System Change

The next several minutes in the Great Hall were chaotic as servants rushed in and out as they cleaned the area—even some of the nobles pitched in with the occasional Cleaning spell here and there. While Marrick’s way of killing those who attacked left no trace of even blood, many of the other fighters weren’t so clean.

One example was Ryven, who had not taken his daughter being attacked kindly, and went on his own spree. Marrick’s sand seemed to grind all matter away with how he used it, but when someone was squashed between barriers, it left quite the mess.

The other obvious hindrance to resuming the celebration was the poison that still lingered in the air. That was promptly taken care of by a combination of Derek and Osian’s efforts. Derek recast Absolute Nullify, and Osian was able to direct all the remaining poison into the skill, wiping it away. After that, Marrick chose to do a quick sweep of the area with his sand and sweep up whatever little poison was left into Derek’s skill.

Finally, after all of that, Silvi was able to begin redistributing her dishes throughout the Great Hall. Smugly, and proudly, she did so by placing everything down how she had originally—before the servants had stored it all so it would stay fresh.

With that, the celebration slowly resumed with an air of hesitation. Everyone was tense, and it seemed like nobody wanted to bring up the matter. There were some nobles who were still visibly shocked at what had happened—they had been close with some of the attackers, and couldn’t believe that it was their close friends who were part of the conspirators. Derek could understand their feelings.

It wasn’t something he’d ever experienced himself—as ever since the system appeared, he’d kept all his acquaintances at arms length until he arrived in Cydaria—but he could imagine what it would feel like if someone like Alanah or Edgar turned out to be people who were totally different than they represented themselves to him. Seeing that everyone was still so on edge, Derek finally decided to take the first step in making it a proper celebration again.

That first step was to present his own gifts to the newlywed couple, who had hesitantly taken their place back on the dais. Just in case the attacks weren’t over, or something else entirely happened, Osian and Ryven had both decided to stay close by, standing on the dais with the couple and staying behind them. Derek walked forward until he was standing directly in front of the couple.

At that point, he opened his Void Storage and brought out his storage devices that he’d put inside to make sure they stayed safe from the corrosive toxins Simeon had been using. With them properly equipped, he flicked his wrist and two of the better Void Beast meals appeared in his hands.

“King Robert, Queen Sabrina, I hope you enjoy my gifts to you,” he said as he made to hand each one a meal.

“This?” Robert asked, unsure what it was he was being given.

“Ah, pardon me,” Derek replied in his best noble response. “These are Void Beast meals crafted by some of the finest Void Beasts to appear in Cydaria. Their quality has been personally verified by Natalie Savannah herself.”

With those words, Robert’s eyes lit up, and he snatched the meal from Derek’s hand so fast that one would think he was worried about Derek deciding against the gift. Derek could see the training addict that he was said to be showing. Next, his eyes glanced over at Sabrina, who had yet to take her gift. The new queen was staring deeply at Derek with her face bright red.

Derek tilted his head as he observed her, then realized that she was not looking at his face, but his chest. He looked down and realized that he was still shirtless. “Whoops,” he muttered, and with a flick of his wrist, another black t-shirt that Brandi had made him appeared on his body. With the appearance of the shirt, Sabrina was broken out of her trance.

Her eyes widened and her face turned even more crimson as she panicked. It seemed she was lost for words, so with a chuckle, Derek pushed the Void Beast meal into her arms. Finally, he gave Robert another quick glance, hoping that he wasn’t angry or jealous because of how Sabrina had been staring at him, but it seemed he had nothing to worry about. The new king was staring at the meal in his hand with the same intensity that Sabrina had been staring at the half-naked Derek.

Derek chuckled again, then with a half bow, he retreated to another corner of the room—one where Tyler and his sister, Tevara, were standing. The former prince’s eyes sparkled as he approached.

“That. Was. Amazing!” the young man half squealed. “You… you just tanked everything he had. Everything that Simeon Ileal, the patriarch of House Ileal, and one of the strongest nobles in the kingdom had. How did you do it? What is your vitality like? Is this why those traps… uh… nevermind.” The young man caught himself before he mentioned the traps in the treasure room. His sister, on the other hand, gave him a side-eye and rolled her eyes. “Do you have some kind of anti-poison skills?”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Derek motioned to slow with his hands. “Calm down.”

