some formal statements.

’To commend the virtues, honor, and loyalty to the Royal Family you have demonstrated, I, Calanthe, the Sintra Queen recognized by the gods, by my power and privilege, hereby knight you. Serve us loyally. Accept this sword, and suffer no more.’

And the name of the knighted person was marked at the bottom—

Lann of Sintra.