After entering through the big wooden double-doors, a big entrance hall came into sight, that seemed to be repurposed as a dining hall. There were a dozen tables, each one were big enough for 10 people to sit down. On the ceiling hang 4 chandeliers, but all the candles were burnt down. After a closer inspection, the room seemed to be rather neglected. In every corner spiders build big webs to hunt for their prey, the dust gathered on every surface, the wooden tables and benches seemed brittle to the point of collapsing. The color of the paintings on the wall were faded. The wall around the fire place was covered in ash and soot. As Geralt noticed Ainz looking around, he said in a somewhat ashamed tone
"I am sorry. I wasn´t expecting guests."
"It´s OK. It is our own fault for coming unannounced."
Grateful for Ainz sympathy, Geralt led the three of them to the only clean table, right next to the fire place. The benches creaked loud as they sat down.
"I´m sorry, but there is not much I can offer you. I fear the only things I have are a few bottles of spirits and dried meat."
As Geralt was about to put some cups on the table, he startled in front of Ainz
"I´m not sure, would it be polite or impolite to offer you something to drink?"
"Please don´t mind me, there is no need to prepare a drink for me."
"And what about him?"
He pointed at Mare
"I´m not familiar with elven laws. I know he is probably older than he looks, but is he allowed to drink alcohol?"
"Please not. He is still a child."
"Wait a minute."
Before Geralt could continue, he was interrupted by Leinas.
"What do you mean, he?"
"What´s there to not understand? Mare is a boy, so obviously I would refer to him has ´he´."
Leinas seemed confused, but decided to stay put.
"That leaves the two of us."
He put a cup in front of Leinas. The liquid he poured into the glass was as clear as water. After he finished filling her cup, he proceeded with his own. Once finished, he gulped the whole helping in one go and immediately grabbed the bottle to refill. Leinas thought nothing of it and grabbed the cup. After the first gulp she suddenly coughed fiercely.
"Sorry, I should have warned you. It takes a lot for us Witchers to feel the alcohol, so all the stuff here is pretty strong. Maybe you should water it down a bit."
"It´s nothing I can´t handle."
She said with tears in her eyes and a red face.
After Geralt chugged down another helping, he turned his attention to Ainz.
"So, what brings you here? It´s not like there is anything interesting nearby, only forest and mountains for miles."
"Actually, I came to look for this place."
"Really? You must be terribly bored if this place piques your interest."
"Not at all. I heard some rather interesting things about this place. Or rather its inhabitants."
Geralt, smiling as he heard that, took another gulp and answered
"So you wanted to see, if the stories are real? You wanted to take a look at the fearsome monsters, that kidnap little children to turn them into emotionless killing machines? Sorry to disappoint you, but it´s only me."
"On the contrary. I am very delighted to meet you."
"Why?"
"When I heard the stories and how nobody has seen any of you in the last decades, I assumed you were all dead. I was prepared to examine some ruins for a long time to find even a single shred of information. But to meet one of you alive is a huge stroke of luck for me. There are so many things I wanted to investigate here, but now I can simply ask you."
"So you have questions you want answers for?"
"Many."
"That fits with me. I have some questions of my own."
"How about this, we take turns in asking the other questions?"
"Sounds good."
"I will let you take the first turn."
"Thank you. May I be frank with my questions?"
"I don´t mind."
"It´s not so much you I am concerned about."
As Geralt said that, he looked at Mare a little bit worried.
"I understand. Mare, you will overlook any rudeness."
"Yes, Lord Ainz."
"Is now everything alright?"
"Yes, thank you. You said you were the king of a nation in the south. I was simply wondering why you are here in person. You don´t fit in my expectations of a noble."
"How did you imagine a noble?"
"Most nobles I have heard of are selfish, stupid, incompetent and arrogant. They don´t care about anything else than themselves. They take what they want without any considerations and are easily offended. My master told me about his encounters with nobles. That´s why I don´t like nobles, especially kings."
