The Quantum Wanderer

***

Marcelo’s POV

The next day I spend lazily. The girls go to the elves, they are checking on their dresses, probably doing some fittings and things like that.

I go to the guild in the afternoon, I haven’t been here for some time. I barely cross the door.

“LIONHEART! LONG TIME NO SEE!”

I take a look, and the guild extrovert is there, inviting me to his table.

“Hi, Griffin. How are you?”

“Well. How about you? What have you been doing?”

“Not much. You know, the usual, a quest here, another there. Nothing too fantastic. What about you?”

“The same, the same. You have already been told about the banner thing, right?”

“No, what happened?”

“Do you remember the guild ordinance, some weeks ago, telling us to use the banner in escort missions?”

“Yes…?”

“Well, now we are supposed not to use them anymore. Apparently the risk of being attacked by Romuela’s army is gone, but now the hero is attacking anyone carrying the banner.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“And are there any rumors around it?”

“Rumors are always plenty, my friend. The rumor that was circulating was about Romuela having a tamed dragon, right? That is idiotic, of course, but they really did have someone really powerful in their ranks.

“I have heard that he disappeared because the hero’s party went after him, after he basically won the war on Elator.”

“Wow, “ I say, holding my chin, “the hero must be really strong!”

“You don’t say! They are invited from another world, they arrive here at level 100! Can you even conceive that? A human being, level 100?”

“Sure, but how strong is that in the scheme of things?”

“Well, let me put it this way. We would need a team of mithril to kill a fenrir, right?”

“Yes.”

“He can do it alone.”

“Wow. What about bigger things?”

“Bigger than a Fenrir? Like what? A dragon?” He laughs. “You do have some imagination. That thing was just a legend. I doubt it really happened.”

I order some ale from the waitress. I turn to Griffin.

“But anyway, what else is new?”

“I am the one to ask. We have already received rumors that your girls were the first ever to win the exam in the knight school! Congratulations! Actually, congratulations to them, you are just the lion that keeps sleeping all day!”

He slaps my back.

“I will pass it on.” I raise my cup.

“So, how was it?”

“Didn’t you guys get the whole story?”

“Nope. We just got that piece of news. How did they do it?”

I laughed.

“You know that four of my wives are in the knight school, right? Opal, Shandon, Ruby and Aquamarine.”

“Yes.”

“Well, only Opal, Shandon and Aquamarine showed up for the exam. They said that Ruby had the flu.”

“Did she?”

“No, she didn’t. When the professor felt that there was someone close, she was already pushing him over the wall. Then she took the wooden sword against the other one’s neck. The guy had a crossbow in his hands.”

People were laughing and hitting the table. The waitress gives them a dagger look. The guys calm down.

“That is fucking awesome!”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

A lot of the people in the guild are commenting on the story. Not a big one, but definitely fun. After we finish for a bit, I ask Griffin what he has been up to.

“I have just finished an escort mission from the Holy Kingdom. I am even planning going back there. They are paying the adventurers their weight in gold! The jobs are a lot more dangerous, though. They don’t have many mithril level adventurers, so sometimes people receive a quest a little more difficult than it should be. But there are a lot of quests. And they pay well.”

“Just be careful, man. Remember, dead people don’t spend gold.”

“I am aware, Lionheart. But nobody married up like you did.” He laughs.

After we chit chat some more, I go take a look at the board. There are more escort missions than there were before. At least that is my impression. A lot of them accompanying merchants. There are some hunting quests here and there, just average. Some bandit hunting, specially river pirates.

There are some ads on benefits for adventurers going to the Holy Kingdom. They announce the better pay. Specially mithril leveled adventurers.

I investigate some additional rumors, but there is nothing that I haven’t hear before. The hero is an asshole. Arthuria corrupt as always. Some people are mentioning that there has been a lot more dwarven merchants, specially navigating the Big River and it’s arms throughout the continent. There is also a rumor of conscription that is going around, specially in Arthuria and the Holy Kingdom.

