The Quantum Wanderer

There is a guild here. I enter it.

The air inside the guild is not that much different than some other guilds. The girl behind the counter is an elf, she wears glasses. She sees me and adjusts her glasses. I take a look around, there are tables, adventurers sitting around them.

There is a wooden support that is made for bows, apparently. There are several bows there. The adventurers here are using way lighter armor than I am used to seeing around. Mostly is leather armor. They have small swords. There are a lot of mages, though. It is easy to tell them apart by their clothing.

To one side in the guild there is the board of quests, and to the other side there is a stand selling potions. This is kind of new in a guild. One can get potions, but they are not generally found inside the guild.

I take a look at the quests. They are normal hunting quests. There are a couple of merchant escorts. I try to think about how it work with traveling across the forest with merchandise. I turn around, I sit on an empty table. I take a look around. Every one that is sitting on the tables have a cup on their hands. I go to the counter, in front of the girl with glasses.

“Good morning.”

“Good afternoon.” She corrects me. “How can I help you?”

“Where can I get some ale?”

“Ale? We don’t have ale here. You can get some drinks on that counter.”

She points me to another counter, to the side. I hadn’t noticed it. It has a lot of big flowers. I get there. There is a bored looking elf.

“Good afternoon…” Then he looks at me, his demeanor changes a little. “lord Marcelo! How can I help?”

“I wanted to have a drink. What do you have?”

“Mostly flavored wine. Several flavors. If you like ale, we have a wine-ale drink as well.”

“Sure, hit me with that.”

He hands me a soft wooden cup. It is not flat on the bottom, but it has 3 small legs sticking out on the bottom, though. I smell it, it has a strong grape scent. I sip on it. It is enjoyable, actually. It feels like an alcoholic grape soda. I drain the cup pretty fast.

I noticed that the server actually goes to the tables. I raise my hand. Once she looks my way, I raise the cup and point to it, making sure she understand I want another one. I place the cup on the table. Muninn hits me softly on the head, but the waitress is gone. I turn to him.

“When she comes I will get you some as well.”

“Thank you, father.”

After Muninn and I have our drinks, I look at the people around. The elves are a little more reserved than other races. But there are still the rowdy ones around. Specially in a place that serves liquor. They raise their cups, I raise mine.

“Is big brother enjoying it?”

I turn around, there is a dryad sitting on my table. The guild goes silent.

“I am, thank you. Do you drink anything?”

She laughs.

“I do, just not like that. You already gave me something…”

“What?”

“You gave me dragon blood yesterday… The rain helped, of course. Delicious.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize. I’m glad, though. I feel bad with waste.”

“This big brother is a romantic…” She laughs. She gets off the chair, and goes through the floor. A couple of seconds later, she is gone.

I turn from where the dryad went away. The whole guild is staring at me. I hear some whispers “it is true…” here and there. I raise my cup. Several elves raise theirs. I drink it. People start getting back to their conversations.

The waitress visits our table again. She brings another cup for me, and a shallow one for Muninn. I was about to tell her that I was still on the previous one, but she turns around and leaves. A short amount of time, an elf is to my right.

“Lord Marcelo…?”

“Yes?”

“May I sit?”

“Of course! Go ahead. What is your name?”

“I am Oliver Hardroot. I am the guild master.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

He sits down, and he gestures towards the waitress. She brings in another kind of cup, places it in front of Oliver.

“How can I help you, Oliver?”

“Oh, nothing in particular. Unless you want to pick any quests…? But you have already fulfilled the quest of the century.”

I shrug.

“Everything about it was wrong, if you grasp my meaning. I can understand that we have to kill to eat, but not like the coward was doing. That kind of torture felt… wrong. The escalation just happened because… In some circles, respect is important. One must keep the theatrics.”

“Theatrics, you say… To theatrics!” He raises his cup, I raise mine. He laughs. He continues.

“I have been told that the dryads have a favorite now.” He laughs.

“Hum… I am not complaining, I understand this comes from a very good place, and I love that they are treating me well, but isn’t the whole money creating going to create inflation?”

“Inflation? What do you mean?”

“The thing about money is that there is a set amount of it. If more of it is put into circulation with the same amount of people and goods, it is going to be worth less…”

“Interesting concept… Where did you hear this?”

“It is just common sense. It is the reason why messing up the amount of gold in a coin is so bad. A lot of gold’s value is just its rarity.”

