Chapter 101

According to Ciri, or rather, based on her little experience with world hopping, it looked like we had about a week before the Wild Hunt showed up in the world. It would take them about two more days to find her, and after that...

After that, she would usually spend another two weeks as a driven game, teleporting around the world in short bursts until her out-of-control power gained some sort of power and threw her into another world. She'd been bouncing around like that for almost a year now...

"Poor thing..."

"Don't..."

Ciri shook her head at the words said by Becca, who felt genuinely sorry for our new acquaintance.

"...no pity. If you really want to help, I ask for your hospitality for five days. And then."

She grinned crookedly, but behind that grin she could easily read sadness and even some degree of doom.

"...I will begin my run again."

"David, we're going to help her, aren't we?"

I looked around at the girls.

"We'll help. if I can see that all of you are eager to embark on new adventures. Besides, we're all a little bored with our regular jobs..."

The girls nodded.

"And here. new adversaries. I just need to think about weapons. I think Panam, Kiwi, Judy and Lucy would be good for sniper rifles, Becca would be good for something like a six-barrel machine gun...

I looked around thoughtfully at the little girl, whose eyes literally lit up with anticipation.

"Really, really?!"

"Yeah..."

"You shouldn't..."

Ciri interrupted our plans.

"You're not the first to help me, but the result is always the same. people like you die, and I move on to a new world."

"Life in general is a dangerous thing, especially for mercenaries..."

Kiwi shrugged.

"...but that doesn't mean we have to go straight to the coffin and die. It's not up to you how we fight these Wild Hunters. They'll probably show up where you did, at least that's what I deduced from your story of wandering the worlds... And I don't think I'm the only one."

We all nodded at our blondie's words.

"Are you crazy? It's an unnecessary risk! I won't even pay you! No jumping to sunken ships, no moon... even if it turns out this scupundle of yours really exists."

I shrugged.

"Well, I think we'll get something from the bodies of these enemies, even if they're represented by a dense illusion... maybe armor metals, weapons... there must be something real there that could help us in the future."

"I..."

Tears rolled down Ciri's cheeks.

"...thank you so much."

We all smiled at such a pronunciation, and it sounded so natural on Ciri's part that it evoked no other emotion besides a smile and mortification.

"Okay, well, uh. Becca, you have an assignment."

"Uh-huh?

"We'll make a weapon for Ciri, too..."

I looked back at the girl thoughtfully.

"What style of fighting do you prefer?"

"А?"

"Super close range..."

And he himself shook his head negatively at his own words.

"No, your sword isn't short, it's more like a two-handed sword... but it's more like a two-and-a-half-handed sword. but it's still a little short for a two-handed sword. I don't know what such blades are actually called, but judging by its scabbard, it is much more comfortable to wield not exactly with two hands, rather one hand sets the direction, and the second hand speeds up the blow or gives it force, and can also be used to change the direction of the blow...

"Uh... well, in general. But I was trained in The Witcher, and there the combat is mostly against monsters, and often you have to hit with powerful blows to cut through the skin. So I prefer to fight with strong blows, block rarely, all because of the same training, I prefer to dodge, which with my teleportation is even more effective, and in addition to teleportation I can make a "jump" such super acceleration for short straight distances..."

I nodded my head.

"So big heavy guns are not an option..."

I scratch my cheek.

"Becca, teach Ciri how to shoot an Uzi."

"А?"

"Well, a pistol for a week she will learn only in the rudiments of the art of shooting, and the Uzi ... you don't have to aim, point it at a reasonable person and pull the trigger. It's all about reloading quickly and reflexes not to point the weapon at allies."

"All right, I'll take her."

"Great... Panam, you'll give the others extra lessons on sniper rifles."

"Okay, but you do realize."

"We'll buy. good rifles, Uzis, everything. I can't make it in time, but I can modernize it."

I nodded.

"...I can upgrade the weapons in time, but Sol and a couple of other clan guys will make the grenades. I think we can do it in about five days, and then a couple more days to get a good feel for the terrain..."

"I think we can manage."

"By the way..."

I looked at Ciri.

"And if we take down these dense illusions of theirs, how long will it take them to recover?"

"I don't know... probably for a long time. In my travels, no one has ever managed to kill one of them."

I sighed.

"So let's think they won't need to rebuild..."

"А?"

