The Quantum Wanderer

The dinner is spicy, but I can feel that some of it is being tuned down by the talismans we are wearing. Ruby and Aquamarine don’t seem to mind the pepper taste. Although it is not a dragon’s meat meal, it is pretty good. I just don’t care too much about Austri, so the supposed tension doesn’t really affect me.

After dinner, we go to a separate room. Again, it is adorned with statues coming out from the walls. There is a table that has several glasses, with several bottles of different shapes on the sides. Some groups of people are forming.

There is a group of dwarves around Austri. The girls and I stay together, and we are approached by a group of dwarves with white beards. I am assuming that they are older, but I remember that I have been wrong on some assumptions.

“Good evening, master Marcelo.”

“Good evening.”

“I have heard from Brokkr that there is a new master forger in town!”

I giggled.

“Not really. I do know a trick or two, but Brokks blades are as close to perfection as possible. Of course, I am talking about the real ones… And the designs on the handles and scabbard of the fake ones was beautiful.”

“Do you perhaps have an eye for blades?”

“Well, something like that. There are some things that can be seen if you look close enough.” Like, microscopic closer, I think to myself.

“Yes, yes. Can I get your opinion on something?”

“Sure.”

He takes out the sword from his waist, and hands it to me.

“What do you think of this sword?”

I take a look at it. By looking closely, I can see the blade is made of adamantite, but there is something wrong with it. The edges has a very tiny groove on it. The weight is also different than the one I would have expected, after handling the katana in Brokkr’s shop. The center of gravity is off. The structure of the metal is also not as smooth. It is sharp, but not Brokkr’s sharp.

Next I take a look at the handle. There are some small tiny gems in it. Looking closer, I can see that the shape is not reflecting light back completely, some of it is being lost. The cut is not respecting the refraction angle completely. It was as if the cut was sacrificed for something else.

At this point, Dávrin is getting close to us. He is passing his hand through his beard.

“It is an adamantite sword.” And I hand the blade back. The elder that had handed me the blade is smiling, but then Dávrin approaches.

“But…?”

“Oh, hi, your majesty.”

“Please continue with what you were going to say…?”

“I looks like all the adamantite is on the outside. It looks like there are two adamantite layers, with something else on the inside. Of course, I can’t prove it to you unless I destroy the sword.”

“That… Can’t be…” I see the smug face from the elder dismounting. “Please, can you prove that?”

He hands me the sword back. Besides my neutron crystal’s micro scales, I put on my stone skin, and enhance my muscles. The dwarves, sensing the spike in mana, turn to me. I can see some guards going stiff.

I go to a corner of the room, so that I don’t risk some shrapnel hitting someone. I put the blade against my knee, and force it, holding by the handle and the tip. It breaks, but it does a loud sound.

I pick the two pieces, and I take back to the elder. He examines the piece that has the handle on it. There is an outside layer of adamantite, and the core of it is made of iron. He starts getting red.

“I AM GOING TO HAVE HIS FUCKING HEAD!!!”

Dávrin starts laughing, and some of the present people laugh with him. The elder leaves the room, with the two pieces of the sword. I thought the whole thing was a bit funny, but not that much.

Dávrin gets closer.

“He spent a lot of coin to have that sword made. It had become a household treasure. It was done by his son, a former student of Brokkr’s, that was being heralded as the next generation’s forge genius.”

I stand corrected. It is that funny.

“Apparently you place a lot of importance on the blade.”

“Of course. What else is strength measured by? Even if you are strong, a brittle blade will make you weak. And only with a strong blade may a weaker dwarf take down a stronger foe. Beside, all of this is built with that thought in mind.”

“I am guessing here, but also steam power…?”

“Oh? Who told you that?”

“I didn’t anything moving the elevators or the cable cars. I am assuming that it would be either that or some animals doing it. But you don’t have all that many beasts dwelling down here, so…”

“Amazing! And where did you hear about steam energy?”

