The Runesmith

‘Haven’t been here in a while… there weren’t this many people before, the race has probably already begun here.’

Roland walked into the large underground chamber filled with hooded figures. The place looked like some occult gathering with how many hoods and robes everyone was wearing. There was almost no one here that wasn’t covering their face with something. This was one place where his hidden apparel didn’t raise eyebrows as it did in the city.

“Hey, what you looking at?”

“...”

“That’s what I thought.”

A man spat to the side while walking past him beside some of the market's stands. It was chuckle-worthy to get a look like this from someone that was barely a tier 2 class holder. If Roland decided to give him a smack across the face probably no one would even help this guy out. However, he was not here to cause trouble, instead of causing a scene he wanted to buy some enchanted gear for testing purposes.

‘That guy is going to die if he does that to a hidden tier 3.’

While it was impossible to pinpoint a tier 3 class holder in a mass of people, it wouldn’t be strange if one or two of them had already arrived in Albrook. With the appearance of the B-rank dungeon, some people would arrive to look for money. Some of the less savory types that appeared would see this as a chance to rob some platinum adventurers or even join them on their adventures.

There were also new merchants coming, ones that sold all sorts of equipment, even cursed items that couldn’t be pushed forward on the outside. They required some protection, so moving with tier 3 bodyguards or a large entourage of tier 2’s wouldn’t be strange. When glancing out in the distance he could see more tunnels being assembled and even a second level down being created. Probably in the future, this would become a much larger marketplace.

‘Even if stronger people arrive, they shouldn’t be able to tell who I really am. It’s nice to be able to customize this thing for a change, not even a skilled mage should be able to tell who I am now…’

Roland had managed to analyze the pendant that he was lent by his old boss from Edelgard. The old pendant had certain limitations that made the item jumble up his status screen. After identifying the enchantment that was inside and comparing it to weaker ones, he was quickly able to go through the magical mechanisms that made it work. It took a few days of work but now he could just implement the same effect into his armor.

It would never fall off and he could copy the rune on almost any piece of metal that he was holding. For the time being he went with the common name of William. The choice of War Magus came due to his fighting style which allowed people to cast spells and be good with weapons at the same time. It was a somewhat uncommon profession but known for high combat capabilities as it mixed in fast casting with melee combat. It was a means of scaring people off as there weren’t many counter tactics when facing a properly experienced War Magus.

‘I could have used this during the gold rank test, they aren’t as pedantic about your status screen during the Platinum rank test.’

Now after gaining his new class it wouldn’t be strange to go get a new rank. Normally a person expected the test requirements to be even more strenuous than the previous ones but this wasn’t always the case. The first requirement was achieving a tier 3 class but identifying it wasn’t always required. Instead one could just choose to have their skill tested by the guild master themselves.

This would probably be his fate if he decided to take it in Albrook. Aurdhan was the guild master here and would face him in combat. That is if it would even come that far as tier 3 class holders were already treated as the elite. Due to this fact, it wasn’t that hard to gain the new adventurer card. The fact that a person was able to get through their tier 3 ascension ritual was mostly proof enough. Not much more could be learned by experience past the golden rank, what mattered was more the power a person gained after gaining all those tier 3 enhancements he received.

‘I should get this over with, even though I’m stronger it’s better not to poker the beehive.’

Soon after glancing around, he noticed a new merchant stand that wasn’t there before. It was somewhat eye-catching due to the two muscular bodyguards on the sides. The weapons that were being sold there were the same, they radiated a strange magical aura that he was able to pick up with his mana sense. All of his skills were enhanced so he could already tell that these were items with curses and hexes placed on them.

There were several magical languages in this world, one of them was runic that he used and the other that was the widest spread was enchantments. However, those two were just the two most known and orthodox of them all. Besides those two there also existed divine miracles and demonic curses. They were somewhat lumped into the same category even if the people using them disliked this fact.

These magical objects were usually created by priests or occult leaders. They channeled the divine powers given to them by a higher being. Most of the time this was done by religious factions like the Solarian Church or cultists like the Abyssal cult. In an unknown way, they would infuse weapons or items with their blessings to generate a magical effect. These effects Roland had already attempted to emulate and had achieved mixed results.

