The Runesmith

‘A lot of people are here.’

Roland was walking towards the town square, even before reaching it he could see other people pouring in. A few days had passed since he returned from the dungeon where he had scored a lot of exotic resources.

He and Bernir spent some time organizing everything and working on the ore. There were a lot of large chunks that consisted of volcanic rocks that needed to be chiseled down. If they just threw everything into the smelter, the product would probably be worse than everyday iron.

Regretfully the golems were not smart enough to automate this process. While Roland was able to modify the regular golem runic programming that they came with, he was not able to make that many drastic changes.

To this day he mostly worked on a premade operating system that had been created by some other craftsmen. The amount of runic programming that he had to go through was staggering. Just as with modern-day software, a small change in the code could bring forth disastrous outcomes.

From time to time he found himself abandoning the altered runic code. It was easier to start from the beginning than to sweep through the code to find the correlating problem.

Even with his debugging skill working on the code, it wasn’t easy. It could recognize the problems but it did not work like modern-day debugging solutions. It did not give him any tooltips on what he could change the runic code into. It only lit up the faulty part of the code which could be quite long.

Then even when the implementation of the code was correct it didn’t mean that the golem was working fine. It just followed the programming as it was made, what that runic programming did was up to the runesmith.

He had to take everything into account. If he altered the golem design even by an inch he would require to alter a couple of values in the code for it to function correctly. His biggest desire would be to create something that could calculate these values automatically.

It was clear why other runesmiths didn’t bother with golem customization. It was just too much of a bother when there were working models already in circulation. They would rather spend five years working as an intern to get their hands on golem schematics, instead of coming up with their own.

Without the professor that he came to know through Lucille De Vere’s help, he might still be stuck on a prototype spider droid. The ones he had made were just a modification to an existing model. Adding weapons like hooks, magical cannons was at least bearable as long as he kept the chassis as close to the original as he could.

It was slowly becoming a problem even for him, but for now, he needed to concentrate on this strange new noble that arrived in his town. He required more information so he decided to lean against the side and listened to some of the people whispering about.

“It’s someone from the Valerian Household… but I never heard of anyone named Arthur from that house.”

“That’s right… it’s probably another bastard that Lord Alexander had brought into the world.”

“Don’t be so loud, if the guards hear you they will lynch you!”

“Hah, you think they care? He might be the lord but he is the leader only by name.”

As the conversations continued Roland got a somewhat good picture of the new lord that was about to appear and give an introductory speech to his people. It seemed that what he previously heard was the truth, most people never even heard about this noble’s son in the first place.

There could be a couple of reasons for something like this happening. One of them could be that he had only recently discovered this offspring and pushed him to the edges of this island. This would keep him away from the more important areas like Isgard and would show the other children that Arthur was not really competing for the Duke title.

Roland knew well that the battles for inheriting the titles could get bloody. This was the title of the Duke, it was only second to the royal family titles. An Archduke title was something only a member of the royal line could achieve.

This title was kind of special as it was given to one sibling of the current king. That is if there was a male sibling remaining after the war for the crown was over. Sometimes two princes would team up with the intent of getting one of them crowned and the second in command would be given this title.

Even though the title was called Archduke it didn’t mean that this forever prince had more power than a noble duke. The dukes were already powerful individuals that were at similar footing as the king. What the Archduke received at the end also depended on the king, sometimes they ended up with less than a count.

“What do we even need a noble for, Albrook has been fine for years now, why do those blasted nobles only show up after all the hard work is finished.”

“Damn bastards probably only want to tax us more, if that dungeon never appeared they would have let us starve.”

The various conversations continued as he noticed some older Albrook citizens that had gone through harsh times started talking. Roland heard some stories of the old town and how life was hard before the dungeon appeared.

The old residents still carried some grudges from the past. Probably if they received some aid from the nobles they would not have to starve through some droughts. While volcanic soil was normally quite fertile this didn’t account for magic.

With the close proximity to the dungeon, the soil could be altered in bizarre ways. Monstrous plants could start growing and crops could just die from oversaturation of the nutrients.

‘It will probably take a while until these people warm up to the noble, that is if he doesn’t turn out to be some kind of tyrant.’

What Roland feared was not the person called Arthur but the title that he was bringing with him. While he might have been some low-standing 6th son of a duke, he was still part of a prestigious family. If something happened to him, it would be surprising if the whole city didn’t get blamed for it.

In these troubling times, the nobles were still law. If they for any reason hurt someone from a duke's house there would be consequences, bloody ones. That is of course, only if the duke cared enough about this Arthur person.

Sometimes the high-nobles would distance themselves from their offsprings, even if they perished they would be considered real noble family members. In this case, there would be no repercussions and this noble would be relegated to nothing more than a figurehead with no actual power.

There were some cases where low nobles were even imprisoned in their mansions while the knights or servants kept everything running. As long as the noble was alive everything was fine, their family members abandoned them and without their approval, they could not leave.

This was something that Roland was afraid of as well. Now being a proper successful runesmith he somewhat feared getting hauled off to the old Arden estate. There he might be forced to work for the family like a mule without any say.

Though with his current strength he wasn’t sure if that option would be even possible anymore. With his armor on, there weren’t many high level tier 2 class holders that would be able to go against him.

His father on the other hand was the biggest threat as Roland didn’t think he was anywhere close to that battle maniac that spent most of his life out on the battlefield.

“Hey be quiet, someone is coming.”

