About twenty-four hours later, three jacked-up cars pulled into the yard, from which the Aldecaldo clan members got out, the injured Judy, whose arm was hanging from a special bandage, and Kiwi, with a very tired look on her face.
"Girls, Greetings..."
I took turns kissing first Kiwi and then Judy, completely ignoring the unkind look from Judy's grandmother.
"Young man...m..m..."
I cast a glance in the direction of Ainara, Judy's grandmother, whose mouth was covered by her husband's hand.
"Honey, we can both see that our girl is not against such a relationship, especially since she kissed David and not another girl, which is probably a small victory. Still, we never had to wait for great-grandchildren before, and now...
The man, who could not be called an old man, did not finish, but his wife's gaze became much less judgmental.
"Ouch..."
The man shook his hand with the finger his wife had bitten him on.
"You'll know how to shut my mouth. But yes. I agree, this unconventional relationship can be tolerated, all for the sake of great-grandchildren...
A fanatical glow lit up in Alvarez Sr.'s gaze, and Judy just sighed with a kind of doom.
"All right, now that you're here, we can head back, especially since the town's quiet for now."
"Bestia?"
Kiwi threw me a completely indifferent look.
"She's settled in well..."
I shrugged.
"I'll ask her, of course, but I think I already know what she'll say, and so does Regina. As much as I'd like to take her with me, she's already hooked up with Bestia, so it might not be long before their tandem is called the Mad Bitches."
My girls heard this and grinned.
"Come on then, I want to finally get on base and wash up..."
I nodded and quickly went down to the bar, then went straight to the two fixer-uppers expressively discussing something between themselves.
"Ladies, can I interrupt your conversation for a moment?"
A slightly annoyed look was thrown at me.
"What do you want?"
Bestia was clearly not happy to see me. In fact, she was showing a slight annoyance
"I'm here on business. my group is back, and now we're ready to leave this hospitable place for our base. It's a little quieter there. So I'm asking if you're coming with us or--
I looked questioningly at the girls.
"I'll pass..."
Bestia shook her head.
"...Surprisingly, despite the hell that's going on in the city, I'm doing pretty well. So there's nowhere to go."
She shook her head once more.
"And you're not gonna take me solo. and what am I gonna be? Second assistant to the fifth assistant to the third floor scrubber?"
I snorted.
"Regina?"
"Why me? No... maybe when you first suggested it, I didn't mind, especially since unlike that old hag, I know my worth and I know you. I wouldn't be a maid, that's for sure. But if I leave, she'll be a wreck, won't she?"
Regina flicked her tongue at Bestia, who looked at her indignantly, and I wiped my eyes at the sight. This was something I hadn't expected.
"Okay, so you're staying here."
I sighed. And, after weighing the pros and cons, I transferred a rather large sum each to Bestia and Regina.
"А?"
Both girls looked at me in surprise.
"You girls are grown up and I'm sure more than wealthy, but in the current situation..."
I shook my head.
"Consider this my small contribution to your new world. So that if I decide to return, I'll always have a place to sleep and a couple servings of not-so-bad cooking. Perhaps some repairs to weapons and armor.
They glanced over and nodded.
"You bastard, you..."
Regina shook her head saying that.
"But the bastard's own."
Bestia said this with a wide grin on her lips.
"...So you can count on bed and breakfast and repairs."
This they said almost in sync.
"Okay, and be careful. Remember."
"Snot..."
Bestia, shook her head slightly admiringly, looking at me.
"...you think you can tell us how to live our lives?"
"We've been running solo since you were walking under a desk."
Regina continued after her friend also with a mocking look at me.
"Well, that's what I'm saying. you're old ladies, and old ladies have a certain sentimentality. So you can only trust each other, but solo."
I shook my head.
"Get outta here..."
Bestia waved her hand a couple times to chase me away and Regina repeated her gesture a second later.
"Get out of here and don't expect us to get sentimental and affectionate while shedding a tear."
"Yeah, yeah..."
I nodded and turned around and waved at them without turning around. I could not help crying at the fact that I was parting with these old women. They did not replace my mother, of course, but here are grumpy aunts who will not miss their benefits, but do not want to harm me ... quite. Even that sneaky Bestia, who's been at it for five days straight.
I left the Postmortem and all the cars were already parked outside, and climbing into one of them I gave one order.
"Here we go..."