Then there were other various hexes, sometimes produced by other means. Sometimes the craftsmen used strange shamanic rituals that were similar to the ones the demonic priests used. Other times they were done through alchemical means that added magical properties to the material in itself.

‘I wonder if I can really analyze all of them with my eyes, it worked on the healing spells so, in theory, it should work on the curses and hexes too.’

If it was up to him then he would just try to get his hands on all of those items to try and translate the magic into runic language. Buying up cursed items was a thing that could get a person into trouble though, the same thing went for hexes. They usually had some type of effect that could affect the well-being of the user. The Demons didn’t lend power without taking something in return. One theory was that anyone using a cursed item would have their senses muddled by demonic whispers. Others believed that their soul would be slowly siphoned away into the demonic realm where the creator ate them up.

‘It’ll probably be better if I just get one of the hexes instead, something like venom should be enough, I haven't really worked on anything like that before, it's a bit more rare than the common poison enchantments you see everywhere.'

After making his decision he approached the stand he started recalling the time when he had been cursed by a dagger stab. The pain that he felt that day would never be forgotten and he could already see some blades with similar curses.

His skill to analyze objects had ranked up as well. He was able to see what the weapons were made from. The Necrosium metal included in the curved dagger was something that cursed items required. It was a material that mostly went into the hilt to keep the curse from seeping out and afflicting the person wielding it. Darksteel was similar but it could be used on lesser curses and enchantments.

The short sword was a mix of two, poison was one of the go-to enchantments that the thieves guild used. It was something that could be made by regular magic smiths and even Roland was capable of applying the runic version already. The Bleed Hex on the other hand was something he hadn’t come across yet. This effect was known to him, it would delude a person's blood and cause hemorrhaging of any wound. It would severely diminish the effects of healing potions as well.

‘Whoever made this blade probably had it hexed after the poison enchantment was applied. Potions against poison effects are quite common but not everyone carries specialized remedies to cure that status.’

“How much is that short sword?”

“I see that the gentleman has a keen eye, I’ll part with it for a measly ten small gold coins.”

“Ten? How about I give you five.”

“Five? You must be joking! Just because we are in the thieves' den, don’t think I’ll let you rob me! Nine!”

“Six then, the craftsmanship isn’t even that great and it has been used on something, look at that chipped spot.”

“Seven and nine large silvers!”

Even though the two were shouting at each other no one really paid attention. Everyone else was doing the same thing, bartering was a staple of any market and a common occurrence. It wasn’t strange for fake items to appear here and no one was getting their money back after a purchase. The prices here were a lot higher than at regular magic shops, most of the tools here were tools meant for assassination that could never be traced back to their original creator.

“Take it or leave it!”

“Fine.”

The hooded merchant started angrily shouting but finally gave the weapon away. Roland managed to reduce the price by around twenty-five percent. Luckily he was a craftsman who could spot all the blemishes and faults in the design that continued to drive the price down. He wasn’t sure if the addition of his articulation skill and charisma added to the reduction as the merchant here should have been wearing some magical items preventing such effects from working.

‘The bleed effect will come in handy when fighting humans but it won’t do much against those skeletons….’

This spell was usually used by assassins as higher-tier monsters either were resistant to it or didn’t even have blood in the first place. Humans on the other hand were very susceptible to this effect as it was almost impossible to build up resistance. The only way would be to bleed someone constantly and then heal them up to full health. Perhaps some crazy cults and assassinations guilds went through such means to train their soldiers. Normal people and even regular soldiers did not, the only real counter was enchanted items and potions to counter the effect that cost a lot of money.

‘This should be enough but it won’t hurt if I look over the new merchandise. Think that one stand had strange rocks on them, maybe I could feed them to Agni but I don’t really want him to turn into a demon monster variant…’

This was a new merchant and he wasn’t the only one. There were others here waiting to do business and probably if he wanted something like Necrosium, then it would be only sold here. Yet before he advanced further into the black market a beeping sound inside of his helmet started going off.

“What?”