"No, I understand that in theory magical energy, or what is there in magicians, is depleted, and also moral and psychological trauma from "death", but it is necessary to proceed from the worst case scenario. Although the best should not be excluded."

"The best?"

"Yes, that they need time to return to the body, at least a short period of time and by killing them we immediately get the corpse and the original Hunter."

"By the way..."

Judy decided to take a more active part in the conversation.

"...and how do you know about illusions if you've never killed one."

"I... traveled with one of the elves. he was knowledgeable, and he told me that killing them was pointless."

I frowned.

"With an elf?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"And how does he know something he told you is true?"

Ciri sighed and looked away.

"He was one of them himself... once upon a time, the Wild Hunt are elves. He used to support their views, but it is now about three hundred years since he"

I shook my head disappointedly.

"And you believed it so easily?"

"But he could have just put me to sleep and..."

"So what?"

"Well, uh. take you to the elves? Call your own, if they were your own..."

"Rather..."

I covered my eyes.

"...the Elves need you for something. Did he mention something like that?"

"M...m..."

Ciri frowned thoughtfully, I could see that she really didn't want to believe what I was saying, and then she shook her head.

"I don't think so... except, uh."

"Is it?"

Panam caught Ciri's gaze.

"Well, he talked about some kind of prophecy. and the great cold."

I laughed sadly.

"What?"

"Well, you know, if we were characters in a book, I'd make the assumption that this prophecy is about you and you just MUST defeat this Great Chill! But given that we're in reality..."

I fell silent.

"So what can you tell me?"

Ciri frowned at me.

"I can guess..."

And I fell silent again.

"AND?"

"You're not going to like my assumption."

"I don't care! Tell me!"

This time, Ciri didn't wait for me to pause for a bit and immediately demanded that I tell her exactly what I had in mind.

"Let me ask you a couple questions first?"

"But you're gonna tell me everything, right?"

"Will tell you..."

All my girls nodded at Lucy's promise to influence me to tell everything.

"All right, ask your questions."

Ciri mimed an anguished nod of her head.

I honestly didn't understand why she was even talking to us. No, I really didn't. maybe it's some kind of female intuition? With some sort of blood thing that they said in the game? I remember her having a special kind of blood, which is why she can sort of jump through worlds like that. Probably a special saturation of magic that affects her intuition?

I mean, I really want to help, and she apparently subconsciously trusts her intuition...

"How long do elves live?"

"А?"

Ciri blinked confusedly.

"Why would you do that?"

Although I would if I were her...

No, fuck that kind of thinking! I'm in my place, I don't want to be in her place.

"Answer the question..."

"Well. for a long, long time, like 300 years."

I frowned slightly.

"I see...now tell us why you trust us?"

Ciri blinked a couple times in surprise.

"I don't understand..."

"If I were in an unknown world with unknown intelligent people, I would at least talk less and listen more. You tell us everything that is interesting to us, answer our questions and generally behave relaxed, though you have seen what I am capable of in terms of speed..."

I took a breath after taking a couple sips of the non-alcoholic cocktail.

"...Moreover, you know that we are mercenaries, which means we could have been hired by the very same elves... But you continue to sit at the same table with us and talk to us..."

"Intuition..."

I blinked.

"That's all the reasons?"

"You may not understand, though you really don't, since you didn't go through my training, but I was taught by the Witcher..."

She capitalized the name of her teacher's profession.

"...and witches consider their intuition to be very important. After all it is unreal to know everything, yes they know the most common monsters, they know about the most dangerous, but only the oldest and most experienced of them can boast a truly comprehensive knowledge of monsters and their habits. But this stage in life has yet to be reached. And their young were often too... overconfident after they'd been mutated. So they were trained to rely on intuition."

Ciri took a short pause, to sip some beer and burp the gases that had gathered in her. At this, the other girls blushed slightly at this behavior, still they were somewhat differently accustomed to behaving. Not that burping was considered something obscene at this time... but they had picked up some conservative views from me...

"So, I was trained by the method of Witches and uncle Vesimir very insisted that despite the fact that I did not pass mutations, I am the same self-confident, and intuition will help me not only in battle, but also help me to understand who can be trusted...

"And your intuition was silent on that elf?"

"Well. she whispered, she warned, but I wasn't in any obvious danger from him... so I don't quite understand your attitude toward him. As for you, my sixth sense tells me you're trustworthy."

I nodded my head.

"What's up? You gonna tell me what you're thinking?"