System Change

Stella continued to window shop for dragonkin for another couple hours. It was like visiting an exotic zoo back on Earth—you could spend hours there just watching the magnificent beasts. During that time, Derek found himself chatting with Lindsay Barnes about herself.

They didn’t go into anything personal—just her fascination with different beasts. Also, they were correct in assuming that she wanted to bond with a beast, but just hadn’t found the right one yet. With her closeness to the animals, she wanted to find the perfectly compatible beast to be her companion.

The woman seemed to be a good person—being on Tyron’s speed dial was also another point in that direction. Derek knew the blacksmith pretty well by now, and the fact that he asked Lindsay, and that she came so quickly, were good signs. The more he thought about it, the less he thought Ogre would be a good candidate for a dragonkin—or any bonded beast, really.

Bones had the organization and… mental capacity to take care of a bonded beast, but Ogre was kind of a different story. The way the giant of a man was, Derek doubted he would even want to have a bonded beast—he was too worried about his next meal.

Derek also thought the same thing about Silvi. Good thing she didn’t get me with that contract trick when we first bonded, he thought with a shiver. He couldn’t even imagine the cooking affinity that he would currently have if that were the case.

Finally, Stella finished viewing all the dragonkin, and was ready to go back. Overall, she was just excited to spend part of the day away from the business and customers. She hadn’t gotten much rest since Alanah joined the fight and with Avery being gone.

I’m definitely going to have to let Malorie have a break, Derek thought with a sigh as they passed Lyra on the way out.

“What was that sigh for?” Stella asked.

“I was just thinking that Malorie was in sort of the same position as you,” Derek said. “She’s had to run everything since I’ve been gone—and since before I left, to be honest. So she probably needs a break like this as much, if not more, than you did.”

“Probably,” Stella agreed. “But your little shop has nowhere near the amount of struggles that the Crown Restaurant and Hotels do. Once she becomes fully acquainted with all the ins and outs of it—which she is already pretty close to doing—she’ll have the shop where it basically runs itself, and she’ll only have to focus on certain parts. It will become much easier for her as time goes by. And she’ll have the ability to manage things far better than I can one day.”

“That’s good to know,” Derek said. It was a nice feeling, seeing his friends all flourish in their lives. Malorie was shaping up to be a fine business woman, Brandi was well on her way to becoming a crafter just as good, if not better, than Tyron, Jacks and Rayna were starting their own little family, and Rudy was… Rudy. He was just happy that he was able to help them.

After the long trek back to the Savannah, Stella visited his shop with him before she went back to the Crown. They enjoyed a very late lunch created by Silvi—one that turned out quite delicious. Silvi had served them skewers of meat and vegetables. They hadn’t known exactly what kind of meat they were eating until they asked after receiving a small increase to their wisdom once they consumed it.

The meat was actually a mix of the octopus-like creatures and the Astral Vipers that they had fought against in the raid dungeon. It was the first real meal that Silvi had cooked with her Cook What You Kill skill, and whatever the skill did, it drew out the innate effects of the octopus that she had hunted herself. It was an intriguing skill and made Derek rethink his plans of only taking Avery along to hunt Void Beasts with. Silvi was definitely going to have to single-handedly hunt a few of her own just to try the skill.

If it worked for regular beasts and recipes, then who knew what kind of gains a Void Beast meal created with Alanah’s special recipe they would receive. Or if it would even receive any bonuses since Void Beasts weren’t part of the system according to the achievement he got for killing them. It was something that they would only be able to find out by testing.

Once the meal was over, Stella sluggishly and reluctantly left to get back to work, and Derek finally decided it was time to learn about his shop and how everything was doing.

“Follow me,” Malorie said, then led Derek through the shop and into Rudy’s office.

“Do you need anything?” Rudy said from behind his desk.

“Your office,” Malorie replied.

“Oh…” Rudy said. “Once second.” He gathered up a few things into his storage ring, then left the room after giving Derek and Malorie a nod.

“I think we need to get you your own office,” Derek said. “Do you use Rudy’s often?”

“Occasionally,” Malorie said as she walked behind the desk and took over the seat where Rudy had been sitting. “I mostly do the bookkeeping and inventory in my room or the dining room, but since it’s more than me this time, I thought it best to use an office.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Makes it more official,” Derek said. “But you do need your own office. I can’t believe I never thought of that.”

“I make do,” Malorie said with a shrug. “But I won’t turn one down.”

“Then, the next time I talk with Geoffrey—which will be soon because I have some ideas—I’ll have him come by and figure out a good way to put something in,” Derek said. “We can afford a couple new additions to the building, right?”

“Without a doubt,” Malorie said, then pulled out a binder and pointed at some figured. “As you can see, we’re quite flush. After the auction, we walked away with more than two million gold coins… which is more than some of mid-tier noble houses have in total.”

“Wow…” Derek said. “I knew that we sold quite a few of the meals for over 100,000 gold each, on top of all the other, lesser meals, but I didn’t think it was that much.”

“It was,” Malorie said, matter-of-factly. “And, on top of that money, the amount of gold that the shop has begun to make on a monthly basis has become more than enough to pay for 5,000 gold monthly rent and many materials. We have essentially not touched any of the proceeds from the auction.”

