The Quantum Wanderer

Next morning, we are enjoying our breakfast. Muninn, after he finishes eating, hops close to me.

“The hero’s party is now in front of Elator, father. Do you want to watch?”

“Yes, I am kind of curious about what he is like.”

I am immediately transported to the senses of a bird in the edge of the forest. The bird takes flight, and a short time later it is on top of one of the towers close to the gates in Elator. The soldiers over the gate are a mixture of Romuelans and Elatorians.

The hero approaches the gate. One of the knights in the front gets closer. He shouts, his voice carrying a bit of mana. Not impressive by my standards, but I can see that it affects the guards on top of the gate.

“THE HERO HAS COME, UNDER BANNER OF NERGAL, TO LIBERATE ELATOR! OPEN THE GATES!”

The soldiers are a little afraid. The captain order the gates to be lowered. It starts coming down, while they are slowly twisting the roll that holds it.

Once the gates are down, the hero’s platoon enter the city. They are received inside the city by the captain. The knight that did the shouting turns to a group of soldiers.

“Who is in charge here?”

The captain steps forward.

“I am.”

“Not anymore.”

He looks at the group surrounding the hero. Even them are a couple of levels higher than the captain. The captain bows his head.

“Of course, lords.”

The knight to the side of the one that did the shouting giggles.

“Told you, brother. Cowards. I don’t know why we are supposed to spend our time in this shithole.”

The captain keeps his head down. The shouter laughs.

“You may stand up. I am going to call you trashtain. Any complaints?” He lets out a harsh laughter after that.

“None, my lord.”

“Good. You just might be able to keep your head. We like useful servants.” The other one remarks. The first one keeps talks again.

“Close all gates to the noble district. No noble is to leave the district. Nobles trying to get in are to be brought to us. As of now, the city is under martial law. GO!”

The group move forward slowly, and two of the knights stay behind, tying their horses to a wood structure nearby. One of them is a really big guy. I wonder if he is really human or a cross with some other giant like race. It feels like he is three feet higher than his companion. He also looks very strong. Probably a berserker of sorts.

His colleague is a lot thinner, with a smaller sword. He is very light in his feet, though. He naturally walks in a silent manner.

The big one go to the roll of chains that was unrolled to lower the gate. He gestures for the other soldiers to get back. He starts rolling the wheel by himself. The thin one pulled a chair out of the guard house close to the gate. He is sitting on it. He pulls out a throwing knife, starts cleaning his nails.

He throws the knife towards me. I can see the knife coming, the bird I am in tries to fly away, but the knife is too fast. I feel some pain, the connection is lost. I turn to Muninn.

“Do you think they noticed they were being spied on?”

Muninn tilts his head.

“It’s hard to be sure, but I would say they didn’t.”

“Then the knife stunt…?”

“Probably just that, father. A stunt. Again, I am not completely sure, but I didn’t sense any mana sensing. The sad part is that he is not even going to eat it.”

I look around, the girls have just finished eating. Cecilia lays her head on her hands.

“What is going on, my villain?”

“I was watching the hero’s party. They just arrived in Elator’s capital. I am thinking that we are going to have lots of news in the following days. He is rounding up all the nobles in the city… It is not looking good.”

“Are you going to intervene?”

“Why? We don’t even know anyone on either side.”

“What would you do if they decided to fight in the war with the demons?”

“That’s a very complicated question. I don’t know… Perhaps if this comes up I will think about it. It also depends a lot on how the war is won or lost. I guess that would be a big part of my answer.”

The dragonesses are a little bit bored with the talk. Opal lets out a burp. We all look at her at the same time. After she learned that this is something you are not supposed to do, she never burped. I throw my mana sense around, the mana within her is starting to react with itself. I open a portal behind her, and jump through it, carrying her.

We step on the other side. I am princess carrying her. I look behind me, the rest of the group is jumping through the portal as well. The portal is almost closed when I sense it.

BUM.

She has a pained but happy expression. I put her on the ground, she starts undressing. I am helping her. I keep thinking on how alike she is to Shandon. No one would ever say they are mother and daughter, but rather sisters. Once she is done she smiles at me, she reverts to her dragon form.