“S-sorry,” the young man apologized. “It’s just that it was so… so… wow.”

“Well, you got to see me fight,” Derek said. “Does that count as my side of the agreement?” he asked. For Tyler’s help earlier, he’d agreed to find a spar with someone strong, like Alanah or Marrick. However, Simeon came along, and according to Tyler, the man was strong.

“Y-yes!” Tyler nodded furiously. “That was great!”

“Good!” Derek smiled and pat the young man on his shoulder before turning his attention to Tevara. “You make sure to take care of those two, would you?” he asked. “I think they’re going to need a lot of help in the upcoming years, and you have a pretty good head on your shoulders.”

“Of course,” the young lady bowed. “I will do my very best to see that King Robert and Queen Sabrina become proper rulers worthy of respect and honor.”

“Great,” Derek said. “Then I’ll leave the two of you to it.”

The rest of the celebration went off without a hitch. After Derek gave the new king and queen their gifts, the remaining nobles followed suit. After receiving the Void Beast meal from Derek, Robert became rather antsy and rushed the nobles along as fast as he could. It seemed that he couldn’t wait to take his leave and consume the meal for himself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Silvi’s food was a big hit at the party, too. She’d continuously worked on her recipes and cooking, and it was really beginning to show. She’d come a long way since she roasted the not-skittle flavored boar over an open flame when she first learned about cooking food.

On top of that, Derek soon found that Silvi had another surprise in store for him when she appeared back on his shoulder toward the end of the celebration.

‘Here,’ she sent to him via their link. ‘Eat this.’ A small plate with a small piece of cake on it appeared in front of him and floated his way.

The cake looked like a typical vanilla cake with white frosting and what looked like green sprinkles. Derek looked out over the tables and saw that it was the same as the cake that had been placed at the table closest to the newlyweds—with the celebration coming to a close, and the main courses having been consumed for the most part, it was almost time for them to serve it. Derek was actually a little touched that Silvi had gone out of her way to give him the first piece.

‘Thank you,’ he sent back to his companion as he reached out and grabbed the floating plate. With a fork in his hand, he cut into it and brought a small piece to his nose—giving it a sniff. It smelled delicious. Finally, he opened his mount and placed it on his tongue.

As soon as he closed his mouth, a flurry of sweet flavors with a floral undertone assaulted hit taste buds. It’d already been such a long time since he’d had a real cake—on top of that, it was the best tasting cake he’d ever had. Just what I would expect from the chef bunny, he thought with a smile as he closed his eyes and basked in the flavors. However, a few seconds into his revelry, he was hit with something else.

Just like what had happened when increased his wisdom past the thresholds, or when he tested Roman’s neon blue potion that he dubbed a ‘Potion of Assassination,’ he got an intense feeling that something inside his head was bursting. It caused him an intense pain that he’d not felt since leveling his endurance up. This time, however, it seemed like the blood vessels in his brain weren’t actually exploding, and it was something else.

Each time he felt the explosion, his mind cleared, and he lost around five percent of his health. Just in case, he activated Greater Meditation, and it began filling his health back up, but not quite as fast as whatever was happening depleted it. Another crazy thing was that he’d leveled his Greater Meditation up in the fight against Simeon, yet after only a few minutes of using it, it level again to 14. He wasn’t sure how much of its new level came from whatever Silvi had given him or how much was left over from the fight, but it was a nice surprise.

Ugh… Derek inwardly groaned. I wish she would have told me what I was eating before I ate it. He wasn’t in any danger because of the cake, but he would have rather eaten her ‘gift’ while not in the middle of a party. At least he was able to think straight again.

Finally, after a few more minutes, the cake wore off. When he opened his eyes, he noticed Alanah staring at him from across the room with furrowed brows. When he saw her, he half grinned and shrugged. He also saw Silvi floating directly in front of his face only a few inches away, staring deeply into his eyes.

‘Well?’ his companion asked excitedly. ‘It’s good, right? Soooooo much help with skills.’

‘Wait, have you tried it?’ Derek asked.

