The Runesmith

“I bring some ill tidings.”

“What happened? Weren’t ye suppose to close that deal? what’s th' hold-up?”

“Weel sir, it seems that th' City Laird decided to not sell us th' rights nor does he wantae rent it.”

“How come he wouldn't, did ye offer him th' usual cost? Does he expect moar?”

“Na, he wouldn't even budge when ah showed him th' premium prices, Ah think he wants to keep th' exclusive rights to th' mines… or does he want somethin else?”

Dunan was having a conversation with one of the other dwarves that helped them manage the union branch here. Ever since the new part of the dungeon was discovered along with that mine, they wanted to get their hands on it. While the dungeon was a neutral zone where everything could happen, they didn’t want to battle against adventurers while mining.

This neutrality could be taken away if the city lord sold them or rented out the mine. With them having the right papers they could send in the Valerian soldiers after anyone that attempted to take materials from this mine. Without them, they would have to establish a large protective force to keep their miners safe. Now on the other hand, it looked like they wouldn’t even be able to do that.

“If he wants to keep th' rights fur his-self, does he intend to establish his ain mining company?”

“It does seem so... Ah bet that runesmith hud something to do wi' it. It can not be a coincidence.”

“Wayland…”

Dunan recalled the recent events which involved this person. He had been announced to have been actually a Knight, the Head Knight even. This didn’t make sense to the dwarf, how could a runesmith become a nobles knight, was he really a runesmith to begin with?

They had been dealing with him for years now and their attempts of cutting him off from the market had been unsuccessful. Someone had been supplying the man with materials for his shop that was able to survive. The magical weapons that he supplied were real though, so either he had some type of runesmithing class that was unique or someone else was making all of them.

Now that he was ousted as a Knight this all made more sense. It was possible for this ploy between the City Lord and the Runesmith to have been decided years ago. Perhaps the City Lord knew that he would arrive in this city and had his Head Knight establish a foothold before he arrived.

Dunan was aware of all the sales numbers and they were a bit behind the other cities. The Valerian house also had its own auction house that sometimes sold runic items that were seemingly produced by this runesmith. They lost some market share due to his involvement and the magic store outside the city had become quite an eyesore. Now they couldn’t even stop him from directly getting their wares as he was part of the ruling faction.

“That mist be it, thay planned a' o' it 'n' wanto profit o' th' mines!”

The dwarven leader slammed his fist onto the nearby workbench while scowling. Without those papers, they couldn’t do anything and how things were going, they probably would be pushed out even further. It was becoming clear that the lord of this city had taken Waylands side. Their direct competitor here could not be touched. This wasn’t even the worst part of it, if the man wanted he could make things really difficult for all of them.

“Sur, we have a problem... Th' human runesmith is 'ere…”

“What now?”

While Dunan was trying to think about who he could bribe to get this sorted out another member from the smithy burst into the room. It was one of the dwarves that worked in the nearby store that he decided to visit today. After hearing that Wayland was there, he started getting a foreboding feeling. Was he here to pay them back for what they did to him?

“Calm down, Ah will handle this.”

Dunan was part of the upper echelon of craftsmen here. Previously he thought that this place had been a dead end but after the dungeon’s rank increased to B there was hope again. The union was already talking about sending out a master craftsman to help with the infusion of platinum adventurers.

If there were enough of them in this region, then they needed to create equipment for them to buy. It was a chance for him to learn from a real master and then later advance to a master blacksmith himself. However, it would look like he was incompetent at managing the union branch for allowing the mine to slip from their hands. He might not care if it had been a long-lasting ruse thought up by the humans. Thus, he rushed to see what this human was planning, perhaps he could turn this whole thing around and everyone had their price.

After arriving at the shop he saw the man of the hour, Wayland the current Head Knight of Arthur Valerian. Dunan wasn’t that well-versed in the ways of nobility but it was clear that this person carried a lot of prestige. Besides having the backing of the city lord he was also a tier 3 class holder that recently pummeled another strong Knight Commander almost to death. He was still just a regular blacksmith and a merchant, he knew that antagonizing this man was now out of the question.

“Whit does he want?”

At the moment he was just standing around the large store owned by the Union of Dwarves. Dunan was quick to pull one of the clerks to the side to get an answer.

“I don’t kno’ , He just cam in 'n' stairted snooping around th' smithing tool section.”

