System Change

“What’s wrong?” Malorie asked with some concern in her voice. “It’s comfortable?” She looked from Derek to the chair he was just sitting in, then back at him.

Derek stared at the chair again. “It is,” he said, then slowly sat back down into the chair. When he was fully situated, he closed his eyes and sighed, then chuckled. “I never thought I would see the day that I would sit in something comfortable without having to have it made myself. I thought that this entire kingdom lacked the concept of comfort and cushions.”

“Huh…” Malorie hummed, then took a seat herself on the right side of Derek. “It is quite comfortable,” she said. “But it’s not…”

“I know,” Derek said, cutting her off mid-sentence. “It’s not quite as comfortable as some of the chairs we’ve commissioned through Geoffrey, but still… it’s a very good start.” His favorite chair, the one he made sure to carry with him almost everywhere he went, was still the best.

Soon, everyone else sat down. They all agreed that their seats were quite good, but none of them seemed to have the same reaction or happiness that Derek had when they sat. In fact, it didn’t seem like they cared much at all.

They’re all barbarians, Derek thought to himself as he saw them practically ignore the revolution that was comfort happening right before their eyes.

Shortly after they were all seated, Ester came back with the menus and passed them out. “What can I get you all to drink while you take a look at the menu?” she asked. Their orders included a variety of different drinks—coffee, tea, juice, and even water. “I’ll be right back with that,” Ester said.

“One second,” Derek said, stopping her before she was able to leave to go fetch the beverages.

“Yes?” she asked politely.

“I had a question about these chairs,” Derek said, and the woman waited for him to continue. “Why are these chairs comfortable, but all the other ones that I have sat in when dining here are so… not?” he asked.“Well, Mr. Hunt,” she said. “This is your private suite.”

“I know,” Derek said. “It’s the tier four private suite.”

“No…” she slowly shook her head with a sly smile. “It seems you misunderstand. This is not a tier four private suite. This is your tier four private suite. Yours, and yours alone.”

“Oh,” Derek said, slightly taken aback. “So it is made specifically for me?”

“Exactly,” Ester said with a nod. “You will find another just like it at the Savannah branch of the Crown Restaurant, as that is your current place of residence. You also have a prepared suite in the Crown Hotel if you should ever need to use it.”

“I… see…” Derek said. “So these chairs…”

“Commissioned specifically for you. Mistress Swan noticed your… peculiarities when it comes to seating and had them created specifically for you. Of course, she hasn’t had the chance to see them quite yet, as they were only finished a short while ago. However, I am happy that we were able to receive them before you chose to come dine with us,” Ester explained.

“I’ll have to give Alanah my thanks, then,” Derek said and gave Ester a smile.

“I am very happy you like them.” Ester bowed to Derek and the others. “Then, if there isn’t anything else…”

“That’s all,” Derek said.

“Very well,” Ester replied. “I will be back shortly with your drinks. Please excuse me.” The woman excused herself and soon after, she was out of the room.

“Huh…” Derek muttered once she was gone. “You learn something new every day…”

“You didn’t know about the private suite when you were given your new membership?” Malorie asked.

“Not really,” Derek said. “Alanah kind of upgraded me on the spot. She mentioned access to suites and stuff, but she didn’t really go into detail about anything. Upgrading my card seemed to be more of an afterthought to her after I met her for the first time.”

“Oh,” Malorie said.

“Yeah.” Derek nodded while thinking back to exactly what she said. “All she told me was that it included hefty discounts on the services from lower tiers and that I would get VIP treatment in all the Crown locations—including during auctions.”

“I guess you know some of what comes with that VIP treatment now,” Walter said from his position to the left of Derek. “I wonder what it would take for me to get my membership upgraded now…” the man muttered.

“Hah,” Derek laughed at the older man. “I remember the first time we came to one of the restaurants together. You didn’t have a membership, and you didn’t plan on getting one until you actually ate some of the food they served.”

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“Mhm,” Walter agreed with a nod. “I finally asked Ms. Brighton about it after that meal and was approved surprisingly quickly afterwards. I’m sure you had something to do with it, though.”

“Maybe,” Derek chuckled. “But weren’t you mostly concerned with your house going broke if you ended up with one?”

“I was,” Walter said. “But since I am able to level once again, and I’m no longer the patriarch of the family, I can earn income from adventuring and dungeons that I needn’t share with the family. The finances are now someone else’s problem. Before leaving on the raid, I made sure to empty all my personal accounts into the family’s funds. Now, I can use any gold I receive on personal items… like dining here at the Crown.”

“Great choice!” Derek heard Silvi’s voice chime in. “Best way to spend money. Food and ingredients.”

“It certainly isn’t a bad way,” Walter laughed.

“Mhm,” Silvi agreed. “Could buy ingredients and give to me. I make great food. Always need more ingredients.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Walter chuckled.

“Good idea,” Silvi said. “Always remember ingredients. Very important.”