They are saying that these merchants have been dealing with high end products. Cloth like no other, ink for painting nails – if anyone could believe that – spices that felt heavenly… This was very recent, though.

Once I am satisfied with the information gathered, I go back home. I meet the girls, we have dinner and retire for the day.

The next day, I use the breakfast to inquire the girls about their day.

“Girls, are the dresses ready?”

“Almost, my lord.” Opal answers.

“Are they going to be ready on time?”

“I think so, my lord.” Shandon answers.

Cecilia shivers again. I look at her.

“What happened?”

“Nevermind. You will see.”

This feels a little weird, but I don’t press the issue. We finish the breakfast. The girls get around Cecilia. Ruby and Shandon share a smile that would better fit Muninn. Opal opens a portal to the elves, and they all take Cecilia with them. Before the portal closes, I think I can hear a short scream from Cecilia, but I think she is going to be fine. The dragonesses already told me they love their sister.

I turn to Rudolph.

“Rudolph, we only need about half an hour to dress the armor, right?”

“Yes, lord. Did you decide on donning it?”

“Yes. I talked with Edward. Truth is, no one is going to know what metal that armor is made of. I don’t think anyone would test it. We should be good.”

“Very well, lord. I will have it prepared.”

I don’t understand what preparing an armor would be.

“Great. Thank you.”

“We received this letter from his grace.”

He hands me a short letter. It is letting us know that he is going to let a carriage to service us. Due to our secret matters, it is going to wait in his estate. When we require the carriage, we can just have a guard run over and bring it.

This is very thoughtful. I will thank him later.

“Rudolph, would it be customary to provide a gift?”

“Lord, not in this situation. The ball is not a private matter attached to a person, but rather to an institution to which your wives participate.”

“Ok, thanks.”

I go to the living room, I sit on the couch. I take some time thinking on what I could do. It has to be something rather quick. I have to be home early, get a nice bath. Specially considering my girls’ noses.

I am going to just take it easy today. I go outside, I sit underneath the crow tree. Sometimes a calm day is welcome. I just sit and pay attention to my home.

The gardeners are working in a piece of the garden, planting some flowers. I wonder what they would think if I could introduce them to the dryads. They would go absolutely crazy. Actually, they could get some seeds next time Roberta refills her spices.

I stand up, I get come close to them. They are talking about removing the weeds. I stand behind them, watching. At some point, they feel my presence. Not like I have been trying to hide it.

“Lord! Good morning!”

The two of them do a deep bow.

“At ease, guys. Say… There is not store that I sometimes go that has all kinds of seeds. I was wondering if there is anything that we might use to improve the garden… Of course, I can’t guarantee that they are going to have it. Can you please prepare a list of seeds that would come in handy? I will check it next time I visit them.”

“Sure, lord. When do you need this list?”

“Oh, it’s not urgent. Not urgent at all. I am just trying to provide something that can be used.”

“Sure. We will prepare the list, lord.”

“Thank you.”

I leave them. I go back to my spot under the tree. The gate and the street is far away in front of me. I pay a little attention to the foot traffic. Some nobles, a lot of buttlers and maids. Some carriages, differing in levels of luxury between them. It is almost hypnotic.

I extend my mana sense, to better look at the situation. Several of the carriages are beautiful on the outside, while their internal parts have suffered a bit. I laugh at that. It’s just amazing how much nobles, even here in the empire, care about image more than form.

I relax a little bit. When it is around time to start getting ready for the ball, I stand up and go to my room. I think about how to get clean, really clean. This is not the middle of the night, so the lava bath in the dwarves’ forges is kind of out.

