The Runesmith

“T-the Lieutenant… h-he killed him…”

“What should we do?”

The group of armored knights looked at the embedded head in the tree next to them. Just a moment ago their leader’s head went flying into it after getting punched. They could not process this feat as no one had expected this much resistance coming from this place. Their spy network had never failed them before and had been ill-informed about this man’s power. It was becoming clear to them that he was not just a simple tier 2 runesmith but something else entirely.

“Hold your ground, we are Knights of the Valerian household! As long as we have the Knight Commander with us, we will be victorious! We must not waver as our cause is just”

One of the older knights stepped forward to take over the situation. It seemed that he was next in line and now had become their leader. Yet just as he was shouting at the remaining men here, his body was yanked forward. It flew at the man that had killed their Lieutenant with one strike to the head.

“You guys really like to prattle on, do you actually think that you are the ones in the right?

“U-unhand me, do you understand the gravity of the situation? We represent the Valerian Household, your deeds will not go unpunished!”

“My deeds? Do you even realize what you did?”

The man was floating up in the air while being held up by something that looked like a blue haze. These knights did not have the mana sense to see the spell used, the only one that was able to grasp the whole situation was the mage in the back. Even while the other knights were getting pumped up to give it another try against their opponent, he didn’t want to do anything but run.

His mana sense allowed him to see the difference in power. No one could really see the true magnitude of the man before them but he could somewhat compare it to other mages or monsters. It was apparent that this person was a tier 3 class holder and not someone that had just reached that point. Their mana was just too massive and comparable to mages well over level two hundred.

This was something he could measure by the simple mage hand spell the man was using. The spell was something even a level one mage was capable of casting. It wasn’t really a spell used for combat as it was usually sluggish and the focus was more on precise hand movements than speed or power.

He vividly remembered how this mage's hand grabbed their Lieutenant who was someone close to reaching level hundred fifty. The man was close to reaching his own class change yet in a matter of seconds his head was flying from his body. This was not someone that they could face on their own, only their commander could do anything. The mage was certain that there had been some type of deception afoot.

It was hard to believe that their spies would make such a blunder. If they knew that a tier 3 class holder was holding out here, then their commander would be here to meet him instead. In the mage's eyes, this person was probably hiding their real status through magical means for years. They had attacked such a person without any knowledge and there was probably only one way of getting out of this alive.

The man before them was still only a commoner, just on the level of a platinum adventurer. Thanks to his class being related to a mage, the man here knew that their intelligence and reasoning should be above average. If he could just point out the downsides of the acts he was performing, the situation could be saved. He needed to act fast though, the second in command was about to get himself choked to death by the mage's hand spell and the other knights would do a disservice to themselves if they attempted to save him by forceful means.

“Please wait! Stop!”

“You want me to wait? I’m not the one that started this.”

“Yes, please think about the repercussions of your actions, do you trouly wish to make enemies of the Valerian household? If you kill all of us here, you will be branded as a criminal!”

“A criminal huh?”

The mage nodded as he could see the man’s resolve wavering. It was impossible to go against the nobles and this problem was magnified when a Duke was involved. There was no way that this man here wouldn’t know the consequences. It was hard to see his facial expression as it was buried under a hood but his words seemed to have calmed the situation down. Now they just needed to retreat and their commander would make short work of this man for them.

“You make a good point but let me ask you a question then.”

“Ah, yes?”

“What’s the punishment for destroying a knight’s property and attacking his family members on the said property?”

“Huh? A knight’s? That would be… y-you don’t mean?”

“Yes, that’s right, my actions have been justified from the start...”

…

Roland remained silent for a moment while thinking. Only now did he have some time to cool off after almost losing Agni. The man that was responsible was already dead but these people that were here were not devoid of any responsibility. They all had participated in the attack and did not blink twice before following his orders.

