The Quantum Wanderer

We leave the party with Anthon and Cesar. Once the carriage starts it’s way back, Anthon clears his throat.

“So, my friend, how did you like it?”

“It was fun. I am an introvert, but I still like going out. Specially with my wives.”

“You are a luck one, uncle.” Cesar comments. “I wish I could find someone nice.”

“What do you mean?” Cecilia asks. “The girls your age there only had eyes for you.”

Cesar looks at Cecilia and just shakes his head. Anthon giggles.

“Perhaps you should do like lord Marcelo? Pretend to be a commoner?” Anthon says.

The kid looks at me.

“Yes, I understand now.”

Anthon smiles. I don’t pry.

“Are you already looking for a girlfriend?” I ask.

“Not really. But it is not like it is going to matter. Heirs cannot choose their wives.”

I press my lips.

“Why not?” I ask.

He looks at me like I was saying something completely outrageous.

“Not everyone is like you, uncle.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have to care about politics.”

I thought a little about the subject.

“Neither do you. Not anymore.”

“Please elaborate.” Anthon says.

“You guys used to be part of a big alliance of 3 great powers. Now the Holy Kingdom is no more. Their new queen is not, under current circumstances, going to pressure you into anything. They used to have power to pressure the Empire, but that is no more.

“As for Arthuria, they are barely surviving their war. They have only a third of original forces available to keep their borders. I wonder how long they can maintain that.

“If your father allows for it, you can marry anyone. I mean, any girl either of you choose is going to come from a weaker house.”

The ride remained silent after that.

Anthon insists on dropping us in front of our front door. We go inside. It was a fun day.

The girls attack me when we get to the bedroom. After the hours of fun, we are laying on the bed.

“You girls always get this frisky when we go to a ball. I should do it more often.” I say.

“It’s the cologne, my lord.” Aquamarine says.

“What?”

“It has a high dose of aphrodisiacs for us. It drives us crazy with desire.” Aquamarine says.

I look at the other girls, the dragonesses nod. Cecilia just shrugs.

“I am just going with the flow. I think it smells nice, but it doesn’t have an effect on me.”

I put on a sadistic smile.

“Should we ask Ypê for an aphrodisiac for humans?”

Cecilia laughs.

“Imagine all women attacking you… Are you sure you want a bloodbath on your conscience?”

I laugh.

“Is it that bad?”

The dragonesses nod again.

“You’re better off not visiting Drakonia with that cologne, my lord. Like sister said, you don’t want a bloodbath on your conscience…” Opal says, with a somewhat cold voice.

I laugh more. I give them each a kiss.

Next morning, we go down for breakfast. After Cecilia and I finish eating, I start with the day’s plans.

“So, today we are going to visit Rajesh. Charles, Lucille, do you want to come?”

“Rajesh? As in the demon emperor?” Charles asks.

“Yes.”

Charles looks at Lucille, she shrugs. He looks back at me.

“If it is not a bother… Are you not going to discuss some kind of secret?”

I smile.

“You already know all the secrets. And the ones you don’t know you can just guess, I think. I don’t see much problem with that. Thinking about that, perhaps next weekend we can plan a group trip to the beach. Everyone.”

“That sounds fun!” Cecilia comments.

I smile and nod. I turn back to Charles.

“Anyway, do you want to come? You have already met them…”

“Well… If I am not imposing.”

“Ok then. I had scheduled it for around 11. That gives us some time to get ready.”

Ruby looks at me and tilts her head.

“My lord, are you going to share your harem with sister’s father?”

I shake my head.

“No. I don’t have to… Enjoy the harem every time I go there, right?”

“Harem…?” Charles asks.

“Yes, I… We have a harem there.”

“I… See…”

We finish our breakfast and get dressed casually. When we go downstairs, we meet Charles and Lucille. They have one of their finest clothes on.

“You don’t have to be so formal, Charles, Lucille.”

“We feel better this way…” Lucille answers.

I open the portal, and we are taken to the point close to the entrance, in the harem. Charles takes a look around, all the vestals in their usual dresses. He gets a very well earned slap in the back of the head from Lucille. The vestals start crowding around us.

We go out of the harem, to Rajesh’s palace. There are some cries of missing us when we leave the place. The pair of guards in the gate the connects the two places kowtow before us. One of them, without raising his head, clears his throat.

“Are you here to meet his highness, your godliness?”

