System Change

“An old goblin?” Derek asked, also in confusion. I’ve not seen any goblins in this world yet. I wonder if there really are any outside of dungeons. Definitely had some lower-level dungeons filled with goblins back on Earth after the system, though. Maybe a dungeon break? “What do you mean? Wait, do goblins even have sentience? Are they like elves and dwarves?”

“No… it’s…” Malorie shook her head. “He’s not a goblin, but his looks… he really does look like an old, pale white goblin. It’s uncanny.”

“Oh…” Derek said as he thought about what she was saying. “Is he really short, hunched back with a cane, and wearing a robe that pretty much covers his whole body and head?”

“Yes,” Malorie said. “Though he took his hood off to ask for you. That’s how I saw…”

“His pointy ears and lack of hair? And his general goblinesque appearance.” Derek asked, deadpanned. He knew exactly who was there to visit him. The old man had said he would be paying Derek a visit. He just didn’t know when. It looked like he’d finally come to make good on his promise. “You don’t have to worry about him,” Derek said. “He’s harmless.”

“Oh,” Malorie breathed out a sigh.

“Well… he’s not harmless,” Derek corrected. “He’s actually one of the strongest elves in the world, if not the strongest elf in the world. He is very harmful, in fact. Piss him off, and there likely won’t be any of you left to piss him off any further.” Derek thought about the former king that had been ground to nothing by Marrick. “But generally, he’s a nice guy. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oh…” Malorie’s eyes widened. “I’ll just tell him that you’ll be down in a minute.”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll be right behind you,” Derek said.

After quickly washing up and splashing some cold water on his face, Derek walked down the stairs to meet the old elf. On his way down, he smelled something good coming from the kitchen as he passed.

“Derek!” the old elf said as Derek opened the door to the main lobby of the shop.

“Hey old man,” Derek said. “I see you finally decided to come pay me a visit.”

“I did.” Marrick nodded. “I would also like to visit this ‘chair guy’ while I’m in Cydaria. It’s been a while, so I may stick around for a bit.”

“Right…” Derek said. “Well, do your old bones can make it up some stairs to grab some breakfast? If you can, it smells like Silvi is cooking up something good.”

“For some of her cooking, I can make myself,” Marrick said with a chuckle, then slowly hobbled forward with his cane.

Derek did what he could to keep from rolling his eyes. He still wasn’t sure if the cane and old man bit were for show or not. He’d actually seen Marrick be quite agile before in his fights, but it was also true that at his age, doing all of that could take quite a bit out of him. Then again, he did move pretty fast when he beat Avery to one of my chairs…

“Oh, wow…” Marrick said with a sigh as he situated himself into one of Derek’s dining chairs. “You just have these things all around, don’t you?”

“It would be dumb not to,” Derek said with a laugh.

At that time, Silvi came out with her chef’s hat on and started putting all her dishes on the table. She hesitated for a moment when she saw that they would be having an extra guest for breakfast, but relented soon after—after all, Rayna and Jacks weren’t there and instead of making less food, the chef bunny had been making the same amount as before and giving herself an extra portion or two. But today, she would have to suffer eating only a bit more than a normal amount.

Derek looked at his companion and was thankful that her stats and the system didn’t seem to allow her to get fat. Otherwise, there was no way she would still look like a bunny. At best, she would be a balloon with a pointy horn on it.

Malorie and Rudy also joined them as usual, and Bones quietly stood in the corner of the room, watching and waiting to be called if anyone needed anything from him. In the past, he’d tried to assist Silvi in serving the food, but she wasn’t having it, so instead, he focused on beverages and just being there.

Just before everyone began to eat, the door swung open and Brandi came in covered in soot and took her place at the table. Derek heard Silvi let out a light sigh when she saw her—it looked like that was another extra portion that the bunny wouldn’t be getting. He figured that Silvi would soon be making extra just in case they had guests in the future.

“I just can’t get those new gauntlets right,” Brandi said without bothering to look around the table. “I try the same runes and combinations as I did with the boots, but they keep exploding. It’s maddening.” The girl reached her dirty hand across the table to grab a roll, but Malorie swatted it away.

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“Manners,” Malorie chided her daughter. “We have a guest.”

“A guest?” Brandi asked as she looked around the table. Her eyes finally landed on Marrick. “Oh, I’m sorry.” The next instant, the young smith cast Cleaning on herself and it worked quite well. If nothing else, it allowed everyone to see that she was a young woman instead of an orphaned boy on the street.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Marrick waved them off. “I am the one intruding on your daily routine. There is no need to do anything special because I am here.”

“Choose your words better,” Derek told Marrick as he nodded toward Silvi, who was contemplating something. “That’s a good way to not get a meal,” he said. ‘Special’ to his companion would be giving someone who usually wasn’t there food that she would have consumed herself. When it came to her things, she liked to take anything said to her literally if it meant she could get more out of the deal. If Derek wasn’t there, then he pitied all the people who would offer her empty platitudes that they would actually end up having to fulfill.

However, she seemed to be catching on and was less likely to take from people she—or at least Derek—considered friends. Well, less likely to take more than she should, at least.

