System Change

“Not bad,” Derek said to Silvi as they stepped out of the portal and into his travel room. Silvi had been straight and to the point with the instructor, and the whole process of keeping Thomas out of trouble was pretty painless. He honestly thought Silvi was going to be more eccentric or harder on the instructors, but she had surprised him by only saying what needed to be said, then leaving.

“Yes, yes…” Silvi’s voice chimed after she re-equipped all her gear once the portal was closed behind them. “I am amazing.” She seemed to like having the title of ‘amazing.’

“Be careful with that,” Derek said with a chuckle. “If you don’t watch out, everyone’s going to start calling you Silvi the Amazing.”

“That’s good!” Silvi said happily.

“No, it’s not,” Derek said. “Unless you want people to think of you the same way that they think of Blitz the Magnificent. You’ll have the majority of people in awe, while the people who really matter just think it’s funny… though… I guess you can back it up better than the wyvern… even though he can also back it up a bit.” Derek shook his head. “You know what, you can be Silvi, the Amazing Chef. I doubt anyone who knows you would make fun, and those who don’t would just agree after seeing one meal, or seeing you fight just one time.”

“Mhm…” Silvi agreed, then hopped off Derek’s shoulder. “Time to work on a new dish!”

“Okay,” Derek said. “I have some ideas, and I may need you later,” he told her before she left.

“Kay!” Silvi said. “Will probably be in kitchen,” she said, then disappeared from Derek’s sight.

“And she calls other people maniacs,” Derek clicked his tongue. “Oh well…” Derek left the travel room. Once he was out, he took a look at Brandi, who seemed to be deeply focusing on something in front of her, and decided not to bother her. Instead, he quietly walked upstairs, opened the door to the basement, then left.

The next day, Derek was sitting in his sitting room giving a lot of thought to some things. As he was sitting there, there was a knock on the door, then it slowly opened. Inside came Bones, whose face was showing actual emotion, and he was followed by Ogre, who had to duck down to get his body inside the room.

“Bones!” Derek greeted the half-butler, half-assassin. “Am I needed for something?” he asked. “And Ogre! It’s good to see you.” He saw Bones pretty often when the man wasn’t out growing stronger, as he was always lurking around doing his new job as well as he could, but he didn’t see Ogre too often. The man had a hard time fitting in places, so when he was working with Silvi, she usually took the food to him.

“Good to see you,” Ogre said. “Ogre is happy!”

“You’re happy?” Derek asked. “Oh, about the Achievement that Silvi got everyone?”

“No, it’s not that…” Bones said, then backtracked. “Well… Mr. Hunt…” Derek eyed him, and, since they were alone in the room, changed up what he wanted to say. “Derek… we are very happy and grateful to Silvi for the meal that brought us the Achievement,” he said.

“So, it worked for the two of you even though you didn’t eat with everyone else?” Derek asked.

“It did,” Bones answered.

“Great!” Derek said. If it worked for the two of them, along with Avery and Edgar, it gave Derek even more hope that it would work for Rayna’s child once he or she was old enough to have it.

“But that is not why we are here,” Bones said.

“Oh?”

“We… we both received notifications today,” Bones said. “Notifications that released us from the Assassin’s Guild. We have no more ties to the guild. Even the oaths we took to do nothing harmful to the guild were voided. We… we are both completely free from the Assassin’s Guild.”

“They finally finished doing it, eh?” Derek said. “That’s good, very good.”

“So, it was you,” Bones said. “I thought so.”

“Yes,” Derek said. “Vanessa and I had a little chat with the Guild Leaders of the Assassin’s Guild, and everyone came to a conclusion that it would be for the best to give the two of you—and Vanessa—your freedom back.”

“Even the Shadow Witch?” Bones asked with wide eyes.

“You seem surprised,” Derek said.

“The Vice Leader leaving is one thing… I’m sure her oaths and contracts weren’t as heavy as ours were, but to think that she—with the high position she had—would be able to make a clean break… Yes… I am quite surprised,” Bones explained.

“Oh, they all seemed more than happy to do it after our meeting,” Derek said.

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“Do… do you believe that Ogre and I are free to do as we wish without having to worry about an ambush or attack?” Bones asked.

“You’re not in their Black Ledger, but they put many of the people close to me in it,” Derek said, causing a gasp to come from Bones. “According to Nyx, the two of you should be protected just by association with me and mine. It was the best they could do, but I don’t think you will have anything to worry about when it comes to the Assassin’s Guild from now on.”

Bones stared at Derek with his mouth open for a few moments, then he fell to the ground, onto his knees, and bowed. “Thank you, Derek,” he said. “We are forever in your debt, and we will use the remainder of our lives to try to repay this debt. We are forever in your service.”

“Don’t worry about any of that for now,” Derek said. “You’re free to get stronger now. Just do your best, and that will be enough.”

“Thank you, mister.” Even Ogre bowed from the waist. “Ogre will do good. Ogre will eat much, grow strong. Make chef proud.”

“Good, good!” Derek said.

After that, Bones and Ogre excused themselves and left the room.

I can’t wait to see how fast the two of them grow.

Finally, the day that Braxton had mentioned came, and Derek found himself sitting in a room with Vanessa, The Shadow Witch, Hodges, once again. Now that the time had come, he’d dropped by the palace and borrowed the woman again. This time, though, the conversation inside his travel room was much different.

