The Divine Hunter

The next day, the teacher presiding over the morning training was replaced by another swearing, short-tempered man with a mountain-shaped hairline.

Monty, a newcomer, still performed poorly in training, so he was taunted by Lambert's violent storm. For an hour and a half, his vicious mouth did not rest for more than five seconds from beginning to end.

The strong little boy almost didn't cry.

But after breakfast, another big happy event happened.

Two other children joined the Gawain House.

A boy was tall and thin, wearing a black jacket with holes everywhere.

Cloth shoes with exposed big toes.

Hair and eyes are also black.

Tension and curiosity surged across her freckled cheeks.

The girl next to her had a filthy little cat-like face that could see the outlines of her delicate facial features, and her shawl and blonde hair were messy like withered straw.

The small body is clearly underdeveloped.

At this moment, her white, almost transparent fingers tugged nervously at the corner of a witcher's coat.

The dark golden pupil.

Monty had to admit that the teacher named Roy was the most handsome and most charming, and he would also be close to each other.

"What's your name? How old are you?" Carl showed his white teeth and greeted the two new friends generously.

And Monty only dared to hide behind and look around.

"Arkhamtom... Nine years old..." The dark-haired boy wiped his dirty hands with his clothes in a panic, and then shook hands with Carl.

"You have some elf blood, right?" Carl glanced casually at his pointy ears.

Arkhamtom trembled... Because of his identity as a half-blood elf, he was beaten a lot on weekdays.

"Don't be nervous, child, I'm also a half-blood, a quarter elf..." Roy pointed to his ear, his tone was gentle and firm, "I promise you, as long as you come to Gawain's house, no one will dare to do it for no reason. Discriminate against you, bully you!"

Then the boy blushed and said "um".

"I...my name is Vicky..." The girl timidly stuck her head out from behind the witcher, like a little squirrel that got its head out of a branch, "Seven years old this year..."

After finishing speaking, the girl's reindeer-like pure and docile purple eyes looked at the child hiding behind.

He scratched his neck and hesitated, "I... my name is Monty..."

...

From this day on, the Gawain family became more and more popular, and new children were brought back by the teachers every two or three days.

In about two weeks, the number of children in the orphanage reached a peak of twenty, and then remained there because the hunters temporarily stopped searching.

They first experimented with innovative teaching methods with these twenty children, and then expanded the scope when the effect was good.

Most of the children are boys and only seven girls. They are all homeless street children in Nuocheng and the surrounding villages and towns.

One or two of Monty's familiar faces were also poor children who lost in the "contest" for the Eternal Fire Orphanage.

...

After getting along for a while, the children began to get acquainted with each other and gradually let go of their guards. And Monty realized that everyone's curriculum was very different.

The clock in the bedroom pointed to six in the morning.

The kids get up on time for training.

All the boys participated in the special training of turning run and golden rooster independence.

The seven girls who slept in another room with Aunt Stacey, who was cooking, only had to run around the yard a few times a day, sweating a little.

...

After breakfast, the wall clock points to eight.

Twenty children are sitting in the same classroom reading, literacy, and arithmetic. Escal, who has a lightning scar on his face, is the teacher. He always likes to randomly select a "lucky person" to come to the podium to answer questions.

What's more terrifying is that he will leave a square board called "examination paper" for each student in the center of each class.

There was something called "exam questions" written all over it with charcoal.

It is mainly to assess the children's previous learning achievements and mastery of knowledge.

Moreover, Escal carefully graded each student's "examination paper".

Fortunately, there is no penalty for the low score, but the first half of the score will be rewarded, and if the reward is accumulated ten times, the student can realize a trivial little wish.

For example, singing Nuocheng's nursery rhymes in front of all the children, and taking an extra half-hour break one day.

Various measures have caused the children to be nervous and look forward to each class.

Class ends at twelve o'clock in the morning.

It takes an hour to eat and rest.

Both classes start at 1:00 pm on time.

This has to bring up another thing.

When the early morning special training began to intensify, and entered the boring basic swordsmanship stage and the stage of standing on the stake, more than 70% of the boys chose to give up, and Carl dismissed them as farming.

As for him, Monty, Arkhamtom, and the two other children who persevered, he proudly claimed to be reserve witcher apprentices.

Reserve witcher apprentices learn about monsters and herbal medicine at 1pm.

And the group of people who cultivated the land went into "job work" - the teachers cultivated a few fields around the orphanage, and after taking a nap every day, they led them to take care of the fields.

Demonstrated by yourself, skillfully swiping a hoe to turn the soil and dig trenches.

Sow the seeds of radishes, cabbage, spinach, and garlic, just like an ordinary farmer, but with a lot less work.

The "farmers" also had to cut turnips with seven girls and feed the poultry.

Except for the reserve witcher apprentices, all orphans have an admission gift - a young chick that must be raised by its own ability to grow a big rooster.

Therefore, I often see boys and girls with radish heads happily running around in the yard, followed by their chattering pets behind their butts.

After dinner every day, the children are free to play.

