It's not clear from the game story and contents, but monsters are now oftentimes taken care of by royal huntsmen and contracted mercenaries. As a result, witche

It's not clear from the game story and contents, but monsters are now oftentimes taken care of by royal huntsmen and contracted mercenaries. As a result, witchers are considered old school practitioners of a dying field and the majority of the population is so poor that witchers are paid infrequently or sometimes not at all (they get scammed too!). Remember that entire villages pooled their money together to pay for a witcher's fees. Also, monsters are not as frequent as they were a long time ago, so contracts are rarer and lower in payout, especially during a horrific war.