“It makes sense…”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, not that, the line from the dryads – the man that wasn’t born. I am still trying to understand that, though. How does this comes around?”

I choke on the ale-wine.

“What?”

He insists.

“How were you not born? Is this a bad question?”

I tilt my head.

“Actually, a little bit. Can we avoid talking about that?”

“Sure. I am sorry about that, but you know how dryads are…”

“I am learning, in fact.”

“Really? I thought you were a master.”

“Master at what?”

“At arbormancy.”

“I didn’t even know this kind of magic existed.”

The elf smiles.

“Do you know how many elves are there in this city?”

“No idea.”

“About 500.000. Now, out of those, how many do you think ever talked to a dryad?”

“No idea?”

“Four. Four elves. They talk to the dryads and keep the whole relationship with the forest. And yet… How do you invoke them?”

“I don’t. They asked me for a favor, they showed me a situation that I thought was messed up. I just tried my hand around it. It went the way it went. But I think you guys are misunderstanding something. You don’t really invoke them… They are around. It’s just that they are friends, not pets or things to be controlled.”

“Yet you have a pet…” He says, pointing to Muninn with his head.

Muninn turns to him and tilts his head.

“No, I have a companion. He adopted me, I adopted him.”

Muninn looks at me, and he smiles. That weird smile that is not supposed to be possible on an animal that has a beak. He hops twice, getting close to my hand. I pet him on the chest. I hear a very light sound, just because of the enhance hearing that I gained through the high level I now have. It sounds like a wind whisper, it is more musical. The tone talks of danger, but not menacing. More of a sorrow.

“You are getting too close to the edge, elf, be careful.”

Oliver feels a chill down his spine. He adjusts himself on the chair. I smile.

“Were you not present to the party yesterday?”

“No, I wasn’t. It so happens that I was busy outside the city at the moment.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you about Muninn? He is not a crow…”

Oliver looks at me, he tilts his head.

“What is he?”

Muninn now perched on top of his chair’s back, he whispers in his ear.

“Apparently, I am a brân.”

He turns to look, but Muninn teleports before that back to the table. Oliver looks back at the table. He looks at me.

“He is also a prankster, apparently. I now how a whole list of pranks.”

“Right…”

The wind blows through the windows, we can hear a light laughter in it. I raise my cup at Oliver, then at the wall. Oliver clears his throat.

“And what are you looking for here?”

“I am just visiting. Tourism. Traveling is fun.”

He giggles.

“Traveling is fun? In which land?”

“Ohh, you really should ask around.” I giggle. The cat was out of the bag, there was no need to hide stuff. At least here. “By the way, I was hoping to keeping these things here? As in, opposed to humans knowing about me?”

“You can have my word. You should talk to the council, so that they spread the ask to the other elves.”

“That is a good idea. Where-“

Autumnstart just enters the door. He is breathing hard. He enters the guild, as if everything is normal. He sees me, and comes straight to our table.

“Like invoking a devil!” Oliver says.

“Really? I think I felt the pull on the pants!” The councilor then turns to me. “Good morning, lord Marcelo. How have you been?”

“I have been well. It has been fun… What does the expression pull on the pants mean?”

Autumnstart points to a chair, I nod at him. He sits down.

“When someone talks about you, if the dryads are your friends, you can feel a tug on the pants. They are not big.”

I laugh. He continues.

“So, why are my pants being pulled?”

“I was talking to sir Oliver here that I would rather not having information about me being broadcasted to humans… He told me to talk to you.”

“Hum. Sure, I can do that. I will amend the news…”

“But, other than that, how can I help you?”

He raises his index finger, indicating he is going to need a minute. He gestures to the waitress. She comes over, and he order some liquor to her. He then turns back to me.

“I don’t carry any asks. It is mostly… curiosity.”

“Sure.” I take a sip of the ale-wine. I am really enjoying this beverage. “What do you want to know?”

Oliver’s eyebrows join.

“Really? Just like that?”

I shrug.

“He can ask. If it is something I don’t want to answer, I won’t. Just like your question that I didn’t answer. Why wouldn’t it be this simple?”

“I got a warning from the forest…”

“Because you called Muninn here a pet, not because you asked a question. And you could have asked around before, people would tell you that he is not a crow.”

Autumnstart stands up, in his ever dignified way, and walks to the side of Oliver. He walks porting himself like a king, with his arms behind his back. When he gets near, he slaps the guild master on the back of the head.

