The Quantum Wanderer

The marriage is going to be split into two parts. There is going to be a celebration in a church by a priest of Nergal, and then there is going to be a party in the baron’s mansion.

There are, as usual, two churches in the city. One is in the nobles’ district, and another one close to the merchants’. Needless to say, peasants go to the later one, the first one is reserved for nobles, where the marriage is going to take place.

The church is already luxurious, very adorned. The altar and the statue behind it are very intricate, with a lot of details. I is very similar to the one I had seen in the cathedral’s chapel, even if in a smaller scale.

There are several chains of flowers around the seats, and a lot of different teams of guards around the doors of the church. We get in, and sit on the row previous to last. I really don’t care about mingling with most of these people.

The dragonesses are very curious about the whole thing. Shandon asks Cecilia.

“Sister, what is this?”

“This is the marriage.”

“I know what it is called. But what for? What is the validity of doing something like this? What value does it have?”

“Well, it has several different reasons, for different people. For some, it is a public display of both affection and commitment. It is a ceremony so that other people are shown that those two have decided to share their lives.

“For others, it is a show of power. In this case, the unity shows that Hikari is to be considered with the same importance as Julian, that she is now his wife, that she can speak for him.

“For some other grand sense, it is a public contract as well. If something happens to one of them, their possessions are transferred to husband or wife, instead of other relatives.

“For other people it has a religious meaning, a contract before their god, so that he can bless the union.”

The dragonesses are looking around, and nodding. I would love to say ‘a copper for your thoughts’. I giggle. Cecilia looks at me and winks. I sigh.

A choir starts singing, but it is a kind of a military music. Hikari is already at the altar, by the side of her mother. Julian enters the church, marching, a single man military parade. He gets close to Hikari, and puts his sword out, blade down. He stabs a piece of wood on the floor, sticking his sword there, and kneels.

Akiko takes her daughter’s hand and puts it on top of his, that remains on the sword. He stands up, and puts her behind him.

The priest does a long sermon about the blessings of Nergal, how it protects its people, and then some more. After several sleep inducing minutes, he turns to Julian.

“Julian von Meerwasser, baron Meerwasser, do you swear, under Nergal’s gaze, to protect and to hold Hikari Takahashi, even after death, until Nergal tells you otherwise?”

“I do.”

“Hikari Takahashi, do you swear, under Nergal’s gaze, to provide loyalty, love and heritage to baron Julian von Meerwasser, refusing all else, even after death, until Nergal tells you otherwise?”

“I do.”

“By the powers invested on me by Nergal and his holy church, I declare you now husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The choir do a crescent music, until Julian and Hikari kiss. Akiko dries a tear. Cecilia’s eyes are fixed on the scene.

After that, the couple leave the church, and walk towards the mansion. Akiko and Julian’s family is right behind them, with 4 guards around. After them a lot of well dressed people, with guards around them. We go to the mansion, for the marriage ball.

There is a large room, with a chandelier on top, with a lot of light crystals on it. There is a string quartet on a stage, accompanied by a piano, playing some danceable music. There is space to dance in front of it and a lot of tables around this space. Besides the stage, there is a long table, and the wedding presents are being placed there. A card is being added to the front of each gift, with the name of a house. I pick some pen and paper, and write ‘Marcelo, Opal, Ruby, Aquamarine, Shandon & Cecilia – may your life together florish’.

I see Akiko waving her hand at us, and we sit in her table.

“Hi Akiko, are we taking someone else’s place?”

“No, honored guest. I am very far from my original land, I don’t have a lot of people that I would invite to this around here. Please sit.”

We sit with her. I take a look at the statue that Opal created, and the light changes, according to the tones played by the music. It feels like the couple moves, without moving, like those optical illusions where you look too long for something it seems like parts are moving.

Akiko looks at the place I am staring, and takes some time, almost hypnotized as well. After some time, she breaks the spell and faces us. I can feel her uneasy that she forgot about us for some time. I distract her.

“It is absolutely hypnotic, right?”

She agrees with me.

“Definitely. Where did you get it?”

“I had it made by a genius artificer.” I smiled. “Opal made it. She has done some work with glass that is just borderline incredible. We have a piece at home that is a dragon looking up. It has a point that if you infuse mana, it spits fire!”

“I must say that I have never seen something like that! Aren’t you worried that even the one you brought might stand out too much?”

“A little. I wanted to gift something worse, but there was a shortage of artisans in Iro- in the city we are staying.”

“Yes. The dwarves all but left the cities. I wonder where they may be going. After the news of what happened in Esdohr, though, nobody dares to try to enslave them. Are you a follower of Wrax, honorable guest? Perhaps your crows were sent by him?”

She giggles, and I giggle as well. Cecilia giggles. The dragonesses are too distracted, talking among themselves, to pay attention to the talk. Cecilia is the one to continue the talk.

“Jokes apart, the ceremony was beautiful.”

“Oh, honored guest, sure you jest. That sermon was long and uninteresting. I never asked about your ceremony. How was it?”

Cecilia looks dejected.

“We didn’t have one.”

