The Quantum Wanderer

I turn to the girls.

“Now I have to distribute the flags to some other people. Who wants to come with me?”

Cecilia sticks her tongue out.

“That is unfair, you are just making us show you that we always want to be with you!”

I put my hands over my heart, and make a face like I got shot. Cecilia giggles, the other girls just tilt their heads. They don’t understand the gesture. I explain.

“Humans think that the heart is the organ responsible for processing emotions. So I got a shot of love from Cecilia, hence the pose. It is a pretend thing.”

I decided to add the last part after I saw Ruby’s expression. I don’t think a punch over the heart would be above something she would do. I pick up the broken shield, I wonder if Brokkr might be able to fix it.

I connect to Dávrin through the Comm Gem. His answer is immediate.

“Good morning, friend! I was about to get in touch with you!”

“Sure. Can I come visit?”

“If you can come? PLEASE DO!”

I open a portal to the room we always use. Dávrin is already there, as well as The Hammer, The Anvil and some generals.

After we all step through the portal, I take a look around at the faces. They are all looking at each other. Dávrin breaks the silence.

“Hello, friends. Please sit, please sit. Do you want anything to drink?”

We sit down on a couch. The people in the room sit down around us. Dávrin is exactly in front of us, the rest of them are around him. On the couch, on chairs. A maid comes in with a platter with some refreshments, and puts it in front of us. I turn to her.

“Do you have some also a cup we could give them?” I gesture towards Muninn and Huginn.

“Sure, master Marcelo. But what should should I give them? Water?”

“Some sweet wine would be fine.”  Huginn  answers. The maid looks at her, bows, and goes out the door. Once the door closes, I cast the silence spell.

“So, given the amount of people here, I assume that you want to talk about the dragon, right?”

“So you already know about that?”

“Yes, actually. This is the reason I came here. First, let’s talk about the situation. He is in a kingdom. I didn’t look the place up, but it is a place to the east. I already got in touch with him. We negotiated hunting grounds. That means that the dragon will not attack you. That does not mean you are safe from the nation he is in; the deal I procured is just with the dragon.”

Dávrin sits on the edge of his couch.

“Do you think he will respect the deal?”

“Yes. Hunting grounds deals are sacred for dragons. It is a very strong piece in their culture. He will respect it. I am almost sure.”

“Wait! Almost sure?”

“Yes. By all accounts, he should respect that. But I can’t say what is inside his head, right? I can’t say  what is inside most people’s head. But we are going to be ok, don’t worry.”

“Master Marcelo, you do know you are bad at calming people down, right?”

I raise my glass to him and take a sip. The maid enters the room, with a couple of cups, and places on the table, for Muninn and Huginn. She leaves. The brâns drink the liquid in the cups. I get the flag from my holding bag, and I hand it to Dávrin.

“What is this?”

“That was the second part of the deal I struck with the dragon. Caravans with that banner will not be attacked by him. Again, the deal was with him, not the nation he is in.”

He opens the flag and takes a look. He lowers the flag, and then looks at us. He laughs.

“Didn’t you just have one with your picture?”

“I did, but I needed something that wouldn’t get all your women distracted…”

We both laugh, the air in the room is a lot lighter.

“Well, we do appreciate the knowledge that groups carrying the blessings of Wrax will be spared by the dragon…”

I laugh.

“This is not how I would phrase that.”

He laughs. He hands the flag to The Anvil. Andvari nods.

He sits back down, now more relaxed.

“Well, I think the main crisis has been solved before it happened, right?” He asks the other dwarves in the room.

They slowly nod and agree.

“In that case, you can all leave. I have personal matters to discuss with master Marcelo.”

They all bow to Dávrin and then me. Then they leave the room and the zone of silence.

“Now tell me, master Marcelo, how did you enjoy your wedding gift?”

Dávrin had a somewhat perverted look to him, he was rubbing his hands together.

