System Change

“Can you eat it?” Derek stared at his companion with his mouth hanging open. Everyone else looked on in silence. Everybody has been worked up about what could have been going on in the kingdom, especially Edgar, yet, when Silvi, who should know exactly what is happening, arrived, she wanted to know if she could eat an elf? Honestly, the fact that she wasn’t worked up over anything else had calmed the prince, and he seemed much more content.

“Yes, can I eat it?” Silvi asked again, with complete seriousness.

Derek facepalmed and shook his head. What is wrong with my soul bond? Feeling embarrassed because of Silvi’s antics, he said, “No, Silvi, you cannot eat the elf.”

“But why?” she asked, obviously saddened by the response. “You said we couldn’t eat humans. It’s not a human, it’s an elf.” Then, the bunny took a small hop and landed beside the elf’s head. “See… see the ears? Not human? We eat?”

Derek wanted to cry. He didn’t think he would have to explain something like this to her. And if he needed to do it, he would have preferred to do it through their bond link, but since everything else was already said out loud, it was better to continue that way. Plus, when he looked up and saw Rocky and Blitz, he noticed that both of the dragonkin seemed to have changed from their alert status and were listening in rapt attention. It was something that they should probably learn as well. Especially Blitz, since he was a bit… off.

“Silvi,” Derek said, and she looked up at him with puppy dog eyes that looked as if tears were going to start forming if he said the wrong thing. He sighed. “When I said that we didn’t eat humans, I meant that more, as in general. We don’t eat human-like beings, either. That means no elves, dwarves, humans, halflings, or any other dominant sapient beings on the planet.”

“No,” Silvi said, causing Derek to frown.

“No, what?” he asked.

“That doesn’t make sense,” she replied.

“We do eat those types of beings, so you’re wrong. Which means we can eat the elf,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Where do you get that idea?” Derek was very confused. What beings that were like humans… Oh… he thought to himself.

“The Void Beasts,” she answered. “You said that the Void Beasts could even talk and think. Just like elves. And we eat them… well… I haven’t got to yet. But I’ve seen the others eat them, and they look delicious.”

Derek tapped on his chin in thought. How am I going to explain something like this without sounding like a hypocrite? After some moments of deliberation, he realized that he couldn’t. The lesser Void Beasts were sentient, sure, but he had encountered ones that were sapient as well. And, though he was yet to enjoy a meal make from one of those, he had used things made from the other Void Beasts he killed. Things like the potions that Roman made.

Derek really couldn’t find the words to dispute Silvi. He was drawing a blank.

“Void Beasts aren’t part of the system,” Edgar cut in. “We think that’s the reason they give permanent stat increases when prepared properly. They are also mindless beasts until they become particularly strong.”

Well, the explanation was better than what Derek could think of at the moment. He looked back at Silvi to see if she would back down.

“Hmmph…” she snorted, but made sure the sound also came out of the communication crystal. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Think about it like this,” Edgar said as he pry Blitz on the side of his leg. “We eat boar, bear, wolves, and other beasts, right?”

“Yes?” Silvi’s eyes lit up at the mention of all the different kinds of food.

“But if one of us were to form a soul bond with one of those beasts, they would end up just like you or Blitz here. And we don’t want to eat someone like that, do we?”

Silvi’s eyes turned toward the wyvern and narrowed. It didn’t seem like she was buying what the prince was selling. If given a chance, she would definitely have a wyvern leg roasting over a spit. “Blitz looks tasty.” Was all she said.

Edgar looked exasperated. He shrugged and looked back at Derek.

“How about this, Silvi? If you think you’ll be able to make friends with it, and it’s sapient, we don’t eat it. And if you’re unsure about it, you come ask me, just like you did with the elf. You did a good job asking me before eating it, by the way,” Derek explained.

“Fine!” Silvi humphed and hopped back onto Derek’s shoulder after depositing two more bodies on the ground beside the other elf. “I don’t need those, then.”

‘I have something for you later. Some new ingredients we found in the raid,’ Derek sent to the bunny to calm her down a bit.

‘Really? Good ingredients?’ she asked.

‘I think so. I haven’t tried them yet. I’ve been waiting to give them to you. Now that you’re here, I hope you can make them into something good for us.’

‘I got this!’ she half squealed in Derek’s head. He smiled.

“That’s…” Derek was broken out of his chat with Silvi by Edgar’s voice. The man was kneeling down, examining the bodies that Silvi delivered.

“What?” Derek asked.

“This crest.” Edgar pointed at a shield overlaid onto a tree that was etched into the arm of the armor that the headless body was wearing. “That is the crest of the Indrian Royal Family.”

Edgar stood up and looked at Silvi. “Silvi, was this the person that used barriers against you in a fight?” he asked, but obviously already knew the answer. He was just double checking the facts.

“A barrier?” Silvi asked. “The invisible wall that made me dizzy? Yeah, that’s what he used. It’s why I killed him first… that and he looked delicious,” she said the last with a pout.

“So it is the Indrians that are attacking us. I just… can’t believe it. Astrus, sure, but Indria? We haven’t been on too terrible of terms with them for the last few decades. Why would they be the ones attacking us?” Edgar muttered out loud.

“They’re attacking with Astrus,” Silvi’s voice chirped out at Edgar’s comment.

