The Quantum Wanderer

The girls go up to dress frugally. They place their flower crowns. They look really awesome. Also, the fact that together they have more mana in them than all the court mages probably helps. The first step is Leopold, I haven’t talked to him in a while. After I ask his permission, we portal to his office in Orora.

“Hello, it has been some time. How are you?” He asks. Then he looks at the girls leaving the portal. “Oh, so you decided to have a wedding? Wow.”

“Well, the girls decided. We are still deciding on whether some people are getting invited, but you are on the first wave.”

“What an honor! I will be delighted to go. Is the invitation including Aymon as well?”

“Yes. Just let him know that the rest of people in the marriage is going to be very… Unusual?”

“How unusual?”

“Some humans, dwarves, demons, dragons…”

He giggles.

“I tend to try to forget how our meetings go…”

As he is distracted, he is staring at Cecilia… He is really intrigued, and then I can feel his mana reaching out. He realized.

“Shit! I hadn’t realized! HOW? She was level 35!”

I smile, and Cecilia smiles as well.

“We decided to bring her up a couple of levels.”

“What level are you now, Cecilia?”

“Seventy six. Seventy fucking six! Can you believe this?”

“How?”

I smile, and I blink one eye.

“She did have to work hard for it. The suffered hell for those 3 days.”

Cecilia and I laugh on the bad joke. Leopold’s eyes are just bulging.

“Just be careful, if anyone hears about this…”

At this point, I am a little tired with the charade. I am keeping it because it helps me leading an easier life, but I am not going to be slave to it.

“What are they going to do? Other than a hero, Cecilia can face anyone. Most groups of people, actually. Specially since her skin cannot be punctured and she has a permanent regenerative spell on her. All the girls have the regenerative spell. They are probably able to punch a couple of categories above their levels.”

He sighs, and remembers what the girls are like.

“Sorry, I just got alarmed. But I stand corrected. You are right, a country could not probably face you guys right now. Let’s go back to the invitation. How are we supposed to reach it the wedding place?”

He says that while opening the invitation and reading it.

“I am going to portal you guys from here. On the 25^th, 1:00 PM. Right now we are going to invite Andrew.”

Leopold starts laughing.

“Who wrote this?”

“The demons, actually. Aisha is the architecture for the wedding, she is putting a lot of things together. The invitations, the dresses and some other details.”

He laughs some more. Then he shrugs.

“Well, it is going to be interesting.”

I shrug, I don’t have much to say to that. The chat kind of dies down. I open a small portal, just enough for my voice to get there. I ask for his permission, and then I portal to his house, the girls behind me.

“Andrew!”

“Marcelo! Long time no see.”

We hug each other. I step aside, and he sees the girls with their flower crowns.

“Really? Are you finally getting married? It took way too long, lad! Finally doing right by the girls! Congratulations!”

“I know, right?”

We share some pleasantries, and I hand him the invitation. I tell him that I am going to open the portal for him at 1:00 PM on the 25^th.

Our next stop is Dávrin. I contact him through our Comm Gem, and shortly after I portal to the room in his palace. Because of the gases that might leak through the portal, I choose to open the portal outside Andrew’s house. He is isolated, so there is no one around anyway. I do a test, just to be sure.

“Hello, friend! I was just about to get in touch with you!”

“Hi, Dávrin. How are you? What happened?”

“I have two things to give you. First, I have to give you your pendant back.”

“I am guessing that you already got all the information from the little shit?”

“Yes. He hadn’t been commanded by his superiors in the church, it was just his idea. He went ahead with it because they consider themselves the very top of evolution, those morons. They think the humans should reign above all. Although in a way…” He laughs. “Nevermind that, though. The other thing that I have to give you is this. You again forgot to take your possessions.”

He hands me another bag of holding. I hold it, it is again full to the brink of treasures.

“Are these the treasures from Dún Aonghasa?”

He tips his nose and points at me.

“But that was on my side. How can I help you?”