I start with the protocol. I open the portals to the ley lines.

BUM.

The mana booms feel stronger with Opal than with the others. It is noticeable, even if it is not dwarfing the others. The same process repeats before my eyes. The growing, the scales and claws. She is absorbing more mana than the others, though. I decide to open one more portal for her. She is bathing her body in a lot of mana.

Everything is under control. I provide the anesthesia so that she doesn’t feel any pain, she goes under. My mind wanders, I am remembering the dryad’s reaction to ley line mana yesterday. That was funny.

Muninn and Huginn use the place to stretch their wings in their normal, big, size.

The process takes its course. Troggar arrives on the beach, this time alone. He lands reasonably close to us, submission pose.

“Good afternoon, soul devourer.”

“Good afternoon, Troggar. How are things?”

“Everything is calmer. I have heard that you dispatched a hatchling and an adult?”

“Yes.”

“Can you believe that he laughed at our lord?” Ruby asks.

“Really? What did they think would happen to them? This is… I don’t think there are words for this level of stupidity…”

Troggar raises his head, and laughs. I smile. I got curious on how the news carried. Ruby inspects her nails.

“I have to admit, though, ripping his head off broke the painting on my nails.”

I can see that Troggar gets a chill down his spine.

“How did you know about that? It supposedly happened in the Nursery.”

“An adult dragon came over, trying to incite a war. Things were a little shaky. Their luck was that it is clear that our lord does not desire them killed. 

“And then lord Skylar came back from his vacation in the human realm. He was really disappointed with the experience. He arrived in a bad mood, and his clan immediately encircled him and complained about the dragon’s death.

“The elder complaining didn’t even finish the sentence before he was placed on his back, with his neck half inside lord Skylar’s jaw…

“The rest of them got the idea.”

I don’t even have to hear or see that Muninn is laughing out loud. In truth, both he, Ruby and Shandon are laughing. After they stop, Ruby complements.

“That’s a pity. I would love to have a fight with Skylar. What do you think my chances would be, my villain?”

“Oh? Are you going to call me that as well?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

I smile.

“You should. All of you should.” And I get attacked by a red head, sliding against my back on the sand for some good 30 feet before stopping with her on top of me. The others pile on top of us.

“This amount of love is going to end up killing me!” I laugh.

I can hear Troggar’s eye rolling. He is seeing something that is completely alien in their culture.

“My lord, can I let the others know that all of your mates have evolved?”

“Sure, I don’t see how this would impact us. Go ahead.”

“Excuse me then, my lord, I am going to return to my cave.”

I nod at him. He turns around and flies away. I turn back to look at Opal. She is sleeping deeply while being soaked in mana. In this state, she absorbs a lot of it. It soaks her being, her blood, her dna, her nervous system.

We stand around her on the beach. Cecilia passes her hand on my chest.

“My villain, since we are going to stay the day here… What if I invite my parents as well? Perhaps some chairs?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She stands up, opens a portal to our room. She still takes some time on the casting. There is a lot of movements she does with her hands. She has improved the time a lot, though. She jumps through it and the portal is gone. She is improving on it.

I cast some earth magic, the place we are laying on the sand become a kind of a sand sofa. I relax and pay attention at the waves in the sea. This is a big cycle that is closing, my last wife evolving. Opal was really anxious about this. Even though she was already a dragon. I wonder what made her so anxious about it.

The waves end up taking away my concerns. I keep relaxing. I blink, and I wake up with Cecilia already sitting on a chair, underneath a sunshade. Her parents are underneath another sunshade. Each of them has a drink on their hands.

The girls on top of me notice that I woke up, they stand up. So do I. Cecilia’s parents raise their drinks in my direction, I raise my right hand. I look at Cecilia. She wearing a bathing suit, the kind that is sold in Shoria.

“Good morning, my villain. You looked really cute sleeping on the beach, we decided not to wake you.”

“Thanks. I wasn’t the only one sleeping, was I?”

