System Change

Chapter 473: Knick Knack

“There we go,” Alanah said as she stopped in mid-air and pointed toward the shore.

“What is it?” Derek asked.

“We’ve technically crossed over into Vorandell,” the siren answered.

“How do you know?” Derek asked. He looked toward the shore and squinted to see better.

“If you look closely, you can see the shape of those cliffs,” Alanah said before pulling out her out-of-date map. “At least some things haven’t changed.”

“Oh,” Derek muttered, then looked from the map to the shore a couple of times. “I think I see it. There are also...”

“The outposts?” Alanah chuckled. “Yeah, that’s the other dead giveaway. There are two of them, and they are close together. Even without being able to see the people or colors in them, you would know that there is no sense for two outposts being built side by side.”

“Yeah... unless it was two separate kingdoms that made them.” Honestly, it was all quite blurry for Derek at their current distance away from the land, so he didn’t see anything other than vague shapes of possible outposts and cliffs. But what Alanah was saying made perfect sense to him. If one kingdom decided to build an outpost close to the border with another country, then the other country was sure to build one of their own just as close. Even for allied kingdoms, this would probably be true—whether it was to not look weak, just to keep an eye on the other country, or for dozens of other reasons.

“So, what’s the plan from here?” Derek asked.

“Well, we don’t want to be seen going inland by either side. I would rather we not make a formal appearance in Vorandell until we are well within their borders. It will be easier to not draw attention that way—even though it doesn’t really matter if we gather attention here. Unless, of course, if they somehow figure out who I am, but I doubt that will be possible unless I use my known powers wildly, which I will not. I am not dumb, after all,” Alanah said the last bit with a light jab at Derek.

“Psh...” Derek snorted at the joke. “They didn’t see any powers that I have,” Derek said. “They only saw that I was behind them in an instant. I don’t even think they saw when I moved back to you—they were much too busy panicking for that. Besides, I imagine there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different instantaneous movement abilities. They won’t know if I teleported or just moved really fast—of which I did neither.”

“I was just joking,” Alanah giggled. “You are far from dumb.”

“I know,” Derek said. “How do you want to do this?”

“How high into the air can you go with your skill?” Alanah asked.

“I don’t know,” Derek answered. “I’ve never tried to find out. Before, it was as far as my mana could take me, but now... I have no clue.”

“I was thinking that, since this isn’t Indria with all those pesky invisible alarms and shields and such, we could just fly really high, then come down somewhere well within the boundaries.”

“Seems like kind of a basic plan,” Derek said. “You sure that will work?”

“I’m sure they have some kind of system in place to alert them... maybe,” Alanah said. “But it isn’t as easy to do as you would think. The price Indria has to pay to do it is outrageous, and their royal family is basically built for it. That is why they only use it during high tension times, or in small areas around the border.”

“I see...”

“And besides,” Alanah continued. “It’s us. We are just taking some slight precautions. If they do somehow sense us, it won’t matter. You can just disappear from pretty much anyone, and I doubt any of the guards patrolling would be strong enough to even see me if I go all out—much less make out any description.”

“Should we wear cloaks or something?” Derek asked.

“No,” the siren replied. “At least not in this kingdom. Our armor—even as outstanding as it is—will let us blend in better than covering ourselves up.”

“O-of course!” the man stuttered. “R-right this way, ma’am.”

“Such a gentleman,” Alanah gave the man another flirtatious giggle.

It was all Derek could do to keep from rolling his eyes. Still, he must have twitched because the guard, seemingly for the first time, finally saw him. The man cast Derek a quick sneer, then turned his head back to Alanah with a bright smile on his face... as if Derek never existed. Then, the man turned toward the village and began leading them inside. This time, Derek didn’t bother trying to hide his eye-roll.

‘Stop that,’ Alanah sent to him mentally.

Derek didn’t bother responding. Instead, he fell in line beside the siren and marched behind the smitten guard.

“Here you go, ma’am,” the guard stopped at a small building and pointed. “This is Nick’s Knick-Knacks. We don’t have any true merchants or shops here in the village—‘least none like you see in the big city. But Nick buys and sells everything. If there’s a map in the village, he has it.”

“Thank you very much,” Alanah said to the man. “Mr....”

“Lance... you can call me Lance,” the guard said.

“Lance.” Alanah nodded seriously. “I’ll be sure to remember.”

“T-thank you,” the guard, Lance, mumbled. “I-I have to get back to my post.”

“Well, Lance...” Alanah fluttered her eyelashes at the man a few times. “Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to help me. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble because of me. Have a good day. I’m sure I’ll see you again when we leave.”

“I-it was n-no problem, ma’am.” The guard bowed deeply, then scurried away.

“Wow...” Derek muttered.

“What?”

“Are you sure you ever actually had mind-controlling powers?” Derek narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You sure you just don’t run around seducing everyone you meet, then say, ‘Oh goodness me. It’s all my skills’ fault. I just don’t know what to do.’”

“Hmph.” Alanah snorted and turned her head. “Let’s just go get a map and some money and get out of here.” Without waiting for Derek’s reply, she pushed the door open and waltzed right into the store like she owned the place.

“Oh... wow,” Derek muttered as he stepped inside behind the siren. Knick-Knacks was right... Derek thought. The store—if it could be called that—was wall to wall with junk. At least, as far as Derek could tell, most of the things he saw were junk. There were barrels with assortments of different junk weapons, shelves with jars full of... stuff, and just... junk everywhere.

To top it all off, a short elf in a robe about six inches too long was running around putting more things on shelve, or on top of things that were already on shelves. Derek hesitated to distract the man as he was speeding around the shop muttering.

“No, no... this goes over here... yes, perfect... Now this... here and this here... no... over there... yes... perfect now this...” The man was muttering to himself faster than he was running around.

It seemed that Alanah was also at a loss, as she hadn’t moved a step since she entered the shop. If she wasn’t moving, then Derek wouldn’t either, so he just waited beside her.

Soon, the elf noticed the duo standing there, and he tried to stop all at once. Instead, his feet got caught in his robe and he tumbled head over heels. Two jars that he was carrying shattered on the floor, and the man jumped back up to his feet. Acting like he hadn’t just dropped anything, he stumbled forward and gave a quick bow.

“Welcome to Nick’s Knick-Knacks. My name is Nick, and these are my knick-knacks.” The elf motioned all around him. “How may I help you?”