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"Ahem?"
"You can call me... Ciri..."
I nodded.
"Pleased to meet you."
"Yes... I suppose... where am I?"
"One moment..."
I turned to Judy.
"Judy, any ideas how we can simplify communication? Talking like this is going to take us forever."
"Is that Russian?"
I nodded at Judy's question.
"Yeah... though, honestly, I'm surprised she knows it."
"Uh-huh... Well... if she had a port... I could program a shard quickly, but as it is..."
"I see."
I turned back to Ciri.
"Sorry, I thought there was a way to simplify communication. But for now, there isn't."
"Magic?"
Ciri looked at Judy with respect, who was the one answering my question about easier communication.
"No... never mind. You are in Night City."
"Night City? What is that?"
"A city. A free city."
"Where is that? Redania? Nilfgaard?"
"I don't know those names..."
I shook my head. I vaguely remember something from a game I played ages ago that had those names and featured this girl... but what? Although... judging by the context, either a city or a country...
"Cintra? Skellige?"
I shook my head.
"The country..."
I swept my hand, indicating the country we were in.
"...is the NUSA, the New United States of America, the free state of North California, the free city of Night City."
"Not home..."
"Are you hungry?"
The girl blinked and looked at me, puzzled. Then she looked at the grill behind me, where the girls were watching the meat.
The girl's stomach loudly rumbled.
"Yes..."
"Let's go."
We walked over to the girls, who had clearly already downloaded the Russian language onto their translators.
"Hi... We know the language... we just learned it..."
"Just now? Magic?"
Lucy laughed at Ciri's statement.
"...magic doesn't exist, silly, this is technology!"
"Doesn't exist? What is that, then?"
Flickers of magic covered Ciri, and she quickly teleported to the house. With every passing minute, the language became easier for her. It was clear she was well-taught, and her awkward speech was because she had never spoken or even thought in this language before. But I, for a time, only thought in Russian.
"Sandi?"
"Sandi?"
Ciri repeated the unfamiliar word after Lucy.
"Sandevistan. David, show her..."
I took off the top part of my armor and my shirt, then turned my back to Ciri.
"What is that?"
Ciri, judging by her tone, was very surprised. She soon started touching my back with interest.
"Metal in the body? You are alive? Incredible magic..."
"Not magic..."
Judy shook her head. I put my shirt back on but left the top of my armor off.
"...technology."
"It's a kind of magic?"
"No..."
"Do you know 'shooter'?"
"Of course! I am not a savage!"
I took a pistol out of my holster and showed it to her.
"Shooter..."
I removed the magazine.
"...small bolt. Tip. Shoots and kills..."
I slammed the magazine back into the pistol and fired a couple of shots into the air, which made Ciri flinch.
"Loud!"
"Yes, but powerful. It will pierce steel armor."
"You lie!"
"No... but we have different armor now..."
I sighed.
"And it is also mostly ineffective... well, on most people. But those who know how..."
I shrugged.
"Tehnology..."
"Technology."
Ciri nodded at me gratefully.
"Technology."
"Just like Sandi. It allows..."
I accelerated and calmly walked to the exact spot where Ciri had just been standing. Only when I turned it off did I grimace slightly. Even though I wasn't at full power, my shirt was slightly smoldering, and my exposed skin was red.
"Interesting!"
Then her stomach rumbled again, and I grinned.
"First we eat, then we talk."
"Good..."
We sat down and started eating. I have to say that Ciri ate... she ate like she was raised by a barbarian. Actually, considering she was raised by a Witcher, that wasn't surprising! However, she quickly noticed that we were eating much more neatly than she was, and she froze for a couple of seconds. Then she chewed what she had shoved into her mouth and swallowed it all with difficulty.
"I apologize..."
"It's nothing. Different people, different traditions..."
Ciri blushed, and from that moment on, she started eating much more carefully. Only when we had satisfied our hunger did I decide to start the conversation.
"So, where are you from?"
"Most likely..."
Ciri paused, apparently picking her words in the unfamiliar language.
"...another land?"
"Another world?"
I tried to rephrase her words, and she nodded happily.
"Yes!"
"Hmm... that's hard to believe, but considering that no one knows you, and you're not in any database..."
"Database?"
"Records about a person. There are many of them... about birth, marriage, buying a vehicle and a home... a person leaves so many traces as they live..."
I shook my head.
"...and not a single trace of you."
"How did you know?"
I pointed to my eyes, which glowed.
"The same as Sandi, only a different function."
"Magic..."
Ciri shook her head, returning to describing technological progress as Magic.
"So, how did you end up here?"
"Magic... I move... from place to place..."
"Teleportation?"
"Yes."
She smiled happily, nodding her head.
"I can... Magic!"
I sighed.
"You didn't just teleport for no reason, did you? Were you chasing someone?"
"No..."
She shook her head and looked away.
"Running from someone?"
She nodded her head.
"Yes."
"From whom?"
"Wild Hunt."
I frowned... there were myths and legends about the Wild Hunt in this world, too, but I didn't know them, and neither did the others, apparently. So all I could do was look at Ciri with a question in my eyes.
"Can you explain?"
"Why for you?"
"We are mercenaries... we can help..."
I shrugged.
"I have no money..."
"Can you move within this world?"
"Yes..."
"I can find places that can only be reached with your gift. We'll get money, and we'll legalize it through a fixer."
"Any ideas?"
Becca looked at me in surprise.
"Sunken ships... there are many of them, very many. Especially after the last war with the AIs... and if we make a diving suit and give her the coordinates..."
"Hmm..."
The girls exchanged glances.
"Wait..."
Judy's eyes lit up suspiciously.
"Can you go to the moon?"
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"I will die..."
Ciri even moved her chair away from us.
"No... a suit..."
"A suit?"
"A suit that has air inside."
"You lie!"
"No..."
I shook my head.
"...it's true. And it is an achievement of technology. But first, we will prove to you that it is real, and after that, we will decide what to do..."
"But it's dangerous near me..."
I shrugged.
"Being a mercenary is also dangerous. But we are mercenaries. And believe me, everyone here can hold their own. Of course, some more than others. And we haven't encountered magic, but I think your Wild Hunt will get a very unpleasant surprise if they run into us, especially if you tell us more about them."
"Good..."
Ciri sighed.
"...I will tell you. gibberish in a foreign tongue"
"Did you say something?"
Kiwi looked at Ciri suspiciously.
"I said that I hope I am not making a mistake by trusting you."
"And only time will tell that..."
"Yes..."
We fell silent for a while. After that, Ciri started telling us about the Wild Hunt. She said that they were mostly warriors, that mages were rare among them, and that they specialized in opening portals. But the portals led to icy worlds from which an incredible cold blew and strange beasts emerged. They preferred swords and other cutting and crushing weapons.
"And they cannot be killed..."
I frowned.
"In what sense?"
"They are not their bodies... projections... dense illusions... they control them by transferring a part of their consciousness into these illusions."
I frowned.
"I see, I see nothing, but you say they control the cold?"
"Yes..."
"Then we'll need thermal grenades."
"Thermal grenades?"
"A small bag of powder that explodes when needed. Only not a bag and not with powder."
"Uh..."
Ciri squinted her eyes.
"I understand... I think..."
And she continued to tell us about the Wild Hunt, and we listened carefully, as they were likely our future enemies.
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