“You idiot! I am amazed that you are still alive!”

Oliver looks like a kid that was caught misbehaving and was having a sermon. Autumnstart goes back to his seat. His drink arrives. It is a smaller glass. He gulps it down on one shot, and asks the waitress to bring another one.

“I am sorry for the idiot, lord Marcelo.”

I laugh at their tirade. That relaxes Autumnstart.

“So, councilor, what do you want to know?”

“Are you friend or foe?”

I giggle at the question.

“Friend. Right now, I am a visitor, that wants to do some tourism around your city. The dryads and the elves are growing on me.”

“How long do you intend to stay?”

“I don’t know. I have been to a beach city, we ended up spending a couple of weeks there. I visited Ironhold once, and ended up moving there. My visit to Lirastra lasted a day. The whole thing is a den of corruption.”

Oliver nods at me.

“The news reached here. The city almost burned to the ground when the crime syndicate had some inside civil war. There was also the case of the guild master that wasn’t a pure guild indication, he was the king’s nephew. He apparently went crazy around the same time.”

I take a sip from my cup. Autumnstart continues.

“What is it you seek?”

The question is something that I should be asking myself, but I haven’t. It is a lot more philosophical then it sounds. I stare at the wall, thinking.

“I have no idea. A good time, a good drink, making friends?”

The elves are measuring me up and down. I look at them.

“What?”

Autumnstart talks very carefully.

“I didn’t expect something so… simple, to tell you the truth.”

“Why? What should I seek? I already have wives I love, I have a harem I can visit at any time, we basically eat meats that other people don’t know what they taste like…”

“Really? Like what?”

“What do you think is going to happen to the dragons we killed? Yesterday’s kill is tomorrow’s breakfast.”

“I can’t even imagine what it must taste like.”

The three of us turn around, and the dryad is again sitting on the table. She is drooling.

“What? Dragon meat? Kraken meat?”

“No, no. Who cares about those? Your poop. Can I ask big brother to use the bathroom here?”

I really didn’t expect that. I start laughing. The dryad is giving me puppy eyes, in spite of not having irises. Autumnstart also laughs after a short time. He might be checking if laughing was safe or not. Oliver suppresses it, but he gives out a giggle.

I pat her on the head. The gesture apparently scares Autumnstart. Both him and Bram’s eyes bulge. I turn to her.

“I have to see how the whole thing works at home. I have no idea how they implemented the sewage there… Where would you want it delivered? It is going to smell bad…”

She taps her lips with her index finger.

“Anywhere in the forest will do. Just knock on the wood.”

“I will see what I can do.”

“I knew big brother was amazing.”

She jumps out her seat, and kisses me on the cheek. She steps back, and disappears on the floor again. I am laughing on the exchange. After a little bit, Autumnstart asks.

“Where are the girls?”

“My wives asked to go somewhere else.”

“Is it a secret place?”

I giggled a little.

“Apparently it is. They didn’t tell me.”

“You seem rather comfortable with this.”

I shrug. I turn to Muninn.

“Muninn, how would you explain the girl’s strength?”

“Cecilia, Opal and Aquamarine are still on the weaker side… But the dragonesses have not evolved yet… Wifey, Shandon and Ruby can only be stopped by the other two. And you, obviously.”

Autumnstart looks at him.

“Wifey?”

“Yes, wifey, my girl, ball and chain, father’s other brân, for you it is lady Huginn.”

Muninn turns to me, shakes his head and makes an expression that felt like ‘is this guy dense?’

“What do you mean, evolved yet? What is a brân?”

Muninn laughs.

“I was born a normal crow. Living with father has that effect, apparently. And Brân is apparently the species I am a part of. That’s what the centaurs told us, at least.”

“The centaurs? The woods told us that they migrated to the demon country. How did you meet them?”

I take a look outside, the clouds are again loaded. I get distracted. I point at it.

“Is it going to rain again.”

“Of course.”

“What do you mean, of course? How often does it rain?”

“It rains everyday, around this time. The afternoon is split into before rain and after rain.” Oliver answers, as if this is a normal thing.

“Hum… Interesting. I’m sorry, what was your question again?”

“The centaurs. How did you meet them?” Autumnstart repeats the question.

“Yeah… There was a big expedition for monster hunting in the Holy Kingdom.”

