Wild Hunt and Problems

"You were out of cold for several days, but it seems that you have healed enough to be able to lift yourself from the bed."

Her clothes were changed by Maria and Cersei the day she was moved to the room after she lost consciousness during the escape from the Wild Hunt. Karl Franz said with a slight smile as he sat across her bed on the leather chair.

"It's fine. Thank you for your hospitality and patching me up. Would you mind telling me how I got here?"

She asked after she finished scanning through the room, noticing its luxuries, though she had some weird feeling that she was in someplace that wasn't an ordinary house. Her sense was telling her that she was right now in some kind of fortress or castle, perhaps? 

Or something along the lines, judging by the fact that the windows were fortified with metals and some special glass. Everything in here was fortified to the extreme to provide protection above everything else.

"That is only natural. Though, first, I think we should have some food, the food should already be prepared."

He could see that she was hungry, though with the loud growl from her stomach, it was rather clear. Being several days straight in a coma certainly took its price, so she was rather hungry right now.

"I can stand by myself."

Saying that she was already standing, as she didn't have any problems standing up. She wore rather loose, comfortable clothes of the highest quality that were reminiscent of pajamas for sleeping.

Those were the clothes that Cersei and Maria had chosen for her when they brought unconscious Zirael to the G-1 Mobile Base. They were rather comfortable, yet they were made from the top-notch materials, that Ciri saw only nobles and wealthy merchants to use.

In fact, she had to admit that the entire place seemed far more luxurious than it should be...

"Oh, forgive me for my blunder for not introducing myself. My name is Karl Franz; I am the owner of this little place where we are right now."

Karl Franz decided to withhold some information for the time being, most importantly the one about his true status and so on. He knew that there were many people after her Elder Blood, and he didn't want her to be wary of them.

"I am Cirilla, but you can call me Ciri. You must be someone of considerable power to be able to take out an entire group of the Wild Hunt by yourself. You should be a warrior of considerable renown or perhaps a powerful mage?"

Cirilla was most aware of the true power of the Wild Hunt and the entire Aen Elle civilization, which managed to conquer tens of worlds. Some of the worlds that the Aen Elle conquered and enslaved were even more powerful than the Aen Elle themselves. 

They just managed to employ good strategies and hit their enemies' weak spots almost perfectly at the same time. Aen Elle was powerful; they had access to very powerful and advanced Magic. 

She even saw that they managed to conquer one relatively advanced technological civilization that she visited. Due to the Elder Blood, she went through hundreds of worlds and was rather knowledgeable even though she couldn't stay in them for a long time. 

"You could consider me a Magician and Warrior in one, but enough about that. We should go for breakfast, even though I am already getting hungry."

After that, both of them went to the dining room on the lower deck of the G-1 Mobile Base. Because the Land Cruiser was huge, there was enough room for several facilities. 

The one they were using right now was named "Sacred Dragon", and it was the personal Land Cruiser of the Holy Imperator. Many facilities and luxuries were not obviously installed on the military-grade Land Cruisers of the G-1 Mobile Bases.

Karl Franz had them install a whole bunch of facilities into the Sacred Dragon for the most comfortable living when he was traveling the Lands of the Ancient Lords. That didn't mean that the military installations were neglected, as the Sacred Dragon was bigger than the average G-1 Mobile Base by at least half.

The Land Cruisers were still a relatively new piece of Magitech that was introduced into the Holy Arcadia Empire only a few decades ago. Karl Franz immediately took a great liking to the giant behemoths of steel and Magic that were introduced into the arsenal of the Imperium.

He could see how Cirilla was observing everything in the Sacred Dragon with great curiosity. It seemed that her adventurous spirit was instantly ignited when she came into contact with something new.

"The one wearing the hunter-like combat outfit is Maria, and the one wearing the red dress is Cersei; they were the ones who were taking care of you when you were unconscious. Maria, Cersei, this is Ciri; she is the one we saved from the clutches of the Elves."

When they arrived at the dining room, both of Karl Franz's fianceés were already in the room, arranging the breakfast for all four of them. Fortunately enough, Maria knew how to cook, or else, they would need to wait for him to make some simple roasted meat. 

They were making dishes from the supplies they brought with them, though the meat was from the local Danger Beasts that lived in the Athel Loren. The number of Danger Beasts that lived within the Athel Loren was astronomical, and many of them were fairly powerful. 

Meaning that their meat was considered to be of the utmost delicacy. Their meat was very nutritious, so it was commonly used by the rich and powerful to maintain their diet. 

