The Runesmith

‘What is that idiot doing this time…’

Roland stood there not knowing what to do. Normally he would just wait until Armand and the person he was up against argued it out, not like it was any of his business, to begin with. The biggest problem here was his relation to Elodia, she was right next to him and he could see the concern in her eyes.

In the three years that had passed Armand didn’t remain stagnant. He had actually improved significantly and became a proper gold rank adventurer. The only thing that he didn’t like, was the choice of class that Armand went with.

Just like the name implied, the class caused some anger management issues. Armand was already prone to mood swings, this was apparent during the interactions he had with him three years ago. The only reason he took the class was probably due to how overpowered the berserk skill actually was.

While this skill had many faults, the boost it gave its users was truly immense. At higher levels, this skill could actually be offset by other ones and be controlled. It was not such a bad choice for a close-quarters fighter as long as the people from their party kept their distance.

As the name implied the skill user would go into a sort of berserked state. During this state, he or she would focus on the enemies before them. As long as the user-focused their anger on a specific target before the skill activation it would be pointed towards it.

The biggest drawback was probably not that there was a possibility of attacking their allies but the fact that they would abandon all defensive measures. The boost in stats would bloat up the muscles and turn the user’s body into something close to steel.

But even then, if the opponent’s attacking power was high, they would just be rushing to their deaths. If Armand actually managed to master this skill and keep a somewhat clear head, he could easily go against other warrior types that were even ten levels above his.

“Wait.”

“But…”

While he was trying to examine the situation, Elodia started moving forward. He had to place his hand in the way to make her stop. While his girlfriend normally managed to keep a cool head, it was only when it came to business-related situations. When it came to her loved ones and family, she didn’t always think things through.

“I know, I’ll step in if it gets out of hand but if we do it now, we could escalate the situation.”

Roland feared that there could be more of those guards around. From his first impression, it looked like the men were just hired, thugs. In this case Armand punching them out could just be attributed to self defense. A problem would only arise if they were actual city guards hired by the city or noble lord. If a person raised a hand against them, they would be placed in prison where they would remain until bail was posted or they were sentenced.

“See that man.”

Roland pointed to who looked to be the leader. The two remaining guards had their shields and swords out and defended him while he was glaring at Armand.

“Isn’t that…”

“He is part of the merchant guild… but you seem to know that already?”

Elodia’s reaction to the man was a bit strange as he could see her flinch slightly. While he noticed this in his mind, it wouldn’t be surprising for her to know him. The man was one of the members of the merchant guild in Albrook. It wouldn’t be surprising that Elodia came in contact with him through her previous work at the Adventurer guild.

“Also I wouldn’t worry about Armand if I were you, that merchant is in more danger than anyone…”

It was clear that the small group of guards that the merchant brought over were no match for this Fist Berserker. They were all around level ninety which put them at a big disadvantage against someone that went through their second tier 2 class change.

The guards were probably retired adventurers that could not push themselves past the silver rank. This wasn’t anything strange as not everyone wanted to risk their lives by fighting scary monsters in tight corridors of a dungeon.

Working as a guard for a merchant was mostly a lot easier and the only thing they needed to worry about was bandits. Then during transporting goods the merchant would also hire more adventurers for protection.

The guards would mostly just surround their boss while the adventurers did the dangerous part of fighting off monsters and bandits. This didn’t mean that it wasn’t dangerous at all like now the guards found themselves against a person that they couldn’t handle. If Armand wanted, he could probably kill all four of them here.

“How barbaric, I came here to pass on the information. If you want to blame someone, blame the person that signed that contract.”

The merchant that was standing there pulled out a handkerchief that was made from some costly fabric and covered his mouth with it. It was as if this place filled with orphans was below someone like him.

“You’re still spouting that nonsense!”

In response, Armand just shook his fist at the merchant that shrunk back. The difference in strength between these two was night and day.

