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"Holy-fucking-amazing!"
Ciri was staring in shock at the minigun in her hands, which she had just used to shred several targets. Of course, she didn't get it right the first time; on her initial attempt, she actually fell on her ass and blinked in surprise for about five minutes, looking at the minigun she hadn't let go of. Then she just fired into the air for another ten seconds.
"Such a weapon!"
She shook her head.
"How many monsters could be destroyed! Even ordinary peasants could handle a wyvern with this!"
"They could..."
I nodded at Ciri's words, confirming that I understood exactly what she was talking about, but at the same time, I hurried to bring her down from the clouds of fantasy to the solid ground.
"...but the appearance of a weapon like this in your world would bring about the end of the age of mages. People would decide that since they have weapons like this, magic is no longer needed, and they would deal with the mages just as they dealt with the Witchers..."
In the few days Ciri has been staying with us, she's managed to tell us the history of her world. So we already knew that Witchers were indeed almost completely destroyed in her world. More accurately, the institution of Witchers was destroyed, completely wiping out the knowledge of how to properly perform the mutations. Of course, someone might still be able to perform the correct mutation, but how many people could the hidden stashes of the schools sustain?
And the fact that there are hidden stashes is certain, as Ciri mentioned that she could have undergone the necessary mutations, and only Vesemir himself refused to perform them, believing that since humans had rejected the Witchers, the appearance of a new one could lead to terrible consequences and the complete annihilation of not just the institution of Witchers, but the last remaining living representatives of that profession.
"Hmm... That's fair..."
Ciri nodded at my words.
"And what is being offered to me as a weapon?"
"Look..."
I took two Uzis out of the case and handed them to Ciri.
"It's called an Uzi... watch how to properly insert the magazine..."
I showed her how to insert the magazine and chamber a round. After that, she tried out her weapon and was a little disappointed. Well, no, not disappointed. She was impressed by the weapon—it was compact and powerful—but compared to the minigun...
"But why do I get these Uzis, and Becca gets the minigun? That's not fair..."
"They just suit your agile fighting style. Becca, meanwhile, will mostly stand still and just sow death..."
"I see..."
Ciri's face smoothed into a look of acceptance.
"Well, if you see, put the weapons back on the base..."
I held out my hands, and Ciri reluctantly handed me the Uzis.
"And now what?"
"Now..."
I grinned.
"...you and the girls will continue training, but with less effective weapons, and I'll modify these toys for now..."
"Yes!"
Becca jumped up happily and quickly folded the minigun into the case, then hurried off the training ground in the direction we came from. I knew she was taking it to the Behemoth, of course.
"Uh..."
Ciri looked at Becca in shock and then looked at the other girls.
"She just knows that once David modifies a weapon, it becomes much more deadly."
"Uh..."
Ciri blinked a couple of times, puzzled.
"...even more deadly?"
"Yes."
"Splendid..."
Ciri broke into a satisfied smile and no longer looked sadly at the Uzis, which I was already putting back in their case.
"Alright, fine... I'm going to work, and you guys get used to the armored suits for now."
"Alright..."
The girls nodded, and I hurried to get to work... a lot of work lay ahead, and I had much less time than I wanted.
The next few days, I worked practically without sleep or rest...
"So, which of you is dating him?"
Ciri's voice distracted me from inspecting the finished minigun. All that was left was to upgrade the Uzis for Ciri and an assault rifle for myself. I had already finished the sniper rifles. And that was a good thing... well, it was bad that I had another day of hard work ahead of me, but it was good that I had finished the most time-consuming part of it.
"Well, actually, all of us..."
Panam's voice was slightly embarrassed.
"All of you? How is that even possible? Is that allowed there?"
"It's not like anything is forbidden here..."
Lucy joined the conversation.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said... you can do whatever you want. And all those minorities..."
Now I could imagine Lucy shrugging.
"Alright, let's skip those topics."
Kiwi cut into the conversation, and her voice was slightly annoyed.
"And yeah, we're all dating David. So if you want to join our friendly family, you'll have to get our approval first."
"Pff!"
"Well, well..."
Oh, Judy joined the conversation... I wonder, did they deliberately choose a spot for this conversation right under my workshop window? I know the window is tinted, and they can't see what I'm doing, but still...
"Do you think any of us wanted to join a harem?"
"Well... I don't know... but if you're not messing with me, your relationship is very strange, to say the least."
"It is what it is, but the question is different... what choice did we have?"
Becca said those words.
"He forced you?"
A hint of disgust and revulsion flashed in Ciri's voice.
"Well, if by 'forced,' you mean he helped us without asking for anything in return, got into trouble for us, or simply helped us find ourselves and become financially secure, then yes, he forced us."
"Listen... what about the fact that..."
Uh... I didn't get what Lucy was trying to say now.
