The Quantum Wanderer

Marcelo’s POV

The next day we have our fun normally, and go down for breakfast. After Cecilia and I finish eating, Rudolph approaches.

“Excuse me, lord. We have received some news yesterday about some of our… friends. May I?”

“Of course, Rudolph. What happened?”

“There is an information in the market saying that no dwarven blade is to reach the Holy Kingdom. This has apparently being going on for some time already, but the news only reached us today.”

“Well… It makes sense, right? How are they enforcing it?”

“All new dwarven blades have new localization spells. They have the merchants listed. If a merchant fails to follow the rule, even if unknowingly, they get banned from dealing with the dwarves.”

I laugh. Dávrin must have been really pissed off with the Holy Kingdom. He apparently did not buy into the papal bule on Nergal’s clemency. They did play a stupid game. Here comes the prize.

“How did this information reach the market?”

“There are a couple of merchants that have been banned already.”

“That was fast! Right? I mean, they must just have ignored the notice.”

“Possibly, lord.”

I laugh some more.

“This is apparently not a big crisis either. If I had to guess, even the Empire is tired of the Holy Kingdom’s bullshit.”

“Why do you say that, lord?”

“If Anthon or Edward wanted to try to help on the subject, they would probably have come to me.”

Cecilia all of a sudden raises her head up.

“Oh, shit!”

“What happened?”

“Your friend Leopold is fucked!”

“Why?” I say reflexively, but then I understand. She ends up explaining nonetheless.

“How are adventurers going to fight anything bigger than a lower wolf without mithril weapons? Or armor?”

I am already contemplating the answer. If an adventurer so much crosses the country with one of those, the merchant would loose dealing rights with the dwarves. All of those new blades are probably going to be sold with very strict contract conditions. Probably higher prices as well, to pay for the paperwork. Contract magic is going to be required.

I can’t believe no one told me about such a juicy gossip. I feel even a little sad. As an introvert, I have never been able to be in the inner circles of gossip, always the last one to know about anything… important wouldn’t be quite the word, but it works.

“So… A whole country without a guild? They should already have some mithril weapons, though, right? Those should survive some time.”

“Depends. Against what? A plated rhino? A Fenrir? You are way too used to your ‘reality bending’. Weapons have a time limit. They have a number of usage against really strong targets. Or do you think everything looks like your katana?”

“Back to the caves, probably.” Opal comments.

“Or perhaps farther from the ley line?” Ruby complements.

“Huh?” Cecilia turns to look at them.

“In the beginning, you humans lived in small caves. That way bigger monsters would not have access to you. You would only leave to hunt smaller things. Also, the farther away from the ley line, the weaker are the monsters.” Shandon complements.

“Perhaps they go back to hunting things they *can* fight? Like fruits?” Ruby snorts.

I don’t have much to say about that. After the last jab by Ruby, we all end up the breakfast in silence.

After breakfast, I portal the girls to the school. Tomorrow the girls are going to have another dress fitting, but I don’t have anything planned for today. I turn to the crows.

“Is there anything you want to do today?”

“Not particularly, papa. We still haven’t talked about our evolutions to your friend Leopold and Andrew. Wouldn’t it be adequate to make them aware?”

“Good idea, Huginn. I am going to put on my adventurer clothing, and we can check with them.”

I check with Leopold, and a little time later, I am in his office. He places the silence spell around us.

“Heh. I don’t even have the energy to put on the fluffy feathers persona… How are you? How are the wedding preparations coming along?”

“They are fine, they are fine. I think. The girls, Huginn here included, are the ones doing all of the work. Apparently I just have to show up and look pretty.”

We giggle.

“So, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“I just didn’t want you to phreak out in the wedding, so I am letting some people know that the crows evolved.”

“Again?”

“Father, I am really trying to behave, but he makes it very hard.” Muninn says.

I pet him on the chest.

“Thank you.”

Leopold is staring now at Muninn. His eyes are bulging. We stay silent for some time.

“What else can they do?”

“Hey, I am right here!” Muninn says.

…

…

“I am sorry. What else can you do?”

“We are, apparently, a bit stronger then the average human in mind magic. Father has also shown us his tricks.”

Leopold stays in the couch. He is now looking at me. I shrug. He looks at them.

“But you don’t have his levels, right?”

Muninn laughs.

“You and your levels. They make no difference. You worry about fighting a city, there are ways to build weapons that can destroy the whole planet. Your levels are nothing.”

Leopold is thinking. I can almost see the cogs in his head turning. Then it is obvious in his face that he is realizing something. Then something else. Then another thing.

“Now it makes sense…”

“What?” I ask.