I decide to test my immunity to fire. I leave the clothes in the room, I go to the desert in Drakonia. I tell Muninn to keep a distance, and I cast some fire walls, on top of each other. I get close. It is hot, but it doesn’t burn. I go inside it. My hairs are all burned, but I can see that every impurity on top of my skin is burned off as well. The sand start feeling weird. I take a look down, it is melting. I step out. I open a portal back home, Muninn follows me.

I go into the showers and take a careful bath. I use some oils that dryads have provided. They told me the girls would enjoy it. It smells really good. When I go back into the bedroom, Rudolph is there, the armor is on top of the bed. I start getting dressed.

I put the pieces on. I have to admire Brokkr’s work. This armor is a little different from the previous one, but it is just as beautiful.

The pieces lock on themselves. The comfort, the mobility. It takes me some time to put it on.

Once I am finished, I look at the full body mirror. Even I look good in this! I smile to myself. Rudolph approaches with a red big cloth in his hands. He puts the large cape around me. He ties it on the front, the armor has a place for that. The cape goes higher than my shoulders, the front of the cape is a little rigid, and it starts cascading a little after my back.

I look again in the mirror. This is a nerd’s dream. I smile. I hope the girls enjoy it. I sense the girl’s presence in the house. I go down stairs. They are in front of the end of the stairs.

They are gorgeous. Their dresses have an ethereal quality to it. Their dresses have different colors. Ruby is wearing a red one, Aquamarine is wearing a blue one. Shandon is wearing a white, and Opal is wearing a black one. Cecilia is wearing a green one.

Their dress is something I haven’t seen in this world. It is a long dress, with a cut down the side of one leg. The cut is not too high, though. It starts a bit above the knee.

The dresses are close to the skin, and it accentuates their curves, while keeping the most important things hidden.

They have crystal or glass shoes, that go a long way with their painted toe nails. I look back at their faces. Their hairs are up, each one with an ornate piece of wood, ending in a dragon. Even Cecilia’s. I think the girls consider her a honorary dragoness by now.

The whole scene takes my breath away.

The girls are also looking at me. Ruby is breathing a little strange, biting her lower lip. Cecilia is the one that is behaving a lot closer to normal. I go down the rest of the stairs and take a closer look.

The dresses are made of a cloth that is crisscrossed with flower petals. Once I get close, I can feel the parfum from the flowers being released.

At this point, Lucille and Charles also appear on top of the stairs. Of course, they are coming in from the left. They are very well dressed, they could pass for nobles if not for their mannerisms.

I gesture the girls to accompany me to the dining room. I open my bag of holding and place dwarven necklaces on it. Several dozens of them. They came straight from dwarven vaults, each one of them an absolute art piece.

Each girl picks one. I place the necklace on them. I look back, Rudolph, Charles and Lucille are still on top of the stairs. I gesture Rudolph, he kind of unfreezes and approaches us.

“Rudolph, can you please let the carriage know we are ready? Are they going to pick us up right out the door or at the gate?”

“Right out the door, lord. Give me a minute, please.”

Lucille and Charles come down the stairs as well. I reach in the bag of holding, I grab another necklace. I extend it to Lucille.

“By the gods! I can’t!”

“Don’t worry, it is a loaner. My girls already have theirs on. I have a lot more where this came from.”

Charles tilts his head.

“A lot more? Are those fake?”

I laugh.

“Mama, just go ahead.” Cecilia says. She sighs then nods. She hands Charles the necklace, but he has no skill to put it on. Cecilia ends up putting the necklace on her mother.

We wait outside the door. Muninn and Huginn are on my shoulders. Charles takes a long look at the birds.

After some minutes, the carriage comes through the gate. It crosses the path in the garden carefully, stopping in front of us. The driver looks at us, and freezes. I see he moves when the helper, on the other side, is shaking him. The helper comes from behind the carriage.

When he sees us, he also freezes. Rudolph clears his throat very loudly. The helper shakes his head and proceeds. He opens the door and bows down to us. The girls climb into the carriage. The dresses have a lot more mobility than I would assume for this kind of design. We start moving towards the main ballroom, in the command school.

