The Quantum Wanderer

I hear Dávrin’s voice through the Comm Gem.

“Good morning, friend. How are you?”

“Good morning, Dávrin. I am ok. How are you?”

“Oh, I am fine. Did you encounter any trouble yesterday? Is there something I could help with?”

“No, don’t worry about it. I was out hunting.”

…

…

“I would normally ask what the game was, but I don’t know if it is something you can tell me, or if it is something I can hear.”

“Don’t worry about it. I hope to invite you soon to have dinner at my place, then you can have a taste.”

“This call is very timely, then! I heard from the team that they are done. I told them to stay put and wait for you.”

“Thank you. We are going to get back then. I assume your team wants to get back home as soon as possible.”

“Some of them do. Others are really appreciating surface foods and drinks.” He laughs a little.

“That’s good to hear! Thank you for the help with the workers’ apartments.”

“No problem. Ring me if you wish. Thank you. Bye.”

“Bye.”

The girls are around. We all nod to each other. They have already enjoyed a lot of beach, and we are all anxious for our own bed, our own room. I turn to them.

“Let’s get our stuff. We can say our goodbye to Akiko and Hikari, and then we can get back home.”

We all go upstairs and collect our stuff. I don’t know what the protocol is for this case, in terms of locking it up. I lock the place on the inside; Hikari can enter from the second floor or something. I put Muninn and Huginn on my shoulders. They are not moving a lot. I feed them a piece of dragon meat; they should eat something.

I portal us to the forest near Shoria, and we go over to Akiko to say goodbye. We learn that Hikari is with Julian. After being made the baron, he decided to move on with the marriage. I mention to Akiko that the brother probably only got a slap on the wrist, if he did get the slap. She shows some concern on her face but shrugs it off. There is not much she can do.

We go over to the baron’s mansion, and we ask in the gate to talk to Hikari. They ask us if we have an appointment, and then get denied when we say that we don’t. I shrug, and we go back to the forest so that we can go home.

I portal us to the forest outside Ironhold, I have to at least fake it a little bit. We go to our home. Once we get there, the guards receive us effusively. They tell me that one of them went inside, and the dwarves were working in the home saw him. He grabbed the spear, and sharpened it. He said that he tried to cover it with cloth for the night, but the cloth got cut by the blade.

The other mentioned that they have gone out some times drinking with the dwarves. We laugh a little, and the go to the house. The pathway looks a little different, it is a slick stone one. On each side, right after the stone, there is a strip of crystal. The whole thing is so slick that it could have been done from a single rock. The crystal strip and the stone pathway merge so well that it is impossible to say, by passing a finger, where one ends and the other starts. There is also a pathway around the house, close to the fence. It goes around the garden, and then close to the fence, up to the guard house and the gate.

We get close to the door. The front of the house was only similar. The windows, door, pillars were all on the same place, but they were all changed. They were all intrinsically sculped now. The dragon motifs were all around, everything was now a work of art.

I open the door, and enter the house. My jaw drops. The house doubled in size. The stair handles are magnificent. It uses some sort of smooth and comfortable metal, just like my katana’s handle. The thing has scales designed all over, and it finishes with a dragon’s head. The horns on it are soft, so they don’t hurt.

The house would generally end at the wall after the stairs, but now there is another whole area there. The two areas are separated by the map etched in glass, that is now suspended by an intricate support with a dragon motif. The support has a light crystal, that gets to shine through the glass, enhancing it’s beauty in display.

I get to the living room, and they did the same light effect with Opal’s statue. It now has a light crystal behind it, it makes the dragon shine, and it makes the red point in it much more distinctive. The furniture, everything is changed. It is a complete new home.

I go to the kitchen, it now has the appearance of an industrial one. The ventilation was improved, the lighting. It is not as elaborate as the the other parts of the house, but it is much more functional. Everything here is designed to last. The walls are lined with exquisite kitchen utensils, all of the them incredibly sharp.

I go out in the back, and I meet the dwarves, and I have additional shock. Besides the living quarters for the people working in the house, there is a kid’s park between the house and the apartment complex. It has a swing and a slider, sand on the ground, and some other big toys. Even a spinning wheel.

The apartment complex is less elaborate than the house, but still fantastic from the outside.

I look at the dwarves. When they saw us, they stood in the formation.

“Good afternoon.”

Varr stands in front of them.

“Good afternoon, master Marcelo.”

“I don’t see the workers here. Have you guys been fed?”

