System Change

‘Now, what do you know about the Overseer here? Katrisha Collins. I’m about to go pay my respects.’ Derek asked Alanah.

‘I don’t know a lot. I know much more about her parents.’ Alanah answered. ‘Wait, what do you mean when you say you are going to pay your respects?’

‘She let everything happen today.’ Derek said. ‘She arrived after Rayna was already dying, so I can’t blame her completely for that, but she also let those two goons kidnap Brandi and her mother. So, use your imagination.’ Derek explained.

‘Like I said, I don’t know much about the woman, but she is part of a mid-tier noble house. Her father is one of the biggest pushovers you will ever meet. Her mother married into the Collins’ family, but controls everything. The house has fallen greatly in the last few decades. Other than a few old guards, they don’t have much strength.’ She said.

‘If the house has fallen that far, how are they still considered mid-tier?’

‘Well, Katrisha’s mother is from a different noble house, also mid-tier. But, her aunt married into one of the more well known noble houses.’ Derek heard Alanah sigh in his head. ‘A well known noble house that is close to another noble house… Torith…’

‘Figures.’ Derek said.

‘You aren’t surprised?’ Alanah asked.

‘Not at all. It makes sense to send someone who has some relationship to the City Lord of the closest city to the dungeon to oversee it. It also explains her actions, or lack thereof, after one of the men whispered to her privately.’ He explained.

‘So, what are you going to do?’ The woman asked.

‘I’m not entirely sure about that. It depends on her, to be honest. She will not get away unscathed, though. Neither will the City Lord when I get back to the city.’

‘I see.’ Alanah said.

‘What, are you not going to try to stop me this time?’ Derek expected Alanah to ask for him to go easy.

‘Nope. Gerald had his chance. You gave them a warning, even going as far as telling them not to mess with the village. They had plenty of time to call off their men, but they didn’t. And trust me, those men wouldn’t have kidnapped your friends without getting the ‘okay’ from Malcolm. Whether he knows they were close to you or not, I don’t know.’ Alanah answered in a somewhat defeated tone.

‘Plus. Gerald pissed me off the other day. He will receive no more help from me or mine.’ She continued.

‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about him for too much longer, either.’ Derek said. ‘When I eliminate a problem, I take it out by the roots if needed, and based on everything I know, it’s needed. You may want to get in touch with your friend, the King, and tell him it would be a good time to start looking for a replacement advisor.’

‘Derek, you can’t.’ Alanah said. ‘I’m not sure of your exact strength, but that will make you enemies of the King. Even I am not strong enough to handle him…’

‘Don’t worry. I don’t have any illusions of my strength. But my strength right now is not my strength tomorrow. I’ve been stagnant for far too long. You don’t have to worry about me. By the time I finish uprooting the House Torith, the King will thank me for going easy.’ Derek replied.

‘Just be careful. Gerald will not let anything slide if you actually go after his family. My talk with the King caused the man to not take action after your threats, but all that is off once you do anything.’

‘I know. Like I said, I’m one person that you don’t have to worry about…’ Derek said. ‘Oh, Rayna is stirring. I have to cut our conversation short. I’ll talk to you later.’ With that, Derek ended their conversation and stored his crystal.

“Look who’s finally back to the land of the living.” Derek spoke as he stood and walked over to the confused Rayna.

‘W-where am I?” Rayna asked. “D-derek? What are you doing here?”

“Well, I had to come see my favorite punching bag.” Derek jested. “What is it about you and getting your ass beaten by people from noble houses?” This was twice now that Rayna had been accosted by the nobles. Once from Walter’s son, and again from Torith’s men.

“Brandi! Mal!” Rayna’s eyes went wide, and she jumped to her feet.

“They’re fine. You need to rest.” Derek put his hand on her shoulder.

Rayna looked up into his eyes. “I couldn’t do anything. I can never do anything.” She stepped forward and put her head on Derek’s shoulder. There, she wept.