His mind raced as he examined the inside of his display. The beeping sound persisted as he examined the situation unfold. The alert wasn't anything good and he knew this. With haste, he turned around and started running. He was stuck in the underground Black Market that was surrounded by a maze-like structure. It would take some time for him to get back and for some reason, his monitoring system didn't send the signal fast enough for him to react, nothing good could come of this and he knew it.

…

Earlier this day.

“Lieutenant”

“Sir!”

“Take a few men, find anyone that is related to the bastard, and bring them to the old Valerian villa.”

“What if they resist, Sir?”

“Use force if you have to, we must make it clear that this city belongs to Lord Theodore Valerian now.”

“Yes, Sir!”

A group of knights on their horses was treading along a paved path. They could already see the city walls along with the familiar crest of the Valerian household. The Knight Commander was impatient, they were behind schedule due to the monster attack along the way. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there were some strange things that happened along the way.

The orc attack wasn’t the strangest one of the monster attacks but it wasn’t the last one. They had a handful of lesser encounters with creatures that shouldn’t have been there. It was as if someone had led them there for them to meet. There was even an incident of a collapsed bridge that held them back by half a day and then part of a narrow path had been collapsed.

There were far too many setbacks for this to be a coincidence, Arthur Valerian or someone working for him was trying to buy more time. If there was an attempt at stalling then he needed to be ready for some opposition. Yet he could not see the man that was referred to as the Bastard of the Valerian house to pose much of a threat.

Even if he managed to procure some tier 3 help, they would just end up on the end of his blade. No hired sword would engage in a battle to the death for a noble, Emmerson knew that someone bought through money would never pose a threat to him and his lord.

“You heard the Lord Commander, follow me, we will interrogate the guards first!”

Finally, the group was at the main gate and when they arrived everyone went silent. The sight of heavily armored mounted knights was a cause for concern. The common people knew that nothing good would come of involving themselves with nobles. They identified the crest almost instantly, the fear and respect for the family that ruled them for generations were quite real.

“You there.”

“M-me, Sir, Knight?”

“Yes, I wish to have a word with you.”

“O-of course, Sir Knight!”

Emmerson glanced at one of his knights approaching the soldier at the main gate. The way they instantly put their head down was a testament to how this place was run. If he was at the old city that belonged to Ivan Valerian then the soldiers would not have been that docile. It was clear that Arthur Valerian was not a true noble, his soldiers were meek and weak. Without a Knight Commander to infuse them with some bravery and dedication toward their master, they would quickly abandon them.

The moment he arrived it was already over. Emmerson could see that the soldiers in this city had no true loyalty towards their own lord. The moment they all realized that he was an actual Knight Commander, someone with true power they decided to back away. Even though he brought armored soldiers into the city they could do nothing more than let him waltz through it and directly head toward the main house.

These people would not pose a problem to him or his lord. They were just a bunch of leaderless pawns that just adhered to anyone more powerful than them. After Arthur Valerian joined his lord they would swear their loyalty to their new master instantly. They could not be trusted but had their place inside the war machine.

What he was only worried about were the stalling tactics that were used. If he excluded Arthur from being the problem, then perhaps one of the other lord’s had something to do with it. Each and every one of them had their hidden troops, skilled assassins wouldn’t have problems blowing up a bridge. Though due to the fact that the rogue didn’t attempt to blow up the bridge while they were passing through it, told him of their inexperience and cowardness.

‘Who could it be… Could Ivan be trying to regain some ground by interfering? Or could it be Tybalt… The first Lord would probably not interfere in such a small matter but the other two wouldn’t be above it.’

The man thought about the true enemy that he was up against. If there were hidden masters around here then perhaps this whole place would turn into a bloodbath. His hand gripped the reins harder to quickly push his horse forward. He had been ordered to take this place over and as one of the new Knight Commanders, failure was not an option.

Before receiving this chance he was forced to spend his days out on the battlefield. His skill grew exponentially with the years but that life was filled with hardships. Being allowed to swear himself to a proper duke household was his crown achievement. He would not let this chance slide and do everything in his power to remain in this position for the rest of his life.