“Yes, they were relocated for a short while, and they come here to deliver the food. It lacks a kick, your pepper is way too soft. Not worth a hair of beard. But the steaks are something else.”

“Ok. I got worried for a second… I am thinking of having a last meal cooked for you guys before you go. We could perhaps get some ale…?”

At that point, Rudolph is coming up.

“Lord! Welcome back! I am so sorry for not being here!”

“No problem. Where is everyone else? I want them to check out their units.”

Rudolph leaves. I turn back to Varr.

“You’re in for some delicious steak, Varr. But an advice, try restraint. I do have enough for a lot of people, but eating too much will give you a hangover.”

“A steak that gives a hangover? Bah! There is not such thing. I will be delighted to taste it.”

“As you wish.”

Some short time later, people start arriving. Rudolph is leading them. I turn to him.

“Rudolph, have everyone check out their units.”

“Of course, lord.” He looks at the little park. “Lord, what are those things?”

“They are children’s toys.”

I get on one of the swings, and I start going forward and backwards. The few children that are there are wide-eyed at this thing. I have to blow one back with a some wind magic to avoid an accident. I stop, and let them have some fun in the area.

The adults are taking a look at their new units. Everybody is mesmerized, and some already get the key on the door, and take possession of a unit. Rudolph is trying to pretend calm, but I can see he is shaking to go there. I move my head, and he goes.

Roberta and Rudolph reach up to Varr, and apparently they say something to him, he just points my way. They come over.

“Lord, I don’t have words! We are going to be the envy of the empire! Our quarters are the unthinkable for peasants.”

Roberta picks it up.

“I will cook the best food I can, my lord! This is… This is…”

I just giggle a little. It is not like it cost me anything, really. Just a couple of hours, and mostly Ruby’s time to tell the truth. I might as well tell them.

“Most of the work to get the dwarves here was done by Ruby, actually.”

“Oh, lady Ruby! Thankyouthankyouthankyou.”

Ruby blushes. She also doesn’t know how to work with this excess of gratitude.

“Don’t worry, it was fun!”

Rudolph was about to ask, but he decides not to. I turn to Roberta.

“Roberta, I have a new kind of meat, I would like to do a farewell dinner for our friends. I have to talk to you about a couple of details.”

I go inside with Roberta, and we to go to the cold room. It is now a lot better insulated, and the temperature inside is a lot colder. The whole interior of it was also changed, it is a lot bigger.

I see that there is still some dragon meat, and then I pull out a big slab of kraken meat. I place on the table.

“Now, this one is crazy good.”

“Is it better than the previous one, sir?”

“By leaps and bounds. *BUT*. Normal people can only consume a smaller amount. Cecilia is a high level adventurer, and she got mana hangover from this. So Cecilia’s meals should also have some dragon meat, something like half and half. The other girls and myself can eat this by itself. As for the crows, let them pick. For you guys, please go easy on it for your own sake.”

“How much of it do you have, sir? Is it something that you can get more of?”

“I have a lot. A LOT. Don’t worry about that. But I would rather that people from the outside doesn’t get to know about this. It is hard to… explain.”

“Sure, sir! Understood.”

Roberta goes to the door, and scream out.

“YOU BUNCH OF LOW LIVES! TIME TO COOK A MEAL!”

The cook assistants start to come over, they to go their area inside the house to get changed. I keep chatting with the dwarves, meanwhile.

“Varr, thank you for the renovations in the house! It is… If you mind me saying, it is something only dwarves could pull off! Everything is exquisite.”

He scratches the back of his head.

“Well, you see, master Marcelo… I am sorry, but how could live in that dump? You had exactly two things worth salvaging. The big glass thing, that we removed the sand in the back, and the glass dragon statue on the mantle. That’s where we took the dragon motif from. Everything else… I would be embarrassed to let dwarven nobility stay in such thrash!”

“I don’t think I am dwarven nobility, though.”

“What are you talking about? Do you have a blade forged by our master smith?”

“Do you mean Brokkr? Yes I do, but-“

He interrupts me.

“Are you able to talk to the king with a moment’s notice?”

“Ok, but that-“

He interrupts me again.

“Master Marcelo, you are dwarven nobility. The tallest one ever to come by. Your beard is really lacking, though.”

I laugh. He has a couple of points, and this is a day to celebrate, not to complain. He has complaints about everything. Walls. The furniture. The kitchen. The ovens. The silverware. I laugh a lot about all that. I am going to invite Dávrin for a dinner party.