“Blasted ungrateful savages, I have given you the notice, if you don’t comply with it, I will inform the city lord. I'd like to see you act the same when you get thrown into prison! We are done here, take those two idiots.”

The merchant started shouting back at Armand that remained standing in place. When some kind of contract and then notice was mentioned Roland was a bit confused. Soon though he discovered that there was some kind of large parchment thrown to the side. It was mangled up but it was there.

Luckily this was when it ended, the other guards grabbed their passed-out colleagues before walking away. When they did, Elodia finally snapped out of it and decided to move towards Armand to ask some questions. On the other hand, Roland homed in on the paper that was to the side.

‘What is this… You are hereby required to vacate the premises, failure to vacate will result in…’

After getting the dirt out he started to read through it. There wasn’t much, it was clearly an eviction notice. It stated that the contract that they previously signed would be annulled and it would go per some clause that was in the previous contract.

‘Are they just willing to pay the penalty for annulling the contract or did they find a loophole to evade it?’

Roland wasn’t really sure about how Elodia came to own this house. She did tell him that the price was quite low as it was a building in an unfavorable location and there were many things to fix.

This unfavorable location was probably due to it being close to the Albrook slums that had formed close by. After three years had passed though a lot of the bad elements of the city had been pushed back into another location. There were even some shops and restaurants opening up close by. If this was the true reason, he would need to investigate further.

“Hey, give me that!”

As he was approaching Elodia, Armand took it upon himself to quickly swipe the eviction notice from his hand. He never saw anyone crumble up a piece of paper so fast.

“Hey, what was that?”

Asked Elodia while Armand just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll figure it out…”

“Oh, I really hope you aren’t planning on storming the merchant guild or something?”

Roland chimed in as he clearly knew what was down on that paper. Armand was somewhat protective of his older sister. The two almost had a third confrontation with each other when it came out that he was dating Elodia.

Luckily Lobelia was there and managed to talk him out of it. In reality, he attributed this to Armand knowing that he wouldn’t stand a chance in a one-on-one battle with him anyway. Even now after three years, Roland had managed to overtake Armand in levels. Everything ended in a contest of strength, which was just a simple arm-wrestling contest, which he won.

“Elodia, do you have a copy of your house’s ownership contract?”

“Of course I do, but why would you want to…then that parchment…”

“Yes, it was an…”

Before he could reply he could see Armand’s hand move towards his face. His ‘ brother-in-law’ was clearly trying to cover his mouth before he babbled out the secret. Before Armand could silence him, Roland intercepted his wrist with his own hand. He had already proven that his raw stats were superior, so he didn’t have much trouble in blocking this approach.

“Armand, what are you doing? Did you go crazy?”

Elodia shouted out from the side as she was taken back by what her younger brother was doing.

Roland didn’t blame Armand for acting this way. He was just trying to solve problems their problems by himself. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lobelia got involved along with the thieves guild to try to force the merchant to capitulate. This would be quite the risky maneuver though if they ever got caught they would lose more than a building.

“Give it a rest, this is not something you can solve with brute strength.”

Roland let go of Armand’s wrist as the two started struggling with each other. While he was stronger than the muscle brain, there wasn't such a big gap between them.

“Let’s go inside before everyone from Albrook finds out…”

He looked to the side, people started gathering as they clearly heard Armand shouting. If they continued to cause a scene, even guards could shop up.

Elodia had somewhat figured out the meaning behind Roland’s previous words. Thus she bolted into the orphanage to go to the safe where the contract was. Armand and Roland on the other hand just headed in slowly behind her.

“Could you stop glaring at me, not like I had anything to do with that eviction notice.”

“No, but if you kept quiet then Elodia would have gotten involved.”

“Is there a problem if she gets involved?”

Roland replied quickly while Armand never let up with the glare. He understood the sentiment behind the white lie but it was better to have someone that actually knew a thing or two about contracts help out.

