The Quantum Wanderer

We proceed as always. We take our armor out, and have a shower. When we are naked, I look at my girls. Ruby is biting her lower lip. She is walking slowly towards me. Cecilia laughs.

“Of course she is horny.”

Ruby jumps me. We have some sex in the shower while we wash ourselves. We get dressed and go downstairs. It is around 3 o’clock. We leave the house, we go towards Edward’s.

We wait for him in the living room.

“Hi, friend! Back already?”

I shrug. He clears his throat.

“If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t even ask. In your case… Did you finish the quest already?”

“Basically. Is there a place we put the… proof of completion?”

“Of course, follow me please.”

We follow Edward into the dungeon beneath his house. We pass the torture room to a big room. He gestures towards the empty space.

“You can dump the proof of completion for the quest here…”

I gesture towards Ruby, she starts dumping the bodies from her bag of holding. After some time, she puts her hand inside.

“Hold on, it didn’t come out…”

She pulls out the hero’s arm, and throws it on the pile.

Edward puts on a inquisitive face.

“You ripped out his arm? Why?”

“I was going to go Skylar on them, you know… Using a part to beat them up… But when I pulled out the arm the others just knelt down… Cowards…”

Edward is staring at her. I can almost see ‘what the fuck’ written on his forehead. He sighs. He turns to me.

“Are you sure you don’t want the quest payment? It is the guild’s money…”

I hold my hand up.

“No need. I am good. The girls had fun. They could test some of their new tricks.”

Cecilia, Aquamarine and Ruby are smiling, nodding. I see that Edward feels a chill down his spine.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, friend?”

“No, this is good. I consider the matter settled.”

“Thank you so much! You have no idea how thankful I am. And I can say that in Anthon’s name as well!”

“Sure.”

We go back the way we came, Edward leads us to the living room, and we go home.

***

Edward’s POV

I summon Trival.

“You called, your grace?”

“Yes. Let’s go to… your playground.”

“New toys, your grace?”

“You will see.”

Trival follows me to the pile of corpses that Marcelo had brought. He starts walking around them. He puts them on the ground, belly up. He takes a look at a couple of them. He then stands up and looks at me.

“What exactly do you want, your grace?”

“As always, I am going to count with your discretion… These… bandits’ corpses were brought to my attention. I would like to know as much about their deaths as possible.”

“Of course, your grace. Given the number of corpses, and some… weird ones… It may take some time.”

I nod at him. I go back to my study. I write a very simple note. ‘Not a sneeze, but some info you may want to know about our friend. Let’s have dinner.’

I hand the note to my butler with instructions to deliver this to Anthon. I sit back on the chair, and I look at the ceiling. I can’t take the smile out of my face. The problem of punishing the two bastards, gone. The problem of Sophia’s marriage, gone. At least for now.

I hear a knock on the door.

“Come in!”

It is my wife. She comes in and closes the door behind her. I cast a silence spell around us.

“Hi, dear. You seem to be in a good mood…”

“You are going to be in one as well.”

“Really? Because right now some foul smell is coming up from your… playground underneath.”

“Well, that’s the smell of battlefield. And the smell of our daughter’s freedom.”

“What do you mean?”

“Although the corpses are fresh, you know that sometimes dead people leak whatever fluids they were going to disperse, right? Involuntary bowel movements and such…”

“And…?”

“And among the corpses, lies former Sophia’s fiancée.”

“REALLY?  HOW?”

“Two bastards in the hero’s party stepped over the line. The guild hired, or tried to, Marcelo to get them in custody. You know how those things go.”

“The whole party tried to intervene…”

“Yup. I am having Trival take a look at the bodies, see if there are any juicy details.”

…

“And add plate on the table for dinner. I would bet that Anthon is going to come over for dinner.”

She shrugs. She smiles. I can almost feel the weight she was carrying on her shoulders being dropped on the ground. She feels lighter.

“That is an easy one.”

She leaves the room, I let the silence spell go. I turn my chair around, and I watch the outside a little bit.

 I get back to my work administering the school, but my mind is really curious about what Trival’s report is going to be like.

A couple of hours go by. Another knock on the door.