The convoy of cars quickly left the safety of the Postmortem and headed for the exit of the city. Of course, if Bestia and Regina had decided to leave with me, I probably wouldn't have steamed and the portal would have been opened right in front of the bar, but... As always, that nasty excuse. Since Bestia and Regina decided to stay here, I don't see any reason why I could flash the portal in front of them. Or rather, the ability to open it anywhere, since I've already admitted to Regina that my base is in another world.
On the empty roads on which she had traveled there were people who had miraculously survived the confusion, although it would be more correct to say that they had survived the hostilities, as well as wounded elves who were in no hurry to attack the armed column. They even once saw a bunch of civilians kicking an elf.
It was clear that the elf had been wounded when they found him, and wounded badly, so the people took their anger out on the wounded intruder. It was better not to think about the number of corpses lying in the streets.
"every action has a consequence, right?"
Judy sitting next to me grinned sadly.
"You think if we hadn't helped Ciri they wouldn't have invaded our world?"
I looked at her questioningly.
"I..."
"Judy..."
Kiwi decided to participate in the conversation
"...history doesn't like the subjunctive mood. We helped Ciri, and that's a fact. It's also a fact that the elves have ruined more than one world. I'm not gonna ask you what happened to this world, I'm just asking you to think."
"I get it."
Judy sighed.
"And the subjunctive mood that there is none and that this world, once the elves got into it, would most likely be under their attack sooner or later... but it's that likely and sooner or later."
Judy sighed.
"Judy, this world has needed a shakeup for a long time..."
I looked at the girl and stroked her shoulder.
Kiwi meanwhile turned the wheel and the car turned onto another road, we had almost made it to our hideout over the conversation.
"...if it wasn't a war with the elves, it'd be a war of all against all, or against savage AIs. There were so many prerequisites for war here that it's better to have an external enemy that will unite everyone... By the way."
I looked at Kiwi.
"...what's wrong with the network?"
"It's surprisingly calm."
She shook her head.
"Apparently, the Wild Ones themselves realize that they need people, because without them the network will collapse. So despite the fact that the barrier has collapsed, they do not interfere much yet. So, they have marked their presence in the network, but they do not interfere yet."
"You see?"
I looked at Judy.
"What would have happened if they had breached the barrier during normal times?"
"Well..."
She lowered her gaze.
"You don't have to think it through, just say it out loud. You need this. either that or hot sex. But we can't have sex until we're hungry and clean, and I don't think Kiwi would be happy to watch us play, and Becca would be offended..."
I shrugged.
"Okay..."
Judy began to list what the Wild AI would do if they broke through the barrier they were behind and there was no threat from the elves. In fact, they could have done all that now, but as I said, the elves had miscalculated. They had captured the Ranerians and upon learning of such a possible ally had rushed to break the barrier, but now...
Now humans and AIs have a chance to at least connect. To understand each other and make a difference. I don't know if they can do it, but there is a chance for it and that's enough. However, the AI turned out to be more reasonable than everyone and me included. So there is a chance, and if we take into account sufficient adequacy of these Wild AIs, the chance for an amicable solution to the conflict is much more than zero.
Judy finished recounting all the things the AIs could do and calmed down somewhat.
"So?"
"Well...things seem to be even better than they could be..."
"Exactly."
I grinned.
"We're here..."
Kiwi's words silenced us as Triss, who was in the first car, activated the portal and we began to drive through it. And things were quiet enough in the Fortress.
"SUZY."
I nodded to the girl who had come out to meet us once we were in the castle courtyard.
"David, I'm glad you're back. We're all calm."
"And you..."
I looked at her carefully.
"Panam made me her second-in-command. So we split shifts so that the clan, or rather the Order, would not be left unattended.
I nodded understandingly.
"Well done."
I could easily hear the girls' approval in my voice. It would be better, especially since SUZI had been Panam's deputy since she'd gotten her body, and we'd all consulted with her on technical matters.
So.
"You really don't mind, do you?"
"I don't mind, I don't mind..."
I grinned.
"Just when you're about to learn how to command and get Geralt under your thumb..."
"Pfft!"
I looked at the girl in surprise, who snorted indignantly and turned away slightly with her nose raised.
"Is something wrong?"
SUZI was silent for a dozen seconds, but then she sighed and looked at me sadly.
"That asshole ran away. Said he's not cut out for the fortress life. He's a witch and he's supposed to protect civilians from monsters. And Ciri's already got someone to protect her."
I frowned slightly.
"And how did Ciri react to that?"
"What's in it for her."
SUZI shrugged.
"...She just said that's what Geralt is all about, that's all, but I think she still took offense to it, though she tries to justify it even in her own eyes..."
"Id."