The Quantum Wanderer

After the girls leave for the school, I am sitting in my study, thinking about recent things. Muninn is around, he is distracted with some feather cleaning, on top of a book case. He flies down and lands on top of the couch.

“Father, wifey has asked if it would be any trouble inviting some hatchlings to the park. The one behind the kitchen.”

“I don’t mind, but who does she have in mind?”

“The two girls, Rutra and Sophia.”

“Ok, she can do that, but she has to be the one taking care of them. Something like what happened in the wedding can not happen. Do you two take responsibility for it?”

“Yes, father. I will let her know.”

I ring a bell and summon Rudolph.

“You called, lord?”

“Yes, Rudolph. Sophia and Rutra decided to visit to play. Are there any children playing in the back?”

“Yes, lord. Do you want me to remove them?”

“Gods, no! Just let them know that the two coming are guests, and have them prepared so that they don’t phreak out with Rutra’s looks.”

“Of course, sir, I will also let the kitchen know.”

“Thank you. That works.”

“I am going to help on the overlook then, father.” Muninn adds.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

I keep reading the history books. Some time later, the bell rings. After the natural delay, Rudolph tells me that Sophia is here, with her personal maid.

I keep reading the book, the amount of manipulation is off the charts. I can see how things are removed from history by whoever is telling them. Time passes.

I hear some commotion from the kitchen. Some screaming, some door slamming. I get up to investigate. I go to the kitchen.

“What happened?”

Huginn was by the back door, she was the one to answer.

“Not much, papa. The maid that brought Sophia was rude, that’s all.”

I look to her side, and one of the cutting woods was hanging, with a knife through it.

“Is everyone here ok?”

“Yes, lord.” Roberta answers.

“Is Sophia safe?”

“As if she were in my nest!” Huginn answers.

I don’t know if I should worry anymore about this. I am sure that if there is a problem Edward would mention it to me. Sophia being safe was the main goal. I am sure that Huginn has a good head, and she would not do anything to hurt the girl.

“Ok then. Just keep both kids safe.”

“Thanks, papa.”

I get some fresh juice, I cool it with magic, and get back to my study.

***

Edward’s POV

I am back home. This thing about pretending to work ended up being the real thing. As my carriage has just turned the curve, I see that Sophia is getting home. She has a small group of soldiers around her. She is dirty, Addrianna is going to get worried.

I arrive home, Sophia was already taken by the maids to get a bath. Addrianna is waiting me by the door. She takes my coat instead of the butler.

“Good evening, honey.”

“Good evening…”

I let her get the coat, she puts it over her arm. I continue.

“I saw Sophia arriving home. Where was she?”

“She in your pal’s home. She was excited and sleepy at the same time. That is a first.”

“Oh? Did Marcelo invite her?”

“No. Huginn did.”

“I am sorry?”

“Yes. Sophia comes up to me, and asks to go play in uncle’s and aunties’ house. In the park. I tell her that she can’t, because we have to guarantee her safety. She asks if the problem was solved if she could go. Why not, right? Rebirth starts talking, using that crows voice ‘I will guarantee it.’ So… Off she went.”

“How was it?”

“She had a blast. She apparently met with Rutra, and they had a blast playing Wrax.”

I giggle a little. Then I realize.

“Wait, Rutra? The demoness? She was there as well?”

“Apparently. Rajesh and his wife probably had it worse.”

“How do you figure?”

“Imagine a little kid pestering you, ‘can I go?’ ‘can I go?’ Only their answer had something to do with distance, with not wanting to bother. And then Huginn happens.”

I laugh. I can actually picture the scene in my head.

We have a normal dinner. After this whole talk about Marcelo’s house, I keep thinking about those steaks, dreaming about both the steak and Roberta’s cooking. Addrianna brings me back.

“What are you thinking about? With the face you have on, I am almost scared to ask.”

“I was just remembering the meal available in Marcelo’s wedding…”

Addrianna does this face, where she looks up, trying to remember the meal. We stay silent for a couple of minutes.

