Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Each of Vilgefortz’s decisions had the power to send tremors across the globe. He did not have the time to play the role of a father, even if Olivia was like a daughter to him.

Therefore, he asked this of his personal assistant, secretary Lydia van Bredevoort.[1]

Lydia was a sorceress and talented painter. In the hallowed hallways hung her landscape paintings, one of them being a painting of a date between Cregennan of Lod and Lara Dorren. [2] These were the ancestors of Ciri and Olivia. Ciri’s “elder’s blood” had been inherited from the demon sorceress Lara.

Lydia had survived an experiment accident at a hefty price of major burns, a fragmented chin and spot variation between her pharynx and larynx. However, she had turned down the regeneration incantation while maintaining her normal appearance with the Magic of Illusion.

She loved Vilgefortz, but he did not feel the same. They were too proud to disclose their feelings to each other, each satisfied with this unspoken, yet stable state of relationship.

Lydia did not care much about Olivia. This child showed no talent magic, hence Lydia thought that Vilgefortz had taken Olivia as an apprentice for the sake of his relationship with Emhyr.

Olivia was clever and obedient. Taking care of her was like having a pet with human intelligence. It was far better than caring for Ciri.

Cirilla was too mischievous. Unlike Olivia, she did not take private lessons, but with other children of the nobility. She was called”the young lioness of Cintra,” and her influence among the other children of the nobility was strong. Everybody scurried about to fulfill her demands.

Surprisingly, she acceded to her younger sister’s words. Perhaps it was because of her extremely gentle nature. This younger sister gave her sister everything good she found and treated her as the perfect princess. When she grew up, it was her deepest wish to be the knight protecting her younger sister.

Therefore, she was not bothered by how her younger sister was the more popular of the two. They shared a tacit understanding to the point where their mind was one.

Whenever mischievous Ciri met her younger sister, she would cause some trouble and have Lydia complain her grievances to Vilgefortz. She would not stop elaborating on how he had been most fortunate to have Olivia as an apprentice, not Ciri. She would rather have her skin burnt for the second time than care for Ciri.

Children innocently caused trouble, it was their nature. Naturally, bright and obedient children like Olivia would be a favorite.

At that moment, Lydia was having a private class with Olivia. Olivia had managed to accumulate sufficient theoretical knowledge and was ready to start her first practical lesson of magic.

In Olivia’s game system, a new side mission popped up: meditation.

Sorcerers must perform meditation to sense the magical elements. Armed with their theoretical knowledge, they would guide the elements and fuse them. During the process, they had to complete it with gestures and incantations before they released the magic.

It was a known fact that the descendants of stronger bloodlines could enter the state of meditation faster than the others, hastening their magical development.

Olivia had not been gifted with Cirilla’s bloodline, who had great potential in magic. Cirilla was even stronger than Vilgefortz, which gave him more reason to possess her.

However, source sorcerers needed more effort in training before their skills matured. Vilgefortz had ignored Ciri, with the hope that others would not notice Ciri’s talent. It would be easier for him to work his plan out soon.

Sorceresses were less fertile than ordinary women. Even so, the call of motherhood reached their ears like any other. If they could not have any children of their own, they would rather adopt one.

Lydia soon felt her motherly instincts calling out to Olivia. She thought herself to be a better a mother to Olivia, compared to that silly Princess Pavetta.

She even passed down her painting techniques to Olivia, and was pleasantly surprised to find Olivia highly talented in the drawing …

Little did she know that Olivia had merely used three skill points to max out “Western painting technique.” In fact, one point would have been enough to impress many. It was a vital skill that was necessary for the constructing of magic reels and Signs that are embalmed onto weapons. Having good “Western painting techniques” would be extremely helpful, impressing Lydia was a bonus.

When Zhao Youyue returned to the real world, she found that Olivia’s skills had followed her out. After all, reality did not have a game UI. She only found herself drawing like Olivia.