“Yes, I remember that quest!” An adventurer had brought a chair close to our table, he was listening in to the conversation. This is a public place, I guess.

“It was a huge expedition. They were hiring adventurers from all over the place. The pay was good.” Another one complemented the answer.

I shrug. I look around.

“Can I count on this staying here?”

The elves all nod. Their normal regal demeanor put aside for curiosity.

“So, a guild master in the Holy Kingdom had it in her to get me killed. They put out this big expedition to cull out a monster species. Only the monsters were centaurs. When I go back to the forefront with my girls, the adventurers attacked us.”

“The battle of the bloodied hooves…” Says one of the adventurers. The ceiling is suddenly very interesting.

I look outside. The rain I hadn’t realized that started was just finishing. A short time later, it stops and the water starts drying, having been drained already from the streets because of their design.

The talk in the guild continues, the adventurers talking about their most messed up quests. The travels. Most escort quests were done with merchants that carried their goods in bags of holding, sometimes renting space in a bag of holding. The forest have no roads the merchants could use carts on.

There are some hunting quests as well. I was told there was even a quest to save the dryad, posted on the mural by the mural itself. The adventurers felt bad about it, but they know their limitations. Not even all of them together would be able to face a dragon. It was just an impossible situation. The payment for the quest was ‘the friendship of the forest’. I feel like I gained it.

The talk goes smooth, fun. The adventurers here are a little less noisy than the ones in Ironhold, they have a pinch of Opal’s demeanor, but adventurers have this rowdy side everywhere.

I take a look outside, the sun is close to setting. I start saying my goodbyes, and I reach in the pouch to get the money to pay for the drinks. The same think happens again. The branch comes out of the table, it produces the seeds that drop on the table.

Some elves are a little high on their wine, they start laughing on the situation. I mention to get some coins, but Autumnstart shakes his head to me.

“That is a gift. Friends don’t want to hear that you are sorry for bothering them. Friends want to hear ‘thank you’.”

I say thank you to the ceiling. I turn back to the Autumnstart.

“Isn’t this going to affect the amount of your coins in circulation?”

He shrugs.

“You are thinking with human behavior in mind, even if you are worried about us. First, I appreciate your concern. Second, even if you thought in terms of human behavior, this would come out of the houses rental… So… Just don’t worry.”

“Ok.”

I hear the music laughter in the wind. I go back to my home there. The door opens itself up, and I enter the place. I put the shoes by the door to feel the natural carpet around. The dryad I had met before is there.

“Good afternoon, big brother.”

“Good afternoon, Ipê. Is everything ok?”

She looks down, and starts pressing her two indexes together.

“Can I ask big brother to come with me?”

“Sure.”

She grabs my hand, and takes me through a corridor. Then a door. She shows me a bathroom. Then she points at the toilet seat.

“Sister told us about the kind of meat that big brother consumes… Ipê would like to know if she can improve the seat in any way for big brother…”

I am kind of lost at words here. The seat just comes out of the wall, there is no lid. The lower part connects back to the wall, I assume there is pipe to take it down somehow. Still, this whole conversation is kind of awkward.

I pass my hand on the seat, it looks very comfortable, though. It has an outer layer of moss, it feels very comfortable to my hand. I stand up, I look at the dryad. She is smiling and nodding, as if she was inviting me to use it, here and now. I sigh. This is a little too much for me.

“Let me tell you what. I am going to investigate how the whole thing works over where I live. Once I am aware of it, we can plan some strategies. You are probably going to want me to dump it in a hole, so that the bacteria can treat it before it gets absorbed in the soil. How does that sound?”

“Ok…”

She seems a little underwhelmed with my suggestion, but she doesn’t have much else to offer. I pet her had a little to calm her down. Her mood improves a little.

“Now I am going to go back home, it is time for our dinner. See you tomorrow, Ipê.”

“See you tomorrow, big brother.”

I open a portal and go back home, to my room. I go downstairs, and the girls are there. They all have had their nails colored. Huginn is on Cecilia’s shoulder, Muninn is on mine right now. Cecilia shows me her nails, and positions them close to Huginn’s. Both of them had their nails painted blue. I know what I am supposed to do.

“So that was the surprise! I loved it!” I tap Muninn’s paw.

“Wifey! That color looks great on you.” Muninn says.

All the girls make a face of embarrassment because of the compliment. Including Huginn. We go to the dinning room for our supper. We have dinner and retire for the day.