The Quantum Wanderer

Akiko looks with very sad eyes towards Hikari.

“You see, daughter… Believe me when I say that it is going to hurt more on me than on the boy, but we have to…”

Opal places herself in front of Hikari and her kid.

“There is going to be no hatchling maiming today. You want to cut his wings! Why force into a craw a child that was born to fly?” Opal says.

“Besides, “ Ruby scratches her nose, “there are not many things that can just go past us!”

Aquamarine and Shandon cross their arms, nodding. I really hope they know what they are doing.

“Are you… Are you all sure?”

I sigh.

“Yes, we are.”

“What about honored guest? Should we ask him?”

Muninn starts laughing.

“That one is more whipped than I am!”

Huginn looks at him, he gets close to her.

“But only because I love you, wifey…”

They both scrub their heads on each other. I sigh.

“We may, but I don’t think he is going to not help after we all jumped in it.” I say.

“Whipped!” Muninn says.

I roll my eyes. Opal opens a portal, I go home for a little bit. Marcelo is sleeping. I wake him up with a kiss.

“Wakey wakey, my villain. We need your help.”

***

Marcelo’s POV

I am still very sleepy when Cecilia wakes me up.

“Hi Cecs. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, it is a healthy baby boy.” She smiles. “A beautiful baby. Not as beautiful as ours is going to be, but beautiful.”

I laugh. She knows how make sure I wake up fast.  She continues.

“We need your help with a situation.”

I stand up. I stretch. I put on the robe that I had placed on a chair earlier. I walk through the portal. The scene is a lot better than I thought. Hikari is disheveled, tired. It looks like she ran a marathon with legos inside her shoes and she has just taken them off. She looks a little… enebriated…?

The girls, Akiko and Lucille are talking around her. Akiko is swinging the baby, with a prey in the woods look. She is inspecting every shadow in the room.

“… Might be too far, they may never come.” Akiko offers.

“Hi girls. Akiko, Hikari, Lucille. What is going on?”

“Well, my lord, long story short, we are afraid that the baby may get abducted.”

“Huh? By who?”

“By messengers of the gods. Spiritual creatures linked to foxes. Kitsune.”

“Ok… How strong are they?”

Akiko looks at me like this is a stupid question. I look at her, and I realize that it is a stupid question. Humans have no way to grade how strong dragons are. It’s a math that doesn’t math.  A young one can destroy a city. An adult one is going to do it faster. An elder, faster. There is nothing the humans can measure against.

It is probably the same thing with these creatures. For Akiko, they are simply infinite. To her, we are probably infinite as well. There is no way she can see how high it is.

“Forget that question. It was a stupid one. What do you want to do for the time being?”

“The kitsune can move with the thought. I would expect them to have come already.” Akiko says. In spite of saying that, she is still very alert. “But that being said, we are also going to need help we can trust. We have another issue.”

She moves the towel to the side, and rolls the baby just a little bit. He has a tail. She wraps it back in the towels. I sit around the table, the girls follow me.

“We get back to my question. What do you want to do?” I ask.

“What do you think are our options, my lord?” Shandon asks.

I press my lips, thinking.

“It’s not like we can stay there forever, but we could stay there and help with the baby. Although I think that we are better for protection than actually caring for the infant…”

“I can help!” Lucille says.

“Ma, it can be really dangerous.” Cecilia says.

“Well, you guys are going to be there, will you not?”

“For a little bit, yes.” I say. I don’t mind helping, but I am not going to spend the kid’s childhood in Akiko’s.

“I could ask a couple of children to help, but I would not like to send any of them to their deaths…”

”What if we stay with Akiko for a couple of weeks? That should be the most dangerous period, right? After that, we can leave a bird around.”

”Charles and I can help as well.”

”Ma, please don’t.” Cecilia sighs.

”I trust you, C.”

Cecilia rolls her eyes.

”So, what is the plan?”

”We should be able to wait for sunrise. It is really close. What if Opal went with you to your room, and we appeared on the front door? That way, it would look less weird.” I suggest. ”Besides, we have to get clothes.”

”I think it would be safer if they stayed with us while we collect the belongings and get dressed, my lord.” Shandon says.

”Huh. Sure.”

I open a portal to our room. Cecilia is carrying Hikari, while Akiko carries the baby. Lucille is with us. I grab some casual clothes in the cupboard, and go to another room to change. Lucille goes to her room.