“That’s amazing,” Derek said. “I didn’t know that Brandi was doing so well with more than just her research and leveling.”

“It is amazing.” Malorie’s face finally broke into a smile at the mention of her daughter. “As much as I hate seeing her work so hard on everything, I am a very proud mother.”

“As you should be,” Derek said. “You’ve done a great job… in everything. You’ve successfully run the business alone, while continuing to be a good mom. It’s quite the accomplishment.” Derek praised, laying it on thick. If it so happened that she completely forgot about what happened when Brandi was testing her boots, or the fact that Derek kept bringing her more dangerous things to craft with, then, so be it.

“Thank you.” Malorie blushed slightly before changing the subject. “There’s something that I thought we should look into now that we’re flush with gold and on good terms with Miss Natalie Savannah. It’s something I wanted to make sure you were okay with before I did it, so I was waiting until you got back.”

“What is it?” Derek asked.

“As you know, we are currently paying 5,000 gold a month on top of 13% of our profits at the end of each quarter,” Malorie said.

“That sounds about right,” Derek said. He’d have to look at the contract, as he didn’t remember it off the top of his head, but if Malorie said that was what it was, then that’s what it was.

“You also paid a first and last month deposit, and property taxes are built into the monthly rent,” she explained.

Derek nodded along.

“So, we have been offered a new contract from the city lord, herself. I imagine it is because you are close to her and because of the value she sees in you,” she explained.

“I wouldn’t say I am very close with her,” Derek objected. “But I doubt there are many people who are. I do have a decent amount of strength, though, so I could see me being valuable.” He smiled as he flexed his right arm.

“Be that as it may.” Malorie rolled her eyes. “We have been given a unique opportunity for our business.”

“And what opportunity is that?” Derek asked.

“We have been given an execption to buy lot 33801 straight up,” Malorie said.

“And that means…”

“That means that we would no longer have any monthly rent to pay, just our property taxes and taxes on profit,” Malory explained. “Also, if we choose to do so, the taxes on our profit will lower from 13% to 10%.”

“I didn’t think that was allowed under Natalie’s reign as city lord,” Derek said.

“Technically, you are correct,” Malorie said with a nod. “However, the city lord makes the regulations. From what I have gathered, she is the first city lord that continues to rent her property like everyone else in the city. I imagine she does this to keep nobles from making a fuss.”

“They can’t complain about it if it’s something the city lord does…” Derek said.

“Exactly,” Malorie said.

“Then why make the exception for us?” Derek asked.

“For you,” Malorie answered. “The exception is for you. If you ask me, it is because she sees the value in having you in her city for the long run. So, she has given you the opportunity to set permanent roots.”

“Which would basically force—no, that’s not the right word…” He shook his head. “It would… entice me to never move to a different city.”

“Yes,” Malorie said. “I believe that is the goal. The offer only recently came, after all.”

“Ah… I see…” Derek said. The offer most likely came after he returned from the raid, then captured the two dukes. Natalie was at the palace to see that.

“What do you think?” Derek asked. She was the one who ran everything, so he would follow her advice. “What will it cost?”

“The cost is quite steep,” Malorie said. “It is seen as more of an investment into the city instead of just a temporary residence or shop.” She flipped through her binder to another page. “For lot 33801, we can own it for 268,000 gold. This includes the lower quarterly tax rate of 10%. Once we own it, our only monthly cost will be the 250 gold per month property taxes.

“If you were to ask me, I would say that it’s a no-brainer,” Malorie explained. “You currently have more money than you know what to do with, and you have… ways… to make as much as you need. Investing it back into the city that you plan on living in would be well worth it.”

“Interesting…” Derek said. “And what about the two lots beside us? Are those for sale? Part of the ‘generous’ exemption offered by Natalie?” When he first visited lot 33801, he liked it because it was between two unoccupied lots that he could possibly use in the future for expansion.

“I thought you would ask that,” Malorie said with a smile. “Once the Void Emporium starting taking off in popularity and people saw that it wasn’t going to shut down like the previous business that occupied this lot did, they started taking interest in the surrounding lots.”

“I see…” Derek said. “So they’ve already been rented?”

“They have,” Malorie said. “By me.”

“Really?” Derek asked with wide eyes.

“Yes,” she said. “Of course, I didn’t know that you were bringing that giant of a man back to work for you at the time, but now that you have, I see that my instincts to buy the two lots surrounding the Void Emporium were right on target.”

“Yes,” Derek said. “They were.”

Malorie then pulled out two contracts from her storage ring. “I rented the lots under the name of the business since you weren’t here and I didn’t want to put them under my name.”

“That’s fine,” Derek said. “But the question is, are we able to buy the two other lots too?” He would like to get started on building a place for any workers—including Bones and Ogre—that they ended up hiring. With the runners looking for different jobs, Derek knew that there would be plenty of people that would take him up on the offer of a live-in employee.

“Yes. They were included in the offer,” Malorie said. “But the total price for all three will come to just over 1.1 million gold. It is quite the sum.”

“It is,” Derek said. “But money’s really not a problem for us, is it?”

“No,” Malorie said. “No, it is not.”

“Then buy them.”