System Change

Derek appeared back at the dungeon camp, still dressed in his leather armor and facemask. This time, to the shock of all those watching him, he didn’t directly teleport back into the dungeon once he came out. Instead, he backed away and looked towards the old adventurer from the Adventurer’s Guild.

He walked away from the dungeon orb and approached the old man. Without any words, he took out the walkthrough of the dungeon and handed it to the man. The man looked confused, but soon shifted his eyes to read the parchment. As he read, his eyes grew wider and wider. After some time, the man looked up at Derek.

“You don’t know what this means to the guild.” He said. “If you follow me back or if you take it back yourself, they will reward you… and it won’t be a small reward.”

Derek shook his head. “You’re the one who wanted it so you could reduce the number of deaths that take place. I respect that, so you can do what you want with it.”

After speaking, Derek turned and walked off. As he moved back into the forest, he looked over his shoulder to see all the adventurers crowding around the old man. The man, for the short time they had chatted, seemed like a decent fellow, so Derek didn’t mind doing him this one favor. It took him all of a few minutes, so it really wasn’t much to him. Besides, if they ever did find out who he was, it would help to have some goodwill with the Adventurer’s Guild.

Thinking this far, Derek took off back to the village.

***

It wasn’t long before Derek snuck into the back of the village and silently crept his way back to Rayna’s residence. He gave everyone other than Silvi a shock when they finally noticed him standing in the doorway of the dining room.

He had stood there silently, watching everyone eating stew and having a good time. It wasn’t until Silvi looked up, irritated that he still hadn’t said anything, that the others shifted their gazes from their bowls to the doorway.

“Oh, gosh. Derek, dear, you just about scared me to death.” Delilah mocked grabbing her chest as she spoke.

“I didn’t want to interrupt. You all seemed to be having such a great time.” He replied.

“Hurry. Come eat. The beaut… eh… Malorie showed me how to cook a great stew. Come try it.” Silvi’s voice sounded out from the green crystal placed at the center of the dining room table.

Derek smiled, then walked to one of the empty chairs, then sat down. “Fine, but we can’t stay long.” Derek told Silvi. “We have some things to take care of, and the sooner the better.”

Malorie grabbed a bowl and filled it with stew before sitting it down in front of him. “Here you go.”

Derek picked up the spoon and took a bite. Silvi was correct. It was a great stew. It was even better than the stew Malorie had cooked before. Must be because of all the fresh ingredients Silvi has in her ring. The stew from before wasn’t much more than meat, potatoes, and carrots. He thought.

“That is great.” Derek praised. “The two of you could open a shop and sell this if you wanted to.”

Malorie blushed, and everyone at the table chuckled.

“I could help with getting you a stall or store once we get to Savannah.” Rudy pointed a spoon at Malorie. “I’m sure I could negotiate a fair price for you.”

“He’s right, momma.” Brandi said. “It is really good. The best you’ve ever made.”

“I helped.” Silvi chimed in.

“Yes, you did.” Malorie said. “It wouldn’t have been nearly as good without your help.”

Derek smiled and the group ate. They all made small talk as they filled their bellies. It really was one of the best meals he’d had in years. It would have been a great meal even if they were eating dried rations, the delicious food only made it that much better.

***

After dinner, Derek was using his Cleaning skills to clean the dishes. Rayna was standing beside him, chatting.

“So, did you do what you needed to?” She asked.

“Yeah. I shouldn’t have any problems for quite some time now.” He answered.

“That’s good.”

Derek nodded as he finished cleaning the last dish.

The duo walked into the meeting room where everyone else was and sat down.

“Richard… Delilah, are you sure that the two of you don’t want to come to Savannah with us?” Derek questioned.

The two looked at each other and nodded. “We’re old.” Richard said. “We’ve lived here most of our lives, might as well finish our lives here. You don’t need to worry about us.”

Derek nodded. “Okay… I’ll be sure to bring Thomas by before we leave, then.”

