—
Seeing her son's eyes light up every time he talked about research, Meve was glad to at least preserve a hint of childishness in him, letting him treat research and inventions as if they were toys.
As a mother, she knew she had failed, unable to protect Gustave's innocence before it was time for him to mature. The same went for her other two children, Villem and Anséis, who, unlike Gustave, had become more severe, as they were not gifted with the same depth of wisdom.
Between the post-ascension problems of creating the Twin Realms, Gascon's father's rebellions, the killing of a Ban Ard sorcerer, her son Gustave falling into a coma, sorcerer scrutiny, the Wild Hunt flying overhead, the arrival of the Eternal Fire, pre- and post-transformation Twin Realms, and finally the floods, troubles had come one after another.
All of this left her unable to be the mother she was meant to be, neglecting to preserve the innocence of her children and instead thrusting them into duties they were not ready for. Even though they were all royalty, destined to bear the burdens of rulership in their own ways, she still longed for a normal family, one that could live without constant worry.
But she also knew that destiny had chosen her to become a monarch, and that meant accepting the role entrusted to her since birth, a role she would one day expect her children to shoulder as well. Yet she knew with certainty that even if she could accept this burden, her children might not be able to do the same, having been raised not by her, but by society itself.
And because she could not control their lives, the best she could do was allow them their small freedoms, letting Gustave play with his toys undisturbed, letting Anséis follow Eskel on monster-hunting adventures, and allowing Villem to pursue his small power plays and schemes within Foltest's domain.
So, looking warmly at her son as he played with his shield toy, Meve gently kissed him on the top of the head and began to speak, "So, my son. What is the reason you have come to me? Is there an immediate problem you wish to talk about? Was my decision to go on pilgrimage not effective? And you can already guess why I do this, can you not?"
Nodding his head, Gustave answered, "Yes, mother, I know. You wish to legitimize war against a certain religion, am I correct? That is why you only make pilgrimages to temples of your choosing, like Melitele, Freya, Lebioda, and Nehaleni, with the majority being Melitele temples."
Smiling proudly at her clever son and sitting on the table, Meve nodded. "Indeed, my son. You are correct."
Pausing, gritting her teeth, she continued, "It is because I want to make the Eternal Fire pay in blood. Now that I know the gods can curse us common folk with all kinds of disasters, I will not let these worshipers live upon the face of the earth. Just like those vermin in Spalla, all of them are rats that can only feed on the treasury of our kingdom!"
Bang!
Slamming her hand on the table, she stood up and gazed at the Melitele temples in the distance through the window. With burning hatred in her eyes as she looked upon Melitele's statue, Meve resumed, "Even her. And all of those demons that pretend to be kind."
Sighing, Gustave felt that he had placed his expectations too high upon his mother. Unlike him, who fully understood that Melitele, Freya, and Lebioda were truly allies, his mother did not.
And considering that she did not have the full picture, seeing them as nothing more than ordinary beings living in the Ethereal Plane without any understanding of Quantum Mechanics, Gustave could accept her perspective, one driven by revenge against all gods after witnessing how they could affect the mortal world while mortals could not strike back.
So, wanting to reassure her and to teach her a very small portion of Quantum Mechanics, hoping she might be on the same wavelength as him—this bizarre and difficult concept—Gustave turned to his mother's Spellweaver guard.
"Have everyone get out of this mansion. I want to talk to my mother."
"But Your Highness, there might still be an assassination attempt on you and the Queen. Forgive me for being impolite."
Knowing that her son wished to discuss something extremely serious, something that could not reach a second ear in any literal sense, Meve ordered, "Just follow what he says, Gustave Perrault. And do not worry about me. I can take care of myself and my children's well-being."
"…"
"As you command, Your Grace."
Seeing Gustave Perrault, the head of intelligence who also served as castellan and steward of the Twin Realms and happened to share his first name, Gustave watched as Perrault, the guards, the servants, everyone who usually formed their entourage, and even his personal agent Larkin exited the mansion, leaving only him and his mother behind.
Turning to his mother after everyone had left the mansion, and using his abilities to detect any lingering presence and finding none, Gustave finally said, "Mother. Do you truly think Melitele, Tugo, Veyopatis, Aucwenn, Freya, Lebioda, and Nehaleni are our enemies?"
