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From the window of the portal emerged a girl with red hair pulled back in a bun, followed by a girl with long black hair. Immediately after, the second girl snapped her fingers, and the portal collapsed.
For a few minutes, the girls waved their hands around themselves, but I had to restrain Ciri to keep her from rushing to greet the clearly familiar sorceresses. And she really wanted to!
If not for my Sandevistan, I wouldn't have been fast enough to hold her back.
"Well... at least the air here is breathable, though I wouldn't call it clean..."
The girl with red hair looked around and made a few gestures, after which she took a deep breath.
"Well... it's not all bad. It smells worse in some of our cities, although this is clearly..."
"A dump..."
The second girl finished the sentence for her acquaintance, who was clearly trying to choose her words more carefully and less offensively.
"...Triss, call things by their name. It's a dump."
"Yes... but honestly... are you sure we're doing the right thing?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm talking about the fact that we deceived Geralt and Avallac'h..."
"Yes... or have you already forgotten what this Wild Hunt is?"
"No, but..."
"No 'buts,' Triss. That elf was holding something back... what's more, how did he get that knowledge? I'm not talking about the portals to other worlds right now, but about the Wild Hunt's plans to negotiate with these sentient beings who, according to that same elf, managed to capture Ciri but let him go... I don't buy it..."
"I know the elf was trying to use us... but Geralt..."
"Well, he's a damn idiot!"
"What happened to you? You used to..."
"Heh, an acquaintance of mine made contact with a higher vampire, and a couple of months ago, I bought knowledge from him on how to remove the Djinn's influence on a sentient being..."
"Um... congratulations..."
"Uh-huh..."
"And what did you have to do?"
"Oh, just... I gave him a couple of mages..."
"You did what?!"
"Calm down... not Sorceresses, and certainly not decent mages... for the first time, I was actually glad that there are pieces of trash among our colleagues who are expendable enough to be used in a blood ritual and given as payment to a vampire."
"Fuck... Yennefer! You've lost your mind! If the others find out about this..."
"Well... you won't turn me in, will you?"
"I won't... but are you sure that vampire won't turn you in?"
"Tch... no... but what choice did I have?"
"Alright..."
Triss shook her head.
"...it seems that the Djinn's influence affected you more than you thought?"
"Yes... and honestly, after that, my opinion of Geralt fell through the floor... no, as a Witcher, he's very good, maybe even as a man and a person... but honestly, I'd rather die than be like that again... with a brainwashed mind."
"I see... And what are we going to do now?"
"I don't know..."
"But you didn't bring Geralt or the elf with you, who could have tried to track down Ciri..."
And then I decided to use one of the external speakers.
"Triss Merigold and Yennefer of Vengerberg, I'm pleased to welcome you to our world. If you've come with good intentions, please raise your hands."
The girls flinched when they heard my voice, but after exchanging glances, they hesitantly raised their hands.
"Thank you for the visual demonstration..."
I couldn't confirm their good intentions any other way, so I simply released Ciri and nodded toward the girls. At the same time, I activated my Sandevistan and watched as she rushed toward both sorceresses and embraced them.
"Triss! Yen! I'm so glad to see you! I missed you both so much!"
"Ciri?"
Both girls were shocked.
"Is that really you?"
Yennefer was the first to recover, and after slightly pulling away from Ciri, she asked the question.
"Yes..."
"And how did you..."
"It was all a setup. David decided it would be wrong to just let me go, and he helped me fight off the Wild Hunt, so..."
"Then how do you know what I was going to ask?"
Yennefer frowned slightly.
"We heard your conversation, so we pretty much understood why you're here. David was counting on that."
"On that?"
Triss looked at Ciri in surprise.
"Well, he figured that after failing on their own, they would try to use you as bait to capture me."
"Um... well, that's what we thought too, but we couldn't pass up the chance to get to you and try to help."
"Speaking of which..."
Yennefer spoke again after Triss.
"Is that guy who was talking to us David?"
"Yes..."
"And why isn't he here yet?"
"I guess he and Judy are still holding you in their sights."
"Hmm? They think a bow can pierce magic shields?"
"A more advanced equivalent, and it has no problem taking out the Wild Hunt representatives with a single shot."
"Gah!"
The girls looked around nervously.
"Alright, David, isn't that enough? If they wanted to just run away with me, they would have tried by now..."
I sighed, turned off my Sandevistan, and got up from my position, slinging my rifle over my shoulder. After that, I calmly descended to the girls.
"Not necessarily... But alright, we'll try to trust them."
I quickly got to the girls and nodded at them.
"David Martinez, at your service."
"I'm Triss, and this is Yennefer. I take it you already know us, even if only by reputation."
"Yes, Ciri told me about you, even though she was hoping that Geralt would arrive with you too."
"No... he decided to trust that elf... We, or rather Yen, decided not to."
