Chapter 100

"Ahem?"

"Can... Ciri."

I nodded my head.

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, uh. I guess. where am I?"

"Wait a minute..."

I turned to Judy. Judy, do you have any idea how we can make this easier? We're gonna be talking like this for a long time. It's Russian, right?

"Yeah, uh. although, frankly, I'm surprised she knows him."

"Uh-huh. Well, if it had a jack. I could program the chip in no time, but, uh...

"Id."

I turned back to Ciri.

"I'm sorry, I thought there was a way to simplify communication. But there isn't."

"Magic?"

Ciri looked respectfully at Judy, who was the one answering my question about facilitating communication.

"No... it doesn't matter. You're in Knight City."

"Knight City? What's that?"

"City. The Free City."

"Where's that? Redania? Nilfgaard?"

"I don't know those names..."

I shook my head. It seemed to be the name of something in a game I'd played a long time ago in which this girl appeared... but what was it? Although... judging by the context, it was either a city or a country...

"Cintra? Skellige?"

I shook my head.

"Country ..."

I waved my hand as if to say I was talking about the country we were in.

"...NUSA, New United States of America, the free state of Northern California, the free city of Knight City."

"Not the house..."

"Are you hungry?"

The girl blinked and looked at me puzzled, and then at the brazier behind me, the meat on which the girls were tending.

The girl's stomach rumbled violently.

"Yeah..."

"Let's go."

We approached the girls, and they had already clearly downloaded Russian to their translator.

"Hi... We know the language. we just learned it."

"Just what? Magic?"

"No..."

Lucy laughed at such a statement from Ciri.

"...magic doesn't exist, stupid, it's technology!"

"Doesn't exist? What's that?"

Ciri was covered in flashes of magic and moved quickly toward the house. Her language was becoming easier and easier to speak by the minute. It was obvious that she had been taught well, and her eloquence was due to the fact that she had never spoken or thought in the language before. I, on the other hand, thought in Russian for the first time.

"Sandi?"

"Sandi?"

Ciri repeated after Lucy the unknown word.

"Sandevistan, David, show ..."

I removed the top of my armor and t-shirt then turned my back to Ciri.

"What's that?"

Ciri, judging by the tone was very much surprised, and soon my back was being touched with interest.

"Metal in the body? You're alive? Incredible magic..."

"Not magic..."

Judy shook her head and I put my tank top back on, but didn't put on the top from my armor.

"...Technology."

"Is it that kind of magic?"

"No..."

"You know the self-shooter?

"Of course! I'm not a savage!"

I pulled my gun out of my holster and pointed.

"Self-shooter...

Took a clip out of it.

"...small bolt. The tip. Shoots and kills."

Snaps the clip back into the gun and fires a few shots to the side making Ciri flinch.

"Loud!"

"Yeah, but it's powerful. Steel armor."

"You're lying!"

"No... but nowadays, different armor..."

I sighed.

"And it's also ineffective... well, most people. But for those who can."

I shrugged.

"Iechnology..."

"Technology."

Ciri nodded gratefully at me.

"Technology."

"So does Sandy. It allows..."

I sped up and walked calmly to the very spot where Ciri had been standing recently, and only when I turned it off did I cringe slightly. I didn't work at full power, but my shirt was smoldering, and my exposed skin was reddening.

"Interesting!"

Just then her stomach rumbled again and I grinned.

"Let's eat first, talk later."

"Okay..."

We sat down and ate. I must say that Ciri ate-- like she was raised by a barbarian. Well, considering she was raised by a Witcher, it wasn't surprising! However, she quickly noticed that we were eating much more carefully than her and froze for a couple of seconds, then chewed what she had time to put in her mouth and swallowed it all with difficulty.

"I apologize..."

"It's not a big deal. Different peoples, different traditions..."

Ciri blushed and from that moment she began to eat much more carefully. It was only when we had satisfied our hunger that I decided to start talking.

"So where are you from?"

"Most likely..."

Ciri hesitated, apparently picking up words in a language she wasn't used to.

"...another land?"

"Another world?"

I tried to paraphrase her words and she nodded her head cheerfully.

"Yes! (Laughs)"

"Hmm. it's hard to believe, but considering that no one knows about you and you're not in any database."

"A database?"

"Human records. There are many of them... of births, of weddings, of buying a vehicle and a house... a person, while living, leaves so many traces..."

I shook my head.

"...and there's no sign of you."

"How did you know?"

I pointed to my eyes, which lit up.

"It's the same as a sandi, just a different function."

"Magic..."

Ciri shook her head, reverting back to labeling technological advancement as Magic.

"So, how did you end up here?"

"Magic... moving. from place to place."

"Teleportation?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

She smiled happily with a nod of her head.

"I can... Magic!"

I sighed.

"You didn't just teleport in for no reason, did you? Were you chasing someone?"

"No..."

She shook her head and looked away.

"Running from someone?"

She nodded her head.

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"From who?"

"Wild Hunt."

I frowned... There were myths and legends of wild hunting in this world, too, but I didn't know them, and neither did the others, apparently. So all I had to do was look at Ciri questioningly.

"Care to explain?"

"Why do you want it?"

"We are mercenaries... we can help."

I shrugged.

"I don't have any money..."

"Can you travel within the world?"

"Yeah..."

"I'll find places that can only be accessed with your gift, get the money, legalize it through a fixer."

"Any ideas?"

Becca looked at me in surprise.

"Shipwrecks. there are many, many of them. Especially after the last AI war... and if you make a spacesuit and give her the coordinates."

"Hmmm..."

The girls looked at each other.

"Wait..."

Judy's eyes glittered suspiciously.

"Can you go to the moon?"

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"I'm gonna die."

Ciri even moved away from us in her chair.

"No... spacesuit."

"A spacesuit?"

"A suit that has air in it."

"You're lying!"

"No..."

I shook my head.

"...it's true. And it's a technological advancement. But first we'll prove to you that it's real, and then we'll decide what to do..."

"But it's dangerous around me..."

I shrugged.

"Being a mercenary is dangerous, too. But we're mercenaries. And believe me, everyone here can stand up for themselves, of course, some to a greater extent, and some to a lesser extent, and we have not encountered any manifestations of magic, but I think this wild hunt of yours will get a very unpleasant surprise when they meet us, especially if you tell us more about them."

"Okay..."

Ciri sighed.

"...I'll tell you. Kekgzeck%K?::;drd..."

"Did you say something?"

Kiwi looked at Ciri suspiciously.

"I said I hope I'm not making the mistake of trusting you."

"And only time will tell..."

"Yeah..."

We were silent for a while, and then Ciri began to tell us about the Wild Hunt, that they are mostly warriors, mages are rare among them, and they specialize in opening portals, but the portals lead to icy worlds where the incredible cold blows and strange beasts burst out... As weapons they prefer swords and other cutting and crushing weapons.

"It's also impossible to kill..."

I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not like their bodies. projections. dense illusions. they control them by transferring part of their consciousness into these illusions."

I frowned.

"Clearly nothing is clear, but you say they control the cold?"

"Yeah..."

"So we'll need thermal grenades."

"Thermal grenades?"

"A baggie of gunpowder that will explode when it needs to, just not a baggie or gunpowder."

"Uh..."

Ciri brought her eyes together in a bunch.

"Got it. I guess, uh."

And she proceeded to tell us about the Wild Hunt, and we listened intently, as these are probably our future adversaries.