“I had an interesting visit with the Guild Leader of the Vallum Branch of the Assassin’s Guild the other day,” Derek said as he pulled a couple of seats out of his storage bracelet. He sat in his, and motioned for the Shadow Witch to take one herself. He had been thinking about getting some more permanent furniture for the room, but because it was used mostly for travel and he only occasionally used it as a sort of meeting room, he decided against it.

“Braxton?” Vanessa asked with wide eyes as she took the offered seat across from Derek.

“That’s the one,” Derek confirmed.

“You went back to the Assassin’s Guild, then?” The former vice leader of the guild asked.

“Nope,” Derek said. “Actually met him here in Savannah. He was in Roman’s bar.”

“Oh,” Vanessa replied. “That makes a lot more sense,” she said. “I guess your friend, Roman, made an interesting ale or something like that?”

“Something like that,” Derek said. “The guy seemed very keen on working with Roman. What do you think?”

“Should be fine.” Vanessa shrugged. “When it comes to his alcohol, Braxton won’t do anything to mess things up. It would probably be dumb to pass an opportunity to get on his good side up. He’ll be able to provide your friend with resources from all over the continent.”

“And his character?” Derek asked.

“Dumb brute,” Vanessa answered. “Dumb brute that sticks to his word. And not a bad person, even for an assassin. He is a bit on the loud side, though.”

“That’s good,” Derek said. “That’s pretty much exactly the same feeling I got from him. He’d be a good drinking buddy.”

“I guess you could call him that,” Vanessa said. “I doubt there are many other people who could keep up with his drinking.”

“Hah,” Derek said with a chuckle. “He was struggling to keep up with me.”

Vanessa stared at Derek for a few moments, then raised her brow. “You’re… serious, aren’t you.”

“Completely,” Derek said. “Roman finally made something perfect for me, and Braxton did not have an easy time handling it.”

“That’s… quite the feat,” Vanessa said. “I never thought anyone would be able to out drink him or his brother, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

“He has a brother?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” Vanessa said. “He’s…” her eyes shifted up and to the side. “He’s a higher up in Vellum.”

“So that’s the connection he uses to get this ‘King’s Ale’ that he couldn’t stop talking about,” Derek said.

“Yes,” Vanessa replied. “That is how he gets his hands on it.”

“Good to know,” Derek said. “Maybe I’ll get to try it one day. I did go ahead and send the new brew with Braxton.”

“Smart,” Vanessa said. “Is that all you needed?” she asked.

“Oh, not even close,” Derek replied with a smile. “Braxton wanted me to ask you a couple of questions, actually.”

“And what questions are those?” Vanessa asked.

“Well… first, he wanted me to tell you that he said ‘hello,’” Derek said.

“Noted…” Vanessa replied, to Derek’s amusement. “What else?”

“The big question was… how would you like to become the new Guild Leader of the Cydaria branch of the Assassin’s Guild?”

“How would I like it?” Vanessa asked rhetorically. “I’ll pass.”

“I told him you’d say that,” Derek said. “But he wanted me to ask, anyway.”

“And what about Maven?” Vanessa asked. “Have you made a decision?”

“Would Braxton be looking for a replacement if I hadn’t?” Derek asked with a smirk.

“That’s great!” Vanessa said with a big grin. “When do we leave?”

“Woah, woah, woah…” Derek held his palms out. “There’s no rush… we have a few hours, at least.”

“So, you are going to take me?” Vanessa balled her fists in anticipation.

“Of course I’m going to take you,” Derek replied.

“Great!” Vanessa let out a sigh. “I’ve been wanting revenge for… a very long time,” she said. After calming herself down, she continued, “What else did Braxton want to ask me?”

“Huh?” Derek tilted his head, then said, “Oh, that… he wanted to know if you wanted to take his Guild Leader position over the Vallum branch if you didn’t want to take the Cydaria one.”

“Yeah… no chance,” Vanessa said. “It’s only been a couple of days, but I believe I’m going to thoroughly enjoy my time as the Head of Information Gathering for the Kingdom of Cydaria. The position is very suitable for my current skills, and I don’t have many limitations on what I can do—only a few contracts and oaths that aren’t much at all compared to what I’m used to.”

“It’s good that you’ve found a place,” Derek said. He was still a bit sad about the fact that he hadn’t asked her to be his Spymaster before Edward did. She would have been great for the role—even if he didn’t really need it.

“What are you thinking about?” Vanessa asked after Derek didn’t speak for a short while.

“Oh, you know… just that Edward beat me to the punch by offering you a job,” Derek said with a laugh.

“You… wanted to give me a job?” Vanessa widened her eyes.

“I thought about it, but I don’t have nearly as many things that require information gathering, spying, or assassinating as the kingdom as a whole does,” Derek said. “So, you probably would have ended up bored in an office, or running errands for Malorie, so it’s not a big loss for you or anything.”

“Oh…” Vanessa muttered.

“You seem disappointed,” Derek said.

“It would have been a good way for me to pay you back for having the guild cancel all my contracts and oaths,” she explained.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Derek said. “I didn’t do it so you’d owe me a favor or anything, so just forget about it. And if you don’t want to forget about it, just make sure you’re ready to do what needs to be done later.”

“I am ready,” Vanessa said. “I will make that uncle of mine pay with his life.”