Chapter 419: Taking the Kestral Pass
A month later, the trusted retainer sent by the noble returned to the Kestral Pass, bringing a verbal message from the Duke:
The Duke would personally come to the noble's room tomorrow night for a detailed conversation.
"What? Did the Duke really say that?"
"Yes, Your Lordship."
The noble felt no joy whatsoever. He simply could not imagine how the other party intended to infiltrate this heavily guarded checkpoint.
At the same time, a surge of anxiety and worry overwhelmed him. If the other party were discovered while infiltrating the pass, he, who intended to defect, would also be implicated and suffer the consequences.
At this moment, the noble couldn't help but wonder if he had made a mistake in deciding to defect to the other side. His original plan was for them to communicate secretly via letters first. Once they had negotiated sufficiently—ideally, after the next rotation of nobles arrived to take over—the Duke could then pretend to be a merchant or traveler, pass through the Kestral Pass, and meet him on his own territory.
That would have been foolproof. After all, the Kestral Pass wasn't his to command alone; there were four other nobles present.
The noble paced anxiously in his room. He asked his retainer again if the Duke had mentioned the method he intended to use to enter the pass. The answer was that the Duke had not said.
The noble, resigned, could only guess that the Duke would likely traverse the Kestral Mountains via the small mountain trail used by his retainers. Since the Duke said he would meet him tomorrow night, he might already be on the Kestral Mountains.
The noble had no choice but to dispatch a portion of his soldiers to patrol the vicinity below the mountain, hoping to intercept the Duke. If they encountered the subordinates of the other nobles, they would use the excuse of preventing enemy spies from using the small mountain trail.
The noble knew this was a clumsy excuse, as the hunter's trail was extremely difficult to traverse. Forget about a large army; even a small group could easily slip and fall. Only his retainers, being mountain folk with agile footing, could move freely on the small trail.
Time quickly moved on to the night of the second day.
The noble was restless in his room. At this moment, a retainer pushed the door open and entered.
The noble immediately rushed forward, his face full of anxiety. "How is it? Any news?"
The retainer shook his head.
The noble walked to the window and looked out. Inside the pass under the cover of night, most areas were pitch black, except for the city walls and a few other locations.
"Could it be that the Duke isn't planning to take the small mountain trail but intends to climb the pass wall at this time?"
"No, no, no, how is that possible? Even at night, the number of patrols is not small. How could he enter the pass without alerting anyone?"
"He's already inside." The noble heard an unfamiliar voice suddenly speak behind him. Startled, he turned around and discovered that the retainer who had reported to him earlier had somehow transformed into a stranger—a young man.
The noble heard the young man say, "I am Lynn Augustus. It is an honor to be a guest at the Kestral Pass."
"You—you—you—you—"
The noble was so shocked he nearly fell to the floor. "Is this magic? Or something else?"
"Just a small trick, nothing worth mentioning." Lynn, of course, had no need to tell the noble that he had used the Amulet of Deception to transform into one of his retainers and followed the noble's other unaware retainers into the pass.
"Now, let's talk."
The witcher made the sign for the Axii magic Sign. The look of surprise on the noble's face instantly turned vacant. While the noble was under the influence of the master-level Axii Sign, Lynn quickly asked a few questions.
One minute later.
"I see. Alright, I understand."
Snap!
Lynn snapped his fingers.
The noble woke up, but he didn't remember being hypnotized. He only recalled feeling mentally fuzzy for a moment.
"The night is still long. Let's talk."
Before the light of dawn broke on the horizon, Lynn walked out of the noble's room. Under the cover of darkness, he easily evaded the patrols and entered the Kestral Mountains.
The objective of his solitary trip had been achieved: the noble was willing to swear fealty to Lynn and become Lynn's inside contact, reporting the situation within the Kestral Pass and the whole of Ispaden.