One needed to know that powerful warriors also needed a corresponding diet, so in this case, the diet from the meat of the Danger Beasts was the most suitable. Within the territories of the Holy Arcadia Empire, there were many chambers of commerce that specialized in selling the meat of powerful Danger Beasts to the people.

"Come and sit."

Karl Franz then sat down behind the table as they slowly started eating breakfast.

He looked at their silver-haired guest, who was devouring the food on the table with renewed vigor, and for several minutes, they just ate without saying a single word.

"I must deeply thank you for your hospitality, though I need to ask you when I will be fit for travel. I must leave this place as soon as possible; the Wild Hunt will come back to me."

He could sense the distress in her voice when she spoke, while the Wild Hunt was powerful, that was certainly truth. In the eyes of the lesser civilizations, they would be considered peerless warriors and combatants...

But, compared to the might of the Holy Arcadia Empire and its grand military machine, they were not really a threat.

"Let them come; the only thing they would find in the Lands of the Ancient Lords would be doom and slaughter."

It was Maria who spoke when she heard that, in her eyes, the Wild Hunt were not really a threat to the might of the Holy Arcadia Empire. She fought against the Wild Hunt, and she could tell that they were fairly powerful, even though they were just grunts.

Maria was always a battle-hungry person who would not stay away from any kind of challenge and fight. That was certainly not her style, and in fact, she was rather eager for the Wild Hunt to attack them because they could kill them all.

"While the Wild Hunt is fairly powerful, our world is far more dangerous than you can imagine. You can remain here as long as you wish; no harm shall come to you in this place; you have my word on this."

Unsure of the words, subconsciously, Ciri chose to believe him in this aspect and, in the end, decided to remain in this world for a while. It was true that she rarely managed to remain in one place for a long time. 

She knew that if the people who saved her could kill the entire squad of the Wild Hunt members, they should be fairly powerful. Even her senses of being trained as Witcher screamed at her that all three people in the room were very dangerous. 

The youngest one in the room, a blonde-haired woman in a red dress, was the least dangerous, but even when it came to her, she was fairly dangerous and powerful. Probably more powerful than she was, but when it came to the second woman named Maria and the man Karl, they were on an entirely different level. 

They were even more powerful than the reigning King of the Aen Elle and the leader of the Wild Hunt, General Eredin. Or at least, that was the most she could find out about them by simple observation.

"Then I will stay for some time; having some safe place to remain at for a prolonged time is rare."

It was rare to find a place where she could remain longer than a few days. 

Unfortunately to Ciri, when she appeared in the world and was rescued from the pursuit of the Wild Hunt by Karl Franz, the Holy Imperator ordered the Lord Celestant Prime of the Reiksgarde Temple Atreus Atreides and Lord Celestant Prime of the Judicator Temple Gurney Halleck to deploy one entire retinue to the Athel Loren.

Currently, there were 500 Stormcast Eternals wandering around the Athel Loren.

Everything was ready if the Wild Hunt decided to come to the Azyr. The moment they entered the Athel Loren, they would be captured or killed by the Stormcast Eternals, the best of the best that the Holy Imperium had to offer. 

"So what can you tell us about this Wild Hunt that is pursuing you?"

It was Maria who asked the question because, in fact, she was rather intrigued about the existence of the Wild Hunt. Rarely, they were able to encounter the foe that was on the same level as the Holy Arcadia Empire.

Aside from the sheer shock, this was a hostile force from an entirely different world, an entirely different world that was ready for exploration and full of resources and knowledge that could be used to strengthen the Imperium. 

Thus, Cirila decided to retell them the information about the Aen Elle and the Wild Hunt that she heard when she was held by the Wild Hunt as a prisoner a long time ago.

"During the event that is called Conjunction of the Spheres, part of the elves from the main world, later described as the Aen Seidhe world, left their kin and, using portals, came to a new world. They took the new world for their own and started to call themselves Aen Elle - the Alder folks. That world, however, was inhabited by two intelligent species - humans and unicorns. The elves started to wage war with both of them, and eventually, they completely eradicated all the humans and their settlements."

All three of them listened to the Ciri's tale about the Aen Elle and Wild Hunt, and what caught their attention was the term, Conjunction of the Spheres. Especially to Karl Franz and Maria, it was a very familiar term because both of them were aware of it. 

The Conjunction of the Spheres is a cataclysm that affected the whole Multiverse and occurred every few thousand years; nobody could really predict when the next one would happen because such a thing would require an unprecedented Magical might.

During the Conjunction of the Spheres, rifts to other dimensions opened, during which the various worlds could interact with each other. Normally it resulted in people migrating from one world to another, creatures would appear in different world where they didn't belong or other things. 

One of the most notable things that could happen within the Conjunction of Spheres, was that the more powerful Worlds would basically plunder the weaker worlds of everything they had.

