The Witcher - As Uchiha Madara! - Chapter 122 - Sodden's Hills 02.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

Northern kingdoms.

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Geralt had been on the road for hours after leaving his camp, as the sun had reached its highest point in the sky. Everything seemed as usual as in the last few weeks, but now he started to feel something strange.

It didn’t take long for him to sense that he was being watched, but the person observing him didn’t stay hidden for long. As someone landed in front of him, Geralt, with a quick movement, drew his sword by instinct.

Geralt's eyes quickly lifted to see someone he hadn’t seen since Cintra, one of the last people he expected to encounter here.

“Geralt,” Madara's clone said, analyzing him.

“Madara Uchiha. If you’re here, Ciri?” he asked as Madara shook his head.

“No… she’s not here, if that’s what you’re wondering… She’s somewhere else for now; I came south alone,” he spoke calmly.

“Is she safe? Where?” Geralt wanted to know immediately.

“In a hideout of Yennefer, a little north, almost in Lydia. I met the sorceress by chance, and knowing of her connection with Ciri, I figured she could be trusted with her,” Madara explained, while Geralt nodded, though not without surprise.

“Where’s Yen?” he asked as Madara raised an eyebrow at the nickname, which he assumed was affectionate.

“She’s with the forces of Sodden. She intends to fight in the coming days, and she said you’re here because she had some suspicions of a reported surprise attack group, and she wasn’t wrong, though she didn’t know who would lead it,” Madara replied.

“Do you have more information on that?” Geralt asked seriously.

“Not yet. I’m just a clone, while there are many others traveling across the mountains to check. At this moment, he’s probably starting to receive information about the situation, so I can’t inform you since I was created before my original had this information,” he spoke in a neutral tone the entire time.

“Of course it would be a clone…” Geralt murmured, seeming a bit regretful about talking to just a part of this guy.

“Anyway… the sorceresses you’re looking for are just half a day’s journey away,” Madara responded.

“Thanks,” Geralt muttered before pulling out a map. “Can you point out where Ciri is?” he asked, as the girl’s location was all he wanted now.

“Give me the map,” Madara simply requested as Geralt did so, handing him the map, and Madara marked it shortly after without any issue. After all, if Ciri wasn’t with him, he preferred to leave her with Geralt or Yennefer, as long as she could be taken to Kaer Morhen.

“…” Geralt took the map and nodded but said nothing more, watching Madara as he stored the map away.

“You seem to be cautious about something. If you want to ask me something, ask,” Madara said with a questioning tone.

Geralt felt strange being approached this way by a teenager, as if the young man was in charge, but remembering what he had heard about the things Madara had done, he clearly knew this was no ordinary child.

“I want to ask something,” he began. “I heard you killed a witcher of Mousesack’s,” he said.

“Mousesack… did you see him after the fall of Cintra? How is he?” Madara immediately asked.

“He’s in Skellige… but quite tired and depressed after Calanthe’s death and Cintra’s downfall,” Geralt replied, while Madara nodded and decided to respond to the witcher.

“About the witcher… yes. It’s true… But that was a long time ago. I was 8 years old,” Madara replied, as Geralt wondered if he was joking, but Madara continued. “He was from the School of the Viper… it was a tough fight back then, but I found a dozen witchers from the School of the Cat… I killed them all, and it was even easy,” Madara said directly, looking into Geralt’s eyes, making the witcher feel threatened and almost bringing his hand to draw his sword.

But Geralt held back. He honestly didn’t know what to say about what he had just heard. Madara was someone he could trust, whether he was dangerous to him or Ciri. But the latter seemed the least likely, as Mousesack had said he was trustworthy and would trust his life to him. Ciri had been protected in Cintra and all the way since the kingdom’s fall…

Even though he would have liked Madara to enter Redania and continue north, reaching Kaer Morhen a little over a month ago if he had kept heading that way, he was here instead.

"If you're wondering why I didn't go north, it's because I wanted to mislead our pursuers, and I ended up coming to the war for another reason," Madara said, as if reading the witcher's face, something very hard to do when these guys showed almost no emotion at all.

"I understand..." Geralt responded, not wanting to meddle much in his reasons.

"Anyway, I will send the information of our meeting to the original. I don’t know exactly what he will do. However, if anything happens, we want you to take Ciri and flee north. Yennefer managed to put a spell on her to protect those trying to track her," Madara said, and Geralt nodded.

The witcher watched as the clone exploded into smoke, leaving nothing behind. ‘This ability is quite useful…’ Geralt couldn’t help but comment to himself, imagining what it would be like to make clones to gather information. That would be very handy, but not knowing how it worked or if Madara used magic, he simply moved forward, trying to reach the group of sorcerers after Yennefer’s request in Skellige.