“Thank you.” Delilah said.

Derek focused on everyone else. “Silvi and I are going to be gone for a bit. When we get back, be ready to go.” Then he looked at Rudy. “Rudy, I doubt anything will happen here, but if it does, you should be more than enough to take care of anything. Keep them safe for the next few days.”

Rudy nodded. “No problem.”

“Good.” Derek said. “We’ll be back soon.”

With that, Derek left with Silvi on his shoulder. He made sure to make a show of walking out of the residence and through the village, leaving through the gates. At least nobody in the village will think I left.

‘What are we doing?’ Silvi asked.

‘Ah, I guess I never told you. We… are going noble hunting.’ He replied.

‘Really?’ Silvi asked with a spark in her eye.

‘Yup. Pretty exciting, huh? Though, I doubt they’ll give us much trouble.’

‘Yeah, we’re a lot stronger. I can feel it. What did you do while you were gone?’ Silvi asked.

‘I leveled up in a dungeon. Got to level 100.’ Derek answered.

At that time, he felt his private communication crystal going off. He pulled it out of his storage bracelet and answered the call.

‘Walter? What’s up?’

‘I was finally able to get a hold of you. I’d almost given up.’ Walter said.

Huh? This is the first time I felt the crystal since I talked with Alanah. Derek thought, then it hit him. There must not be any service in the dungeon. That made sense. Even if the crystal could reach from here to the capital, dungeons were in another dimension or instance. He wasn’t sure what to call it.

‘Sorry, I was indisposed.’ He answered. ‘What’s so urgent?’

‘It’s not urgent, exactly. Well, it might be for you.’ Walter replied. ‘The City Lord left. His whole house left. What happened?’

‘Malcolm and Clay left? Where did they go?’ Derek asked.

‘It looked like they were heading to Wilmette. It’s the closest city with a teleport circle. I’m thinking they got wind of whatever you did, or maybe Gerald recalled them to the capital. I’m not sure, but they left a few hours ago.’ Walter explained.

Dammit! Derek inwardly cursed. ‘You said everyone left? They’ll be slow, then. How long do you think it will take them to get to Wilmette?’

‘If they travel through the night, then they’ll be there by morning. Clay was still unconscious, so they can’t move too fast, but everyone is relatively trained, so they will still be quick.’ Walter answered.

Derek pulled out the map he bought of the region and found Wilmette. We should be able to cut them off. He thought. ‘Walter, thanks for the information. I owe you dinner when we get back to the city. I’ll talk to you later.’

‘Be careful.’ Walter replied, then the connection cut off.

‘New plan.’ Derek sent to Silvi. ‘The nobles are running, so we’re going to have an actual hunt.’

‘Let’s go.’ Silvi sent back.

Derek smiled, then went over the map once again and made sure to orient himself in the right direction. Technically, going from where he was straight to the city wasn’t exactly the safest route. He was sure to come upon some dangerous creatures, but he doubted he would find any that were actually dangerous to him or Silvi.

‘Let’s go.’ Derek said back to Silvi. ‘If they stay on the road, it should be easy to cut them off.’

Derek, with Silvi on his shoulder, took off, leaving a trail of dust in their wake.

Hours, and multiple monster kills later, Derek and Silvi made it onto the main road to Wilmette. It was the middle of the night. Derek wasn’t sure if Torith was ahead of or behind him at the moment. For good measure, he and Silvi split up. Derek headed towards Wilmette and Silvi headed the opposite.

It wasn’t long before Derek could see the outline of the city in the dark. He could make out lights and torches inside. It was a much bigger city than Torith. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Derek was unable to see anyone in between himself and the city.

Derek smiled. They must still be on their way. He just had to hope that they weren’t traveling too fast. If they had already made it into the city, then he was sure they would have immediately teleported to the capital.

Derek turned around and rushed in the opposite direction, towards where Silvi went. Before long, he heard Silvi.

‘There you are. I found them.’ Silvi said.

‘I’m on my way.’