“Everything. But nothing that matters, really.”

“Are you too busy?”

He sighs.

“To tell you the truth, I am just worried, not really busy. I already put in action what was actionable.”

“Is this related to your new job? Congratulations on the promotion!”

“Promotion?” He laughs. “To what? This guild branch has more adventurers than the whole of the Holy Kingdom.” He laughs again.

“Hey, there weren’t any steel level casualties.”

“No, just their migration to other countries. The adventurers that stayed, in the majority, only did so because of family, friends or religion. Perhaps a mix among those reasons.”

“Have you tried going to the dwarves, and create an exception on the ban for adventurers?”

“It wouldn’t work. The adventurers would just sell whatever they could buy to the country.”

“I am just brainstorming a little bit, but what if the guild just rented the weapons for guild’s quest? If the adventurer doesn’t return the weapon, then he or she gets banned. On a single quest, an adventurer is not going to need a lot of weapons at once. It might even help the adventurers that are starting, because instead of a huge investment of buying a sword, they can rent it.”

“But that would not last. The first steel adventurer that sells the weapon the army will make the dwarves angry, and then they are going to shut it down.”

I am thinking about an idea. I had already noticed that war cries carry mana through the Comm Gems. The Comm Gems are not rare because they are rare all over; they are rare because the place they occur is in the demons’ lands. But if one were to place a Comm Gem inside a blade, and then channel mana through it… They just might be able to break it. Leopold looks at my eyes in the distance.

“What?”

“Well, there might be a way to place a safety on these weapons. A self destruction switch to be used from a distance. The dwarves could do some experiments on it, and if it works, then they could sell you the weapons with this. If a weapon ends up in the army, they could just trigger the self destruct.”

“I don’t know if an adventurer would rent a weapon like this.”

“A mithril sword with this, or a steel club, facing a Fenrir…”

Leopold is thinking about this. He goes back to his desk, and starts going over some papers with numbers in them. Then he notices me on the couch, Muninn and Huginn on the table. He leaves the table, and goes back to the couch.

“I am sorry. I was just looking at the numbers. With the increase in price for guild services, it might just be viable. As long as the dwarves are trustworthy.”

“They are a lot more trustworthy than the Holy Kingdom or Arthuria. I don’t trust the guys in command there. Although Orora is nice in spite of being inside Arthuria.”

Leopold shugs.

“But other than that, anything noteworthy in the news?”

“What do you mean? You were there for most of them.”

“Yes, but I am not quite good on receiving the reports. For instance, is my name mentioned in the centaurs episode?”

“The battle of the bloodied hooves? Not really. They did mention a party with one man and several women. The crows might be a giveaway, though. It is not that common. And that was in the report, that the party had a crows with them.”

“Are there not several parties that tame crows? I can’t believe I am the only one.”

“Hummm.” He tilts his head from one side to another. “There are some, but not a lot. It’s not like they are the first choice for tamers. They generally go for strength, tracking capabilities, or something flashy. They don’t go for… for…”

“Inteligence.” I save him. The crows were very much paying attention to the talk. Huginn turs to me.

“Thanks, papa.”

“I am going to see how I can move your idea forward. It might actually be a way out of this embargo.”

“That’s good. Any additional news?”

“The baronate in Shoria. Was it you as well?”

“Yes…”

“I think that you are involved in just about most news. I don’t know what to tell you. Nothing changed. Actually, there is a curious one, about the cathedral in Esdohr. There are rumors, and this one you are going to absolutely love, a beardless dwarf ransacked the place! Those morons, they could at least come up with something better, right? Everyone knows that all dwarves have beards! Some don’t know, but even women have beards…”

Leopold is laughing out loud. Austrí finally had some good luck, apparently. My smile is not quite the response he was expecting. He stares at me.

“What?”

“There are actually two unbearded dwarves, father and son. The son was branded and banished, while the father was just branded. It was vicious, but the crime was par with the punishment.”

Leopold laughs even more.

“FUCK! SO YOU ARE INVOLVED IN THIS ONE TOO! HAHAHAHAHA”

I shrug.

“I keep telling Cecilia, shit just happens.”

“Shit just happens?” Now he is laughing some more.

“Well, it is time to visit Andrew to let him know about the crows as well. You lucked out. Muninn almost made Edward pass out.”

“Really? How?”

Muninn appeared behind him, head transformed. He was twice the crow size. He put on a very sinister voice.

“Like this.”

Leopold jumped, stepped on the table, and jumped over the couch I was in, landing on the other side, already turned toward the sofas. He was breathing hard. Then he started to relax.

“Fuuuckkk.” And he laughed.

“He was behaving until you asked. I can’t even get mad.”