“So,” Derek said, reaching over the table and picking up his own roll and a little butter. “I actually expected you to come much earlier than today. Did things in Indaria really take you that long?”

“Indaria? What?” Marrick looked at Derek in confusion before realizing what he was asking. “Oh, no. I left that place the same day you did. Honestly, I don’t care much about what went on after we left. I went back home to visit my grandchildren and great grandchildren… and great, great grandchildren… and so on.”

“I see,” Derek said with a chuckle. “And were they happy to see you?”

“Happy enough,” Marrick said. “I don’t see them often, and there were even a few that I hadn’t met yet. More than anything, they were surprised. I guess I haven’t been that great of a grandfather over the last decades. It seems that a couple of them were even growing up to be just as dumb as Ryven and Osian.” the old elf clicked his tongue. “Took me a little extra time to instill into their parents that allowing them to continue that way wouldn’t be a good decision. Especially with the alliances we will have going into the future.”

Everyone else around the table was quietly eating and listening to Derek’s conversation with the old elf. They hadn’t yet asked who he was, and only Malorie knew that he was very strong.

“I see,” Derek said as he began to collect food for his plate like everyone else had already. He didn’t exactly want to know how the old man ‘instilled’ that wisdom into his kin, but he had a few ideas. “So, what’s your plan now? Other than meeting my ‘chair guy.’ You still plan to go back home and die? Just more comfortably?”

“You know,” Marrick said as he, too, began to gather food from the table and eat. “Delicious!” He nodded to Silvi. “You’ve outdone yourself once again,” he praised her, and she proudly sat up even straighter on the table before he turned the conversation back to Derek. “I had actually planned to do that once I was finished with those Sinclairs.”

“But something changed?” Derek asked.

“It did.” Marrick nodded. “I had fun. It had been a while since I had proper fun. I even got to meet interesting people…” he nodded at Derek and Silvi. “So, maybe there’s some more fun to be had or interesting people to meet—especially with the borders now open and the fact that I have easy access to three entire kingdoms.”

“Oh? So what’s your plan?”

“Well, that’s why I visited all the young’uns,” the old man said. “I think it’s probably going to be the last time I’m able to do so.”

“Why is that?” Derek asked.

“I think I’m going to go out on one final adventure—explore some dungeons that I haven’t before. Heck, I may even see if I can live long enough to travel across the sea and have a little fun on the other continent. I believe that dying at my age on an adventure is just about the best way to go out, don’t you?”

“I definitely can’t argue against it,” Derek said. “If nothing else, it beats sitting at home, waiting to die. Unless you’re someone who is into dying beside your loved ones, that is.”

“Either way is fine,” Marrick said. “But going out doing something interesting will be my way. It’s much more fun that way. Besides, I’ve already said my goodbyes, wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite, now, would I?”

“I guess not,” Derek replied.

“Um… excuse me,” Rudy said. It seemed he finally couldn’t take it. “Derek, would you mind introducing us to your friend?”

“Oh,” Derek laughed. “This is old man Marrick. He’s an elder—” he began but was cut off.

“Former elder,” Marrick said.

“He’s a former elder from Indria, and I’d say one of the top five strongest people in the kingdom based on what I know and have seen,” Derek explained. “He is also someone who is in dire need of a hair transplant, less he is mistaken for a goblin.”

Malorie choked and went into a coughing fit before staring daggers at Derek.

To everyone’s surprise, Marrick began laughing, then pulled out a mirror from his storage ring. He moved the hand mirror around so he could get a good look at his entire head. “Hmm…” he muttered. “I don’t know about a transplant, but I guess I could go for a potion or two to regrow it. It’s been kind of pointless to maintain it over the last couple of decades, but since I’ll be going out again…” He looked over at Derek. “Do you know any good alchemists?”

“I was joking,” Derek said. “You could use your looks as a surprise attack. They’d never expect anything from someone who looks like you. Or you could find a tribe of goblins and see what it’s like to live like them. The number of things you could do with your looks is endless.”

“An alchemist?” Marrick asked again, ignoring Derek.

“I guess someone like you doesn’t really need to surprise anyone in a fight,” Derek said with a sigh. “Yes, I know a good alchemist.” Derek then explained to the man where Roman’s shop was located, and Marrick decided to pay him a visit before leaving on his final adventure. Derek would be sad to see the old man go, but he knew he’d lived a long life and there was nothing Derek could do to help him live even longer. At least not unless the old Guild Leader had a breakthrough and became able to use his abilities on others—even then, he wasn’t sure if the old elf would accept.

For the rest of the meal, everyone—mostly Brandi—chatted with Marrick. She asked him about his adventures and his life in general, and he seemed genuinely curious about her rocket boots and gauntlets. The two seemed to really hit it off once Brandi got over the shock of how strong the old man was—she didn’t even bat an eyelash at his goblin-like looks. In fact, Marrick even told Derek to use Void Travel to find him if he was still alive in a year or two, and he would give him any interesting materials he found to take back to Brandi. It was a better option than letting them all go to waste, after all.

Finally, after a fun meal and chat, everyone finished.

“I’m stuffed,” Marrick leaned back in his chair and slapped his belly. “Now, how about introducing me to your chair guy? If I’m going on a final adventure, I want to do it in comfort.”

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