The Runesmith

‘I gave a nice speech but now I need to actually do it…’

Not much time had passed since the knights invaded his home. First, it was thieves or bandits, then it was a murderous Lich and finally, he upgraded to the scariest of enemies, the nobles. All of them chose to attack his home where he just wanted to be left alone. If it wasn’t for all those people then he would have no use pursuing power.

Roland never really was the adventurous type nor did he want fame or glory. Having a place to call home with a small number of friends was what he was pursuing. He never understood people that pushed for multiple friendships or relationships with many partners. To him there was something lost during such a pursuit, there was also no time in the day to foster that many bonds.

This was why his anger was reaching the zenith. Almost everyone from his limited friend group had been attacked by the armored men. Their leader was still in the city and probably at Arthur’s estate forcing him to sign over the rights to the dungeon. This was something that he had already expected and had prepared for. However, he had not expected something like an attack on his home to transpire.

What should have happened was a transfer of ownership to another brother with Arthur remaining a figurehead. His life was not supposed to change much and while this was happening he would use this time to really build himself up. The armor that he was putting on was still the old model as he had no time to innovate. His ascension to tier 3 had been short-lived as not even a week had passed since that day.

‘It probably won’t be as easy as with those tier 2 knights…’

After the whole predicament with Agni was over he had taken out his rage on the remaining knights. Some of them had made it out alive and he had no intention of chasing them down. They were left alive for a reason, to send a message to their leader about what they did. If he eradicated them with no survivors then the other party could claim that it was without just cause. He wanted to have people see them running through the streets to Arthur’s estate while he got mentally prepared for what he was about to do.

‘I don’t know Emmerson well enough to form a strategy but I don’t think he will run from the duel.’

Roland had made up his mind of becoming a head knight. The only real requirement was to be at an advanced level past the tier 3 ascension trial. There were no class limitations in becoming a noble's Knight, even a battle mage could do it if the noble gave them the title.

‘I don’t think Arthur will refuse either…’

This was all of course a scam. He did not get knighted nor did he swear his fealty to the young noble. Luckily such things weren’t forced on paper so if Arthur followed his lead, everything would work out. It was the only part of his plan that was really shaky as it was possible for Arthur to reject his proposal. If such a thing occurred then he would need to go ahead with his backup plan and reveal his last name. By being a son of a Baron he had similar rights to his own possessions and still had a justifiable cause for killing the men.

‘They could have waited a few weeks…’

After setting his helmet onto his head he looked to the side. There he saw a small coin-sized piece of metal. It was quite shiny and looked to be made from a crimson substance. It was a piece of red mythril that he had processed from the ores he took from the dungeon. This would be the basis for his new armor in the future but making it wasn’t easy. Without his new Forgefire Control skill it would have burned a hole in his current smelter.

Fitting runes into the metal wasn’t easy either and required a lot of force. Then there was the problem of developing a whole new runic system of spells. He needed to base everything on tier 3 rune designs that he wasn’t totally an expert in. There were so many new spells and effects that he needed to practice with. Having a few months for all the trials would have been truly a blessing.

Now on the other hand he needed to quickly get rid of Emmerson and start preparing. This was probably only the start of it all, even after this knight commander was gone others would quickly show up. What he needed to do now, was to show that he couldn’t be easily defeated.

‘I can’t let anyone think that I’m an easy target or there will never be an end to it. They say that first impressions matter the most for a reason…’

Finally, he grasped a shield from the side along with his hammer staff. None of the golems would be joining him in this fight as they needed to guard his home once more. With the help of his skill, he managed to restore them to a functional state but they lost a quarter of their original fighting potential. The skills to repair everything through magic weren’t perfect and with too many uses all of his runic products would eventually break down.

“Are you really going to fight their commander?”

“Yes.”

After marching out of his underground workshop he encountered Elodia. She was tending to the sleeping Agni that had not woken up. The procedure he went through where he was blasted with divine energy and then electricity wasn’t something normal. Roland didn’t really know how long he would remain like this but the more he looked at him, the more angered he became.

“Is there really no other way? What if something happens to you? That commander can’t be weak and you’ve just advanced…”

“Perhaps there is… perhaps he’d even apologize to me and give me some gold as an apology… but sometimes there are actions that are inexcusable.”

“I see that you have made up your mind already but… why are you wearing that?”

“Oh, you mean this? Well, I’m playing the role of a Valerian Knight so I needed to look like one…”

Roland had taken one of the Valerian banners that he had stashed away in his workshop and attached it to his neck. It didn’t look too great as he didn’t have enough time to figure out the right dimension or the correct way to attach it to his armor. Luckily Elodia was here and noticed that it wasn’t really positioned well.