"What kind of simple question is that, my son?! Of course they are our enemies! No one can sleep peacefully anymore after seeing that the gods can send floods for a year straight! From Chapter and Cintra, from Kovir to far-away Nilfgaard, every monarch across the Continent is now uneasy and helpless in the face of those demons in the sky!"
Taking a deep breath to tone down her voice as she spoke to her son, her emotions flaring as she recalled the helplessness she had endured during a year of constant rain, Meve resumed, "Day and night, spies infiltrate our kingdom, all for the same reason: to find out why we were cursed simply for blaspheming the Eternal Fire."
"Not because of our transformations, not because our mages are popping up like mushrooms, no. It is because no one who can still think straight can sleep peacefully anymore, my son, after seeing those imbecile mutt worshipers who can not only curse, but also bring disasters on the scale of entire kingdoms."
Pausing as she remembered a new report that had leaked on Calanthe's side regarding an artificially jump-started Conduit Event spell created by Alvin, Meve gave her son the news.
"To the point that everyone is now racing to be the first to recreate the artificially jump-started Conduit Event spell, because they now know the gods cannot be trusted anymore, which is making every monarch seek to cultivate their own mages to deal with these mystical matters brought about by the priests."
Completely ignoring the Quantum Mechanics he had wanted to explain, and feeling dread surge through his entire body like an electrifying chill, Gustave stood up abruptly, "Wait, what?! The jump-started Conduit Event spell was leaked?! Who?! Who was the one who leaked it?!"
Letting out a helpless breath and rubbing her forehead, assuming Calanthe was suffering the same headache, Meve answered.
"It was Ciri, just two days ago, when you were still in your workshop. She wanted to show off to one of the friends she had met in Kerack, never imagining that the girl was a pupil and a mole deliberately placed there by Sabrina Glevissig. Even the guards, Spellweavers, Enchantresses, and Calanthe herself failed to see it coming, despite our Elder Blood."
Sighing for the umpteenth time, she continued, "Although it did not go so far as to explain or reveal the inner workings of the spell, the demonstration alone was enough to agitate everyone. It showed that creating one's own magical army is possible, my son."
Remembering the report about Sabrina Glevissig, who had hunted a divine spider-like creature and turned it into material for her high heels—items capable of muddling the Elder Blood's ability to see the future—Meve continued, "Because Sabrina Glevissig happened to hunt a spider creature with many mystical properties and used it as material for her high heels. And—"
"And that spider happened to have the ability to muddle our Elder Blood's ability to see the future, because that creature is attuned to destiny magic."
"Hm? How do you know about it, my son? I did not explicitly state that the spider had such strong attunement to destiny magic."
"It is because I know that spider personally, mother."
Letting out a helpless breath as he slumped down into his chair on weak knees, Gustave could not help but think that with a friend like Ciri, he hardly needed an enemy, given how much trouble she could bring.
But because she was also the only one who could truly become the heavy hitter that would allow him to enact mutual destruction across the multiverse if push came to shove, Gustave decided to accept the headache and treat Ciri the same way the Avengers treated the Hulk.
So, rubbing his forehead, which was already twitching from time to time, and deducing all kinds of consequences this situation could bring, Gustave decided to step in and help solve the problem.
Because, much like his paranoia about the people of this world being able to reverse-engineer or draw inspiration from nuclear bomb science simply by knowing of its existence, Gustave assumed this jump-start spell posed the same risk. Everyone would become rabid, eager to start a cold war of research over the spell in order to gain easy access to mages.
After all, from the seventh generation of Ciri back to Lara Dorren, his estimations, using exponential population growth, placed the number somewhere between five hundred and three thousand people.
And that estimate came only from his own line and the Cintran House of Raven descended from Fiona, for which he already had census data—not even counting those from the line of Amavet and its bastard branches, which had spread throughout the Northern Continent.
Coupled with the fact that he knew Lara Dorren was not the first to become the primary carrier of the Elder Blood, and that there might be many Wild Hunt members with traces of Elder Blood, alongside Aen Elle bastards with Elder Blood from different lines scattered across the Continent, Gustave suddenly felt a migraine coming on.
Although he knew that this bloodline had become extremely dormant, to the point of near nonexistence, and that, unlike Lara Dorren, the rest of the Aen Elle Elder Blood was a failed product, the possibility still existed—especially considering that Aen Elle individuals with traits like Imlerith were likely to come to this world for sex party.