The steaks start smelling. The dragonesses are in the kitchen, their better noses just hover over the smell of the kraken steaks. The smell reaches the outside, and the dwarves start to salivate. The gardener and his helper arrive with the ale they went out to buy, Rudolph had provided them some coin from the account used to keep the house.

In a very short time, there is a party going on. Of the kind only dwarves are capable of throwing. I really enjoy their carefree and direct way to interact with others. No noble bullshit, no worry about the form instead of content. It is a lot easier to deal with. Then the meat arrives.

Octopus meat is very different from surface monster meat, it has a very different consistency. The dwarves look at it intrigued, until the first one smells it. Then his face lights up, and he starts eating it as if he was starving before. Other dwarves try to ask him about the meat, but he doesn’t stop eating to answer them. More and more of the dwarves start eating the steaks. Roberta is at the door, looking at the scene.

“I didn’t know they were so crude, sir. If one was to look at this, one would think we did not bring them breakfast today, as we always did.”

I laugh.

“You are going to understand it when you taste that meat.”

“Sir, it can’t be that much better than the previous one! Everyone here was already eating like kings! Strike that! Kings don’t get to eat what we eat everyday!”

I laugh.

She goes inside, and decides to taste it. Her pleasure face startles the others. They are murmuring and pointing, as if this was an apparition. Roberta moans, with her eyes closed. She breaths harder, and then relax. After a little bit, she opens her eyes, to find the other cooks staring at her.

“What are you looking at? Are you done preparing the meal? Haven’t you ever seen a chef tasting the dish?”

I hear a voice from someone.

“Not like that, no.”

I laugh. I turn to Roberta.

“Just a very strong advice. This will put you down with mana hangover if don’t eat it sparingly. The same rules from before apply.”

She sighs.

“Of course, sir.”

The party goes on, and everyone enjoys it. The workers join the dwarves, and end up singing some noisy songs. At some point, late at night, the dwarves just start slowing down, and moving inside their tents. The girls, the crows and I also go to our room, to rest.

Next morning, we wake up and go down for breakfast. Rudolph is fighting the hangover. Everyone is, for that matter. I go to the kitchen, and everything is going slower than usual. I laugh. Roberta approaches.

“Good morning, sir. The usual?”

“Yes, Roberta, please. Also, don’t forget to add some dragon steak for Cecilia, she can’t handle eating only the… other meat.”

I see Roberta put a hand to her head, trying to fight the headache. I laugh a little bit, and she smirks. I go back to the new dining room. The crows already learned their lesson, they are also eating dragon meat with the kraken. We have breakfast and chat about how the new house. We all agree that it is indeed a new house, and way better than the previous.

After breakfast, I go outside, to check on the dwarves. The sun is already up, way up. Roberta comes over to the door, and plays a triangle, calling the dwarves for breakfast. They start coming out of the tents. If Roberta looked a little hang over, the dwarves were destroyed. They come out of the tents growling, holding their heads. Apparently they didn’t heed the advice.

“By the beard of the deeps! What did you put in that steak, woman?!?”

Roberta is just holding the triangle.

“I told you that this might happen. My lord told you, you didn’t believe it. Congratulations! Now move along, or the breakfast is going to get cold!”

They move, very slowly, and start having some food by the park. I really shouldn’t laugh at others’ suffering, but I can’t really hold it. I go back inside and tell the girls, and we all laugh. Even Muninn and Huginn.

After some time, they lift up camp, and get ready to depart. I open the portal to the square in capital, and they leave. I come back inside, and Rudolph is in the dining room.

“Lord, can I have a word?”

“Sure, Rudolph. What happened?”

“Not so much happened as I am concerned. Lord, do you realize that the units we have here are better than the personal servants to the emperor have?”

“I didn’t know that. But… What’s the problem?”

“Well, lord, if you don’t see the issue, there’s not much to say.”

“I don’t. I don’t mind if you enlighten me. Who is going to complain? I don’t think Anthon would actually spend any second of his day worrying about that.”

“What about the nobles?”

“Tell them to complain to either Anthon or me. I think both of us would spend the same amount of time with it. None.”

“As you wish, lord.”

I go inside. I sit on the chairs in the rooms, they are absolutely wonderful. I sit down and think about all that happened. I get myself thinking about how there is always something happening. Shandon gets close, and sits on the chair’s arm. I hug and kiss her. She kisses the top of my head. She keeps caressing my head, this is really nice.

