System Change

“Now, I don’t know if he’ll actually be able to help us right this instant,” Derek said as he and Marrick slowly walked from his shop to the area where Geoffrey’s was located. He motioned in front of himself, then all around. “As you can see, Savannah is extremely busy right now because of the new alliance and open border policies.”

“I can see that,” Marrick said, then nodded to an earth mage who was slowly and methodically moving dirt and rocks out of an area of a lot that looked to be where a future shop would be located. “That’s something that I’m glad I never did get into. I wouldn’t have to die of old age if I was nothing more than an earth mover for some two-bit construction company… I would have already killed myself.”

“There’s still plenty of time,” Derek said with a laugh. “Not to kill yourself, but to feel what it’s like to work like your average, every day, run-of-the-mill earth mover.”

“Don’t make me do it,” Marrick said as he raised his hand, palm facing up, and a small, spike-like object formed out of gathered sand and floated in front of the old man’s head—pointy end facing himself.

“Fine… fine…” Derek said as he shook his head—he really enjoyed chatting with the old elf. “But they really may need your help if everything keeps going the way it is. I’d say that if nothing happens to sour relations between each kingdom’s citizens, Savannah will be double its size in one or two years. And that’s me being conservative. I knew it would be popular, but I thought the other kingdoms would have a city like it that would draw some of the others’ attention as well.”

“Young Miss Savannah has done quite the job with her city. The last time I visited—however long ago that was… two… maybe three lords ago…” The old man shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. The last time I was here, it was nothing like it is now. All it takes is one kindhearted, greedy, charitable person with a knack for business as lord, and you get something like this.” Marrick motioned all around him with his arms—his cane somehow standing perfectly how it had been. “It is quite the accomplishment.”

“I guess so,” Derek agreed. Still, he’d been to places like New York City and seen many others back when he was on Earth, so, while he could agree that Natalie was running the city quite well, the buildings and style still lacked in comparison. Well… he thought as he looked into the air. The air isn’t smoggy and all water I drink from runes is completely pure, so… maybe it’s better in that regard too. There wasn’t even a proper New York City still standing after the Universal System came, anyway. I guess this is much more sustainable when there are monsters capable of leveling villages constantly at your doorstep.

“This city could give Stonehaven a run for its money soon,” Marrick said, then, seeing the look of confusion on Derek’s face, continued. “Stonehaven is the above ground version of Vallum’s capital, Stonehelm,” he explained.

“Stonehaven and Stonehelm…” Derek muttered.

“Mhm… Dwarves are second to none when it comes to crafts, and they even flourish in business… but they have the naming sense of…”“A Cydarian royal family member?” Derek finished.

“No…” Marrick said seriously. “They are at least still better than that.”

The two men burst out into laughter at the royal family’s expense as they continued their stroll through the city toward Geoffrey’s business. The two made a strange sight to any passerby. Marrick, with his striking resemblance to an old goblin had he been green, wasn’t the only thing that stood out, as Derek had also decided to slap his new diamond ranked adventurer’s badge on his shoulder and give it a test drive. So far, it was doing its job quite well, as, after a while, the two were able to make it to Geoffrey’s place with zero interruptions—runners, guards, adventurer’s, and even regular citizens gave them a wide berth because they all knew what the badge meant.

“Here we are,” Derek said as the two of them approached Alabaster Homes, Geoffrey’s business.

“Alabaster Homes?” Marrick asked, confused. “I thought you were taking me to a furniture person, not a home constructor.”

“Geoffrey… well, he kind of does it all. He’s the owner, and he knows the people who are good at doing everything else. He did my entire shop for me—from the kitchen to the bedrooms to the shop floor and even Brandi’s basement.”

“I see. So he’s a jack of all trades but focuses on the big business,” Marrick said. “And he is the one who got you those chairs in your dining room?”

“He is,” Derek said. “And if he’s too busy and you’re impatient, you can have one of those chairs. I have some new plans for things and will be updating soon.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We’ll see,” Marrick said as Derek led him through the door into Alabaster Homes. “But thanks for the offer. I don’t believe I’m going to have a hard time finding what I’m looking for here, though.” The old man smiled when he got a good look around.

Derek also gave the lobby of the building a good look. He hadn’t been inside the place before, as before. He had met up with Geoffrey and his people at the hotel and did all the paperwork there for convenience. The inside was pretty standard—the walls were made out of painted white blocks with pretty spiral designs adorning them.

What he did find interesting was all the things in the lobby. The chairs arranged for customers to sit in were all good quality and looked quite comfortable—about like what Alanah had in the suite for Derek. There was also some prime product placement, as a few different models of the showers he’d worked Derek to design were hanging on the walls. What he didn’t like was all the people who were either lined up to test the showers—they had tubs with runes to catch the water—or the amount of people who were occupying the seats. It was quite full.