Cecilia places Hikari on our bed. I take a look at her, she is not well. I extend my hand to her.

“Birth is always tough on women. Hold my hand a little bit.”

I connect with her body and I cast a regeneration spell on her, giving particular attention to her uterus area. I do a mana sense to check for infections or anything wrong, but I can’t find anything that looks weird. Of course, I am not a doctor, so I can only be so sure.

A short time later, we reconvene in my room. I look outside, the sun is rising.

”Are we having breakfast here or there?”

”The staff would notice if we don’t appear in our room, honored guest.”

I remember the bachelor party.

”Muninn, can you mimic Akiko’s voice?”

”Of course, honored guest.” Muninn answers, getting even the accent right.

”Can you do the honors, and keep her staff off the room?”

Muninn flies out from the cupboard, into a portal that he opened. Huginn goes with him. The rest of us go down for breakfast. We eat in a hurry. Lucille tells Charles to eat fast. He doesn’t even question her.

After we are done, we go to the living room. I turn to Charles and Lucille.

”Excuse me, let me touch the back of your neck. There are a couple of protection spells that I cast on the girls. I want to cast them just in case.”

Charles turns his back to me. I cast on him the same spells I cast on me. The bones reinforced with neutron crystals, the regeneration runes in the bones, the neutron crystal scales over the skin. Once I am done, I do the same with Lucille.

Charles is moving his hands.

”I don’t feel any different. What did you do?”

I smile.

”Do you have a knife on you?

He takes out his daily use knife. Everyone carries one, it is a personal utensil.

”Try to cut the palm of your hand.”

He gets the knife close, then pulls it away. He does it again. After the third time, Lucille sighs.

”Oh, for gods’ sakes.” She picks the knife from his hand and slices his arm. Even though it is a mithril knife that came from the dwarves’ goods, it does nothing.

”There.” Lucille hands him his knife back. ”Can we go now?”

We all look at Lucille with respect. Opal, Hikari and Akiko jump through the portal. I close that one, and open another one a street close to Hikari’s mansion. We walk to the gate leisurely.

The guards there are not happy with guests this time in the morning. When we arrive at the gate, a maid is running through the garden. The guards look at her, she gestures them to let us in. We are then escorted to the house.

Akiko is on the top of the stairs, ordering the maids around. We are placed in the room opposite Hikari’s, just across the corridor. The room is not as luxurious as ours. There is not a bathroom attached as well.

The girls set their stuff down, and go over to Hakiko’s side. I go over.

Hikari is feeding the baby, with a sheet covering the process. Akiko and the girls are around them. They are fawning over the baby. Lucille gives me a stare that makes a drop of sweat.

The girls are giving the baby their fingers to hold, and melting when he does. Opal smiles.

“He looks just like you when you nibbled my tail.” Opal says to Shandon. Aquamarine and Ruby smile and nod. “Other than the lack of pretty scales and cute winglets, of course.”

Akiko stares at them.

“Are you… Mother and daughter?”

“Yes!” Shandon answers.

“And you share the same man?” Akiko continues. She looks at Cecilia.

Cecilia shrugs.

“It’s a culture thing.”

Akiko presses her lips and resigns to thinking it is a weirder family than she thought. Aquamarine is looking at the conversation with a curious expression, but she holds herself from asking further.

We are called for breakfast.

The girls turn their noses at the food. We are way too spoiled by Roberta. The food is not bad, but our everyday is just the very best meat, as far as I know, cooked with spices provided by the elves. It is not a fair competition.

After breakfast, the girls go back to Hikari’s room. I go with them. Once we are there, I clear my throat.

“Girls, I am going to get some of our food so that we can have a kind of picknick here. What do you say?” I turn to Akiko. “Don’t worry, it is a short trip.”

Akiko nods.

I jump through a portal, and go into our living room. I ring Rudolph’s bell.

“Did you call, lord?”

“Yes. First things first. Do you guys still have our breakfast?”

“Not all of it, lord. We were going to eat it so that it would not get wasted. So the house helpers already consumed some of it.”

“Ok. Can you please package it?”

“Of course, sir. But… Wouldn’t you prefer having some freshly made?”

I think for a minute. I don’t like wasting food. It is a respect thing. It is a life that got hunted.

“No, we can have that one. For the next couple of weeks, instead of serving our breakfast at the table, please package it. We are staying with friends.”

“Do you want the food to be completely prepared or just sorted, lord?”

“Huh?”