Akiko looks at me.

“Oh! How could you do that to these wonderful women, honored guest? Are they not the chosen ones?”

I scratch the back of head. I had not thought of that this way. I don’t know how important that is to the girls. I look around, and sure enough, now the dragonesses are paying attention to the conversation.

“Well, uh, I, we…” I sigh. “It just didn’t happen, I think.”

“So you wouldn’t oppose if it were to happen?”

I think about the subject a little. I already call them my wives. If they want a ceremony and a party, they may as well have it.

“No, I wouldn’t. There would be a lot of things to figure out, of course, but I wouldn’t.”

Cecilia took a sip of something served in a glass. “Hummm…”

I instinctively get stretch the neck of the shirt a little bit. I do a nervous giggle. Aquamarine bites her lower lip. I giggle a little more. I decide to visit the restroom, while the girls start to talk about the whole idea.

I am washing my hands, when a guard enters, and blocks the door.

“Good evening adventurer.”

“Good evening. Would you excuse me?”

“Marquis Lebleu wishes to talk to you, plebeian.”

I look at him. I don’t quite believe the amount of times these kinds of situations just happen with me. I sigh. I am thinking about my choices here. I could get rid of this guard, but then I would have the whole escalation. I decide to end up following him. We get to this fat guy, with a little more guards around him than average.

“Are you the adventurer Marcelo?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you get that statue?”

“I had it commissioned by a dwarf, before he left the city. It is a long time of travel, sir.”

“Oh, what a pity! And I was thinking of allowing you to sell me some more statues like that! Yes, how could those ingrates just leave us to barbarians calling themselves artisans? So wrong. They should pay for this crime.”

I do a short bow. “Excuse me, my table waits for me.”

He waves me away, as if I were a bad smell. I really don’t like nobility in general. There are some exceptions, but most of it is rotten. I go back to the table. I see Shandon and Aquamarine trying to calm Opal and Ruby down. Before sitting down, I kiss all of them on the top of their heads. It is enough to disarm the two more belligerent of the group, as well as gift the ones with a better sense.

“It’s ok, girls. It’s what I talked about standing out too much.”

Akiko could not hear what was said this far away, she was now startled.

“What happened, honored guest?”

“The marquis wanted to give me the honor of providing him statues like the one we are gifting the couple.”

“That’s abuse! I am going to tell Julian!”

“Sure, but there is not much that he can do anyway. Julian is a baron, what can he do against a marquis? Besides, I told him about the dwarf that did the sculpture before leaving the city.”

The dwarves are helping me even while doing nothing. I giggle at the thought. I see a woman looking at the presents received by Julian and Hikari. She is inspecting each of them. When she gets close to mine, she looks at if for a couple of minutes. I don’t think that statue is going to reach Julian. But that is his problem, though.

“Girls, listen up. I don’t want to start a fight if someone breaks the statue, ok?”

“Why, my lord?” Opal asks.

“The present was given. It is a very nice one, but it is Julian’s now. It is his territory, he has to be the one to care, or not, for it. Not our place. If someone else tries to mess with us, that is another case. We are in a foreign country. I would rather keep the killing to a minimum. Remember what I said about the escalation to Cecilia.”

She smirks, but she is going to play nice. She always does. I am already fed up with this.

“Girls, what do you say we get done with this? If you want, we can always throw a ball in any of the places we know, and we wouldn’t have to look where we are stepping. This is an accident waiting to happen. We would end up having to kill everyone.”

The girls nod. The dragonesses do not particularly enjoy balls, Cecilia is the one that most sad with it. We go back to the inn, and retire for the night.

Next morning, we have our breakfast in the inn, and we meet Akiko.

“Good morning, honored guest! How was your night?”

“Good morning, Akiko. It was nice, actually. Is honored guest a seer, perhaps?”

“No. What happened?”

“A woman pretended triping, and broke the statue.”

“So they went with breaking. The other possibility was stealing, but then they wouldn’t be able to display it in their homes. If they were stealing from a peasant, though… These guys are not worth the air they breath.”

She giggled.

“A lot of people was complimenting them on the statue. Even Julian’s parents, and that was something rare to see, they complimenting a peasant. No offense, honorable guest.”

“None taken.”

“On the subject of my new in-laws… There are some additional customs. There are a set of dinners to take place. One is with the new couple and the groom’s family. The second one is with the couple and groom’s family and friends. Third is with the groom’s family and the wife’s family. And the fourth is with the groom’s family, wife’s family and friends.”

“So an intimate event so that people can be presented to the new couple. It makes sense.”

“Yes. And I would like to invite you to the last one. It is going to be held three days from today, obviously. No other nobles, no stepping on eggshells. Just Julian’s family, Julian, my daughter and me.”

I look at the girls to get their opinions. The dragonesses shrug, and Cecilia nods.

“Sure.”

The girls and I decide to go to the beach. We go to one that is farther from the city, it is less crowded. I can feel that we are being watched. If I am not mistaken, it is the guard from the ball. He doesn’t really have stealth, so his attempt at keeping an eye on us is pretty obvious.