They would assimilate their Magic, take their resources, and basically elevate their world to a higher level. Both Karl Franz and Maria knew it for a single reason... in ancient times, during the times when Lord Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight and Cider, walked the ground of the known world, the Conjunction of Spheres opened once. 

And Lord Gwyn used this time to invade several lesser magical worlds and plundered them, using their very own essence to enhance the Azyr and especially the Lands of the Ancient Lords.

One of the greatest secrets of the Holy Arcadia Empire was the fact that the Lordran, as it is known today, was created by the literal corpse of several lesser worlds that were destroyed by the Lord Gwyn many millennia ago.

"For some time, everything was great for the elves, and their civilization thrived. They built a beautiful palace known as Tir ná Lia that served as their capital. However, after some time, the elves wanted servants or, better yet, slaves. The only other sapient beings in their world were unicorns, which they constantly battled with, and unicorns were obviously not very well suited to be slaves. Around that time, the elves managed to force some of the unicorns to open the Gate of the Worlds - Ard Gaeth - giving them access to all possible worlds to massacre as they pleased.

Thus, the elven King Auberon Muircetach ordered the creation of a cavalry unit with a single goal: to invade alien worlds and capture young humanoids to serve as slaves. The cavalry was named Dearg Ruadhri, which meant Red Riders due to their red cloaks. The King appointed General Eredin Bréacc Glas as the Red Rider's leader, for he was an efficient and ruthless soldier with strong magical abilities.

Thus the Red Riders started their invasions of other worlds. To intimidate the local people, they started wearing skeletal armors that made them look extremely threatening and used exclusively black steeds. On some occasions, they also used a powerful ship known as Naglfar, which was able to float in the sky and was something akin to the air fortress to a certain degree. On top of it all, they used projections to appear more spectral, making people think that the group was made of wraiths and specters.

However, after some time, the Unicorns managed to take the Gate away from them and the Aen Elle lost their access to space-time travel and were only able to partially recover it in the form of special mages known as navigators. Their abilities to travel to different worlds, however, were severely limited as the Navigators were only able to open portals for a relatively small group of riders, and thus, they were able to secure only a limited number of slaves.

This also made them change their tactics, where they enhanced their spectral projections to such a level that they usually traveled only in this form and only used their true corporeal form when it was absolutely necessary.

Yet even in their spectral form, they were still able to secure a decent number of slaves and, due to their frightening appearance to common people, they were soon given a more sinister name - the Wild Hunt.

Such is the tale of the Wild Hunt and the Aen Elle."

Everything about the Aen Elle was clear, and everyone present here had a clear understanding of their civilizations from the information that Ciri told them. 

"So, rather powerful advanced elven civilization with very developed Magical System, powerful Magic at their disposal, heavily dependent on the slavery and raiding the other worlds for their resources. They are exclusively targeting the weaker civilization, especially those who had Magic for their natural resources and Magic."

Karl Franz had a relatively good understanding of the Aen Elle and the Wild Hunt. 

"Interesting... for apparently powerful civilizations like the Aen Elle, their society is still rather backward, and their dependence on slavery is disgusting... they are just asking for troubles in the future."

The Holy Imperator agreed with Maria's statement. While slavery was good for obtaining free labor and a working force, it was also dangerous. One of the most notable ones was when the nation was heavily dependent on slavery. Once the source of the slaves was cut, the nation would crumble as there would be a zero—to none-qualified workforce.

Not to mention, if all manual work was done by the slaves, then a large part of the population itself depended on the slaves, meaning the entire private sector was also dependent on slavery...

And there was also a constant thread of rebellion from the slaves, aside from the sheer fact that the slaves were not really the most qualified workers. The slaves were not really eager to work, and they needed to be forced to work, so the quality wasn't always up to the standards.

That was the main reason why slavery wasn't really an effective system. Many would say that it was an obsolete system, but even across the Known World of Azyr, it was a widely spread and practiced system, especially in the Essos. 

Within the Holy Arcadia Empire, slavery was essentially banned aside from the prisoners of the war and criminals sentenced to life or criminals sentenced to death. It was better to put them in the work than just to let them rot in the prison, especially when it came to the Greenskins that were captured by the Imperial Forces. 

Greenskins were physically very powerful, and they were suitable for various heavy laborers, especially those in hazardous areas and places where the conditions were not safe or perhaps even dangerous. 

Even then, they were investing a lot of resources to keep the Orks contained when they were captured. For the Greenskins, there was nothing more humiliating than being captured and enslaved. 