“Hohoho… It was fantastic. You have no idea. The place was exquisite, thank you very much for the gift.”

“Of course, of course. Do you have any n-“

We get interrupted by Brokkr, that enters the room.

“Master Marcelo! Visiting so soon? And you did not remember to call on your friends?”

I giggle.

“I was still talking to your nephew. I was going to visit you after… Just a curiosity… Is this fixable?”

I take the perforated shield from my holding bag. Brokker puts his hand over the holes. He understands that it was perfurated with fingers. He knocks twice on the shield, and sighs.

“A perfect adamantite shield destroyed. Why did you  do it?”

“My girls were… Testing their claws. I didn’t have any scraps of adamantite, so the shield suffered.”

Brokkr shrugs.

“Adamantite cannot be fixed. Once the temperature lowers and metal ‘sets’, it cannot be reforged. It can be broken, heat will damage the structure, but  it cannot be reforged. I can probably get something better if you want.”

“No need.”

At this point, Dávrin comes back to the edge of the couch, and takes a look at the shield.

“Wait a second… Dragon claws and teeth cannot puncture adamantite. They are as strong as mithril, but not adamantite. Do you care to show this?”

“Sure. Do you have a scrap to use?”

Brokkr opens a wide smile. He takes out a failed shield from his holding bag. I take a look, the mana from the material is pouring out. This is an enchanted adamantite shield. I look at Ruby, she is biting her lower lip. Her right hand’s fingers are already transformed into claws. I giggle.

I hand her the shield. She passes her fingers, and she manages to produce a deep gash on it. It doesn’t cut the shield, but it leaves some very disturbing and deep scratches. She hands the shield back to me, I take a close look. It is amazing.

I give the shield back to a flabbergasted Dávrin and a jaw dropped Brokkr. I look back at Ruby.

“Ruby, I am amazed. Congratulations on how well you can control it now.”

She looks at her hand and it becomes normal again. She passes her tongue over her lips and bites her lower lip, looking at me. Her breathing is harder than normal. I gesture her to calm down.

Brokkr passes his fingers over the scratches.

“We have very little in terms of information of resistance to dragons. There haven’t been many encounters with dragons in the past. The one that the hero of the time was able to face a dragon and emerge victorious is more than millennia old. The information mentions that he was wearing adamantite armor, while his men were wearing mithril.”

I shrug. I am happy that the girls are stronger, if they end up having to fight an adult they would probably be able to apply some damage right now.

We all enjoy a couple of minutes of silence. Dávrin relaxes on the couch, and asks in a simple manner.

“So, what came of the thing that happened on the wedding?”

I shrug. The humans know it, the demons know it, and Dávrin is going to understand the situation once he hears the reports, anyway.

“The parts involved judged the kid and the mother guilty of a series of very serious crimes. They were dealt the death penalty. Due to circumstances, the penalty is going to be masked as an accident. But you already thought this was going to happen.”

“Yes. Empire or son. I hope he is not too attached to his son.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“How are you going to do that? You don’t have to answer, this is just general curiosity.”

“There is an escort coming in from the Holy Kingdom to take the empress back to her father. It has a mix of Holy Kingdom and Arthuria soldiers. The empress carries royal arthurian blood in her veins from her mother’s side. When they cross the border into the Holy Kingdom…”

“It is not going to be easy faking an accident with a platoon of soldiers around.”

I shrug. “I am not doing that.”

“You’re not? Who is?”

Huginn morphs her head into her four eyes.

“I am.”

Dávrin raises his right eyebrow, and move his head.

We drink a little bit, and we talk about some other light subjects. Brokkr’s relationship with Ildra, Davina’s developments, suitors. After sometime, I slap my legs. It is time to visit Leopold and Andrew.

“Well, I still have to deliver two other flags.”

We say our goodbies. I look at Huginn.

“Next stop, Akiko.” I use a portal to take a look at an alley in Shoria. We start walking through the streets. Everything is calm. But then again the normal populace would not be in on the secret. We walk around the streets, and arrive at the baroness’ castle.