“Come in!”

The butler opens the door, Anthon enters the room. I cast another silence spell.

“Hello, cuz.” He says. “You just know how to get me curious.”

I laugh.

“I am curious as well. I put Trival on the task. Shall we go there?”

He nods. I break the spell, and I go back to my dungeon. The smell is not that bad because the corpses are not decomposing yet. Although there still is the smell of unpleasant liquids that were expelled by the soldiers.

When we get there, the corpses are separated in areas. There is around a dozen in one area, a little more than half a dozen in another, all of them lying on their back.

Then there are a couple of bodies in another area, and one body apart.  Trival is obviously very excited with the whole room.

He notices our approach, and bows down to us.

“Your grace, your highness…”

I cast a silence spell.

“Were you able to do some analysis, Trival?”

“YES! BY THE GODS!”

He looks like a child in a party. One that ate too many sweets.

“Let’s start by most of the deaths, my lords… This way.”

There are 11 bodies. All of them have a thin stab to the heart. He looks at us, wanting to talk. I gesture him to spill.

“First thing I noticed is that all of them were on the high level side. All of them were probably above level 50, I would bet that some of them were in their sixties…

“This first group here… They are the least unusual case, and yet…”

He has this wide smile around him. I take a look, the soldiers were stabbed on the heart. I shake my head to him. He opens a smile. He is loving this.

“I don’t know what they used for this, but they are wearing armor! Yet, the stab did not bend the armor in! Normally, a stab over an armor would have to cut the armor, and the armor would bend inside. It would take a lot of strength to cut through. Yet, these stabs were done as if the armor was made of paper. And I am talking about a single sheet. And we are talking about mithril armors…”

I understand his point. I kneel down and pass my hand over the stab. The metal is even sharp in there. Anthon does the same. We both have seen Marcelo’s sword in action, though. Trival is almost hopping around, being able to show his knowledge. We move to the next group.

“This group would be really scary, if we hadn’t seen the stabs. They were cut with something really, really sharp. Mythologically sharp. See the halves of shields on top of the bodies?  The slash went right through. Shield, arm, armor, body! This is… This is absolutely fantastic.”

The cuts are clean. I take a look at one example of the group, Anthon looks at another one. Trival is already in front of the next group. It is comprised of paladins, archers. He is gesturing us like crazy. He starts talking when we get closer.

“This group, this group! They suffered what looks like a stone bullet, but!”

Trival holds one of the corpses by the arm. The ‘stone bullet’ went across. I have never seen a stone bullet perforating a steel armor, much less a mithril one.

“Have you thought of alternatives?” I ask Trival.

“Yes, my lord, but there are no burn marks or ice marks around the wounds. It is as if a stone bullet went through… paper. But that’s not all…” He opens a wider smile.

He lifts the shield. There is a hole on the shield as well. On the upper third.

“If you look here, my lord, there is earth on the lower part of the shield, the bottom spikes are bent forward.”

Anthon is holding his chin.

“So they were able to stick the shields on the ground before the shot.”

Trival again smiles. It is starting to get on my nerves right now. We both turn to him.

“They are paladins, my lords. If I were a paladin, and I planted the shield on the ground…”

“I would have the holy barrier up!” Anthon mentions.

Anthon is right. Whatever magic they used, it probably went through the barrier, through the mithril shield, through the two sides of armor, and kept going. I fell a chill down my spine.

Trival is already in front of pair of dead soldiers that were the only ones lying on their stomachs. Their armor after their waist was a little twisted, their pelvic region is a mess. And Trival is almost jumping of joy around them. We get close. I sigh. Trival start his explanation.

“And this… This was fucked up.”

I shrug.

“Everything here is fucked up.”

“Not like this, your grace. Besides blood and guts, there is something else on the wound… I am not telling your grace to smell, of course, but it reminds me the smell you would find in a cheap brothel… You know…”

He makes a gesture, it becomes obvious. He continues.

“But lots of it. And I mean lots! Like a gallon! And I am being literal here, your grace!”

I take a look at the corpses. I am kind of guessing, because of the punishment, that they were the bastards. Good riddance. Trival is already by the last body.

