The Quantum Wanderer

Next morning, during breakfast, Cecilia turns to me.

“My villain, the elves invited us to the Shezmu party.”

“Yes, the dryads had mentioned that. Do you want to attend?”

The girls nod.

“Ok. Next time we go there we can mention that we are going to attend. But moving along to other subjects, what do you girls want to do today?”

“We don’t have much planned.” Cecilia answers.

“What do you girls know about the other countries? What is our next destination? It feels kind of wasteful to be able to go anywhere and not travel a little bit.”

“That’s a tough one. We have already seen Orora, that’s the only thing that  is worth going in Arthuria…” Cecilia answers.

“Yes, I don’t have good memories from the capital… It is very corrupt. I would rather avoid something like that.”

“What about the beastkin countries, my lord?” Opal asks.

I remember, while walking around, noticing that there are some humanoids that are, well, mixed races with animals.

Cecilia turns to her.

“They are generally not hospitable to humans…” Cecilia comments.

“No problem! Either us or our lord can vouch for you.” Opal comments, throwing a hand.

Cecilia looks at her.

“You do realize that ‘our lord’ is also human, right?”

Ruby laughs.

“Sister, he hasn’t been human for a long time…”

Opal nods at the supposedly obvious statement. I am curious on the other people’s opinion on this. I go back to the subject at hand.

“This is funny. So many people would like to travel the world. They can’t just because of distances, time and money. We can go anywhere. And yet we don’t know where we want to go…”

There is a bit of silence.

“We can also visit some cities in the demon empire, we haven’t traveled much there at all. But they have a less prosperous society, they have faced draughts all their lives… So I don’t think we are going to see luxury oriented cities like Shoria and the area around.”

We have a little silence, while the girls think. I look at their expressions, but the only one with a thinking expression is Cecilia. That makes me curious.

“Opal, are you not thinking of a place to go?”

“My lord, we don’t really care one way or the other. We are used to living in caves… So far we have been more worried about surviving than living. Plentiful hunting grounds, a cave to warm up, and that is it for dragons. We just want to follow you wherever you go.”

I  smile to her, and I grab her hand. The other dragonesses nod, smiling. I turn to Cecilia.

“It is up to you, then. What do you want to do?”

She places her right wrist on her forehead.

“Such difficult decisions! What a cruel life! The suffering!”

I laugh. She gets a bit more serious.

“It’s just… We haven’t even seen the cities around us. I am pretty sure Edward is going to have some suggestions of cities to visit, perhaps something like Shoria, with some kind of entertainment. Or we can visit some other city in the country of the elves.”

“We can definitely do that. Muninn, are there a lot of cities in the elven country?”

“There are some, father. Not as many as cities in the empire, their population is much smaller. But there are several cities.”

“Are they all the same?”

“They are mostly adapted to the place they are in. There is one that is by the shore, it is very different. There is another one that connects to a floating city in the sea… This one is even inhabited by both some elves and some mer-people.”

Those are not bad ones. The floating one is going to feel strange though. I had been in a floating platform in Rio once, there was this party there. If you close your eyes and pay attention, you can feel the whole thing shifting and moving, but other than that you can ignore it.

Cecilia sees me distracted, and comes back to point.

“Why don’t we do that after the wine party? That is going to give us a little more time to enjoy what we know already. Besides, you were visiting the guild here a lot, right? How come you never go when we are not with you?”

“I just didn’t think you would be interested, but we can go to the guild today. I like hearing the rumors, it is entertaining.”

“So it is decided, today we visit the guild.”

After we finish breakfast, we go up to change into something that we can use outside. The dragonesses go for their armor. I shake my head.

“I am sorry, girls, but we can’t wear that.”

“Why not?” Ruby asks.

“Dwarven enchanted adamantite is going to be a little too much. Let’s just dress up normally.”

“Ok…”

Ruby is pouting a little. I grab her butt and I kiss her cheek, her humor improves a bit.

We start going our way to the guild. When we reach our gate, I notice that one of the houses down the street is having a lot of movement. I turn to one of the guards.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, sir!”

The guard stands in salute, looking up. I sigh.

“At ease, soldier.”

The guard relaxes a little bit. I point towards the house that is having the people coming in and out.

“What is going on there?”

He looks at the house.

“I don’t know, sir. They have been like that since yesterday.”

