System Change

Derek stared intently at Rudolph. “Do you want a job?” He asked.

That question seemed to stun Rudolph more than anything he asked before. The man tilted his head in confusion. “Did you ask me if I wanted a job?” He tried to confirm.

Derek nodded. “Sure did.” He answered. Before he continued, he turned to look at Mal, Brandi, and Rayna. “Would you guys mind working with this man? Or would you rather not? He was one of the guards of the Overseer, after all.”

The trio looked at each other. Obviously, they knew that they were going to be leaving with Derek when he went to a new city. Finally, after some quiet discussions, Rayna was the one to answer. “We don’t mind. We heard everything he said, and while he may not be the most trustworthy, he’s not completely bad. Besides, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind making some contracts with us if need be.”

Derek nodded again, then focused back on the man. “So, would you like a job?” He asked again.

Rudolph frowned and squinted his eyes. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

Derek smiled. “A lot, actually.” He answered vaguely. Feeling the tension, he continued. “It wouldn’t be just your normal contract work, but you would be able to do that on the side as well. In fact, it would actually be better for you to do so.”

Rudolph bobbed his head as he listened.

“First, we will be going to Savannah. When we get there, I have to meet with the City Lord and confirm a few things, but if all goes well, I should be able to get some type of workplace somewhere in the city.” Derek explained.

“Savannah? How do you plan on getting something there? You know that it’s the most expensive city in the Cydarian kingdom to live in, right?” The man questioned.

“Of course.” Derek confirmed. “Without going into too much detail… I have some dealings with the Crown Restaurant that should cover most of the startup costs. If I’m unable to get the money immediately, it shouldn’t take too long for me to gather it.”

The man stared at Derek with wide eyes. His dirty blonde hair had fallen in front of his eyes, but he was too caught up with Derek’s words to move it. “T-the Crown. You have dealings with the Crown? Just who are you?”

Derek fought the urge to chuckle. “That’s not important right now.” He said. “So, step one is to find a place and build a workshop. It will be expensive, especially for what I’m needing, but I will get the capital.”

“What would be my part in all of this?” The man asked, apparently no longer shocked. Derek could see the gears turning in his brain.

“Well, first, this would be more of a long-term thing… very long term. Your contract work will come in handy with a lot of my planned business, but for the most part, you would be the shopkeeper. Like I said, you can also do contract work on the side, as long as you keep away from shady business.” Derek explained.

“A shopkeeper with contract work on the side….” Rudolph muttered. “What exactly would we be selling?”

“Everything.” Derek said. He made sure not to look at Brandi. Then again, the cat was most likely out of the bag. If those guards had told the City Lord about her, then he could have already told his father as well.

“What do you mean?” The former guard asked.

“Well… I plan on building a forge, alchemy station, leatherworking station, and many others. I’m not entirely sure what is needed yet, which is why I’m hoping I can get a large piece of land. It’s going to require a lot of building, so it will be a bit before you’re needed… Though I could build the shop part first and you could begin doing contract work immediately…” Derek touched the stubble on his chin while he thought out loud.

“Ah, we can decide on that later.” Derek shook his head. “So, what do you think? Are you interested?”

Now it was time for the former guard to ponder. The room was silent for a long while.

“Kitchen!” Derek heard a childlike voice come from behind him. “When you’re building all these other places, don’t forget about a kitchen. A great big one, too. Not like that dinky kitchen on the bottom floor of the Crown, but like the awesome one on the upper floors.”

Derek turned to see Silvi with one of her paws on a green crystal. He smiled. “Of course, Silvi. I would never forget about making you a grand kitchen. I’ll buy you more onions than you could possibly deal with, too.”

Silvi’s nose twitched. “The kitchen is fine. Don’t need a bunch of onions. In fact, don’t even worry about the shopping. I can send the mou…” Silvi stopped when Derek narrowed his eyes at her. “I can ask if Thomas would help gather what I need for each meal. Oh, this is going to be great. Hurry. Hurry. Let’s go to Sa… Sa… let’s go to that other city. What are we waiting for?”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Nobles… Silvi… We still have a bunch of nobles to deal with. Remember?”

“Ah… That.”

Derek turned his attention back to Rudolph. At this point, he was no longer thinking about the job request. He was staring at Silvi in shock.

