The Runesmith

“Would you like to test this runic dagger before making a purchase? We also offer a second one at a five percent discount if you buy two. If you find the runic enchantment to not be satisfactory we can also offer a different one, do you wish to see our enchantment cat kalog?”

“A discount? Five percent that would be…uh… what’s a catalog?”

Elodia smiled at the man that was looking at the bladed weapon section of the store. They had various dagger variations and short swords in stock for the scout types that this man here was. A person could even order a custom rune engraving with a spell they wanted for a higher price instead of buying the standardized weapons with the usual spells on them.

“You can see the catalog there, it has pictures and explanations of all the spells and prices.”

She pointed the adventurer towards a large book. It was attached to a large stand that couldn’t be moved. When flipping through the pages the man could see various colorful depictions of spells with detailed information.

There were even some damage numbers depending on the spell. For instance, the easiest sharpness spell could be enhanced with a chilling effect. It explained that the flame-based creatures in the dungeon would succumb to this type of runic enchantment a lot easier than to others. There were a few other common combinations that went well with each other besides these.

“The prices aren’t that bad…”

The man commented after going through what he could get. Compared to the dwarven stores the prices here were slightly lowered. The quality of the magic was on another level while the weapons in themselves weren’t that far behind.

“Wait… I can have my own weapon enchanted?”“That’s right sir, you’ll just have to leave it for a few days. Our runesmith will enchant them with the spell that you desire but if the weapon is of bad quality he might deny the request.”

The man nodded while thinking over this proposition. When going by the catalog this would be the cheapest option form them all. It seemed that the craftsman needed to analyze the weapon first before deciding. Not every item was meant for enchanting, he needed to bring over a weapon made from at least deepsteel.

“I’ll have to think about it…”

“Take your time sir, our runesmith will be accepting new items in a week.”

Elodia bowed to the man that after going through the book finally left the store. This catalog was an idea brought up by the store owner along with the pictures. It was a simple idea but she could already see the power of visualization. The adventurers were inclined to buy more after going through the flashy drawings and good prices. She wasn’t sure why but if they listed something with a price that ended with ninety-nine or ninety-five the item sold better. It was as if the price dropped by a whole gold coin while it only decreased by a single silver coin.

“Not that many customers today…”

After looking out through the window she gave out a sigh. Today had been a slow day for some reason. But thanks to this she could check up on the new store worker that had been doing her own task.

“How is it going, Marcie?”

“I’m finished with one…”

In a smaller side room Marcie the new scribe worker was sitting at a small desk. On it there was ink and various quills with which she could practice her craft. As a scribe, she could write a lot faster than a regular person as well as copy down what had been put to paper. Her task was to duplicate some fliers Roland had created with his own superior drawing skill that a scribe could also procure. It was different to a painter’s painting skill which was focused on canvas paintings and multiple colors.

“Let me see… Well done, the lines are a lot better this time around, did your skill level up?”

“Hehe.”

The girl nodded with a smile on her face which caused Elodia to brighten up as well. Ever since she got the orphans to work here the place felt a lot warmer. Marcie spent a lot of time with her in the shop which made time pass faster. Then Jorg was inside of the crafting compound going through some tasks that Bernir gave him. Even Fin showed up from time to time as he was working as a delivery boy during his trial for the guild.

‘Everything is moving forward, I’m sure all the kids will be able to find jobs.’

Things seemed to be going well, with more of the children working the weight on her shoulders started to decrease. Money was not a problem anymore and within the next few years, all of the kids would be able to start their journey into adulthood. While she didn’t think that she would ever stop worrying, everyone would at least have a brighter future waiting for them, and that had always been her main goal.

The shortage of customers brought her outside. The weather was nice and the green grass was surrounding them from all sides. With the inclusion of Jorg the idea of developing a stone pathway had been brought up. This would be a long-term project but would also allow the child to level up his class rather fast. Everything was in the process of measuring but perhaps in a few weeks, the young half-dwarf could start his first long-term project.

“Hm?... Is that…Roland?”