“Do you know who is in that mansion?”

“I think that one is the embassador from the Holy Kingdom.”

“Ok. Thanks.”

The girls and I walk around, really looking at the city. The noble district, the several very beautiful mansions, the gardens, the several luxury shops. We get to the merchant district, Then we go to the main square, to reach our destination.

When the girls enter the guild, it goes quiet. There are beautiful adventurers, of course, but my girls are just…

Besides, most adventurers reach steel level. And that shows in the form of care for the skin, for the hair. The adventurers around all have an air of being a little spent. Our normal is what they would go for to go to a fancy party.

I join them after they enter, this time Muninn and Huginn are on my shoulders.

“LIONHEART! WELCOME!” Griffin shouts from the other side of the room.

I step forward, hugging Shandon and Aquamarine, that were in the back of the group. Griffin’s expression changes to one of surprise.

“AND THE LIONESSES! COME ON OVER!”

We go to his table, ever full of people exchanging information. I sit on the table, the girls sit around me.

An adventurer that is sitting on the table looks at us.

“Are you sure you are adventurers? You look more like nobles.”

I laugh. Griffin approaches us.

“I hadn’t seen your pride yet. Congratulations!” He turns to the other adventurer. “Hey, he is a mithril! Respect.”

The adventurer shrugs. I look around the tables. The mood is not the best. Everyone is kind of serious. We sit around Griffin’s table. After the girls all sit down, I stand up, to grab some ale. Shandon puts her hand on my shoulder.

“What is it, my lord?”

“I am going to grab some drinks for us.”

“Let me do it, my lord.”

She stands up, talks to the attendant in the bar. She gets 6 cups, pays and brings them to us. An adventurer is looking at that scene. He turns to the others.

“Did you guys notice something?”

They shake their heads.

“SHE IS THE ONE PAYING!”

They all start laughing. Shandon arrives with the ales. I pick my cup, I raise it and I drink. I put the ale on the table. Shandon sits down. I hold her chin, I give her a kiss. A passionate one, tongues appearing. She blushes a little bit.

I pick my cup again, and raise it to the table.

“Envy is a bitch of a goddess, my friend…”

I take a sip.

Griffin is now laughing his butt off. The guy that mentioned that Shandon was paying is completely frozen. At some point, he sighs, raises his cup.

“To Lionheart. May we all find our prides!”

We all laugh. Even the female adventurers. The girls don’t know the joke. I look at Shandon.

“There is this joke around. I was given the nickname of Lionheart. It is because in a pride of lions, the females are the ones that hunt. The males are there to avoid other males to get close, supposedly.”

The four dragonesses immediately stand up, murderous gaze. I turn to them.

“GIRLS! It’s ok. I enjoy the joke. Not too far from the current state of things, actually.”

I laugh a little. They look at me and relax, sitting down again. Griffin puts his ale on the table.

“You are being really smug, Lionheart!”

“Hey, just look at my wives! How can I not be smug?”

“Point.”

We keep drinking, the excitement dies down a little bit. After putting the cup on the table, I turn to Griffin.

“What is up with the faces? Everyone seems worried.”

“You really don’t pay attention to the news… It is amazing.”

“What happened this time?”

“There are rumors that the hero is dead.”

“Really? What is going on?”

“The church is saying that the hero is back for training. But there are reports of the hero’s party coming this way and then vanishing.”

“But the church wouldn’t lie about this, right?” I ask, with a little smirk on my face.

Griffin doesn’t answer, he just laughs. I end up following with more questions.

“What are the rumors saying?”

“Some people say that Romuelans contacted the dragon that lead them over Elator, and the dragon killed everyone… Some say that there was a super assassin sent by the demons… Some say that some group he abused sacrificed their soul and a devil took the whole party straight to hell… There are a lot of rumors. But the most important fact is that everyone agrees that the hero is not going out in public.”

“That’s right! We hadn’t had a dragon sight in over millennia… Now we have had the dragon procession, then we have a dragon working for Romuela, then the hero, the strongest human on the land, just goes missing! I am telling you! We should start converting to Wrax right now!” Says an older strong adventurer. He has his cheeks red from drinking.

“You are crazy, old man!” Says a paladin. “You know that Nergal is the one god we should be following!”

They face each other other.