There are guards positioned in the guard house, obviously.

“Halt! Do you have a meeting with anyone in this place?”

“Can you tell the baroness, or Akiko, that the honored guest is here?”

The guard in front of us shrugs. The one in the back, though shouts.

“Wait! That is the password! He is to be allowed in!”

The guard lowers his spear. We walk through the elaborate garden, and reach the mansion. We are taken to an antechamber, and wait a little while, until Akiko and Hikari appear. Both of them are dressed in very fine clothes, following the cuts and dress formats that we had seen on the nobles in this area. Hikari’s belly is huge.

“Honored guest! Good afternoon!”

Hikari nods with her head and Akiko does a courtesy, that I return. The girls return it as well. Cecilia gets close to Hikari.

“By the gods! You are huge! When are you due?”

Hikari holds her stomach where her child rests. She passes her hand over it, as if she were caressing her baby. She smiles with genuine happiness.

“Another 2 weeks or so.”

Akiko extends her hand over Hikari’s stomach.

“It’s amazing how something so wonderful can come out of such twisted story… I am happy with the ending, though.” She looks at us. “Come, lets get to a comfortable place.”

She leads us to a study, Hikari sits on a very comfortable looking sofa. We sit on a couch. Akiko sits across from us.

“Good afternoon, honored guests. Can I offer you refreshments?”

Akiko gestures to a maid. The maid courtises, and leaves the room. Akiko turns to me.

“So, honored guests, what can I do for you?”

As I am about to start talking, the maid comes back, with a tray. She brings some sweet juice for all of us. I only take a sip of my cup, and let Huginn and Muninn have some of my juice. The maid retreats to the corner of the room. I cast a silence spell around us.

“Good afternoon, Akiko, Hikari. Nothing in particular. You two are very calm, so I am guessing the news did not get here yet.”

“What news, honored guest?” Akiko asks, before sipping some juice. Hikari also sips some juice.

“The news you are going to hear is that one of the guests at my wedding decided to take some vacations among humans.”

Akiko is staring at me. I reinforce.

“One of BIG guests. The ones that didn’t fit the church.”

Akiko looks at me, then she looks at the girls. She is going through the wedding in her head when she realizes. She places the glass she was drinking from on the table. The glass makes some noise because her hand is shaking a little bit.

“Is the… BIG guest… a friend?”

“That is the good news. I already have got in touch with him, and we defined… Areas that belong to each other. My area includes your baronate.”

I let her digest the information I provided. After some time, I continue.

“That… guest… associated himself with some other nations. I don’t know what is about to happen. I only stroke a deal with the guest. So the guest is not going to enter your lands, but his friends might.”

Akiko nods, indicating that she is understanding what I am saying. Hikari is intrigued. She looks at her mother, and puts her left hand on Akiko’s arm. Akiko covers her hand with her left hand, patting it. I put one of the flags on the table.

“That being said, you may want to travel around. I entered an agreement with that guest, and groups traveling with this banner will not get attacked by him. Be careful, though. The agreement is with him in particular.

“The situation may get weird because of his presence. I suggest you take a good look at the news, rumors, and start planning.

“Do you have any questions before I lift the silence spell?”

“No, honored guest. You gave me much to think about. Basically, we are safe as long as we are inside the baronate, right?”

“Safe from him. If there is another noble attacking, this would be outside the agreement. But yes, you will be safe either inside the baronate, or under this banner.”

Akiko lets go of Hikari’s hand, and examines the banner. I continue.

“Please keep the flag thing a secret. At least the reason behind it.”

“Of course, honored guest. We appreciate this all immensely.”

“Sure, no problem. If you will excuse us, we still have to visit a couple of friends.”

“Of course, honored guest. We appreciate the information and the help.”

I gesture her to not worry about that. We stand up, and the maid guides us outside. We walk through the cobblestone streets. Cecilia is looking around.

