The Quantum Wanderer

Cecilia finished serving the breakfast, the girls finished caring for Siratra.  We go down to have our breakfast, the hanging dragon leg barbecue.  Cecilia gives a knife to Siratra, and we all partake.  As always, the dragonesses prefer it almost charcoal, I prefer it medium rare, Cecilia and Siratra prefer it medium, apparently.  To each his own.  Siratra looks intrigued.  I touch her shoulder.

“Go ahead, what is question? “

“Master, won’t this meat go bad?”

“Initially, I thought so to, but apparently when the meat has a high amount of mana, it doesn’t go bad.”

“Does master know why?”

“There is a tiny life form, it looks like a slime.  It is so small that we can’t see them normally.  You would need a lot of strengthening on the eyes and brain to see them, and even them, it would help to know what you are looking for.  Let’s call them… bacteria.

“They exist in the air around us, floating among other things.  They are so small that they can actually float in the air, just like vapor, the water smoke, kind of does.

“This life form is responsible for the meat going bad.  But they are not able to absorb mana.  Actually, when they try to absorb mana, they die.  So this meat, and the bullgoose as well, does not go bad.”

I was explaining, trying to put it into simple words.  When I finish, the girls had stopped eating, and where looking at me, mouths agape.  I shrugged.  Cecilia was the first one to say something.

“Do you realize how long people has been trying to understand this?  Do you know how many researchers would give half their lives for this information?”

Siratra nodded up and down violently.  I wanted to keep my low profile.

“Yup.  But please don’t mention it around.  I don’t want to change this world too much.”

“Wait…  ‘This world’?  Master, are you a hero?”

“Well, if you mean someone summoned by the kingdom, yes.  But other than that, not really a hero…” I giggled nervously.  Cecilia looked at me wide-eyed.

“The failed hero…  THE FAILED HERO?!?”

…

“I thought this was just a rumor.  The kingdom’s crown denied, but it is said that some court mages sacrificed themselves…  By the gods!  The rumor said that the summoned hero was as weak as a child.  That he didn’t speak the language.”

She takes a step back, and looks me up and down.

“How?”

“I have to say, learning your language wasn’t that easy, but I had a lot of help.  The fact that I already spoke two languages helped a lot.  As for the rest, I really did come out of the summoning as a level one.  But I learned a trick that lets me evolve quickly as well.

“When a someone gets summoned, the person has the chance to choose power or potential.  I chose potential.  That means that I don’t really have a limit.

“As to the really fast growth, I created a trick to be able to absorb all the [experience] from a kill.”

Shandon murmured.

“The soul devouring.”

“Yes, the soul devouring.”

Cecilia turned to Shandon.

“What do you mean?”

“It is a known fact among dragons that my lord is the soul eater.  The way experience is gained is that when you kill, the soul leaves the body.  And, in that process, experience is dispersed.  The closer you are to the entity killed, the bigger the difference of levels, the more experience you gain.  The teachings mention that the core of the soul is sent to reincarnation, but the external part is sent back to the world as experience.

“He eats all of it.  True death.”

I could tell them that this was not actually truth, but you can only keep a secret if only two people know about it, and one of them is dead.  I decided to let them believe it, it’s not like it is going to hurt anything.  I was already over powered at this point.

I just moved my brows up.

Siratra’s eyes were bulging.  I don’t know if Muninn got a sense of humor with his evolution, but he chooses this moment to land on my shoulder, look at her, and open his third eye.  She fell back on the chair. 

I giggled a little, and Muninn cawed.  We helped her up, but the room was silent for a bit.  Cecilia changed from not apathetic, to amazed, to curious.

“If you wanted to, I don’t know, attack a city.  Could you get away with it?”

“You mean a city like Orora?”

“Yes.”

“Shandon might be able to do it.  Alone.”

Shandon was nodding, up and down, very satisfied with herself.

