System Change

Natalie watched as the woman disappeared through the halls of her manor. The lady had brought her a very interesting, very profitable opportunity, all because of the short talk Natalie had with Derek Hunt before he left for the raid.

She was doing her best to wrap her head around the new contract she had just signed. It was so good that she jumped at the opportunity. Apparently, it mirrored the contract that Derek Hunt had signed with Alanah for the new potion he and Roman Pascal produced.

Now, however, Natalie had sole rights to sell the newly created potion. A potion that would permanently increase one’s mental stats. As there were no ways other than special dungeon rewards to obtain such an item to increase one’s Wisdom, it would be highly sought after. It would likely be just as wanted as the other potion that increased Vitality as well as the other physical stats.

Natalie was delighted as she examined the vial containing the magical liquid. It constantly changed from transparent to a solid color, then back again. The potion she was given as a sample was made from one of the weaker Void Beasts, as Mr. Pascal was still perfecting its craft, but she was promised that other, stronger potions would come soon. For that, she couldn’t wait.

Natalie didn’t need to use auctions to show her power and status. She had a list of preferred buyers, and she would likely get much more for the potions than that Alanah had at her auction. Natalie could practically see the gold coins raining down on her.

Soon, the petite woman stored the potion and took out another item that the woman called Malorie had left with her. It wasn’t much, just an odd blueprint connected to Geoffrey Tate and Derek Hunt. Apparently, they had created some device for bathing, and Malorie had talked with Geoffrey about letting Natalie in on the product in order to expand their possibilities.

Natalie had to admit that the ‘shower’ product was genius in its simple design. She especially liked the portable design for travelers and adventurers. Though, they would have to find a way to prevent knockoffs and also make it so the shower wasn’t easily fixed, and lost durability with use.

They would need to make it have a limited number of uses. That way, they could keep selling it. If everyone bought one, and it never broke, what use would that be? They were truly lacking business sense, but that’s what she was for. And now that she was a partner in the business, she wouldn’t allow Derek’s people to wander around blindly.

In fact, she would whip that Malorie into shape before Derek got back from the raid. It was the least she could do for someone who had been so quick and true to his word. She respected that.

A gleam fell over Natalie’s eyes as she thought about training someone in the way of business. It had been far too long since she had done so. The next three years would be so much fun.

Finally, the woman stored the blueprint back inside her storage ring and took a final sip of her coffee, which she found she enjoyed with just a touch of honey, but she also like it black. She sighed and sat her empty cup back on the table before hopping out of the chair and walking away.

She was on the verge of getting some good information out of Gerald Torith. She just knew it. The half-elf didn’t know much of anything, and the brute from House Aarden was just that, a brute. She had wasted her time on the other two. She should have spent it all on breaking through the old man’s barriers.

Instead, she thought she may get a good starting point from the other two captives, but she was wrong, unfortunately. She would talk to Alanah soon about what to do with them. Her job with the two was over. It would be up to that woman now. Cliff Aarden had done some terrible things, maybe not enough for Alanah’s mind trap, but she had to admit, he would make a great Deathsworn.

Natalie really did hate having to do all this interrogating. It was taxing on her mentally, and because of the time it took her to recover, her work piled up and she was slowly falling behind, which had left her in a constant state of tiredness.

Before she exited her courtyard, she had a bout of inspiration and took the Potion of Mental Permanence back out of her storage ring. With a single motion, she popped the cork and downed the liquid. If the potion increased the mental stats permanently, then maybe it would work on her mental fatigue, as well.

It was an extravagant use of the potion, but it wasn’t like she was wasting it. Any extra Intelligence or Wisdom would be a boon, even for someone like her with both those stats maxed out.

She soon felt a calming rush, then smiled when she saw the notification. It wasn’t a lot of stats, but every stat counted. She was also pleasantly surprised that the potion did indeed clear her of most of her mental fatigue. Maybe she would get some extra work done after all.

***

Malorie’s meeting with the City Lord wasn’t anything like she expected it to be. In fact, it went much better than she thought it would. Natalie Savannah wasn’t as intimidating as Alanah Swan had been. She didn’t know if it was because the woman was absolutely adorable. The small stature woman just looked like she didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

Malorie soon made it back to the shop. Once she got to Rudy’s office, she sat down across from the man and pulled out the contract. The contract wasn’t completed just yet, but it was in a state that nobody could make any changed to it any longer, since Natalie had already signed it.