“Meditation is not as easy as painting. Anyone could sit down cross-legged, but it was more like using the mind to grow wings on the back of a person. From there on, some might instantly know how to use those wings, but some would have no clue on how to proceed. In the Thanedd Island of Temeria, there was a Sorceress Academy that was highly sought-after by aristocratic children. Only one out of a thousand could meditate successfully.” Lydia had to give Olivia a heads-up as she was not the descendant of a strong bloodline. Chances were that she might fail miserably.

The Sorceress Academy was Aretuza, located in Thanedd Island, northwest of Gors Valen of Temeria.[3][4][5] It was built on the reefs of Thanedd Island.

Somewhere to the north was a rival academy. It was nothing like the Sorcerer Academy of Ban Ard.[6] This sorceress academy only accepted female candidates. It had turned Thanedd Island famous as a sacred place.

It was an honor to be accepted as a student of this academy, at the price of hefty tuition fees. There was a merit system to award students who performed well in classes to reduce tuition fees or waive them altogether. It was a school with students coming from a variety of backgrounds, from descendants of noble families such as Margarita, [7] or the impoverished like Yennefer. [8]

The education quality made those fees worth it. Their highly respected alumni and graduates often found a job within days. Its school principals were formidable sorceresses who had graduated from the school itself, such as the previous principle, Tissaia de Vries and the current principal Margarita Laux-Antille [9]

As for alumni, everybody should know of Triss Merigold of Maribor and Yennefer. [10]

However, sorceresses had to look over their shoulders constantly. There was a witcher who was known as The White Wolf, the butcher of numerous sorceresses… [11]

Olivia started to meditate on the method thought by Lydya. Wanting to test her magical talent, she did not spend any skill point in meditation. Sadly, it turned out that she was indeed an ordinary person who possessed no gifts in meditating.

Lydia’s face was downcast, although she had expected it…

Translation Note:

[1] Lydia van Bredevoort (d. July 1267) was Vilgefortz’s assistant and personal secretary, a sorceress, and a painter. She was a woman with a very strange face and very nice, expressive eyes. The lower part of her face was actually an illusion. Four years prior the events in Blood of Elves, Lydia, at Vilgefortz’s insistence, had taken part in some experiments conducted on a mysterious artefact discovered in a necropolis. It turned out to be cursed and although it “activated” only the one time, three of the five mages who participated were killed on the spot. A fourth lost his eyes, his hands and went mad. Lydia escaped with burns, a mangled jaw, and throat and larynx mutations that stubbornly resisted all attempts at regeneration. She was left with telepathy as her only form of communication.

She was also hopelessly in love with Vilgefortz but too proud to admit it and he, in turn, was too principled to take her as his lover because he did not actually love her, though it was suggested. This situation, strange though it was, seemed to suit them both.

She died, likely by her own hand and at Vilgefortz’s order, during the coup on Thanedd Island. When she died, the illusion that had hidden the monstrous result of the failed experiment dissipated and her true face was revealed, much to the horror of the witnesses.

[2] Cregennan (also Cragen) of Lod was a mighty human sorcerer, most famous for falling in love with an elf, Lara Dorren, and for being murdered for it by humans. Their daughter, Riannon, was adopted by Cerro, the queen of Redania. Cregennan was one of the ancestors of Ciri.

The Aen Elle considered his relationship with Lara a theft of their heritage, and the king of the Aen Elle, Auberon Muircetach was determined to take back that stolen heritage, by using Cregennan’s descendent, Ciri, to produce an heir.

[3] Aretuza is a magical academy for young ladies situated next to the Garstang on Thanedd Island and consists of 5 floors and 76 rooms, including rooms for the students.

Among the students are girls from the twelve finest families in Redania. According to Molnar Giancardi, the annual fees for a student add up to 1,200 Novigradian crowns, with a 200 crown matriculation fee for new students. Adepts studying there are not permitted to leave the island and visitors are only admitted to the lowest level of the academy, Loxia.

