Ranwen's Witcher - Background: Das kleinere Übel 7

Shrike a.k.a. Renfri hat den vergifteten Apfel ihrer Stiefmutter aber nicht vergessen, und die anderen Nettigkeiten.

Aridea died in her own bed. She was lucky I didn't get to her earlier - I had a special plan for her, and now I've got one for the sorcerer. Do you think he deserves to die?'

'I'm no judge. I'm a witcher.'

Soweit ich weiß, taucht der Satz auch mindestens einmal im Spiel auf... und mehrfach 'mehr oder weniger', beispielsweise als Abigail zu ihm meint, jetzt müsse er rausgehen zum Mob und "now you must judge". Er will doch eigentlich gar nicht.

'You are. I said that there were two people who could prevent bloodshed in Blaviken. The second is you. The sorcerer will let you into the tower. You could kill him.'

'Renfri,' said Geralt calmly, 'did you fall from the roof onto your head on the way to my room?'

'Are you a witcher or aren't you, dammit? They say you killed a kikimora and brought it here on a donkey to get a price for it. Stregobor is worse than the kikimora. It's just a mindless beast which kills because that's how the gods made it. Stregobor is a brute, a true monster. Bring him to me on a donkey and I won't begrudge you any sum you care to mention.'

'I'm not a hired thug [...]'

History repeating itself. :ugly: Das haben wir doch eben schon mal gehört. Alles von dem, eigentlich.

'You're not,' she agreed with a smile. She leant back on the stool and crossed her legs on the table without the slightest effort to cover her thighs with her skirt. 'You're a witcher, a defender of people from evil. And evil is the steel and fire which will cause devastation here if we fight each other. Don't you think I'm proposing a lesser evil, a better solution? Even for that son-of-a-bitch Stregobor. You can kill him mercifully, with one thrust. He'll die without knowing it. And I guarantee him quite the reverse.'

Geralt remained silent.

Renfri: "Ich hätt gern ne Antwort."

Geralt: "Weißt du, warum sie dich umbringen wollten?"

Renfri: "Klar. Stiefmutter, Thronerbin, bla."

Geralt: "Nein."

Renfri lowered her head, but only for a moment. Her eyes flashed. 'Fine. I'm supposed to be cursed. Contaminated in my mother's womb. I'm supposed to be . . .'

'Yes?'

'A monster.'

'And are you?'

For a fleeting moment she looked helpless, shattered. And very sad.

(Das kommt exakt so im Spiel vor, bei Abigail. "They say I'm a monster." "Are you?")

Renfri sagt, woher soll ich das wissen. Wie ist das nun mit der Antwort?

'My answer is no.'

You remember what I said?' she asked after a moment's silence. 'There are offers you can't refuse, the consequences are so terrible, and this is one of them. Think it over.'

'I have thought carefully. And my suggestion was as serious.'

[...]

'Geralt,' she said, 'did Stregobor ask you to kill me?'

'Yes. He believed it was the lesser evil.'

'Can I believe you refused him, as you have me?'

'You can.'

'Why?'

'Because I don't believe in a lesser evil.'

Renfri smiled faintly, an ugly grimace in the yellow candlelight.

'You don't believe in it, you say. Well you're right, in a way. Only Evil and Greater Evil exist and beyond them, in the shadows, lurks True Evil. True Evil, Geralt, is something you can barely imagine, even if you believe nothing can still surprise you. And sometimes True Evil seizes you by the throat and demands that you choose between it and another, slightly lesser, Evil.'

'What's your goal here, Renfri?

'Nothing. I've had a bit to drink and I'm philosophising, I'm looking for general truths. And I've found one: lesser evils exist, but we can't choose them. Only True Evil can force us to such a choice. Whether we like it or not.'

'Maybe I've not had enough to drink.' The witcher smiled sourly. 'And in the meantime midnight's passed, the way it does. Let's speak plainly. You're not going to kill Stregobor in Blaviken because I'm not going to let you. I'm not going to let it come to a slaughter here. So, for the second time, renounce your revenge. Prove to him, to everyone, that you're not an inhuman and bloodthirsty monster. Prove he has done you great harm through his mistake.'

For a moment Renfri watched the witcher's medallion spinning as he twisted the chain.

Kann ich aber nicht.

'Renfri,' said Geralt. 'Whatever your motives, you're not going to leave here joyful and happy. But you'll leave here alive, early tomorrow morning, as the alderman ordered. You're not going to kill Stregobor in Blaviken.'

Renfri's eyes glistened in the candlelight, reflecting the flame, the pearls glowed in the slit of
her jacket, the wolf medallion spinning round on its chain sparkled.

'I pity you,' she said slowly, gazing at the medallion. 'You claim a lesser evil doesn't exist. You're standing on a flagstone running with blood, alone and so very lonely because you can't choose, but you had to. And you'll never know, you'll never be sure, if you were right . . . And your reward will be a stoning, and a bad word. I pity you . . .'

Na, da weiß ja jemand schon, wie's ausgeht. :ugly: Mädel, du schpoilerst.