“We can also just sort, cut and season. That way, if you want to eat it, you can just heat it. But if you don’t, it doesn’t lose its freshness.”

“Sure, let’s go with the just sorted option.” All the girls have fire magic, we can cook the pieces just before biting on the pieces. “But we can go with our breakfast today, so that we don’t waste.”

Rudolph goes in to the kitchen, and I wait. Roberta comes out of the kitchen, a towel on her shoulder.

“My lord, can I have permission to speak?”

“Of course. Always.”

“Let us prepare a new breakfast. We have plenty of everything available. We are going to consume the current one. My lord should not eat re-heated food. It is not the same.”

I smile at Roberta.

“We know it is not the same, Roberta. But then I don’t like waste. And although it doesn’t go bad, I know that you guys can’t consume too much of this at once… It is too mana enriched. That being said, your re-heated cooking is still bounds and leaps better than what we were offered in our friend’s home. So don’t worry.” I smiled. “And you’re still Opal’s favorite human, after Cecilia – her words.” I giggle once.

She sighs.

“I will do what you order, my lord, but I don’t agree with it.” She gives a short bow and returns to the kitchen.

After some time a maid leaves the kitchen, driving a cart full of food. And I mean really full. I had forgotten just how much my girls eat in each meal. The maid leaves the cart in front of me, does a courtesy and heads back into the kitchen.

I open a portal straight to Hikari’s room. They are all fanning over the baby. Still. Hikari and Akiko look at the cart full of food, then at my face. The girls turn around. They are still hungry.

They cut slices of steak, heat it with some fire breath before eating. I cut myself some pieces as well, and then use some fire magic to heat it, as if it were a small torch. The contrast between the hot, slightly burned side to the cold one actually emphasizes the taste.

Akiko and Hikari are looking at the food being consumed. They are impressed with the image. They  knew the girls ate a  lot, but knowing and watching it are two different things.

I offer them the additional cutlery that is in the cart.

”You can also have some pieces if you want. Just remember that  you don’t want to eat too much, though. This steak in particular can cause mana sickness.”

Akiko gets a fork and cut a small piece. Hikari does the same. I put a flame out of my hand, Akiko holds the small piece of stake over it. Cecilia does the same for Hikari.

They roll their eyes. After what feels like half an hour letting out sounds of pleasure, Akiko turns to me.

”Honored guest, this is even better than the previous one… Just… Just… Just how?”

”Roberta changed the place where she gets her spices…” I say, with a smile.

Cecilia is laughing.

”We are really spoiled.” Cecilia says.

The girls nod. Ruby snorts.

”Good thing Skylar never got to eat food from Roberta… He might try to keep her in a tower, cooking for him!” Ruby says.

”I don’t think that would work, sister. Remember, there is the buying of spices, the quality of hunt.” Shandon says.

The girls all laugh.

“You know, when you put like this I can understand better why our lord keeps his secrets.” Shandon says.

Opal smiles.

“Of course, silly child. His strength is at a point that transcends competition. And he has understanding behind it that few reach.” Opal says.

I feel a little embarrassed. Once they are finished with the food, I open a portal and push it to our dinning room. The maids are going to see it.

I am keeping my mana senses active, but I can’t feel anything outside the normal. I can sense the maids, the guards, the streets around. Nothing feels abnormal. Opal and the girls are here as well.

I get a little bored of talking about babies, and I go to the the room assigned to us. I sit on the floor, and I meditate. I practice the superposition. Practicing it on a new place gives me a very different feeling to it. The consciences near me are very different in nature, in power, in vibration. It has a completely different feel to it.

I relax, and I keep trying to extend the area, little by little. Within the extended area, I try to build a tiny mandala. First, very close to me. It works. This just might be useful. I sense Charles entering the room I am… I was in when I started meditating. Now I feel like I am closer to a cloud. I notice he turns around after taking a look at the room.  

After some time, the girls move into that room as well. I relax and I collapse into a single existence.

“That’s really messed up!” Cecilia says. “We thought you had gone somewhere. Where you invisible?”

“No, sister. For that time, he kind of… wasn’t.” Opal says.

I smile.

“Something I have been practicing. I told you already, it is called the superposition.”

“I remember you mentioned something like that. What is it?” Cecilia asks.

“You know how I can teleport between two close points?”

“Sure. You showed us already.”

“I am practicing staying in the state between the teleports.”

“So, do you go somewhere else?”