“Yes.”

Then one of them stands and goes running towards the palace. The other one stands up.

“Just a moment, please. Someone will be here shortly to escort you, your godliness.”

I nod.

“What was that?” Charles asks.

“What do you mean? One of the guards is standing in his station, while the other one is notifying the palace that we are here.”

“No, I mean… This gate is guarded from this side, right? Not where we came from?”

“Oh, this gate is the entrance to my harem.”

Charles eyes are bulging.

“You mean all those girls… There must have been around two dozen…? All yours…?”

Ruby snorts.

“You’ve seen nothing! I wonder if they were able to wash all the liquids that ended up on the floor of the square…” She laughs a little bit.

“Square…?”

“Yes, father. The area is big, actually. There are gardens there, with a statue, a kind of a plaza in there as well…”

“Are the women allowed to leave?”

“Yes, they are kind of an arm of their church. The orphanage that is close to their church is also ran by them.”

“Just how many are we talking about…?”

I laugh. Charles receives another slap on the back of the head.

A butler approaches us. He kowtows, then stands up.

“Good morning, your godliness. His highness is already waiting for you.”

We follow the butler through several corridors, to a luxury room with couches. Rajesh and Aisha are standing up, and the moment they see me, Sidhu and Lakshimi kowtow.

“Please, guys… We are friends… Just act normal…”

Rajesh and Aisha sit down. Sidhu and Lakshimi share the couch with them. The girls and I share another couch, and Charles and Lucille share another one. There is a coffee table in the middle, and the C formed by the three couches points to a small stage, about one foot high.

“Good morning, friend! How are you?”

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

“Very, very well…” He laughs.

Aisha looks at the girls, and nods. Then she and the girls stand up. Lucille and Lakshimi see this and join them. The 8 women and Huginn leave the room.

Some maids are around. They ask us what drinks we want, I go with the same one I always have here. Muninn also goes with some drink, that is brought in a little cup for him. Everyone gets their own thing. The maid pours a shallow cup for Muninn.

Probably out of respect for Charles, Rajesh asks in human language.

“So, friend, you were telling that you were telling me the story about how your encounter with the here was, in detail…?”

I laugh. I had admitted that I had been the one that killed the hero, but I had never shared the details. Muninn clears his throat.

“May I, father?”

I nod at him. Sidhu puts his index finger up, asking for a minute. He pulls out a notepad from a bag of holding and a pen.

“May I?” Sidhu asks.

“Sure.” I shrug.

Muninn clears his throat again.

“Well, about our encounter with the stooges…

“Those guys had raped a girl in a guild branch. That didn’t sit well with us, with mama Cecilia being a former guild attendant… So mama Aquamarine made those two guys into little bitches. Actually large bitches…”

He stops to laugh.

“What do you mean?” Rajesh asks.

“Mama Aquamarine placed Fenrir aphrodisiacs on them. Let’s say that justice was poetic…”

He laughs.

“You mean… Fenrirs… Like…” Rajesh does some gestures with his hands.

“Yes! It was a mess! Then the hero grew agitated… He started bitching about killing papa, so mama Ruby slapped him around a little bit. Even mama Cecilia got her practice.”

Sidhu is writing furiously on his notepad. The figure of the former marshal, big as a door, tongue to the side of his mouth, writing furiously is entertaining.

“Mama Ruby took off the hero’s arm, to beat him with it. Then she complained that it didn’t quite work the way she wanted. Don’t tell her that, but she probably still has a thing or two to learn with Skylar… But that is besides the point, and we already have dragon meat for millenia.

“The rest was just some toying around. Oh yes, a couple of thieves tried to sneak on mama Opal. Hahaha… She can smell odorless poison, she can probably taste air if she wanted to. Hahaha. I never expected those guys to be so amateurish…”

Charles is looking at Muninn, hearing the tale. I would expect some kind of reaction from him, but there is nothing. Rajesh laughs, while Sidhu is busy writing. I hear the noise of thunder in the distance. We look outside, and heavy clouds take over the sky. Rajesh looks out the window, with a very wide smile on his face.

“Oh, your wife is blessing us again with rain! I cannot thank you enough!”

I raise my cup towards him and take a sip.

“You mentioned that things are going well. How is the irrigation coming along?”

“Oh, we are reshaping the landscape, my friend. Things couldn’t be better. We have now plantations, and some cattle has been imported through the dwarves. I am being called the wise emperor!”