"To answer your question, I was simply curious. I take a certain joy in exploring places like this to seek for knowledge and experience."
"I would like to know, what happened here?"
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Well, I don´t want to be rude, but it seems this place has seen better times. The walls, the yard and the buildings are not very well maintained. You said you were here alone, but this building is meant for around 100 people. I heard stories how the Witchers were a powerful guild with many strong fighters. I just want to know how it turned out like this."
Without lifting his eyes Geralt answered with a weak and sad voice,
"What is there to tell, we were once an influential group, now we are not."
"You promised to answer."
"Yes, but it is not a very interesting story. At our peak, we counted around 90 members. The Witchers were widely known and respected. People would come from far-away places to seek our help and some of us traveled around to search for knowledge. But that changed around 400 years ago. Some of the rising nations of that time, especially the Slane Theocracy, made it their purpose to discredit us and spread rumors about us. Our back-hold in the population slowly dwindled and we became despised and feared. That alone would not have been enough to reduce us to this state. What really dealt us a blow, have been the repeating assassinations and hunts. The Theocracy were very eager to kill us. They think of us as abominations. As I was taken in by my master, there have been three Witchers here. One of them was killed before I could remember him. The second one stopped returning to the fortress, so he is probably dead, too. For the last ten years, it was only my master, who was left. Around that time, he turned me into a Witcher. I think he couldn´t stand the thought of being alone. We tried our best to keep this place in shape, but as you mentioned, it is meant for 100 people. It was impossible for only the two of us. And now, with my masters death, I am the only one left."
"I am sorry for your loss. I assure you, it was not my intention to make you remember something bad."
"It´s OK, I offered to answer the questions."
"That´s everything for my first question. Now it´s your turn again."
"What is the name of your species?"
"Why are you so interested in that?"
"It´s professional curiosity. The Witchers have collected information and knowledge of every species they encountered. I learned everything in our library, but I have never heard of someone like you. To be honest, it´s rather depressing. Not having anything about such a powerful being as you makes our whole effort look bad."
"Then allow me to help you. My species is called Overlord. Have you ever heard of them?"
"Not that I know of, but I will check the library to make sure."
"This library you mentioned, may I take a look at it?"
"I´m not sure if I should let you. It´s the fruit of the collective labor of all my ancestors. Normally, no outsider is allowed to look at it. Can I think about it for a while?"
"I won´t pressure you. It is your property. If you don´t want me to, I won´t force you. Back to the topic. I think it´s my turn again. When we met, you didn´t seemed to be afraid of me very much. Not that I want to complain. I wanted to have a friendly talk after all. But I also know, that you are professional monster hunters. Nevertheless, you seemed rather friendly. Why?"
"That´s a difficult question. First of all, we Witchers aren´t monster hunters. In fact, we don´t even like the word monster for other species."
"Why so?"
"Monster has a very negative meaning, often used to insult others or lump a whole bunch of bad creatures together. In our view, a monster is not determined by the species, but rather the actions."
"It´s not the outside that makes a monster, but the inside?"
"That´s a good way to phrase it. Furthermore, killing dangerous species is not our first choice. If possible we negotiate with intelligent species or try to drive unintelligent once away. Killing is only the last option. If you had been a minor undead with no intelligence, I would have probably fought you. But there are two points. One, you are clearly a higher undead able to reason, so that makes fighting immediately the second choice. Second you are extremely powerful, so I don´t think I would stand a chance against you. In fact, fighting you would have even reduced my surviving possibilities."
"What do you mean by that? How do you know, I am stronger than you?"
Ainz seemed to ask in a rather casual way, but on the inside, he was quite nervous.
(How can he be so sure of my strength? I made sure to check my anti-divination measures. It should be impossible to determine my strength.)
"My medallion told me."
As Geralt said that, he lifted up the pendant hanging from his neck. It was a wolf head baring it´s teeth.
"It´s a magical item that warns me in present of danger and magic. When I met you and Mare, it reacted stronger than I thought possible."
