The Quantum Wanderer

It is already night when I portal home. Shit! I forgot to open the portal for the girls. I immediately open a portal to their dormitory, and they come through.

“It took you long enough. Were you having some fun with some other harem?” Cecilia asks.

“Not quite.”

We start going upstairs, to wash up before dinner. I continue.

“I heard something that pissed me off a lot, I just had to go somewhere to vent a little bit of anger.”

Rudolph is still inside the room. He pretends not to listen, but he bulges his eyes. I giggle, though in a way that it doesn’t appear to be about him. After the giggle, I realize that timing was really poor, it sounded like an evil laugh. Then I giggle some more. Fuck it.

“What happened, my lord?” Opal asks, with a worried face.

“Do you want us to burn something?” Ruby asks.

I giggle. I realize that the tone is all messed up, but I can see a candid care in those sentences.

“Don’t worry about it. I just let the anger go. Really, don’t worry about it.”

Ruby shrugs. I feel like she is a little disappointed somehow.

“Sure, my lord.”

One thing that I realize is that Cecilia is also growing used to this kind of thing. That makes me giggle some more.

We shower, and grope and kiss my girls. I just can’t resist them. But we have to go right down for dinner, I don’t want to keep the staff up more than needed.

We have dinner and retire for the night after.

The next morning, we enjoy ourselves and go down for breakfast as usual.

***

Edward POV

I receive the report from the guild. I read it once. I sit down, I pour a drink. I read it twice. I down the whole glass, and breath a little. I read for the third time. Yes, the several page report is not going to change. Marcelo has been busy. I should take this to Anthon, he should know about this.

I go straight to the palace, and I am taken to his study. He is not even in the throne room, he postponed the throne room meetings for the day.

I find him in his chair, reading another report. Perhaps we may have some complimentary information. He looks at me.

“Our friend has been busy.”

“Yes.”

“How long do you think he took to do this?”

“I am not sure… I heard from the guards, just normal gossip, nothing secret, that he received some people in his home around mid afternoon, something like 3:00.”

“Do we have the whole picture?”

“The information I got was that after some dwarves left the city, the inquisitor sequestered them to stay, they were supposed to work for the glory of the Holy Kingdom or something.”

Anthon pours two glasses of hard liquor, filling them to the brim. One for himself and one for me.

“Isn’t it too early to drink?”

“It should be afternoon in Drakonia, according to Marcelo.”

I giggle. I raise my glass.

“According to Marcelo.”

Anthon looks again at the paper, then at me.

“What information did you get?”

“The report I have is that the whole cathedral is silent. They don’t hear a bark, a meow, nothing. It is completely silent, as if it were the land of the dead. The doors to the chapel in the cathedral blew out, and then people around was able to look. Of course, the guild was there to investigate.

“One adventurer entered the chapel, and started walking towards the altar. He passed out unconscious midway. Another one ran in and brough him back outside. He is now in an infirmary. There still is something there that is poisonous. The first symptom is that the person passes out. It is believed that further exposure will kill someone. But it is not like we can test that theory.

“And then the writing on the toppled altar. ‘Free the dwarves, or else’. With one three eyed crow on each side. He really did use theatrics this time.”

“How many dead?”

“Well, we have an estimate. Of course, we haven’t been able to count the dead. The city had around 150 paladins, and another 2000 soldiers. As far as we know, 67 guards survived. There were 64 guards stationed at the walls or doing rounds.”

“What about those 3?”

“They were in the red light district.”

“So… 1933 soldiers and 100 paladins?”

“Give or take one bishop, one paladin commander, priests, nuns, maids, servants, faithful, dogs, cats, rats…”

I giggle. I know I shouldn’t giggle about something like this, but I keep thinking that I am about to wake up any second now.

…

“Do you have any other information besides this report?”

“I have received some information on the city itself. A lot of people were throwing Nergal statues in the trash, apparently. The soldiers that remained were not really caring. They had no command, they had no way to contact any superior officer. The Comm Gem they could use was inside the cathedral, but now they are deeming the place cursed.

“There are reports of a survivor guard that went insane, apparently. He was repeating that Wrax appeared to him, and asked what city that was. His wife and child worked in the cathedral. He was taken away by his friends.

“But other than the obvious faith issues caused, nothing of real value. Other than realizing that he did that in an afternoon. And rescuing the dwarves, nonetheless. I mean, I am sure he rescued them.”

