Chapter 345: Chapter 345 - Doubts About the Future.

[Chapter Size: 2500 Words.]

Third Person POV

Toussaint.

...

...

The birds whistled, creating a melody in the environment.

The property was surrounded by large pine trees, with only a few open spots to observe the scenery of the duchy, but in the places where this was possible, it revealed the mountain and endless rural estates with the beauty of nature that only Toussaint possessed.

They were in the Duchy, and Madara and Ciri were no longer so alone. Three months had passed since Aren was born. The boy continued to grow strong and had already begun to crawl around the place. Madara and Ciri stayed with him throughout all ninety days, watching the boy grow bigger and bigger.

Geralt and Yennefer had reunited with them a month ago and, since then, had spent their time in Toussaint. The rest of their friends also gathered frequently. They traveled to various places across the continent, maintaining a very practical routine.

They always visited King Bran in Skellige, Vizimir in Kaer Morhen, and also Nenneke at the Temple of Melitele.

Aside from that, they were always going to the small properties that Madara and Ciri had acquired in the past year, which were under their names. There were five in total: the cabin on the mountain, located at the highest peak of Skellige; the Olgierds’ mansion, located in Redania; another, the castle of Mizunagi, between Cintra and Sodden; there was also a cabin that Madara built in the volcanic mountains, with hot springs, in addition to the property in Toussaint.

There were also other small places that had been marked, such as old sorcerers’ laboratories that Madara managed to acquire, placing protections so no one else could enter.

He had at least three places to stay whenever he wished: one in one of the mountains that divided the continent, which was an old laboratory of Vilgefortz; another where they stayed for a month training after leaving Cintra, the same place where Madara faced the sorcerer who kidnapped children in the capital when he was only six years old; and also Yennefer’s old laboratories.

In any case, they had multiple places to travel to, never staying in just a single location. Being the only ones on the continent with such capability, they could do this freely.

And so these past months went by. But they knew they were reaching their limit. It was wonderful to be with their son and their companion, but at some point, they would need to return to their initial plans and deal with their enemies.

The meeting among the sorcerers in Aretuza was also about to happen. Those would be the last days they would have with Aren before placing him under Nenneke’s care, where they had decided to leave him.

There were wet nurses to continue feeding the boy among the priestesses, since some women in the temple had recently become mothers—some had even lost their babies during childbirth, but their bodies had not yet realized it.

Nenneke would take care of him.

This was a discussion they had a few weeks earlier. Between leaving him in Skellige, Kaer Morhen, or at the Temple of Melitele, they decided it would be the best choice. Especially because the goddess Melitele herself had indicated that the boy would be important for the future.

Nenneke would protect him, without anyone knowing his true identity, aside from Madara and Ciri’s inner circle.

The boy would be safe.

Madara comforted Ciri. She hadn’t stopped crying in the past few days. Even Aren seemed to feel his mother’s pain and shared tears without understanding, as if he already sensed the separation from his parents.

It had to be done. Ciri couldn’t stop thinking about it while holding her son. After seeing him wake up at that very moment, Madara took him into his arms, giving a small kiss on his forehead.

"You will become a strong boy. We will be away for a while, but we will return soon and come back for you, my son."

Madara didn’t know what would happen, but he was certain they wouldn’t be able to return whenever they wanted once they decided to go after their last enemies.

There was teleportation, of course, but it seemed more complicated than that. A premonition told him that he and Ciri would face a great trial.

The question was: how?

Now, the system’s release in relation to his power was at 84%. That place and all the beings living in that dimension were nothing to him. After the end of the Wild Hunt, they simply seemed to have given up.

His clones were listening to reports here and there. There were even some claiming that they had appeared in the south, in the Nilfgaardian Empire, but they were always rumors—nothing concrete. Even so, Madara doubted they were just hiding. It was obvious they were planning something. They wouldn’t give up on the Elder Blood so easily just because they had lost soldiers in Skellige.

They could no longer teleport to King Bran’s castle like last time, since they had the navigator’s own staff using its power to prevent new attacks like before.

But there was one enemy who truly made him cautious: the member of the Otsutsuki clan.

He should also know about Kurama.

Only two of the system’s powers remained to be unlocked: the Rinnegan and, most likely, the contract with Kurama. Madara believed Kurama would come first, then the Rinnegan.

The system was confusing. It did not follow the order of the powers Madara had acquired in his original life, but rather the potential of each ability. It was no coincidence that he obtained Mokuton before the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Knowing the capabilities of the Rinnegan, which went beyond the powers of Nagato’s Six Paths—since Madara could summon multiple Chibaku Tensei—there were also abilities Nagato did not possess, such as Limbo, the creation of four invisible avatars that could attack enemies without being touched, as they existed in another dimension.

In any case, Madara set these thoughts aside and turned his attention back to Aren, who watched him curiously, but also cautiously. It was as if the boy could sense his father’s thoughts, just as he did with his mother when he saw her crying.

"My son..." Madara murmured carefully.

He would make the most of his time with him over the next few days.

It was as if these were the last days before they would spend a long time without seeing him, without knowing what would happen. Ciri tried to see the future as Madara had asked, using her clairvoyance, but it seemed to be blocked this time.

In any case, Madara picked up the baby and took him outside, where he found Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri enjoying the sunny afternoon on the property.

Geralt and Yennefer were talking while observing the vineyards around them. The workers who took care of the estate had been dismissed in recent days, as Madara wanted the house just for them.