Although it was Calanthe's and Alvin's problem, since any magical spell inventions fell on their side of affairs, it would still affect him one way or another.
And because he wanted their allied kingdoms to grow stronger rather than regress, Gustave decided to push forward the creation of mage armor to at least even the playing field between their allied mages and the rest of the world.
Mage armor that could strengthen the Source to draw upon the Power, something Alzur had prototyped, and which was later created and improved by the Grandmaster blacksmith of the Griffin School in the form of the Griffin Armor. It now only needed to be amplified and generalized, as Witcher magic usage and sorcerer magic usage were vastly different.
But because his immediate concern was teaching his mother a surface-level understanding of Quantum Mechanics, as well as attending to Synna and Vivienne, Gustave turned to his mother and began speaking about Quantum Mechanics first, wanting her to understand how to even the playing field between mortals, demons, and gods.
"Anyway, don't worry, Mother. The moment Ciri comes to me, I will grind those dunce heads of hers until she is at least a little bit smarter, so that little halfwit doesn't do it again."
"Hmm."
"Oh yes, Mother. Do you want to know why I personally know of that spider skinned by Sabrina Glevissig?"
Raising an eyebrow, sensing that her son was about to explain why deities and their people, like the Naiads and Trolls, kept coming to her one after another, Meve simply said, "Go on."
"It is because that spider is the real Coram Agh Tera, the Lionheaded Spider. A god who fell from the Ethereal Plane into our mortal one after being killed there."
Now it was her turn to be surprised. Meve stood up in excitement and exclaimed, "Wait! Are you serious, my son?! Gods can be killed?! All this time, they bleed the same as we do?!"
"Yes, Mother. They bleed the same as we do. The only difference between us and them is that once we know how to kill them, it becomes easy, while killing us requires a great deal of Power. Still, depending on one's perspective, both the Ethereal Plane and the Physical Plane have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is simply a matter of preference."
Stepping back and seeing her son speak of gods and demons as if he were talking about killing a Nekker or a Drowner on the side of the street, Meve looked at him solemnly and could manage only a single word. "Son…"
Chuckling at his mother's reaction, Gustave waved his hand to calm her. "Calm down, Mother. It is still me, Gustave, your favorite son. It is just that my knowledge has advanced so far that they have become just another species to me, Mother."
Pausing, he resumed. "And do you know why the rain stopped two months ago? I was the one who did it."
Her eyes widened, and just like Gustave earlier, Meve's knees suddenly went weak. She slumped down into a chair, short of breath. Staring at her trembling hands and then at her son, she found herself briefly doubting whether she had ever truly slept with Reginald to conceive this child of hers.
So with this news that completely flipped her understanding—not his ability to talk and read as a baby, not the countless inventions he had created, not even the ingenious ideas that had inspired her to make the Twin Realms better, but this, which finally made her see her son as something truly bizarre—Meve simply said, "I need to calm down for a moment."
Seeing her mother look at him as if he were a monster—but a monster she dearly loved and wanted to protect, her face scrunched in every direction as she tried to find the right emotion—Gustave just chuckled and shook his head, finding it very amusing.
Standing up, he walked to the wine cabinet, picked up another Lyrian Merlot, and poured it into his mother's glass. "Here, Mother. This will help you calm down. I know the news that gods can be killed, and that your own son can do it, is so bizarre it can feel suffocating. But once you understand how it works, it's not such a mystical miracle."
Gulping down all of the Lyrian Merlot, even snatching the bottle to drink herself senseless in an attempt to accept this otherworldly concept, Meve, after a few seconds, asked, "So… killing gods is a teachable skill, huh?"
"Yep. Like I said, it's just knowledge. So tell me when you're ready to be taught."
"..."
"..."
"Haah. Okay, hit me with how to do it."
He then began teaching his mother various Quantum Mechanics concepts, keeping them at a shallow, surface level so as not to overwhelm her.
Even then, his mother struggled to accept them, asking in frustration and feeling stupid, unable to grasp how something could exist and not exist at the same time, how a single action could affect something on another continent, how something solid could become a wave depending on the observer, and many other paradoxes of Quantum Mechanics.
