Chapter 50: The King of Lyria Message
A stinking wooden board—that is, the inn sign—was nailed against the wall, groaning in the wind and swaying back and forth.
The letters on it were not only crooked, but also illegible after the rain and wind of years.
Of course, nobody bothered what the name of the inn was.
The innkeeper had already been waiting at the door for quite a while. When he spotted the caravan approaching, he greeted them immediately with a smile.
And he also called some people from the store to help take care of the horses.
The inn did not have enough manpower.
Lynn and the others waited in the lobby on the first floor for a long time before the food was finally served.
Well, the inn's chef was really awful. He did nothing but heat the food. Don't even hope for it to taste good.
But no one cared so much about being able to eat warm food in such a remote wilderness.
There was not even a whisper of voices in the lobby on the first floor for a while, only the crunching noise.
Though the chef's skill was not that high, the boss himself was very attentive.
When everyone was still being served, he hurried to warm up bath water.
Nevertheless, given the crowd that was inside the caravan, there wasn't much they could do except take turns washing up.
Istrad, as the paying customer, naturally was the first one to go through this treatment.
Later on, Lynn and Geralt.
The efforts of the two on their way had already gained the admiration of others, and everybody was willing to wait for a while longer.
While Lynn and Geralt went to take a warm bath, Istrad, having washed himself already, began assigning duties to his men.
He left three men to clear the stables and guard the horses and the goods in the carriages.
Although he did not think the innkeeper and his men would be idiotic enough to steal guests' trunks.
Better safe than sorry.
Having bathed hot and cozy, Lynn, having been on the road all day since he got off the boat, was tired.
So after saying good night to Geralt, he went into his room, climbed onto the bed, and slept.
He was unaware of the length of his time sleeping.
As Lynn awakened, he had a feeling that he would rise to the window and see sunshine streaming onto the room.
This was not to be. Nothing but pitch black met his view.
After being certain that he was not dreaming, Lynn emerged from bed.
He moved toward the window and looked out.
Outside the window was completely still.
It was as if the whole world was just this small inn.
Then Lynn's gaze moved downwards, from a distance to close to the inn.
When he entered the inn, he had consciously observed the location of the stable.
And the stable was where the caravan's carriages were parked.
But strangely enough, Lynn saw nothing.
He could only see black as coal.
Why didn't the three men Istrad left to guard the carriages have light torches?
No one had been willing to hide in the dark.
Torches not only served to scare wild animals and generate heat, but most importantly, they would give people a sense of security.
But then, the torches in the stable had all been extinguished.
This was to mean something dreadful is going on.
Hardly at the same time when the alarm bell was sounding, he heard an odd weird sound.
It was very slight and from above Lynn's head.
It was a sound like the wood of the beam was decaying due to years of decay.
But Lynn intervened and rushed to the bed, throwing Gwyhyr, which he had been given by Mahakam, and the scabbard in the direction of the strange noise above his head.
A black shadow fell from the beam and fell heavily on the floor of the room.
And because of the incorrect falling position, his right leg was bent into a very unnatural twisted position with a click.
It was awful to behold.
The man was shrieking with agony.
Lynn could not usually stand to hear other humans shriek.
So he hired Gwyhyr to slit the man's throat.
Watching him struggle to breathe in the blood gushing from his throat.
There were noises of battle and bellowing too outside at this point.
At the same time, a tall knight over two meters tall, wearing complete heavy armor, with an enormous sword in hand, stood in Istrad's chamber.
The man in the bed pulled the quilt over his face, so he could not look at his face.
But beneath the raised form of the quilt, there was a form of a body that rested in the bed.
Beneath the high helmet, from under the bulk helmet, a high knight exhaled a scornful laugh: "Only children like to take shelter under the quilt."
And then he coldbloodedly raised the sword and hewed down.
The great sword sliced the quilt and the board below the quilt in two.
But no scream and no blood.
The feeling of the massivesword whiplashing down was also incorrect.
The big knight stepped forward with caution and violently tore the quilt off.
Only then did he get a glimpse of that under the quilt, which was not a body but a pillow-stuffed shape trying to disguise itself.
And at that moment, the cabinet in the room suddenly swung open, and Istrad dashed out with a dagger grasped in his hand.
But the great knight reacted even faster.
He violently shook his hand, and the iron glove shoved the dagger away from Istrad's hand.
And then he crushed down on Istrad's throat and scooped up Istrad as if he was handling a chicken.
He grinned and grunted muffled.
"The King of Lyria told me to pass on a message to you, Istrad. He wanted you to greet that old fellow Baldwin when you meet him."
Seeing Istrad wrack his brains in vain upon hearing the mention of the King of Lyria and Baldwin, the tall knight was extremely delighted.
The Lyrian King to whom the tall knight was dedicated was the plotter behind the "Poviss Split" and captured control of the divided Kingdom of Poviss as a result.
And as for Baldwin, Baldwin Tyssen was the man, and the father of Istrad.
During Baldwin's time as King of Kovir, he not only did not stave off the splitting of Poviss, but in Kovir a revolt arose.
Thus, the Tyssen family were forced to flee Kovir.
By the way, King Idi, who became the king of Kovir afterwards, almost beheaded Geralt.
Just because Geralt killed a two-headed snake monster that frightened the citizens, but was slandered as a "quack, senseless killer, and scavenger" by Kovir's advisor, the wizard Stregobor and Xaverius when he collected the reward.
Sadly, King Idi believed their lies for facts and not only did not give Geralt a single penny, but also did not allow Geralt to leave Kovir in twelve hours.
Anyone who had the common sense knew that although the territory of the Northern Kingdoms was small, it was not that small that they could reach the border from the royal city within twelve hours.
And lastly, it was King Idi's hourglass that broke, and Geralt barely managed to get out alive.
And for that matter, following his eviction from Kovir, Baldwin never had the chance to make a comeback.
For he died suddenly on his way out.
After the Tyssen family fled into the Duchy of Tretogor in a state of panic, the King of Lyria did not take it lying down.
He knew very well that since he was able to topple the Tyssen family, the Tyssen family could topple his rule one day.
Therefore, the King of Lyria had always dispatched spies to the Duchy of Tretogor.
It was precisely for this reason that he was able to properly understand the time when Istrad returned to Tretogor and set up an ambush at this country inn in advance.
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