They needed enough manpower to guard the Orkish slaves, so the Imperium was mainly using them only for a short time, before they would simply killed them. They were mostly used within the Grand Province of Orleáns to carry out some heavy labor, and shortly after, they were killed. 

Keeping the Greenskins in large numbers enslaved was a recipe for pure disaster. Nobody sane within the Imperial Territories would keep a large number of Orks in one place, especially enslaved.

"Without slaves, the Aen Elle civilization would crumble in a few years. They were dependent on the slaves for practically everything from growing crops, producing food, or even cleaning their houses. I have observed them during my, let's say, stay at their capital... there are far more slaves within their cities than Aen Elle themselves."

Hearing what Ciri said, it was evident to everyone present that the Aen Elle were too heavily dependent on slavery to ridiculous degrees. It was pretty irrational behavior, but at the same time, it was also logical because their entire civilization was built on the very own concept of slavery.

Not to mention, they never even attempted to change that thing, even when their civilization started developing to a higher degree. Probably because it was rather profitable, due to their superior power and Magic, they were able to conquer many lesser civilizations that were much weaker and exploit them.

And this cycle has been repeating itself almost indefinitely.

"And what of your homeworld? I presume that it couldn't resist against the power of the Wild Hunt; if not, then you wouldn't be escaping from them through many, many worlds."

This was something that everyone present was rather curious about because even they were tempted by the existence of the other worlds and an untold number of resources that were present within them.

"My world isn't really the most pleasant one... mostly backward, filled with its own problems, discrimination against non-human races by humans in most kingdoms in the entire and there were other problems. My world cannot withstand the power of the Wild Hunt; even one squad would be enough to obliterate even the most powerful people. Even though my world has certainly developed a relatively advanced Magic System, it is not really suitable for real combat."

From her talks about her world, it was clear that it had far more problems than their own; it was clear that, in a certain sense, Ciri's world was rather more developed than Azyr's, or at least, some parts of Azyr. 

Azyr was heavily disproportionately developed, while Ulthos and Sothoryos were completely underdeveloped and without civilization. At the same time, Westeros and Essos were relatively primitive from the point of view of the Imperium.

Karl Franz knew that even compared to the nations of the Ciri's continent, the various factions of the Westeros and Essos were vastly inferior. The "Continent," the place where their kingdoms and Empires were located, was far more developed. 

They had rather developed Magical Systems, and their nations tended to employ Magicians in their armies; Sorcers and Sorcressess were a rather common sight, according to what Cirilla told them. 

Especially the Nilfgaardian Empire was employing Sorcerers and Sorceresses en masse in their armies, not to mention the stronger nations also had access to more Magical metals, enchanted armor and weapons, and other things.

Something that even many in the known world of Azyr lacked. 

"You should relax for the time being... being on the run for almost the entirety of your life is tiring for sure."

For a long time, she was being pursued by the forces of the Wild Hunt, and it was basically impossible for her to rest safely in one place for a prolonged amount of time. She could count on one hand when she had a similar opportunity like this.

Mostly in the worlds that were rather powerful for the Wild Hunt to act unbridled, but those ones had their own problems when it came to being in there. Some of them had rather hostile attitudes towards the foreigners and many others...

"Thank you for your hospitality once again."

After the breakfast was finished, Maria and Cersei went to train, according to their schedule. Under Maria's leadership, her combat capabilities were getting better and better; it was rather privileged for someone to receive private tutorship from someone such as Lady Maria Vileblood.

Nowadays, also known as the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals; one of the strongest Hunters of the Workshop, and one of the most powerful people within the entirety of the Holy Arcadia Empire.

Not to mention, she was also one of the few Weapon Masters with the mastered skill, Eternal Arms Mastership, within the Holy Arcadia Empire. For anyone from the Holy Imperium, it would be a great honor to receive a private tutorship from someone like her.

***

1st POV - Cirilla Fiona Elena Rianon

Several past days were probably the best ones that I had in several years.

Rarely did I have the possibility to relax from the pursuit of the Wild Hunt. Since her Elder Blood has been partially awakened, even if it was minuscule, it was enough for the Wild Hunt to develop methods of tracking her Elder Blood across the Multiverse. 

Rarely did I have the opportunity to enter some worlds where I could rest for more than just a few days until I was found by the Navigators of the Wild Hunt. The pursuit of the Wild Hunt was something that I couldn't really fight against. 

Unfortunately for me, my Elder Blood wasn't fully awakened; if yes, then I could just obliterate the entirety of the Wild Hunt with a wave of my hand. The Elder Blood was exceedingly powerful, and the enhancement it would give it to Magic was absolutely frightening.

