The Runesmith

“Come in.”

“Lord Arthur.”

A smiling cat maid named Mary went into the city lord’s office. The door was opened by an armored man that she was familiar with as always. On the inside, the usual sight of Arthur Valerian buried under piles of papers greeted her. Mary could only give out a sigh while going for a stack of papers that was blocking her way.

“Mary, please don’t move those documents. I'm not finished with them.”

She could only give out a sigh while placing the pile back down. Luckily not many people entered this room besides her, if some saw the disorganized room of the city lord they could start spreading rumors. It was already troublesome to shove the ledgers and records to the side when the Runesmith appeared.

“Lord Arthur, perhaps you should take a break, you haven’t left the office for some time now…”

“Mary, you know well that I can’t do that, this is a chance to get some support, luckily my idiot brother estranged a large chunk of his residents. If I am able to get them to migrate here, we’ll be able to increase the budget for the coming year.”

The maid placed a teacup for her lord and was sure to push in some food as well. He had deemed this whole fiasco with the cult as an opportunity for growth. Arthur’s older brother prioritized the nobles and rich merchant side of the city which had a lot fewer citizens. Due to this blunder, the city of Reeka would have a hard time recovering after its workforce had been diminished.

“I must thank him the next time we meet, but perhaps father will order him back to the estate after what he did… but then one of the others will get that city instead…”

She gave out a chuckle after Arthur suddenly started getting depressed. It was a possibility that one of the other Valerian brothers could absorb Reeka into their side but the possibility was minor. While the city had suffered greatly, most of the moguls had survived and new workers could probably be enticed with better wages. This didn’t mean that he wouldn’t suffer a decline.

“Lord Arthur, I have come to make my report.”

“Ah yes… Please go on.”

Finally, she could speak up about the reason she had come here. She was trained in espionage and already had multiple ‘faces’ in the city. Thanks to her disguises she could mingle with the people in the city and get the uncensored scoop.

“First, our friend has a knack for getting involved.”

“Wayland did?”

“Yes, after his little story I went to the church to confirm everything. The person that was afflicted with the abyssal larvae came from the thieves guild and is a friend with one of his acquaintances.”

“Oh? Well, we already knew that he dabbled with the underground world but isn’t he only a black market merchant?”

“Yes but I managed to identify one of his associates, she is a member of the underground guild and probably the way he got in.”

“As long as he doesn’t go overboard with the black market it should be fine…”

Arthur shrugged a bit as he didn’t really care if the runesmith he was working with was an underground merchant. There was a limit to what he would allow, if the runic items were all sold on the black market he would not be able to make any money with his auction house.

“Ever since he started his work with you my Lord, he hasn’t been frequenting the black market but instead contacted me for any resources.”

Mary didn’t have anything specific to go off of, the underground didn’t like it if people asked many questions. Through various ways and rumors, she pieced a few things together to make an educated guess of how Wayland managed to survive through the feud with the union. Now that he had access to their merchant contacts there was no use to sell his items on the black market.

“Have you made sure to not get noticed? I don’t think Mr. Wayland would do anything drastic but those characters from the underground guilds can not be trusted.”

Arthur finally placed the piece of paper to the side while looking into Mary’s eyes. It was clear that he was concerned about the snooping that his little spy was performing. Even if she worked under the city lord, the thieves guild wouldn’t care. They would probably send her body parts to the estate if she stuck her nose where she shouldn’t.

“Are you worried about my safety my lord?”

Mary chuckled while performing a little bow of appreciation.

“Don’t worry, I won’t risk my life, I’m aware that it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate the underground guild leaders or their enforcers.”

“Good, then let's switch to the main topic, how are our Runesmith’s devices working, have there been any more cases?”

“Yes, they have been surprisingly helpful and quite easy to use even for the guards. Still there have been three more afflicted that have been discovered!”

“Three more? Did they have anything in common?”