“Welcome to Alabaster Homes, where your dream home is only a contract away,” a beautiful receptionist greeted Derek and Marrick with a gentle, but forced smile once she finished directing a different customer to one of the seats. “My name is Jean, how may I help you tod—” she started, but her eyes soon fell onto Derek’s diamond badge and lit up.

“My apologies!” The woman shot to her feet and bowed. Now, with a smile that wasn’t forced at all, and was actually quite seducing, she said, “It would be my pleasure to help you today. May I ask what it is that you are looking for?”

Like Geoffrey, like employees, Derek thought. He wouldn’t expect anything less from the slimiest looking person he’d ever met in Cydaria—no, in the three kingdoms that he’d had the pleasure of traveling to since leaving Earth. She certainly didn’t recognize Derek, as, other than Geoffrey, he’d only met a few of the people building the shop, but she did, however, recognize the badge. He wondered if knowing who he was would cause her actions to change yet again. He was sure that Geoffrey had at least told his staff about him.

“Hello Jean.” Derek took a step forward and gave the woman a slight bow, which caused her eyebrows to shoot up to her hairline and her cheeks to turn a shade of crimson. “My name is Derek Hunt. I’m sure you have heard of me from Geoffrey. He wouldn’t happen to be in today by chance, would he?”

“D-Derek Hunt?! O-of course. Mr. Tate is currently in his office. Please allow me to go fetch him.” The woman looked left and right a couple times, then yelled for another employee to come and told her to watch the counter while she was gone. Then she disappeared into the building.

“Quite popular, I see,” Marrick commented after seeing the display by the woman.

“It’s mostly the badge,” Derek said, pointing at the diamond badge attached to his shirt on the shoulder. “I guess Klaus has really built it up over the years.”

“Klaus?” Marrick commented. “That old coot is still alive and kicking? Those powers of his must have done something to his brain if he still likes watching over all those young adventurers. He should just go adventuring and die like a real man.”

“He did say that he knew you,” Derek laughed. “But, from what I gathered, he has already done most all the adventuring that is available here, and he does the Adventurer’s Guild stuff because he’s bored and it is entertaining to him watching the younger generations grow.”

“I guess…” Marrick said. “I met the man in my middle age and he was already quite the character. I can only imagine he’s certainly not changed for the better. Quite annoying, that guy. But I guess he has every right to be like that since nobody was able to do anything about it. I believe death is allergic to that man.”

“Hah,” Derek chuckled. “That is certainly one way of putting it. And yeah, he’s quite eccentric, but seems very smart with what his abilities can do. I’m interested in any findings he comes up with after the sample I gave him.” Derek held up his pinky finger.

“You didn’t?” Marrick asked with wide eyes. “I… Well, I don’t know enough about him to know whether I would trust him with such things or not. But be careful, I never cared much for the fellow.”

“Even if he makes a breakthrough, I don’t think he could do me any hard,” Derek said with a smile. “I have a way to deal with certain individuals who may consider themselves indestructible.” The first person who was like that was Tevarian—the former, now dead, King of Astrus. Opening the void via Void Travel and tossing someone in was Derek’s trump card and his next step to deal with the ‘genius’ king if Silvi’s dragon flame didn’t work—unfortunately for him, he didn’t get to test it out.

However, it was better that way, as he was at least able to get the experience points for the kill when Silvi turned him into a puddle. He wondered what kind of effect dragon flame would have on Klaus as well. If he was able to survive it like Derek thought, though, the void was only a couple steps away, and he was certain that the man couldn’t survive the rapid change in his body coupled with the crazy spatial energy ripping through it.

“If all else fails,” Derek chuckled. “I’ll just throw him in a hole.”

“Ah,” Marrick replied. “I guess that certainly is something that you could do. I also imagine that if that didn’t work, you could just close the hole, and we’d never see hide nor hair of the person again—whether alive or dead.”

“That sounds about right,” Derek said. “But I can almost guarantee that nobody other than myself and Silvi would be able to survive being in there for more than a few second or minutes without us being there to shield them. It is a pretty terrifying place.”

“Well,” Marrick said. “With the feeling that portal gives off when you open it, I certainly can’t imagine it being sunshine and rainbows inside. Still, it is quite the convenient skill and a good ‘out’ if you need it. You may be just as slippery as Klaus with that traveling skill.”

“Agreed,” Derek replied.

After that, they waited a few more minutes, then Geoffrey finally appeared in his slimy suit with a big grin on his face. “Mr. Hunt!” he greeted. “And you have brought a guest?”

The man looked down at Marrick, and Derek thought he could even see the shiver coming from the ancient elf’s spine.

“Marrick,” the old man replied.

“Marrick… I do believe I have heard of that name somewhere before, but I can’t put my finger on it… oh well.” Geoffrey shrugged. “Mr. Hunt, Mr. Marrick, what is it that you are looking for today?”