Lynn also gave him a guarantee: as long as he, his family, and his descendants remained loyal to Lynn and never betrayed him, Lynn would protect his title, territory, and interests from infringement by others.
None of this was the effect of magic. Lynn casting the Axii Sign on him was not to plant a suggestion—not because he didn't want to, but because even a sorcerer's charm magic could be easily broken, and breaking it would cause unnecessary trouble. He had personally come to the Kestral Pass and used the Axii Sign only to verify the noble's sincerity.
Over the next two years, Lynn repeated this method. He successfully and secretly won over a small portion of the nobility. At this point, it could be confirmed that approximately one-quarter of the nobles in the entire Free Duchy of Ispaden were willing to swear allegiance to Lynn.
Interestingly, all of these one-quarter of nobles were those whose territories the Kovir caravans had to pass through. Even more interestingly, they were willing to give Lynn thirty percent of the collected tolls as a token of respect.
Lynn had verified all these nobles with the Axii Sign; their decision to defect was genuinely heartfelt. Should Lynn lead his army to attack the Free Duchy of Ispaden one day, they would surely respond from within.
Besides winning over the Ispaden nobles, Lynn had done many other things:
In Novigrad, since taking over the territory of King Hosean I, Lynn's influence, both overt and covert, had surpassed that of the Cleaver's gang and the Redanian Razors. After taking control of the City Hall, Novigrad could essentially be considered Lynn's private property.
Afterward, Lynn visited the Cleaver's gang and the Redanian Razors, declared himself the true master of Novigrad, and offered them each an irresistible proposition. Subsequently, the Cleaver's gang and the Redanian Razors joined Lynn's sphere of influence as allies.
Of course, calling them allies was essentially equivalent to being vassals. However, Lynn, their suzerain, was exceptionally generous and benevolent. Not only would he not use them as cannon fodder, but he also guaranteed that their territories would remain untouched. He only required them to surrender ten percent of their income to him.
The reason he only demanded this ten percent and no more was that Lynn had no intention of stealing from their plates. This ten percent was merely symbolic, representing his status as their suzerain and serving as a class distinction, nothing more.
However, Lynn not demanding excessive tribute did not mean he had no other requirements.
First, while they could continue the financial activities (collecting protection fees) and smuggling they had previously engaged in on their turf, Lynn prohibited them from trafficking Fisstech (a narcotic), not even one gram, even on their own territory.
Second, if any suspicious persons or situations arose in their territories, they must immediately report to Lynn's faction.
Finally, and most importantly, if external forces invaded or infiltrated Novigrad, Lynn demanded they stand with him and drive the foreign forces out.
Lynn seemingly made a major compromise, but this was not the case. The situation with the Cleaver's gang and the Redanian Razors was somewhat unique. The Razors' territory was populated by peddlers and laborers. The Cleaver's gang's territory was entirely inhabited by non-humans, who were naturally suspicious of humans. Forcibly taking over their territories would likely lead to strikes, friction, and conflicts, which would be more troublesome. It was better to let them continue managing their own areas.
Furthermore, Lynn's faction was now the largest in Novigrad; the combined territories of the Razors and the Cleaver's gang were smaller than his. Novigrad was still primarily under his control. Once his influence grew larger and stronger, would the Razors and the Cleaver's gang dare to be insolent? Some things would happen eventually, so there was no need to rush into things. He would take it step by step.
In addition to Novigrad, Lynn also sent the Syndicate, under the guise of the Novigrad Merchant Guild, back to the former Kingdom of Nazair, now the Nilfgaardian Province of Nazair.
Lynn instructed them to secretly engage in espionage activities and establish and develop an underground network there. The Syndicate had been Nazair's national intelligence organization, so returning to Nazair was like returning home.
Although the last great uprising in Nazair, in which the Syndicate participated, ended badly for the local commoners and led to numerous massacres by Nilfgaard, life in Nazair had not improved since then. Like other conquered regions, Nazair was nominally part of the Empire, a Nilfgaardian province. In reality, it was merely a colony of the City of the Golden Towers.