I take a very big sip on my glass.

“Do you think the Holy Kingdom is going to abide?”

Anthon looks at me, the question sounded smarter in my head.

“Wouldn’t you?”

We both laugh.

“Exactly.”

I keep thinking of other people from the Upper Echelon. In particular, Lady Guina.

***

Marcelo’s POV

After I send the girls to school, I go downstairs as usual. Rudolph has an invitation to Edward’s house on his hands.

“Lord, I have been told that this is urgent.”

“No problem.”

I go upstairs, and I get something better than stay at home clothes. I go to Edward’s, across the street. Their guards lead me directly to his door, he is in the living room. I get closer, he gestures for me to accompany him. We go to his study. He sits on the a couch, I sit across from him.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. How are you?”

“Busy.” He giggles. “I have been trying to make heads and tails on what happened in Esdohr. Do you know anything about that?”

“Me? I have no idea.”

He sighs.

“Do you know how to remove the curse there? Some people tried to reach to recover the bodies, but then fainted.”

“Wow, it must have been bad.”

He press his lips. He sighs.

“I am just going to ask you a favor. Should it happen for us to do something like that, let me know so that we can correct it before anything like that comes to pass.”

“Sure.”

I leave him. I was about to go back home, when I decide to go to the guild, to hear about some of the news around.

I do my thing, sit on the table in the corner and order some ale. I see Griffin, and I wave at him. He has this urgency to him.

“Good morning, Lionheart!”

“Good morning, Griffin. You are very energetic for the time of the day.”

“Did you hear? A cathedral, that’s like a noble’s castle in the Holy Kingdom, got cursed! Big time. Everyone died.”

“Really? Just like that?”

“Apparently, there was a message written, ‘Free the dwarves, or else’.”

“Wow. When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.”

“This information travelled fast, then.”

“Yes, the guild has a Comm Gem network, it is capable of sharing information quickly. There are some theories floating around.”

“What kind?”

“Some say that the dwarves prayed to Wrax, and he descended from heavens to free them.”

“And do you believe that?”

“You’re kidding, right? I haven’t even met anyone that had actually seen a god. That looks like fairy tail to me. Some people in the city are celebrating, though. There is a church here that got a lot of believers because of dragons flight, and there were rumors of Wrax being among us. Can you believe that?”

I laugh. He looks at me, Muninn and Huginn nearby.

“Ohh… The crows… Am I talking to Wrax the destroyer?” He asks shaking open hands around, in a jest. Then he laughed. We all laughed, Griffin, me and both crows. Some people are looking at us side eyed. If I were not used to Muninn and Huginn yet, I might also think that crows laughing were weird.

“Do you think anyone else has more information?”

“Not yet. At some point the adventurers there are going to go to other places, and the information will be easier to obtain. We just got a very short notice from the attendant there.”

He waves towards the attendant. She smiles a little and looks shy. He looks back at me.

“What about you? Did you hear anything?”

“I am hearing right now. The girls may be hearing something about that in the schools. Four of them are in the Knight school, and one in the Magic school. Since there are a lot of nobles there, some of them possibly with Comm Gems, they may get to hear something. I would learn about that later.”

“Yes, I almost forgot that they are the hunters!”

“Something like that, yes.” I giggle. I continue. “Is there anyone around here that cares about the Holy Kingdom?”

“I can’t say for sure, but not many people do. That is an uncomfortable place to live, always having to watch out for everything you say. They are always looking for heretics, and when they don’t have an actual one, they can fabricate one real quick. Inquisition is brutal.”

We chat a little bit more, and I go home. There I find Rudolph. This is good, I have something to talk to him.

“Rudolph, can you come with me to the study?”

“Certainly, lord.”

We get there, I sit on the couch.

“Rudolph, is there a way to accommodate Winton and his wife?”

“Lord, if I can be candid. The house doubled in size, and now we have a playground in the back that did not exist previously. The back garden wasn’t tended to. We need the additional labor. I would say that the gods are helping you, lord.

“Besides that, given that the lord may come under scrutiny, it would be safer to have an armed escort to doing groceries and things like that.”

I giggle. “I wouldn’t get that far, but this is a nice thing. Let me know later how much that would cost, I have some savings.”

“On that point, lord, I took the initiative of contacting the duke’s butler on this, he told me not to mention costs to you.”