The girls dance the rubber band, or try a mint grass wreath to see who can do it fast and beautifully, and the winner is usually the most ingenious Vicky.

Boys wrestle their arms, or chase and fight around the yard. Of course, no one can beat the reserve witcher apprentice, but after two weeks of training, the gap between speed and reaction has begun to show.

Children's fun is much more than that.

Sometimes boys and girls play together a popular sport called hide-and-seek.

Reserve witcher apprentice Carl was a big winner, and Monty guessed he had learned some kind of tracking trick with the green-eyed vulture teacher. Every time it was his turn to be a ghost, he could always catch all the hiders within half an hour.

Later, the children simply conceded defeat to Carl and quickly started the next round.

The rough-looking teachers have invented and created some strange and interesting games, which are said to cultivate team tacit understanding, such as running a race "with hands and feet", shouting numbers to select the unlucky ones, and dancing in public.

No child has ever heard of these games.

But they were clearly enjoying it.

After finishing the game, before going back to the house and going to bed, everyone listened to the teachers sitting on the bench in the center of the yard, telling the bedtime stories in a eloquent way, and changing the teacher every night. Like most boys, Monty liked it the most. The teacher named Roy.

Roy would open his little books and tell each and every processed, slightly dark and frightening fairy tale.

The girls would cover their eyes and prick up their ears every time, screaming in fright, while the boys would hold their chests up and hold the water around them.

...

At the end of each week, the Gawain House graciously gives the children a day off.

The day was colorful.

The bald-headed teacher who looks fierce will teach them a little carpentry work, use saws and files to cut down the wood in the nearby woods, and fiddle with some delicate gadgets: windmills, wooden horses as a children's wish, or making Chairs, stools and other furniture, using wooden boards to teach them to put together a pocket house.

The white-haired teacher will explain the structure of the training sword to some interested boys, and demonstrate the sharp swordsmanship on the spot.

The burn patient-like teacher would also take them to the woods to collect herbs and teach them how to dry and process them properly.

Take them to catch beetles and butterflies in the bushes, and secretly observe small animals such as hares and roe deer.

Gradually, everyone got used to this terrifying face, hoarse voice, but gentle and amiable teacher.

Began to smile at him, affectionately calling him the red-eyed teacher.

...

It is only when you lose it that you know how precious it is.

The orphans have all had a tragic experience of wandering. After suffering, they are generally more mature than their peers in normal families. After enjoying the warm care of Gawain's family like family members, reading and literacy, free food, and giving laughter.

They are grateful, keep the rules of the courtyard, and live in harmony with their companions.

But there are always exceptions to everything, and small episodes have also occurred in a fulfilling study life.

During a lunch, a nine-year-old boy named Charnem, a reserve witcher apprentice, and a farmer shove each other over a spat.

On the spot, the expressions of the eight witchers who ate together changed drastically, their beast-like vertical pupils flashed cold light, and their expressions were cold as if they were about to kill.

There seemed to be a bone-chilling wind blowing through the restaurant.

All the children were silent.

Chanem and the dwarf were startled and cried.

When they were afraid that they would be beaten by the teacher and kicked out of Gawain's house.

Roy with dark golden pupils came up with a strange punishment.

At the story conference in the yard that night.

Chanem and the dwarf were forced to stand on a stool in front of everyone. The two faced each other like relatives who had been separated for a long time. crooked.

Within ten minutes, the two children and everyone present, including Aunt Stacey, who was cooking, burst into laughter.

But this strange method is quite effective.

From then on, Chanem and the dwarf became good friends who talked about everything.

The children looked at the bright smiling faces of their companions, and their hearts were inexplicably touched.

As if there was an invisible thread, a big hand with magical power, in Gawain's house, under the unfathomable gaze of the witcher teacher, their fates were closely linked.

This month, for Monty, Arkhamtom, Vicky, Charnem, Lloyd, Vicky... 20 orphans, it was like entering a dream, an unwilling to wake up sweet dreams.

They had the most fulfilling and happiest time of their lives.

Nine witchers with completely different personalities: stern and stereotyped, amiable, full of humor, or profanity, leaving an indelible impression on young minds.

They are like family.

...

In the silent night, the Milky Way drew a band of varying widths in the dim sky.

The sparse starlight revealed nine tall and straight figures in the yard.

Standing side by side under the row of wooden comb piles, the dimly lit pupils looked at the sleeping faces in the room through the window guardrail, and the heart became inexplicably soft.

Before this, the members of the Brotherhood had little confidence. In just one month, they were able to find twenty children, although there were only five reserve witcher apprentices.

But it also surpasses any school, accumulated in the past decades.

"Boy, your training method is not right! It lacks iron and blood." A deep ravine bulged between Serret's eyebrows, and his low voice was controlled within a narrow range by him.

"What we want to train is a witcher, not a group of young masters and young ladies. If we continue to teach like this, we can only raise roses in the greenhouse!"

"It's time, let them experience the cruel reality and learn to eat the weak, instead of living in this isolated forest cabin and living a happier life than in heaven!"

