System Change

Derek brought Walter over to his booth as Jensen and Clare went out to mingle. He was curious about everything that he had just seen. Rudy had explained the nuances of a soul contract, but Derek was more interested in House Gracefall… or now, House Searidge.

Derek opened the door to the booth to see Rudy standing inside silently. He snapped his fingers in front of Rudy’s face a few times before the man came to.

“Huh? What… wow. That was uncomfortable,” Rudy said.

“You’ll have to work on your Wisdom stat if you want to be able to hold a proper conversation with Alanah, or if you want to break free of her passive skill sooner,” Derek said.

“How long was I like that?”

Derek shrugged. “I don’t know. Ten, fifteen minutes. You’re lucky she only talked with her passive skill. You probably would have missed the entire auction if she would have put a little magic into her words. You need to work on leveling.”

“I know.” Rudy sighed. “It’s hard when you have to rely on making contracts and you don’t have many customers.”

“Well, your advertisement earlier should help a little.”

“I hope so. I could go with Rayna and Jacks to hunt some monsters to level, but then I wouldn’t get the experience for my skills and I would be missing out on getting a better contract class.”

“It’s better to wait. You have plenty of time,” Derek comforted.

Rudy nodded. “I guess so.”

“Now, get out and go drum up some more business,” Derek said. “I need the booth for a little while.”

Rudy looked up over Derek’s shoulder, and only then did he notice Walter standing behind.

“That sounds like a great idea.” Rudy said with bright eyes and moved past Derek. When he made it to Walter, he stopped and greeted him. “Mr. Searidge. Congratulations!”

Walter nodded. “Thank you.”

Rudy then continued on and disappeared into the still gathering crowd of nobles and other Crown members.

“Come in, have a seat.” Derek motioned to the bench inside the booth and Walter sat.

The inside of the booth was quite basic. In the front was a glass screen with multiple runes drawn on the surface. Derek recognized a couple of the runes as the same ones he had installed in his basement. They filtered the air and kept the room at the user’s desired temperature. Until he knew their official name, he would call them thermostat runes.

Along with those runes he recognized, there was another which was currently glowing. He leaned forward and inspected it closely.

“It’s one of the privacy runes.” Walter spoke. “It’s the rune that blocks the view from outside the booth. That one over there.” He pointed at another rune Derek had seen. “That one controls the sound. If you activate it, you can adjust how much sound is leaked out from the booth, so you can keep your conversations private. It should be able to work the other way, as well. If it’s too noisy outside, you can filter what is let inside.”

Derek nodded. That rune would be called the volume control rune. The other… one-way mirror. He liked that. He praised himself for his naming sense, then sat back on the bench beside Walter. He winced at the hard surface. Would it kill Alanah to provide some cushions? I swear half the people in this Kingdom are going to die from splinters and ass sores.

Other than the bench, there was a small table sitting in front of them. Derek kicked his feet up and got as comfortable as he could.

“So.” He finally said. “Are you happy you came to the auction?”

“More than you could ever imagine.” Walter burst out laughing. “And to think I almost didn’t come. It really was a last-minute thing.”

“Well, it’s nice to see another friendly face. Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t really like being around all these high-class people. Put me in a field full of monsters with nothing but a glaive and some healing potions, and I can go for days. Put me in a room full of high society with a necktie and a wineglass, and I’m tapped out in minutes.” Derek shook his head.

“Speaking of high society,” Walter said. “Is it really okay for you to speak to King Edwin the way you did? He granted your wish, but I know I saw irritation in his eyes.”

Derek waved his question off. “That man’s got a long way to go before he could consider us even.”

“Even after restoring my house?”

“Your house has done more for this Kingdom than you know. He would have been an idiot if he hadn’t done that. Hell, restoring your house will help him more than anyone else… other than you, that is.”

“I don’t understand,” Walter said.

“There are things you don’t need to know. At least not yet.” Derek shrugged.

“What exactly did you do to earn so much favor with him?” Walter finally asked.

Derek showed an evil smile. “Well, let’s see. I kind of saved his son, the Crown Prince one, from certain death.” He put one finger up, then continued. “There is a good chance that I save the King from having to deal with an imploding Kingdom, maybe even a civil war.” He raised the second finger. “And, he knows that if he pisses me off, he ain’t getting any of my Void Beasts… or should I say, ‘I provided him with the chance to obtain more Vitality and Endurance from Void Beasts.’” He raised his third finger. “So, how much favor do you suppose this earns me with the King?”

Walter was glaring at Derek with his jaw touching the floor. Eventually, he picked it up off the ground and spoke. “Is everything you said true?”

“I cross my heart,” Derek said as he ran his finger over his chest in a cross pattern.