He laughs, more out of good humor than something funny. He continues.

“And then there is the war status. We are allowing ourselves a smaller amount of soldiers on the frontier. Still, we are pushing the border forward. Arthuria keeps loosing one fortress after the other.”

“Congratulations!” I say. I am not helping them in the war, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t cheer for them. I don’t know who is wrong or right, but I know just how messed up the Holy Kingdom was, and Arthuria is. I have no sympathy for them.

“Thank you. That being said, I was thinking that we could hear some songs by your vestals. They have been practicing a lot, specially after learning that it pleases you. You have no idea how much they miss you, my friend. Haha. I wish my harem missed me half as much!”

Sidhu puts away the notebook, and nods at me. I smile. Rajesh claps his hand, a maid approaches. He whispers something in her ear. She courtesies him, and leaves.

The rain is pouring outside, the smell of rain on grass reaches us. Rajesh smells the air.

“This smell, this weather! I wish I could describe to you what it means to us, friend! Did you know that we are starting to have insects around? Even bees that we imported.”

“Yes, but the rain is Opal’s gift, most probably.”

“It helps, I am not going to deny, but the irrigation is from water extracted from the sea. The price of water is now a tip, rather than a treasure.”

“I am just happy to hear it. But I just showed you an idea. You guys made it real.”

Rajesh sighs. Sidhu’s eye shine. I smile at this. Although they are exaggerated, it is welcoming. Rajesh turns to me.

“I hear that you have been going to school…?”

“Yes. It is a fun experience.”

“That got me really curious… Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you going to school? Is it to find friends? Is it to pass the time? Are you bored? Why?”

“Actually, it is to learn.”

I see a lot of muscles being pulled in Rajesh’s and Sidhu’s face.

“Learn what? What can they possibly teach you?”

“A lot, actually. Most of my current magic works because I mix them with my knowledge of nature. A lot of it could be created without magic, actually. I didn’t learn magic properly. Let’s put it this way… Imagine a person that has been in brawls all their life. They are going to fight, right? But with the proper coaching of an actual martial art…”

“So… You are… Stronger?”

“The numbers are the same, but I am able to flex it easily. One professor is teaching me multi-casting right now.”

Rajesh and Sidhu laugh. More of amazement than an actual joke.

“Is there anything else you want to conquer, friend?”

I shrug.

“I never did want to conquer anything. Things just kind of… Happened. It’s not like I go out of my way to do stuff…”

There is a brief silence. I continue.

“Anyway, on a second level, there are the other factors you mentioned. Staying close to the girls is fun, although we are not in the same class. There is a group of friends there.” I laugh a little. “There is even a kid that took some disliking for me. I think it was the lack of entrance exam.”

They both laugh.

“My floors remember very well what you would end up doing on an entrance exam…” Rajesh says.

Muninn laughs. He murmurs ‘one more hit’ under his breath.

“But everything is alright now.”

“You know, you could also attend some events here if you wanted to. I have ball invitations everyday. I will make sure misbehaving doesn’t happen. Not that it could happen now.”

“What do you mean?”

“People wouldn’t risk whispering anything bad about you.”

“Did you enact a law or something?”

“Pfft… If I gave the order to stand against you, more than half my guards wouldn’t obey. You do realize that news about the former Holy Kingdom spread out here, right? And no involvement from me. I didn’t spread any intel. Soldiers captured from the battlefront said that all Holy Kingdom military forces abandoned the front. They talked. It was seen as your blessing.”

I laugh.

“Muninn was pissed.”

Muninn shrugs.

“I wasn’t the only one… They got luck, if wifey hadn’t woke up so fast, papa and the mammas would have probably made worse.”

I giggle a little. He is not wrong. Rajesh and Sidhu take a sip of their hard liquor.

“Anyway, “ Rajesh continues, “ what are your next plans? What do you want to achieve?”

“I never really had a plan. I want to live well. I want to keep my family happy. I want to keep my friends happy. Perhaps do some tourism, here and there? Keep under the radar…? What about you?”

“Me?” Rajesh asks, “I want to make our lands fertile, so that we don’t depend on a single source of food like we have for so long. I want to end this war, with as few demon casualties as possible. The treaty with the empire was a huge step towards that. I want to make my people happy.”

“What about you, Sidhu?”

