After you pass the game

Chapter 2 I am willing to give everything for my king

After a round of drinking and carnival, a large glass of ale was put down at the bar in front of Melina, and the one who handed her the ale was a girl with long silver hair and smoky makeup.

"What about you? What's the story between you and Qiuyuan?"

When she was asking about Melina, she realized that she was too familiar and introduced herself quickly.

"You can call me Ciri, the host of this tavern. I have always wanted to invite you here, but the power of the world you are in is as chaotic as the world of "Dark Souls". My ability locates you."

Ciri warmly extended her hand to Melina, but Melina didn't shake hands, but said after bowing slightly to the other party.

"My name is Melina... I am the witch who guides my king."

After the simple greetings, Melina still asked Ciri, one of the owners of this tavern, what doubts she had in her heart.

"Your Excellency Ciri, can you tell me why this tavern was built? And what is the purpose of you gathering here from your respective worlds?"

Before the White Wolf Daughter could answer Melina's question, a punk-style girl with long orange hair and big black-rimmed glasses appeared from the other side of the bar... Explain to Melina.

"This is Qiuyuan's boasting group, um...well, this is just a joke."

The girl looked a little shy, and immediately hid under the bar after being stared at by Melina's cold eyes.

"Her name is Sakura Futaba, and she comes from a world similar to Qiu Yuan's modern society? Anyway...you can understand that we gathered here to protect Qiu Yuan's safety."

After Ciri briefly introduced the identity of the girl hiding behind the bar, she incidentally told Melina the reason for their gathering here.

"Protect... my king's safety?"

This made Melina's eyebrows slightly frowned. In her impression, Qiu Yuan was the incarnation of Qiu Yuan in the world of Elden's Ring of Law.

That's really the old in-laws who beat her up, what kind of Omen King, Valkyrie, General Fallen Star, and then they would tremble three times when they saw him at Radagon, and kicked the entire junction, from Stonewell to Wangcheng all the way. It's walking sideways...

"It's time for Futaba to explain the situation again." Ciri knocked on the bar with her hand and said.

"Um...uh...May...Miss Melina, you can see for yourself."

Futaba was still curled up under the bar, but she still used her small hands to lift a laptop high and put it on the table.

"I'm sorry, because the world Qiuyuan lives in is a 'modern society'. I don't go to this kind of world much, and Futaba has taught us a lot of common sense."

Ciri said and turned the screen on the computer screen so that Melina could see the surveillance screen above.

This surveillance picture is exactly what Qiu Yuan was eating potatoes miserable in the manor.

Melina looked at the extremely handsome man in the surveillance screen, although she was a little strange...but she saw at a glance that she was exactly the original appearance of King Elden whom she served.

"It's normal for you to feel a big gap or disappointment. In short, you read it right... the thin young man in the picture, he is the whole junction in your mind, defeating countless demigods, Lord Fade, who was the last king of Elden several times."

Xili obviously investigated the background of Melina's world. Melina stared at Qiu Yuan who was eating potatoes in the picture but didn't say much.

"When he first came to the junction, he was even more destitute than he is now. He didn't even have a good piece of clothing... But I still witnessed him conquering the entire junction along the way."

"Appearance and strength are not important, what I value is his tough soul."

What Melina said made Ciri and Futaba applaud from the sidelines.

"Today's golden sentence is decided to be the one you said, Melina-chan!" Futaba appeared from under the bar at some point.

Melina glanced at Futaba with her only one eye, and she was so scared that she hid under the bar again.

"So... what's going on? Although I know that my king has his own life in this world, I don't think any of us should interfere with his life in this world, including this kind of surveillance."

Melina, in the world of Elden's Circle... when she talked with Qiu Yuan, she had imagined countless times what Qiu Yuan's real appearance and voice were like.

Although Ciri helped her fulfill this wish, Melina still thought that their surveillance behavior was very inappropriate.

"We don't want to do this kind of thing either, but Qiuyuan's current situation leaves us with no choice." Xili shrugged helplessly and said.

"I have no other choice? Then I would like to trouble Your Excellency Ciri to tell me all about the situation my king is in in this world."

Melina would like to hear about the real world Qiu Yuan is in now... what kind of "no choice" is it.

"Probably a year ago."

Ciri took a sip of the ale in his hand and said.

"I went to Toussaint to give Geralt... my adoptive father? In short, it was to celebrate his birthday. I wanted to use my power of time and space to travel through space, and then came here by accident."

"The gap between time and space, and here I met the master who has been guiding Geralt and me, Qiu Yuan. Of course, I didn't see it with my own eyes, but through that strange machine."

As he spoke, Ciri pointed to a machine that looked like a candy machine in the middle of the tavern in the distance, on which a picture of Qiu Yuan gnawing potatoes was being projected.