“Now I am feeling spoiled.” I giggle.

“Just think of it as tax, lord.”

Now I wonder if Cecilia could help me tone things down with Rudolph a little bit. After that, I go upstairs and receive the girls back. We all wash up for dinner. Cecilia is the one to ask.

“There are some very weird rumors going on in the schools.”

“Really? What kind?”

“The capital of a diocese in the Holy Kingdom was just erased from the map. Was it you, god of destruction?”

I giggle.

“No, the rumors are way exaggerated. I just helped a couple of dwarves.”

“What happened, my lord? I heard something similar, that the whole castle is now cursed. No one dares to enter, not even to collect bodies.” Aquamarine asks. Shandon, Ruby and Opal seem kind of oblivious to the whole thing. I placed  a silence spell, just in case.

“Did you listen to the report by Winton or Roberta?”

“Not really.” Cecilia answers.

“After the first fifth of dwarves left the city, they imprisoned and enslaved all the others. Without reason. Actually, their reason was that they should be honored to serve Nergal and his church. That pissed me off.”

“Did you kill the whole city?”

“No, just the cathedral, that is the name of the main palace in the region. And the barracks behind it. By the way, I know that Edward already knows of this, but I am not mentioning it directly, not even to him, ok?”

“Of course, my lord.” Shandon answers. Opal is biting her lower lip, and gets close to me a if she was hunting something. She jumps me. We have a quick fuck against the wall in the shower. The rest of the girls don’t really bother.

After the shower, we go down for dinner.

***

Edward’s POV

I receive a call in the afternoon, from lady Guina. She is the upper echelon for the Holy Kingdom, just like I am for the empire and Arthuria. Thalor is responsible for some other areas. When I connect the upper echelon Comm Gem, she clears her throat.

“I would like to call the upper echelon for justice. There was a mass murder in place, and it may have been caused by an adventurer. I would like to investigate.”

Thalor’s area is mostly on the outside, he is worried about the lots of small nations outside the big three. He also oversees guilds in a lot of wild places. He really doesn’t care about this at all. I reply to Guina.

“Good afternoon, lady Guina. What happened?” I ask. She knows that I have had information on this already, but since the guild master there actually reports to her, she might just have a tad more information than me. This would always be useful. She is skeptical on my lack of knowledge, and I sense some irritation in her voice.

“The cathedral in Esdohr was wiped out. No survivors.”

“I am sorry to hear that. Did you already sent people from the guild to investigate?”

…

…

“No.”

“Why?”

“There is some kind of curse around it, but mages are failing to identify mana.”

“What kind of curse?”

“People that enter the cathedral for a minute or two pass out.”

“So you could still have survivors, no?”

“You’re kidding, right? Surely you know-“

“No I don’t. Isn’t that your area? Isn’t the guild there reporting to you? How would I know.”

There is a pause. I can almost hear her blood boiling. Now is the time for fishing.

“I am sorry if it frustrates you, I really am. Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

“The cathedral was wiped out.”

“Does it still stand?”

“Yes, but it looks like everyone inside is dead.”

“Do you have any witnesses?”

…

“Do you have any witnesses? Lady Guina?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Did the person leave any clues?”

“They desecrated the altar, and placed the design of crows on it.”

“Just the drawing of two crows?” I really want to make her say it now.

…

“Lady Guina? If you want this to be an upper echelon meeting working on justice, you have to be candid with us. Can you answer my questions? I am trying to understand the case.”

“There was a sentence, ‘Free the dwarves or else’.”

At this point, the arrest of the dwarves was already known. It had happened a couple of weeks before, it was a city wide operation.

“So you are saying that the city’s bishop and officials, that enslaved the dwarves-“

“The dwarves were not enslaved! They were supposed to-”

“LADY GUINA! Cows don’t drink milk. The information that dwarves were imprisoned the day they were intending to leave the city is widespread. That IS ENSLAVEMENT!”

“But he killed everyone!”

“I don’t know if it was a he, if it was a person, a dwarf, or perhaps Wrax himself. Whoever did that deserves a medal, not complaint!”

“Over 2500 lives! MY SON!”

There is a long pause after this. I didn’t know that her son would be in some backwater city, I expected him to be in the capital. I did not have the list of dead people at hand. I know he was a paladin commander. I wonder if he screwed up in the capital. But that is not important.