“This is the last one, my lords.”

A soldier with a better armor than the other ones. His right arm is detached, on top of him.

“This arm was not cut! It was ripped out of his body. See how the tendons are hanging out? How the edge is completely irregular? I wonder how his happened. If I were to repeat this, I would have to horses, several of them, and it would only work on a person with a lower level. But this guy… He looks like a high level. I would guess over 60.”

I take a look at the dead hero. I saw the disappointment on lady Ruby’s face for not being able to use it as a weapon against the other soldiers in the group. I turn to Trival.

“Great. You exceeded my expectations with your report. Have everything burned, buried, placed somewhere far a away. I don’t want other to be able to locate this through spells of any kind. Get rid of it in a way that the gods themselves would not know what happened to them.”

“Of course, your grace.”

I turn to leave. Trival takes a step forward.

“Your grace… Are we safe?”

Anthon is the one to answer.

“Sincerely, I hope so.”

Anthon and I leave the room. We walk to the dinning room. Anthon turns to me.

“What now?”

“I, for one, am going to write an invite for the hero to come visit his fiancée.”

Anthon laughs.

“You know, you just gave an idea as well.”

***

Marcelo’s POV

The next morning, we are all relaxed at breakfast. Even though it wasn’t said, Opal and Huginn were worried about Sophia and the whole engaged to the hero thing.

After I finish my breakfast and Muninn finishes his, he hops up to me.

“Father, something you probably would like to know…”

“Yes?”

“The two elves have already gone through a third of the way to the elven city…”

“Wow. That is amazing! That is what, almost 20 hours? Really? A third?”

“Yes. They rode all night. Their mounts are impressive. Some crows here and there giving them an incentive may also have played a part…” Muninn puts out a smile, a little on the somber side.

Cecilia and laugh. Ruby sighs.

“Everyone is just so slow. I could do that distance in less than three hours.”

I laugh.

“Yes, but they don’t fly. They don’t have portals. A carriage would do that distance in probably 6 weeks, if they hurry. They did the equivalent of a couple of weeks in a day. It is amazing.”

“We should have kept those beasts for ourselves.” Cecilia comments.

“Not possible. It would attract too much attention. A soldier comment that those were the hero’s mounts could make our lives harder. Besides, we just don’t use mounts.”

Ruby stares deeply at me.

“You know that I would never mind, right, my lord?”

I laugh.

“I don’t even know if the saddles fit anymore. You girls got so much bigger… But I don’t see a situation of mounting you again. Should that happen, we can have another pair of saddles made.”

Ruby pouts a little bit. I see a chill go down Charles spine. I don’t think he will ever truly recover from the trauma Cecilia exposed him to. I turn back to Muninn.

“Just don’t put too much pressure on them. They still have to cross the big river, and I don’t want them killing their mounts. The elves are going to pass judgement.”

“You’re not fun, father.”

I turn to the girls.

“What are the plans for today?”

“Shoria.” Cecilia answers. She shows me her hand, her nails suffered.

I think to myself that I could do with visiting Akiko, we haven’t visited them for some months now.

“Shoria it is.”

After breakfast, we portal to Shoria. We go to the nobles’ district. The girls go to their nail salon I go to Akiko’s inn.

I get to the counter.

“Good morning, sir!”

“Good morning, how are you?”

“We are fine, sir. How can I help?”

“I am a friend of Akiko’s, and since I am around, I thought of visiting.”

The girl at the counter rolls her eyes.

“Sir, lady Akiko has not been in the inn for some time now. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Is Indira there?”

Now her demeanor changed a little bit. Apparently, lady Akiko was normal knowledge, but the real password to use was Indira.

“Just a minute, sir.”

After a couple of minutes, she comes back, with Indira in tow.

“Honored guest! Long time no see! What a surprise!”

The girl that brought her gets out from behind the counter, and comes over. She bows in front of me.

“I am sorry! I didn’t know I was speaking with the honored guest!”

I laugh. I lift my right hand, dismissing the issue. I turn to Indira.

“How are you, Indira?”

“I am great, honored guest! Lady Akiko, as of late, has been helping the baroness, so I have been managing the inn!”