I create our sand ‘furniture’ and have some nice time on the beach with the girls. Cecilia comes to massage my shoulders, and whispers in my ear.

“We are being followed.”

I tilt my head backwards, and I look at her.

“I know.”

“Since when?”

“Since we left the inn. The guy doesn’t even have stealth, the whole thing is a little obvious. The dog’s owner sent it on an expedition to see if it can smell something. Don’t worry about it, we are doing nothing weird.”

She sighs.

“You are being too relaxed.”

“Not enough. Apparently level 76 is still to weak to massage my muscles.” I giggle a little. She puts her elbow against my muscle, and puts all her strength to it. Still too light. I giggle again. She leans back close to my ear.

“Fuck you!”

After a little time, I feel Rajesh’s Comm Gem trying to make contact. I put up a small sphere of silence, and pull it out.

“Hello, friend!”

“Hello Rajesh, how are you?”

“I am fine. How are you?”

“I am fine as well. Anything new?”

“You have been busy, my friend! Free the dwarves or else? Nergal’s church wasn’t ever welcome around here. Now it became a joke! Angelica is starting to have problems, the corpses are decomposing inside the cathedral, the smell is starting to get to the streets!”

The girls and I laugh. Rajesh continues.

“Did anyone tell you what it did to realstate in the area? The prices of mansions in the nobles’ districts are the lowest they have ever been! And even so people are not buying. Merchants are even being offered to buy the properties, and get a free pass into nobles’ district, but even that is not working.”

We are all laughing on the subject, even the crows. Opal has a satisfied expression on her. I can’t really figure out which part she is happy about. Rajesh continues.

“Friend, Aisha has been asking me to relay an invitation for your girls, to have some tea with her. To talk about girls’ stuff.”

“Sure, let me check with them.”

I look around the girls. Cecilia nods, happily. The dragonesses are not so interested, but agree with it. I pass the Comm Gem to Cecilia, and the dragonesses surround her.

“What date would be best for it?” Rajesh asks.

“How about a week from now? We are still involved in a marriage here, so that will give us time to wrap this up.”

“Splendid. I will relay the information.”

“Thank you.”

Once the call is out, Cecilia explains to the dragonesses that a tea party is just an excuse to consume sweets. Now the dragonesses are a lot more invested on the tea party. We chat a little bit about how the knight school is going, and about Cecilia’s new hold on her mana. She has a much finer control over it. After a little bit, we pick our stuff, put it in my bag of holding, and head back to the inn.

We enjoy the rest of the day strolling through the streets of Shoria, before coming back to the inn. We have dinner as usual, we provide the kraken meat, and we retire for the night.

The next day, we decide do to go to a beach in Buzios, and enjoy something less crowded. The marquis’s captain keeps following us. He has the stealth of an elephant. He looks like those dogs that hide their heads and think that they are safe. We enjoy our day there, and then come back. We run at a natural speed for mithril adventurers, and that is already very fast. The captain can actually hold his own on the running. If I had to say, he is probably a little bellow level 50, and this is already high for Andrea.

I decide to mess a little with his head, and I leave a trail of carbonic gas. He is going to feel tired very fast. At some point, he starts to lag behind. When we reach the city, Muninn lands on my shoulder and shares a view of the captain leaning forward and holding his belly. I laugh. Cecilia asks what happened, I ask Muninn to share the scene with her.

“How did you do that?”

“You have the silent death, but you also have the gas that we put out when you breath. It is called carbonic gas. If you breath it instead of pure air, you are going to get tired sooner.”

Ruby turns to Muninn.

“Let me see! Let me see!”

Muninn shares the scene with her as well. She starts laughing a lot. The sun is already setting, so we go to Akiko’s inn for dinner and the night. I look at the sea after dark, it is really beautiful.

We retire for the day.

The next few days all have the same format. We wake up, have some strolls, go to a beach, give the failed spy project a hard time with carbonic gas, fun stuff. Akiko have had her dinner with Julian’s family yesterday night, she is having breakfast with us. She is sad, sighing a lot. It’s a pity how things are, but not my place. It is not like it is some external factor.

Akiko mentions that Julian’s family is complicated, to say the least. Apparently, the mother favors the younger brother, while the father tries to stay neutral. The fact that the younger brother got a slap on the wrist after trying to kill the older brother was a very clear clue.

Cecilia takes the girls to prepare for the dinner the same way they did for the marriage. Not the same level, but they had their hair, nails, everything done. I decided that this time I would be able to wear my toys, such as my katana.

The girls and I go through the jewels in the bag Dávrin had given me. The pendants, brooches, hair pins were absolutely fantastic. As one would expect from something coming from a noble in among the dwarves.

They were looking like royalty. And a magic royalty at that. Akiko went to our room to meet with us, and was flabbergasted with the girls. I smiled.

“It so happens that doing a couple of quests for the dwarves can really pay out…”

She just nodded, jaw still dropped. I asked the girls to wear a cover until we got to Julian’s, I would like to avoid the spy project to see this. He could try to spin a tale.