His appearance was also different, he was wearing some type of armored shirt with the Valerian crest over his heart. The face that he used to cover up with armor or a robe was out in the open. Some of the clients were constantly staring at it as the man’s face was appealing to look at. Dunan didn’t want to say it but he did fit the image of a knight which was probably his true identity from the beginning.

The dwarf tried remembering all the interactions that he had with this man. His mind couldn’t recall anything pleasant as he usually just made snarky remarks whenever they interacted. There was nothing that he could recall that wasn’t an attempt of aggravation and this was even without all the sanctions they brought upon him. Nevertheless, if he had backing from the city lord from the beginning, then their resources spent on bribes were ill-spent.

He had been able to get resources through Arthur from the start, they had been getting played from the beginning. At least this was the scenario that played out in his head that made the most sense. Perhaps now that the cat was out of the bag they could remedy the situation.

“Dunan was it? Could you stop staring? It’s becoming uncomfortable, don’t worry I won’t stay here for more than I have to.”

“Aye?”

Before he could even utter the word to the man he was spotted eyeing him from behind a corner. Instantly he made himself noticeable to not seem like some type of common miscreant.

“A don’t ken whit ye mean, this is ma shop, why wouldn't Ah look at th' folk that comes ‘ere?”

“Is that so, then that’s fine.”

Even though he didn’t want to sound arrogant he instantly blurred out some words that sounded off. He was used to talking down to people thanks to all the backing and even nobles couldn’t look down on the power that the Union carried with it.

“I’ll take this.”

“That?”

“Yes, this.”

“That's not fur sale…”

Dunan’s eyes become larger as he spotted the item that this fellow wanted to take. In hopes of getting on the master blacksmith’s good side, he was already assembling the right workshop. The tier 2 tools that they had gathered would be ill-equipped for such a prestigious craftsman’s hands. Thus he was sure to call up some favors and also emptied his purse to get a few things sent here.

One of those things was a large anvil that was made from mostly mythril a very resistant material. Yet this wasn’t all, this smithing tool had one more thing inside of it that made it special and this was orichalcum. Orichalcum was a very rare metal, much more than the mythril it was mostly composed of.

Thanks to the inclusion of this metal the anvil would not conduct mana as well. This meant that during the process of enchanting the deterioration factor would be lower by a substantial value. If the anvil was fully made from orichalcum it would not allow any mana to pass through it. This was the bane of any magic user as it had an almost full immunity to magical effects and attacks. It was a true anti-magic metal that even tier 4 mages would not stand a chance against.

Yet the biggest downside of this metal was the rarity. Assembling even one set of armor made out of orichalcum would empty the coffers of any noble. Dunan wasn’t sure if even one of these armor sets existed in the whole kingdom. While a suit of armor like this was resistant to all types of magic it also couldn’t be enchanted in any way. Thus it lacked uses besides anti-magical combat and when going against warrior types, it would lose much of its worth.

“It’s not? Don’t worry, I know what it’s made of. I will pay the usual market price for this piece.”

“Ah said that tis not fur sale! Ah ya want an anvil, then pick oot another one.”

Dunan started getting annoyed. Even though he knew that he should not talk back to this person, he could not let himself get bullied. This store was connected to a workshop where a lot of craftsmen worked. They were all now peeking out to see what all the commotion was about. To someone as prideful as Dunan this was the worst possible situation.

“Oh, so you intend to continue? I see how it is but two can play this game.”

Wayland replied while slowly walking closer. His stature was that of a blacksmith, even though he wasn’t as stocky as a dwarf he was still quite muscular. When paired with his height of over one hundred ninety centimeters, he towered over Dunan.

“A rumor has been going around the city.”

“A rumor?”

“Yes, my men told me that cursed weapons have made it inside the city gates.”

“Cursed weapons? A dunno whit yer talking aboot. Ye will not fin' ony cursed items in mah shop.”

“Are you sure about that? Can you vouch for everyone involved in the union? Do you really want my men to search through your wares? If we find any amount of necrosium anywhere near your union's workshop, then you know what will happen, right?”

“Are ye threatening me?”

“Threatening? I don’t know, am I? Just giving a good friend some advice”

The human started whispering while getting closer. His palm landed on Dunan’s shoulder and instantly he started feeling a strange pressure wash over his whole body. It was as if a pile of sandbags were weighing him down.

‘This bastard, even if he doesn't fin' anythin' a'm sure he'll just claim he did.’