"Ah... forget it..."
Judy's tone was slightly nonchalant.
"...when our David is buried in work, he doesn't notice a damn thing."
"Uh-huh, just like you..."
Panam's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"I won't deny it; he and I are focused people, but we all are. I think Becca, if she were on the training ground right now, would lose track of time, as always, and Panam, when she's messing with the Thorton 2's engine, and Lucy and Kiwi, when they're diving into the net, also often lose track of time."
"Well... it's hard to argue with that..."
Becca's voice showed agreement with everything Judy was saying.
"So it turns out... he conquered you?"
"Uh-huh... you know, this might sound crazy to you, but there aren't many men left in our world. And by 'man,' I don't mean someone who has a dick..."
"Becca!"
"What?"
Becca's voice sounded slightly offended because Judy interrupted her.
"We're all grown-up girls, and a dick should be called a dick... no, I could say 'pecker' or 'willy' or come up with a thousand and one other names for male genitalia, but they wouldn't stop being a dick..."
"Tch..."
Judy didn't object.
"...anyway, what was I saying? Oh, right! I'm not talking about those who have a dick, but those who are ready to show courage, responsibility, and take care of their family. What you see here... is more of an exception to the rule, as nomads have always lived somewhat apart from the rest of civilization..."
"Don't listen to her..."
Panam decided to interrupt Becca.
"...she's not entirely objective."
"Hmm?"
"How can I explain this to you... well... let's say... you're a strong girl, right?"
"Yes..."
Suspicion was in Ciri's voice.
"Tell me, could you imagine being with an ordinary peasant as your man?"
"No."
A very quick answer.
"What about a nobleman?"
"Well... depends on which one... and not just a nobleman... a Witcher, for example..."
"Oh... you're in love with your mentor?"
"Well..."
"Oh, look how she's blushing!"
Becca cut in again, and her voice was extremely sarcastic.
"Becca, shut up..."
Panam forced Becca to shut up.
"Well, it's the same for us... we're strong girls. We can't imagine being with some office drone. Although, if you look at them from the perspective of girls like them, they might seem brave and reliable in their own way... but that's from their point of view. We're mercs; we have a slightly different life and a different view of men..."
"Let's assume that... but what does that have to do with all of you deciding to live with one man?"
Ciri was clearly puzzled.
"It's all actually simple, friend..."
Becca's cheerfulness was gone.
"...there are too few options. No, don't get me wrong, we're not with David out of desperation. After all, it's better to be alone than with someone you don't love, but there really are few options. All the decent guys are long gone... and believe me, the girls there either claw each other's throats out over rivals, or they do what we do and share one decent guy... And we don't want to deal with a psycho. So it turned out that David, despite being younger than all of us, is the best option."
"Uh-huh..."
Kiwi joined the conversation.
"And considering that he's handsome, smart, not prone to excessive spontaneous risk, he takes care of us, and he helps solve our problems..."
"In short, it all just kind of happened..."
Panam concluded the conversation.
"But I'm not from here!"
"Well... David probably has some kind of plan for you..."
"Huh?"
"Don't get me wrong, but you're an outsider... well, you were two days ago. Now you can be considered an acquaintance, almost a friend."
"And?"
Ciri urged Panam to elaborate.
"It's simple. He wouldn't risk us for your sake. He might have gotten involved in this stunt himself, though that's not his style, but he definitely wouldn't risk us. So he has some kind of plan that can help us, or the clan. Although it's probably for both us and the clan."
"And what could that be?"
"Who knows?"
I could feel Panam shrug carelessly.
"But don't worry. Knowing David, it won't be anything too burdensome for you. He might ask you to introduce him to mages so they can train him and us. He might want to become a mercenary in your world, taking on difficult jobs, because with our technology, it would be..."
"Yes, with your technology, it would be easy, but all the options you've named so far depend on my willingness to help..."
"And you'll have to."
"Huh?"
"David didn't say it, of course, but you could read it between the lines."
"You'll force me?"
Apprehension was in Ciri's voice.
"Calm down, my little white girl... hmm... actually, Lucy is white-haired, too..."
Becca started the sentence carelessly, and by the end, she was slightly thoughtful.
"Lucy is Snowflake, and Ciri is..."
"And Ciri is the Princess."
I decided to speak up so they could all hear me.
"Gah!"
"You heard all that?"
Ciri's voice was slightly panicked.
"Uh-huh... an interesting conversation... and yeah, the girls are right. I will need a service from you in return. But it's too early to talk about it... after all, before we agree on anything, we have to show you that we can help you ourselves..."
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Well, after we deal with the illusory bodies of the Wild Hunt, we'll talk..."
"Alright, but I won't promise, let alone carry out, anything that goes against my honor..."
"And you don't have to!"
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