“HOY!” The attendant slaps the counter. They both sit down.

I stand up while the others are distracted, I go to the board of quests. There are the normal quests, hunts, escorts. A lot of merchant escorts, actually. More than I remembered.

At the side, there is one that is paying quite a hefty sum, for “bird handlers.” The notice is clearly addressed to parties that include druids or shamans with power over birds. The requester—a branch for Holy Church—needs specialized help to locate, communicate with, and possibly control the elusive flocks to put up a show during the next equinox. The job description details a need for magical expertise: the party must be able to control entire flocks, not just individuals. Success requires not just brute strength, but a gentle touch and deep connection to the wild. Those who accept the quest will be rewarded handsomely, but they’ll also face challenges that only those attuned to nature can overcome. There are several cities inside the Holy Kingdom that this quest can be accepted, apparently.

After my past experiences with lady Guina and the people from the Holy Kingdom, I can’t imagine the amount of gold or platinum they could throw my way to make it enticing.

I take a look at the scene. My girls seem to be having fun. I like the atmosphere. I go back to the table. I see that my cup is empty. I make the motion of standing up. Shandon holds my shoulder.

“Let me, my lord.”

“Thank you, love.”’

Griffin just bursts out laughing.

“So, tell me, Lionheart… How can I become one like you?”

“In your case, just another life…” Opal answers with some disdain. She looks at him the same way she looks at something unpleasant.

“Why? He is not even that handsome!” Griffin exclaims, then turns to me. “No offense intended.”

I laugh at the exchange. Ruby laughs.

“ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND? HE IS THE SEXIEST BEING IN THE WORLD!”

Griffin laughs. Shandon arrives with the cups, for me and the girls. I pet my lap, she sits on it.

“I had heard that love makes you blind, but I never imagined it would be so much. Congratulations, Lionheart! You couldn’t have found better wives!” He raises his cup.

I raise mine.

“I KNOW!”

We all drink a sip. We are all laughing and having some banter when I notice a group coming in from the door.

They go to the counter for quests, they are presenting a paper to the counter. They are Lu, Aeson and Tar. Lu hands the paper to the attendant, while the guys take a look around. I wave at them, their faces light up.

“Sir Marcelo! Long time no see. How are you?”

I look at them, I notice that they are using new tags. Their level improved, they are now mithril adventurers.

“I am well. How are you? Since when are you mithril adventurers?”

“It has been very recent.” Lu answers. “What about you? How have you been? Are you an adamantite already?” She asks, laughing.

“Not yet, you know that the guild doesn’t have adamantites…”

Griffin sees the exchange, he get closer.

“Hi, good morning. The name is Griffin. Do you guys also know Lionheart here?”

The three of them turn to me.

“Lionheart?” Aeson asks.

“It’s a not so internal joke, if you sit for some ale they are going to tell you.” I answer.

They pull up some chairs, the attendant comes close and they order some ale. The others are staring at them.

“Lionheart, huh? How did you gain this nickname?”

I shrug.

“They say that my wives do all the hunting, so it is like a pride of lions. The male does little to nothing.”

“Hum…” Lu says. “Has any of them seen you fight?”

Griffin and some people around are looking curiously.

“How long have you known Lionheart?”

“We have had some escort missions way back in the day. Say, sir Marcelo, wasn’t our first time together when you started hanging out with your crow?”

I scratch my chin.

“That seems about right. So much happened… It feels like this was a whole life ago.”

“What have you been doing?” Lu asks.

I scratch the back of my head.

“I have been in a quest here and there… What about you guys?”

“We have been working on a lot of escort quests. The ones in Arthuria pay well because of banditry around, and the ones in the Holy Kingdom also pay well because of their lack of adventurers. We have been getting a lot of coin on that.” Lu answers.

“So, Lu, since you know our friend Lionheart for so long… Did you meet him before he had his wives?”

“Yes.”

“How did he manage to survive?”

Lu looks at Aeson and Tar, then at me. She takes a long time sorting out what she finds acceptable to answer to Griffin.

“He is a very skilled fighter, actually. Way more than you are giving him credit for.”

“Really?” Griffin asks.

Ruby is excited with the talk.

“Our lord is way stronger than us. We are not a match to him.”

Griffin was looking at Ruby, with a face of distrust. I hear in the back someone muttering.