“Hey.” Derek snapped his fingers in front of the man’s face. “Snap out of it. I asked you a question.”

The man shook. “T-that bunny… so… so… intelligent. She’s not a pet, is she?”

“You’re a pet.” Silvi’s voice chimed.

“No, she is my contracted companion. You would do well to remember that. She’s probably stronger than anybody you’ve ever met… well, other than me.” Derek explained.

“She…” The man stopped and directed his question to Silvi. “You cook?”

“Of course, I cook. Were you not just listening? I swear… some humans. Are you sure you want this person to work for you? This guy couldn’t sell water in the desert.”

That was when Derek realized. He had left Silvi alone, in a kitchen full of chefs, for weeks. Then he thought about all of those cooking shows he’d seen before the system came to Earth. Oh, no… This might be really bad.

Derek snapped back to reality at the sound of laughter coming from everybody in the room. Well, everybody but Rudolph. Rudolph’s eyelid was twitching, and his face was red. Well, he did just get told off by a bunny.

“Ahem.” Derek cleared his throat to bring quiet back into the room. The laughter continued for a bit, but it eventually died down. “Yes, Silvi is a bunny. She is my companion. She is very strong, and yes, she can cook. In fact, she loves it and has been practicing at the Crown with their chefs. Do you have any more questions about her?”

“N-no.”

“Good.” Derek said. “Now, I’ll ask you again. Are you interested?”

“I… I think so.” The man finally answered.

“Good. Now I’m going to need you to make another one of those contracts with me. That, or an oath.” Derek said.

“Contract. Definitely.” Rudolph replied. “If there’s any way to get out of having to make an oath to the Great System, I’ll take it. Now, what kind of contract do we need this time?”

“Just a simple one. But it needs to have some serious consequences if it is broken. You mustn’t knowingly do anything that will harm me or my friends, and I will do the same for you.”

“Simple enough.” The man replied. “I will put up my contract skill as collateral. What would you like to use? Stats, skills, what?”

Derek raised his hand, blue sparks appearing as he channeled Chain Lightning. “I’ll put up my Chain Lightning skill. What do you think? Is that enough?”

“Is it a skill you use often?”

Derek thought about that. It was true that he could get by easily without having the skill. Losing it would only decrease the rate at which he could kill multiple enemies at a time. The skill had been great when he was in the dungeon, but it did little for single combat. Technically, it is the skill that I’ve gotten the most kills with since I’ve been here. After looking over his skills, the only skills he would prefer not to wager would be Identify and Channel Void.

It was also the skill he had leveled the highest, barring those that combined with previous skills, and Identify. “Well, it is one of my most used skills. It’s my dungeon clearing skill. To be honest, there aren’t many skills that would hurt for me to lose. And the one that would, I will not put up. Losing Chain Lightning for a time would slow down some of my future plans though.”

“Tell you what. You put up one more skill and we’ll call it even. All that we have to do to keep to the contract. It shouldn’t be hard. It is a simple contract.” Rudolph replied.

Derek nodded. “Alright, I’ll put up my Cleaning skill as well. Will that do?”

“Cleaning?” The man shook. “No utility skills. It wouldn’t mean anything if you lost it for a time.”

Derek chuckled. To be honest, Void Storage had been sitting there for a while unused. However, Derek didn’t want to put any of his void skills up. It would give too much information out. “How about Heavy Weapons Mastery?” Derek asked. It was literally his second highest leveled skill. The only problem was that it had become useless and it would continue to be useless until he could obtain a new weapon.

Rudolph frowned. “What level is it?”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “Above level 10. Is that enough?” He knew the man was trying to find out how much he relied on the skill to try to make a balanced contract.

“Is it above level 13?” The man finally asked.

Derek nodded. “It is.”

Rudolph let out a breath. “That will do. Though it is odd that you have both Chained Lightning and Heavy Weapons Mastery. They don’t really go together.”

Derek smiled. “Well, that’s probably true… for most classes.”

Rudolph stared at Derek for a minute, then shifted his eyes onto a magic contract that he began filling out. Before long, the man had made another contract, and they both had signed.

Derek held out his hand, and Rudolph took it. They shook.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what you got, Rudy.”