System Change

“Good to see you, too,” Derek said, as he reached out with his hand and shook Geoffrey’s. “I was hoping to catch you before you were fully booked and make some arrangements and contracts, but…” he looked around and motioned to all the people sitting in the lobby, waiting.

“No need to mind them,” Geoffrey said. “They are new customers, and you are a returning customer. Not to mention a VIP Customer. There are always special slots open for people like yourself. Especially now.” The man’s eyes sparkled as they landed on the diamond ranked badge on Derek’s shoulder.

Geoffrey also made sure to talk loud enough so that everyone sitting in the lobby could just hear his conversation with Derek. I bet having such a high-ranking adventurer come to the store in person for a contract is something that he’s sure to take advantage of, Derek thought. He hadn’t actually thought about what him coming to visit Alabaster Homes would do for the store, but he could definitely see the rumors spreading soon enough. And, knowing Geoffrey, there was certainly no way that the man would not take advantage of it.

“Well… in that case, there are a couple of things that I would like to speak to you about,” Derek said. “Do you have some place more private where we could discuss them?”

“Of course,” Geoffrey said. “Please, the two of you. Follow me.” The slimy businessman turned around and led the way. Of course, he also made sure to lead Derek and Marrick directly through the middle of the crowd so that any who hadn’t already gotten a good look at Derek’s badge would clearly be able to see it. However, before he led them to the back, Geoffrey stopped at the display showers.

“Your showers are quite the hot ticket item,” Geoffrey said. “Because of you, I was able to have a meeting with Ms. Savannah, and we were able to come up with multiple ways to ‘improve’ upon the design. I have to say, they are selling out every week now that there is an alliance between nations. After using one, I am pleased to say that the overwhelming majority of nobles and adventurers—especially adventurers—are hooked. I do not think they would be willing to go back to the hassle of regular bathing when out on a mission when they have access to our showers.”

“That’s good,” Derek said. “I guess.”

“It is indeed,” Geoffrey said before turning and leading the two away from the showers on display. As they walked, he continued his explanation. “Sales are through the roof, and your share is nothing to scoff at, either. Though I am sure that Miss Malorie has already informed you of that.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Derek replied as he was led through a door away from the lobby. “I only got some totals from her. I didn’t bother looking or asking about where every gold coin came in from. All of that stuff makes my head hurt.”

“Ah,” Geffrey said. “I guess that someone of your standing wouldn’t bother with things like that.”

“Mhm.” From beside Derek, Marrick nodded his head in agreement. “Money becomes irrelevant once you reach a certain… standing,” he said. “At that point, the things which you need are not able to be bought with money. You either barter or obtain the items by some other means. Say… for example… robbing an entire kingdom’s treasury right from under their noses.”

At that, Derek stumbled, but quickly righted himself. He looked around, embarrassed, but saw that there was nobody around, and only Marrick had seen his blunder. The old man looked up at him with a sly grin.

“Hah!” Geoffrey laughed. “As if anyone would have the gall to do something like that. Could you imagine? Then, even if you did… the repercussions would be severe. I would like to meet someone like that and ask them what it’s like to have an entire kingdom trying to kill you.”

“It is not as uncommon as you might think,” Marrick replied. “In my life, I can count six…” he then looked over at Derek again. “Seven times that it has happened that I know of. But yes, I would say that there is only a 1 in 7 success rate if you consider the length of time those people survived afterward.”

“I bet,” Geoffrey said. “I am surprised that there was even a person who could be considered successful—given the circumstances.” The businessman finally led the two to his office. It was small, but decorated quite well. It seemed he had even gone through the trouble of getting his office a few chairs that were identical—but for their different color—as the ones that Derek had surrounding his dining table at the Void Emporium. “Please.” He motioned to the two chairs at one side of a desk, then walked around the desk to a chair of his own. “Have a seat.”

“How much?” Marrick asked out of nowhere once he hopped into the chair and got comfortable.

“Pardon?” Geoffrey said.

“For one of these chairs,” Marrick said. “How much do you want?”

“Oh, that?” Geoffrey asked. “I’m sure we could work something out. As a friend of Mr. Hunt, I would be willing to give you quite the deal.”

“You might want to wait,” Derek said to Marrick before flicking his wrist and causing a sheet of paper to appear in his hand.

“Oh?” Geoffrey’s eyes widened. “And what might you have there?” he asked. So far, it seemed that everybody that had partnered with Derek had made quite the killing—Geoffrey included. It was only natural that he would be excited about another future partnership.

Derek placed the sheet of paper on the table and slid it across to Geoffrey. The slimy businessman eagerly reached out to take it, and Derek let him have it. As the man looked over it, he said, “Hmm… I think we can do this. It shouldn’t take too long. I know just the materials to make it out of.”

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“What is it?” Marrick asked.

It was, of course, a mockup of a sofa chair that Derek had asked Brandi to help him draw. Derek’s artistic skills were still the same in Cydaria as they were on Earth… non-existent, even with his high dexterity—he figured it was more to do with his imagination and his lack of wanting to try to improve than anything else. Brandi, on the other hand, had drawn countless blueprints for projects she was working on, so when he asked if she could help, she jumped on the task, and it came out better than he had planned.

He probably wouldn’t have even thought about such a chair if not for Dave. The odd elf had somehow made him the perfect recliner to sit in when he pulled him and Silvi into that weird place. Ever since then, Derek always had it in the back of his mind to create one for himself.

“It is a very interesting design,” Geoffrey said as he continuously scanned the blueprint up and down. He then turned to the next page, which contained another design—a very familiar reclining chair. “Oh… this one is good. And this lever to bring out a footrest… mhm…” The man nodded. “We can definitely do this. I may even be able to find a way to lock the design behind runes so that if anyone tampers with it to see how it’s put together, it will crumble to pieces. We could make and control the market.”

