The Runesmith

There it was, the promised land. It had taken him over two weeks to get here but he was finally on Dragnis Island. This was just a small port town through which he needed to travel through but he was almost there.

He could already see his brand spanking new workshop that he would create with his own two hands. It would be bigger than the shabby one that he was given in Edelgard. He would fill it up with precious metals and create magical items left and right. The future was truly bright, it was time to grab it with his own two hands and make it a reality.

He had already disembarked from the ship and left the people in it behind. Isabela the first mate gave him some passionate looks as he left but he tried to ignore it. He was now slowly leaving the pier and trekking towards the town.

He needed to get some information, by his old knowledge from the main content the town of Albrook wasn’t that far from here. He had chosen this path on purpose and taken the ship to the closest port on the island. There were many others as the export was booming here, the mana stones and minerals from the super dungeon and its smaller counterparts were a hot commodity everywhere.

Though after a couple of steps forward he decided on something else. He was feeling drowsy, his legs were also shaking quite a bit. The long trip and the constant danger had piled up. Even with the sleep resistance skill, he felt tired. He needed to at least spend one night here and get some normal food before heading out again.

While going towards the closest inn he took some time to look around. The first thing he noticed was the weather. It was quite warm, over 20 degrees which was making it slightly uncomfortable to walk in the pitch-black robe and his armor. It was really sunny so the added sunlight just caused his clothes to heat up again.

‘Black colors absorb a lot of heat… maybe I need to get a new robe in a different color…’

He grumbled while moving, the port town looked like any old medieval encampment that he had seen before. There were various races here but he also saw some new types. They were lizard-like but he knew that if he mentioned that he would receive a knuckle sandwich.

This race was called the Dracs and they were rumored to be related to dragons. One of the other nicknames that this race had was Dragon-kin. Some people confused them with lizard-men that were just monsters that lacked intelligence and were much bigger. Dracs were slightly taller than humans and didn’t lack eloquence.

There were quite a few races living in this world. The kingdom he was living in allowed them to mingle with one another but humans were still on top. They didn’t treat the other races as anything more than commoners. At most, they would be allowed to be knights for powerful lords.

Their title wouldn’t be hereditary as they would only be allowed to be a knight after proving their worth in combat. Even with this blatant racism involved some of them took the nobles up on the offer. The money they were offering was good and the job was stable. It was far less volatile to be a knight of a noble than to hunt for monsters in a dungeon. With it came the downsides of not having any freedom and having to answer to the noble’s biddings.

Roland moved on while trying not to stare. He was mostly used to this fantasy-like world but sometimes new things popped up that were a head-turner. After some time he finally found himself an inn to stay in. He decided to give himself a treat by going to one of the more expensive ones. This brought better food and sleeping conditions.

Soon he was taking a bath in a small secluded room. His feet were poking out of the iron tub he was in. He looked over his body that was still growing, he had also gotten used to it after all this time had passed.

‘Everyone from the Arden estate is tall…’

He thought back to his three brothers, each one of them was above average in height when it came to their age bracket. He attributed that to his father’s genes as he was quite the large specimen himself. He tossed those old memories to the back of his head again as he wanted to leave it all behind.

‘I should think over the plan again…’

First came his new base of operations. He had a lot of money that should be enough to get him a place to stay. He didn’t want to live in an inn or rent a house no, he wanted something for himself.

With the new dungeon there, the new town would be a perfect spot for him to lay down some roots. He knew how things worked, with that dungeon around, people would come. With more people, the economy would start booming and with it earning money would be easy.

This was the best time to establish himself there but still, he didn’t want to give out his real identity. It would look strange to work as a blacksmith and then also be an adventurer. His special class would probably come to light sooner or later if he did that. He also had a plan for this.

“I guess I should get used to wearing one of these…”

He was looking at a metal helmet. He had gotten this one from the bandits, it wasn’t anything special but it would do the trick. It was a simple knight helmet, it had small slits for eyes and ones for ventilation. The shape was a flat-topped cylinder of steel that completely covered the head but it didn’t offer much protection for the neck.

“I can polish it a bit and put some enchantments on it to boost my stats…”

He looked over it from top to bottom, there was some room for mana stones on the inside. He could place them directly above his head so that the stones don’t get knocked down from the runic structure.