"That´s very impressive. I have never heard of an item like that. May I take a closer look?"
"Sure"
He took it off and gave it to Ainz. Ainz casted an appraisal spell on it, but seemed rather disappointing.
"That´s weird, I can´t detect any magical properties from it. How does it work?"
"The reason is probably the creation process. Every Witcher has to make it himself and use his blood in the process. That way, it can´t be used by anyone else."
"That´s very convenient. So, by the reaction of that medallion, you could tell it was a bad idea to fight me?"
"Yes"
"Now I have to know, how strong do you perceive me to be?"
"The Witchers don´t have a difficulty rating like the adventurers. We describe the difficulty by the amount of money we would demand for the contract. A goblin is worth 1 silver coin, a lesser vampire would go for around 10 gold coins."
"So, how much am I worth?"
After a brief pause in which Geralt looked at Ainz from head to toe, he said with a devious smile
"I don´t think anyone in this world has enough money for a contract like this."
Ainz nonexistend face turned into a bright smile.
"Onto my next question. Mare, a dark elf, called you his king. I have not yet figured out what your maid is, but I´m sure she isn´t human. There are several other creautures hiding in the shadows and you are accompanied by a human from the Baharuth Empire. Why?"
"That´s simple. I value diversity. In my eyes, everyone is equal, as long as he serves me. Therefore I have a lot of different species as my citizens. From the way you are talking, it seems to be to your liking."
"As long as it works."
"What do you mean by that?"
"In the past, several nations tried to achieve equallity among different species, but sooner or later they all failed. Some got destroyed by outside forces, others crumbled from within. Sometimes one of the groups feels like they deserve more. More wealth, influence, food or whatever. Then they will stage a coup d´etat. What you are doing is admirable, but the slightest error can destroy it."
"I can assure you, I do everything necessary to prevent that. That´s one of the reasons I am here today."
"How can that help?"
"The first thing necessary to maintain the peace of my nation and the security of my children is power. Without power, I couldn´t protect my country from outside forces. To be a ruler I must be strong. It is my duty to make my nation prosper. If my nation prospers, so will the citizens. When all my citizens have a good life, nobody will have reason to complain or seek revolution."
"That´s true. I hope you will achieve your goal."
"Maybe you can help?"
"If I can, I will."
"My next question might be a bit complicated. You said, your master turned you into a Witcher. How did he do that?"
"You are asking me to reveal one of our biggest secrets. Why should I tell you?"
"I can understand why you are hesitant. You don´t know me after all, so you have no reason to trust me. There is not much I can do. Just let me tell you one thing. I have no intentions of misusing that knowledge. I only want to improve my knowledge of this world and possible threats. I want to strengthen my people to help them protect themselves. I just want to know they are save."
Geralt quickly emptied another glass. He was clearly struggling. It seamed like he wanted to tell the Sorcerer King, but on the other hand, he felt guilty.
"It´s not like I don´t want to help you, but I can´t. It´s not only a secret of the Witcher Guild. This process makes us to what we are. The Witcher protected this knowledge for over 1000 years and now, it is my duty. I am the only one left. This is not only a base or a fortress, it is my home. The Witchers are the only family I have ever known. It feels like I would betray them. I know it sounds stupid to protect a place, nobody will ever return to. I never experienced our guild during its prime, but sometimes I can imagine what it must have been like. It´s hard to explain, but I have to do my best, to protect the Witchers legacy."
Ainz felt like a wave of melancholy and sorrow hit him. He remembered all the days with his friends in the guild. The way, they treated him better than any person he knew in real life. The fun they had together, building the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The heated arguments between Touch Me and Ulbert. He could see everything he experienced, as his friends slowly stopped coming back, in this young man. He knew exactly, how he felt. As his emotion suppression kicked in, he got rather annoyed.
"I know how you feel. You feel like it´s your responsibility. You hope for the good old days to return. You wish to see the guild in it´s former glory and you want to make your friends and family proud. But let me tell you this. It won´t happen. You can´t turn back time. You can´t change what happened. They will never come back. And you won´t be able to maintain this place all on your own."