“It is not a going. It is state of being.”

“Huh?”

“The explanation would be a very long one.” I look outside the window. It is getting dark already. “Should we have dinner?”

“Yes, that’s why we were calling you. The cart is already in Hikari’s room.”

I stand up, we go there. We have an uneventful dinner. Akiko is planning the following tasks needed. They have to announce the child, get a birth certificate and patent on the next day. We clean ourselves. Cecilia, Shandon and Aquamarine and I hit the bed. Opal, Ruby and Lucille stay up, taking care of the baby or guarding it.

Next morning, the group in the bed wakes up. We meet the rest of the group in the dinning room. Opal and Ruby don’t really look tired. Lucille, Hikari and Akiko do. I can’t help but ask.

“Is taking care of baby that exhausting?”

“Newborns feed 8 to 12 times in a day!” Lucille answers. “It gets a little better during the night, but not that better. We are going to have very little sleep the first few days.”

“Do you already have a rotation in mind?”

“Yes. For protection, Opal and Ruby during the night, Shandon and Aquamarine during the day. For help with the baby, I can be there during the night, C. can help during the day. That should get us covered.”

“What about me?” I ask.

“What about you?” Lucille tilts her head.

“How do I help?”

Lucille thinks for a moment.

“You can bring in the food. Also, you being near can help us in terms of peace of mind.”

“I am sorry for this, honored guest. I really have to find some suitable wet nurses to help. I am pretty sure that my household may have been infiltrated. Lots of neighboring nobles are eyeing this land. There is a lot of coin in tourism.”

A silence spell takes place, covering the table.

“If I may…” Huginn started. “I have scanned your household mentally. You want to get rid of the maids Marguerite and Jacqueline, as well as the gardener helper and your guard lieutenant. Each of them are acting for a different noble.”

Akiko raises her her left eyebrow. Huginn undoes the silence spell. Akiko nods, while holding the baby. Hikari nods as well. Given her household is a lot bigger than mine, the number is not so scary. 4 in 62. She has not been able to do a clean up till now.

After breakfast, the day girls and Hikari take a stroll on the gardens with the baby. I go to the room assigned to us. I keep my superposition training. Akiko goes to her study.

I can feel the consciences around me when I go into superposition. I start paying attention to details. Even the perception of time is weird in this state. It feels like I can focus on events, and then perceive them. But if I just relax, the clock accelerates around me. Akiko in her study, she receives her captain of the guard.

I focus on the girls in the garden. I have no idea how much has passed. They are being served tea by the two maids that Huginn had mentioned.

Things are going smooth until Hikari phreaks out with something, she throws the cup she was being served againt the pillar of the gazebo they are in. I smile to myself.

On the other side, near the barracks, the captain pulls his own play. He fakes some worry with the weed around the barracks and fires the gardener helper, with a little bit of pushing the guy down and kicking him on the floor. The lieutenant is passing by, he gets yelled at and fired as well.

I relax, time passes. Akiko has left Hikari and the girls taking care of the baby, she has been issuing a lot of orders and letters, apparently.

Soon the girls come call me for the dinners. The official one and our picknick.

During our picknick dinner, Akiko looks particularly distracted. Cecilia picks up on that.

“Akiko, are you ok? You seem off?”

She sighs.

“It is not really your problem, honored guests. You have already done so much for us.”

“Just spill it out, human.” Ruby says, between pieces of steak.

Akiko shrugs.

“I need a certificate that Toshiro is son of Julian. This is generally provided by the church, in the form of a certificate of baptism. I sent them a request for a baptism by courier.

“The courier returned with a negative answer. The priest is refusing to do it.”

I press my lips. Either they have been bought by another noble that wants to take over, or they did the math on the pregnancy time, and noticed it took more than the 42 weeks.

But even then, when Julian died she was already pregnant, so even if arguing the 42 weeks criteria, this would be complicated to defend. She was already some 8 to 10 weeks pregnant when the whole thing happened.

“Isn’t there a boss you can complain to?” Lucille asks.

Akiko shakes her head.

“The Holy Kingdom is a mess right now. Borders closed. The rumors around it are so thick that it is really hard to know what is actually going on in there. Complaining to the bishop in the capital is expensive and risky.”

They all turn to me. I raise my hands.

“I have no idea. This is about noble inheritance. I don’t even have parents.”

They look around each other, when Cecilia lights up.

“Why don’t we ask for Addrianna’s help?”