She only passed through a few worlds, where I had the possibility to rest for a few weeks. One of the most notable ones was a world that was already destroyed by some sort of apocalypse, full of zombies and mutated creatures. 

It was rather ironic that in such a world, I managed to find some sort of peace when I managed to trick several whole squads of the Wild Hunt into walking into the trap where they were slaughtered by local mutated creatures and beings.

Another time, I managed to enter one of the high-magical worlds, and I was pursued by the leader of the Wild Hunt and their leader, General Eridin himself. To my luck, when they entered the world, as I was running through the forest, I managed to encounter the locals. 

Extremely powerful Sorcerer who wiped out more than three hundred members of the Wild Hunt, while a bunch of their Arcane Mages and even almost killed General Eredin. And that was everything done with one single Spell that was cast by the Sorcerer.

Afterward, I managed to stay in that world for a few months before I moved forward.

For the past few days, I have been spending most of my time in the G-1 Mobile Base that belonged to their saviors. Neither of them spoke much of their identities or status within this world, though I suspected that they certainly had some extraordinary identity.

From what I could tell, this humongous vehicle was already on the level of some moving fortress; I could see that it had an unprecedented degree of luxury and other things that shouldn't normally be available to normal people.

The facilities in this place, were something that even nobles in many worlds visited didn't have and were not inferior to many facilities in the more advanced worlds that I visited. 

From this, coupled with the strength of the people around me possessed, I knew that they didn't have ordinary identities. Not to mention, all of them had bearings of the nobility, especially two of them. 

The man introduced himself as Karl Franz, and the youngest woman, with long blonde hair and green eyes. The second woman, Maria Vileblood, even though she tried not to show it, she knew that she was also of the nobility of the highest standart.

Aristocratic upbringing couldn't be really taken from someone; it was something that was deeply rooted in the person, especially when someone was taught it from childhood. 

I quickly concluded that all three of them must be Nobles from nations of this world, which either meant that they belonged to a very powerful Noble House or the people of this world were far more powerful than she initially anticipated. 

Nevertheless, it was clear that for the time being, neither of them would speak about that, and not even she would ask about it. From my own experiences, I could tell that neither of them had bad intentions toward me, so it remained an unspoken secret.

Even the fact that I was aware that they were too confident that the Wild Hunt wasn't a really threat to the me. So, for the time being, I knew that I was relatively safe in this place, though I had to admit that this place was easily one of the most dangerous worlds that I have visited. 

Even though it was somewhat similar to her homeworld, but it was vastly more dangerous. The monsters in this place were bigger, stronger and more powerful. The "Danger Beasts" as they were called, were far more powerful than anything in their world, especially the Super Danger Beasts that she heard about. 

Even the Magic was much more denser than in her homeworld or many of the other worlds she visited for the fact. Magicians and Magic Users were rather common truth to be said, and the general population was much stronger overall.

Right now, they were apparently in one of the most ancient places on their continent, called Athel Loren. Forest had been here since the Age of the Ancients; nobody knew how exactly old this place was; the natives only presumed that this place was older than ten thousand years minimally.

Aside from the continent of Lordran, she learned that this world had several other continents, each one having its own dangers and strengths. According to what she was told, the entirety of the Lordran, or at least its more civilized part, was ruled by a super-nation called the Holy Arcadia Empire.

Its sheer size was several times that of the Nilfgaardian Empire, even though, in terms of the population, they were severely lacking. Aside from the Holy Arcadia Empire that ruled the Lands of the Ancient Lords, there were several more equally powerful factions within this world.

The spawns of the Chaos that roamed through the Dark Lands or the Ork south to the Holy Arcadia Empire, which represented the gravest threat to the Holy Arcadia Empire for the past several decades.

In short, this place was far more dangerous than most of the worlds that I visited, but for the natives to survive in such an environment, it was clear that they must be fairly powerful, powerful enough for me to seek protection from the Wild Hunt in case they came to search for me once again. 

"Are you pondering over the dimension-hopping elves once again?"

As I was observing the sun rising from the horizon, I heard a male voice behind me, noticing that it belonged to Karl Franz. I had some urge to laugh hearing that, because he was rather creative when it came to naming the Wild Hunt.

"Maybe... just... after so long time, I managed to find some time of peace. Always escaping from world to world, from the pursuit of the Wild Hunt, I rarely find a moment of peace and someplace where I can rest."

I sighed, in some sort of nostalgia, because I thought of my family home... 

Geralt, Yen, Triss, Marigold, Zoltan, Grandpa Vesemir...

I knew that if I returned home, I would endanger everyone close to me. It would be very dangerous. Unfortunately, my world isn't really powerful enough to defend against the Wild Hunt. 

Maybe in the future...