But he reassured his mother that this knowledge was not something one could grasp instantly in the moment of teaching.
It was something that would be absorbed naturally over time, just as he had spent months and years to finally reach a personal "ahh, so that's how it behaves" awareness, even though the concepts had already been detailed in many sources and he had read them multiple times.
Seeing his mother grow even more confused and dizzy by the time his lecture ended, Gustave chuckled, satisfied that he had successfully passed on the tradition of spreading the mystery and, admittedly, the ignorance of Quantum Mechanics in this world.
To wrap everything up, he said to his mother, "Everything here shouldn't happen. Yet it did. It's paradoxical, I know. But it works. Our Elder Blood allows us to see the future, yes, but can it truly see our future? If we change the past, is the present still our reality? And if it's just another copy of our existence with the exact same parameters, does it still count as the same existence?"
Erasing the board on the wooden table with his laser Igni, Gustave continued, "Quantum Mechanics says yes to both. It is our future, and it is not at the same time. It has already happened, and it has not happened at the same time. And yet, it is this reality of Quantum Mechanics, born and unborn in an instant."
Turning to his mother, he concluded, "That's why Quantum Mechanics is lethal to beings that still exist in a state of ambiguity. Unlike us, who are already either born or unborn and not in between, we can brush off this ambiguity because we exist on the plane of General Relativity, where the universe follows stable rules and principles in order to function."
"However, gods, demons, heroic spirits, wraiths, and many others are not like that. Just as we are fragile against physical attacks, they are fragile when it comes to conceptual attacks. And just as they can easily affect our world physically, we can affect their world conceptually."
"But… I… argh… Son, this is too confusing for me to even conceptualize."
Drinking from his glass of wine and putting it down to moisten his mouth, Gustave chuckled, seeing that his mother, still rooted in a medieval mindset, struggled to grasp such an advanced concept.
Shaking his head, he reassured her, "Don't worry, Mother. Just start with General Relativity first. It's far easier to understand because we are beings that follow stable rules and principles."
Then, turning to the table and noticing that his earlier erasing had not been enough, Gustave began slowly burning the table he had used as a board to explain Quantum Mechanics to his mother. Using his low-level Source and Wind magic, he reduced it to dust, carefully gathering it into a bottle he could carry anywhere.
Wanting to continue talking to his mother about differentiating good gods from bad gods, Gustave paused, realizing she was already asking the very question he intended to address.
"Son, you're telling me all of this to show that gods are just like us—some friends, some enemies. Am I right, my child?"
"Yep. So don't go hating all of them. When the playing field is even, it's just a matter of whether it's beneficial or not. Maybe if we were chickens that could only be slaughtered, it would be understandable to hate and envy them. But now, with Quantum Mechanics, you don't need to, Mother."
"Just apply that concept to your own magic to combat these Ethereal entities, and you're good to go. But I'll repeat this once more, Mother: even though we have a sword, ours is only one while theirs are numerous. So just keep our sword hidden until it's ready to be wielded—there's no need to provoke them while things are already stabilized."
Frowning in displeasure, Meve asked, "Then what about the Eternal Fire? Do we just keep our mouths shut? Am I not allowed to take revenge for all the people who died for Lyria and Rivia?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Caught off guard by the unexpected answer, Meve was momentarily tongue-tied and could only say, "Oh."
Chuckling as he realized his mother had expected him to urge mercy, and knowing that his own reasoning followed a far more precise timing when dealing with enemies, Gustave then explained why she could begin hunting down the believers of the Eternal Fire.
"Eternal Fire—or Kreves—is far too busy recovering from the wounds I carved from his flesh. Eradicating their believers from the face of the Continent won't cause complications, because everyone else is doing the same. This is simply the consequence Kreves must face for entering the game of destiny too early, blundering and showing off his Power ineffectively."
Pausing, he continued, "Consequences that spread and branch out, leading to distrust of all religions once people realize they can be easily wiped out in this board game of destiny."
Now frowning in puzzlement, unable to understand what her son was saying, Meve asked, "Game of destiny?"
"Just… experiment with your own magic using Quantum Mechanics, Mother. And you will understand everything."
With Quantum Mechanics now out of the way, Gustave then turned the topic to Syanna.
"Oh yes, Mother. I heard from Larkin that you have a plan involving Toussaint and Syanna, the legitimate heir, so that you can turn that land into a vassal state. Isn't that right?"