“I come bearing invitations, as you can see.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

I realize that the flower crown may not be a custom around these parts, the dwarves culture is too different from the others.

“I am bringing an invitation to our wedding for you and your family.”

“Hohoho… This is wonderful! I don’t know how to thank you! It is going to be an honor.”

I hand him the invitation.

“Please bear in mind that Aisha, wife to Rajesh, wrote the text… She is helping with the all the details.”

“Of course, friend!”

He opens it, and gives a couple of giggles because of the text.

“I will definitely be there. Where is the there, by the way?”

“Oh, it is going to be on a beach. I am going to open a portal for you, in this room, on the day, at 1:00 PM.”

“Of course, we will be there, in our best armor!”

I smile.

“I am thinking of inviting Varr and the crew as well. They did wonderful. I just don’t have the invitations on me.”

“If you want, I can tell them. Heh! You don’t have to prepare the invitations. Part of the allure of gold is that it is rare.”

“Yes, that would be great. Now, I have to deliver Brokkr’s invitation.”

“Of course, friend.”

We all go to Brokkr’s shop. The number of dwarves around us increases the more we walk. But no one is in our way. They are close, but giving us enough space to go by. A lot of them bow. Dávrin waved at the people. He told me to wave as well. I am not fully comfortable, but I do it. We get to Brokkr’s shop.

“Master Marcelo! How have you been? Did you enjoy the armor?”

“Master Brokkr! How are you? Yes, very much so. I don’t even have words to describe. It is an absolute piece, I thought it came from the gods.”

He scratches his nose. I can see that he is proud of that work.

“Come, come, come inside. Let me get you some ale.” He looks at Dávrin. “Sure, you can come in too, nephew.”

That was cold. I can’t help but giggle a little. I know I shouldn’t.

We get inside, and Brokkr brings out some cups with ale. We all sit down around the table, the cups are in our hands.

“So, Master Marcelo, what brings you to my humble shop?”

“Actually, there are two things. The most important one is this.” I take out an invitation and hand it to him. “It was written by Aisha, from the demons. She has been helping with the details for the thing, so the wording is a little off…”

He puts his mug on the table. He reads the invitation twice, to be sure.

“HAHAHA… This is just perfect! I have to say, though, that it is not really that far from the truth…”

I get a little embarrassed.

“And the second reason is that I need to have wedding rings made. I was wondering if you could point me to a gold smith that could make them.”

Cecilia slaps her forehead. Opal shakes her head. Dávrin bulges his eyes. All of a sudden I feel like I kicked Brokkr’s dog, or kid. Brokkr stood up, and picked up my cup with ale.

“OUT!”

“Uncle, he only said that because he thought it would be beneath you… Please calm down…”

Brokkr looks at Dávrin side-eyed. He then stares daggers at me. I nod. I raise my hands, in a peace gesture.

“Master Brokkr, I didn’t think that something like this would be deserving of your talent.”

Now the daggers that he is staring me are a lot lighter.

“I would be deeply honored if you were the one to forge the rings that my wives will wear for millenia to come.”

“Hum… Millenia?”

“Yes, other than Cecilia they are dragons. I don’t really know how long I am going to live, but the girls are going to live for a very long time. Specially now with enhanced bodies.”

“Ok. I think I can find the time to make them before the wedding. How is the trip there going to be?”

“I am going to open a portal. It is going to be on a beach, in another land. The portal is going to be opened in the palace, in the room that I always use.”

“Ok. The wife and me will be there.”

“Great. I would miss you if you didn’t go.”

We chat a little bit. After a short time, I leave the shop with Dávrin and the girls. Cecilia whispers at my ear.

“You really almost fucked it up there.”

“Well, I thought…”

“Marcelo, I love you, but next time, ask me before saying something like that.”

“Ok, I will.”

Dávrin is laughing his head off. We go back to the palace, and I open a portal back home. The last one that we have to deliver the invitation to is Edward and Anthon.

The sun is already getting close to setting, it is going to be supper time soon. We spent the whole day giving this invitations away.