If Lynn were a native of this era, he might be as puzzled as others, not understanding why the Nilfgaardians operated this way. However, having come from another world and having received a higher education and experienced the harsh realities of society, he was not surprised by Nilfgaard's tactics.
It was not complicated. As a country rife with militarism and constant foreign expansion, it was absolutely impossible for Nilfgaard to allow conquered territories to become self-sufficient.
One reason was that the Empire needed to acquire soldiers from these conquered regions. If there were better options than becoming a soldier, who would enlist?
The other reason was that the Empire needed these conquered regions to remain poor. This way, these areas would continue to supply cheap labor and raw materials to the City of the Golden Towers. Even though Nilfgaard legalized slavery, the vast Empire still needed people to work everywhere, especially in its various workshops.
After the First Northern War in the original story, Nilfgaard flooded the markets of the Northern Kingdoms with cheap handicrafts, intending to destroy their local industries. Of course, Temeria and Redania responded by raising tariffs to prevent the influx of Nilfgaardian goods (this is also mentioned in Chapter 5 of the third novel).
Conquered regions were treated like colonies, relentlessly bleeding resources into the City of the Golden Towers, and naturally, the local populace was full of resentment. In the past, they had no choice. Their only options were to join the Nilfgaardian army, achieve merit, and return home with a retirement fund, or if they fared well, perhaps develop their careers in the City of the Golden Towers. Regardless, their homeland would only continue to decline.
But now, Lynn was giving them a choice—an opportunity to fight to drive out the Nilfgaardian invaders and restore Nazair's glory.
Of course, there were bound to be a few soft-kneed traitors among the Nazairians who wanted to serve the Nilfgaardians. But as a former national intelligence organization, now reformed and developed in Novigrad, Lynn trusted that Derek still had the ability to discern and employ the right people.
Finally, concerning Lynn personally:
The relocation of Aretuza Academy to the Hengfors Duchy proceeded more smoothly than anticipated. Thanks to magic, nearly everything in the academy could be packed up and taken away. The only exception was the tallest building on the island, Tor Lara, or the Tower of the Gulls. This was one of the structures left behind on Thanedd Island when the Aen Seidhe elves were powerful and prosperous, before humans ever landed on the continent. The tower concealed a portal (one of many) the elves had used to arrive in this world. However, this portal was quickly abandoned and remained so to this day. The original works mentioned that even Vilgefortz might not be able to activate the Tor Lara portal.
However, it was still a potential threat. Therefore, after all the students had boarded the ships provided by Lynn, Tissaia, the last to leave Thanedd Island, used magic to destroy the Tower of the Gulls, reducing it to a pile of perfectly symmetrical ruins when viewed from above.
After Aretuza Academy's collective relocation to the Hengfors Duchy, whenever Lynn had leisure time, he would go to Aretuza for lessons. Of course, he didn't attend classes with the female students. Instead, Margarita taught him privately, and he sought to learn orthodox magical theoretical knowledge.
Since learning the Griffin Meditation Technique from the most magically proficient members of the School of the Griffin, the power of his Signs had not advanced further. He was naturally not content with this. A child makes choices, but he chose to have both magic and physical strength.
Therefore, a long time ago, Lynn had a hypothesis: if he seriously studied magic, even if he couldn't ultimately master it, would simply learning the theoretical knowledge systematically help improve the power of his Signs?
For example, the Igni Sign belongs to the Pyromancy school. If he were to study fire magic within the school of Evocation, could it potentially aid in casting the Igni Sign?
Similarly, the Quen Sign belongs to the school of Protection. If he were to study defensive magic, perhaps it could increase the strength and range of the Quen Shield.
In short, although the system interface bound to him was labeled as a witcher's exclusive panel, not a sorcerer's panel, how would he know if he could exploit a bug without trying? Since it didn't cost him anything, he might as well try.