“Your majesty! Please!” One of the elder dwarves said.

“He already knows about it! How many people around do you think are capable of passing the trial? Probably the same kind of person that would tell the demons how to use steam to separate water from salt, using heat…”

“Oh, so you know.” I pondered.

“We are reclusive, not blind…”

I giggle a little.

“So tell me, what did you think of Davina?”

“Davina?”

“Yes, your guide.”

“She seems to be a nice person…? We only talked a bit. I think I offended her, human women do not grow beards.”

“I know.” He looks around at the girls. “No offense, ladies, I am just talking about my tastes, but a woman without a beard is like a… child…”

I laugh at the clash of cultures. He continues.

“She told me about it. And also about how you almost broke Brokkr. Actually, I think that the shock broke him back into working condition, if that makes any sense.

“But moving on to other subjects, did you enjoy your room? I had some of my personnel putting it together.”

“I did, it was amazing. I don’t know if this is something particular to dwarves, but your artisanship is amazing. The details, the care…” At this point, I remember the sword incident, “At least, for the most part. I am really excited with the handles and sheaths that Brokkr is designing.”

“I am sure you are going to be happy with it. I take it that you are going to be around while he finishes your product?”

“I forgot to ask him how long he would take. I intend on visiting the hot springs, of course, and then I don’t know. It is going to depend. The girls are on vacation from knight school and magic school actually, so I almost have a time limit?”

“Who did you get the hot spring suggestion from? Our Davina or someone else?”

“I got it from the guild master.”

“Oh, ok. Did she tell you to go to the ones near the Big Lift?”

“I think so.”

“Well, they may be a little crowded. I have a couple of them here in the castle as well, if you wish for a more secluded experience. Davina is going to be close to you for your stay, that way you can ask her for these kinds of things.”

“Is she a close employee?”

He giggled. “As close as possible. She is my daughter.”

We both turn to look at the girl, and he mutters.

“My little lump of ore is so beautiful, she has her mother's beard…”

“Yup, she is going to make several dwarves very unhappy.” I giggled.

“What do you mean?”

“That she is so beautiful that she is going to make several dwarves fall in love with her, and then break their hearts…”

“Unhappy!!! I like that. HAHAHA…” He slaps me in the back. Davina looks at us, and lowers her head. It looks like she is embarassed. I don't know why, but this dynamic reminds me of my parents, I miss them a little a bit.

Aquamarine approaches. “Is everything alright, my lord?”

“Huh? Yes it is.”

I pass my arm around her waist, and hold her close. She immediately turns red.

“Your wives are exceptionally beautiful for unbearded women, Marcelo.”

“I know, right? Sometimes I wonder if I say that enough.”

Aquamarine lowers her head.

“I dn mn hrn …”

I hold her chin with my flexed index finger, so that I can look her in the eyes.

“What did you say?”

“I don't mind hearing it, my lord.”

“You girls are beautiful. I love you all.”

“Aham.”

I look to the side, and see the queen by our side.

“You are going to be the end of my marriage, Marcelo.”

We both laugh. The queen covers her face with a fan and looks daggers over it towards the king. He grabs her other hand, and drags her away.

While I am telling the girls about Davina being the king's daughter, some other elder approaches.

“Good evening, sir. Ladies,”

“Good evening.”

“I am the kingdom's anvil. My name is Andvari.”

“I am Marcelo. I am sorry, but what is a kingdom's anvil?”

“The king has two main advisors. One is the military advisor, that would be the kingdom's hammer, and one civil advisor, that would be me.”

“Nice to meet you. I am actually so curious about you guys…”

“I could say the same thing. Who would have thought that there still was someone alive that could make Brokkr excited. I don't know what is more fantastic, that or the trial…”

We both gave a heartfelt laughter.

“How did you do it?”

“Well, part of it is just paying attention to the blades, more than the handle and sheath of the swords.”

“And the other parts?”