Meanwhile, to the south, the Nilfgaardian forces were all stirred up as they began their march for another day. In one of the last remaining tents, men discussed their strategy.

"We're almost at the point of making history, General," one of the marshals around the table, responsible for a section of the army, remarked while looking at the map and then back at his general.

Hyuuir Ysiuty, the current leader of the army, nodded as he looked over the map, nodding to his men. "Yes, soon our black army will be massacring the Northerners. We’ll be clearing the path to the rest of the North and showing the world what Nilfgaard is capable of," Hyuuir spoke with a firm and authoritative tone, as everyone nodded.

"My lord, what about the events to the north of here? Entire teams have been lost in contacts at the western mountain pass…" commented another man, showing concern over the scouts’ reports.

"We will keep a force to the north for any surprise attacks and try to stop them. We can’t do more there. We've seen several forces, and they must all be dead by now. Probably Temeria sent a group of mages, as the Northern mages are clearly against us," Hyuuir replied coldly.

"Damn mages! They’ll be severely punished when Nilfgaard dominates all the North!" Another person there spat on the ground with a tone of disgust.

"Still, Temeria sent a large force that is already in Sodden, and we have some indications that more reinforcements are arriving from the North on the other side of the mountain," another person, responsible for intelligence, remarked.

"Yes, I’ve read your report, but we still outnumber them. We can win this war easily. This battle will define the fate of the North and the Empire, for by defeating the forces of Sodden along with the intermediary forces, we will have both Sodden and Temeria itself, which won’t have the strength to resist our soldiers' advances. Redania, Lydia, and other Northern kingdoms will fall..." Hyuuir continued, speaking firmly.

"Well, then let us hope for victory under your leadership, General," another soldier said, flattering his superior while the others nodded. However, while Hyuuir was satisfied, looking at the war board pieces that would decide the fate of tens of thousands of men, he was interrupted when someone entered the tent urgently.

"General Hyuuir!" the man said in a cautious tone.

"Speak what makes you think you can enter here in the middle of an important meeting. You better have a good reason for this…" the general spoke harshly, ready to punish the soldier for such an interruption, even at the end of the meeting.

"General Hyuuir... There’s a group that arrived at the camp from the south with a thousand men. They’re also from Nilfgaard!” the man reported.

“What? Why wasn’t I informed about this… Who could it be?” Hyuuir muttered, frowning.

“They were carrying the banner of—” the man was about to say, but was interrupted by another person entering the tent at that moment.

“The banner of General Menno Coehoorn.” A tall man, with a rigid and serious face, approached without bothering to appear polite while interrupting the meeting.

“General Menno, what are you doing here?” Hyuuir asked with a dark look.

“Well, I’m here to take command of the troops,” Menno said calmly to the other general.

“What do you mean by that?” Hyuuir asked, raising his eyebrows as everyone looked confused by the situation.

“Well, this might help you understand what’s going on,” Menno replied, handing a scroll to General Hyuuir. As he approached, Hyuuir opened the document and read it, raising an eyebrow.

“The Emperor is appointing you as the leader of all army forces… why this when I should be in command?” Hyuuir muttered, dissatisfied and surprised, feeling bitterness at the Emperor for doing this to him.

“Well, you were in command. I came here from the south. The Emperor isn’t very pleased with your slow march. You took too long to leave the capital and reach the border, and your results, both with Queen Calanthe and the failure alongside Cahir in finding the princess, aren’t helping much. From today onwards, the army will be under my command,” Menno stated with an almost cold calmness.

Hyuuir took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “But…”

Menno interrupted him at that moment. “I was operating in the South, trying to keep Sodden occupied, while the larger force was in Cintra. Now, I command the entire army.”

Hyuuir murmured something inaudible, probably a curse, but he just gave up when he saw that he couldn’t contest an order from the Emperor, especially after seeing the signature and the emblem itself. It was obvious this was official. He was stepping down from the main position, while all the other nobles, who had been flattering Hyuuir until now, looked at each other without knowing what to say. It was clear that they had no loyalty to Hyuuir or Menno, only to power, switching sides like leeches whenever necessary to secure their positions.

“It will be an honor to serve you, General Menno,” some of them said, forcing smiles.

“Alright, the army is all yours,” Hyuuir muttered in the end, handing back the scroll, saying nothing about how shameless these men were, while the Commodore allowed a slight smile.

“That’s good. I want you to handle the logistics. Meanwhile, we’ll keep marching. We’ll be in battle within a few days. I want to schedule a meeting to review all points before we begin our fight and our great victory,” Menno said in conclusion, while everyone nodded, and he left the tent to be dismantled along with the other nobles and leaders of the army, ready to continue the march, already seeing Sodden on the horizon.