The Quantum Wanderer

Next day, we think of testing the saddles. Of course, testing them in Andrea, without generating a big panic wave would be something complicated. We portaled to Drakonia, right on the beach that I had met Hoggar.

Cecilia was really excited with the idea. She was picturing herself in the sky, and heroic tales and other imagery that she saw in her books.

I picked up the saddles, and placed them on the ground. Shandon came over, eager to have the saddle assembled on her. While I was assembling the saddle, it occurred to me that, with two saddles, we could have Cecilia use one, and Siratra use the other one. I could fly solo, after all. For me, it was more of a fancy than a way to move.

So, I finished assembling the saddle. Shandon, now with the saddle on her back, turned to me.

“My lord, are you going to ride me?”

“I was thinking that Cecilia could do it.”

“Is this an order, my lord?”

“No. We are not even in any danger, this is just supposed to be some fun activity.”

Shandon walked a little way, and laid down on the sand. Cecilia went over, but climbing up the saddle without help was a little bit harder than it looked. Even then, Cecilia managed to climb, she attached herself, and held the handle, in place in front of the saddle.

Shandon didn’t move.

Cecilia looked at me, and gestured something that looked like ‘this dragon is broken’.

I gestured back, ‘you have two have to solve this on your own’.

Cecilia got down, and whispered something in Shandon’s ear. Shandon looked at me. I have to say, I had a cold going down my spine. Then Shandon looked at Cecilia, and gestured with the head, something like, ‘more’. Cecilia dropped her shoulders and sighed. The she whispered something in Shandon’s ear, and Shandon nodded. The other girls were looking at that scene.

Cecilia got near me, and started playing with the tip of her hair.

“Marcelo, I was thinking…”

“Yes?”

“This is the first time we use the saddles, right?”

“Yes.”

“I am afraid that something might happen. I might fall, or Shandon still has to have an idea on how fast she can go… I was thinking that you should go first…”

The way she managed to use her cleavage on these situations was amazing.

“Ok, let’s see.”

I go over, and Shandon offers me help to climb up. I fasten my legs, and hold the handle in the saddle. This is a lot easier than the time I had to mount her to get down from her cave to the floor of the arena.

She ran an took off. Muninn, from my shoulder, also takes off and flies close to us.

The sensation was fantastic. I could fly by myself, but being able to relax was just so… Liberating. I didn’t have to worry about propulsion, I could just sit and enjoy the view. And watch the green land of Drakonia. Shandon turned her head to me.

“My lord, do you want to see your hunting grounds?”

“Yes, Shandon, please.”

We flew through an area and she told me about the land markers, the mountains, the rivers, and all the regions. She told me about the beasts that were available, how much mana they had, how fast they reproduced, what they ate. She told me about the predators and preys of the land. We flew through green and mountains.

I also thought a little bit about the amount of wind, it was a good experience in terms of evaluating what a normal human being would be able to tolerate.

We came back. Now Cecilia was even more eager. I got off, and Shandon helped Cecilia climb up. I turned to Shandon.

“Keep the altitude below that peak. If you go over that, she will not be able to breath. Also, go as slow as we did when watching the hunting grounds, when you had your head turned back. Think of top speed as a birds speed. And keep an eye on her. If she bends back, you get back, really, really slow. Once you girls get more used to this, you will get a better sense. And keep to safe areas.”

I turned to Cecilia.

“Shandon is not a horse. She is your mate sister, she is our family. You don’t control family. You give and you receive. Favors, suggestions, asks. No one here is a mindless pet. So you don’t drive anything. That’s why there are no reins. You hold here. If she goes faster, you lower yourself, to avoid wind. Got it?”

Cecilia grabbed the handle with all her strength, and Shandon ran and they took off.

I saw that Siratra was talking to Aquamarine. She gestured me, and I came over. Siratra was the one doing the talking.

“Master, can we try?”

I looked at Aquamarine, and she nodded.

We went over the second saddle that was on the floor. I started putting it on Aquamarine.

“Did you both hear what I said to Shandon and Cecilia?”

“Yes master.” “Yes, my lord.”

“Ok then, be safe. Remember that I value you both a lot.”

It was fun, I saw a blue dragon and a purple demoness getting embarrassed at the same time. This was actually cute.

I go back closer to the tree line. Aquamarine runs and takes off with Siratra.

I enjoyed watching them. Not only Cecilia and Siratra, but Aquamarine and Shandon seemed to be having a lot of fun. Opal came closer. She also had her dragon form. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

“Sometimes I forget how beautiful you girls are in this form as well. We should do this more often.”