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, if it was just one person then it could have just been a coincidence. Now on the other hand, with three more people getting sick it was clear that he had a problem. The news of this affliction couldn’t be contained for long, only thanks to Wayland was he able to react this fast.

“One was a merchant, another one was an adventurer and the third one was an escort. At first glance, it didn’t look like they did but of course, I investigated further!”

“And what did you discover?”

Arthur rolled his eyes slightly as Mary started swinging her hands around to pronounce her speech. It was as if she was some kind of game host that was trying to rile up the crowd.

“While the adventurer and the lady escort were clean, the merchant was actually part of the black market!”

“Is that so… is the guild doing anything about it?”

This was the second person that visited the thieves guild that had been afflicted by the parasite. The escort could have also had dealings with the underground trade as the redlight district was controlled by the underground organizations. This wasn’t a coincidence anymore, a pattern had emerged, and the cultists could be gathering underground.

“Yes, the guild leader is aware and as we speak they are searching through the tunnels.”

“Could they have infiltrated even a small city like this one?”

Arthur became solemn instantly. He knew that things weren’t good if a cult like this was spreading through the kingdom this fast. After the outbreak in Reeka nothing seemed safe, even the capital of the dukedom could have already fallen.

“I’m not sure Lord Arthur, but we have been able to stall the threat. We have placed the magical devices Mr. Wayland created in critical locations just as you commanded. No one will be able to enter the city without being examined. This is the same for the underground guilds.”

“So you have been able to deliver it to them?”

“Yes, my lord. Although that worked itself out on its own. ”

Mary nodded as she didn't need to smuggle the divine device in herself, Wayland's friend by the name of Lobelia carried this out instead. They were now informed about what the city lord was doing and started checking their own people. The infected would not be able to leave the underground without being treated by the runic devices.

Arthur hoped to have the thieves guild take care of their own mess as they certainly didn’t want the cult to control their members. If the underground merchants heard about the potential plague and outbreak like in Reeka they would quickly flee from the city. The guild would do everything to not lose their money and combating the cultists was one of them.

“Good, I think I need to get my speech ready, it won’t be long now…”

…

“So, it’s finally out? I guess it was only a matter of time…”

“Aye, I heard people whispering about strange creatures, the city lord had to make a statement too! I wasn’t there but he gave a heartwarming speech about unity or something, at least that’s what my wifey said.”

Bernir took a swig from a mug filled with alcohol while talking with Roland. Both of them were taking a break from work and discussing the current events. The information about the evil cultists was now mainstream, they had become the boogiemen of the dukedom. The outbreak in Reeka had become widespread news. It was spread by various refugees and survivors from that day. He was one of them and the main reason that the city lord could get everything under control this fast.

‘Did he start preparing after I brought the bad news?’

“Hey boss, I’ve seen you’ve been turning the smelter on, you don’t need to bother yourself with that, I can make whatever you want!”

“Hah, thanks but I want to make this one myself but you can go ahead and prepare the shaft.”

It took quite some time for the large ingot for his new weapon to be produced. This was mostly due to the red mythril that he included in the mix that had an increased melting point. He really needed to crank up the smelter and actually boost it with his own mana. Only after spending many hours together with his concoction was he able to finalize the product.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to use a cast if you’re using mythril? It won’t be that easy to forge that thing into shape…”

“It should be fine, I did all the calculations.”

While casting the melted metal into a mold would be an easier process it also could bring some problems. First of all, in most cases forging the weapon would produce a tougher item. There was more wiggle room when shaping it with the hammer and some blacksmith skills could increase the quality of the produced item.

“If you say so, just don’t burn down the place!”

“I’ll try not to.”After the break the two parted ways, he had the rest of the day to finish the hammerhead, and perhaps if he hurried up he wouldn’t get Elodia angry. Ever since returning to the city he had been sleeping for three to four hours and staying up for the rest of the day. Surprisingly he wasn’t feeling tired at all, his body was young and strong. The only problem was his girlfriend who was constantly worried.