While he knew that these people weren’t entirely at fault. After going through the tier 3 trial he became aware of the layers of indoctrination needed to build up a reasonable army. It started at the knight academy and following orders had been drilled into their very core.

‘This mage is right, I’ve already become a criminal by killing that guy. It won’t even matter if I try to explain myself.’

Before he could choke the other knight to death with his mage hand spell the other person started talking. After killing the first person his rage had gone down slightly and was steadily decreasing during the conversation. While he had become stronger, this strength would do him no good against a noble household.

There were a few options that he could go with, one of them was murdering everyone here and then making a run for it. Escaping into another country was feasible if he was able to gain access to a ship and get off this island. It might have even been possible for him to take all the blame which would save both Elodia and Bernir from being taken in. Roland at least felt somewhat confident in his own skills for such a plan to work. There was even that woman that he had connections with that would probably smuggle him out of here.

This was one option but there were others, one of them would keep him here while giving validity to his acts. There was another way of getting out of this mess alive without any need of moving away from Albrook. However, if he decided to take this path he would be constraining his own life considerably.

Treading it would put him out into the public eye a lot more than now. It could potentially also alert his father to his presence. That is if he actually revealed his true noble name which wasn’t truly necessary for this to work. A decision needed to be made and it had to be now. There was no time to think everything over anymore. This was something that he managed to avoid for more than ten years of escaping from his old home.

Yet if he didn’t make this decision then his life in this place would probably be over. Knights from the side of the duke’s son would probably come for him. There was no such thing as a justifiable cause for a commoner to kill a knight, even less if this knight was related to a prominent noble house. The Valerians were known for not tolerating any pushback from their citizens and Arthur would not be able to save him from this.

There was just one possible route that he could take without giving out his last name to these people. This route would bind him to Arthur’s fate at least until a proper heir for their Duke house was named. It would give him a reason for killing this Lieutenant though and also allow him to stay in this place where he built up his life.

Perhaps if it was the old Roland from before he would have been inclined to take the easier route out. Running away had always allowed him to survive and building up a new base of operations with his current skills wouldn’t be that hard. Perhaps after things had calmed down a bit, he would even be able to revisit this place again.

No, this was not the way for him anymore. After spending over a year battling with wooden men he realized that sometimes the best defense was a strong offense. If he didn’t take things into his own hands here then he would lose everything that he already built up.

He was tired of constantly being taken advantage of by people he did not respect. If he didn’t put his foot down here then nothing would ever change. At another time a similar situation would arise and perhaps then he would not be there to save his friends and loved ones. It was important to show people that they could not take advantage of him anymore. For this reason, he needed to make an example of someone, someone like Knight Commander Emmerson.

It was still possible for him to talk it through with that man and make him leave. This was not the issue, the real problem would come from what happened next. Without showing that he couldn’t be messed with, there probably wouldn’t be much of a change. It wouldn’t even be strange if another group from one of the Valerian son’s sides appeared a week later. To keep this place secure he needed to not only be a shield but also a sword.

“W-we didn’t know, please be reasonable we all belong on the same side.”

“What does he mean?”

The mage realized it sooner before anyone else here did. It was an easy conclusion he came to after exchanging a few words. There was only one way Roland had an excuse for killing the Lieutenant and that was if he was either a noble or a knight. While revealing his actual name was still a possibility he decided to go with a different approach.

It was a known fact that Alexander Valerian was forcing his sons to compete for the title. Each of them was given land to manage through which they were meant to show their skills. Even someone like Arthur that was not seen as a proper candidate still adhered to the same rules.

Roland’s ticket out of this mess was one edict in particular. The heir candidates were able to appoint knights for themselves. Usually, this act was carried out by proper nobles but a Duke household was at the apex and had some wiggle room. The father allowed his sons to appoint a head knight that didn’t even need to be from a line of nobility or from an academy.

Each of the brothers had already appointed such a person many years ago, they were even given strong men to fill that role eventually. Arthur on the other hand was unable to appoint such a person as they needed to be a tier 3 class holder to even qualify. There was also no one really willing to take the spot as they could be pitted against other knights and lose their lives.