“Actually you were. Aquamarine, Ruby and Shandon just avoided moving to not disturb you.”

“Sister!” Aquamarine interjects.

“I am telling you, he likes it!”

I actually do enjoy it, I see how it is a form of affection. Aquamarine looks at me, and tilts her head. Then she smiles.  She turns to Cecilia and nods. I smile again.

“Don’t you want to change into your bathing suits?”

“That is a good idea, my lord.”

I open the portal for girls, they jump in. After some time, they come back wearing the bathing suits. It always amazes me how different their tastes are. After they arrive, Cecilia motions to her side, she had brought her bag of holding.

“I have a surprise!”

She takes out a leather ball. The leather is stitched closely, and there is some substance in where the pieces of leather meet. She throws the ball to Ruby. Ruby inspects it.

“What are we supposed to do with this?”

“I was talking to Huginn, she mentioned that there are several games that can be played with it.”

“So…?”

“I am talking about games played in my… our villain’s former land.”

“Oh! That sounds interesting.” Ruby turns to me. “Can you show us some of these games?”

“It’s a pity, but we would need a net for most of them…”

Cecilia brings out a fishing net from her bag of holding.

“Yes, our dear Huginn had mentioned that as well, I came prepared.”

I sigh. I build two poles of hardened sand, with the net between them. I mark what I think would be the size of a volleyball court on the sand. Cecilia’s parents are really curious with the whole thing.

“Here are the rules. Two people on each side. The goal is to pass the ball over the net to the other side. If the ball touches the ground on your court side, no matter who touched last on it, you loose a point. If you are the last to touch the ball, and it touches the ground outside both courts, you loose a point.”

“That sounds simple enough.” Says Ruby. She has an almost evil smile on her.

“Now, the limitations.” I smile at Ruby, with an equally nasty smile. “No flying. You have to use at most the strength of a level 20 human, and whatever he is capable of.”

Ruby makes an ugly face.

“How are we even going to know how strong a human child is?”

“Oh, that’s not a human child. Farmers are around level 15. Something stronger than a farmer, but not by much. Perhaps a rookie in the knight school… Besides, the ball is not going resist your blows, Ruby. And specially your nails. If you touch the ball with your nails, it is probably going to bust.”

Ruby turns to Cecilia.

“Why did you make something so fragile, sister?”

I laugh. I get closer to her, and I hug her.

“You girls are now the expression of power in the whole planet, dear. It doesn’t really mater the material used, it would not survive an all out game between you and your sisters.”

Ruby blushes. She passes her index on my chest, taking care not to touch me with her nail.

“If you say so…”

Cecilia starts laughing.

“What?” Ruby asks.

“I am pretty sure that if Marcelo told you the sky is green, that you would agree…”

I giggle. Ruby sticks her two index fingers together, in a gesture that reminds me the nervous tick from the dryads.

“I am not that easy to convince…”

I kiss her on the lips. Then I pull back a little. She still has her lips extended out. I give her a peck. I let her go, I get the ball.

“And you can’t hold the ball, only hit it. Do you want to try?”

Cecilia and I are on one team, Aquamarine and Ruby on the other. Before the game starts, I take a look at Cecilia’s parents. I look at Muninn.

“Muninn, can you do me a favor?”

“What, father?”

“Can I ask you to stay close to them? If we hit the ball with too much strength…”

Muninn sighs, but he gets near the couple. I go behind the line in the court to start the match. I serve, to start the match. I send the ball towards Ruby. She hits the ball with too much strength. The ball is going to land a hundred feet away. I raise a sand wall so that it doesn’t go too far.

“Hey! Rookies are not able to raise walls that fast!  Our point.”

I laugh. Ruby is really competitive.

“The ball was going to go far away, I just stopped. Do you think it could still fall inside the court?”

“Hum… Ok. I see what you mean… Let’s try again.”

I serve again, Ruby tries to be more delicate. The ball makes it over the net, dropping after. It goes towards Cecilia. Cecilia one hits it to the other side. Ruby sends it back. I save it, and send it towards Aquamarine. Aquamarine hits it back.

