System Change

With Ryven covered safely in the void, Derek carried him out of the tunnel formed by Void Travel and into the Throne Room in Cydaria. Once he made sure that the duke was completely out of harm’s way, he released Void Creation—causing the void to be removed from the elf—and made to shut the portal behind them. With that done, Derek let out a light breath.

“Wait…” From in front of Derek, Ryven turned and looked at where the portal once was. “What was that? That servant… he said that someone had broken into the treasury!”

“What?” Edwin came forward from his position beside Phillip Musgrave. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

Ryven went on to explain the last few moments in Astrus before he was taxi’d to Cydaria. Edwin frowned, then they both looked at Derek. “Should we go back?” Edwin asked.

“Why would we do that?” Derek asked.

“It sounds serious,” Edwin said. “If someone broke into their treasury while we were discussing terms with the nobles…”

“Sounds like they should have had better defenses on their treasury to me,” Derek replied offhandedly. I doubt that small amount of poison would be able to stop anybody who was already strong enough to break through whatever type of material it was protecting the room. “Besides,” Derek started again. “Were either of you the ones who did it?”

“No,” they both answered simultaneously.

“Then it’s settled.” Derek smiled. “You have a much more important task to do now. You can leave all that treasury nonsense to everyone remaining in Astrus. Speaking of tasks…” Derek looked past Edwin and at his remaining adviser. “Where is Sabrina?”

“Ah… um…” The older man looked at Edwin for permission. Once the king nodded, he continued. “Well… the thing is… Ms. Elras and Ms. Elouise… they left the palace to go meet suitors, as they were tasked.”

“That’s right,” Edwin said with a nod. “And how many have they met so far?”

“I… don’t know,” Phillip said.

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know?’” Edwin narrowed his eyes.

“Well… since they left, Elouise hasn’t contacted me, and she will not respond to my communications. Maybe… if it’s Your Majesty…”

“I do not have my storage items with me. Which means that I am currently not carrying my communication crystals,” Edwin explained with a frown. “Surely, nothing would have happened to them. Have you sent people after them? Did they leave the city?”

“I have, sir,” Phillip replied. “All of the cities’ teleporters have been restored, too. But that makes it more difficult to locate them, as it appears that they have teleported multiple times. And since Elouise is the princess, he orders are currently higher than mine without you or Edward’s explicit permission, and none of the workers want to risk offending her by giving her away.”

“Leaving to that mischievous child to pull something like this.” Edwin rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Can she never take anything seriously? I let it slide when she pretended to fall in love to escape so many of her duties… but this… when the fate of three kingdoms is involved.”

“I’ll just go get them,” Derek said, causing everyone to shift their attention to him. In fact, finding Sabrina would be the easiest thing for him. He’d already located and traveled to her from across kingdoms. If she was in Cydaria, it’d be even easier than last time.

“Ah… yes,” Edwin said. “That would be for the best. Thank you, Mr. Hunt.”

Derek shrugged and turned around. With a thought and a wave of his hand, he created another tunnel in the void and stepped inside. He closed his eyes for a moment and used his Void Sense to pick out the elven woman. When he found her, he frowned.

Leaning back, Derek poked his head outside the tunnel and looked over at Edwin. “They’re in Savannah,” he said. “Which one of the lists of suiters live there?” he asked.

“Savannah?” Edwin questioned. “None of them live in Savannah… They all do some business there, but none actually live in the city.”

Derek nodded and moved back into the tunnel. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this. He focused harder on his Void Sense and changed his target. Once he located that target as well, a shiver went down his back. They’re too close together. What is Sabrina doing there?

With a shake of his head, Derek stepped forward inside the tunnel, covering the whole distance in that single movement. Then, he reached out and made to rip the void open.

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When Derek stepped out of the void and into his shop, he noticed over a dozen people huddled in the corner, looking worried. His Void Travel ability seemed to have that effect on people. Even though he planned on traveling back to the palace as soon as he could, he went ahead and closed the portal so none of what looked like his customers accidentally found themselves dead just because they were a little too curious.

“Sir!” A voice sounded, and when Derek followed it, he saw Bones standing just inside the sales area. The skinny man was wearing a black and purple butler’s outfit, and Derek had to admit, he was looking quite dapper. However, the bigger surprise was the man who was standing next to him—he seemed to be recovering from the feelings produced by Derek’s Void Travel.

“Bronson!” Derek rushed over with his hand out to give the man a big handshake. “It’s good to see you! Did Walter make it back safely?”

“Ah… yes… sir,” Bronson replied.

“You stop that,” Derek said. “We’re friends, are we not? You can drop the formalities.”

“Ah…” Bronson shook his head and finally fully recovered from Derek’s abrupt appearance. “Of course we are.” He finally took Derek’s hand and shook it. “Master Gr… Searidge made it Ms. Swan’s residence in the capital and chose to spend some time with young Clare. After that, Mr. Bones arrived for some training, but I thought it best to give Master Searidge some time alone—plus, it was just a good idea to train Mr. Bones here, where he will be spending most of his time.”