Three years had passed and this place did start looking a bit better. Even though Armand had a falling out with the guild master, he was now a gold rank adventurer. So was Lobelia, who managed to get through the test a few months ago. With The rise in status came the rise in pay and they could finally start repairing.

Elodia also had much more time to spend with the kids so she made sure that the money was well spent. The number of orphans also didn’t increase and a few of them were actually old enough to get their first classes and start working. It did seem like this place was on the rise but apparently, the merchants didn’t see it that way.

It was still quite loud inside but even the youngest child was past five and didn’t need to be spoon-fed. Roland didn’t really pry into Elodia’s past too much as it did seem that she was running away from something.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, will you look through it?”

“If you want.”

Both Roland and Elodia knew the pros and cons of contracts like this. While it might have been written down well, there were always certain ways to go around it. Roland started looking over the contract together with Elodia as they tried to figure out the reason for the eviction notice.

“Would have been easier if someone didn’t throw away the eviction notice…”

Elodia grumbled while Armand removed himself from the room, luckily Roland was fast enough to go through it.

“It said something about poor living conditions… I think they are trying to go with that angle to get back the house…”

There were certain laws in the city that were put on places like an orphanage. One of them was decent living conditions. It was a somewhat obscure law that no one really followed though as most people were already living in poor conditions. In this case, though, it could be a potential reason to break the contract.

“What we can do is go to the city hall and have someone inspect the orphanage, only then should the eviction notice go through… but it seems…”

“Did they already sign off on it?”

Roland nodded at Elodia’s question as the inspector should have been sent to the house prior to the eviction notice. But the merchants had deep pockets and they could potentially bribe such an official to quickly sign off on it.

“I knew those bast…”

“You be quiet, don’t you even think about doing anything stupid!”

Armand peeked his head back into the room where Elodia and Roland were discussing the current situation. It was clear that if they left it in the hands of this muscle brain, he could get himself in a big mess. Now that there was no guild master backing him, it could go south quite fast.

“Elodia is right, if you touch a proper city official you might actually become a wanted man, but if you want to start a new career as a bandit, then go ahead.”

Roland shrugged while getting glared down by the large man.

“Then what are we supposed to do? Just pack our bags and leave?”

“I didn’t say that… we must first see who this inspector is that signed off on that fake inspection. We still have some time, no need to rush things.”

Roland gave out a sigh as this was not what he expected when this day had started. Instead of spending some quality time with Elodia he would need to pay a visit to the city hall. Even worse, if all things failed the new noble lord might have to get involved as he might be the only person that wasn’t on the merchant guild’s payroll...

…….

“Hm… where did it go… oh there it is, that man sure can throw them.”

A certain cloaked figure looked down at a rolled-up ball of paper. The person was of average build and height but after closer inspection, there was something off with the hood. There were two lumps protruding from the hood, making it seem that there was something pointy there.

A few moments ago the person witnessed quite the spectacle. Two armored guards went flying before their eyes. It was quite magnificent to watch, it only took one punch and one kick from the person named Armand to quickly disarm the two opponents.

Regretfully that was when the battle ended, the two parties just continued to shout at each other before the merchant and his guards left. This left this hooded person in a state of disappointment as they wanted to see if the brawler was someone that they could hire.

But as they continued to watch there was more to it, another interesting person showed up next to a woman wearing glasses. The person was quite big and radiated something to what this hooded person was well attuned to. It told them that it would be wise to not get involved with that person.

This got them interested, who was he? and why was he involved with the man that easily dispatched the guards. Were they just a strong party of adventurers or was there more to it?

“Hope this answers some questions… hmm, an eviction notice?”

It became apparent that the people there were being evicted for one reason or another.

“Hm… this is getting more interesting but could this really aid my lord?”

The hooded person decided to take the eviction notice as there was more information about the involved party there. If this was something that they could use later was up to debate but that man was somewhat intriguing.

“His class was special but he is hiding behind some tricks, I need to gather more information!”

The person laughed to themselves before sinking back into the crowded street.