We go to Edward’s mansion. We identify ourselves at the gate, and one of the guards accompanies us to the house. He goes inside, to announce our presence. Shortly after, the butler comes to the door, and leads us to Edward’s study.

“Good afternoon, friend!”

He takes a look at the girls, all of them with their flower crowns.

“Oh ho ho, we are going to have a wedding! Congratulations are in order.”

“Yes! Exactly… And I came here to deliver the invitations. One for you and your family, and one for Anthon.”

“Don’t you want to invite him personally? He would appreciate.”

“Wouldn’t that bother him? I know he doesn’t have a lot of time.”

“Why don’t we go there now? No time like the present.”

“Sure. There is just a little detail… The invitations were crafted by… Aisha. The wording is not exactly what I would use, but then she is the one helping with the details.”

“Why? What is the problem?” His left brow goes up, and he gets the invitation from the envelope. He reads it, and giggles a little.

“Don’t worry about that. It is not too wrong, somehow. Is it going to happen in a church?”

“Those are some additional details that I would like to make clear before you or Anthon accept the invitation. The wedding is going to happen on a very neutral place. A beach in Drakonia. So… There are going to be other races there as well…”

“What races?”

“There are going to be dwarves, demons and dragons.”

“Ok…? It is going to be safe… right?”

“Oh yes, completely safe. Dragons don’t like the taste of humans, and I am going to be providing kraken meat for them anyway. But if a guard points a sword at one, it may become a tooth pick. Actually, a spear might be a tooth pick, a sword is too small…”

I laugh at my own joke. Cecilia shakes her head. Apparently I am in one of my bad days. I turn serious, to pass them a sense of safety.

“Seriously, don’t worry. The dragons are all from my clan, they will not get near anyone from the group. As for the church, there is going to be some structure made of glass, I am going to ask Troggar to put something up.

“Roberta is going to cook the food. Other than that, I am not completely aware of the details, the girls are more involved, and Aisha from the demons is helping. Oh, you don’t have to worry about them either. You might actually be impressed with them if you talk with them, though. They are a lot closer to humans than one might think.”

“Sure. I don’t think it would be a problem for me.”

“The invitation also extends to your wife and kids. Just bear in mind that this is an invitation, no one is forced to go.”

“Of course. Shall we go to the palace, then?”

“Sure.”

We all leave Edward’s mansion, and we go to the palace through the back yard. Once we reach the palace and Edward talks to a guard, we are taken to Anthon’s study.

“Good evening, friend.” He looks and sees the girls with their floral crowns. “Oh, these are great tidings indeed! Congratulations!”

“Thank you! That’s actually the reason I came here. I am bringing the invitation. Before I give it to you, a little foreword. Aisha was the one that wrote it, so it is not the wording I would use. She is helping the girls.”

“Aisha? Rajesh’s empress?”

“Yes, that one. There are a couple of disclaimers here. There are going to be other races in the wedding. Dwarves, demons and dragons. But it is going to be safe.”

“Is close family included?”

“Yes, wife and kids. I only saw you and Edward with one wife, so I never asked if you had more than one.”

“We both have a main one and some concubines. But we are going to be taking only the wives and kids.”

“Ok. I am going to portal you there at 1:00 pm. The wedding is going to happen on a beach.”

We chatted a little bit more, and then we went home. I was tired, my social battery was gone already after socializing for the whole day.

We have some supper and then retire for the day.

***

Dyrgia POV

We sit for dinner, Dávrin, Davina and myself.

“Good evening, dear. Daughter.”

“Good evening, father.”

“Good evening, dear. How was your day? I heard that Marcelo has been around today, and you went out to visit Brokkr.”

“Yes! We have been invited to his wedding. Here.”

He hands me an invitation. The writing is a very odd, though. ‘You have the honor…’ This doesn’t look like something Marcelo would write.

“The wording is… weird. Who wrote this? Lady Opal?”