“So, my lord, you decided to don the armor after all…?” Opal asks.

“Yes. I checked with Edward, and I decided to make it a surprise. Did it work?”

“Fuck, this is hard!” Ruby comments.

Opal laughs.

“I can smell a new cologne as well… Where did it come from?”

“During one of the visits to the elves. Ipê told me that it would a smell particularly good for you.”

Opal laughs. Ruby opens the window. Aquamarine has a mischievous smile. Shandon is trying to get closer to the window Ruby opened. Muninn and Huginn are laughing.

Shortly after we get in front of the gigantic construction. There is a fountain, and a circular path around it. The main door is large, it is between marble columns. The carriage stops, we step out.

In the very front of the group is Cecilia, Charles on one arm, Lucille in another. After her, Ruby and Shandon stand in the middle of the group. And behind everyone I have Opal and Aquamarine on my arms. They are acting less weird. Muninn and Huginn are on my shoulders. We slowly enter the door.

There are already a lot of people in the room. The ball includes people from all years, and families, girlfriends and the like. The girls enter, the eyes turn to them. Their dresses are a lot different than the ones already in the room. Most dresses in the room are made with round, larger skirts.

The talking goes silent for a minute when we enter. After Cecilia, Ruby and Shandon enter the room, it is already quiet. Then they move a bit to the side, to reveal Opal, Aquamarine and me.

A couple of crystal glasses fall on the ground and break. This was not the intention. We all stay for what looks like an eternity, everyone frozen, including us.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA….” Edward starts coming over to talk to us, laughing and clapping. On the way, he places his hand on Addrianna’s lower back, she was close by.

He gets closer.

“Good evening, friend.” He then whispers to me. “You are the spitting image of a famous painting of Wrax…” He then talks with his normal voice. “I didn’t expect you to use that armor, friend!”

I get what he is trying to do.

“Yes! You see, it was on the cheap side, the smith that did this didn’t know the picture he copied was Wrax’s…” We both laugh. Muninn and Huginn fly up, they land on a beam. They like staying in high places, as always.

Some people around us do some fake laugh. The obligatory ones you do on a bad joke. Addrianna takes a close look at the girls dresses. Then at their hands.

“BY THE GODS! LOOK AT THIS!” She holds Cecilia’s hand, looking at her nails. We all move further inside the room. Some girls get around Cecilia. Aquamarine also show them her nails. Ruby goes further, and shows her light skin foot in a crystal or glass shoe, and her red toes.

The women around them get really excited with the novelty. Some girls stay where they are, mumbling and fanning themselves.

A waiter comes close, he has a tray with glasses. I pick one. It feels like a bubbly wine. The waiter seem a little tense. I take a look, he is really young. He is not all that good balancing the drinks. I turn to Edward.

“The waiters don’t seem too… experienced.”

He laughs.

“They are not. Those are the failing students. Part of tradition.”

We turn, and start opening up a little of space from the girls so that they can talk to their friends. Edward is the one to look again at me.

“Was this a coincidence?”

I shrug.

“We would have to ask Brokkr. Changing subject… There are a lot of people here.”

“Yes! You may not believe it because… Well, because you are you, but it is a great honor to be here. Very few students are chosen to be allowed to join each year. Out of the those, a smaller amount pass. Nobles come because they want to show off. Peasants come because they want to show off to nobles in case they need a retainer.”

“Professor Marcelo! Commotions follow you!”

“Good evening, professor Ambrose! How are you?”

Ambrose sighs.

“Sad, my friend, really sad. My most gifted students left… The pursuit of truth is that much stalled…”

Edward stares daggers at Ambrose.

“Professor Ambrose, surely you are not forgetting that one of such students left professor Marcelo as well…”

Ambrose realizes that he messed up a little bit. He looks at me with an apologetic tone.

“I am sorry! Trully sorry! Forgive this old fool!”