Finally, it looked like the time for the audience with the new ‘lord’ of Albrook City. The city square had been created around an old well that existed here before the dungeon appeared. In its place a large fountain was placed, it looked like it was made from marble. It was of a woman with a large jug over her shoulder from which water streamed down.

Then before this fountain, they had built up a stage. On it they would present new laws and various other presentations. From Roland’s perspective, it was kind of a waste of space as they weren’t forthcoming enough to host any celebrations on it.

If he was part of the people that run the city he would have probably hired a band to perform on this large stage. They could probably make a lot of money from ticket sales while also boosting the city’s fame.

Things like open-air theaters and musicals existed in this world but they were meant for nobles. What the commoners got were bards at taverns or street performers. There wasn’t much they could do for entertainment.

The focus was clearly on the adventurers and the dungeons instead of the common folk. But with the city’s growth, it would be a yet untapped market.

“Silence, you are in the presence of a noble!”

A loud voice filled the entire area which quickly caused everyone to quiet down. Roland noticed that the voice was backed by some kind of magic spell or enchantment. The man that was shouting out was the previous city mayor and after a few words, it was time for the lord to come.

‘So that’s the lord… he looks to be about my age?’

Roland looked at the person named Arthur Valerian. The first thing that he noticed was that the young man was quite handsome. The clothes that he was wearing were white and blue which meshed well with the color of his hair.

‘Wait… silvery-white hair color?’

For Roland, who was knowledgeable about the various races in this world, it was easy to come to the conclusion that he wasn’t a pure human. There were two races that came equipped with it, one were the moon elves while the others silver wolf beastmen tribes.

‘Looks more elven than beast…’

The young man was wearing gloves so besides his face and long silvery-white locks he couldn’t there wasn’t much to go off. The deep green eyes were something that the Duke was known for, so in Roland’s mind, it was clear why this young man was sent here.

Even though Caldris was a kingdom with many races, the nobles were all pure humans. There was a limit of how far an ‘un-pure’ member of a noble family could progress. If this young man was partially moon elf, he was probably out of the picture of becoming a Duke.

From what he knew, there weren’t any cases where a half-blood attained the position of Duke. The most they went up to was a Baron and this only when their merits could not be denied. It would take truly a herculean amount of personal power to help a person like this to be on equal footing with a regular noble.

“My name is Arthur Valerian and I’ve just been appointed as the lord of this region…”

The speech started but Roland was more interested in the young man’s roots and the enchantment that was making his voice louder than the speech itself. He also noticed that some other people had caught on to the fact that this man was not of pure human descent.

While not everyone knew what this truly meant, the small number of guards around him told the tale.

‘He really might just be a temporary figurehead, probably nothing more than just a proxy between the true lord…’

While on paper Arthur Valerian had actual power to affect the course of this city, this might not be what his father wanted. It could have just been a place to keep this son of his, far away from the proper successor of the line.

This meant that he would have to think about that present that he wanted to send. If this noble was nothing more than a figurehead with no footing, it would just be a waste of money.

“As your new lord I will strive for Albrook’s improvement but this is not something that can be achieved alone, you all must fulfill your part in the coming years…”

The speech continued for a while as the young noble started prattling on. It seemed that he was somewhat genuine in his tone and it felt that he was trying to work with the people here.

‘Is he trying to inspire the locals into working harder? He would probably need to lower the taxes and give handouts to achieve that…’

Words were just that, words. Roland didn’t think that prattling on about Albrook as a whole would do much good as the people here were divided into many smaller parts. The guilds, the merchants, the adventurers, and even families.

Mostly everyone just kept to their smaller group. Even he was part of this divide, the only people that he was concerned with were the ones at his home. What happened to anyone else was not his problem.

This didn’t mean that there was no way of moving the masses in his favor. If he somehow managed to lower the burden on them or help them earn more money, they would probably see Arthur as a good leader.

The biggest problem with that would be the currently hidden masters of the city. Roland knew some of them, the dwarven union was a royal pain in the behind even to this day. Even with his current shop, he was not making as much as he could.

“...That will be all.”

The speech was over and the previous mayor took the stage to inform the people of some changes. Now with the lord being here, a person would need to ask for an audience if they wanted to get something more strenuous done.

Without a proper court system in place, a lord of the region could act as a judge, jury, and executioner. That is if he cared enough, most would just push this duty onto some officials that worked in the city.

Roland was wearing a robe over a different version of his armor. His face was covered as he was not sure if the noble here would be someone that he previously met. With the help of his helmet, he could somewhat focus in on the noble and his retainers.

What he spotted were two knights and a maid that stuck closely to this young lord. All the other guards were more concerned with the mayor. This was enough confirmation that he needed to see that the young man didn’t have much pull.

‘I’m not sure if he will be the quiet type though…’

Judging by the long speech and how the young man was speaking, it seemed that he was trying to gain the approval of the people here. Maybe he would attempt to gain some power through this city but if he achieved his goal only the future would show.

‘Interesting… that maid’s level is higher than that of the two knights…’

With the help of his radar, he was able to somewhat put numbers on the lord’s retainers. Thanks to the color-coding he could tell that the two knights were around level hundred while the young woman was closer to his own level. While she was up there, she was not a tier 3 class holder.

Now that the inauguration speech was over he turned away. This didn’t change anything, it was time to upgrade his wares. Months of hard work awaited him when he returned home. Bernir was already informed about the hectic schedule and was willing to work overtime.

While the crowd was dispersing the young lord looked to the people around him. It didn’t seem that his heart-filled speech got through to the populace. This did not deter him in the slightest, this was only the beginning...