“Hum… That one I have to keep a little secret…”

“Well, I envy you. He is the last Great Smith. I don't know why, but he hasn’t taught anyone else his techniques.”

“What a pity. His blades are exquisite. They are straightforward, but the quality and the mana veins in it…”

“Mana veins?”

“Well, I don't know the official name, but his blades have tiny small constructs that can be used to channel mana through them. Too small for normal eyes to catch.”

“I… See…”

“So tell me, I saw that you guys don't mine mithril or adamantite. Why don't you do the same to food and fibers as well?”

“That's simple… We want to keep our independence. If we start to rely on outside food, at some point we are only going to have outside food. And then we will have to surrender to pesky humans. No offense.”

“None taken. I don't consider myself in the group. Not in a way that I would feel the need to defend against other forces.”

“So, to what group do you belong?”

“This.” And I gesture towards the girls. “Of course, there are more people I care about, but in a different level.”

“I see that four of your wives don't quite feel human. Somehow, they have a pressure around them. As if I should be afraid to be around them. What race are they?”

“Would it be a breach of protocol to not answer this? There is already a lot of gossip going around. But don't worry, Dávrin knows.”

“I appreciate that. On another matter, how is your stay with us coming along?”

“It is great so far, Davina has been an excellent guide.”

“Davina? Davina is guiding you around?”

“Yes? Should there be any issue with that?”

“No, it's… Nevermind. I just never imagined that she would actually obey her father on anything.”

I shrugged.

…

“If I may, please ask her to see our fields as well. That is something I am very proud of.”

“I will, thank you for the tip.”

I look around us, and there is a small group of elders. I hear a bell, and they turn their heads to the window. A couple more bells sound.

“Well, it is getting late. I have to put these old bones to rest.”

The group start going away, and Davina guides us again to our room. She points to my door, and enter a room nearby.

“I will be staying in this room. If you need anything, knock. There is also a bell close to your bed. If you shake it, a maid will come. Oh, that bell will only make a sound in the kitchen, so you will not hear it. You don't have to shake it too hard.”

“Thank you. Noted.”

We get into our bedroom, chat a little bit, and end up sleeping.

The next morning, we wake up, and dress ourselves ccasually. I think of having breakfast at home. I ask the girls, and they say that although it is a little worse than ours, having breakfast here would be fine. Even them are a little tired of dragon meat all the time. I shake the bell. I prefer this than knocking on the princess' room. A couple of minutes later, I hear a knock on the door. I open it up, and a maid wearing pants appear.

“Did you call, lord?”

“Yes. Where can we have breakfast?”

“If you follow me, lord, to the dining room?”

“Thank you. One question, my wives are very, very good eaters. Should I provide you with some meat?”

“Don't worry, lord, we are prepared to provide as much food as your wives can eat.”

I shrug. I don't think she knows just how large my girls' stomach is.

We are taken to a cozier dining table, this time with a table that sits around 12 people. We sit around it, and we are talking about the installations and the night of sleep. It was surprisingly cozy, in spite of the higher temperatures. These pendants are really nice. I wonder if there is a limit for time of usage.

We start eating. As expected, we all finish the first serving. I look at the corner, and there is a pants dressed maid there. I put my finger up, apparently this sign is truly universal, even among universes and races, and she comes close.

I stand up, and meet her half way, so that I don't have to talk in front of the girls.

“Hi, the food is absolutely delicious, but we are going to need a lot more. Think that each of the girls that have the pointy ear eat for twenty people. I am not exagerating. They eay 10 pounds of steak in a meal.”

“Ok! Let me take that to the kitchen.”

The girl put her arm up, as if flexing the biceps, and slapped it. She is now considering it a challenge, apparently. She goes into the kitchen, and I go back to my seat. As I am arriving there, I see Dávrin entering the room. He is also dressed casually. Cecilia motions to stand up, but he just gestures her not to.

“Good morning, Marcelo.”