“How were the schools today?”

“The usual. I told you that now I have two professors trying to pressure me into hiring Marcelo, right? It was just more of the same.”

“Any news on the rest?”

I sigh.

“We received news today that Romuela attacked a neighbor nation, as expected. The news are that the fort on the border fell in hours, without a surrender. That is not supposed to happen. The army within the fort holds too much of an initial advantage.”

“So… “

“Exactly. They managed to use that. Or him. Or whatever you want to call that monster.”

“What do you think are going to be the developments?”

“They are still going to take some time dominating the neightbor. They have to get the surrender, they have to occupy… Once they do that and see that they have the strongest weapon in the land, they are probably going to challenge the next one. And then that depends on their leader.

“If he is smart, he would get several small countries, solidify his power, create a smaller empire. From that he would then think about getting the bigger countries.

“But I don’t think he is. And he borders the Holy Kingdom.”

“And what do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t really know this Skylar, how he thinks. But he has a different point of view from the rest of us. We are ants. How did you feel at the wedding?”

“Insignificant. Happy for them, the ceremony was beautiful, but the rest of the audience was… Stirring.”

“So that’s the thing. I don’t know how he is maneuvering Skylar. I would understand that they can win battles against the Holy Kingdom, but they are not going to be able to occupy. The Holy Kingdom is too massive, and while they could be getting a victory on one side, their capital could be in the process of being hazed to the ground.”

“But their dragon…”

“Ok. Let’s play some pretend here. Imagine you enter the kitchen, and you find some ants, they are chanting your name. You decide to help them.

“They ask for some honey. You give them. Now they ask you to bake a cake. You just shrug and kill all of them, because it is now too much work.”

She laughs a little bit.

We finish our dinner talking about some other generalities. I decide to have some night liquor in my study. I look through the window, and I see Marcelo’s mannor. I raise my glass. There is a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

A maid enters the room, she has her head down. She does a courtesy.

“My lord, I am sorry to interrupt you night, but I bear grave news.”

I look at her, and I am intrigued. This is one of the first times I have had a maid addressing me directly. This has always been Addrianna’s responsibility.

“Have you talked to my wife already? She is your boss’s boss.”

She lifts a hand to her cheek for a couple of seconds. She lowers her head.

“I did, sire, but the situation is really dire.”

I sigh.

“Proceed. Cautiously.”

She notices in my tone that I am unhappy with this situation.

“My lord, I was tasked with taking the little lady to the neighbor, to play.”

I hold my hand up.

“Did the lady of the house tell you to behave?”

I can feel her squirming.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Very well, continue.”

“I brought the little lady there. She was supposed to play in a construction in the back of the house, and she was forced to go through the kitchen!

“But that was not enough. When I was about to get to the park, to… Inspect it, someone played a prank, and did some voice magic. They placed a female voice on a crow.

“The voice in the crow said that only the little lady was allowed. I told them that I was bound to check that the playground was good enough. The voice in the crow told me no, and the crow extended her wing, as if that would stop me.

“I was about to put my hand on the door knob, when some hooligan threw a knife at me! The knife went through a hanging cutting board. That’s when I left, and came back to get reinforcements.”

I am boiling. This moron had one job. I sip some more liquor, holding the anger down is really hard. I still have to check that Addrianna’s hear is in the same place.

“How did the lady answer?”

She caressed her cheek.

“She wasn’t pleased.”

“And what did you think would happen if you tried to play OVER MY WIFE, YOU FUCKING MORON??!?”

She is scared. I don’t know if she is scared enough. I throw my glass against the wall. It explodes in pieces.

“MY WIFE TOLD YOU TO FUCKING BEHAVE, AND YOU CAN’T HEAR SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS??? WHAT KIND OF STUPID BITCH ARE WE HIRING RIGHT NOW??”

The books and utensils on my table rattle because of the warcry portion of my screaming.

“I AM HOLDING MYSELF FROM SLAPPING YOU, BECAUSE IT WOULD FUCKING KILL YOU! LEAVE! NOW!”

