Chapter 682: Orthopedic King
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
All in all, Olivia’s legendary life and the various stories written by the people, had portrayed the “Pearl of the Northern Kingdoms” Princess of Cintra, Olivia in a legendary light. Many had once thought that she would succ.u.mb to her ill-fated as a collateral of war. On the contrary, she was now living a life, better than ever…
Many thought that a beauty like Olivia would definitely become a prost.i.tute after the fall of her kingdom. If not, she could join the harem of the Southern Nilfgaardian Emperor. After all, there were rumors that the Emperor had declared war to capture the beauty.
This rumor started from the Emperor’s orders to not hurt Olivia and Cirilla. The two Princesses of Cintra had to be brought back alive.
To many, Princess Cirilla was just an extra. She was just a tool used to conceal the Emperor’s actual intentions…
However, the “Pearl of the Northern Kingdoms” – Princess Olivia had risen above and beyond everyone’s expectations. Who could have seen her being adopted by The Geralt of Rivia and gain the trust of the entire School of the Wolf. On top of that, she had acquired Kaer Morhen as a base of operations and the witchers of the Wolf as her lieutenants. If this was not an ill.u.s.trious career, what was?
Now, Kaer Morhen was a mighty neutral force. Its daunting combat effectiveness, magical advancements, and technology were all ahead of its time. Almost all of its commodities had monopolized their respective fields. Demand for their products often outpaced them.
Olivia may have introduced herself to the world as a highly capable leader, but she had cleverly kept her sorceress side hidden. This had left many wondering cluelessly about the origin of the many strange magical inventions from Kaer Morhen.
They could only draw a line towards the esteemed sorceress, “Fourteenth of the Hill” Triss. Once again, she was at the center of attention. Many other sorceresses were drawn to Kaer Morhen, initially barren, desolate, and uninhabitable.
Now, Kaer Morhen was gradually becoming a bustling Free City in the North. It was not only prosperous, but also clean, tidy, and beautiful. If some found Novigrad unpleasant to the eyes and nose, it was most probably due to the poorer, neglected districts; they would find no such thing in Kaer Morhen. To be precise, those who could afford a place in that city had to either be highly talented, or highly wealthy.
The war between the Nilfgaardian Empire and the Northern Realms had implicitly played a significant role in the rapid growth of Kaer Morhen.
Olivia’s Kaer Morhen never spoke of liberal democracy. It lived off the sails of blatant elitism. At least every child had the rights to education. Their destiny was in their hands. The knowledge was there, it all depended on their personal effort.
Such autocracy was still better than the monarchy of all the other kingdoms on the continent.
Olivia took the initiative to approach Prince Kistrin. The prince was flattered but worried. Olivia, the youngest Princess of Cintra was once his equal, the Prince of Verden. Now, Princess Olivia who had risen from the ashes towered over a little Prince of a small kingdom like him.
Olivia even had the foothold to negotiate with the leaders of various huge kingdoms, such as the Nilfgaardian Empire in the South and with King Foltest of Temeria in the Northern Realms.
King Foltest was more than a match for Emperor Emhyr. He was not the leader card in the Northern Realms deck in Gwent for nothing.
Emperor Emhyr’s “fatherly love is like a mountain” idea remained unfulfilled in the end, while King Foltest’s “orthopedic”[1] dream had already been realized. There was even one particular Gwent card of his where he was quoted as saying —- —- “It is natural and pure for a man to love his sister.”
This was simply an “orthopedic” declaring his interests openly. No, it was not even a declaration. He had already carried out the act long ago.
When Foltest was a prince, his private life was already messed up as it was. He fell in love with his sister, Princess Adda of Temeria. After the death of the old King Medell, Foltest took his place. Then, he made his sister Adda pregnant.
As Foltest wanted to marry his own sister and make her his queen, Foltest broke off the engagement with Princess Dalimira, who was the daughter of King Vizmir II of Redania. His mother, Sancia and the n.o.bles of Temeria were greatly displeased.
Later, Adda gave birth to a child. However, it was rumored that the child was cursed. The child died shortly after birth, and Adda quickly followed due to dystocia.
Foltest placed the two of them in a single sarcophagus and buried them in the catacomb beneath the Temeria castle.
Throughout the seven years after the funeral took place, everything was peaceful, up until one night when there was a full moon. The palace was filled with screams of horror; it was a mess.
The dead baby grew inside the sarcophagus and became a Striga[2].
This beast was a significant threat to all the citizens living nearby. It hunted the innocent at night.
Foltest decided to offer a handsome reward to the one who slays the beast a big reward, but no one ever succeeded.
One day, a bald clown wearing a pointed hat and a hunchbacked hermit had declared, “This is a curse. If the curse is lifted, the Striga would revert into Foltest’s little daughter, looking as beautiful as ever. As long as you stay in the catacomb for a night, the whole world would be at peace.”
This made Foltest believe that the curse could be lifted. So, he soon released an edict that banned people from killing the Striga.
However, powerful sorcerer after sorcerer could not lift the curse. Instead, they served as meals for the beast.
At the same time, the reward for killing Striga was raised to 3,000 Oren. After this, a few more years pa.s.sed and the monster killed 50 people each year. Due to this, Foltest was forced to build a new palace elsewhere…
Even now, the curse had still not been lifted. Now that the White Wolf Geralt was gaining more and more fame, Geralt naturally received a witcher quest from King Foltest of Temeria.
At that moment, Geralt was certainly not lacking in terms of money. However, for him, hunting monsters and lifting curses had turned into second nature. They were now a past time activity. This was just like hunting to fill one’s belly. In modern times, hunting had turned into a sport…
Naturally, Geralt became highly interested in lifting this curse. As Geralt belonged to Olivia’s division, she too received this “witcher quest.” Someday, when she pays a visit to Vizima, she could easily finish that quest in pa.s.sing.
“Kistrin, maybe we can work together,” Olivia said in a bold, declarative voice.
Translation note :
[1] “Orthopedic” (骨科) (full: German Orthopedic (德国骨科)) is a Chinese internet slang. In 2012, a post on Weibo went viral as the person who posted it complained about how his father broke his leg when his father found out that he was having illicit s.e.xual relations with his own biological sister. Following that, he went to Germany to treat his broken leg. So, this Chinese internet slang is usually used to refer to incest between brother and sister and also is also often used to tease people with brother or sister complexes.
[2] A striga (Polish: strzyga) is a woman transformed into a monster by a curse. She is filled with hatred towards all living beings, devouring them without a second thought. She only comes out on a full moon to hunt, fighting with incredible speed and strength.