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Just after heating up the alembic, Gustave looked over and saw Brenna standing in the middle of the room, holding a bucket full of water and doing nothing. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Brenna? What are you doing? Why haven't you poured the water into the retort container?"
"A-ah… yes. Pouring the water into the container," she said stiffly.
Frowning as he watched her move, Gustave noticed how strangely absent-minded she seemed. He suspected her memories had been rewound to a few minutes before they met the Devil.
Wanting to confirm it, he asked, "Brenna, did you see anyone besides us in this laboratory a moment ago?"
"Eh? Was there really someone else here? Didn't we find this room empty?"
"No, there aren't any. Let's go back to our research."
Finally understanding that both her and Delilah's minds had likely been rewound a few minutes by his ancient grandmother, Gustave thanked his ancestor once again in his heart before continuing the experiment.
He knew his ancient grandmother was kind and foresighted enough to realize that knowledge of Devils and Gods was far too advanced for his maids—knowledge that would only bring complications they were not ready to bear.
He also made a mental note to push his controlled madness to 3.5, to balance out the "gift" the Devil had invoked by calling out his title. He had no intention of dealing with the same kind of hassle Geralt faced—being manipulated simply because he asked a single question about Yennefer, which spiraled into countless complications down the line.
Although he suspected this advancement wasn't a trap—given that his ancient grandmother, who could see and swim through countless branching timelines, had done nothing to interfere—he still didn't want his breakthrough to occur simply because the Devil had uttered his made-up title.
After all, that very mindset was the reason the Devil had claimed he would eventually arrive on the Other Side.
And with tomorrow being Samhain Eve—when the thinning veil lets witchcraft and terror seep through, ideal for him who willingly lets that terror sharpen his control—he decided to raise his controlled madness to 3.5 before attempting to advance to the 8th Sequence at that time, ensuring he owed nothing to the Devil.
Although he would have preferred to advance only after his mind had naturally recovered from the strain and overexertion caused by letting madness seep in, the current situation left him no choice. The faint warmth slowly spreading through the ring on his finger told him the advancement could no longer be delayed, which left him with mixed feelings.
Gaining more power was undeniably good, but when that power came at the cost of losing his sense of self, the excitement dropped straight to the floor—reducing his reaction to a simple, static "oh, okay."
He knew all too well that every step forward brought him closer to the nightmarish figments haunting this world. That was why he found little joy in it, even though the next Sequence would allow him to work at the forge like a full-grown adult and grant him a prodigious talent in Ritualistic Magic.
Coupled with the fact that—while the ring Regis had given him could effortlessly block deranging assaults—its metal offered far less protection against physical harm, he couldn't help but reflect on how unprepared he truly was.
Meeting someone far above his weight class had jolted him awake to the reality that he had no physical inventions for his own absolute defense—only sketches and ideas in his head.
That was why, for the sake of his own peace of mind—despite knowing people would raise their eyebrows at the sight of bulky gloves on his ring hand—he decided to make them anyway, consequences be damned.
Because at the end of the day, the suspicions of common folk in Cintra had no real bite. At most, they would raise an eyebrow and whisper among themselves, but none of it posed any true danger—nothing he couldn't handle.
And even if their gossip somehow reached the ears of spies or Northern mages, that would be an extreme stretch of logic. It was just a pair of bulky gloves, after all… and Ciri's magical explosion was already a far larger beacon of meatshield for unwanted attention.
Besides, now that he was in a safe environment—unlike during his time at home or on the road—he allowed himself to take practical measures to speed up his work, even if they compromised subtlety.
Because what truly mattered was the possibility of his Sanguinite Ring being damaged or destroyed. If that ever happened, not only would it endanger his life, it would jeopardize his identity and sense of self—something he feared more deeply than anything else.
With that thought, he stepped out of his research space and instructed Delilah and Rosemary, who had just entered the room, to buy materials known for their defensive qualities, because he intended to create a pair of gloves designed purely to protect the ring.
Materials such as Hardened Leather, Chitinous Shell, Cured Draconic Leather, or—if Cintra happened to possess any—the far more advanced Infused Slyzard Hide.
But since only Lazare Lafargue or—more accurately in this timeline—his master, the ancient elven smith Tyen'sail with his Elven Song Enchantment, was capable of creating such highly advanced Infused Slyzard Hide, Gustave resigned himself to using more basic materials.
And this inevitability of having to rely on basic materials made him think about the mission he intended to entrust to Geralt later during Belleteyn: gathering the Witcher Armor Diagrams.
Or, more precisely, the two specific diagrams he wanted Geralt to find in Toussaint: the Grandmaster Griffin School Gear, which he planned to reverse-engineer to strengthen Cintra's mage army, and the Grandmaster Ursine School Gear, which he intended to use as the foundation for his own absolute-defense armor.