She uses the opportunity to run out of the room. Addrianna enters the room shortly after. I let myself fall into the chair. Addrianna tells me, very softly.

“I am sorry for that, but I did do what was possible, other then coming over myself. Now that I am saying that out loud, it is not a bad idea for next time.”

“I would appreciate. You understand things better. It is just like what we have been talking about during dinner. Why risk?

“Another thing, see that the guards that accompanied her get a bonus. They probably deserved it.”

“Why?”

“Because they followed orders instead of paying attention to a hysterical idiot.”

She understands what I mean. She nods. She comes closer, I pull away from the table a little bit, she sits on my lap. She plays with my hair, my anger disappears. She really knows how to press my buttons.

***

Marcelo’s POV

The next morning during breakfast, the girls are talking about the war.

“My lord, what have you got of information on the war?” Ruby asks.

“Not much. I think it might be rude of me to keep watching  Skylar’s moves. Muninn can probably show me stuff from other battalions, though.”

“Why do you think it would be rude? He would probably be glad that someone was watching.” Ruby pitches in.

Opal agrees with her.

“We don’t even normally wear clothes, my lord. It is not like we care about someone watching our hunts. Our language has no word for shame.”

I think about it. Would I care about being watched? There are a couple of things that I would not like to expose, like the nudity of my girls. But I didn’t do anything I feel particularly ashamed by. There are things that I would have done differently with the knowledge I have now, but not ashamed. And it is not like I am going to spy anything too secretive.

I turn to Muninn.

“Is there any crow near him?”

“The crows are everywhere, father. Since we… they are so adaptative, they can live everywhere where humans can. Of course, areas with too much mana become dangerous because of monster level, but other than that…”

“Great. Is he riding a horse?”

“Yes, father.”

“Can you have a crow land on his saddle, saying the sentence ‘greetings, councilor’ and then give me control?”

“Sure.”

Muninn gets closer to me. I put the plate to the side, so that Muninn can stand right in front of me. I have finished eating, anyway. He moves himself right in front of me. He lowers his head, and I can feel the mana going through him.

A short time later, I can see myself small, I am standing in front of Skylar. He stands big in front of me, in his human form. He has now an armor. It is one of the noble fake ones, shiny but it doesn’t really protect anything. He has this bored feel to it.

“Good morning, councilor.”

“Good morning, councilor.”

My view right now is almost 360 degrees, due to the bird’s eyes. I can see that the soldiers near him are whispering, pointing at me. Others are just whispering. Very few are indifferent.

“Would you mind if I watched your… hunts?”

“Do as you wish.”

I was about to disconnect, when he shouts.

“Wait! “ He licks his lips, and looks around. “Can you provide me a kraken meal in return?”

I think about it.

“One meal, then, and I will watch your hunting in this land.”

“Deal.”

He is almost drooling. I disconnect. I come back to reality. It takes a second to get back to my own mind, I think this is always going to have a weird feel to it. It feels like wearing a vr headset with a lot of lag. The way the images are built overlap, and the senses adjust back to my body.

I ring the bell, Rudolph comes in.

“Rudolph, can you ask Roberta to prepare a big meal of kraken? Something like… twice what one of my wives would eat?”

“Of course sir.”

I turn back to Muninn.

“How was the first battle with Skylar? Did you watch it?”

“Not really, father. I do know that it was a stronghold, one of those that houses primarily soldiers on the border. When Skylar started the attack, all natural life around ran away. Including his army horses. I can show you what it is looking like now.”

“Sure.”

Muninn shows me what the stronghold looks like now. It was a sizeable one, on the border of Romuela and Elator, on Elator’s side. The stronghold’s stones barely survived. It is possible to say there was a stone construction there, but the stones were melted, basically piles of small piles of hardened lava, about five feet tall. The earth in and around it was black. Other than some hardened lava, there wasn’t much left. Here and there, some puddles of hardened metal. And lots of ashes.

I make a face, and Cecilia looks at me.

“What is it like?”

I shrug.