“Give me a moment, you can’t really show yourself to the public like this.”

Elodia took out her sewing kit and got to work. The cape just needed a few attachments and with some helpful skills, it wouldn’t take her long for the task to be complete. The Valerian house was represented by a standing stag with a crown on its head. The material had a crimson tint to it and somewhat went well with the darkened silvery armor that he was wearing. After a few minutes, the cape stopped looking out of place and he finally fit the image of a gallant knight.

“Take care.”

“I will.”

For a moment the two remained inside the house with Elodia’s hands hugging him from behind. They didn’t exchange many words and finally, he made his way out of his home. There he encountered his trusted assistant, in his hand, he could see a runic weapon that he had previously utilized to injure one of the knights.

“Give ‘em hell boss and don’t worry, they’ll be safe with me.”

“I will.”

He nodded at Bernir while heading towards the reinforced gate. When outside he looked at the store that was missing glass in the windows and had a lot of melted weaponry inside. Some time had passed since the incident but he was having a hard time remaining calm. On the outside, it didn’t seem like much had changed but on the inside, he was ready to snap.

The knights that had attacked his home had around twenty minutes headstart but this didn’t mean much. With his current body, it wouldn’t take much to catch up to them. His foot moved forward as he started walking into the forest. His steps started getting faster and faster until he was already running. Even though he was wearing full plate armor and had a cape fluttering behind him, the speed was tremendous.

“Huh? W-what is it?”

With large strides, he arrived at the fork in the road that on one side took him to the city and on the other to the dungeon. His descent from the forest was drastic as he scared some adventurers by heavily landing on the ground with both his feet. Normally the stares he would get were ones of curiosity yet today they were of fright. The moment the people here noticed the crest on his new cape, they dropped their heads down immediately.

In his current getup, he didn’t look much different than the group that arrived at the city. Rumors of them howling people over to the Valerian estate were probably already in circulation. After a silent moment, he resumed his charge towards the city gates at which he noticed the usual guards but today, they were not alone. With them, there also were a few new faces that belonged to his now enemies.

“Halt!”

To no surprise, the gate guards here had already capitulated to the group of knights. The two of them were throwing their weight around without giving any space for the old guards to speak up. Roland wasn’t sure why they were acting like this, their friends that he dispatched had probably already passed through this path. Perhaps they were in such a hurry that they didn’t explain the situation to these two who were now blocking his way.

“Move out of my way.”

"Who do you think you are?”

“A mere knight like you doesn’t have the right to know.”

Knights were not nobles but just like in the latter a pecking order existed. It started with a regular Knight and right after was a Knight Lieutenant. Then it was followed by a Knight Captain and finally a Knight Commander. While there were many knight orders within this kingdom and each noble had their own group, there were some ranks that sustained their worth outside their own orders.

These were Knight Commanders that needed a tier 3 rank for their rank to come into effect. This would also be the rank that he would be given as Arthur’s head Knight. The men that he was interacting with were far below his level and would normally have to bow before him. In the case that they weren’t, he had justifiable cause to punish them for it,

Thus while moving forward he reached out with his hand in the direction of the knight that spoke out. He treated him the same as the Lieutenant, with a simple spell the man was flying through the air and drawn over to his hand. After arriving before him the man was grasped by the neck and lifted up for everyone to see.

Roland made sure that everyone that was gathered here to see his actions. It was something that he actually wanted to spread as rumors throughout the city. With a little wind spell, he also made sure that his cape was fluttering and showing off that Valerian emblem to everyone.

“You dare stand in the way of me? A Knight Commander from the Valerian house?”

“A…a Knight Commander? T-that’s preposterous, we would have been informed about s-such a person if he existe….”

“Silence.”

The man was instantly thrown to the side like a doll made of straw. The amount of power that Roland was in possession of was truly tremendous. This knight with all of his heavy armor tumbled around for a good ten meters before colliding with the wall to the side. This tier 2 man was unable to make any sense of the situation as he passed out from the collision. He was still alive but some of his bones were fractured in a few places from the drastic toss to the side.

“Y-you dare attack the Valerian Knights?”

“Do you have a problem with your hearing, soldier? Move to the side while I’m feeling merciful.”

This was the main gate and entrance to the whole city. On the side, there were many carriages with merchants and adventurers that were watching this strange scene playing out. They all could see the fluttering cape and stag that represented the Valerian household. The same emblem was fluttering above them on one of the flags which to them meant that it was some strange internal issue between knight orders.