“So, when you said that there might be groups of stronger people, and what not, you were thinking about turning the city to ashes?  You weren’t comparing your strength to adventurers?”

“Yes.  Wasn’t that the question?  I never considered it could be something else.  Any of us could do it.” 

She gestured to the other dragonesses.  Cecilia turned to me.

“What is your strength level?”

“I… Don’t really know?  If I had to go nuclear, I would probably get the clan.”

“Nuclear?  Clan?”

“Sorry.  If I wanted to use all my might to destroy a place, I would probably get the dragon clan involved.  Shandon, how many are there?”

“You have command over 223 elders, and around 4000  adults, my lord.  Give or take a thousand, we don’t really keep a close count.  I don’t have the count of hatchlings, but there is a lot less of hatchlings than adults.  Bringing in the females would be in poor taste.  We don’t usually participate in this kind of things.  You could also use your weight in the council, and bring all of them.”

“How strong would that be?”

“My lord, we think that a single elder might be able to erase the nursery in…  Perhaps half an hour?  In terms of human city, it just doesn’t…”

“Oh, Cecilia, the Nursery is the land of dragons, by the mountain range.  There is a whole land mass, away from here, where the really big dragons live.  Cecilia?  Cecilia?”

I went over to the kitchen, and brought two cups of water, one for Cecilia and another for Siratra.

After a long time, Cecilia and Siratra started to get unfazed a little bit.  Cecilia continued, as if the conversation did not stall for almost half an hour.

“Who knows about this?”

“No one knows about the numbers, actually.  But Rajesh has an inkling, and the upper echelon in the guild knows that I am council dragon.  Human.  Council dragon human…?”

…

“Oh, Leopold has the same amount of intel on this as the upper echelon, probably.  He has seen the evolution, as a matter of fact.  Of course, you all, please keep this under wraps.”

Again, a long silence sets on the table.  Cecilia rearranges herself on the chair, a little stiff.

“So what now?”

“Now, we have to get some clothes for Siratra.  We have to visit Orora.  Let’s go?”

The good news was that this time the girls did not want to eat in a restaurant.  How can you compare anything an adventurer can hunt to dragon meat?  I understood them.  But the sweets were expensive, Siratra clothes.  They got themselves some additional clothes as well, according to Cecilia, you never know when you might have to attend a coronation, and I got additional dragon hair pins for all of them.

I felt that perhaps I wasn’t as rich as I thought.  We spent some 20 gold coins on all that.  The dragonesses now knew how use money, but still didn’t understand why humans used it.

Late afternoon we passed on the bath, relaxing a little.  Cecilia and Siratra, in particular, were very tense.  The bath helped them relax.  On my case, I just love seeing all my girls naked.

The steam from the bathhouse swirls around us, thick with arousal as my harem surrounds me—Shandon, Aquamarine, Opal, Ruby, Cecilia, and the trembling demoness Siratra. Water sloshes over the edge as Ruby wastes no time, her fingers tracing my cock beneath the surface while her lips find my ear. 

”My lord,” she purrs, ”you’ve been too patient with us.” 

Shandon chuckles, pressing her full breasts against my side. ”Speak for yourself, Ruby. Some of us prefer to savor our lord’s attention.” 

Aquamarine flushes as she sinks lower into the water, her shyness melting away as she surprises us all—her hand darts between Cecilia’s thighs, teasing her clit while gazing up at me. ”Do you like watching her squirm, my lord?” 

Opal, ever dignified, runs her fingers through my hair, her voice a silken command. ”You’ve spoiled us rotten, but Cecilia has been begging for something… special.” 

Cecilia whimpers as I pull her onto my lap, my cock pressing against her tight little ass. ”M-my lord… I want you to take me there.” 

”Such a good girl,” I growl, spitting into my palm before rubbing it against her hole. She gasps, her body tensing as I push inside. ”Hurts?” 

She bites her lip, nodding. ”But I want it. I want to be yours completely.” 