Although he would have loved for Geralt to collect the other Grandmaster sets as well, real life was nothing like the game, where convenient minimap pathing solved everything. He knew Geralt would likely need months—perhaps even a full year—just to search for these locations, even with the general areas he provided.
And that didn't include the travel time, which would stretch the process even further, nor the fact that some locations were occupied by bandits, requiring Geralt to prepare before storming them—making those places even more difficult to access.
Thankfully, the Griffin Armor's location wasn't hidden in a cave or tucked away in some remote, unmarked wilderness, which made the search significantly easier. Unlike the Ursine Armor, some of whose diagrams—such as those for the trousers, boots, and steel sword—were now located in a remote corner of a cave.
And beyond that, the Griffin Armor would also serve as a small gift of opportunity for this world's protagonist's father to grow much stronger, since the set was tied to Tomas Moreau, the man who carried on Alzur's legacy and pushed Witchers further along the path of their second evolution.
Thinking about gifts, Gustave couldn't help but decide to go all the way to help Geralt and his wolven brothers.
Because he knew—from the conversation between Geralt and Lazare Lafargue, who at this time was still apprenticing under the elven grandmaster Tyen'sail in Toussaint—that Vesemir had tasked Adon of Carreras to travel to the land of the knights next Moon of Birke, around March to April, to commission the elves to craft the Grandmaster Wolven Armor.
And because the Wolf School Witchers were now an endangered species, and for the sake of earning a few brownie points with the protagonist's father, Gustave decided he would also hint at information concerning Adon of Carreras when giving Geralt the contract later.
He could only hope Geralt's arrival in Toussaint would coincide with Adon still being alive a few months from now—or, in the worst-case scenario, at least still breathing, even if only by a sliver, crushed under the rocks.
Unlike in the original timeline, where Gustave deduced from the angle of Adon's death that the poor Witcher had likely survived the initial collapse, only to die slowly and inevitably from dehydration, starvation, and his injuries because no one was there to save him.
And it was simply miserable to imagine, because Vesemir's decision to give the Grandmaster diagram to Adon—thus causing it to be lost forever—meant that Geralt and the rest of the Witchers were left with only standard-level armor, equipment that was essentially defective compared to the true Grandmaster-quality version.
"Huh?"
Snapped out of his musings while multitasking his research on how this world's Celandine reacts to certain noble gases, Gustave couldn't help but be surprised.
His [Knowledge] ability revealed that whenever traces of Xenon touched the flower's extract, the anti-inflammatory agent gained properties that prevented collagen from breaking down, protected elastin, and accelerated the production of new skin cells.
In other words, it could keep a person's skin youthful for as long as they used the extract—meaning that anyone using his soap in the future would be able to maintain youthful skin for years, as long as they continued using his beauty product.
Although it wasn't anywhere near the level of repairing DNA or regenerating telomeres like a lobster—thus stopping aging entirely—Gustave still found it fascinating that achieving perpetual youthfulness was this easy in a world where magic existed, requiring nothing more than a combination of Xenon and Celandine.
So, sighing once again at how simple things became when magic was involved, he began searching for the source of the Xenon, since his "experiment" amounted to little more than placing the extract on the table and observing it with his [Knowledge] mysticism.
Eventually, he spotted it on the body of a lamp in the corner—one that suspiciously didn't use oil like a normal lamp should. Inspecting it with his [Knowledge] ability, he discovered that the lamp used Light Essence for illumination, which in turn produced the noble gas Xenon.
The realization made him pull an odd face.
Because he knew this material came from a Noonwraith… which meant the key ingredient in his beauty-enhancing soap was essentially sourced from the second-ugliest creature in this world, right after the champion ghouls.
So, keeping this secret close to his heart—unwilling to let countless ladies and noble madams turn rabid once they discovered the main ingredient came from a specter—he said to his maids,
"Bring me Light Essence from the vault this time, girls. I think I've just found our first official product."
Although it wasn't the initial goal he had hoped for—he had intended to heal old injuries—it was at least something close to that purpose, and it would certainly be a creation that kept every lady coming back for more.
Because at the end of the day, whether in science or in magic, serendipity was a common occurrence: searching for one thing and discovering something entirely unexpected.
"Oh, and also bring along barilla and saltwort plant stalks, olive and coconut oils, and any herbal extracts you find pleasing to the nose. We will try to make a soap."
A few minutes later, after his maids—minus Mira, who was busy with paperwork to purchase his first shop—went out to gather the materials for the product, Gustave suddenly heard a high-pitched calling of his name echoing across the hall outside.