[4] the Isle of Thanedd is located in the bay northwest of Gors Velen in Temeria, to which it is connected by a bridge. It is primarily the location of an academy for training young females in magic. Thanedd is divided into three main areas:

Aretuza

Garstang

Loxia

All three parts were built by elves and are ‘crowned’ by Tor Lara. The island itself is hollow, like a shell. It can be accessed either by the bridge (the conventional route) or from the sea via the underground passages (a less traditional, though certainly stealthier way).”

[5] Gors Velen is a port city on the northern coast of the North Sea in Temeria. It is just east of Cidaris, south of Oxenfurt, and northwest of Dorian. The forest of Brokilon lies immediately to the south of the city.

Kardo Street runs through the city connecting the Main gate to the Sea gate. The town is also well known for its fish market on Circle Street, whose strong aromas attract the local cat population. In the centre of the market stands the “Thief’s Bastion”.

[6] Ban Ard is a Kaedweni city known for its mining and magical academy. Although Ard Carraigh is its capital, Ban Ard is the true pearl of Kaedwen.

[7] Margarita Laux-Antille was a sorceress and a rector of Aretuza. She was also the granddaughter of the famous Ilona Laux-Antille and a founding member of the Lodge of Sorceresses. She was the object of Lars’s affection, though she never returned his feelings. She had no interest in politics, but she cared deeply for her school and students.

In the books, she was described by Ciri as having a figure that surpasses Yennefer and statues sculpted by artists.

[8] Yennefer, born on Belleteyn in 1173, was a sorceress who lived in Vengerberg, the capital city of Aedirn. She was Geralt of Rivia’s true love and a mother figure to Ciri, whom she viewed like a daughter to the point that she did everything she could to rescue the girl and keep her from harm.

She was a former royal advisor to king Demavend of Aedirn, a close friend of Triss Merigold, and the youngest member of the Supreme Council of Sorcerers within the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. After its fall, the Lodge of Sorceresses attempted to recruit her, but they didn’t see eye to eye as the Lodge wanted to advance their own political agenda by using Ciri.

[9] Tissaia de Vries (d. 1267) was a sorceress and a member of the Chapter of Sorcerers. She was one of the rectors at Aretuza and the author of The Poisoned Source. She was also extremely obsessive about her appearance and things in general. Tissaia was the one who took a young Yennefer of Vengerberg under her wing. It was she who fixed Yennefer’s hunchback and cured her of her various afflictions. During the coup on Thanedd Island, it was she who teleported a heavily wounded Geralt and Triss away from the hands of the approaching Redanian army. After the coup on Thanedd Island, Tissaia committed suicide slitting her wrists. Together with the other losses, her death spelt the end of the Council, making way for the Lodge of Sorceresses.

[10] Triss Merigold of Maribor was a legendary Temerian sorceress of the 13th century. Called Fourteenth of the Hill by her contemporaries because she was erroneously thought to have been killed during the Battle of Sodden Hill, she passed into history as Merigold the Fearless. A member of King Foltest’s royal council along with Fercart and Keira Metz, as well as a founding member of the Lodge of Sorceresses, she was involved in politics for most of her life.

[11] Geralt of Rivia is a witcher and the main protagonist of the Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski and its adaptations, including The Witcher (PC), The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video games. Like all witchers, Geralt is a monster hunter for hire. He possesses superhuman abilities and is a master swordsman. During the Trial of the Grasses, Geralt exhibited unusual tolerance for the mutagens that grant witchers their abilities. Accordingly, Geralt was subjected to further experimental mutagens which rendered his hair white and may have given him greater speed, strength, and stamina than his fellow witchers.

Geralt is also known as Gwynbleidd, meaning “White Wolf” in Elder Speech. He was given this alias by the dryads and is also called the Butcher of Blaviken after an unfortunate incident in that town.