"Dude, are you jealous..." Oakes shook his head, his face complicated, "but I have to admit, the number of times this group of little guys laughs in a month is more than the number of times we trained in Gersvid when we were young. Years add up to more.”

He groaned.

"Why didn't our teacher teach this way?"

The bald man next to him blinked, Gusvid was never a good place to go. For the Snake Apprentice, the pain is at least ten times as great as the joy.

"Cough, cough..." Lambert cleared his throat, "The training method of the 'Great Prophet' is indeed... unique, are you sure it can teach useful talents?"

"The representative of Your Excellency Gawain visited several times, and his eyes were like paying homage to the 'saint'. He spent more than five hundred crowns on this group of children in a month. There has never been an orphanage as generous and selfless as ours... Ahem, although Most of the money came from Lord Gawain."

"And I've observed carefully, Carl, Arkham Thom, Monty, Lloyd, Chanem, the five little apprentices, every time they laughed like flowers, the arms holding the swords trembled."

"I'm afraid that the more they laugh, the more psychological and physical flaws will become, and the willpower will become weaker and weaker."

"It is important to know that worry and pain make people grow, and excessive happiness makes people less vigilant."

The owl with his arms crossed his chest, thinking of the smile on his little apprentice's face recently, he was very worried.

He is not sure, can Karl's happiness last until the trial of green grass, and will the huge gap make him give up?

"Lambert, Lambert, confused and stupid," Geralt shook his head, with no worry or worry on his face. "When did you become a philosopher?"

"And who stipulated that a witcher apprentice should go to the grass trial full of pain and suffering?"

"I think Roy's approach is right. In this month's happy education, at least this group of children regard the orphanage as their home and their companions as their relatives."

"Family, friendship, and happiness are also a kind of deep bond, which can help them share the pain of the grass trial."

"And I have communicated with Dandelion many times in the dance hall. The professor of child psychology at Ossenfurt University once said to him that the happier the childhood, the stronger the character will be, and the greater the ability to withstand pressure! "

Serrit scoffed at this statement,

"Happiness is a poison, and the poison reaches its peak during the trial of green grass, accelerating them to the end of their lives."

Kaiyan and Escal remained silent, thinking silently.

"Okay, everyone, listen to me!" Roy waved to stop the argument, paced around under the stake, and swept his eyes to Serrit, who was the most vehemently opposed, "You have overlooked an important fact. , These children have spent a long period of homeless life before coming to Gawain's house, and they have suffered enough."

"This indifferent society has deeply hurt them once again!"

"Are we going to do it again?"

"If no one gives them a trace of pity, a trace of warmth and happiness when they need tenderness and comfort the most..."

"Think about it carefully, how will they 'repay' this society in the future?!"

Roy's questioning was like a hammer hitting the heart of the witcher.

The crowd fell silent.

The witcher joined the academy because of the law of accident, but he did not suffer the torture of wandering as a child.

The famous warlock Vigo's psychological distortion is also inseparable from the wandering life of a lonely childhood.

Roy insisted, "What we need to train are companions who can be united and worthy of trust! We must make them feel happy, happy, and have a sense of identity and belonging to the group of orphanages and witchers, at least for now. stage."

"Training is a step-by-step process, and there must be no reckless torture to turn them into cynical, revengeful psychopaths!"

"And, Serret, you should have noticed, these children are very sensible."

"They are more mature than ordinary children, which means that they are more likely to pass the trial of green grass!"

...

"Okay, Great Prophet, you persuaded me..." Owl said suddenly, "Don't let me down."

"Then let's train apprentices in a gentle way according to the original plan?" Serrit asked.

"Yeah." A group of people nodded.

After a moment of silence.

"One question, should we train female apprentices?" Kayahn asked. "The formula of the cat school is not only suitable for men, but we are only training boys now."

"Wait..." Lambert shook his head, "Your recipe is too flawed."

"Which school formula should the apprentice choose for the grass trial?" Geralt asked a crucial question.

Out of a certain psychology, cat pie, snake pie, and wolf pie are more or less inclined to their own recipes.

"The third clause of the Brotherhood is fair and just." Roy said, "When we find a collaborating warlock, let her analyze it again, take into account various situations, and figure out which formula is easier to improve and has a higher survival rate, and then do it again. Decide."

The crowd nodded.

"Now, the orphanage has successfully passed the initial stage." Roy took a deep breath, "According to the original plan, it was time for me to leave and go to Karak to persuade Coral."

"I'm leaving tomorrow to wait for Aiden in Tritog, the capital of Redania," Lambert continued. "I'll try to bring him back within a month."

"Brother Kayane and I went to the ruins of Etaiye to look for the remaining blueprints of the Cat Pie, and collect some mutants to prepare for future trials," Geralt said.

As for the orphanage and Nuocheng affairs, the remaining five witchers are in charge.

"Guys, come back as soon as possible!" Escal and Leto pressed rough and thick hands on the four of them's shoulders one by one, "Don't make the children wait too long."

"I'm afraid they won't see their favorite teachers and will cry."

...