It was a cute moment seen the ever-stern Opal blush. Ruby was laying on the beach. Apparently the flight the other four were doing was boring. I told her to fly if she wanted, but she said that it was not the type of thing that she likes doing alone.

I sat by the shade of a tree, and Opal laid down on the sand, placing her head close to me, in a way that I could touch her. It was funny to see a head as big as a room wanting pats.

After sometime, the four came back. Siratra had no words to describe it. She just stood silent, kind of enjoying the sensation of what she just had. Cecilia couldn’t stop talking about it.

“… And it’s like nothing… BY THE GODS! FUCK!”

“What Cecs?”

“WHO AM I GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL? I WANT TO BRAG!!!”

I laughed. Once I was done, I reminded her.

“You can always tell Leopold. He is in on the secret thing, anyway.”

“RIGHT! UHUUUU! THANKSTHANKSTHANKS.”

She kissed me, and gesture to Shandon. Shandon lowered her head, out of curiosity, and Cecilia kissed the muzzle.

It was afternoon so we portaled back to Frolk, and went for a bath. On the way, I turned to Cecilia.

“Are you going to use the Comm Gem to talk to Leopold?”

“Heck no!”

“Why?”

“I have to see his face when I tell this…” And she made this evil conspiring face.

I laughed, and we went to the bathhouse.

The steam curled around us, thick and heavy with the scent of oils and arousal. The bathhouse was my sanctuary, and tonight, it would bear witness to my mates’ worship. Shandon’s golden eyes gleamed as she traced her claws down my chest, her human form trembling with barely contained need. "My lord," she purred, "shall we begin?"

Behind her, Aquamarine bit her lip, her usual shyness melting as she dipped her fingers between her own thighs, teasing herself while watching me. Opal, ever regal, arched a brow as she slicked her hair back, her voice dripping with faux detachment—though her nipples betrayed her. "A dragon’s pride is nothing compared to service," she mused, but the way her hips rolled told me she was already imagining my cock.

Ruby, of course, wasted no time. She knelt between my legs, her fiery hair swirling in the water as she took me into her mouth with a moan. "Fuck, my lord," she gasped between slurps, "you taste like power."

Cecilia, the lone human among them, pressed her tits against my back, her breath hitching as she whispered, "Please… let me try." Her fingers trembled as she guided me to her virgin ass. I didn’t hesitate. With a growl, I thrust into her tightness, her whimpers muffled by Opal’s kiss. "Hurt for me, little mate," I commanded, and she obeyed, her submission bleeding into the water as she clenched around me.

When Cecilia yielded her turn to Shandon, the dragoness smirked, sliding into my lap with a practiced grind. "We have been having lessons," she taunted, rolling her hips to take me deeper. "Shall we show our demon how it’s done?"

Siratra, bound in silken chains, watched with wide eyes. "Master," she begged, "teach me." Aquamarine, suddenly bold, cupped the demoness’s chin. "Lick him like this," she demonstrated, her tongue swirling around my tip with obscene precision. "Make him own your throat."

The bathwater churned as Ruby took me again, her enthusiasm bordering on feral, while Opal’s dignified facade shattered with every thrust. Aquamarine, the shyest yet filthiest, surprised us all by sinking beneath the water, her mouth sealing around my shaft as her fingers plunged into Siratra’s cunt.

Cecilia, still aching from her anal initiation, watched me with dazed reverence—realizing, perhaps, that the throne of any kingdom was mine to claim. But here, in this moment, I ruled them.

And they screamed their devotion until the water ran cold.

After the bath, there was the guild’s supper, and then our supper.

I slept like a rock.

Next day, after breakfast, Cecilia was pestering me to visit Leopold.

Once we all enter Leopold’s office, and I shake his hand, Muninn looks at our handshake, stares at Leopold, and opens his third eye. Leopold lets my hand go.

“Your crow is kind of creeping me out right now.”

Muninn looked up, and I can swear it was laughing.

“You have no idea. He did that to guard in the demons castle. And then pretended he was going to attack. He is kind of becoming an asshole. I will have a talk with him later.”

“What happened to the guard?”

Cecilia answered, amid laughs.

“He just passed out! Right out cold!”

Leopold giggled.

“I am pretty sure your crow is… laughing?”

I shrugged. I pet him on the chest.

“Who is my little asshole? Huh? Who is it?”

Muninn cawed.

We sat on the sofas.

“Are you going to introduce the new girl in your entourage?”

“Sure, this is Siratra.”