“Don’t worry about it professor. And I am sure that things are just going to come for you.”

“Good evening, professor Marcelo!”

I turn around.

“Good evening, professor Tacitus! How are you?”

“Excited, my friend, excited. Your idea on excavations is a new revolution. We started looking for signs of forgotten cities, we found some evidence west. We uncovered utensils, clothes, pottery, some paintings… Everything so different from what we have today! This is a whole new era!”

Edward gives out a well intentioned laugh.

“Yes, they have been spending the school’s money as if there was no tomorrow to dig old people’s trash!”

“Well, dean, you didn’t say that when we presented you a pottery with pictures of older gods…”

“Yes, yes, I know. You have had some successes as well.”

Tacitus is clearly proud of his achievements.

At this point, we hear three very loud bangs coming from the door. We all turn. There is a herald by the door, with this staff in his hand.

“His highness, emperor Anthon and son!”

Everyone kneels down. The dragonesses look around, but they don’t even flinch. Anthon quickly saves us.

“Please everyone! This is the academy’s ball. In here, the dean is more important than me. Just stand up!”

Edward bows, and I follow suit. Opal, Shandon and Aquamarine pretend they didn’t notice anything, but Ruby rolls her eyes. They are in the back, so I hope no one paid too much attention.

Anthon approaches us. He and Cesar are both also wearing ceremonial armors. They both have a black cloth covering their right upper arm.

“Good evening, friend! Good evening, dean!”

“Good evening, your highness! I didn’t expect your presence tonight.”

“Well, I didn’t have anything else planned, and I thought that it would be good if Cesar and I socialized a little bit, after the huge tragedy we went through… I can foresee a very long mourning period for us.”

Anthon sighs, a little too theatrically. Somehow, that pissed Edward a lot, but he doesn’t say anything.

I take a look at the girls to distract myself a little bit. They are around Cecilia. Some girls around are talking to them. Aquamarine, however, is looking at a completely different direction. I take a look, and she is looking at this older guy. He is wearing a military uniform, with a lot of medals across his chest. He is slightly older than Edward. I can sense that he has a very high level, probably upper fifties. As such, his age is harder to discern.

She slowly walks in his direction. I am curious, I decide to approach them as well. I excuse myself.

She arrives the same time I do. He opens a smile, giggling while he salutes us.

“Professor Marcelo, lady Aquamarine. Good evening.”

“Good Evening, professor. I mean, I am assuming you are a professor…?”

He smiles. Aquamarine tilts her head.

“Why are you so sad?”

“What? I am not sad. What are you talking about?”

I look at Aquamarine, she looks back at me.

“There are three people that are this sad in the whole room.” She turns her head back to him. In an almost ethereal way, she asks again.

“Why are you so sad?”

He sighs.

“I committed a grave sin, child.”

“It must have been bad… What happened?” Aquamarine asks.

“I betrayed my honor. I betrayed trust.”

Both Aquamarine and I are looking at him. He sighs and continues.

“After your absolutely brilliant exam in the knight school, the two professors wanted to disqualify your group. They argued that since Ruby was absent, that would be external interference. I knew better. You elevated a physical exam into misinformation. Yet I relented to them. I didn’t stop them.

“Of course, the dean saw that. He reminded me what I was doing. I did what I had to do. I presented him my resignation.”

He passed his hand over a column nearby. He was older while telling this. His voice was shaky.

“I really thought that I would spend the end of my years in this school. That I would be making a difference among the new generations. Helping them stay alive, with honor and courage.”

He takes a couple of deep breaths and straightens himself. He raises his cup towards us.

“Your exam was absolutely unique and fantastic. I am proud of having participated in your education as knight, lady Aquamarine!”

He drinks a sip. He takes a couple of steps back and walks towards a balcony. I turn to Aquamarine.

“Do you think your sisters would mind if I talked to Edward to keep him?”