"I recognized him at a glance just like you, and then he was in a coma and surrounded by a group of monsters at the same time."

"Then I used my power of time and space to teleport directly to him and saved him...I wanted to transfer him to a safe place, like bringing him back to my world, or here...I found that I couldn't do it .”

"I can't explain why it doesn't work for a while. In short, I used the power of time and space to summon all the forces I could mobilize in Toussaint, and repelled those monsters who wanted to kill Qiuyuan."

When Melina heard this, her eyes fell on the 'candy machine' in the center of the tavern.

"We all call this thing a wishing machine."

After Ciri noticed Melina's concerned gaze, she directly led Melina to the machine and said.

"It is the key to our connection with Qiuyuan. Have you seen the golden crystal stored inside?"

"It is the embodiment of Qiu Yuan's emotions, more appropriately, it is the embodiment of Qiu Yuan's emotion called 'happiness' from birth to now, we call it the crystallization of happiness."

"Then what do you mean... the happiness that my king has experienced in this life is only such a small piece?"

Melina stared at the happiness crystal blocks stored in the wishing machine, only two fist-sized ones remained.

If this is really the value of happiness accumulated by Qiu Yuan in this life, how sad is Qiu Yuan's life?

"Of course not. When I saw it for the first time, Qiu Yuan's crystallization of happiness almost filled the entire wishing machine."

Xili hurriedly waved his hand and explained to Melina that Qiuyuan had lived a very happy life.

"So... what about those happiness crystals?" Melina noticed the crux of the problem very keenly.

"It's all used up."

Only then did Shirley get to the crux of the matter.

"After repelling the group of monsters who wanted to kill Qiuyuan, I realized that we need to consume this crystal of happiness when we come to the world where Qiuyuan lives."

"And the more you use stronger magic or other extraordinary powers in Qiuyuan's world, the more you will consume."

"...And then in that battle, you used up all the happiness that my king has saved in this life?"

Melina's cold and poisonous character is fully displayed at this time.

"Of course not! The real consumption is the safe house we helped Qiu Yuan build."

Ciri waved her hand again to show that she wasn't so wasteful.

"Safe house?"

Melina looked up at the projection on the wishing machine, and only then did she realize that although Qiu Yuan lived in a hut in a dense forest, there were a lot of powerful magic barriers densely surrounding the hut.

"Yes, this is Yennefer...You can understand that it is my adoptive mother. She and several female sorceresses set it up together to prevent Qiu Yuan from being discovered by those monsters."

"So... what kind of monster?"

After Melina came to this tavern, she felt several auras that made her heart palpitate. It stands to reason that the most indispensable thing in this tavern is a 'monster handling expert'.

"It's better to explain this drone video with Futaba."

As Ciri spoke, she led Melina to the bar, and Sakura Futaba also called up the drone reconnaissance screen stored in her laptop.

The time of the video shows that it was shot half a year ago...Melina looked at the scene in the picture showing a bustling city, and the people coming and going seemed extremely lively and the city scene.

"Is there... a monster hiding among these humans?"

Although Melina has never seen the scenery of a modern city, the fireworks in the video seem to be much higher than the junction...

You must know that even if you run ten miles away from the junction of Melina's life, you can't find a person who can talk.

"It's not that there are monsters hiding inside these humans, it's that these guys are all 'monsters' in human skin!" Shirley said.

"...but they look like normal humans."

Melina carefully observed the busy pedestrians in the video, and there was no difference between them and normal humans in appearance and behavior.

"Because that's what they are."

While Ciri was speaking, Futaba also switched the video very cooperatively. This video is the scene recorded by Geralt capturing such a 'human' alive.

"We call this kind of creature 'mimicry'. According to our investigation, all the creatures in this world are made of them. To be precise, all the living things in this world are 'mimicry'."

"They can devour all known life, animals, plants...and then perfectly simulate the appearance, habits, personality and memory of the devoured creatures."

"Only by killing them will they reveal their original appearance."

In the video, Geralt swung the silver sword in his hand and cut off the head of the mimic human. With a shrill cry, the mimic transformed into a strange gel fluid.

"So my king is the only living human being in this world?"

Melina asked softly after understanding Qiu Yuan's situation.

"At least in this world, so Melina..."

Ciri reached out her hand to Melina and said.

"The only mission for us to gather here is to make me and my father's best friend, the king you serve, the head of Futaba who she admires, and the hero in countless people's hearts... Survive in the doomsday ravaged by man-eating monsters! Live happily!"

Ciri emphasized the word happiness...Melina instantly felt the same feeling as Xiri felt.

Qiuyuan has protected their world countless times, now it's their turn to stand up and defend Qiuyuan's happiness!
"I...will give everything for my king." Melina stretched out her hands and gently held Ciri's hand and said softly.

(End of this chapter)