“Nice to meet you, Siratra.”

“Nice to meet you too, mister Leopold.”

“So, where did you find her? Is she from Frolk? Or Orora?”

“Huh… Farther. Way farther. Don’t worry much about that.”

“Ok. So… Is this a social visit, or is there something you need?”

“Social. If you are too busy, we can come back at another time, actually.”

“Don’t worry about that. My work here in the guild got a lot lighter, actually. Perks of being the one in touch with you. You know, your asshole crow really caused with the upper echelon. Specially since I confirmed them that he started as a normal crow.

“Their sentiment towards you changed. From something like, ‘let’s try to keep him close so we can watch and potentially use him’, to ‘Heh, let’s just try to avoid the sneeze’.”

He laughed.

“So, what are the latest? Let me know if it is something that I can pass the upper echelon or not. Whatever I can give them, I will. But nothing that could hurt you.”

“Nothing secret this time around. Remember the whole saddle thing?”

Leopold was trying to remember. Cecilia pulled my shirt.

“Let me, let me, let me.”

“Sure.”

Leopold had a flash, and remembered the ‘joke’ we had traded.

“No, you didn’t.”

Cecilia had this franctic smile on her face, leaning forward.

“Yes we did.”

Leopold looked at her, and then his eyes bulged.

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did!”

Leopold looked at Shandon, and she sighed and nodded.

“Gods… How was it?”

“Do you know how some GrandMaster wind mages fly, and how they describe it?”

“Yes…?”

“Not even close! Remember, those are all old mongrels, that when reach that point, are just about to die! The air on your face, reaching the clouds… Being able to fly just above water, follow a herd of plated rhinos, seeing everything from above. FROM A FUCKING DRAGON!”

Leopold was looking like a dog watching this barbecue party, almost salivating. She sat back down, and relaxed a little, and had a sip of fruity wine that Leopold had offered. Then she kissed Shandon on the cheek. Shandon appreciated it, by the looks.

Leopold was still staring. I could see he could imagine what that was like.

“It must have been a hell of an experience.”

“Yup, totally worth my turn.”

I looked at Shandon, she blushed. Leopold was too into the imagery to ask what turn she was referring to.

The silence stayed on for a long time, while the energy of that talk remained on the air.

Leopold grabbed his glass of drink, and looked at it. He made circle movements.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

He then brought the glass to his mouth.

“Are you kidding? Can you imagine the torture of doing this, AND NOT BEING ABLE TO TELL ANYONE?”

And now there is liquor all over the table. Leopold first blew the liquid out, then choked on it, then started coughing and laughing. Cecilia lowered her head, and she was putting her two index fingers together.

“Marcelo told me that I could tell that to you, so…”

Now Leopold and myself were laughing our hearts out. Cecilia pouted. Siratra giggled a little, with her hand covering her mouth. The dragons did not really catch what was funny about this. Shandon just sipped her glass.

It took some time for us to calm down. While that happened, my mind drifted towards the dwarves a little bit. I had already seen the dwarf that worked here, in the dismantling section of the guild. I was curious on seeing their metalsmithing, and perhaps getting a nicer blade for my girls and I.

“Leopold, what do you know about the dwarves capital?”

“Not much, actually. We know that they have some merchant points outside one cave, and there must be a city there, because we have a branch in it. At that point, it is possible to buy mithril weapons if they like you. Or sell produces and some garbage rocks, innura and dendrif. Several nobles spend a lot of time and offer a lot of money, but they don’t really care, they just sell to whomever they want. Funny enough, they are not against selling some to the military, but it has to be some national military.

“They are the main weapons and armors providers for the Empire, and you know how much stronger the Empire military is. They were the ones actually able to dismantle the dragons you sold; no one else had the blades for it.”

“Do they have cities?”

“They do, and we have some guild branches in them, but we don’t have much information about them. We do know that there is a challenge that visitors are supposed to go through before being able to visit a city. No one ever passed the test. Dwarves, of course, don’t have to go through the challenge, but everyone else has to. And the test means betting your life.

“There were attempts in spying on them, on people trying to enter a city with stealth. Those were never heard of again. This is strange, considering that dwarves are, as an average, bad with magic. That may be the reason why they got so good at smithing. They are strong, and their smithing, on metal, is second to none.

“Hey, if you visit them, you might just become the first non-dwarf there!”

I laughed a little.

“But surely, people have already tried torturing them, right?”

“Yes, but what we could kind of estimate is that once they leave their cities, they forget how they are. Either that, or every single one of them is really good in faking it, human kind has been trying to learn dwarves secrets for millenia.”