Luckily down in his workshop, she would not be able to complain. Due to the heat generated by the smelter and forge, someone without the constitution of a blacksmith would have a tough time lasting five minutes in a room with him. From the side, he grabbed a thick leather smithing apron and placed it over his body for added protection. Together with smithing gloves and his hammer he was ready to tackle that large ingot that would be the base for his Warhammer.

The slab of metal was now a rectangular shape with some sharp edges on the side. The coloring was a silvery blue. Even though he mixed in the red mythril, together with the other various metals it produced this color. The runes would light up quite nicely to produce a nice effect on this silvery surface and perhaps take his enemy's attention away from the fight.

Finally, with the help of his tongs, he inserted the large piece into the furnace. On the bottom there was a spot for his feet, through them he could guide more mana inside of it to augment the flames. It would be impossible to work without this runic furnace, reaching the temperature needed with wood or coal would be close to impossible.

On the wall, he had a set of various blacksmithing hammers. Various Forming Hammers with domed faces that were good for producing curved surfaces. Planishing hammers with round and square faces, with curved and flat surfaces. These were more for the finishing touches so he ignored them for now. Instead, he looked to the cross pein hammer section to get himself the best for the job.

He took a moment to appreciate the variety of tools that he had. Some of these were hand-made by him while others by Bernir or his wife. Some were polished down by the runic tools that were in another section of the smithy. Roland was reminded of his progress and the ladle that was his first test when he joined the blacksmith ranks. Even now he vividly recalled how tiresome it was to make and how barely he made it, mostly due to the lack of training.

Then there was the anvil that had lasted him for years now. Without a proper anvil with a horn, rounded edges, and a sturdy face, it would be impossible to fashion anything. This would be the final test for this tool. However, with a proper heated-up ingot, even this anvil would be able to survive through the shaping process.

‘This is taking a while…’

A lot of time had passed since he inserted the alloy into the furnace. Regular low-carbon or medium-carbon steel would be softened up within minutes. But this chunk was taking forever, it was trouly resisting the heat due to the exotic metal he added. Yet, even it wouldn’t be able to last forever and soon it was ready for some pounding.

While to his past self the shaping process might be difficult it wouldn’t be a problem for the current Roland. Even though he left a lot of the busy work up to Bernir and his wife he still continued to train his smithing skills. There was a small workaround when leveling up these skills.

He would be given a bonus after finishing hard-to-construct creations like the golems, even his regular smithing skills would be pushed forward. After several high-quality products were assembled he found himself leveling up his smithing skills faster than he was accustomed to. Each level added to his skills per usual, it was as if months or years of smithing experience flowed into his body just by leveling up a skill.

Thanks to this effect he was feeling great when making this large hammer. The thicker frontside was quickly taking shape. The face started to take on a box-like shape while the rear end was more cylindrical.

To balance out the front part he needed to make the rear spike a bit lengthy. When fighting larger monsters it needed to have enough penetrating power to pierce through-hardened skin and scales. He deliberated on shaping the rear end to be more similar to an axe but this shape somehow fit a hammer more in his opinion.

Soon minutes turned to hours and the day was coming to an end. He did not even notice Bernir knocking on the door to clock out. Everyone had left while he was busy applying the finishing touches. He could not allow the metal to cool down too much, the more he needed to heat it up the longer it would take.

“There…”

With one last hit, he looked at his creation which was slowly getting cooler. The front part was larger than his own fist and the rear end could easily pierce through a grown man’s chest. For the finishing touches, the top required some polishing and then the runes could be added. While the red mythril would normally make it hard to inscribe runes, thanks to the added etherium the process could be made manageable even for him.

His new creation was partially done but this was not the end. While he had decided on the shape he was not quite sure what spells were needed. An impact rune to control the weight was a must but some other ones to augment his new fighting style needed looking into.

‘After I finish this, I need to test it out on something and I already know who.’

Roland continued to add the finishing touches while thinking of the underground dungeon. He hadn’t seen his old friend in a while and it would be the perfect test dummy for his new weapon.