The Witcher – Uchiha Madara!
Chapter 197 – An Investment for the Future.

[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]

Third Person POV

Kaedwen.

...

...

"Eat this." Madara said, still hidden under his cloak, as he placed a piece of meat he had prepared on that campfire and handed over a wooden bowl with stew to go with the meat to the hunchbacked girl.

She immediately recoiled at Madara's simple gesture. She looked at him with fear, while her tears seemed to have already dried up after crying so much since he rescued her from the river, where she had tried to drown herself.

She just stared at him and at the small bowl of food, which smelled good, for a few seconds, while Madara still held out his hand, offering it to her.

Finally, the girl carefully took the bowl. Her hands were still trembling after everything she had been through that night. She smelled the food for a moment before finally tasting it. She felt the flavor... and began eating soon after. She was starving.

"My brother..." she murmured, after finishing the contents of the bowl.

"Dead. Killed by a local werewolf. There was an infected target in the area... tonight is a full moon. Even if the moon isn't clearly visible, it's hidden behind the clouds." Madara spoke calmly.

He had been watching the girl ever since he found her in the forest and knew she wouldn't last long. He had seen her approach her brother, who kicked her, but the girl still wanted to stay with him, even being treated that way—after all, others would treat her the same, but at least he was her brother.

Then, with no other options, her brother decided to end it and take her into the forest, leaving the human groups following the road behind.

Madara had followed the two and was about to intervene when the girl's brother tried to kill her like she was a plague. But, seeing the creature approaching them, Madara decided to wait. When the werewolf reached the area, he let it attack. The brother was devoured alive. And, when the creature turned to chase the hunchbacked girl who had escaped... Madara then finished it off. The beast didn't even have time to react. Its head was removed and, soon after, it returned to the form of a dead elf, who had been the infected one.

"So... I'm alone..." she murmured.

She had lost her parents, who, even though they seemed to hate her, were still her parents. In her childhood memories, she saw them smiling. Maybe it wasn't true, but that's what she clung to. That's why her brother was all she had left... her only protection. And now, not even that remained.

"You know your brother tried to kill you, right?" Madara asked, breaking the silence, while the girl seemed on the verge of crying again at the memory that her brother had tried to kill her and had been devoured.

"He wouldn't do that..." she murmured, still wanting to believe otherwise.

"You know he pointed a knife at you in the middle of the woods. That wasn't by accident. He was bothered. Now that he was leaving the city, he didn't want another mouth to feed. It wasn't the first time he wanted you dead, besides, he was set on blaming you for your parents' deaths, even though I doubt you were actually the cause of that..." Madara spoke firmly.

That's normal in this world. People sometimes kill even their own children. It ensures survival in some cases.

"So I'm a burden..." she murmured.

"Why did you save me?"

She looked at him as she said this. Despite the glimmer of fear in her eyes, she stared only at the dark cloak hiding Madara's face.

Madara, silently, removed the hood. His face was revealed, and she was surprised. At the same time, she was captured by the red eyes that glowed before her, releasing a genjutsu into her mind.

Madara saw, clearly, the girl's memories. She had been a normal child... until a certain age.

Then, her body exploded in pain, changing drastically.

At five years old, she began to walk strangely. She felt unbearable pain in her back. Her parents tried everything. But, by the end of a year since the changes began, she was already walking crookedly... with her back being the highest point of her body.

She began to suffer attacks from all the children. Everyone called her a monster.

Her name was Isabela, as revealed in her memories — and not just "Bela", as the mayor had said in the city. Her father took her to the forest when she was only eight years old, saying he could free her from her pain and from the shame of having a daughter like the town's monster. But her mother tried to stop him at the time, saying they could find help with a certain amount of coins — which they never had.

Isabela knew very well what her father's intention was. She wasn't naive.

She cried and cried practically her whole life: from the rejection of the other children, her own brother, the attempted murder by her father... and even as the years passed and nothing in her body changed.

She entered adolescence without any improvement. Her mother, who once tried to hold on to some hope, began to look at her with disgust, seeing her only as a burden and clearly regretting that her husband hadn't killed her years earlier.

She spent most of her life locked inside the house, with her mother taking care of it while her father hunted in the forest for days and sold some carcasses in the city, being a hunter.

Her life was sad. No one looked at her with love, while her mother was far more concerned with her lover — as Isabela knew, since she saw her mother entering the neighbor's house every time her father and Isabela's brother were away — but she never revealed it, only able to stay by the window when the children weren't pointing at her and calling her a monster.

So this day marked her, when she was taken along with her parents and brother, dragged from the house by force. The non-humans used the weapons her father hunted with as proof he was working with the king's humans to kill them.

They were taken by force to a corner of the city, and Isabela and her brother watched their parents and the brother be decapitated... and it was at that moment that Madara appeared, massacring all the non-humans in that area with his clones.

The girl felt dizzy after coming out of the illusion. She didn't know what had happened, while her mind had been invaded, as Madara closed his Sharingan — he was the real one, not a clone. His still numerous clones were supervising the humans leaving the city.

And he should also keep an eye on the humans themselves. As they advanced along the road, the humans were consumed by rage — the same hatred that the non-humans had felt toward them. After all, they had lost their homes, their belongings, and their loved ones in that city. They certainly weren't happy.

"Isabela..." Madara's voice called her, pulling her from her stunned state and making the girl open her eyes, surprised.

"How do you know my name...?" she asked cautiously, with an irritating voice caused by her condition, though it didn't bother Madara. There was no way that stranger could know her name.

"I know more about you than you think... anyway, I saved you because I didn't believe you deserved to die..." Madara said, while she pressed her lips together in silence.

"And now... I have no one left." she murmured.