There were two things still needed. The first was Natalie’s signature as Derek’s proxy, and the second was the name of the business. The first part was easy enough, as she had already been given all of those rights along with access to Derek’s bank account.

Unfortunately, Derek hadn’t named his business before he left. Malorie had a sneaking sensation that he had done it purposefully, so he would have to be the one to do it. And her hypothesis had to be correct, as he had left her the power to it. He had basically left everything to her. She wasn’t complaining, as he was forward with her and she had accepted.

She just didn’t think it would all happen so suddenly. She only had a few weeks’ notice. Now she was basically running a business with ties to both Savannah’s City Lord, and the owner of the Crown Restaurant. She was completely out of her depth, and mostly alone.

Her daughter had holed herself up in the basement, working on something new. Malorie hated to go down there mid project, as she was worried about distracting Brandi and causing an accident. If she were to inadvertently harm her child, she didn’t know if she would ever forgive herself.

Really, the only ones left with her at the shop were Rudy, Thomas, and Brandi. Rayna and Jacks had continued their adventuring together. The surprising thing was that Stella had actually joined them. Their group of two was now a group of three, and they couldn’t be happier to have her. With her along, and the amount of people who know who she was, it should keep any would be villains away, and they would only have to worry about beasts and their missions.

Thomas was pretty down after both Shae and Derek left for the raid, but all that changed with a box from the Carrie, the dwarven blacksmith, arrived at their door. Apparently, Derek had put in a commission with the blacksmith before he left, and it had only been completed yesterday.

Thomas spent all day yesterday and today training with the spear and admiring it. She had to admit; it was a good spear. It could easily hold up to level 125 beasts or higher, and he wouldn’t need to replace it for quite a while. She wasn’t completely sure about the kid’s skills, but according to him, he was able to launch his best skills even faster and more efficiently than he could with his other spear.

Finally, Malorie handed the contract to Rudy for a once over. Natalie had drawn the contract up on the spot, which Rudy would surely take offense over, but what’s done was done. She still wanted him to examine it to make sure everything was above board.

Rudy took the contract from Malorie and examined it with a frown. After giving it a once over, he looked it over again before nodding. He put the contract down on his desk and looked Malorie square in the eyes.

“You should have brought me,” he said with a pout.

“I didn’t think we were going to get as far as drawing up contracts today, but she made one on the spot and I didn’t want to refuse it,” Malorie answered.

“At least you didn’t sign it before letting me look it over,” the contract maker said.

“Does that mean you found something wrong with it?” Malorie sat forward with wide eyes. “I looked it over multiple times, but I didn’t see anything. What is it?”

“This.” Rudy slammed his index finger down on the contract. “Will give me a good amount of experience and skill even if I wasn’t the person to draw it up. Just imagine all that wasted experience if you would have signed it there. We got lucky.”

Malorie leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. Of course, he was worried about himself and not about the contract. “So, there’s nothing wrong with the contract?”

“No.” He injected a bit of mana into the contract before sliding it back over to Malorie. “It’s a good contract. The City Lord even allowed it to be more favorable than the one we signed with the Crown. Though I believe those two have some type of hidden rivalry, so I wouldn’t think much of it.”

“What was that?” she asked about the mana injection. She already knew from Derek that Natalie and Alanah had a habit of one-upmanship with each other.

“Just marking it with my mana to show that I was a part of the process.”

“Of course…”

“So… have you thought about a name? You’re going to need that to complete it, as it is for the business, not just the person,” Rudy informed.

“Derek seemed to like things being somewhat simple, but with the magical setting created by the material used to make the shop, and his reputation, I was thinking of something wondrous.”

Rudy nodded. “I have an idea… if you don’t.”

“Oh? What are you thinking?”

“First, how many people know that Derek uses Void? He took all the restrictions off of us before he left, so he shouldn’t be that worried anymore, right?” Rudy asked.

Malorie frowned. “I’m sure many rumors have already spread, and he is already connected to the Void Beast, plus, we have connections with the Crown, the Royals, and Natalie Savannah, so even if people found out…” she trailed off.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Rudy said. “How about we call it The Void Emporium? We can just use it for the private contracts and wait for Derek to come back before we advertise the name. Besides, unless Brandi has a breakthrough, we won’t be doing business out of the shop any time soon.”

Malorie thought about it before agreeing. Finally, she signed the contract with her mana signature and filled in the business name. For now, the business would be called The Void Emporium.