I can already notice a big problem with the game here.  I feel like we are playing volleyball with a balloon. Even if we try to control our strength, our notion of time is too warped. For us, it looks like the ball is moving in slow motion.

If we start putting some power behind it, then the ball is not going to resist. It might work if we had a solid ball, then we would be able to speed up the game. The problem would be that we would make the game into something with the strength of a cannonball.

The girls are trying to force themselves to play the game, but I can see that they are becoming bored. Weirdest point of volley in history. And even while I am thinking all this the ball is still in game.

I just hold the ball. I turn to the girls.

“I am sorry, but this game was made for low level humans. The way we are now it just won’t work. It is just boring. I enjoyed the idea, though. Thanks, Cecs, Huginn. It brought back memories, and it was fun. Just not really playable.”

Cecilia disassembles the poles, and stores the net back in her bag of holding.  She also undoes the wall I had built close to her parents.

The sun gets close to the horizon. Charles stands up and gets closer.

“Cecilia, it is getting late. Would you mind sending us back?”

“Sure.”

Cecilia accompanies her father to the place where their sunshade is. She opens the portal. Charles and Lucille pick their stuff up and jump through the portal. Cecilia picks the rest of the stuff and stores it in her bag of holding.

She sits at the beach chair, the sun is setting. It is still going to be several hours before the sun sets in Ironhold. I lay down on the sand, close to Opal. I look at the starts. I remember how busy my previous life was, and I enjoy my slower one now.

Muninn clears his throat. It looks like he wants to say something. I turn to him.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Not much, father. The Hero has just apprehended all the nobles in Elator’s capital. They are all in the dungeon. He placed the local bishop and church in charge.”

“Did he say anything to justify throwing the nobles in prison?”

“He said that their lack of faith was unforgivable. That they were either scheming with Romuela, clearly a Wrax infiltrated country, or they were cowards that did no deserve Nergal’s protection. Either way, they were being stripped of their title, and they are going to have their judgement later.

“I placed a bird just outside his window. He used a Comm Gem to talk to a cardinal. His team is going to pack and ride again later this week to keep liberating the rest of the two countries.”

“Do the nobles in Romuela already know about the results of this battle?”

“The prince started going back to Romuela the morning after Skylar left. He might have a Comm Gem.”

“Well, they are going to have the all their advances undone.”

Aquamarine approaches and lays by my side. I am distracted, passing my hand through her hair. Shandon lays on the other side, I start passing my hand on her hair as well.

“Papa…” I look to the side, Huginn approached.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“The dryads are asking the birds when we are going to get back there… They are anxious…”

“Check with them if there is something wrong, if there is an emergency. Other than that, I don’t know. Probably soon…? There is just so much happening beyond my plans that I am not even trying to plan my days anymore.”

I stretch my neck.

“Cecs, when is the exam in the school?  One week, right?”

“Yes, my villain. Are you going to come watch?”

“Unless you don’t want me there… Are your parents going to watch?”

“My father asked me to watch, he told me he wanted to see his girl in the exam… I told him yes.”

“Sure.”

“It’s just…”

…

“After fighting the ants and termites up close, killing a pig… I mean, I understand that common sense just gets botched around you… But it feels a little… Blarg.”

“I understand that. Just think of it as part of the package.”

“What package?”

“Having people around you package. Not being bored package. It comes attached to social obligations. That is the main reason I keep my secrets.”

“You keep the secrets just so people treat you worse?”

“Just so I don’t become some external. It is way easier to relate to humans than to demons. Why do you think that is?”

Cecilia crosses her arms, she puts her index on her lips.

“Because the demons think of you as a god.”

“Exactly. They don’t think they are worthy. But I don’t judge anyone on their worth. At least, most of the time.  I told you, I don’t want to be a hero, I don’t fancy being a god. I have to say, though, that being the owner of a whole harem, specially one like the one we have, is every man’s dream…”

We have a moment of contemplation, while Cecilia digests what I said, and the dragonesses caress me the way I like, the way I taught them. I really should worry about not getting too spoiled. Or more spoiled than I already am.