“What about the other races?”

“The races recognized as humanoids are the ones we have already talked about, plus demons, elves, orcs and beast kin. I am saying best kin, but this is more of a category than one race on itself.

“The elves are long lived, they have pointy ears, they are slenders, they tend to be prone to magic. They are, on average, really beautiful. Some of them as beautiful as your girls, but they have more common sense. They are aware how good they look.

“Their cities are inside forests, where they build their house by coordinating tree growth. They have a lot of aptitude towards vegetal druidic magic. They don’t look like the ones that you have seen here in the guild at all.”

“Do they eat meat?”

“They don’t, actually. They say that eating a carcass is just barbaric. They eat mostly leaves and fruits. I have heard somewhere that their bodies is actually adapted to that, and that a human would not be able to live on the diet they follow.

“Then we have the beast kin. They look like a humanized beast, and saying that this is a race is just a way to shorten the explanation. There are all kinds of beast kin. Cross breading, or breading with humans, does not work, though. They can only reproduce if the couple mating is of same race.

“There are beast kin that resemble wolves, foxes, cattle, sheep, lions, and even some aviary types, like crows and eagles. Their society is really weird. They also live in the forest, but humans in general do not have much interest in them in particular. They did not advance too much technologically. They import blades and export mercenaries.

“And finally we have orcs. They are strong, and green with tusks on their lower jaw. They don’t really get along with other races, they tend to get discriminated against.

“The Holy Kingdom has a tendency to see all those non-human humanoids as an offense to their god of purity, but, due to the war raging against the demons, they just cannot afford not enlisting these races, so they turn a blind eye. The Empire is more pragmatic about them, there is a lot less discrimination in the Empire. You do your job, you’re good. And you already have a feeling on how the kingdom works.

“There are some smaller human kingdoms, almost like they are kind of specialized. Some of them have some skirmishes, but they are under mandate to not have its borders’ changed, under humanoid alliance. Humans are the larger population by far, but in terms of military might, not much. Elves have higher magical power, beast kin have some specialized bodies that can give them a benefit, while orcs and dwarves are stronger. Humans are better averaging all the abilities.

“Sorry for the long rant, but since you’re a hero, I am assuming you might not know about this world as much as a normal person.”

“Thank you, actually. You were on point. Are there guild branches on all of those?”

“Yes, but the guild branches end up with a tad of peculiarity from each place it is in. It is unavoidable. Orora has a good government, not corrupt as far as I know. I earned my place here. I refused a lot of bribes, I do my work.

“You saw how the kingdom’s capital guild branch was. The Holy Kingdom’s ideal of human supremacy kind of seeps into their guild, no matter how much effort is done. The dwarves’ guild branch is very secretive to what happens in there. They do report the money spent, but they don’t inform the upper echelon as much as I do. The same with the other races’.”

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“I would be obliged. And when I say that, I mean, obliged by the upper echelon.”

And we laughed.

In my head, though, things were not so simple. I had no idea, right now, who was a real friend. I had no idea how much my relationship with the girls, Leopold, Rajesh, was just a political thing on their side, or whether there was a genuine friendship there. The only one that helped me when I had nothing to offer was Andrew, actually. Plus, I have always been bad at detecting this kind of things. Apparently, the brain I had for math was the brain I missed for these kinds of things.

I think Cecilia likes me. I think the dragonesses like me. I think Siratra likes me. But how much is it me? How much is what I can offer, or how much I can take away if I want to? I am going to stop thinking about this, it is not going to help. They are making me happy, let me try to make them happy.

“Where would we for tourism? Places to visit, sights to see?”

“Well, that’s a weird question. Have you seen any adventurer around you that can just stop working and go visit places? Many places will take you a month worth of travel, and without work, this is a bad deal. Typically, only nobles have vacation homes. But all the homes for a noble are vacation homes, I guess. But, back to your question, nobles generally have additional homes that they maintain, and then they just travel to those places.

“Some cities have restaurants or nice inns, but those are mostly capitals with a lot of nobles. Most chefs and high quality entertainment are linked to high ranking nobles or the king/emperor/pope themselves.”

“I am going to mark those bigger cities on a map, with their attractions, and you can go there if you wish. I will make sure to include whether they have a guild branch or not. That way you can have some local support if you bump into any trouble, you don’t have to turn the city into ashes. Give me a day, I will have that ready by tomorrow.

“Thanks.”

We chit-chatted a little more, and when we noticed, the day was almost over. We went home, and retired for the day.