Siratra, wide-eyed and blushing, watches from the edge, her tail flicking nervously. ”M-master… is it always this intense?” 

Ruby laughs, cupping Siratra’s chin. ”Oh, sweet little demon, you haven’t seen anything yet. Let me show you how we worship our lord properly.” She sinks down, taking my cock into her mouth, her tongue swirling expertly. 

Shandon smirks. ”Remember the whores who taught us? You’ll learn fast, Siratra.” 

Aquamarine surprises us again—her hand slips between Siratra’s thighs. ”Your turn.” 

The demoness gasps, but before she can protest, I pull her onto me by her tail, my cock sliding between her wet folds. ”You’ll take me, won’t you, pet?” 

Her breath hitches. ”Y-yes, Master…” 

And as the water churns with our movements, Cecilia moans beneath me, realizing just how much power I truly hold—not just over her, but over the world. 

But she doesn’t say a word. 

She just obeys. 

The next morning, I wake up with something slapping me in the face.  I wake up and take a look, it is the tip of Siratra’s tail.  We are actually not as cramped.  We had decided, after the bath, to just move a bed from another room to mine.  It was just stupid that we hadn’t done that before.  Still, it was nice to wake up with all those tits and asses an arm away…

I just lay there, enjoying it.  It is kind of hot, but good hot, if ever there is one.  My mind just soars a little bit.

Then I remember that I never got the saddles.  And that now I need one more saddle, for Siratra.  I mean, I hope she is not afraid of flying.

I am going to need some more bullgoose leather.  Perhaps I could pay the saddle with some bullgoose meat?  Perhaps even Rajesh would enjoy some.

The girls start waking up.  I really love this.  And when I grab a tit, instead of taking my hand away, they actually stay still so that I can enjoy.  Except for Cecilia, that after sometime, looks at me and asks, “Satisfied?” Still fun.  I think I won’t ever grow out of this phase.

As always, we wait for the guild’s breakfast, go for our own breakfast, and I go to hunt the bullgoose.  I asked the girls, they actually prefer dragon meat then bullgoose meat, it has more mana.  Even Muninn prefers it. 

The hunting doesn’t really take long, about an hour.  The girls stay in the guild, Siratra has her illusion up.  I am getting better and better at hunting this thing.  I wonder how many I can hunt before there is an issue with population, but apparently the are way more numerous than I thought, specially because they don’t have predators.  Other than me, of course.

I get the girls, Cecilia is getting used to dressing more casually for these situations.  She understands now that I don’t care too much.  And, in a situation that the clothes matter so much, I would just send the clothes.  That’s the point in all my secret keeping.

We visit Rajesh.

“Good afternoon, my friend.  How are you?  How is Siratra?”

“Good afternoon.  I am well, thank you.  As for Siratra, you probably should ask her yourself.”

Siratra comes out from the girls, and bows before Rajesh.

“How are you, dear?”

“I am well, emperor.”

Her lips tremble a little.  I can see that, in her mind, all the terror she passed resurfaced a little bit.  Rajesh hugs her, and she ugly cries on his shoulder.

After some time, she calms herself, and we get to the couches.  I was intending on letting them have some free time among themselves.

“Rajesh, we actually came here to pick up the saddles, and perhaps order a new one.  I think that it would be nice if we could actually put it on, to see how it feels.  I was thinking that me and the girls could go to that room we used for the measurements before, while you can chat with Siratra a little bit.  Can you ask someone to tell the leather artificer to meet us there?”

“Of course, my friend.”

Rajesh calls up a guard, say some stuff, and the guard goes running.

“By the way, friend, do you remember how to get there?”

“Not really.”

Rajesh calls the second guard, and says something to him.  He bows down to both of us, and, other than Siratra, we start following him.

Muninn, ever on my shoulder, sometimes caws forward.  I can see that each time Muninn caws, the guard trembles.  One of the times, he almost tripped.  When we get to the room, I ask Shandon to tell him to wait outside, and to not enter.

