System Change

“Okay,” Derek said after taking in what Walter had told him. “So, what do you all think is going on? Is it only happening in Torith?” Derek and the bunch still called the sub-city Torith even though its name had most likely been changed already, seeing how that surname was now a stain on the Cydarian Kingdom’s reputation.

“One moment, we’ll talk about this later,” Edgar said. “Let’s see what the next trial is going to be. I’d like to get this raid over quickly now that things are becoming… odd.” The prince next headed to the orb that had activated once Derek returned and placed his hand on it. After a few seconds, he nodded and moved back.

“Avery, Victor, Vanessa, Shae, Elena, Tristan, and Kieron,” Edgar said loudly, getting the attention of the seven raid members, including Victor, who made his way back once he heard his name called. “We’re not taking any chances anymore. The next trial is a ‘simple’ tower trial. Usually, that means that you clear a number of floors of lesser beasts, then fight a boss-type beast at the top. But, like I said, that is what usually happens. This trial is epic, just like the last one.

“With this setup, you have two healers, one support, and four damage dealers, both physical and magical, close combat and ranged. The lowest level in the party will be Tristan, who is a level 240 light healer. Avery will be in charge of this team…” Victor stepped forward to say something, most likely to dispute the leadership, but Edgar just continued on. “With this team, you should be able to complete a legendary trial, much less an epic one. Now, Victor…” Edgar looked directly at the elven mage who had just lost his cousin. “Will you be a problem? Do you need to be replaced for this trial?”

Derek saw a flash of anger, then acceptance show on the elf’s face. “No. I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” Edgar said. “Are there any questions?”

Surprisingly, Tristan Allister was the one to step forward with a question, or rather, a request. “You should swap me out for Jasper or Walter. Ciera is still in the process of healing, and I would like to stay with my patient to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Edgar scratched his chin, then looked at Jasper and Walter. After his eyes met Walter’s, they moved back to Jasper, then his dragonkin companion. “Walter, are you up for another trial?” Of course, the old healer had gained more than most in the first trial. With however many levels he gained in the trial, plus the experience and skills he already had, he had already become one of the most capable healers in the kingdom.

Walter closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to hesitate. Finally, he reopened his eyes and nodded. “It would be my pleasure.”

“Good. In that case, Avery, Victor, Vanessa, Shae, Elena, Walter, and Kieron, with Avery as raid leader and Elena second-in-command, will complete the tower trial. Are there anymore questions or concerns? No? Good. Get to it and please… make haste.” Edgar commanded. “John, Ray… I know the two of you have yet to have a go at a trial. I’ll do my best to let you in one, but I make no promises.”

Edgar was talking about John Doyle and Ray Fergus, who Derek remembered were a wind mage and earth mage, respectively. They were lower leveled than the rest, and didn’t get the opportunity to enter the first trial like many of the other lower leveled participants… participants like Shae and Walter. Both of who were now either close to level 250 or were already level 250. So, Edgar was still trying to help them out, but they were most likely at the bottom of his list of things to worry about.

After his command, he walked toward Derek and put his arm around him, which made Derek a bit uncomfortable, but he allowed it. “Come on, we need to have a discussion.”

Derek only nodded and fell in line with the prince, who shot a look at Cain. When their eyes met, Cain hurried over and began to walk in stride with the duo. When they were a bit away from the others, Blitz came forward and allowed the three of them to board. With one last glance at the trial orbs, Derek saw Avery place his hand on the fifth one, then the seven members that made up the trial team disappear. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Lyra disappear along with the rest of them.

Finally, Derek adjusted himself on Blitz and grabbed hold tightly. With that, the wyvern beat his wings once, and they were in the air, then, they were off.

A few minutes later, Derek, Cain, and Edgar were all sitting around the table close to Tyron’s temporary work area. “So, can we talk now? What’s going on?” Derek asked.

“Well… we don’t really know,” Edgar sighed. “But we have a few plausible ideas.”

“And those ideas?”

“Well, as you know, quite a few of the raid members found some of their contracts being broken soon after entering the dungeon. Based on when they were broken, it is reasonable to suspect that those people were eliminated by my father for having relations with Gerald Torith and his dealings,” Edgar explained.

“That, plus who those people were, could almost confirm this theory,” Cain continued where Edgar left off. “Most of those who were eliminated were higher ups in the kingdom and from major cities. So that is safe to assume.”

Derek nodded along. This is what they had all suspected to begin with. They knew the king would be removing threats to the kingdom as Natalie learned about them.

“After the initial ‘culling’, if you will, the contracts stopped breaking for a while. Not necessarily a while inside here, with the time difference and all, but weeks and months on the outside. So, it is also safe to assume that most or all of those associated with Gerald were eliminated,” Cain explained.