The room fell dead silent. Nobody dared to speak and it seemed like time stood still.
"But there is one thing you can do. You can go forward. You can´t change the past, but you can influence your future. You told me about your master, how he raised you and cared for you, just like a father would. I´m sure he didn´t wish for you to be alone for the rest of your days, stuck in a place with an impossible task. He would like to see you happy, to see the world and life a meaningful life. You have to look for new ways. Sticking to the old rules won´t help you protect their legacy. Those were rules for a different time. You may be the last Witcher, but that also means, it is up to you, to change these rules. You can make your family proud, by renewing the Witchers."
"Maybe you are right. I will not achieve anything by following the old rules. There is nobody to oppose me, so I can change the rules like I wish. But renewing the guild? That seems like an equal impossible task."
Ainz could sense Geralt was about to give in. Now he only needed to push him over the edge, to fully convince him.
"I can help you with that. You could come under my rule, share your knowledge and abilities with me and I will do the same."
It seemed like the life came back into Geralts eyes. He looked like he couldn´t believe how lucky he was.
"If what you are saying is true, I would gladly accept and help you. But there is still one issue. What do you need my abilities for? Clearly you have much stronger subordinates like me."
"That might be true, but I don´t intend to send you to battle enemies. You could help me in a different way. I intend to send adventurers to turn the unknown into the known. For that purpose, I traveled to the empire to recruit young people, wishing to become adventurers. I want you, to teach them your abilities."
"Sure, I could do that, but I don´t think that would be very useful. It took me nearly twenty years to reach my current level of abilities. I was able to do that, because my master started my training as soon as I could walk. Older people tend to learn at a slower pace. It could take them nearly thirty years to learn the Witchers abilities."
"That problem can be easily solved. Adventurers travel in teams. They cover for each others weaknesses. They don´t have to learn everything. Everyone just learns, what they are suitable for. You would teach the front-line fighters your sword arts, the rangers your track-reading and the magic casters your knowledge on magic. They don´t have to match your abilities. I just want to prepare them with the necessary basics. After all, even a life-long training can´t replace first hand experience. How long would it take to teach them the basics?"
"Maybe if I reduced the the training to the minimum and split it up between three to four individuals... I think it would take around 1-1,5 years, depending on the individual talents."
"That seems like a reasonable time, given that many adventurers take many years to hone their skills. In return I will help you to return the guild to its former glory. First, I would like to send some of my citizens to rebuild this fortress. I can dispatch a group of dwarven craftsman and undead laborer to repair it. Until summer, it can be finished. In the next step, I would like to chop down a part of this forest to establish a village. Its only purpose would be to provide you and the adventurers with food and other needs. You would be formally under my rule, but you would govern this domain independently."
"Like a noble?"
"I know you have some aversions towards nobles, but I like to see them as the first servant of the state, responsible for the people."
"I think I would like that."
"Great. I would like to make it official, but I don´t have the paperwork with me. I will send one of my servants to do this."
Geralt stood up and and held out his hand to Ainz. He now had a happy expression and his eyes sparkled with hope.
"I am very grateful for your offer. I will gladly accept."
Ainz shook his hand and replied
"I think this will be a huge success for the both of us."
"I think I was wrong about your kind."
"You have changed your opinion on undead?"
"No,... On kings."
Mare seemed to be very happy how this person started to admire his master. Leinas was perplexed and couldn´t really think at all. Ainz appeared to be calm on the outside, but on the inside he was celebrating and thankful for this stroke of luck.
"I am sorry, but I would like to return to my previous question."
"Of course, you are right. I will explain it to you, but I think it will be easier to do so in the lab. There I can show you the necessary materials. On this occasion I will show you around and explain the other parts of the fortress. But before we start, can I ask one last question?"
"Sure"
He pointed at Leinas and asked
"Why did you bring a cursed woman with you?"