“No, it was Aisha, the demon empress. He mentioned that she is helping with the wedding details.”

I slap my forehead. My husband’s head sometimes shines as much as iron ore.

“I wonder if the smart one was Rajesh or her. Who do you think the strategist was?”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t it occur to you what kind of influence she is going to be holding after the wedding is over…?”

He stops to think for a little bit. I can see that Davina is giggling.

“You fucked up, dad.” And now she laughs openly.

“Do we have a Comm Gem with anyone in demon’s capital?”

“I don’t know, there may be some merchant. The Comm Gems are cheaper for the demons, that’s where they come from.”

“Great. First thing tomorrow, you are going to get hold of this communication, and make sure this Comm Gem gets to Aisha. Then I will negotiate our contributions with her. Any questions?”

“Yes, dear. No, dear.”

The rest of the meal he spent quiet. This is an opportunity we cannot loose. We can stablish a better level of commerce with the demons, as well as get closer to Marcelo’s girls. I am not sure by how much, but I am pretty sure that each of those girls is stronger than a city. The tales of their fights with the ants and termites are completely absurd.

***

Marcelo’s POV

We wake the next morning and have a lot of fun in the bedroom. Now that we have invited most people that is going to attend, the whole thing feels a lot more real. We go down for breakfast.

I was thinking about inviting Akiko a little before or after the funeral, that is going to happen tomorrow. I am about to open the portal to the school, when I notice that some of the girls are not wearing their flower crowns. I turn to check, and only Cecilia is not wearing it, actually.

“What, are you not going to wear the crown? You look so good in it…”

“Come on Marcelo, you know that half the school is going to be on top of us because of that.”

“I thought wedding was all about showing the love…”

Cecilia makes a painful expression. I smile, with just a hint of sadism. But then I relent.

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it.”

She looks at the dragonesses, and the four of them are wearing the crowns.

“Are you sure you want to wear that?”

“I am proud of my love for my lord.” Opal says.

“I think it looks good on me.” Ruby complements.

“The wedding was our idea, so I thought it would be…” Aquamarine complements.

“If we are to mingle with the human culture, we may as well…” Shandon complements.

Cecilia is not too keen on wearing the crown, but ends up wearing it.

“Did you decide to embrace the love?” I ask her.

“Shut up…” She pouts a little. “I am not going to be the only one not wearing one. Let’s all face the wedders together.”

“Wedders?”

“Yes, the girls that just think about wedding. There are a lot of them in Magic School.” She turned to the dragonesses. “You do realize that it is going to be a commotion, right? Ruby, how many knights of your school mates proposed to you already?”

“I am not keeping count. Do you mean in the past week?”

That is a clear reminder how much I should always value my girls. I giggle a little bit. I might even visit them just to enjoy the confusion. I wonder if that would piss Edward off too much. I think I have been with Munnin way too long. I just remembered what he did to that guard long ago… That was messed up, but it was funny.

I open a portal for them, and they go to the dormitory in the school.

After that, I am thinking about all the stuff that is going to be happening this week. I am first going to have Hikari’s in-laws’ funeral, then there is the guild excursion from lady Guina. While thinking about lady Guina, I remember about the incident with the church. I wonder if they got the ‘curse’ lifted already. I might get that information from Edward.

I decide to visit the guild with Muninn and Huginn. The guild is kind of empty. I go to the counter. Muninn and Huginn fly to one of the beams, they enjoy their higher place.

“Good morning, Adventurer.”

“Good morning. Can I have some light ale?”

“Of course.”

“The guild is a little bit emptier than normal. Is there anything going on?”

She points to the board, and there is this notice about the expedition near Angelica. I had forgotten how big the whole operation was. I am wondering what kind of monster would need such a force to fight. It could be another ant or termite hill, they really demand a lot of adventurers. At least those things pay well.

I sit on a table, and contemplate the board. There are a lot of escort missions, some hunting, nothing out of the ordinary. As I am looking around, I see a group of adventurers that are looking at me.