The Runesmith

“Wayland?”

A concerned Elodia looked at the unused bedroom before calling out to Roland. Without knowing if someone was listening in she had to stick to his pseudonym. It was clear to her that he had not used his bedroom to sleep which could mean a few things. Yet before she could investigate further the disembodied voice of the house owner sounded out.

“I’m in the workshop, is it already time for breakfast? … I could probably use a break, I’ll be there in a few minutes, I just need to finish this first.”

Elodia looked at the faintly glowing rune that was talking to her. It was inscribed on the wall to something that looked like a small black box. She had actually witnessed Roland connecting wires to this thing previously which was apparently supposed to guide the required energy to make it work.

Even with somewhat knowing how the rune worked she was still not used to all the strange contraptions littering the whole place. This was one of the downsides of being together with a magically inclined craftsman. She never knew if something could appear out of the blue and explode in her face. It was especially dangerous whenever Roland tested new weapons or golems, many times they exploded while causing harm to their creator.

The woman frowned after hearing the one-sided message go through. It was clear that Roland didn’t go to sleep last night and continued to work through its entirety. She had quickly returned to the orphanage to check up on the young ones. There she remained until dawn as it was already too late to head back to the church.

‘He must be hungry and tired… I should make something to recover his stamina.’

Thanks to having a cooking-related profession she was able to inject tiny buffs into the food that she made. It all depended on the correct ingredients and method of cooking, the effects were quite minimal but they were better than nothing. Quickly she put on an apron and got to work in the kitchen while waiting for the man of the house to come back.

…

“Ugh, is it already morning?”

Roland rubbed his eyes while looking at the runic clock that was showing him the time. It was eight in the morning and half an hour before the shop would be opening. He had decided to close it for the time being as he knew that Elodia needed to take care of the kids at the orphanage. He had forgotten to mention yesterday that it had been somewhat hectic.

There wasn’t much that he had achieved yesterday besides examining the divine runes. After scribbling down the two main schematics he used a metal saw to open the Orb of mending light up. Just as he expected on the inside was a small empyrean crystal of a yellow hue. These always took on the color of the divinity they were charged with.

With Solaria being the main god in this kingdom it would take a yellow color pallet. This varied depending on the priest that was injecting their mana into the container. The more saturated the colors became the better the quality was. In this case, the empyrean crystal was a pale yellow which placed it on the lesser quality spectrum.

After getting to the ‘guts’ of this magical device he noted down all the runic pathways and methods that the craftsman used. The crystal was placed into a tiny frame with a socket and then encased in metal to produce the round outer shell. This socket it was on, had small ethereal pathways which were clearly used to guide the energy from it.

The inside was mostly filled out but there were some pockets of air here and there. It seemed that the crystal was able to remain intact even after getting treated by heated metal. This item was clearly placed into a mold and then polished before the outer shell was inscribed. Such a process would not be hard to recreate and it was probably created in this way to protect the gem from outside shocks.

Then there was the Talisman of Faith, this required him to use his most uncomfortable skill. Luckily he had already worked on lesser enchantments like this one so he had been successful in his endeavor. This last task took him most of the night and he had just finished when he noticed Elodia entering his home. Now he had all the basics prepared and needed to draw up the main diagram for the device.

‘I guess I’m going to get another low score for style again…’

While walking away from his workbench he thought back to the class change test he went through. With not enough time for testing, he would need to prepare something basic. In his head, he was looking at a box with a spot to place the divine crystal in. Then in another side compartment some space for mana fluid.

‘Have to make it easily replaceable so that the guards can’t damage it…’

The design needed to be simple so that even the guards could take out a used-up empyrean crystal and also fill it back in with mana fluid. It needed to be as close to what the people in this kingdom were used to. For himself, he would make an altered version that used his own runic batteries.

‘I need to eat something…’

While standing up he could feel his stomach rumbling in protest. The only meal he had yesterday was the leftovers that he found in the runic fridge. With how Elodia had shown up his hunger had been exasperated. It was one thing to eat a cold meal and another to get something fresh and warm. Thus without even realizing it, he started moving faster towards the exit.

“Hey Boss, a good mornin’ to ya!”

“Oh hey, Bernir.”

His assistant had his own workshop through which he could get into the underground main lair. He also came to work at the same time with Elodia and his wife. Mostly the three would meet up in the city and just go together for safety reasons. It was always safer in a group with people that carried magical weapons that Roland made. Once he had heard of Bernir having to use the portable runic gun for self-defense.

