System Change

With his two new chairs packed away, Derek couldn’t leave the dining room fast enough. The last thing he wanted to do was get caught up in the negotiations he’d arranged for Malorie. Apparently, Derek wasn’t the only person with this feeling. As he rushed out the door and down the stairs, he noticed that Brandi was hot on his heels. He laughed as he stopped at the bottom of the staircase and Brandi crashed into him.

“Careful,” Derek said with a chuckle.

“Why did you stop?” the young girl asked.

“Because I don’t know what I’m going to do, and I’m at the bottom of the stairs. Why would I keep going?” he asked.

“To get even further away from all that business stuff,” Brandi answered. “She made me sit in on some of the negotiations for my equipment once. After an hour, my brain felt I’d been using Greater Meditation for a whole month without sleep. Mom is scary,” the young smith explained.

About that time, both of them looked up the stairs and saw Marrick turn the corner and slowly began walking down the stairs. With slow precision, the elven elder took step after step with his cane. When he drew close, Derek saw that he had a scowl on his face.

“That was very rude,” Marrick said.

Brandi looked down in embarrassment, and Derek just inwardly chuckled. Malorie wouldn’t mind the abrupt departure. She complained a bit about all the business she had to do, but he knew that it made her happy. She was the most important person from the Void Emporium other than him, after all. The business part could function without her, but it would all be on Derek, and he for sure wouldn’t get the best possible deals because of how much he didn’t like that aspect of everything.

“The business part is Malorie’s job,” Derek said to Marrick.

“Then what?” Derek asked, confused.

“You left this old man behind,” Marrick replied. “That’s what. Do you think that my idea of a good day is listening to mundane discussions about building addons to a store and constructing various buildings? No, it isn’t. If I would have stayed any longer, I may have died before I had the chance to go out on my final adventure.”

Derek chuckled. He couldn’t have agreed more with the old man. Marrick truly was a man of great wisdom and taste.

“I’m going to go draw up the adjustments I want to my basement,” Brandi said, then looked at Marrick and bowed. “Thank you sooo much for all the help, Mr. Marrick.”

“It was my pleasure, child,” Marrick said as a warm smile appeared on his face and any trace of the scowl he had before disappeared. “I predict that in a few short years, your name will be known all throughout this continent—even Vallum.”

“I don’t know about all that,” Brandi blushed and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

Did she pick up that habit from me? Derek thought to himself. Rubbing his neck was something he instinctively did when he was embarrassed, and he hadn’t seen Brandi do it before. He shrugged to himself, then said to Marrick, “Yeah, best not to praise her too much. Don’t want her getting a big head. There would just be so much more surface area for the fire from the explosions to burn if that happened.”

“You!” Brandi looked affronted and punched Derek twice in the side.

“Ow!” Derek jumped back. “I’m just joking.” The girl stopped trying to hit him, then he continued, “It’s not like your head actually gets bigger pride, so the fire would just burn the same amount.” The girl punched Derek a couple more times before Derek put his hand on her head and ruffled her hair. “You know I’m just teasing. But Marrick is correct. You are going to be one hell of a force in smithing—and soon.”

“Hmph,” Brandi snorted, then turned. “I’ll show you. The next time I make something with one of the fire cores or fire related runes, I won’t burn off a single eyebrow.”

“I can’t wait,” Derek said, then Brandi walked off to the door leading to her basement, opened it, looked back at Derek with a small smile, and went inside. “Good kid,” Derek said once she left.

“Indeed,” Marrick agreed.

Next, Derek led Marrick outside, and they began a walk through the city.

“So,” Derek began. “When are you leaving?” he asked. As far as he knew, Marrick had come to visit Derek for the chairs, and he had those now, so the old man wouldn’t be staying much longer. I think he also wanted to use the excuse to give a bit of a goodbye, even though he hasn’t known me for long.

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“Either tonight or tomorrow,” Marrick answered, and Derek nodded.

“Do you know where you’re going first?” Derek asked. He had told him that he was going to try to travel through the kingdom and maybe even cross the sea, but he hadn’t given much specifics.

“I’m going to Vallum,” the old man answered. “There are some people I would like to visit there. Some grandchildren of some old friends—I would like to see how they are doing before leaving for good. Plus, it’s a great place to update my equipment.”

“I see,” Derek said.

“After that… I’m not too sure,” Marrick said. “I’ll definitely look for some good dungeons around here before heading to the other continent. But I’ve got no real aim or goal. Just going to play my part as the wondering old earth sage.”

“I bet you’ll be able to play that role very well,” Derek said with a chuckled. “You may need to work on being a bit crankier than you are—about how you were after the hair snafu. Then you will really be the epitome of the cranky old earth sage.”