We both look at Muninn, he is smiling. His beak was actually a little bent up, in an actual smile that would be impossible to any other bird. This should actually be impossible for him as well.

“That was creepy.”

“Edward thought so too. He jumped over his desk.”

The three of us laugh, Huginn looks down and shakes her head.

“Well, it is time to visit Andrew as well, to let him know about their evolution.”

“I wish I could see his face. Send him my greetings.”

I opened a small portal, but Andrew wasn’t home. I ended up just going home. I sit down under my relaxation tree in my garden. The crows take a position in one of the branches.

“Don’t you guys ever get bored?”

“Are you saying bored is bad, father?” Muninn asks, kind of laughing.

“Isn’t it?”

“Father, each one of us is always one step from either hunger or being devoured by another beast. Bored involves not having to worry about either. It is a luxury. For us, it is a badge of honor.”

He laughs a little bit.

“The aunties are at school, why don’t you go as well? Perhaps as a professor?” Huginn suggests.

“I don’t want to mess with this world’s balance.”

“But you did advance the demons.”

“Not really, I just gave them a way to get cheap water. It is much more isolated and less risky than starting to talk about physics and other stuff. You know what I am talking about.”

I look up, they both nod.

“But then again, we are going to have another dress fitting tomorrow. You boys have some fun on those, right?”

“Yes, the last one was fun!” Muninn is the one to answer.

“I agree.”

We are looking at the nothing for a little bit, and the time to open the portal for the girls arrives. We go inside the house. I open the portal, and they come through.

We have a calm day, and we chat about their day over supper, nothing out of ordinary. They mentioned that the rumors about the battle of bloodied hooves arrived at the schools. Some of the rumors mentioned blood pact with the god of chaos, giving the centaurs some extraordinary power. Some said that such pact was raised by drinking the blood of Wrax with some very complicated ritual.

After we finish dinner, we go up and retire for the day.

The next day, we have breakfast as usual. I am still thinking on what is my next project moving forward is going to be. I could probably share the first print style with both humans and demons. That is something that should not be too bad, I think.

I still had the elves to visit, though, and there were a lot of countries I could go to. Perhaps I am narrowing myself a little too much. There were also nations of other species. That is also an alternative.

“Girls, do you want to visit the centaurs tomorrow? They had left us an invitation.”

Cecilia thinks a little, tilts her head.

“Sure, it might be interesting. How did they invite you?”

“They told Muninn, when he went back to clean up the last moron. One of the adventurers on my side tried to rally the others to fight against the centaurs. After knowing that 40 mithrils had died. Idiot.”

“That seems like a good activity for tomorrow. We can’t stay there for a long time, though. We still have to be available for the stuff for the wedding. Where are you going to hold your bachelor’s party?”

“Do I get a bachelor’s party?”

“Men generally do. The brides get a tea party where they discuss bridal stuff. We are kind of having ours already…”

Now I have to investigate what people do in bachelor’s party around here. I don’t think that Anthon, Edward, Rajesh or Dávrin are going to be a good source of information on that. They are too way up on the pyramid to have a normal life. Andrew… He came here a hero, then he eloped with a demoness, to become a hermit. Perhaps I could get in touch with the Requiem Warriors, but then I would have to tell them that I am going to get married, but I cannot invite them. This is kind of messed up.

“Rudolph! Do you have minute?”

“Of course, lord.”

“How are the bachelor parties around here?”

“They are so varied, lord. Some people just go out drinking with friends, some hire women of, let’s say, economical approachability, some do something less… reportable… The only common thing to all of them is the amount of liquor.”

I finally have something to think about. I do realize that there is no neutral place for both Anthon and Rajesh to party together. Dávrin and Brokkr can come to wherever we go. I also have to invite Andrew and Leopold, of course. Andrew will probably avoid being seen by Anthon and Edward, for obvious reasons. I think I just might have two parties, so that I can celebrate equality.

“Thanks, Rudolph.” I turn to the girls. “Girls, I forgot to tell Andrew about Muninn’s evolution, do you think we could a quick stop there in the morning? After that we can go to Rajesh and Aisha’s.”

“Sure, let’s go.” Cecilia answers, while the others nod. We go up, and change into outing clothes that could be worn in front of Aisha and Rajesh.

When I am about to open the small portal to ask Andrew to visit him, I feel the slight distortion of reality around me, and a portal opens up. I look at Muninn, and he is smirking.

“You do realize that we had to check that he is home, right? And decent enough to receive visitors? He might have a girl there, or just be naked by himself.”

“Don’t worry, father. As you would say, a little bird told me it should be ok.” He keeps smirking.

