Witcher: Master Kiliman’s Grand Ambitions-Chapter 47: Vizima Desperately Needs a Witcher

Kiriman stayed at the Night House for three days, and the Night House remained closed for business during those three days.
The three vampire beauties who had benefited from his presence grew quite fond of him.
His soul advancement was imminent.
Though staying at the Night House was enjoyable with various premium wines and gourmet food provided free of charge, and the three vampire beauties never let him spend any money—essentially giving him free enjoyment—the consumption of soul energy was inevitable.
To protect his fundamental source of strength, Kiriman resisted the temptation of beautiful women and resolutely chose to leave.
Before his departure, the Queen of the Night appeared once more.
This enchanting and dignified higher vampire beauty told the witcher in a meaningful yet seductive tone that the Night House would temporarily cease operations, and the three vampire beauties would enter dormancy for a while, but they would always welcome his return.
When the time came, she, this higher vampire, would also like to taste what the witcher had to offer.
Kiriman understood the implications and recognized the temptation clearly.
But he believed that with his current first-tier soul level, there was likely still a significant gap between him and a higher vampire.
If they were to cultivate together now, while he might gain tremendous benefits, there was also the risk of suffering damage due to the vast difference in soul levels.
He planned to wait for a month, until after completing his soul advancement, before testing the Queen of the Night.
Moreover, if possible, he hoped to establish a connection with this Queen of the Night through this relationship and form some kind of cooperative partnership.
Higher vampires ranked among the top-tier combat forces in the witcher's world. Though they weren't as versatile and adaptable as sorceresses, nor as mysteriously elusive as certain magical creatures, their physical strength and recovery speed were astonishingly formidable. Even when facing an entire army's encirclement, a higher vampire could slaughter hundreds of soldiers and depart unscathed.
After leaving the Night House, Kiriman's first visit was to the medical student Shani.
The red-haired girl was currently working at the Temple of Meritalle, assisting the nuns there in treating plague patients and documenting various changes during the epidemic.
She had adapted quite well, though her current work kept her quite busy, leaving her no time to venture into the swamp depths to search for the special greater celandine flowers there. This mission would have to be postponed for now.
Caroline and Alvin were getting along well with her too. According to Shani, Caroline's cooking skills were excellent, even comparable to chefs at some inns and hotels, particularly skilled at making stews and jam pancakes.
Alvin was currently learning to read. The young boy was very clever and diligent, and Shani believed it wouldn't be long before they could adapt to life in Vizima city.
Kiriman was quite satisfied with this situation. He hoped the three could continue living such low-profile and stable lives without getting dragged into dangerous troubles.
After leaving the Temple of Meritalle, he chose to go to the square where the city hall was located.
Truthfully, as a witcher, this should have been his first destination upon arrival.
Most contracts requiring witchers, emergency notices, and special intelligence exchanges were posted on the bulletin board at the city hall.
This was a place that mercenaries, witchers, and merchants living in the city had to pay attention to.
Of course, a witcher like Kiriman who didn't lack money wasn't particularly concerned about those cheap contracts.
The meager earnings from most contracts couldn't even cover the cost of one bottle of premium red wine he enjoyed for free at the Night House.
However, currently lacking the soul energy needed for his advancement, he decided not to take a boat to the dirty, muddy Vizima swamp. Instead, he planned to look around the city for any hidden monsters he could harvest.
But what he discovered shocked him.
Perhaps because no witcher had visited Vizima city for several years, the square's bulletin board had accumulated over a dozen monster-hunting contracts specifically for witchers.
Several of them had been posted so long ago that the employers might have already been killed by monsters, making them invalid and dilapidated.
The others included long-term monster-hunting contracts posted by the city guard and various private employment requests, all in significant numbers.
Kiriman immediately spotted several familiar names among them:
Royal advisor Triss, royal advisor Keira, wealthy port merchant Radovid, and alchemist Kalkstein.
There was even one posted by Mayor Velerad on behalf of the Temerian royal family—a request seeking extraordinary individuals to completely eradicate the striga curse from Princess Adda.
Seeing these familiar names, Kiriman immediately became interested and began carefully reading the notices on the bulletin board.
Coming to the witcher's world, besides killing and intimate encounters while striving to become stronger, interacting with those familiar characters from the original game was one of his greatest pleasures.
Completing their contracts provided the best opportunity for friendly contact between the witcher and these figures.
After careful reading, Kiriman discovered:
The contracts posted by Triss and Keira both related to the Catriona plague, which was likely the most pressing issue currently facing the Temerian royal advisors, concerning the lives of numerous commoners.
The former, Triss, believed the outbreak of Catriona plague was related to magical fluctuations and local climate conditions. She planned to hire a team of mercenaries to protect her while she conducted field investigations in villages where the plague first emerged.
The latter, Keira, believed the plague's rampant spread in the north was likely connected to legendary plague maidens. It was precisely because of these powerful spectral monsters that the Catriona plague could break through the sorcerers' multiple barriers and continuously spread across major cities.
Thus, Keira intended to hire several experts to help her capture a plague maiden alive for research purposes.
As for alchemist Kalkstein—
The former vice-president of Ban Ard Academy of Magic, the greatest alchemist, diviner, chemist, and scientist of this century—
He seemed to have already begun researching exorcism talismans to repel monsters and protect commoners from harm.
His current research subjects were the most common water wraiths found in the wild.
Therefore, Kalkstein's contract requested a long-term supply of fresh water wraith brains—more than ten per week, continuing for three months or longer, possibly half a year or even a full year.
This task would be both dangerous and troublesome for ordinary people, with relatively low compensation.
But for Kiriman, who possessed storage space that could freeze items in time, it was practically a tailor-made contract.
As long as he hunted enough water wraiths in one go and met with the alchemist once a week, he could continuously receive sufficient compensation from this master alchemist while building a good relationship with this master-level figure.
Future improvements to witcher potions and witcher mutation formulas might very well require the expertise of this master alchemist.