The dwarf lived long enough in this world to know what this was about. Even if nothing was found it wouldn’t be hard for Wayland or any of the Valerian soldiers to plant the necrosium in one of their warehouses. Dunan wasn’t even sure if that would have been necessary as he had been turning a blind eye to some of his workers. It was possible that some of his people had some dirt on them and launching an investigation into all of their dealings would be devastating.

“A friend… y-yes, we ur guid friends, ye 'n' me. Ye kin tak' th' anvil."

“You’ve made the right decision, there should be enough in here to cover the cost.”

“Aye…this should be enough.”

Dunan didn’t want to spend any more time arguing with this person. Losing the anvil would set him back for a small amount of time. He was also getting gold coins in return which he could just spend to order a new one. Pushing back the creation of the new workshop was better than ending up in the city dungeon for smuggling cursed weapons and materials.

“Good, I’ll be taking the anvil with me then.”

“Ah, aye ah will have someone carry it over.”

“That’s fine, I can carry it myself.”

The onlookers along with Dunan were baffled by how easily he was able to pick up the heavy anvil. This smithing tool looked similar to any other anvil but it was much denser and heavier. Its weight was well over a hundred kilograms and was easily picked up as if it was a bag of groceries. It became clear that the strength of a tier 3 Knight was nothing to scoff at and his decision of selling it off was the correct one.

…

‘That relieved a lot of pent-up emotions, maybe I should have taken something else besides that anvil?’

Roland was on his way back home from attending a meeting with Arthur. He had tried explaining a few things about the runic city project but he wasn’t sure if he sold it well. Retaining the mine was something he hoped for and thus he came up with a way to move Arthur. The young man clearly needed money and a way to stand out so he expected him to think this matter through. There was a lot of money that could be made along with many new innovations. While there were magical cities out there they didn’t really push their innovations into the city's infrastructure.

Mages tended to gather around in large academies to do magical research and practice their spells. Then later after gathering enough merits and money, they would attempt to establish something like a mage tower. One of such towers even existed back in Edelgard but it was out of reach of the commoner district that he was a part of. No one really wanted to bother making innovations like affordable magical heating or water purifiers. Instead, they continued to play around with spells just enamored in the pursuit of true power.

While all the things that he wanted to implement had already been created before, they had one big downside. They were costly to produce and also required a mage to work together with a competent craftsman. What ended up happening was usually a disaster with not much progress being made and both sides expecting to get reimbursed for their time.

Hiring such a dysfunctional worker force was quite a headache for any noble that wanted to invest in magical innovation. Thus instead of spending the money on new research, they just used older technology that had already been tried out. This was kind of where he wanted to put himself in. Creating affordable runic devices that increased the standard of living and generated taxes. It would be something that every noble would like to sink their teeth in and it would raise the happiness level of the citizens.

This was quite the endeavor though and he would probably not be able to do it alone. It made him think about potential help. With a large Dwarven Union presence in the city, he was even considering them for a moment. Yet after remembering what they did to him in the past, he decided to throw this notion away. There were other guilds that hired craftsmen that could perform the task, like the builder guild that also helped him assemble his home. It was easy to work with them and as long as they got paid, they didn’t ask many questions.

After his mind turned to the Union he remembered the lack of anvils in his workshop. Both his gauntlets had been already created. The sabaton element for his feet had also been assembled but the last anvil was broken before the creation of his grieves. There was one place selling anvils around where he was walking and thus he ended up at Dunan’s workshop and store.

‘Nah, better not push my luck, If I intimidate them too much they might do something drastic and I don’t need more enemies before getting that armor set done. I did not expect to find orichalcum here, this must be my lucky day.’

The anvil was placed over his shoulder as he strutted through the city. The anti-magical component would disperse all of the energies from his runesmithing blows without damaging the metal. This thing would last him for quite some time and would have probably required a long waiting period if he attempted to buy it himself.

‘The only downside was the money, I’m almost broke…’

All of the money he saved up had gone into restoring his home from the Lich attack and now into buying out the proper tools. If this continued he would start asking Arthur for a larger payout. The thing that could alleviate this problem was one proper dungeon run into the area filled with tier 3 monsters.

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well for a while…’

Roland shook his head while going through the main gate. There he was saluted by all the guards which he would need some time to get used to. Things were looking good for him but how long this would stay like this depended on his skills and was a truth that he was aware of.