She whispered in a faint voice as she knew Roland didn’t want to have his real name spoken out. A runaway noble from a militaristic family was what she had fallen for. It sounded like a romance novel that she once read when she was younger. Before she knew it, their paths had intertwined with each other.

Thus the surprise on her face was quite visible. The man that everyone knew as Wayland the Runesmith was charging down the road at full speed. Behind him was a large wolf covered in red rubies that was having a hard time keeping up which was apparent by how much his tongue was sticking out and flopping around.

‘Why is he back so soon, he usually is out for an entire week?’

Elodia wondered as this was the usual time that he disappeared down into the dungeon. While she didn’t want to ask too many questions about his work, it was clear that he was bringing back various precious metals and minerals down from the mine.

To her knowledge, he had discovered a hidden mine that he was mining from but besides that, there wasn’t really much else. Could someone have discovered the secret mining area? Could the dwarven union be up to no good once again?

“W-what’s wrong?”

She blurted out right at the moment the armored man appeared before her. His speed was so tremendous that his feet dug into the ground as he tried to break. He ended up right before her with a cloud of dirt being thrown everywhere. The hired adventurer guard that was there jumped out with their sword drawn.

“It’s fine, please put that down.”

A bodyguard like this had always been taken from the guild whenever Roland went out for the mining expeditions. Together with various golems and protective turrets everywhere, the whole place was rather safe.

“We have a situation… first off, close the store then meet me on the inside and bring Bernir along… you there, go home to the city.”

Without explaining much Roland pointed toward the hired guard to tell him to go home. Soon after he sprinted towards the gate to get to the inside of the compound.

…

Roland didn’t know how much time he had. The skeletons were tier 2 monsters and could even run faster than an average human. They would surely make it to the top levels and continue to chase after their targets if not stopped by their leader the Lich.

He did not know if it was even possible for that monster to pull back his forces after giving the initial order. The skills that allowed such monsters to control their created armies had a limit to them. At most he would have a closer connection to those higher level black skeletons instead.

If he got lucky only the initial burst of skeletons would make it up to the top floor. Perhaps the rest would remain down in the lower level to form a protective barrier around their master. Then the platinum party of adventurers that got hired could contend with the monster instead.

Even with that best-case scenario, there was still a problem. His house wasn’t that far away from the dungeon and if the skeletons burst through the exit then it was in danger. The forest that somewhat disguised his property could potentially confuse the mindless monsters but it could also give them a chance to get closer.

His main line of defense was the large magical turrets and the large walls around his land. Even if they were breached for some reason they had a whole underground workshop to hide in. The monsters would probably give up chasing them if they weren’t provoked or lost track of them.

The biggest problem here was all the magical devices. Monsters were always attracted to mana and skeletons made by that Lich could be troublesome. His enemy had gotten used to his unique mana pattern. Perhaps it had some kind of interest in it that couldn’t be excluded. It did toss itself right at him and even into the mana beam. The same thing could happen here after they spotted the runic turrets or the weapons in the shop.

‘Could that monster be drawn to me or something? Will it try to find me if I stay here or am I overthinking this?’

He was not really a monster specialist and whatever knowledge that he got from books couldn’t really be confirmed. One thing was set in stone, he would not abandon his home in the face of this crisis. The defenses that he was setting up for all these years weren’t just for show. This had all been prepared for a situation like this, if the skeletal forces came here then they would be met with turret fire.

‘I should probably give Arthur a heads up…’After using a shortcut to get out of the dungeon he had a leg up over the miners. Considering the skeletons weren’t that far behind that group, they would probably arrive sometime after them. There was still some time to warn people and prepare for a counterattack.

Luckily he had given his noble associate a communication crystal that he had turned into something similar to a phone. It could only forward texts but it was the fastest way of transferring information. While Arthur could only send pre-integrated sentences Roland wasn’t that limited as someone that had access to the runic system.

He was planning to develop something similar to a keyboard for it later yet the thing was far from being able to imitate modern-day smartphones. First of all the mana requirements were immense. It burned through mana fluid or his batteries rather quickly, unless he improved the runic design it would only be fit for mages or people with way too much money.