“What’s with that eye…”

“Oh nothing, the missus likes to get rowdy from time to time…”

Roland recalled Bernir staring at Sister Kassia’s backside and Dyana’s reaction. To this day he wasn’t quite sure how the two ended up with each other. The size difference was quite large and Bernir seemed like a leecher that had not been able to get rid of that part before marriage.

‘I guess this world's sensibilities are different, if a man has a proper well-paying job or standing, it's not hard to attract them…’

In reality, Roland would also be able to profit from his position. He was not blind to the looks that he was getting from the young women around him. Yet not many of those girls were willing to approach the scary-looking runesmith. His love life was satiated by Elodia who was a great cook and he wasn’t really willing to jeopardize this heartwarming relationship by cheating.

“Well, She probably had a reason for it… try not to get killed over stupid things, but if things get out of hand, I'll talk to her about it.”

He wasn't one to allow spousal abuse even if the morals in this world were different. Yet it didn't seem that Bernir had any problems in getting hit, for some reason it looked like he actually enjoyed it.

“Aye boss, don’t worry, I’ll be more discrete next time!”

Bernir gave Roland a little wink as if the problem was not him going after other women but getting caught.

“That was not… but it’s your life…”

He just shrugged while going up the stairs, if his assistant wanted to risk it then it was fine. What Roland worried about was that he would be bringing a bad atmosphere into the working place if it continued. Perhaps it was not such a great idea to work with your significant other in the same area.

“Wayland?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Wait for a second, I made some stew, this runic pressure cooker is truly something special!”

Elodia had complained about some of her recipes taking too long so he had created some modern tools. A pressure cooker had many uses and wasn’t hard to make with the help of runes. Thanks to it she was able to upgrade her cooking skills to a new level and also hasten the process. Most people in this world were stuck using regular stoves using coal or wood, not many had the leisure of having a set of runic utensils along with a fully functioning enchanted stove.

The moment Roland's nose caught the smell his mouth started watering. His whole lower body trembled as his stomach began growling. If he could he would toss himself at that pressure cooker to devour the hot stew inside.

“You really look famished, sit down and relax for a moment.”

“Sure.”

After a moment the two sat down next to each other and while waiting for the food to get colder began to talk.

“I thought you’d be with the kids, it’s fine if we close the shop for the week, I’ve gotten a commission from the city lord, it should be enough to cover our expenses for a while.”

Roland took a sip of warm tea that had the perfect temperature that he always liked. It seemed Elodia had remembered to prepare it before he got here.

“It’s fine, Armand and Lobelia took them to the church to get examined.”

“Did her friend recover yet?”

“I’m not sure, she returned late at night but poor Jasper hadn’t woken up. It doesn’t seem that he is in danger but the priests aren’t sure why he hasn’t woken up yet, they said that his body is healthy.”

He nodded while putting his cup away. The Abyssal Larva that was in Jasper’s head was close to his brain, it wouldn’t be strange if it affected it in some way. People in this world depended on heating arts and not many had actual medical knowledge. His old world was far more advanced in that field, the brain damage that an afflicted person went through could be devastating.

‘It’s better if I don’t mention the possibility of the man becoming a vegetable…’

“I’m sure the priests will figure it out, perhaps the evil energy hadn’t left his body fully and he just needs to recover.”

Elodia nodded while blowing on her spoon before placing it in her mouth. It was time to eat and remaining silent through this part was somewhat of a tradition. Only after they were done did they resume their conversation while also washing dishes.

“What did the Lord want?”

“Nothing much, just a way to get rid of this problem but I kind of gave him the idea.”

Roland smiled while handing his bowl to Elodia who started washing it.

“There is another way?”

“Not exactly, we still need the priests from the church to heal the afflicted but it’s possible to detect the ones that are sick.”

“There is?”

Roland nodded while giving Elodia a short explanation about how the infected people showed various symptoms when around divine energy.

“It’s not a very precise process but other than x-raying a person’s skull I don’t see any other way?”

“X… ray?”

Elodia looked at him with a confused look while he just shook his head.

“It’s not important but you should probably go back, I wouldn’t trust that idiot with the kids.”

“Hey, he’s not that unreliable…”

She was quick to defend her younger brother but both of them knew that unless it came to fighting Armand wasn’t that useful. Roland also knew that his girlfriend would be worried sick if she didn’t take care of this on her own.

“Agni, come here boy.”

“Awoo!”

“I have a mission for you, take Elodia to the city gates and return only after you are sure that she is safe. and don’t worry, you don’t need a muzzle just don’t go through the main street.”

“Woof!”

