Kelzhuang Port made Xie Yuan really feel that he had arrived in a medieval city, with a tall castle but not bustling streets... everything seemed so simple.
Xie Yuan and Margarita could only go to the periphery of the funeral crowd, but Geralt could squeeze in a little bit in front - not only because Xie Yuan had the title of Nilfgaard on his body, but the key was that he didn't know any of them. The people on the Skellige Islands did not understand King Bran and were not interested in his funeral at all.
However, fortunately, Margarita is a walking dictionary by his side. She can help introduce Xie Yuan to the life of King Bran and the general trend of the Skellige Islands.
To put it simply, the ecology of the islands is complex, the climate is changeable, and it is a rainy and windy cold area. Compared with inland, crop cultivation is more difficult, but some islanders still seize the opportunity to cultivate some crops in the relatively warm summer. The main livelihood of the people on the island still relies on fishing, hunting, trade and robbery - the pirate ship encountered before may actually be the father, son or brother of a certain village here.
The politics of the Skellige Islands are much simpler than those of Novigrad next door: the most important thing for Skellige islanders is freedom. A Skellige fisherman and a family lord have almost the same rights, both at the top and at the bottom. The class conflicts between people are also relatively mild... but this is probably because the lords and the lower class do not have many means of production.
Skellige is a feudal kingdom led by a king, and each family leader has a large degree of autonomy in their respective territories. The throne of Skellige is not traditionally hereditary. The king is elected by the lords of the seven largest houses distributed in the six large islands in a traditional election meeting. In reality, however, kings usually come from the most powerful family, or are related to that family.
Now the full name of King Bran, who was sent to the ship for a unique local ship funeral, is Bran Tursek, nicknamed "The Conqueror". According to reviews, his reign was honorable and respectable. Although some complain that he prefers raiding to solving long-standing problems in the archipelago, and is overly indulgent in his wife's chatter. Some people connect the two, believing that Bran went to sea to fight precisely because he did not want to face his family affairs.
But now he is dead, voluntarily dying in a duel with a grizzly bear - a death full of honor in the eyes of the locals.
At the funeral, Xie Yuan saw through the crowd outside that the boat carrying King Bran's body was gradually moving towards the deep water, propelled by a few people.
But at this moment, something unexpected happened. A young woman with red hair and wearing a local dress seemed to be unable to restrain her emotions when looking at King Bran on the boat. Even though others tried to dissuade him, he still took the initiative to come to King Bran's ship and lay down with King Bran.
At this time, King Bran's longship had already slid into the deep water area... Even from an Eastern perspective, this was a process that could not be interrupted, so everyone agreed that this woman would be buried with King Bran.
Soon, a fat-bellied nobleman wearing a headband and armor opened his bow and nocked an arrow, then lit a flame on the arrow, then released it... "Whoosh!"
The arrow from the string was quickly thrown high into the sky, and then unfolded a beautiful parabola, and then fell perfectly onto the haystacks laid by the longship, and a raging fire ignited with a sound of "wind".
It was vaguely visible that the red-haired woman was leaning so calmly on King Bran's body, resting on his chest that was already cold and no longer beating... The longship on fire gradually moved away.
The first half and middle part of the funeral ended like this. Most people showed reverence on their faces, and there were only a few people who could really show sadness - but Geralt liked to flirt at this time, of course, because Next to her is Yennefer, who is back in her best clothes.
Xie Yuan's hearing is very developed, so he can clearly hear what they are saying even from more than ten meters away.
"You smell so good..."
"We're at a funeral!"
"You smell so good at the funeral..."
Horse riding! If it weren't for an old man wearing a tall cloth hat made of deer bones and holding a staff who was about to say a speech, I don't know what other words of tiger and wolf would have been said here!
So does this old man! Xie Yuan cursed secretly in his heart, couldn't it be done later? This abrupt ending of the rivalry scene is really exciting.
Fortunately, Xie Yuan also sensed that this old man with a tall hat should also be a spell caster. In view of the long-lasting local Dru Yin culture, Xie Yuan guessed that this must be a great Dru Yin, otherwise he would not be qualified to address the king. .
Before the speech ended, the most dramatic thing was that the sturdy middle-aged man who lit the longship for King Bran came to the high platform and announced that the new king would be chosen among the new members of the lord's family... Those who are interested can arrange to register - well, this method is very sophisticated.
The funeral ended just like that, and Yennefer hurriedly came forward and hugged Margarita: "Margarita! It's so great to see you are okay."
Margarita also hugged Yennefer: "I'm very happy to see you too. It's a blessing to be able to see you."
Yennefer just wanted to continue reminiscing about the past, but when she saw Xie Yuan, she rolled her eyes and asked: "So you will also join the journey to find Ciri. Come on, tell me how the situation is now?"
So the four people sat in a circle and recounted the general experiences during this period, including the affairs of Wilen, the affairs of Novigrad, and even the rescue of Margarita and Uma.
Yennefer was amazed by these stories and was ready to tell them in detail later.
At this moment, the nobleman named Cratchit, who lit and fired the bow and arrow, came to Geralt and shouted his nickname: "White Wolf!"
After a brief exchange of greetings, Cratchit gave Geralt an irresistible task: he must attend this cocktail party and will not accept any excuses for his absence.
And just after Clark left, Yennefer also gave full play to her true nature as a wife and mother, and also gave Geralt a request: he must wear a dress-and she had already decided on the style on her own.
After speaking to Geralt, Yennefer immediately took Margarita away in the name of "reminiscing about the past" without taking any action against Xie Yuan - but this is normal, Margarita It's not someone from Xie Yuan, but after Novigrad no longer needs protection, she is free.
So only Geralt and Xie Yuan looked at each other, and then Bai Lang asked: "You... did you bring a dress?"
"You mean that black dress for meeting Emhyr?" Xie Yuan blinked and nodded to confirm, "I will definitely bring it with me."
"Uh... apart from that one thing?" Geralt looked around cautiously, and after confirming that no one had heard Xie Yuan's words, he explained in a low voice, "People here basically treat everyone in Nilfgaard. I hate you so much that you are asking for a beating by wearing Nilfgaard’s dress.”
"Oh...Is there such a thing?" Xie Yuan suddenly realized, but he was not worried, "I really only have this set of classical dresses, but I also have two sets of more modern dresses...well, they can actually be worn. There is only one set, and the other set is my military uniform, what?"
Thinking of the dissatisfaction on Geralt's face, Xie Yuan suddenly smiled wickedly: "You want to leave that dress to me, and then you can wear your leather armor?"
Geralt smiled too...neither admitting nor denying.
"Let's go take a look first." Xie Yuan thought for a while but didn't refuse, "If you want to dress well, you don't actually need to wear the regular clothes you are wearing... After all, your stomach does stink. , how about I help transform the lining of your dress into some soft armor fibers, turning your dress into light armor?"
"Do you still have this ability?" Geralt suddenly became interested, "Okay, I'll wait and see."