‘That should do it…’

After a quick message of the impending dungeon break, he went back to scrambling around his home. By this time Elodia and Bernir made their way down into the workshop where he was already preparing before Bernig could even ask about the problem he was given the newest model of the gun-staff.

“Take this, you might need it, also I need you to activate the reinforcements on the shop and take out any battle-ready golem you can find in the storage.”

“Uh… Boss, what’s going on? Are we getting attacked? Is it the Hathfordian Empire? But how did they get through those tidal currents and the sea king?”

“Hathfordian Empire? What are you talking about? No, it’s monsters, skeletons to be exact, a Lich has appeared in the dungeon and the minions it produces could reach here, it’s a Dungeon break.”

“Oh my, a dungeon break? How could something like that occur?”

This time Elodia was the one to speak up as she tried to catch her breath. She as an old adventurer guild receptionist knew the most about such strange phenomena. Even though her mind was telling her that something like that wouldn't be possible she also didn’t think that Roland would lie about such an occurrence.

“A dungeon break you say? But why would we worry about that, can’t the guild take care of it themselves?”

Replied Bernir who placed the oversized magical gun over his shoulder. From his perspective, they didn’t really need to do anything.

“You don’t understand, those monsters could get here, there were far too many…”

“Is it that bad?”

Bernir’s smirk vanished after he re-evaluated Roland's words. The more they saw him scrambling around the more they started to take everything seriously.

“Aye, I’ll go close the shop and take the pricier stock out, hey you there boy, come and help me out!”

“S-sure!”

Jorg had followed after Bernir but he was not really aware of the meaning behind the entire conversation. Marcie on the other hand remained quiet while standing behind Elodia that started to get worried. Roland realized that he couldn’t have kids running around here while murderous skeletons were loose.

“Elodia, it will probably be better if you take those two back to the city, you should stay there, it will be safer.”

“That’s fine but what will you do… are you really going to stay here?”

“Don’t worry, I can handle a few skeletons, they shouldn’t be able to get over the walls but you have to understand that you will be safer in the city.”

While Roland believed in his defenses it was still dangerous. His home was closer to the dungeon than the city was and would potentially draw in a large chunk of the skeletal warriors if they break outside. If Elodia along with the kids remained here it would only cause his mind to wonder. He needed to focus on defending his livelihood, Armand along with Lobelia should have arrived back at the city and would be more than enough to protect them.

“That’s…”

She looked back to Marcie that was behind her. The small ten-year-old girl didn’t really know what was happening but the serious expressions on their faces made her tense up. Elodia grasped the child's hand and finally gave in to the request without arguing. It was clear that the child needed to be brought to safety first.

Dyana was also around, with her help Bernir was able to quickly finish barricading the doors and placing some reinforcements on the windows. These already had metallic bars to prevent people from coming in but were further blocked by already fitting window covers. On the outside, the confused adventurer finally left for the city after being informed about the dungeon break.

The whole compound was surrounded by a large wall and barbed wire above it that could be electrified. The skeletons didn’t have flesh but they were not resistant to magical energies either. It all depended on their numbers but Roland was somewhat confident in being able to protect his property.

“Don’t worry Boss, I’ll get them all to safety but…”

“You have my gratitude, now go, I’ll be fine.”

After some time passed the whole area inside was occupied by spider drones. Bernir, Dyana, Elodia, and the two children had all gathered together. All of them were on their way to the city where Roland hoped for everyone to seek shelter. He did not believe that the monsters would be able to storm the city. There were far too many adventurers living there and if one of the tier 3 monsters appeared the guild master should be able to contend with it.

It was more dangerous to remain here in an enclosed space that could be easily sieged by the monsters. He was the only one that needed to remain to monitor the runic turrets and order his mechanized company of spider drones into battle. Without others around him, he would be able to focus on the task at hand.

“Awoo!”

“Yes you too Agni, get Elodia to safety, keep her and the little ones safe, that’s your mission do you understand?”

“Woof!”

The wolf looked a bit concerned but nodded as he understood the meaning of those words. Soon the group of five was delving back into the forest area while he continued to watch. Perhaps he was alone but he would not let any monster touch the property he had been working so many years on.