“And how are they?”

“Oh, lady Akiko has been a busy bee supporting the baroness! You should visit them! I am sure that they are going to enjoy your visit!”

“I am going to do that, thank you.”

“And should you want to stay in Shoria, you know your room is always available.”

“Thank you. See you later.”

Indira and the attendant bow to me, I go out. I walk over to the mansion. I identify myself as the honored guest to the guards at the gate.

One of them goes running towards the house. He gets to the door. It opens. He talks to someone. He turns back and waves at the guards at the gate.

“You may enter, sir. Do you want us to escort you to the door?”

I shrug.

“No need.”

I cross the garden. All these gardens, including mine, are well cared for. They are all beautiful. This one has some sea oriented motifs.

I arrive at the door. A butler opens it for me. He takes me to a living room.

“Good morning, sir. Allow me to notify the ladies.”

He goes up a set of stairs. After some minutes, he comes back down.

“Sir, please wait for a moment, the ladies are coming down.”

After a few more minutes, Akiko and Hikari are coming down the stairs. Hikari’s belly is huge. It looks like the small girl swallowed a watermelon. Akiko is helping her, giving her support. I stand up.

“I am sorry! You should not come down!”

Hikari throws her hand.

“Nonsense. I need the exercise.”

“It is our pleasure!” Akiko says.

The come to the living room, and Hikari kind of falls on the couch, more than sit. After her daughter is set, Akiko sits on the couch, opposite me. I sit down as well.

“How are you? How have things been going?”

“Oh, they have been great, honored guest! After the display in the funeral, those vultures never bothered us again! Everything else is going well. This land is really easy to manage.” Akiko says.

I think a little about that. Since she has been managing inns for a long time, Akiko would have notions of cash flow, taxes, expenses, even perhaps a little about security needs.

“What about the business?”

“Oh, it has been great! Our second inn is fully functional. We still have to recoup investment, but it is already showing some profit! The city is expanding, it is going to be a good expansion to Shoria. There is a lot of untapped potential.

“People that sell luxury do not look at merchants and adventurers. Can you believe that? Their money is just as good.”

I laugh. Then I turn to Hikari.

“Do you know when the baby is due?”

She places her hand on her stomach.

“Anytime now. And I mean anytime. But everything is looking good, so the midwives have not shown any concern.”

“That is great! Congratulations again.”

I sense that Akiko avoids our eyes during this topic. Well, they are mother and daughter, I am sure that Akiko is always looking for Hikari’s interest.

I turn to Muninn, on my shoulder.

“Can you let the girls know where I am? They can come here after they have their nails done.”

I see that Akiko shows some worry.

“What is it Akiko?”

“Can I be honest, honored guest?”

“Of course!”

“The smell on recent nail painting is not good for pregnant women… I am sorry… I will be happy to have your wives as guests once it is dry, though.”

“No problem, don’t worry about it. They are going to take a long time with that. Five girls. You can imagine.” I turn to Muninn. “Please scrap that, let me know when they are done, I will be meeting them.”

A maid comes in, she brings different kinds of cookies and cold tea. She serves us.

We talk about some recent news. Elator, Romuela, the hero… The rumors behind Romuela’s army. All the old news I had already heard about before. Time goes by slowly, like the waves in some beach nearby.

After a couple of hours, Muninn hits me lightly on the head. I say my farewells and go back into the city. I meet the girls. We stop for some tea. Ruby and Cecilia are admiring their nails. They are a lot more alike than they would believe.

Ruby makes me mouth feed her, so as to not ruin the painting on the nail. Cecilia likes the idea. After a couple of moments, I am feeding cake to all the five girls. I can see that this brings out the worse in the men in the place, while some women take in the sugary moment.

I am having fun, but I always have fun with the girls.

I mention to them my visit to Akiko and Hikari. Their mind drift a little bit.

We talk about some other soft stuff, the school’s next year, and the like. We finish eating the cake.

We reach some desert alley, and portal back home. A fine, calm, relaxing day. During dinner, I receive an invite to have some tea in Edward’s. I wonder if he has any additional questions.