Roland also was contemplating on attaching some on the outside. He knew that there were things like alchemic glue that was also good at letting mana through. With it, he wouldn’t need to wedge the stones in mechanically. He could also use both techniques at once for added structural integrity.

“Maybe a rune to see in the dark, how about infrared instead?”

He thought of an old movie that he watched back in his old world. He imagined himself switching through various methods of detection on the fly. Having the ability to see heat signatures, maybe add some ultraviolet vision and X-rays? Though the latter might be too unhealthy in the long run.

After washing the helmet slightly he placed it over his head. The narrow slits were hard to see through. They would make fighting more difficult for him but there were enchantments to widen his field of view. They weren’t even that uncommon, there were even special helmets without openings for eyes.

“Uncomfortable…”

He removed the piece of steel from his head while sighing. He preferred wearing lighter armor to move around faster but agility wasn’t really his forte. Roland felt like he wasn't that bad at evading but he wasn’t good at it either. Adding more armor and some other repelling functions might be the way to go.

He could also try inserting some mana stones that increased his low agility to equal things out. There were a lot of possibilities, he was only limited by his imagination and the resources. With time he felt like he would be able to fully customize everything to fit his fighting style.

It consisted mostly of flinging spells for now but he hoped that he could add more to it. Relying on spells too much might be counterproductive. He could always run out of mana after prolonged combat. Keeping up with regular fighting skills along with his magic was a good plan but it required a lot of time. Luckily he was a young man in his teens, he had a lot of time to train himself up and no one to stop him.

He finally finished up with his skinny dipping after his fingers started getting wrinkly. Everything that belonged to him was right here with him in this room. It was to the side on a nice big pile where also his clothes were. While dressing himself up again he left the heavier armor in his bags of holding.

After some time he was back in his temporary quarters. He had learned the hard way that he needed to be careful. Due to this, he decided to set up some defensive measures in the form of his trap runes. They were placed by the door and the only window in the room. When someone tried coming through it, they would trigger a nice large explosion.

Roland was sure to also have a mana shield around himself. If there was an explosion, he would be a nice pin cushion for all the wooden splinters. Fortunately, this time around there was no one after his life. The night went by smoothly, he managed to get a couple hours of sleep but it was far from a good night’s rest. Sleeping in new places was still hard for him and he just couldn’t relax.

On the dawn of the next day, he finally had a normal breakfast by himself. The food was tasty, fresh, and plentiful. He made sure to stock up on it till his belly was ready to burst. His next stop was the travel agency that was in this city as this time around there was no adventurer guild here.

Not all cities could attract them into their infrastructure. It was also a good sign which meant that there weren’t many dangers around it that required their services. Roland was planning to have his new card made directly at the town he would be living. The paper trail should have been cut off the moment he left the main continent but he wanted to be extra careful.

If that abyssal cult was the vengeful type wasn’t known to him. He wasn’t sure if they would allocate any funds or people to track him down. Some assassination groups would see it as a loss of prestige if they left any fleeing targets alive.

Yet he wasn’t the priority target here, he was just a person that worked for that company. The one they were after was still the gnome manager. Though he did break their cursed toy that made those illusions, they might have been mad about that.

With time he was back on track, a new caravan with more merchants and adventurers which was heading towards his next destination. From the onset, he could see that he was going towards the right place. The number of adventurers heading to Albrook was inflated. There were three times the bodies here than when he was traveling towards the port town.

‘I guess everyone wants to check out the new dungeon. The old ones get monopolized by certain factions.’

This wasn’t something new, after a strong enough party was established at a city it expanded. They gained new members that formed a larger association. They would have many adventurers working under the same banner while sharing the income.

The problem arose when these organizations got too large. The adventurers that weren’t part of such an association would be left with scraps. Sometimes they would get attacked by large factions that were too big to fear any kind of retaliation.

This new dungeon was a great opportunity for new blood. The unmapped dungeons would be harder to traverse and give the new adventurers some time to establish themselves. The large associations would be also sending their people over as well, it would be a rat race for resources.

Roland wanted to use the ensuing confusion to his advantage. He was a lone adventurer that no one would pay attention to. The influx of clients for his runic gear would also be a good source of income after he increased his levels.

‘I’ll worry about that when I get there.’