“I see,” Derek said. “And how is he doing?”

“Honestly,” Bronson rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think he needs any help from me. He’s already more than capable as a butler—better than most who are already a part of higher noble houses.”

“Is that so?” Derek asked as he looked over at the Bones, who was standing with his hands laced behind his back. Derek could see the slight smugness and a smile threatening to appear on his face—unless it was just his imagination. “Well, that’s good.”

“You’re back.” Suddenly, another voice sounded, and Derek glanced over Bones’s shoulder to see Malorie walk through a door holding what looked like a clipboard. She had bags under her eyes, and it looked like she hadn’t had any sleep recently.

“We’re going to have to pump up your vitality and endurance,” Derek said. “Either that, or you need to get some proper rest.”

“Tell that to Brandi.” Malorie’s eyes narrowed, and she stared at him—through him. “You just keep giving her things that cause trouble. I finally get her into a routine where she eats and occasionally takes a break, then you just… just… ugh.” Without another word, Malorie did a 180 and turned around to head toward her office.

“That…” Derek opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. He did literally just leave Brandi with tons of dragon materials. He shook his head. Well, I can worry about that some other time. He turned his attention back to Bronson. “Well, Bronson, it was nice seeing you again. Unfortunately, I’m only here to pick something up, then I have to get back to saving the world and stuff. I’ll treat you to a meal at the Crown once everything’s over.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Bronson said with a gleam in his eyes.

“We’ll see what the best thing they can cook in the capital is next time.” Derek grinned. “But for now…” he turned around and focused on two hooded figures in the corner of the room. He’d noticed Elouise and Sabrina as soon as he stepped out of the portal. They were with the other customers who had huddled up when the feeling of dread appeared.

“Sabrina! Elouise! Don’t make me come over there!” He stared at the two with an intense glare. He didn’t dare release his aura, but he did do his best imitation of his grandma. “Get over here. Now!” With that, the two hooded figures looked at one another, then scurried to their feet and then hurriedly rushed over to Derek. They seem as thick as thieves.

Once they were standing in front of him, Derek took a good look at them. Sabrina’s usually pale face was that same crimson color he’d seen so many times before. In fact, he was starting to wonder if her face’s natural color was actually that crimson red. As for Elouise, she wouldn’t even look at him. Her eyes were glued to the ground—like a child that knew what she had done was wrong.

“You know,” Derek said. “I’m not even going to ask what the two of you were doing here. I don’t even want to know.” He had thought Elouise seemed to be proper and serious when he met her for the first time in Cydaria’s Throne Room, but after what Edwin had said, and the fact that the two women seemed to be blowing off their current duties for some reason, his opinion of her changed a little.

It wasn’t a bad opinion, actually, it changed a bit for the better. At first I thought she was a female Edward. Instead, she’s just an Edgar who prefers having fun that doesn’t involve fighting beasts and running dungeons. In Derek’s opinion, there was nothing wrong with that. There were spoiled rich kids everywhere. At least she wasn’t one of the ones who got her kicks from torturing others. Right now, she just seemed like a girl who made a new friend and was having fun shopping. Yes… that’s what they’re doing… shopping.

“The two of you,” Derek said. “Give me all your storage rings unless you want them to be destroyed.” Sabrina quickly handed Derek a single ring. She hadn’t been able to bring any with her to begin with, so it seemed that she was using a loaner. Seeing Elouise’s hesitation, Derek got an idea. “Actually, here,” Derek said and tossed the ring he’d received from Sabrina to Elouise. “I’m sure you can get back to the palace yourself. Sabrina’s needed immediately. You can bring her storage ring to her later.”

“I…” Elouise started.

“Nope,” Derek cut her off. “I’m sure you’re not in too much trouble… fatherly love and all that stuff. But it’s be best for you to get back to the palace as soon as possible.” He looked around the room and saw that the small group of customers had moved closer to them to see what was going on. “Everyone, move back,” he said. “I’m reopening my travel ability and it’s not safe unless you are being protected by me. I’m sure you felt the pressure.”

With those words, everyone went back to their corners and the edge of the sales floor, but nobody chose to leave the shop. They may have been scared, but what was happening was too exciting to watch to not see—even if it was scary and intense. Derek quickly opened the portal connected to Void Travel before lightly grabbing Sabrina on her shoulder and placing his other hand in between her shoulder blades—the method he’d figured out was the easiest for him, and thus, the safest for his passenger.

With one last look to the side, he smiled. “Bronson, it really was nice seeing you again. Bones, keep up the good work.” With a thought, Derek used Void Creation and a thick film of void covered the duke’s daughter and future queen of Indaria. With his smile even bigger, he moved them into the tunnel and closed it behind them. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction to the news.

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