“Yeah, love makes one stupid…”

This apparently makes Ruby happy, though. I turn to Lu.

“And what are your next steps? What are you going to do next?”

“We are probably going to get another escort in a couple of days. We are going to be in the inn White Moon for the time being. That is what we have been suggested. Do you know of it?” Lu asks.

Griffin is the one to answer.

“They are very good for the silver spent. I don’t know what kind of place you generally stay at, or how much you intend on spending, but it is a good place.”

I really feel like inviting them to stay a couple of days with us. We certainly have the spare rooms. They have been holding some secrets for me for a long time already. There shouldn’t be much to see anyway. I turn to Lu.

“Do you guys want to stay in my house? We might have the rooms.”

The trio looks at me.

“Do you have a house in the city?” Lu asks.

“Yes. Let’s go there after this.”

“Are you sure we are not imposing?” Aeson asks.

“It’s ok.”

We talk some more about the current affairs. After we pay for our bill, we leave the guild, with the requiem warriors in tow. We walk around the city, I show them what direction the schools are. Lu mentions that she would love to see what they look like.

We walk to the noble’s district, and we enter without issues. After we pass the gate, I turn to the party.

“Just one thing that I would like to ask you… I am trying to keep somethings kind of on the down low… So I am going to ask you not to disclose my home to the others.”

“Of course. What kind of guests would we be? Our lips are sealed.” Lu says.

Tar and Aeson nod.

“Thank you.” I say.

We walk to the deeper part of the noble’s district. The shops get more and more expensive. The manors get bigger and bigger. We finally stand in front of the palace, where we turn on the street. We get to our manor.

The three of them are looking at the gates, already impressed. We go through the gardens. By the way the requiem warriors look at the garden, I realize that I have just been taking it a little bit too much for granted.

We are getting to the front door, they stop in their tracks close to the tree of crows. That’s how the gardener and his helper have been calling the tree that has a lot of crow nest on it. They look at the crows, the crows stare back.

“Say, sir Marcelo… Are those crows staring at us?”

I turn around. I look at the tree. I look at Muninn. He is looking up, kind of or smiling, kind of trying to whistle… I whisper to him.

“Come on…”

He giggles soundlessly. The three guests are too focused on the crows to realize. The crows start to loose their interest, changing their focus to the general area as they normally are. I turn to the trio.

“I don’t receive many guests, so the crows were just noticing different people. They already lost interest, see?”

“That is a little creepy…” Tar comments.

He gets an elbow to the stomach from Lu.

“I am really sorry for that, they just nested there. They haven’t hurt anyone ever, and I like crows. They are very smart.”

“Yees… Sorry… I know.” Tar answers.

We get to the door, open and invite them in. Rudolph is at the entrance.

“Good afternoon, lord.” He notices the trio behind us. “Guests?”

“Yes, Rudolph. They are going to stay with us for some days. Can you provide them rooms?”

“Absolutely, lord.” He turns to the party. “Excuse me, sirs, but is there a couple amongst you?”

“No.” Lu answers.

“Very well. I am going to have 3 rooms prepared. Follow me to the living room. I will have to ask a little bit of time so that we can have the rooms ready.”

The trio steps in.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” Tar exclaims.

I giggle. Lu kicks him on the shin. With probably enough strength to shave a couple of HP off. He doesn’t apologize. He just looks at her and points toward the manor. She makes him a couple of faces. He tries to calm down.

We go to the living room. We meet Lucille and Charles there.

“Hi.” Charles says.

“Hello.” Lu answers.

There is this uncomfortable silence that follows.

“Charles and Lucille, this is the requiem warriors, a party I worked with some time ago. This is Lu, Aeson, and Tar.”

Charles extends his hand and shakes the hands one by one. Lucille does the same.

“Charles and Lucille are Cecilia’s parents. They are living with us.”

Tar gives two large sidesteps towards me. He is not as smooth as he wishes. He whispers in my ear.

“Are they nobles? You never mentioned that Cecilia was a noble.”

Subtlety is not his strong suit. The whisper is louder than he wished as well. Lu and Aeson slap their faces, exasperated. Charles laugh.

“No, no, this manor is Marcelo’s. But you are going to have to ask him for any details.” He laughs.

The laughter is contagious. Either because of Tar’s blunder, for us, or out of nervousness for the  party.