Edgar looked up and widened his eyes. Of course, it was probably a thought that crossed his mind, but it seemed more implausible than Indria attacking at all. “Silvi, do you mind telling us what you know?”

With that, everyone there moved to the resting area by Tyron’s forging space. Once everyone was settled, and Silvi pulled a bunch of meals out from her storage ring for everyone to eat, they began their discussion.

“So, what’s going on outside?” Edgar asked.

“I don’t know,” Silvi said as she took a sip of a steaming soup that sat on the table in front of her. “That’s… this tastes funny,” she said as she lapped up another bit of the soup.

Derek frowned and took a spoonful of his own soup, and found she was correct. The soup had a slightly sour taste to it. It didn’t taste bad, per se, but it just didn’t pair that well with the rest of the taste of the soup. Maybe it’s one of her earlier dishes. Derek shrugged and took another spoonful.

“What do you know? How long have Indria and Astrus been attacking?” Edgar asked.

“Um… like… a year or something… I guess. I don’t know. Didn’t seem important,” Silvi said and took another sip and shook her head. “This isn’t the soup I made.”

“They’ve been at it for a year? Did they take over Wilmette?” he asked.

“Sounds familiar,” Silvi said. “Think that’s the town everyone left and Sparky gave it up.”

“Sparky?” Derek asked.

“The king,” Silvi said. “He’s more sparky than Little Sparky, and less sparky than Big Sparky here.”

Derek nodded along. He was fine with those nicknames. He would be sure to use them from now on. Honestly, he was fine with most of Silvi’s naming sense. It was rude that he called Thomas a mount and Brandi a maniac, but he still couldn’t say she was wrong. They honestly probably seemed that way to Silvi.

“Big… Sparky…” Edgar mouthed, then shook his head. “Nevermind, that. So, we gave up Wilmette? What about the other places in that area?”

“Don’t know,” Silvi said. “Stopped listening. Was baking a cake.”

Edgar sighed.

“What about Thomas’s family?” Derek asked. “And Walter’s family and the people from the Crown Restaurant?”

Silvi’s eyes lit up. “Crown people are safe. Restaurant owner was smart. Made a deal to keep the cooks alive.”

Derek furrowed his brow. “What deal?”

“She’s not fighting, so the cooks can stay alive. Very smart.”

Derek nodded slowly and locked eyes with Edgar. “So, she agreed not to interfere, and the enemy agreed not to attack her restaurants?”

“Exactly,” Silvi said.

Derek couldn’t really blame Alanah. It always seemed like she cared a lot about her people. Doing something like that must have been extremely hard and annoying for her, but he could see her doing it. Well, unless the enemy pushed… then, they would be in trouble.

“And Thomas and Walter’s families?”

“Don’t know about Walter. Restaurant owner brought mou… Thomas’s grandparents to the capital. So they’re safe.” Silvi spat out a mouthful of soup and a Mage Hand swept across the table, knocking all the bowls of soup off. “This is shit! It’s garbage. I would never make something like this.”

After that, a few more plates appeared in front of everyone. This time, it looked like juicy steaks and potatoes. A classic dinner.

Derek watched as two small Mage Hands very gracefully gripped a small fork and knife and began cutting into the steak sitting in front of Silvi. Derek grabbed a fork and knife and did the same, but quicker. He brought a piece of the steak up to his nose and took a sniff, then placed it in his mouth and chewed.

Once again, he frowned. Something was off. The meat didn’t taste rotten, burned, or undercooked, it just tasted weird. Actually, there wasn’t much of a taste at all. It was just bland. Like he was chewing on air. I think I know what’s happening, Derek thought, but didn’t voice his opinion yet. Beside him, he watched as Silvi finally put the small piece of steak into her mouth before spitting it out in disgust.

“What’s going on?! I just cooked this yesterday. And I ate it yesterday. It didn’t taste anything like this,” Silvi growled. She was very vocal when it came to her food. She looked at the fork in her Mage Hand, then the small piece of meat that was still on it, then back at her mage hand.

“Oh, yeah!” she said, and focused her attention back to Edgar. “Little Sparky is going to need to learn Mage Hand. You can tell him that it’s not so bad. See how easy it is for me?” At those words, Silvi summoned multiple Mage Hands and shuffled all the dishes on the table around. “It’s just as easy as with regular hand… I think. Never had a real hand.”

Edgar frowned. “What are you talking about? Why would Edward need to learn Mage Hand?”

“So he can eat and cook better now that he only has one,” Silvi answered. “It will take some getting used to, but it’s worth it. He could also get Telekinesis. It helps a bunch, too?”

“What?” Edgar asked with wide eyes. “What do you mean, he only has one?”

“His hand. He lost it fighting against the elf, Orion, and the guy with blue hair and a pointy nose. So he’ll need to learn Mage Hand,” Silvi helpfully explained.

“They took his hand?” Edgar asked with fire in his eyes. He may not want to admit it, but he was very protective of his older brother. Derek could tell that when they had gone to rescue him and capture Gerald back in the capital. “And you said Orion?”

“That’s what the pointy nosed man yelled when I killed him,” Silvi took another dish and tasted it, then knocked it off the table. “What is going on?”

“So you killed a prince… not just a duke or count… but a prince. The royal family is going to be livid…” Edgar said, but then looked at his own hand, one that was now holding the escape scroll once again. “But they deserved it, and they’re about to get so much more.”

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