“Do you think there is going to be war?”

“Basically a huge canon landed on the lap of a ruler. Of a place kind of close to here. Considering how humans are, I would guess so. Skylar is stronger than normal heroes, by a lot. I think I would win in a fight, but I wouldn’t have space to fool around. So yes, I think that there may be war. Because of levels, the size of an army matters much less than the levels in it.”

“Can’t you do something?” Cecilia ponders.

“What would you have me do? There is a fun story I heard once. It mentioned that if we are like ants to gods, we could imagine that we are gods to ants. That they view us as gods.”

The girls approach, to listen.

“So, imagine if a bunch of ants start chanting on the kitchen floor… They chant your name… Cecilia! Cecilia! Cecilia! You stop whatever you are doing, because you are going to be intrigued. You get close, and they ask for food. You provide a spoon of sugar, because, why not? That is going to be a very funny tale for the inn later.

“They ask you to kill another ant, and you are having a laugh, so you go ahead and do it.

“Then one ant says that it is in love with another ant. You don’t know how to help, so you do the only thing you know to make them stay together – you destroy the whole anthill and leave just the two ants alive.

“The first ant whispers ‘By the gods, what have I done?’”

Cecilia was picturing the whole thing in her head, and laughs. The other girls don’t laugh. Opal is the one to question.

“What is funny, my lord? I mean, not much difference between humans and ants…”

“Yes, Opal. But the thing is, I don’t really want to be a god. I don’t think I would be a good one, I wouldn’t like to rule over everyone. When the question ‘can’t you do something’ comes up, the solution I have is yes, I can do something. I can kill everyone, that way there is no war.

“But  that is not the way to go, because then there are no people either. No Rudolph to take care of the house, no Roberta to cook, no colleagues in knight school for you to train with. The only way I can do something is by stomping their free will, one way or another.

“I want to have company, I want to be loved, not feared. That’s why you have free will, Cecilia has free will, Siratra had free will. But of course, decisions bring consequences.”

Aquamarine leans in on my arm on one side, Opal on the other. Ruby hugs me from behind and kisses my neck. Shandon takes a look, but I am all but taken. We have a big family hug.

We keep walking through the streets of Shoria, in order to get to the alley we used to come in. I ask Huginn, and she says that Andrew is alone in his house. We portal to his front door. I knock.

“Who is this?” He shouts from the back.

“It’s me.”

After half a minute the door opens. He gestures us to come inside.

“Hi, kid. How’ve you been?”

“I have been well. How about you?”

“Relaxing, after been in that wedding. What the heck was that?”

“Well, it is solved now. Mostly.”

I shrug.

“But that is not the reason I came. Have you heard already from the guild?”

“Heard about what?”

“Oh, so you haven’t.”

“What game are you playing, kid?”

I giggle.

“Basically one of the dragons decided to see what human life is like.”

“BasicaWHAT?!?”

“One of the dragons decided to visit from Drakonia to find out what human life is like. There is a country where he is staying. It is way to the east.”

“Do you know the dragon in question?”

“Yes. He is called Skylar. He is the other member in the council.”

“Is everyone running for the hills yet?”

“Some. He was received by that country, and they are hosting him.”

“Oh, shit!”

“Yes. But I also bring some good news.”

“You’re going to kill it.”

“No, actually. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But you he is going to.”

“I know that there is already a human that is trying to use him to dominate other humans. If I start killing the bad people, it is going to take some time before I can stop. But the good news is that I brokered a deal. So this area around here is off-limits to him.

“The deal is only with him, though, not with the army around him.”

Andrew scratches his chin.

“I see… How strong is it?”

“Have you heard the legend that a hero, with a group of knight commanders managed to kill a dragon?”

“Yes, but only the hero survived. I am not even sure this actually happened.”

“Oh, it did. But the dragon in question was a hatchling. An adult will be twice the size, several times the power. Then you have the elders. This one is a councilor.”