“I found my calling, your godliness. My life is already a bliss. I long for peace, so that we can spread your word to other races as well.”

Rajesh laughs.

“Sidhu, how many scriptures have you had printed already?”

“It’s hard to say, your highness… We use the pressing device, and make several of them each time. It keeps going night and day. Besides, there is more than one version, as well.”

“Why is there more than one version?” I ask.

“Because you keep doing deeds, my lord. And we also have them in two languages, demon and common.”

“I heard that it is a big hit among dwarves. They even reported some stuff to add to the scriptures, like freeing cities from underground monsters.” Rajesh says.

I feel a little embarrassed.

“The elves have been acquiring several copies as well. We also receive their reports. The chapter on saving the soul of the forest is particularly emotional. I ended up going with their wording, it softens the hardest of hearts.”

I can only imagine how the dryads and bards are spinning those tales. While I am really curious on what is written, I am still too embarrassed to read the book. There is a knock on the door, Rajesh tells them to enter.

There is a group of 20 of my vestals, they are carrying instruments. They put all the stuff on the side, and kowtow to us. Somehow their dresses’ necklines really visible. All of us blushed. Sidhu looked to the side. The girls’ tails were swinging nervously.

“You can stand.” I tell them, in demon language.

They stand up and start arranging the instruments in the little stage. Some of them fit in the stage, some of them stay by the side. I remember that last time Rajesh and I watched a show, it was with a much smaller band.

The addition of music players added to the music volume, allowing for further instruments playing base sound underneath.

They still played the songs that they had learned from Huginn. It was absolutely fantastic. I turn to Rajesh.

“Last time we watched them playing songs there were less girls playing, right?”

“Word that you enjoy that spread, your godliness. A lot of them applied to learn playing the instruments and singing lessons. There is now a fierce competition on the groups related to music.” Sidhu says, with a smile. He carries a proud expression.

The show keeps going. I smile at Muninn.

“Muninn, my dearest son…”

I never imagined that I would ever see a crow raising one brow. I smile.

“Yes, father?”

“Oh, come on, call me papa…”

He sighs.

“Yeah, yeah, what do you want, *papa*?”

I can’t help but laugh a little bit.

“Couldn’t you teach a couple of them how to dance?”

He starts laughing.

“What? I think it would look nice. Music, then some dancing.”

“I thought you were going to ask me something. You really don’t understand how things work, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just give me a second.”

Muninn flies towards the band, and assume his larger shape. The girls stop playing because of his aura. The chooses two girls, and point at them.

“Ok, ok, I am going to help a little. Father would fancy if a couple of you would dance for him.”

The girls look at me, and they all raise their hand. Muninn chooses a couple of them, and touches his forehead against them. The first girl bow down. The second one bows down, but then stands up and raises her hand towards Muninn. She whispers something in his ear. He looks at her.

“Yes, you got a point. “ Turning to us, Muninn asks, “Is there a pole they could use?”

I slap my forehead.

“You do realize that that’s exactly the reason why I avoid asking you for stuff, right? Teach them normal modern dancing!”

Muninn has a fit of laughter. He tells the girls in a tone of voice that is harder for the others to listen in.

“The dancing I have shared with you is to used for seduction! Never in front of other males than father!”

The two girls nod. They have a very large smile on their faces. Muninn lowers his head again, and teach them a modern dancing.

Muninn goes back to his small size, and flies to the coffee table. I sigh.

“You know you are an asshole, right?”

“Tehe!” Muninn says, pretending to hit his head with a wing.

“Perhaps I should complain to Huginn…”

“No need, dearest father…”

Rajesh cracks up laughing.

The band restart their playing. The two girls start a little awkward, but they get better by the second, dancing a light modern style for us. There is not a choreography, so they are mostly doing some dancing that Muninn shared with them.

We enjoy the show. The two dancers in front really compose something a lot more elaborate. Rajesh holds his chin.

“Hum… We generally have either one or the other. When we have dancers, the focus of attention is generally the dancer, not the music players. Conversely, when the music players are the focus, we don’t have dancers. Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you ask for it, if you wanted to watch it?”

I can’t think of a good reason. I probably should have.

We watch the show, while sipping our drinks. There is a knock on the door, the music stops again. The door opens, the women are back. They sit with us on the couches, and the show restarts.

We enjoy the music and the liquor for a while. After it ends the sun is already setting. We say our farewells and portal back home.