While she translates, I take a look.  It’s *that* guard.  Hum, he is more together now.

Once she finishes the translation, he turns to me, and nods.  Muninn lowers his head, looks at him.  I could see that he got a little jumpy.  Then Muninn opens his third eye.  Now the guard is almost in panic.  And then Munnin caws and flips his wings, as if he was going to go for the guard.  The guard passes out.

I can swear that Muninn is laughing.  I feel like right now I am carrying two assholes.  One in my butt and one on my shoulder.  Cecilia laughs.  If there is a hell, Cecilia is going there with Muninn and me after this one.  I leave a silver on the guy.  I don’t know if it’s proper or not, but I am feeling better with myself a little.  I sigh, and we enter the room.

I do a scan around, to make sure we don’t have eyes or ears, and close the door.

“Girls, do you want to assume dragon form?  The leather artificer is going to arrive with the saddles eventually, and it would be good to make sure they are comfortable.”

They all get undressed, and turn into the four beautiful dragons I adore.  It’s funny how, even in dragon form, they try to stick with me, but it doesn’t work as well.

I hear a knock on the door, it is the artificer.  Shandon tells him to come in, I think.

He comes in, and asks something to Shandon.  She replies.  He shrugs.

He enters the room, and does this deep bow.  He claps his hands, and two assistants enter, each one carrying one of the saddles.

The top leather is hard, but smooth.  The front is all carved, with motifs from the demon empire, dragon and crows.  Right in the front, there a carving reproducing the statues I had seen in front of the palace, of the emperor on one side, and me in the other.  His work is exquisite.

He says something, and Shandon translates.

“He is saying that the harder parts were made with plated rhino leather, because it needed some additional rigidity.”

The first thing that amazes me is that he did the saddles for two people, instead of just one.  I turn the saddle around, and I see that he used well the bullgoose leather.  The parts that are going to touch the dragon are very smooth, and very soft to the touch.  He used the position of the front paws to help fix the saddle.

There are some buckles, but they are not going to get in touch with either dragon or rider.  The whole thing supports a lot of different sizes.  If I wanted, I would probably be able to put it on Piotr.  It wouldn’t do for an elder, though.

“Shandon, how much weight can you carry comfortably?”

“It depends on what you mean by comfortably, my lord.  We females don’t really battle but I think that fenrir’s weight would be the point that my maneuverability would start to degrade.”

“That would be around five of me, with armor?”

She looked up.

“That sounds about right, my lord.”

Ruby took a couple of steps forward.

“I could probably carry our lord faster...”

Shandon growled towards Ruby.  Cecilia looked down, and shook her head.

I placed the saddle on Shandom.

“What do you think?  Is it comfortable?”

“Yes, my lord, it doesn’t get in the way.  Though I need my lord on it, to make sure.”

She lowered down for me, and just like before, she offered the front of the wing so I could use as a step.  There was a place for my legs, and it actually had a fast release mechanism.  I attached myself, and she we walked around.  I could swear that she was shaking her hips in this walk. 

At this point, Rajesh entered the room, with Siratra by his side.  His mouth was agape.  So were the leather artisan and his assistants, I just hadn’t realized.

Shandon got back to the position, and I dismounted.

I removed the first saddle, and placed it in my magic bag.

I did the same inspection on the second saddle.  She told me that they felt the exact same.

I turned to Rajesh.

“I appreciate your help on this.  The leather artisan’s work is just flawless.”

Rajesh probably translated this to the artisan, that knelt down, and started saying something.

Rajesh looked at him a little, and gestured for him to stand up.  Shandon translated.

“He said he is not worthy of this words by you, my lord.”

I opened a smile.

“Shandon, please translate.”

She nodded, I continued.

“I trust you still have the schematics and measurements, right?”

Shandon translated, he nodded.

“I am going to need an additional saddle.  My family grew.”