“Which leads us to the other contracts that have been broken,” Edgar said. “There have been a few here and there that we’ve learned about, but it’s not uncommon for a few deaths to occur in a year. It’s more than natural. In all honestly, it wasn’t until Walter Searidge came to me that I realized something big may have been going on.”

“Something big?” Derek asked.

“Yes.” Edgar nodded gravely. “Not long ago, he came to me with a report that many of the contracts he had with his family members, mostly the elders of his house, had been broken and disappeared. However, the few that he had with the younger generation seemed to still be active.”

“That could have been written off as a strong person coming around and getting revenge on his family for some reason. Not all of Walter’s family was kind and benevolent,” Cain said. “Especially after they became House Gracefall long ago.”

Derek could only nod as he thought about Walter’s youngest son, Wallace. That man could have gotten his entire house eliminated without anyone else lifting a finger. He was definitely a rotten apple.

“However, Walter also had multiple contracts with others in Torith, and, along with those of his family, most of those contracts broke as well, with just a few exceptions. He also had a contract with Francesco Jaccobs, who you know what the manager of the Torith Adventurer’s Guild. And, as you saw yourself, the contract with our guild has changed,” Cain explained, then looked over at Edgar.

“So, I started going around and putting things together. Not everyone reported their contracts absolving or breaking. But when I asked, and confirmed them all, I noticed a pattern,” Edgar said. “The city of Wilmette and the surrounding sub-cities have all had many people lost, according to the contracts. Neither me, nor Cain noticed this before because I don’t have many contracts myself, and Cain is too high up in the Adventurer’s Guild to have needed to have personal contracts with those managers and adventurers in sub-cities.”

“Also, I do have a contract with the Guild Master in Wilmette, and he is still alive, as far as I know,” Cain said. “And as far as we could find out, while there have been contracts broken with people from Wilmette, there have been many more broken from the areas surrounding it.”

“This leaves us thinking that Wilmette was evacuated via teleporter, and they weren’t able to evacuate the sub-cities around it,” Edgar said.

Derek winced. Thomas’s family was from that area in one of the small villages. Were they okay? Clare should be in the capital, and Bronson was supposed to have headed that way as well. So those two should be fine. Plus, I’m sure Walter has a contract with Bronson, so he will know if he’s dead, Derek thought. It was no wonder Walter hesitated to go into the trial this time.

“So, what do you think is really going on?” Derek asked, yet again.

“We have a few theories,” Edgar said as he pulled out a map and placed it on the table. The map was littered with markings. Edgar pointed at a spot at the southwest of Cydaria that was circled in red. “This is Wilmette. As you can see, it’s both close to the Astrus border and the ocean.”

Derek nodded. He hadn’t ever seen such a detailed map of the kingdom before, so he didn’t know where all the cities and sub-cities were located. He still wasn’t completely sure of the size of the kingdom. Wilmette was about the same distance away from Astrus as it was to the southern coast. While he had the chance, Derek also looked for Torith, which he found.

It was a bit closer to the coast, which made sense since it was once known as Searidge. He also found the forest that he found Silvi in, which seemed even bigger than he once thought. Finally, after perusing the map for a few moments, he lifted his head and looked at Edgar to continue.

“So, our first theory, and the one I believe is least likely, is that there was an uprising after Gerald’s capture and the elimination of multiple nobles and perhaps even their entire houses. I doubt this is what has happened because we would be seeing deaths across the entire kingdom, not just the southwest.

“My second theory is that some kind of beast has arrived from the ocean and is wreaking havoc on the surface. I find this explanation quite possible because of the places that it has hit. However, the theory that I’m leaning towards is the next one… Cydaria has been invaded by Astrus.”

Derek frowned. He’d heard that the border with Astrus and Cydaria was tense, and they were always ready for something to break.

“If they found out that a bunch of us, especially you, went into a dungeon and wouldn’t be out for some time, it would be a good chance to attack,” Derek said. It wasn’t hard to connect those dots.

“Exactly,” Edgar replied, then frowned. “But I’m still not sure about it. I don’t believe Astrus has the might to be confident in an attack. It’s why they haven’t attacked so far.”

Derek thought for a bit. He had limited knowledge of everything and barely knew anything about Astrus, Indria, and Vallum. “Could they have help?”

Edgar’s frown deepened. “I want to say no. We’ve been on good enough terms with Indria for a while now. We even have their king’s niece as a diplomat, and I doubt Vallum would ever pick sides with anyone. They would prefer to stay back and do nothing.”

Derek shrugged. “Well, what do you want to do?”

“Right now, I think it’s best that we have everyone keep a close eye on their contracts. I have to trust that my father and brother have things handled. They were obviously able to evacuate most of Wilmette, so we should just believe in them. For now, however, I think we should focus on completing the dungeon as soon as possible. Just in case,” Edgar explained.

Derek and Cain both nodded, and Derek said, “Then we’ll do just that.”