He had made a point of buying another piece of land just to build their house and live there, since he didn’t want anyone to see his son, nor Ciri, nor himself. That property was under the name of a third party, someone fictitious, even to protect the duchess herself, preventing anyone from saying she was sheltering the Empire’s worst enemies on her lands.

Meanwhile, Ciri was hanging some clothes, taking the opportunity to do household chores. She always said she felt like a housewife now that they had Aren.

Yennefer walked up to Madara when she saw him with the baby. "You brought him... may I hold him for a while?", she asked.

There was no malice, manipulation, or ambition in her voice, only a maternal warmth. It was evident that Yennefer truly cared about the baby. She saw herself as a grandmother, as she considered Madara and Ciri as her children, just like Geralt.

Madara handed over the boy, while Geralt approached to stand beside her. Madara could even see a faint smile on the usually indifferent witcher’s face. Even Vesemir couldn’t keep his stern expression from softening for Aren.

Madara then saw Ciri smiling as she watched Yennefer and Geralt walk away through the vineyards, showing everything to little Aren, who looked around curiously.

He approached his wife and gently touched her back. Ciri turned to him. "Our time is running out... I blame myself every day for not accepting it. Soon we will leave him behind...", she murmured.

"Things are the way they have to be, unfortunately", Madara replied.

She nodded, her eyes still teary. "Even so... I don’t regret anything, Madara. I don’t regret Aren being born. He is our son, made from our love."

"Yes..." He said, pausing before opening a smile at Ciri to lighten the mood... "And to think that the brat who used to run through the castles of Cintra is now such a tearful mother...", Madara said, drawing a small laugh from her.

It was a joke between them.

"You were a brat back then too, but one with a face always serious and a dark sense of humor.", she replied, in a nostalgic tone.

"Do you remember when we sat in that tree, shortly after you met my grandmother?" They were six years old at that time.

"Of course. We talked about the future, even without knowing what would really happen to us... I mean, I knew the story, but now it’s a bit different", Madara whispered.

"Aren is our future," Ciri said. "If anything happens to us, at least he will be our legacy left in this world, something that will last after us."

Madara looked at her. "What did you see?" he asked seriously, despite his calm tone.

He realized she was speaking as if they were heading into great danger. That could only mean that some vision had revealed itself to her, since she had been trying to use her clairvoyance, even with something blocking it.

"I can’t see much... but I tried. I see small flashes, Madara. I see death, destruction, blood... people screaming...", she murmured. "Do you think it was a warning? Could Aren be in danger?"

"Aren will stay at the temple. The only people who know about him are our friends and allies who have never given us any reason to doubt them...", Madara replied.

Tissaia would not betray them... Despite the conflicts and the caution that existed between them, she had always had good intentions. She always sought a better future for mages and non-mages.

"You think...?" She still seemed worried about her son.

"Yes... he will be fine. Nothing will happen to us," Madara said.

Ciri nodded, trying to feel more relieved.

Even so, those words only increased the feeling that they would face a great trial. Even Madara wondered what was to come. Would the event in Aretuza repeat itself? Were they destined for a war among sorcerers?

"Anyway, are you finished there? Let’s join them," he said.

Ciri nodded, grabbing his arm and leaving the clothes aside.

But she couldn’t stop hearing faint words echoing in her mind: ’The time of the trial is approaching.’

She had had another strange dream. A dream she couldn’t fully remember, but that left her deeply unsettled.

In any case, they walked toward Yennefer and Geralt through the vineyards. The property had its own wine production, managed by servants, while Madara only checked if everything was running well.

His clone left to watch over the court of that Duchy would occasionally come to the property and had already dealt with some problems—so quickly that no servant ever tried again to steal or investigate who the true owner of the place was, even those who were spies.

The clone always wore a cloak, never revealing himself. He also hired certain people to carry out tasks for him. He even had some knights at his disposal, especially Milton de Peyrac-Peyran, whom Madara had asked the duchess to place at his service when necessary.

One curious thing was that the duchess had turned Madara into a kind of confidant—or rather, his clone. She spoke with him frequently, being the only high-ranking noble who knew about the existence of the clones.

Since that incident when those men from Nilfgaard tried to abuse her and Madara saved her, she had grown interested in speaking with him more often.

So it was no surprise that, while the duchess claimed she was going to her room, feeling unwell that night, Madara would end up taking her to the property to have dinner with them, where she didn’t need to pretend to be a noble, and she herself had asked to go when she learned that Madara was in the Duchy with his wife.

The problem was that she saw Aren. But Madara would always erase that part of her memory—for her, there was never a child there.

Even so, that didn’t stop her from playing with the boy while she was present. She would sit with Ciri, talking, picking up several dolls that Madara had created with Mokuton, perfect copies of knights, monsters, and animals.

Aren liked to play with them, trying to crawl from one side to the other, but he still couldn’t do it properly because he was very young... even so, he had powerful genes and could already do something even at 3 months old...

Ciri also used magic to play with him.

Madara didn’t stop observing her. Ciri was certainly mastering much more magic since she had trained for several months at the Temple of Melitele. Even so, she needed to grow stronger—and he knew she had the potential to expand her powers even further.

’After the event with the sorcerers and mages, I will take her to train in an isolated place, where we can truly use all our power,’ Madara thought.

It was time to control that capacity to decimate an entire forest like what happened in the north of Kaedwen.

If Ciri learned to control that power, she would be closer to him than ever before.

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