“I can do that,” Marrick said. “I can do that very well.”

After a night of buying all of Roman’s brew in his bar, Derek and Marrick left the shop and headed to the city teleporter. It had been a fun night. Though even the strongest of Roman’s brew couldn’t leave a dent on Derek and Marrick due to their high endurance, vitality, and, for Derek’s case, possibly his previous evolution, it didn’t have a problem getting everyone else drunk out of their minds.

At one point during the night, while watching all the drunken shenanigans, one of the adventurers who was a little high on himself decided that he was strong enough to drink the brew that Derek, Marrick, and Shae—who was just able to get a buzz after all of his leveling when drinking the good stuff—were drinking. It had not gone well for the stubborn adventurer.

However, it seemed like a common occurrence in the bar, as Roman hadn’t panicked and poured a nasty looking gray potion followed by one of the lesser healing potions he had in stock down the man’s throat. The man was very relieved that he hadn’t died, but then went through a few stages of grief after seeing the bill for the potions used to save his life. Thus, Derek found out another way that Roman added to his coffers for his material buying.

Though unable to participate in the drunken shenanigans, Marrick had a good time watching everyone else make a fool of themselves. For Derek, it had reminded him of one of the rowdier parties he’d gone to during his time in college—albeit with a lot more destruction of furniture and accidental skill use.

“That man… Shae…” Marrick started as they walked. “He seemed to have been worried about something toward the end of the night,” he said.

“Yeah,” Derek said with a laugh. “He’s still making some stuff up to his wife, Judy, so he had to sneak out last night. I’m pretty sure he got a message through his communication crystal there at the end. I have a feeling it’s going to be awhile before I see him again.” It’s also probably best if I don’t go to the Adventurer’s Guild here in Savannah for the time being.

“Ah.” Marrick nodded. “That would do it.”

A short while later, and the duo was standing outside the doors to the teleportation building. “You better have as much fun as you can if you plan for this to be it,” Derek said.

“I plan to,” Marrick replied. “Thank you for your hospitality and for helping me around the city. At least my last adventure is going to be one of utmost comfort.” He rubbed the storage ring on his middle finger.

“Of course,” Derek said. “My shop is always open to you, whether I’m there or not. I’m sure Brandi would enjoy seeing you again, and Malorie definitely took a liking to you after she heard all your suggestions for crafting.”

“Hah!” Marrick laughed. “A child needs to spend time with their mother whenever possible. Besides, it’s not like I was lying. All the advice I gave her, I truly believe.”

“Me too,” Derek said.

“I do wish I would have been able to meet this Thomas boy that Shae was blabbering about all night,” Marrick said.

“The academy is pretty strict, and his day off isn’t until tomorrow,” Derek replied. “He’s very hard working. He knows that he may not be as talented as someone like Brandi, but he makes up for it with hard work. He really surprised me when I got back. And the thing is…” Derek paused. “He’s not near as talentless as he thinks he is.”

“Mhm.” Marrick nodded. “That young girl is a monster. There’s no winning comparing yourself to someone like that…” He looked up at Derek. “It would be like anyone in the Kingdom of Cydaria trying to compare themselves to you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Derek said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“It would,” Marrick said with finality. “The Dawn Siren is strong, but you are stronger. She is the only person who would be able to come close. Your Adventurer’s Guild Leader wouldn’t be able to fight this old man, much less you. The Assassin’s Guild Leader is the same. Sneaky bastard, but even if he ambushed you, you have an unfathomable endurance. He’s about the same strength as that bastard you killed at the wedding. So, I’ll say it again, nobody in this kingdom—or continent—at least that I’ve ever heard about, can compare themselves to you.”

“I’ll just take your word for it,” Derek said.

“But who knows?” Marrick said. “Perhaps a genius has popped up across the sea. That would be something interesting.”

“I guess it would,” Derek replied.

“Well,” Marrick said, then held out his hand for Derek to shake. “It really was a pleasure meeting someone like you after all these centuries.”

“Same,” Derek said, and he meant it with all that time spent in the void. It really could have been centuries, after all. He shook the old man’s hand and said, “This won’t be the last time I see you, though. I’ll check on you occasionally. You’ll be a single skill use away, after all.”

“That, I will!” Marrick said happily. “Then, in that case, I look forward to our next meeting.”

“Me too,” Derek replied.

“Then I’ll be off.” Marrick pulled his hand away and turned to the building before strolling forward slowly with his cane. With one last look and a nod over his shoulder, the elven elder opened the door and went inside.

Derek stared at the door for a few moments before letting out a sigh. He would definitely make himself remember to check in on the old man occasionally to see how his adventuring was going. Derek would make sure that this wasn’t the last time they met.

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