Roland hopped into one of the carriages as he did a few weeks ago. It would be another long ride towards his next destination. With the increased number of adventurers, he was skeptical about getting attacked by bandits this time around. Monsters on the other hand were quite possible.

He had spent some time yesterday fixing up his wands and also produced some more runic scrolls for future use. If there were enemies on the horizon he would be ready.

………………………….

At the border between the Hatfordian Empire and the Caldris Kingdom.

There was a massive wall that stretched between two mountain peaks. Behind it, a large fortress made of black stone stood tall. It was composed of more steep walls, ramparts, and guard towers. Even now there were soldiers patrolling on those walls while looking into the distance.

Deeper inside the fortress, after many checkpoints and barricades a person could reach the main tower that stood tall. Inside of it was a large meeting room, in it a large table by which many men were sitting together. They were wearing various armors that had noble houses insignias on them.

At the center sat one man, he had short silver hair with a magnificent mustache that covered quite a bit of his face. The man was clearly in charge as everyone in the room was looking at him while he was talking.

“With that, I will conclude this last meeting, does anyone have any questions?”

He asked while moving a piece of paper to the side that he just signed. The people at the table didn’t answer, some of them just shook their heads, some impatience was visible on their faces.

“Very well, with this gentlemen, you are free to return to your fiefs. Take care and may the Emperor be with you.”

“Finally, I have had it with this place, I haven't seen my kids in years.”

One of the older men said while standing up from his chair. His fists slammed down on the table while the other men smirked.

“My thoughts exactly Viscount Godwin, let us return!”

The room got noisy and everyone stood up from their chairs. The man with the large mustache was the first one to leave while everyone else followed suit. On the outside, there was a large gathering of soldiers waiting for their lords to return.

This was the main fortress at which the armies of the Calrdis Kingdom gathered. After some skirmishes with the Hatfordian Empire the war was on hold. The two countries had agreed to sign a ceasefire as no one was able to gain the upper hand.

The men in the room were leaders from noble houses tasked by the Emperor to protect the border. After years of back and forth, they were finally free to go home, both of them and the soldiers that participated would be rewarded.

While morale was high two people were walking side by side. Both of them were ones of the last to leave the meeting room. One had a large frame, his height was about two meters but his sheer wideness made him seem taller. He also had a characteristic scar running down from his left eyebrow all the way to his lower lip.

The man looked old yet full of life and was wearing a shiny silver armor. Next to him was a young man, not quite as tall but not that much shorter either. He also filled out a larger frame but was dwarfed by the older gentleman.

“It's an honor to have the esteemed Silver Wolf visit my land, I’ll be sure to accommodate you and your soldiers!”

The younger man said while the two walked side by side.

“Lord Dreux, You have my gratitude, my estate is far and my soldiers need a place to stay.”

The older man replied while looking forward.

“I’m not the lord yet… my father hasn’t announced me as the heir.”

“He would be stupid not to. You did well on the battlefield.”

The younger man smiled at the compliment but his face soon changed into a frown as if he wasn’t confident in his accolades.

“I will see you later Baron.”

The two said their farewells as both needed to go see their men. The preparations should have been done for departing but things needed checking up. The two men parted ways while agreeing to meet up in a few hours. The man in the silver armor continued out of the main tower, one of his subordinates approached him as he noticed him coming out.

“Get the men ready, we will be leaving in two hours.”

“Yes my lord.”

The man saluted while replying.

“What about that?”

The underling thought for a moment before replying as he wasn’t sure what his lord was asking about at first.

“If the lord is referring to his whereabouts, our information points us towards Edelgard. This is the city that belongs to the house of Dreux.”

The Baron nodded at the information, soon he made a hand motion that indicated that his subordinate could leave. The man gave out another salute before walking away to take care of the order. His superior on the other hand waited a moment before pulling out some kind of locket.

It was white silver the same color as the armor he was wearing. He opened it up, inside there was a miniaturized painting. It depicted a dark-haired woman holding a baby in her hands. The child's face was slightly scratched out and was hard to make out.

The man stared at the two people depicted in this picture for a moment, his brows slightly furrowing at the sight.

He placed this locket back under his armor soon enough and continued forward. His face moving back to looking cold and devoid of emotion as it always was...