Everyone had a good laugh after all of that, then they waited for their beverages to be delivered. Ester came back with another person in tow to deliver the drinks, and soon, it was time for everyone to order their meals. The menus were interesting to Derek, as before, when eating at a lower tier, it wasn’t that big. However, it seemed that with each tier of membership, a new page was added to the menu, along with everything from the previous tier.

It was not easy to decide what to order. Of course, he had to try the few items that were part of the tier four membership—that was a no brainer. But Derek really was hungry, so he went ahead and ordered a few things from the other tiers, too. Other than him, Walter, Jensen, Delilah, Richard, and the children all seemed to hesitate when choosing what to order.

“You don’t need to hesitate,” Derek said. “Right, Malorie?” he asked. “I’m sure we have plenty to cover everything.”

“Mhm,” Malorie agreed. “Choose what you like. Don’t hold back.”

After some further coaxing, Derek and Malorie was able to get them to relent and pick items from the higher menus that they wanted. One person who didn’t need any coaxing or prompting was Rudy. He was the first person to order, and he’d selected many of the higher tier choice without holding back.

Silvi was another that didn’t hold back. Derek had to stop her after she called out every item from the tier four, three, and two menus. If he didn’t, he was sure that by the time she was finished, she would have ordered one of everything, and to be honest, he couldn’t blame her. He’d actually thought about doing the same thing when he was going over the menu.

Malorie ordered for herself, but also ordered multiple things to go for Brandi. She was a mother, after all. Even if she couldn’t get her daughter to go out and eat, at least she could take her some of the goodies back.

“Is that… everything?” Ester asked with wide eyes that were mostly staring at Silvi.

“It doesn’t look like we ordered everything,” Derek said with a laugh as he pointed at the very few items from the menu that his group hadn’t ordered. He saw Malorie roll her eyes at his stupid joke out of the corner of his own. “But I think that’s all for us.”

“Great!” Ester said, then went around the table and collected the menus. “Your items will be out promptly. I do hope you enjoy.” Once again, Ester bowed and dismissed herself from the room.

“Meanie,” Silvi’s voice chimed out from her communication crystal. “I wanted to try everything.”

“I know you did,” Derek said. “But you know as well as I that the items you didn’t order are things that you have already tried, or that you could easily create yourself. There was no sense in you ordering it all. I don’t even know if you would even be able to eat it all.”

“Nothing wrong with leftovers,” Silvi replied. “Food for later.”

Derek shook his head at Silvi’s antics, then shifted the conversation to the three children. “So, the three of you,” he started. “Do you plan to become a team? Or are you just training together for now?” he asked.

Zachary, Lucas, and Clare all looked at one another, then Zac, the lightning user, finally spoke up. “We’ve been training together for a long time,” he said. “Me and my brother always planned on becoming adventurers together anyway, and we’ve had a lot of fun working with Clare since she unlocked the Great System.”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Clare chimed in. “But we’ve talked about it. I really enjoy training with the boys and they are really, really good fighters. I definitely wouldn’t mind being in a party with them.”

“First, we need to find out what Mr. Swan and Miss Alanah wants us to do. Mr. Swan will surely want to see what kind of progress we have made first. I don’t know if they will send us to the academy or keep training us,” Zac explained.

“Thomas sure does make the academy sound like fun when he comes around, though,” Luke said. “I think I would like to go if Mr. Swan and Miss Alanah let us.”

“I see,” Derek said. “I doubt it would hurt things,” he continued. “But—and I’m sure you already know this, as you all seem quite mature—you shouldn’t rush things. You need to keep growing slowly like you have been and work on your skills and… elements. That should take priority over your levels.” All three of the children nodded seriously at Derek’s words.

“Now, Clare,” Derek said. “Speaking of plans, what are yours? With you levels and such.”

“I think…” Clare looked over at Walter and Jensen before continuing. “We want to wait and train my skill levels for at least another six months before moving on to level ten and getting to choose a class. Maybe even longer, depending on how hard they become to level.”

“Yeah… Skill levels become much harder to level the higher they are. And it’s especially true when you can’t really fight and slay monsters because the experience will push you to level ten really quickly,” Derek said. “I agree that once you start feeling like you’re making absolutely no progress any longer, it will be time to think about getting a class.”

“That’s just as we’ve planned,” Walter said. “I very much look forward to seeing what kind of warrior my niece will become in the future using this strategy. I have high hopes for her. She is the future of House Searidge.”

“But I don’t wanna be the matriarch,” Clare cried out. “I just want to fight and adventure. I don’t want to have to run things. That’s what cousin Jensen is for. He can take over. I’ll be the muscle.” Clare punched the air a few times to make her point, and everyone had a good chuckle.

“We still have plenty of time to figure that out,” Walter said in between chuckles. “You’re not even level ten yet. For now, just focus on getting stronger.”

“Exactly,” Derek agreed. “Like I said, don’t rush things,” he said, then he sent Clare a message telepathically. ‘And once you become strong enough, you won’t have to take over House Searidge even if they want you to. After all, the strongest people are the ones who get to make all the decisions.