‘Of course!’ Silvi said. ‘Looked too good not to. Hurt a little, but worth it.’

Derek ended up being touched. He hadn’t actually been the guinea pig for Silvi—she’d tested it herself before she gave it to him, so she knew he wouldn’t have any problems handling it. Still, it would have been nice to be prepared for it, he thought, then looked at the plate that was still in his hand and put it away in his storage bracelet. I’ll save the rest for later.

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘It was good. How did you make it?’

‘The spice that pointy ears gave me. Had to try it.’

‘Ah…’ he said. ‘I see. How much did you use?’ He couldn’t help but wonder, as she hadn’t gotten a lot.

‘Barely any. Pointy ears was right. It’s going to last a long time. A dash is wayyy too much. I only used a couple of flakes, is all.’

‘Great. It’s really good,’ he sent to her again. After that, he looked up and noticed that within the minutes he’d been dealing with the cake, everyone else had already gotten them a piece too. In fact, it looked like Sabrina was about to take her first bite. ‘Uh… Silvi. You didn’t serve everyone that cake, right? The one they’re about to eat isn’t special, is it?’ It would be awful if they’d just stopped Simeon and his people from killing anybody just for his companion to accidentally commit mass manslaughter to everyone other than Osian, Alanah, and maybe Edgar and Avery.

With that thought, he was preparing himself to Void Shift away and knock the cake out of the new queen’s hand, but Silvi’s next words calmed him down.

‘I wouldn’t waste the Sylvan Leaf Powder on those idiots,’ she replied. ‘Pointy eared restaurant owner could have a bite if she asked nicely, though.’

‘How nice,’ Derek teased.

‘Indeed.’

With that imaginary crisis avoided, Derek and Silvi rejoined the celebration with everyone else. Well, Derek talked to a few of the people he knew, but everyone else seemed too scared or hesitant to even try to introduce themselves, which was fine by him, so he mostly just stayed in the corner occasionally chatting with Alanah, Marrick, or Avery.

Derek counted the time until he could go home, and, after hours of waiting, Robert and Sabrina thanked everyone for coming to their official wedding and crowning, and apologized for the unplanned event that took place before they sent everyone on their way. Finally, only the core people—those who fought in the battle outside the city, the newly crowned couple, and the former royal siblings—remained in the Great Hall.

“I would say that turned out better than imagined,” Marrick said while Silvi put away any leftovers and dishes.

“I would have rather my daughter not been in danger,” Ryven said.

“Bah,” Marrick chided the man. “She was never in any danger. You saw what happened. If Osian wouldn’t have acted, Derek still would have been there. And if neither of them acted, I would have. They were fine.”

“Indeed, they were,” Osian agreed with the old man. “I had wondered why they remained in the kingdom instead of trying their luck at crossing the sea. I thought that with Simeon’s power, he and his family would have had a good chance of crossing. To think they were oath-bound to you two siblings. Did you know of this?” He shifted his gaze to Tevara and Tyler.

“N-no, sir,” Tevara answered. “We had no clue. Our parents never told us anything.”

“How very ironic,” Osian said. “Sparing your lives forced them to stay and meet their demise. Traveling as oath breakers would be very difficult, even for someone as strong as Simeon and those following him. I shudder to think what our investigations will turn up regarding those noble houses.”

“It’s not going to be anything good,” Derek said.

“No, it is not,” Osian agreed.

“Anyway,” Derek started. “Do you all need me for anything else? Or is everything pretty much settled? What do you think?”

“I think you have played your part well,” Osian said.

“Agreed,” Edward said. “With your performance here, in front of the remaining nobility, I think you, along with Ms. Swan and Mr. Marrick, have become quite the deterrents. I imagine everything there will be no more major problems cropping up.”

“Great!” Derek said. “In that case, I’m going to get out of here. Do your best not to need me anymore.”

Without another word, Derek turned and opened a portal from his Void Travel skill. After wrapping his storage devices in the void, he stepped inside. I finally have the time to check on everyone. With nothing other than a couple of promises he made to Alanah and Avery to make good on, Derek had time again. He closed the portal behind him and found his favorite location with his Void Sense: The Void Emporium.