 Andrew stays in silence for a little bit. I bring out the flag.

“The second part of the deal is that groups traveling with this flag will not be attacked. By him.”

“You just created the most valuable flag in history!” He laughs.

I shrug.

“That being said, I still have to visit Leopold. He probably knows already, but I have to hand him the flag.”

Andrew opens the flag.

“Where did you get this? Is this your coat of arms?”

He looks at the flag open, notices Muninn and Huginn, as well as the 4 dragonesses. I shake my head.

“It’s Sidhu’s church.”

He looks up, and then remembers.

“So, the demon church that adores your image. Nice choice. A coat of arms would have been a lot more subtle.”

I shrug.

“What can I say? I needed some flag that would be neutral for both humans, demons and dwarves. I wanted to close the deal fast, before he decided to wipe something off the map. That was it.”

He giggles.

“I can just imagine how this is going to transpire when the church, Nergal’s church, learn of this.”

“They are not the people I am trying to protect, exactly… Anyway, I have to go.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

I look at Muninn, and he confirms. I open the portal to Leopold’s office. We jump out of it. Leopold doesn’t even move from his  chair. He is sorting some paperwork.

“Hi, good afternoon.” I say, non chalantly.

“Good evening. How is marriage treating you so far?”

“It has been… Very, very good.” I giggle, remembering the present the girls and the others had provided. I continue. “What about you? How is life after promotion?”

“It has been a lot of work. Thanks to you, though, things are looking better. There are still a lot less adventurers than anywhere in the Holy Kingdom, but at least we have a couple, and I am almost being literal here, of mithrils. Better than none. We are deep in the hole, but at least we stopped digging, if you get my meaning.”

“I am happy to hear this. And the latest news? I assume you already know…?”

“Yes, Edward shared the information on the dragon walking around with the upper echelon… I am really concerned.”

“That’s why I am here. I made a deal with him. I placed some areas as mine, so he should not invade them. One of these areas is Orora. He will not attack the baronate. But the deal was made with the dragon, not the people around him.”

“I am sorry – what?”

“Yes. I made a deal with him. We split the areas on the map. I got my friends covered. Orora, because of you, Shoria because of Akiko and Hikari… Andrew is covered as well.”

“What about the Holy Kingdom?”

I shrug. Leopold passes his hand over his face.

“Fuuuuuucccckkk…”

“I don’t know if Orora would be completely safe either. If they conquer Arthuria, they can use conquered troops to invade Orora. It wouldn’t last a day. I wonder if they are going to deploy the new hero.”

“The new hero?”

“Oh? You didn’t know yet? The Holy Kingdom now has a hero.”

“But only Arthuria had the ritual.”

I shrug.

“Those two have been messing up so much that they apparently united to summon one. He is in their training, meaning brain washing.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have two kinds of heros, the ones that choose power and the ones that choose potential. The ones that choose potential arrive in this world at level 1, but they can grow. This one probably chose power. He arrived at level 100, he already knows all the magic spells he is ever going to know, but he is not getting level 101.

“Their only goal is making him softer towards humans and orders.”

Leopold tilts his head. He is about to ask something, but he stops. He sighs.

“Well, thank you. This is going to be a big storm.”

“Probably. And another thing. Here.”

I hand him the last flag. He opens it. I continue.

“This flag indicates close friends of mine. Groups traveling with that flag will not be attacked by the dragon. By the dragon. The deal did not involve the humans around him.”

He looked at the flag. He looked at the dragonesses. He looked again at the flag, and this time looked at Muninn and Huginn. He looked at the flag. He looked at me and started laughing.

“What is this?”

I give him the same explanation. The joke is getting old.

“So, your friends are to walk around with a flag showing that they are faithful of Wrax?”

I giggle.

“Only if they don’t want to risk becoming dragon food.”

We both laughed. The girls and the brâns joined in. After we get tired of laughing, we say our goodbyes. It is time to wrap up the day.