"And what if you had a chance to change your condition? What if you could learn a special power... one that only sorceresses possess?" Madara said.

"Witches?" She looked at him in disbelief.

"Like those with great beauty and magical powers... like everyone says?"

"Yes. And I know very well that you've dreamed many times, imagining yourself as one of them." Madara replied.

"How do you know...?" She showed a tone of fear upon hearing that.

"That doesn't matter now," Madara said with a cold and direct voice. "What I'm offering you... is a chance. Maybe you can become one. But I guarantee nothing." He said, making a brief pause.

"There is a sorceress in a place on the other side of the kingdom, near the Northern Mountains. If you're evaluated by her... and if she says you're capable... then, maybe, you could become a true one."

Madara wasn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He had a goal: to earn the girl's loyalty. If she truly had a connection with a sorceress, that could help him in the future. After all, all the sorceresses he had seen — none were trustworthy, not even Yennefer or Triss. They all had a certain thirst for power, and that could be dangerous. If he sponsored someone young... he might gain their loyalty, one he wouldn't get from anyone else — not willingly.

"I can?" The girl could barely believe it. But... what else did she have now?

"Yes. You have your ailments because you're a Source. Born with the ability to manipulate the energy of Chaos, but you don't know how to control it. Your condition can be reversed, if you learn more about it." Madara explained. "However, everything will depend on the sorceress in that place."

"Really..." she murmured, speaking the words slowly, not knowing what to think.

Madara stood up, pulling out a bed from the scroll and setting it up for her there. It had been years since she'd slept in a bed — her parents had only left a patch of straw for her to rest on, not wanting to spend money on the hunchback of the family.

"Get some rest now. Tomorrow we leave. I will keep watch."

He said this just as a shadow appeared in the sky. A griffin was still flying over the region, flapping its wings until the ground erupted in smoke. Madara sent the creature to Kaer Morhen.

The girl lingered a bit more, ate a little more, and then lay on that noble bed — an experience quite strange for her.

During the night, Madara watched over the area, spoke a bit more with the girl the next day, and checked if the city was in order.

This time, all the humans were leaving the place, abandoning the city. Only the non-humans remained, arguing among themselves about what they would do next. After all, that place would no longer be safe for anyone.

Madara kept monitoring the region in the following days, allowing the humans to advance toward the capital. Some of them tried to invade a non-human village seeking revenge... but once again, Madara showed that he was alert.

He quickly intervened, eliminating some of the attackers and forcing the others to retreat. Once more, he prevented a massacre, protecting the non-humans — which made him hated by both sides.

But that didn't matter to him.

While his clones took care of the rest of the region, spreading out across the area, the real Madara moved north, along with Isabela, the young hunchback.

They traveled for a few days, until Madara encountered someone he didn't expect.

Lambert had entered the kingdom not long ago and was quite surprised by the rumors he'd heard. Entire groups of non-humans were fleeing Kaedwen, saying the kingdom wanted to kill them.

As he walked through the forests of Kaedwen, Lambert was startled to see Madara coming toward him, carrying a girl with a crooked body on his back.

"Wait... you want what?!" Lambert exclaimed, not believing what he was hearing.

After a quick greeting and a long conversation, Madara repeated:

"I want you to take her to Kaer Morhen."

Lambert looked at the girl with suspicion. She seemed to be about Ciri's age, but what stood out most was her strange appearance. Her back was so hunched that it rose above the height of her head, which tilted to the side.

She stared at him with fear, without saying a word. Her curved body justified the cruel nickname she carried in her hometown: monster.

Lambert didn't believe Madara's request. That girl clearly should've been killed… or left in the forest, like her own parents had tried to do. But Madara was asking him to take her, and that was something he didn't expect from this man.

"I know people have strange fantasies… but you, of all people, when you've got a princess in love with you?" Lambert muttered, making Madara frown.

"Don't come at me with stupid jokes, Lambert," Madara replied, serious.

"I want you to take her to Triss Merigold, who's in Kaer Morhen. She should evaluate the girl. She's a Conduit... her connection to magic is real."

"Alright… I'll take her," Lambert responded, still confused by the situation.

"Though I still find all of this pretty strange."

Madara summoned a simple wagon, attaching it to the horse. It would be more comfortable for the girl to travel that way, as horseback riding would be impossible for her in that physical state.

"Here are tents, food, and some gold coins," Madara said, handing over a few bags into the cart.

"If any problem arises during the trip, this should help. It'll take about two weeks to reach Kaer Morhen."

Lambert accepted the supplies without complaint.

"Alright. And you're going to stay in this chaos?" he asked, already aware of what was going on. He had a brief conversation with Madara before receiving the mission to take Isabela.

"Yes. I'll stay for another month to monitor the situation here. After that, I'll return to the castle," Madara affirmed.

In the end, Lambert mounted his horse and left with Isabela seated in the wagon, just behind. The girl looked back at Madara staying behind with still cautious eyes. Although she was already somewhat used to his presence — and he had never called her a monster or shown disgust — he was still a stranger.

She just hoped that the witcher now taking her would treat her the same way… and that, in Kaer Morhen, she would actually pass the test of the sorceress Madara had mentioned. Since her life now depended on that, having no family left.

And so, a month passed.

News of the events in Kaedwen quickly spread across the North, shocking nobles, soldiers, and especially the mages.

A new mysterious group had emerged… and no one knew exactly where they had come from.

They began to be called Akatsuki.

A name that now sent chills through taverns and war councils, because wherever they appeared, humans and non-humans who had caused chaos were killed without mercy.

-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------

Chapter 202 - We'll have to leave Kaer Morhen.

Chapter 207 - The Elder Dragon.

Chapter 217 - Dragons vs Wild Hunt.

Chapter 226 - A Marriage Proposal.

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