Shandon translated.  He answered something, and she translated back to me.

“My lord, he said he used almost all bullgoose leather on this.  He would need more.”

“Tell him that I came prepared for that.”

I pick my magic bag, and place the dead bullgoose on the ground.  He and his assistants are admiring the dead beast.  Rajesh gets near, and passes his hand on top of it.

“Shandon, tell him to use the leather on this bullgoose.  After the bullgoose is skinned, I would like the back side of the meat to be given to Rajesh, and the front to him, so that he can enjoy some high level steaks.”

Rajesh wasn’t expecting the present.  He acted surprised.

“Thank you, my friend.  Do you realize that there are no person, elf, dwarf, demon that has tasted this?”

“Well…  Actually a couple of people, a group of dragons…  So it is not that exclusive…”  And I shrugged.

He shook his head.

“How?  Just, just…  How?”

“I have my tricks, remember?”

“But, won’t the meat go bad?”

“Nope, meats with too much mana don’t go bad.”

“Really?  Why?”

“It just happens.”

Siratra made a desperate face towards me, but kept her silence.  Rajesh noticed, but just ignored.  I looked at the artisan, and he was knelt down on the ground.  He said something, Shandon translated.

“He is saying they are not worthy of such a present, my lord.”

“Tell them that it is fruit of my hunt, and I do with it how I please.  And that they can do with it whatever they want.  Even throw away, if they so desire.”

Shandon translated, and they were muttering something, with tears on their eyes.  Apparently I said something, or it got translated in a weird way.

“Now, can I ask some privacy, please?”

Rajesh made a gesture, and all of them left the room a bit.  Siratra was looking at Shandon, with wide eyes.  Actually, now that I think about it, she was like that since she came into the room.  Now, with the room empty, she took some steps towards Shandon, and touched her shoulders.  And started to look really close.  Then looked at the wing.  Touched it, very softly.  Her mouth was agape, but I could feel her head going a thousand miles an hour.

Everyone else was entertained by the inspection.

“Ok now.  That’s enough.”

I pulled Siratra back, and the dragonesses transformed into their human forms, picked up their clothes in a corner, and dressed up.

 We open up the room doors, and accompany Rajesh back to our meeting room.  He is laughing to himself all the way.  I am curious.  I am always curious about a joke.

“What’s funny?”

“This is hysterical.  So, I am probably going to have a feast, and invite higher nobility.  For the ones that did not push the whole Siratra affair, I am going to give them a reasonable piece of steak.  For the ones that forced my hand, I am going to literally give them a bite.  Litterally a one inch piece.

“Ok, and then what’s funny?”

“That I am going to do that and tell them that this is happening because the rest of the beast was given to the leather artisan, a peasant, no less!  Believe me, this is going to be fun!  And for a very long time.”

“Ok.  I think I kind of get desensitized to it, after all the dragon meat.”

“Dragon meat?  Isn’t it… taboo?  With your mates and all?”

“At first, I thought so too, but apparently it is part of their culture.  Who am I to judge?  I don’t judge, I chew.”

I giggled, he boom laughed.  Then he stopped, mid laughter.

“Wait – Siratra, did you taste this?”

She nodded, and looked to the ground.

“By the gods, this is going to be a very fun feast indeed.”

And he boom laughed.

“My friend, I don’t want to bore you with a political feast, but you are more than welcome to come, if you want.  And I am being sincere here.  When I say that I am honored, I mean it.  Some people might say that I would be using you politically just by appearing by your side.  You would be seeing some bad people irate with envy, but other than that there is not much I can offer.”

“I will think about it.  Depending on how boring things are, we might come, but please don’t count on it.  If we do come, I will bring a kill.  Even though they are in human form, my girls still pack an appetite.”

“You don’t have to, but sure.  I will let you know when I set the date.  Again, please remember that this is an offer, not a request.”

“Sure.”

I portal us back to Frolk.