Derek patted the back of her head while she cried on his shoulder. “It’s fine. You did your best and everyone is still alive. There’s no shame in that. You will get stronger. Hell, you gained a few levels in the short time that I’ve been gone, too, and you did it on your own.”

Eventually, Rayna pulled back and stared deep into Derek’s eyes. “I’m coming with you. Is that still okay?”

Derek nodded. “Of course it is.” He looked around the room. “So, other than the whole kidnapping debacle, how has the Overseer been?” Derek still wasn’t sure of what kind of punishment he was going to deal out, so he wanted everybody’s opinions on the woman.

“She’s useless.” Rayna spoke. “And that’s not just me being angry over everything that happened. She rarely comes out of my… her house, and when she does, it’s only because she has to check on the dungeon camp every week or so. From what I know, she hasn’t said a single nice word to any villager.”

Derek nodded and looked at Richard.

“She also beat Bart because she didn’t like the way he spoke. He didn’t say anything uncouth to her, she just didn’t like his manner of speaking. It wasn’t the worst beating that old bastard’s ever received, and he came out of it not too worse for wear, but it’s just about the only beating he’s gotten that he didn’t deserve.” Richard said.

Derek nodded again. “So, the general consensus is that the Overseer is shit. Got it. That makes what I’m about to do much easier.” Derek said. “Now, would you all like to come watch?”

With that, Derek walked out of Richard’s house. The other followed behind him. According to Rayna, the woman had taken over her residence, so it wouldn’t be hard to find her.

Derek walked through the town center and up to the residence. There were two well kitted guards with spears stationed in front of the door.

“Stop!” One of the guards yelled, and eyed Derek up and down. Getting a shock when he saw Rayna standing behind him. “Who are you?” He asked, less commanding.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that I’m here to see Katrisha, and I’m not in a very good mood.” Derek answered.

The guards looked at Derek, unsure of what to make of him. Finally, the other guard spoke. “Who can I say is here for a visit?”

“You can’t,” Derek answered. “I’m not here to visit, and I’m not going to make small talk. Either you go in and get her, or I will.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible.” One guard said and drew his weapon. “If you are not willing to let yourself be known, then I must ask you to leave.”

Derek shook his head, then stepped forward. His motion was almost a blur. Holding back as much strength as possible, he cracked both guards on the back of their armored heads. They crumpled to the ground.

Derek ran a quick check to make sure they weren’t dead or dying. Luckily, for them, they were only unconscious.

With that, Derek turned to Rayna. “Sorry about your door.” He said.

“My do…” She began to ask, but before she could complete her words, Derek had already kicked out, sending the wooden door splintering into pieces.

Derek walked in and scanned his surroundings. He heard some noise coming from one area of the house and headed that way. Again, he didn’t bother with knocking or even opening the door. He sent his palm out and it exploded as well.

Inside what Derek now knew was a bedroom, he saw a young man to the right side of the door rushing to equip his armor. On the other side of the bed was an attractive woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and dressed in a sheet. Derek could only chuckle.

The half equipped man rushed at Derek with a sword he picked up from leaning against the wall. Just as he did the previous two guards, Derek tapped him on the back of the head, causing the man to go limp and fall to the ground.

Derek moved his attention towards the woman. Her face flushed red in anger and embarrassment. “You must be Trish.” He said. Then, in a serious tone. “Put some clothes on, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

The woman looked down, then back up at Derek. If gazes could kill, he would have been dead many times over. She made a quick gesture with her hand, then dropped the sheet. Where the sheet once covered was now a beautiful black dress.

“How dare you!” She finally yelled. “Do you know who I am? I am the Overseer of this village and the new dungeon. I was appointed by the King’s office.”

“Now, now.” Derek said. “None of that shit matters right now.” Derek took a step and appeared again right next to the woman. She tried to attack him, but only received a punch in the gut. Then Derek grabbed her hair and started walking, pulling her along behind. “Follow me. I’ve made enough noise that I’m sure the entire village is wondering what’s going on. We can’t let our audience wait, now can we?”