“Good morning, your majesty.”

“Oh, please, let's just forget this thing of titles. Otherwise, should I behave like the demons, and kowtow as well?”

“Did you already know about that as well?”

“It's not like it is a secret. We are not at war with them, we sell weapons to whomever need them.”

“Wouldn't one side complain of you selling to the other?”

“I have heard some stories from my merchants, but it’s not like they can do anything about it."

“What are you going to do once the war is over?”

“Well, the first thing to understand is that there is always going to be something. If not a war, monsters are abundant. Adventurers. And our artisans are not limited to weapons. We keep independence, that's why we avoid buying food from the outside.”

“So I heard.”

“So, what are your plans for today?”

“I was thinking of going to one of the hot springs suggested by the guild master. I am going to enjoy the one in the castle another day. I like to have all the experiences, and we are going to have time, anyway.”

Davina enters the room, and also sits down to eat. The food start coming from the kitchen. Plates and plates and plates, because of my ask.

Dávrin looks at this display with a weird face, and so does Davina.

“I am sorry, I asked for more food for my girls. They. Eat.”

Dávrin make a face that he understood, while Davina still has her eyebrow up.

“Each ore a different shape, I guess.”

The girls and the Dávrin and his immediate family reach out for the food. I wonder why nobody realized this in the feast on the night before, but being a feast, people probably didn’t pay attention. And I am pretty sure that magic bags were created modeling after one of my girls’ stomach.

Between one dish and another, Dávrin turns to his daughter.

“Davina, they are going to one of the adventurer’s hot spring today. Don’t you want to join?”

“Not really.”

“Didn’t you want to be an adventurer? Explore the world above, travel and live with the people? How are you going to accomplish that if you refuse to live with them here, the safe place to do that?”

“Daaad! You don’t have to talk like that in front of the guests!”

“Really? Adventurer?”

“Yes, I was thinking about that. You are mithril level, right? I dream of one day getting there. But I still have to improve on my levels. How long did it take you to reach that?”

Dávrin is giggling, and his wife slaps his shoulder.

“My case is… weird. I don’t think I am really a good comparison.”

“Davina, how hard do you think it would be pass the trial?”

“Hard, but they made it, right?”

“Davina, when I was young, I had the same dream as you. Of being an adventurer, of seeing a whole new world out there. My father told me that he would allow that, as long as I showed him that I was able to do it on my own.

“I saved all my money, and worked the forges with uncle, as young lad, so that he would make me a halberd, strong enough. He promised that if I gave him 20 years on the forge, he would make me an enchanted adamantite halberd.”

“Did he?”

“Yes, he did. It is above the throne.”

“Oh. Did you do it?”

“Do you mean ‘did I try it?’ Yes, I tried.”

She excited with the story, I can understand that. And then the next question.

“And did you make it?”

He looked at her, like she were helpless. His wife actually answered.

“Dear, if he had you would have known. Right now we don’t even know how to reset that thing. We don’t even know if it is possible to reset that thing.”

“Oh!”

I laughed a little.

“Sir Marcelo, can I enlighten my daughter?”

I think a little bit, and while I try to keep things low profile, I can understand a father trying to show his daughter how the world works.

“Sure.”

“Sir Marcelo here is not a mithril adventurer.”

“No? He has the tag.”

“Only because after you get a higher tag, you get to keep the older ones.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. She looks at her father, and then at me.

“OHGODS OHGODS OHGODS! Can I see it? Pleease?”

I reach in my holding bag, and pull out the adamantite tag. She is inspecting it, trying to flex it, passing her fingers over the design with magical runes.

“It is beautiful! How did you get it? I have never seen a tag like this.”

Dávrin looks at me, and says nothing, but drops his head. He knows, and I don’t care too much at this point, so I grab the enchanted adamantite tag in the bag, and throw it over, so it lands close to Davina.

She looks at it, and initially both of them appear the same. She drops her head to the side, and picks the second tag up.