The whole house is so amazing. Our room, our showers, my study. I am feeling like I have led them on by just clearing one city. Then my mind travels to recent events, the highs and lows. And then I think that an open house party would be adequate. But I probably don’t want to expose the kings to each other. Specially since we are inside the empire.

I call Rudolph. Shandon stops caressing my head, and I move it so that she continues. She giggles a little at the scene. Aquamarine sits at the other side, and starts caressing the back of my neck. Rudolph gets to my side.

“You called, lord?”

For a moment, I can’t remember why I called Rudolph. This feeling is so good, I am so relaxed. And then I remember the parties that we have to set up.

“Yes. We are going to have some open house parties.”

“Parties, lord? More than one?”

“Yes. We have one for the dwarves.”

“All of them, lord?”

“No, just Dávrin, wife, daughter, brother and sister in law. You may want to write it down.”

“Of course, lord.”

He pulls out a little notebook from an inner pocket in his uniform, and a charcoal pencil from another. He writes what I said down, and looks back at me, to let me know that I can go on.

“Then we are having Rajesh, Aisha and Rutra.”

He writes it down.

“Then we are having another one for Anthon and family, Edward and family. Should I invite the noble that invited me to his party? What was his name again?”

“Lord, if you do, you probably wouldn’t be able to serve the new meat. It would leak out, and it could have bad repercussions.”

“Nice catch. Just Anthon, Edward and families, then. The last one is going to have also another person, Leopold. I don’t know if he has family or not. I will check on it later.”

“Of course, lord. It shouldn’t make too much of a difference, though. What dates do you want these dinners? The amount of additional people is small, it would not even disrupt normal workings in the kitchen.”

“Most of them are busy people, I am going to get in touch with them. After we have the first two confirmed, we can invite Anthon and Edward.”

“Of course, lord. Let me know.”

“Sure.”

Rudolph leaves, and I give a ring on to Dávrin. After some time, he rings back, and I can hear his voice.

“Good morning, friend.”

“Good morning, Dávrin.”

“What did you give my dwarves? They could barely walk with hangover. They said that it was steak? What kind of steak can do that? Did they drink too much and got confused?”

“No, that sounds about right. It was a very tasty monster.”

“You made metal workers produce poetry to describe that thing. I wonder if I ever get to taste some.”

“Well, that’s actually the reason of the call. I was thinking of doing a quiet dinner, just you, Dyrgja, Davina, the girls and me. Here at home. When are you available?”

“To taste the piece of heavenly tongue orgasm? Today.”

We both laugh.

“I don’t know if it is all that, but what about tomorrow? That is going to give me time to procure some condiments.”

“That works, friend.”

“Don’t you have to consult the women?”

“Ha! According to what was described, it is going to be my anniversary present for the year.”

We both laugh, and after a short chat, end the call.

Next one I call is Rajesh. The same happens, but I am made to wait a little longer.

“Hello, friend!”

Apparently, every king likes to call people friend. I wonder if they all learn it in some sort of king school or something.

“Hi Rajesh, how are you?”

“I am well, very well. How are you, friend?”

“I am very well.”

“So, how can I help?”

“Actually, no need for help at the moment. I had my home kind of remodeled, and I would like to invite you, Aisha and Rutra for dinner. An open house. I wonder if you would not be too busy.”

“Of course not! When is the dinner?”

“Are you going to be too busy the day after tomorrow?”

“No, that works. Sunset?”

“Yes, sunset.”

“I am looking forward to hearing about your latest adventures, friend.”

“Sure. I the mishaps can at least entertain.”

We laugh, and chat another half a minute. After a little while, we hang up. I call Edward, and he tells me that he is going to get in touch with Anthon. Their dinner is set for 6 days from today, the day before their one day weekend.

I call Leopold, and invite him to come as well. I ask if he would to like to bring someone, but he tells me that he only has a roommate. I tell him that if the roommate can keep his mouth shut, specially if it is someone he trusts completely, he can come as well. He tells me he is going to think about it.

After that, I just put the Comm Gems away and enjoy the caressing. I am so relaxed I almost sleep. The rest of the day the girls also prepare for the next day, they are going back to school. I have a long bath in our new tub. Water coming out of a dragon’s mouth. Depending on the amount of mana you put in it, you can control the water temperature. The day ends in a calm fashion.