"Gustave!!! Little guy!!! Where are you!!!"
"Oh, shit."
Knowing the little she-devil was looking for him to be her playmate—and realizing he didn't have time to indulge her, wanting to finish his project between breaks—he quickly found a corner to hide in. With his tiny legs moving as fast as they could, he darted behind a curtain and climbed up as best he could onto a ledge so that his legs were no longer visible.
"Gustave!!! Here comes kitty kitty!!!"
His heart started pounding as if he were being stalked by a hungry predator. Sweat broke out on his temple, and his legs quivered with cold fear. Wishing again and again that the little girl wouldn't enter the laboratory, his heart sank to the bottom of an abyss.
Creak…
Tap… tap… tap…
Hearing the footsteps drawing closer and closer, Gustave summoned every ounce of his focus and spirituality to use his [Knowledge] ability, studying how to become like a wall and applying it to every movement of his body, which was already drenched in sweat.
Tap… tap… tap…
"Little guy… Where are you?… Are you in here?… If yes… then you are… Here!!!"
The little devil had opened the curtain incorrectly. Gustave began chanting in his mind, focusing on becoming a wall again and again.
Tap… tap… tap…
"Eh?! No, you're not here?! Hmpph, those maids! What liars! I will relieve all of them from their duties! They should not have been Gustave's own—Here!!!!"
"Cyka bly—!!!"
"Heheheheheh, I got you, little guy! Behold! This new and improved lion cub of Cintra! Rawr!"
Ignoring the green tint on her hands, Gustave couldn't help wanting to noogie the little bastard—but stopped himself when he saw Haxo, Vissegard, and the sexy Ofir women watching them with amusement.
Returning to his little emo-toddler phase—because now was not the time to spat this brat flying to oblivion with his colorful Earthling language—he simply nodded and congratulated the girl as she came down from the ledge where he had been hiding.
—
References may break immersion. Just go ahead to the next chapter.
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References
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Tyen'sail is an elven blacksmith grandmaster and is currently essentially the only living blacksmith capable of crafting Grandmaster armor, according to Adon of Carreras' journal.
"Suppose I shouldn't be surprised Master Tyen'sail asks such a steep price to forge Grandmaster armor. No other craftsman in the world is his equal. I tried to tell wise old Vesemir that what he gave me would barely be enough for one silver sword. Trekked halfway across the world to get here from Kaer Morhen, and for what? Ehh, gonna have to look around for some work…"
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Lazare Lafargue is the apprentice of Tyen'sail and the Grandmaster blacksmith in the Blood and Wine DLC, succeeding the elven master Tyen'sail. According to him, these two master-apprentices currently live in Toussaint.
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Elven Song Enchantment is derived from the process used in The Witcher 1 to craft Raven armor—legendary even among Witcher armor. Its diagram required elven sheet music scrolls attributed to Tyen'sail.
Because Grandmaster armor can only be created by Lazare Lafargue and his master, this implies that some form of singing ritual magic is involved in crafting it. Considering that in Gwent there are Whisperers of Dol Blathanna, it seems that elven magic has already been integrated into artistic practices.
Coupled with the fact that art is highly respected in Toussaint, it is reasonable to assume that Tyen'sail took Lazare Lafargue as his apprentice because, in addition to being an exceptional blacksmith, he could also sing beautifully—making him capable of learning Elven Song Enchantment.
Considering that among countless blacksmiths in the world with impressive track records, Tyen'sail has only one apprentice, it suggests that becoming a Grandmaster requires more than mastery of blacksmithing; something additional is necessary to reach the very top. Rather than inventing something from nothing, I took the elven sheet music scrolls used to create Raven Armor as inspiration.
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Adon of Carreras is a Witcher of the Wolf School. From the conversation between Geralt and Lazare Lafargue in Blood and Wine, it is stated that Lafargue met Adon when he was just an apprentice.
Although the exact date of Adon's death is not stated—only that it occurred in March or April—I decided to place this event in the next few months of Gustave's timeline, since Geralt is traveling from Kaer Morhen to meet Ciri, and Vesemir may have instructed Adon to go to Toussaint at the same time.
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Celandine and Xenon, or Light Essence, work together because Xenon is typically used in lamps, suggesting that Light Essence might contain this compound. Light Essence is used in Golden Oriole potions, which can neutralize the effects of poisons, while Celandine is used in Swallow potions, granting Vitality regeneration. When combined, they can both neutralize poisons and promote regeneration.
Scientified at a minimal and cellular level, without exaggeration, this combination may help neutralize skin diseases or treat skin aging—considered a form of "poison"—while renewing skin cells and activating stem cells. It thus combines the properties of both Golden Oriole and Swallow potions.
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