"And correctly so... when I parted ways with him, he seemed badly injured, but it turns out it was just a game, meant to leave me alone with myself. If it weren't for David and his girls, I would probably have been ready to scream from loneliness and the constant need to run."
"Alright, fine..."
At that moment, Judy, whom I had contacted earlier, had already driven the car over, and I waved my hand.
"Let's get into the car. We'll talk at home..."
"You trust us that much?"
"It's just that you can't do anything to me..."
"Oh, really?"
Sparks of electricity flashed from Yennefer's fingers.
"Yen!"
Ciri stood between us.
"Ciri, I didn't think you had such bad taste, and that your boyfriend would be so arrogant."
"Well..."
I walked around Ciri and stopped right in front of Yen.
"...let's start with the fact that there's nothing going on between Ciri and me. She chose another man as her partner; we're just friends. And we're connected by mutually beneficial cooperation."
"Hmph? Backing down?"
An unpleasant smirk appeared on Yennefer's lips.
"Actually, he told the truth. My boyfriend's name is Saul, and he's a little older than David."
"Older men, huh?"
Triss grinned and, after taking a few steps toward me, she stopped a couple of steps away, looking at my face intently.
"Thank you for helping Ciri..."
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I couldn't have done otherwise."
"Hero complex?"
Yen was still trying to get a reaction out of me.
"More like a merc complex that's looking for profit."
"So you're a mercenary?"
"Yes, but I suggest we get into the car and talk more specifically on the way home."
"Alright... lead the way..."
I led the girls to the car and explained to them what they needed to do and why. After that, they calmly sat on the floor between the back and front seats, hiding from the cameras. Ciri, however, no longer had to hide... her digital footprint was already established. And even if it was still impossible to find her identity, in our world, that wasn't so important. A person without an identity doesn't attract as much attention as a person without a past.
"Alright, what are the plans?"
"To put it briefly, zero out the Wild Hunt."
"Um..."
The girls were clearly confused, but Ciri laughed.
"David, be more specific. They look like they're about to blue screen..."
"What language are you speaking right now?"
"To 'zero out' means to kill. 'Blue screen' means to freeze up."
I translated the terms for the girls, and they nodded.
"Alright... it's clear that nothing is clear... let's start with what we'll owe you for the help. You said you're a merc, so you won't work for free..."
"Well..."
I looked out the window, and we drove in silence for about five minutes. Triss and Yennefer didn't interrupt my long pause.
"...alright, I'll be straight with you. I originally wanted to ask you to teach me or my girls, or maybe all of us, magic. But now..."
I glanced at Ciri.
"...Ciri is with Saul, and he's my subordinate, for now, so I'll just have to help her."
"Well..."
The girls exchanged glances.
"I don't see any problem with teaching all of you..."
Triss shrugged.
"If we can defeat the Wild Hunt, of course."
"Thanks..."
I nodded at the redhead, and she gave me a kind smile.
"Do you have a more detailed plan?"
"More detailed?"
I looked at Yennefer.
"We'll teach you how to interact with our crew, we'll arm you, we'll prepare the area, and we'll force the Wild Hunt to show up there in full force, and after that..."
I drew my thumb across my throat.
"Hmm... that's certainly strange and underdeveloped, but..."
"It's only underdeveloped for now. After all, we only know about our capabilities for now, and Ciri couldn't tell us about yours... she told us you can cast a fire spell and strike with lightning, but it's difficult to make a precise plan with those kinds of scraps of information. So, the plan will be finalized in about a week..."
A car with the crew that was supposed to take over our post drove past us.
"Um... is that Panam, Kiwi, and Becca?"
"Yes, they're going to take up positions and stand guard for a little while longer."
"Hmm... you think that's necessary?"
"I think we need another three weeks... whether Geralt and the elf show up or not... at least to keep an eye on them, and if not, to make sure they don't show up. In short, we still need to keep an eye on the area, especially since Triss and Yennefer will need time to get up to speed."
"So you're not against us staying with you indefinitely?"
"If I were, I wouldn't have met you or helped Ciri fight the Wild Hunt. I would have just abandoned her to her fate."
"I see..."
We drove in silence after that until we got to the camp.
And I can say that their reaction was much more restrained compared to Ciri's. Well, that makes sense. They're mages. Even though this is surprising for them, they're capable of doing incredible things themselves.
"By the way, how do you know our language?"
"Ciri helped me... but first, we were communicating in one of the dead languages of your world."
"And how did you know that one?"
Yen looked at me with suspicion.
"It just happens to be one of the languages that's widely spoken in this world."
Ciri answered for me.
"And yes, you'll be taught the language that's more common here soon, after which you'll be able to communicate freely with the locals. But I wouldn't advise you to leave the camp for the same reason you have to hide now."
"We understand that, alright..."
Triss answered, and Yen just nodded, confirming her friend's words...
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