"Yes. Next month, after I complete my pilgrimage and put everything in place, I intend to eradicate Caldwell's rebellions using your siege engines. After that, I will begin a holy war against the believers of the Eternal Fire within our Twin Realms and use that pretense to conquer Angren, Riverdell, Dol Angra, and Toussaint, before finally turning toward Aedirn."
Remembering all the letters she had sent to Demavend and the perfunctory replies she had received, Meve continued through gritted teeth.
"I have waited long enough for Demavend's answer. He is too much of a fence-sitter, unable to choose between us and the Eternal Fire. And his demands are outrageous! I would rather feed everything to the dogs than hand over our hard-earned society to him!"
Nodding his head, Gustave then suggested, "You can conquer Angren and Riverdell, but don't point your sword toward Dol Angra, Mother. It is the territory of the Naiads, much like Brokilon is for the Dryads. Treat it as nothing more than tourist land, a place for holidays and leisure. They are the reason we have only a small number of witches and monsters roaming our lands."
Finally realizing where these Naiads were coming from, Meve remarked to herself, "So they live in Dol Angra, huh? Well, in that case, since our neighbors are lending a big helping hand in our time of need, it would be unwise—and far too scoundrelly—for us to treat them with hostility."
"And with the first batch of prototype underwater potatoes, developed with the help of our botanist scholars, already on the way, it seems high time for me to put up fences and secure the surrounding territory, so that Dol Angra will remain unblemished."
Shaking his head at his mother, seeing that she still unconsciously held biases from her Twin Realm society against non-humans, Gustave corrected her.
"Ah, no, Mother. Don't isolate them. It will do us no good in the long run. It will just make them a second Brokilon. As I said, integrate them into our society. Build mansions for the wealthy and provide all kinds of facilities for anyone able to spend money on holidays in Dol Angra. Make it a place for leisure—trust me, it will be much better for our relations."
Nodding her head, trusting her son because she couldn't think that far ahead, Meve then asked, "Then what about Toussaint? It seems from your tone that there's something wrong with my plan to turn that Nilfgaardian second base into our vassal state."
"Yes, there is, Mother."
Shaking her head, Meve reassured Gustave, "Don't worry, my son. Syanna has already given her word to me that once we help her onto the throne, she will turn Toussaint into our vassal state. Although I know it won't be a particularly effective vassal, it will still delay Nilfgaard's spies from infiltrating our Twin Realms."
Noticing that his mother seemed to reverse her prejudice—applying it to trustworthy people while overlooking it in the untrustworthy—Gustave explained, "Mother, I'm sorry. It's good that you don't judge Syanna solely by her Curse of the Black Sun background. But you need to apply that same skepticism to her as you do with Melitele."
Pausing, he continued, "When it comes to her and all of Lilith's avatars, it's tricky to deal with them because of their impulses and psychotic tendencies. Although I share your empathy for these girls who have been abandoned by the world, the curse is there for a reason. So unless you can remove Lilith's influence from Syanna, I will just treat her with the benefit of the doubt."
Frowning and recalling the past two months of meetings with Syanna, Meve couldn't help but feel puzzled. She saw that Syanna was genuinely a good girl, despite her experience of killing someone and leading a gang… killing someone and leading a gang, yet still genuine.
Finally understanding that anyone able to kill without batting an eye and lead a gang will always carry some degree of dishonesty—like Gascon, who always tried to fleece more gold from her contracts—Meve rubbed her forehead, realizing her earlier blunder.
Luckily, her son had pointed this out early; otherwise, she would have already become infuriated for investing too much in Syanna. Looking at her son, who always seemed to be her lucky charm, Meve stood up and hugged him. "I love you so much, son. You really are my lucky star."
"Ewww! Get away from me, Mother!"
"Come on, I just want to give you a kiss."
"No, no! Don't kiss me on the cheek! I hate it!"
"Oh really?! You don't want some affection from your mother?! Then a spanking it is!"
Bolting out of his mother's grasp, Gustave shouted, "Hah! In your dreams, Mother! Not in a million years will you be able to treat me like a child!"
"Gustave!!! Come back here this instant!!!"
"Thanks, but no thanks! Bye-bye, see you later, Mother!"
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