“I don’t imagine it would be that hard to figure out,” Derek said. “I told the idea to a young blacksmith that isn’t quite fifteen years old yet, and she figured it out in about five minutes. I doubt it would take someone with more experience long to do so as well.”

“Hmm…” Geoffrey muttered. “That is correct. Maybe I will take it to Miss Savannah and see if she has any ideas. She was a great help with the showers. Perhaps we can sell them with a contract attached, or we can put her name on the furniture to show the quality of the brand.”

“Do what you want,” Derek said. “Just get with Malorie and give her a contract for whatever percentage she thinks is fair. I’m not actually too worried about making a profit on them. I just want a few of each.”

“Very well,” Geoffrey said. “I should have a prototype of each design ready within two days—maybe sooner.”

“Two,” Marrick said.

“Pardon?” Geoffrey asked again.

“You’ll have two prototypes of each design ready within two days,” the old elf clarified. “And throw in a few of your best showers, too.”

Geoffrey looked the old man up and down again, then shifted his gaze to Derek, then back to Marrick. “Mr. Hunt, Mr. Marrick, I’m sorry to be rude, but if you don’t mind, who exactly are you?”

“Took you long enough,” Derek said. He looked over at Marrick, and the elf shrugged. “He’s the strongest person in the entirety of the Kingdom of Indria.”

“Oh, so he’s the stro… what?!”

“You asked…” Derek said.

Geoffrey quickly jumped to his feet and bowed deeply. “Apologies, Mr. Marrick. Of course, I will have a storage ring of your prototypes and some of our special showers with great durability, so you won’t have to worry about them breaking unless done so by yourself or a strong beast. All free of charge, of course.”

“Bah!” Marrick waved Geoffrey’s words away. “Sit down. I am not so helpless that I need charity. I will pay full price for anything you may sell me of interest, and I will pay extra for the rushed order.”

“Of course, Sir!” Geoffrey quickly took his seat like Marrick had commanded. “Whatever you wish.”

“And I may not be the strongest in Indria,” Marrick turned his head to Derek and said to him. “I am quite rusty with my skills, and that whelp Osian is quite good with his barriers. Probably the best Elras I’ve seen use them. Though… in my prime…”

“You’ll be back to your prime in no time now that you’re through sitting around,” Derek said.

“Maybe,” Marrick relented. “But I’m sure that you would have no problem against the young whelp.”

“Yeah…” Derek said. “I’d be fine. Barriers really aren’t useful against me.” He continued. “And you do know that he’s like… probably hundreds of years older than I am, right?”

“Bah,” Marrick waved his hand through the air again. “Those are elven years, and everyone is a young whelp to me.”

“Everyone?” Derek asked with a smile, knowing that they had just talked about Klaus.

“Almost everyone.” The elf corrected.

“Uhem,” Geoffrey hesitantly cleared his throat to gather the two’s attention back. “I will prioritize the creation of this ‘Sofa Chair’ and ‘Reclining Chair’ and will contact you via communication crystal as soon as they are ready. I will get my best people on it as soon as possible.”

“Great!” Derek said. Though, if I don’t watch out, Alabaster Homes is going to be turned into Alabaster Furniture. With the sofa chair and recliner, I imagine he won’t be far away to creating some comfortable couches and loveseats to replace those terrible excuses for sofas I’ve seen, he thought. “I look forward to seeing what you come up with and what you can improve upon in the future.”

“I will certainly do my best.” Geoffrey nodded. “Now, is that it, or is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Well, those take priority, like you said, but I did come here for another reason,” Derek said.

“Do tell,” Geoffrey replied.

“I now own a few more of the lots around my shop, and we will soon need some new buildings constructed. I don’t know what kind of designs or exactly what buildings are needed, so that will be up to you and Malorie, but I thought I would come here and see if you were available for the work,” Derek explained.

“Of course we are available,” Geoffrey said. “We are currently constructing a new building in the business district, but once that is finished in…” Geoffrey paused for a moment. “Three days at the latest. I will get my best people on it. And as you are a VIP customer…”

“I’ll pay full price this time,” Derek said. “I still feel like I owe you for building my shop how you did. Besides, you know that I can easily afford it.”

“Very well,” Geoffrey replied. “Once I drop off these blueprints and give my orders, I will drop by the Void Emporium and meet or set a meeting with Ms. Fields to go over the construction.”

“Awesome!” Derek said.

“Is there anything else?” Geoffrey asked.

“Nope,” Derek said and stood. Marrick did the same. “That’s it.”

“Great,” Geoffrey said as he stood and shook both Derek’s and Marrick’s hands. “Would you like me to see you out, or…”

“We’re good,” Derek said. “We know the way out. I’ll let you get on those orders asap.”

“Very well,” Geoffrey said and pulled out a red communication crystal. “I hope the two of you have a pleasant day. I will see you soon.”

Derek and Marrick nodded, then turned around and left the room.

“Interesting fellow,” Marrick said. “He certainly doesn’t look like he has any integrity, but he definitely acts like he does.”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “He’s a bit of a conundrum. He seems slimy, but he has never tried to cheat me, nor do I know anyone who actually has anything bad to say about him… other than some of his competition.”

“Of course,” Marrick said as they walked through the door to the main lobby. “That is the way with competition.”

“It is,” Derek replied. Finally, both Derek and Marrick bid farewell to the woman at the front desk and left. They would soon have their new furniture, and the Void Emporium would be expanded. Derek couldn’t wait to see what Malorie and Geoffrey decided to do.