The Dire Ruby Wolf gave out a resounding bark while positioning his nose up high. He looked very dependable with that impressive size and level. With not many tier 3 class holders in the city, there was almost no danger with anyone being able to stand up to this powerful beast.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t rest? I’m sure what you are doing is important but you just returned…”

“It’s fine, you know me, I don’t need much sleep, I’ll be fine with a few hours here and there.”

He smacked his chest while smiling while showing off his strong body that wouldn’t crumble under the workload. With his new class, he would be able to almost work nonstop without his mind giving out.

Elodia gave out a sigh after hearing the answer.

“I know that I won’t be able to change your mind but just remember not to overexert yourself.”

“You know me, I always work responsibly.”

Roland found his arm getting pinched by an angry-looking Elodia. She had already bought him passed out a few times from overworking himself or generating dangerous explosions.

“Ouch, that hurts.”

“You deserve it.”

*Thonk*

“Hey, stop it Agni.”

While he was getting the stink eye, his tamed beast decided to ram his skull into his stomach.

“Why are you taking her side, you should always be on your master's side!”

“He knows who controls the food in this house.”

It seemed that he had been betrayed by Agni in this time of need. Food was apparently more important and the person who cooked the most was indeed Elodia. Thus his only retort that he could come up with was to lean over for a tactical kiss on the cheek which caused the reddening of his partner's face.

“Hey, stop that.”

After seeing Elodia’s cute flustered face he could finally go back to work. Soon the two parted ways and he was left with the sound of hammering that belonged to Bernir and Dyana. The two would be able to help him with creating parts for his new creation but first, he needed to get the runic structure to work.

“Hey boss, heard that we are closing shop, does that mean…”

“No, you can’t go home, go back to work, I’ll need your help later.”

“Aye, it was worth a try.”

Bernir chuckled while grabbing some tools. Most of the time his work consisted of producing parts for Roland’s creations. These would be then inscribed with runes and then finally assembled into the finished product. Thanks to the various power tools that run on mana the process of creation was faster than that of regular smiths.

There was only one downside when working with these tools. Most of them wouldn’t count towards any skills. A blacksmith could for instance increase their skill with hammers which would allow them to be more precise while also using a lot of force. There was no skill for using a runic drill or saw but luckily they would still gain leveling experience after the item was created.

“So what are you working on, boss?”

“It’s related to the current issue in the city…”

Roland gave Bernir a quick explanation of what happened after they left. This caused the half-dwarf to whistle while pondering something.

“Isn’t this a chance?”

“A chance?”

“Yes, if this magical item works then won’t we be able to earn loads of cash? We’ll be able to show the union’s bastards our superiority!”

“I guess that’s one way of looking at it…”

The fact that Arthur Valerian commissioned him instead of the dwarven union to prepare the magical contraption showed where his trust was in. Yet Roland wasn’t sure if his new friend wouldn’t go to them if he didn’t finish his work in a week. Perhaps Arthur had already sent someone to the union with a request if he failed.

‘This would probably be the better move, can’t put all of your eggs in one basket.’

“But what if those conniving fiends are already working on it? What if we are too late and they take all the glory?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, the union will probably prioritize their own larger cities and I’m not sure if their Enchantsmith knows how to work with divine ones.”

“That’s true… but boss, have ya already worked with them yourself?”

“No, but I’m a fast learner.”

With the schematics already done and corrected with the help of his debugging skill, it was finally time to get to the drawing board. This process was one of the more tedious ones as he had to calculate everything in his head while bringing it to paper. Only after getting through this process could he have his assistants start preparing the framework for his new creation.

“Aye, I’ll leave ya to it then.”

Roland opened up the door to his private workshop where he created most of his runic designs. The three divine runes that he corrected were all hung up on the board where he could see everything clearly. On the wall, there was a rack with all of his tools and that was his current destination.

“I guess I’m back my old friend.”

After pulling up a somewhat well-used hammer he gave it a twirl. This had been his go-to runecrafting tool for a year now, even though it was used it just felt right when he held it in his hand. Soon the forge sprung to life as he inserted a square-shaped piece of metal into it. The runic heating spell produced a high enough temperature to turn the whole piece red in a matter of minutes.

It was then removed with some deep-steel tongs and brought over to his usual anvil. There he raised his hammer up into the air. Blue sparks of mana filled out the tiny gaps to bring the inscribed runic symbols out into the open. Quickly he brought that hammer down to force it into the piece of metal, the familliar process of runecrafting had begun and Roland finally felt like he was truly home again.