“Lady Guina, I am sorry for your loss.  But if one merchant gets in a trap by 50 bandits, we reward for the 50 heads. If one person did this, this person deserves a medal. Even if nobility is involved. Thalor, what is your veredict?”

There are several instants of silence. Thalor finally pronounces himself.

 “It pains me to see that you are trying to protect villainy, lady Guina. You did not dispute the enslavement, you tried to reword it. So I am going to assume that your testimony matches the facts presented by lord Edward. I agree that this action is supposed to be rewarded, not punished. Should the guild be used to pursue this, I will ask for sanctions. I consider this matter concluded with prejudice.”

Now I can almost feel her anger seeping from the Comm Gem. She might be close to loosing it. I think she is setting herself for failure.

“YOU ARE JUST COVERING FOR YOUR PROTEGEE!”

“I don’t understand what you are talking about.” I answer. Thalor takes a more severe tone.

“Lady Guina! Mind your manners when you invoke the upper echelon!”

Her breathing now is heavy, I can hear it through the Comm Gem. The gems get disconnected.

***

Marcelo’s POV

Edward comes to our home during dinner, I invite him to join us at the table. He seems worried with something. He barely touches the food. After the dinner, he asks me if we can go to my study. There, he sits on the couch, kind of nervous. I sit down, opposite to him. I brought the girls with me, since this looks serious. It is clear that he expected a dialogue just the two of us, but after the kraken thing, I promised the girls that I am going to keep them in the loop.

“How can I help you, Edward?”

“Do you remember the meeting you had with the upper echelon of the guild?”

“Yes, there were three people, counting you, right?”

“Yes, exactly. One of us, lady Guina, is apparently sure that you are the one that… cleaned up the cathedral in Esdohr.”

“Ok. Let’s play a make believe here. Let’s say for sake of making things easier, that I had done that. It is widely known that they were enslaving dwarves, right? Doesn’t that make them all criminals?”

“Normally, it would, but the paladin commander was lady Guina’s son.”

I take some time to absorb the information. I wouldn’t change a thing, but I wish I had that information beforehand.

“Do you think she might try to seek revenge? Is there a way I can avoid this?”

“I think she is going to go for revenge, yes. I myself don’t see a way to avoid it. But the fact remains, right now, that so far she did nothing wrong.”

“You do realize that I will defend myself however I have to, right?” I hug the girls nearest to me.

He lowers his head.

“Yes.”

“Will the whole guild be my foe, or just Guina?”

“Just lady Guina.”

Opal interjects.

“That makes things so much easier. We just have to visit her city.” She turns to Edward, that is now looking at Opal with a scared face. “What city does she live in?”

“She lives in Angelica, but she would see you coming, she has a good network of information herself. How would you find her?”

“What do you mean, find her?”

“After you get there, how are you going to find her?”

“I really don’t understand this thing humans have for ceremony. We dragons just eat the dragon we kill. I don’t even know how we would be able to differentiate her ashes from someone else’s. You humans have this thing with funerals, so much work!”

Edward looks horrified at her, then he stares at me. I understand his plea. I nod to him. He excuses himself, and leaves. I pull Opal to sit on my lap. I think she didn’t realize. I give her a kiss.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Should something happen, then we can think about what we are going to do.”

We retire for the night.

***

Edward’s POV

After that very enlightening dinner, I go straight to Anthon. He wasn’t really waiting for me, I end up meeting him in his chambers. He looks at my face.

“Are you going to let me know that we are all dead?” He laughs.

“It is nice that you can laugh on these matters.”

We both sit down around a round table. He nods at me.

“Tell me, cousin, what ails you?”

“I just came here for a quick heads up. There is an information that I just gathered. You know about the guild upper echelon, right?”

“Of course. I am not stupid. I have some guesses, that sir Thalor and you are among their ranks. I don’t know who is the boss in the Holy Kingdom, though.”

“The former sword saint, lady Guina.”

“Is that important?”

“Yes, her son was the paladin commander in Esdohr.”

I tell him about my conversation with Marcelo and the dragonesses. He listens to everything, then raises his head.

“Normally I would tell you that letting him know was stupid, but in this scenario, I would say that you did the best you could. I am unable to start our preparations now, it would incite a little panic that we don’t want. Let’s hope the city is still there by the morning. Let’s talk again tomorrow morning.”

I go back home. I wash myself and get to bad, and I keep looking at the ceiling. Sleeping is not coming at all.