“What are you waiting for?”

“But he said…”

“He must be lying why would a Commander from the Valerian order be here?”

The knight that remained at the entrance gate was almost foaming at his mouth. The soldiers that were here were composed of people from the city. It seemed that all the other knights from Theodore’s side were busy somewhere else. He could do nothing more than to rely on the manpower that was given to him but it wasn’t working. Even less after Roland activated the skill that he learned during his tier 3 trial.

“I said, MOVE!”

The armor that he was wearing started glowing and showing off various runes that were inscribed onto the metal. A suppressive wave of energy washed over the entire area causing people's knees to buckle. It was his Runic Suppression skill that informed everyone about his tier 3 status. No one that was gathered here could resist the pressure that was coming from his armored form and soon the situation shifted.

“W-welcome Sir. Knight Commander!!”

“M-make way for the Commander!”

Some of the guards had probably figured out who was under the armor but they could not be sure. Sometimes rumors about Roland being something more than a runesmith circulated throughout the city. After the Lich was defeated some even believed that he had killed it himself. With this information and the knight covered in runes, they could only move. It did look like this man belonged to the Valerian household so there was nothing that they could do.

No one could say anything, they just watched him strut through the area with everyone moving to the sides. It was a strange feeling for Roland, it was as if he had finally gained the recognition that he was owed. Perhaps some people would be ecstatic to be given this treatment but he wasn’t. Putting himself in the spotlight wasn’t something that he enjoyed after this day was over he would probably need to get used to this type of treatment.

“I–is he gone?”

“W-who was that? I thought I’d suffocate…”

“Is that what a tier 3 person feels like?”

“I thought I would die…”

“Could that have been Wayland the Runesmith? The armor looked familiar.”

"The Runesmith? You must be joking, I'm sure that the Runesmith probably just made that armor."

Only after Roland had left the entrance gate and vanished behind the corner did the people gathered there dare to speak out. They were all suppressed by his new skill that didn’t discriminate between individuals. Even some high-level adventurers that were mixed into the crowd could not keep from sweating. Some of them were already running towards the adventurer guild to tell the news of the maddened knight that was stomping towards the Valerian villa.

Their conversations didn’t really go unnoticed as all of Roland’s senses were enhanced after achieving his new class. This included his hearing through which he could hear them talking from afar. He could only increase his pace while the people continued to speculate about his arrival. Soon enough his goal became clear as he was storming for Arthur’s estate where all of the other Knights were gathering.

‘Just as I expected, they won’t just let me through that easily but it doesn’t matter…’

“Hey what are you…”

“S-stop him…”

“H-how?”

When going through the main gate he encountered some of the proper Valerian knights. Some stood in his way and were even able to somewhat resist his suppressive skill. Even when they did there was no way to stop him. Even simple mana spells were enough to send them flying to the sides. All arrows, ranged attacks and magical bombs that they came equipped with could not get past his shield.

“Get out of my way.”

Finally he was there at Arthur’s Villa but he did not see the owner anywhere. It seemed that he was either inside of his home or somewhere keeping Emmerson busy. He was aware of some of his schemes but it didn’t seem that any of the platinum adventurers that he previously met had arrived. There were no other tier 3 class holders in the vicinity, only one fit the bill and was also showing up on his map.

“Knight Commander Emmerson, you’re the leader of these knights right? Come out, unless you’re too scared to face me in a proper duel.”

He shouted loudly while enhancing his voice with a runic spell. The large dot that represented his enemy was quick to react to his taunts. He wasn’t alone though, a lot of the armored men he arrived with were also here. They were quick to come out from the sides to encircle his location and probably waited for their leader to give them the order to attack. Even if it was Roland, he wasn’t sure if he could take this large group of people alone.

‘So that’s him? He looks big… might be a strength type… or a defensive one.’

Finally, he saw the man who he would be facing. He exuded a certain aura and carried himself to fit the image of a Knight Commander. The armor that he was wearing looked bulkier than the one Roland came equipped with. The sword on his right side was also quite thick and the shield on the left would not be easily broken.

However, this did not stop Roland from taking a few steps forward, this man had to go down. The way he carried himself spoke more than words. It was certain that this man had gone through his share of hardships and managed to come out on top. It didn't seem that he was that ratted by this forced encounter or the duel either. Roland didn't show any fear either, instead, he activated his analyzing skill to see if perhaps he could gain some data about his new opponent.

'Level Two hundred fifteen, This might not be as easy as I assumed.'