“NOOO… “

Dávrin is the one to answer, imitating her tone.

“YEEESSS…”

She looks at him, and makes a face.

“Marcelo is an enchanted adamantite adventurer. If I had to guess, it was that first… “ He looks at the dragonesses “big sale you did to the guild, right?”

I understand his worry.

“Don’t worry about mentioning that. Their culture is different, there is no issue with saying it out loud. We actually eat dragon steak a lot. The girls eat it too.”

“Isn’t that… taboo for the them?”

Shandon stops eating, just to answer that.

“No. What would we do with it? Dragon meat is tasty like no other.”

I can see that Davina’s mind is all over the place with this conversation.

“Dragon meat? Why would it be taboo for them? It’s not… like… they are… dragons…?”

She looked at the amount of food on the table, less than half of what was there when we started the conversation.

“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME!”

I just burst out laughing, tea came out of my nose. Opal made a face, and shook her head. Shandon ignored. Ruby is the one that answered. She sighs before answering though, as if it was too much work.

“First, our lord here asked us not to. You would be amazed at the amount of restrain we have been having. Even when challenged to a fight, we left the puny human alive. And believe me, that is *hard*.

“Second, if we were hungry, we could just leave the cave and hunt something. Let’s just assume for a moment that our lord were not here with us. We could just fly some 15 minutes and grab a Fenrir.”

“And that if we were alone. Our lord here has enough meat for perhaps a couple of centuries. Humanoids taste really bad. No offense.”

“None… taken…”

At this point, Dávrin was laughing with me and Cecilia, that had joined. Dávrin’s wife has lowered her head.

“Are they adventurers as well?” Davina asks me, gesturing towards the girls.

“Yes. They actually did a big quest already, that’s how they got their mithril tag without an exam.”

“Really? What was the quest?”

“They cleaned up a nest of termites in… How long did it take? Do you remember?”

Cecilia answered.

“I think it took them some 4 hours to do that?”

“Four hours? How many termites?”

“I don’t remember, for certain… Somewhere around 8000? It happened on an innura mine, actually.”

“EIGHT THOUSAND? IN FOUR HOURS?” Davina didn’t realize, but she was standing up at this point.

Ruby was the one that answered the question.

“I know right? The whole ‘you have to deliver them whole to get the money, Ruby’, ‘put them in the bag, Ruby’… Yup, not proud of the time, but it is what it is. But then it made lord proud, so I am happy. It’s a pity I lost the game.”

I give Ruby a smile, and send her a kiss. She turns red and behaves like Aquamarine. I love these girls.

Davina fell on her chair, and now Dávrin was made a face of curiosity.

“What game?”

“The one that made more money with the kills would get a favor granted.”

“Who won?”

Ruby gestured with her chin towards Opal.

“Opal. I have to admit, she was smart.”

“And what did she win?”

“The flight parade.”

“The flight parade? Oh. OOOOHHHH. You mean to say that that flight of thousands of dragons happened because you ASKED?” He looked at me. “HOW?”

“Our lord is council dragon. When a dragon gets a seat in the council, it is normal to have a flight parade. He didn’t know about it, so I asked for the parade.”

“BUT… HA… HA… Does a council dragon fly with ALL the dragons?”

“Oh, no! Of course not. Only the ones in his clans. Only the ones he commands.” Opal says with a lot of pride in her voice.

Next thing I know the dragonesses are the only ones eating. I was satisfied already, so was Cecilia. And I think that the dwarves might have lost their hunger a little. Well, they can eat later.

After a little more time, the food is gone, into by beautiful girls’ almost bottomless belies. The dwarves just stand there, gawking in the distance.

“Excuse me. Oh, before I forget, I would appreciate if we could keep these things among ourselves, I want to try to have a common experience around.” I say, and stand up. Dávrin is still gawking, but looks at me and nods very slowly. We go back to our room, to put some shoes, and we start going towards our hot spring.