“He erased it. Some piles of stones that were obviously lava at some point. Other than that, the earth is blackened. And ashes, lots of ashes around.”

“Do you think there were survivors?” Cecilia asks.

“I don’t think they realized what happened, to be honest. Did you girls hear anything about it in knight school?”

Aquamarine is the one to answer.

“I think someone mentioned something about a war. We didn’t really pay too much attention to it, to be frank, my lord. Do you want us to chase information?”

For a moment, I imagine what Ruby chasing for information would look like.

“No need. Besides, I can know as much as I want. It is not like any of this is a secret.”

The girls keep eating. Rudolph comes in with a tray with the amount of meat. 20 pounds of kraken, freshly prepared by Roberta. I turn to Muninn.

“Can you please let him know that his meal is ready? Once he gets off the horse I will hand it to him.”

Muninn lowers his head. Once he is done, I again connect to the crow. He is standing on the ground, now. The crow in on the saddle. I open a portal, and hand the tray on his hands, then close the portal.

The crow is still watching, Skylar goes berserk eating the kraken steak. His mouth opens way wider than any human mouth is supposed to open, and he starts eating the steaks. After the first piece, he lets out a shout.

“THIS IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!”

And he quickly devours the whole tray of meat. He leaves the horse there, and walks towards a tree in the treeline. He sits down, his hands over his stomach.

The captain that is with the platoon is obviously pissed. He holds the bridge of his nose, and starts counting. Skylar falls asleep.

The captain orders everyone to dismount, and set a short interval. I pick the tray back, through a portal. The tray is bent and scratched. I fix it by hand. Silver is not hard to manipulate anymore. I can heat it, using induction, I can smooth it, and then redraw the pattern in detail by manipulating the material.

I cool it down, and hand it back to Rudolph, that has been looking at what I am doing to the tray. He receives the tray and goes back to the kitchen.

The girls end up going to school. I decide to go to the guild. I wonder if the news about the war have already reached there. Rudoph calls me when I am on my way to the door.

“Lord, do you have a minute?”

I stop at my tracks. I turn around.

“Of course, Rudolph. What’s up?”

“I have heard the reports about what happened yesterday, with the dukes’ daughter maid.”

“Oh, I have even forgotten about that. What happened?”

Rudolph clears his throat, and looks at Muninn. I cast a silence spell.

“You can talk now, he is not going to hear what you say.”

“Thank you, lord. Apparently, the maid in question tried to accompany lady Sophia into the park in the back of the house. Lady Huginn stopped her. She defied, until one of Roberta’s cooks, that had some unusual training with knives, threw a knife at a cutting board, to make the point across.”

“Oh? Did Roberta hire someone with a higher level?”

“It just happened, lord. But this person is trustyworthy.”

“Fine, bring this person, a cutting board and a knife outside.”

I don’t particularly like knives flying around Sophia. Let’s check. I step outside, and I take a look at the garden. Calm as always. The dozens of crows on the tree nearby, the sun is soft today.

Shortly after, they arrive. Rudolph, Roberta, and the new cook. The new cook’s levels are not bad if compared to average people.

“Hi Roberta. Do you know why we are here?”

Roberta is looking towards the ground.

“Because we scared the duke’s maid?”

She drops to her knees.

“I am sorry lord! It is my fault! I am prepared for any punishments.”

“No, that is not the reason. I tend to get a little nervous with knives flying around Sophia.”

I turn to the maid that had thrown the knife. I get the cutting board, and distance myself from her for around 30 feet. I turn around, and I hold the board up.

“What is your name?”

“I am Gretta, lord.”

“Ok. Gretta, throw the knife on the board.”

She holds the knife by the blade. I rise my hand.

“Wait! I want to make sure. Rudolph, put a blindfold on her.”

“What? I am sorry, lord, but…”

“PUT A BLINDFOLD ON HER! NOW!”

After the sentence with just a little bit of mana, I get back to smiling. The mana shakes them a little. The three of them get a little nervous. Rudolph takes a handkerchief from his pocket, and does as instructed.