Roland’s relationship with Arthur was mostly neutral. From his standpoint, giving up ownership of this city was not a big deal. His life wouldn’t have been affected by a leadership change, he would just have to make gear for a different person. Now on the other hand, one of those potential bosses pointed a blade at his family, this was not something that he could look past anymore.

“He means that you should probably run and tell your commander that I’ll see him soon…”

The man in his grasp who previously was trying to intimidate him with his status found himself with a crooked neck. His body was tossed to the side while a spell headed his way. The mage that was trying to reason with him a second ago was already turning around to run. It was clear that this man knew what was going on and had no loyalty to the knights here.

His body was becoming enhanced with various spell effects to probably make his escape faster but not as Roland cared for this. His aim was not really to eradicate everyone here, it was actually better if some of these men survived the scuffle. He needed rumors of his ruthlessness to spread so that everyone would think twice before doing something like this ever again.

Everyone quickly realized that they would be unable to reason through this situation. Roland also saw that some of the knights were still quite young, one, in particular, was barely above level sixty and probably a new recruit fresh from the academy. Yet only fate would decide who survived as he formed many spheres of light in front of his body through the runes in his armor.

These balls of mana flew forward in all directions while being aimed at the group of now fleeing soldiers. Some of them embedded themselves in the men’s bodies while others just grazed their limbs or armor pieces. Having to listen to grown men cry out in pain didn’t bring him any joy but a message needed to be sent.

‘A few of them made it out alive…’

Thanks to the sensors and lack of mana-dispersing powder he could tell that five people had survived. While he could have easily chased them down to deliver the finishing blow this was enough. What he needed to focus on was the part after, Emmerson.

“This certainly won’t do…”

After raising his arm up he saw his gauntlet turning to dust. The number of skills and mana he used had burned through the runic traces. The metal was unable to tolerate his newfound power and had begun to disintegrate. Only thanks to constant uses of his skills to mend the runes was it even able to last this much.

Luckily the piece of armor he was wearing was a backup version that he used for black market business. He did not want people to recognize the usual armor designs that he wore. However, this didn’t mean that his better suit wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

“W-what are we going to do… should we leave the city? But what about the children, I can’t just…”

“It’s fine, just stay here and I’ll take care of everything.”

“What do you mean? How can you just kill knights, I don’t understand.”

Elodia had managed to cool her head down and also realized that Roland was in a lot of trouble. She clearly didn’t see a way out of this besides running.

“Have you forgotten who I really am?”

“Who you really are?”

It took a moment for her to realize what he was alluding to but this didn’t fully remove her worries. Even though she knew that Roland was an actual noble hiding from something, it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Are you sure? You’ve been hiding for such a long time, are there no other options… I’m sorry this is all because of me.”

“It’s not your fault and there are more important things to worry about now, those knights had no right to be here and my actions were justified, the only problem that remains now is…”

“The only remaining problem now?”

“... Hey…”

“Huh?”

While Roland and Elodia were talking about the whole situation they heard a voice coming from above them. It belonged to the third person involved in this mess, Bernir.

“Could you help me out here Boss, these magic vines are really tight.”

The man had become entangled by the mage that fled and then remained bound for that spot for the entirety of the fight. With some help from Roland’s magic abilities, the vines came undone.

“Those knights really pulled a fast one on me… but how is Agni? Did he?”

“He is fine, I’ll have to ask you to protect him until I’m back, he probably won’t wake up for a few hours.”

“Protect him? That’s fine, but what are you going to do Boss?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

“Nothing much, I’m just going to have a duel.”

“A duel?”

Both Elodia and Bernir looked at each other without really knowing what was going on. They didn’t really follow the conversation and had no idea that Roland had just decided to become Arthur’s head knight. This all without the noble even knowing what had transpired here.