“If that is truly so, then not only is King Edwin indebted to you, the entire Kingdom is. Saving Prince Edward is one thing, but preventing a civil war is on another level. You’ve possibly saved countless lives, both noble and commoner alike.”

“So you’re saying I should have earned what? A fuck-ton of favor?”

Walter stared at Derek for a moment before nodding seriously. “Maybe even a fuck-ton and a half.”

They both stared at one enough before bursting out in a fit of laughter. After they both eventually calmed down, Walter spoke.

“So, what was it about the Void Beasts? Is this the auction for the ones you made such a show out of in Torith? You know, everyone’s still talking about you whipping out a Void Beast and throwing it on a dining table.”

“Hah! Yeah, you should have seen the look on some of their faces. It was priceless.” Derek grinned. “But yeah. All the shit from this auction pretty much comes from my Void Beasts. Alanah and I have an… understanding. So, if I asked her to keep the King out of the auction, she wouldn’t like it, and would argue against it, but I’m pretty sure she would do it.”

Walter shook his head. “It’s been what? Months since you left Torith, now you’re here getting favors from the King. I don’t know what to say, Derek. My house was truly unlucky for the longest time, but since you appeared, it seems our luck has turned around.”

“Nah, you would have gotten there eventually.”

“Maybe… but you made it happen much earlier than it would have, if ever.” Walter sighed. “You know, the stuff with Wallace…” he shook his head. “I lost him long before he died. Still, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get past his death. But meeting you for the first time, I realized that you did right by your friends, and even gave my son some honor in his death. If left alone, he may have brought destruction to my house. I should have done better.”

Derek pat Walter on his back. “I am sorry for his death. Not for killing him, but because he was your son.”

“I know… I know…”

“Do you miss him?”

Walter sighed again. “I don’t miss the person he became, but I miss the little boy that used to beg me to show him my water magic.” He laughed. “I gained more control in my skills showing off in front of Wallace than I did sparring.”

The two sat in the booth, and Derek listened to Walter reminisce about Wallace and Jensen. It seemed to do the old man some good.

“So, about that soul contract?” Derek started. “That was something. I didn’t know your punishment went that deep. What was that about? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want.”

“No.. no… it’s fine,” Walter said. “My uncle was a former patriarch of my family. Back when we were still House Searidge. He wasn’t a bad man, actually, not in a general sense, at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he never went out to do bad things. He was a good noble.” Walter continued. “You know that our family usually has an affinity for the water element, right?”

Derek nodded.

“Well, because of our elemental affinity, it makes us particularly suitable for being defensive healers. We don’t have the defense of an earth affinity, or the healing capabilities of someone with light affinity, but we are quite decent in both. We are even better at curing toxins and poisons than most with light affinity.” Walter explained.

“Right. I guess that makes sense. Water is pretty balanced.”

“Exactly, and that is why we were a high noble house. We weren’t top, but we were considered strong. Because of our healing, we were vital when it came to dungeon parties, or especially raids, when they were available.”

“You always need a good support,” Derek commented.

“Unfortunately, that was our undoing, as well. You see, my uncle was a kind man and a good healer. He was also afraid of death, and a coward. He raised his stats by always playing it safe and never getting into danger.” Walter sighed. “One day, a raid dungeon popped up, and my uncle was selected as one of the supports for the mission, along with other noble houses and even the King’s brother, who was commander of the King’s Army at that time.”

“Oh…” Derek said. He could see where this was going.

“According to the survivors, the raid was going well until their formation broke midway through. Still, everyone was calm and reacted quickly… everyone but my uncle. He panicked. To make a long story short, because of his actions, half of the raiding party was wiped out, including the King’s brother. The survivors retreated back to the checkpoint, then abandoned the raid.” Walter explained.

Derek wasn’t sure what the differences between a raid and a regular dungeons were, other than length and difficulty, but he didn’t want to interrupt Walter’s story.

“When they got out, my uncle knew what he had done, and tried to flee the Kingdom. He was captured and eventually executed. That is also how we earned the Gracefall name.”

“All that because of one person?” Derek said. Walter’s uncle’s mistakes weren’t that of the entire line, but that of one person.

“It would have been different if he hadn’t been the Patriarch. But, as his position was so high, the King, who was young at the time, used him as a lesson to other nobles. Cowardice will not be tolerated. If you are not cut out for dungeons, don’t drag others down because of it. Because of it, we have more crafters and lifestyle users than ever before. So, I can’t fault the King for his decree. I only wish that it wasn’t my house that caused it.”

“I see,” Derek said. “Well, that is all behind you now. It’s time to get back to being a high noble house. God knows this Kingdom needs some proper nobles.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“By the way,” Derek said. “Exactly how strong are you?”