“What happened, my lord?” Shandon asks.

“This portal was Muninn’s work. It is good to know that they can also open portals, it could be useful. Anyway, let’s go.”

We jump through the portal, Andrew is sitting by his table, having some tea.

“Good morning, lad.  I saw your bubble travel thing open up, so I guessed it was you. But you generally kind of knock first.”

“I am sorry, this time it wasn’t I. The crows evolved, I didn’t want you to phreak out too much.”

“They… Evolved? Weren’t they already evolved?”

“They were, and they evolved again. The personality remains the same, though.” Cecilia and I giggle a little. Ruby scratches her chin.

“I don’t know, I am much closer to Huginn now…”

I giggle some more. “Of course you are, love.”

Andrew tilts his head.

“They look the same, though.”

“That is just their outer shape, though. Their normal form is a little bigger. Do you want to see it?”

“Of course.”

“Let’s go outside, then.”

We go outside, and Muninn leaves my shoulder, flies in a screw, and lands with a hit, full size, wings mid open, almost a knee hero landing. I smirk. I turn to Huginn.

“Did he practice this?”

She sighed. “Yes, several times when you were sleeping, but keeping his size small to not make much noise.”

We all laugh, but Andrew is kind of impressed. He looks at Muninn’s face, the four very intimidating eyes, the four red slits. Andrew turns to Muninn.

“What other cheating spells did you learn from the lad?”

“All of them. Do you have a nail, father?”

I hand him one of the nails that I always carry on me, just as a precaution. He puts the nail his beak, then opens it only slightly, and points to this very solid looking rock, some 150 feet away. We hear the very boom, and then the rock is gone. It is hard to say what was the sonic boom and what was the rock becoming dust.

“Congratulations for the both of you. I never thought I would live to see someone reproducing all his nonsense magic.” The turns to us. “Shall we go inside for some tea?”

Aquamarine is the first to enter, and we all follow her. Andrew goes to the oven to prepare the tea.

“I have heard some stories around, lad. Are you the one pulling all those fast ones on those idiots from the church?”

“You are going to have to be a little more specific.”

“The cursed cathedral of Esdohr, of course. Why?”

“The battle of the hooves as well.”

“The battle of the bloodied hooves, you mean. The reports that arrived are greatly exaggerated, apparently.”

“How so?”

“They are mentioning that basically all the mitrhils from the Holy Kingdom were massacred in an instant. They mention that there were guts and blood all over the clearing, and the leader, a former sword saint, had her head ripped out, while keeping the spine attached to the head. They say that experienced adventurers threw up after a brief look at the scene.”

Cecilia and I have a yellow smile, while Ruby and Huginn have a proud posture. The other dragonesses are just not really interested, as always. Andrew looks at us, kind of waiting for an answer. The answer never comes.

“Well, at least it was for a good reason, apparently. But, just out of curiosity, what did the church do to flip your wig?”

“I don’t particularly hate them, but I don’t like them either. It just happened that each situation had a reason. The dwarves thing was really messed up. They enslaved people without rhyme or reason. People that just wanted to search for their own roots. The second one, they actually tried to use a bogus quest to both exterminate the centaurs and get me killed in the process. There are children in the village that they were going to invade. Their goal was to not let a single one escape. And if they were willing to pull out their swords to kill…”

“They have to be willing to die as well. I agree…  Well, let’s talk about happy stuff… How is the wedding plan coming along?”

I point my chin to Cecilia, that answers that.

“It is going pretty well. We are going to do another dress fitting today. The dwarves are going to take care of mobilia, everything is going well. I heard from Roberta today that she is already stocking spices up, to make sure she has enough.”

“Great. And how are the guys going to dress?”

“As far as I know, we will be wearing armors. Do you have one?”

“I actually do. That would actually work.”

“Awesome. Do you need any maintenance on it?”

“No, it’s good, don’t worry.”

“Ok. Talking about this, do you want to come with us to the dress fitting? Dávrin and Brokkr, from the dwarves, are also coming.”

“I don’t know… I don’t want to get in the way, lad. This is your time, not mine.”

“Yes, and I am inviting you.”

Cecilia grabs him by the wrist, and pulls him. She really puts some strength on it. Then both look at each other. Cecilia is looking at him, that hadn’t moved. He is looking at her, because she pulled him with a strength she should not have. She breaks the silence.

“Come one, let’s go! The boys had lots of fun last time!”

Opal turns to me.

“Lord, do you really want him there? We could always…”

I laugh. “No, we are not forcing him. We are just insisting. But if he really doesn’t want to come…”

“Fine, I will go, lad. They better have some fine hooch!”

I kind of celebrate our small victory.