The Runesmith

‘I should be able to take out a few petty criminals, without anyone getting hurt…’

Roland tried to pump himself up while slowly walking with around fifty armored men behind him. This would be his first actual time leading a larger group of people that wasn’t composed of wood. They weren’t going to war but anything could happen. Even though they were against untrained forces he needed to account for their levels.

Normally this would be a job he’d push into Gareth’s or Morien’s lap but at the moment the two weren’t ready yet. Mary would soon begin their training and show them the ropes to get their levels up. Before that happened his responsibilities would continue. Showing the underground bosses that the city was not theirs was something only he could achieve. After defeating one head knight and easily taking out five platinum adventurers, Roland’s morale was high and he wanted to keep the ball rolling.

‘The Commander was right, they can’t see us…’

'Hey, keep your voice down! What if he overhears you? Do you want us to spend the rest of the night running around the field?'

One of the soldiers whispered, cautioning the other.

‘Ah, shit…’

The other soldier replied, realizing the importance of maintaining their stealth. The group of fifty knights made considerable noise, but the sound was contained within an invisible barrier. Furthermore, their presence was veiled by a mysterious, shadowy haze. Two soldiers who were whispering couldn't believe that the people they passed by seemed completely oblivious to their presence. No one reacted or caused any commotion, which was highly unusual given the circumstances.

‘Those guys need more training. I need to design a portable cloaking unit so they can use it by themselves…’

A lot of crimes happened when the city guards weren’t looking. It was normal for them to not be able to be everywhere and thieves usually implemented lookouts that warned whenever a patrol approached. With the help of a few spells, it was possible to shroud his people in shadows and silence their footsteps. Even if there was a lookout it would make discovering them quite hard. For the time being he was producing his own runic effect but this test was a success.

“Mary, how does it look?”

“I had to take care of another person, I think that we don’t have much time before they discover that something is wrong.”

“I’ll be right there, the gambling house should be around the corner. I bet some of the important clients or associates will try to flee in the middle of our raid. I’ll leave it to you to take care of that…”

‘That’s easier said than done but fine.’

Roland cut off the connection to Mary as he approached their target. The building started coming into view and it was becoming hard to hide the large group of soldiers. They were now in the pleasure district and it was around one hour after midnight. Many people flocked to this area of pleasure and he wouldn’t even be surprised if one of the people from the crowd was Armand.

“Huh?”

“What the…?”

“Listen up everyone, we will do as we discussed earlier. Keep to your Squad, surround the building, and don’t let anyone suspicious escape. We aren’t here for blood but protect yourself if you have to.”

“Yes Sir!’

People that were in the pleasure district were astonished by a dual line of armored men suddenly walking out of an alleyway. There was no indication of them rummaging through the streets but now their footsteps started echoing throughout the neighborhood. Usually, city guards didn’t reach this area which allowed for the seedy element to prosper. From this day forth people would know that that was going to change.

“What are they doing? Are they going to arrest someone?”

“Isn’t that the new knight leader or what you call it?”

“Hey, aren’t they headed in the direction of that gambling house?”

“Yeah, that’s where the Lucky Goblin is… Did something happen there?”

“Beats me… but how about we check it out?”

A crowd began to form as the people formulated their theories about the large group of armored soldiers. Most of them knew that the gambling dens had their share of illicit activities but usually something like this was cleared up by bribes. In their eyes, either the city lord was trying to make some kind of example or was trying to force the gambling boss to pay a steep sum. Most of them believed that the nobles were all greedy bastards so the thought of this just being a raid to help the common people, was usually thrown out instantly.

‘Just as expected, the peanut gallery is assembling, I hope that they will be smart enough to keep their distance. I wonder how those guys will do…’

“Mary, we are going to start the operation, your squad should be there soon, coordinate with them at your leisure.”

“Finally.”

Before he contacted Mary, a small squadron of eight people that were hiding in the shadows split away from the main group. These people belonged to a special unit that Mary was assembling and was composed of people with more agile classes. They could use their nimbleness to move through the rooftops without making much sound. This group didn’t answer his call as they had been a special unit created by Mary herself. Probably if he ever came to blows with this maid, her small group of assassins would be after him.

‘Should I make my own special unit?’

The thought of creating his personal army had crossed his mind. Having a whole faction with many soldiers was quite enticing. Even if he reached the levels of tier 4 he would still probably not be able to go against a whole country. There were many boons when acting together within an organization and even more if you were the person on top. While thinking about creating his own special Runic Knight regiment, he and his current troops finally arrived at the destination.

“Ignore the people that are on the outside but don’t let anyone else escape, especially if they come from that building.”

“Yes, Commander!”

The fifty men shouted out and instantly brought everyone's attention to one side. The people waiting outside the gambling building started quickly scattering. On the other hand, the doorman and the bouncers that kept people from entering started backing away. At this point, the bosses on the inside were probably already informed as more of these bodyguards came pouring out.

It was quite the spectacle and not something Roland had imagined ever doing. His life of keeping a low profile was now over and his name was already being circulated in various intelligence guilds around the island. After this event was over there was a high probability of some animosity getting directed at him. When that time came, he needed to be ready and preparing for the future was something he was good at.

“Stop, you are in violation of the city law. Do not resist, you will be granted some liberties and a reduced sentence if found guilty of crimes against the Valerian House. We are here to apprehend the owner of this establishment. Anyone that is not directly involved in this case will be able to go home. Do not resist and allow the soldiers to confirm your identities if you do not wish to be persecuted...”

Roland used his runes to enhance his voice. It sounded like he was talking through a microphone at a large concert. Even people that weren’t involved in the raid could easily hear what he was saying. The message was clear, the people that were involved with the crime den were to be apprehended while the customers would not.

While there were fifty guards to round everyone up, the number of people on the inside was still larger. They estimated that even two hundred people could have gathered there with perhaps more criminals rushing to this location to help their boss escape. He did not believe that they would lay down their weapons and surrender but continue to stall instead.

“What are you doing, the Knight Commander gave you an order!”

“Screw yourself, who do you think that we are? Just wait for the boss to arrive, we rule this city and not you fucking nobles!”

The guard captain was with him for this mission. He shouted at the person that was the main doorman but as expected he did not want to surrender. This complicated things as Roland did not actually wish for this to turn into a bloodbath. It would be easy to defeat these people if he activated his spells but there were a lot of people watching. Arthur would start looking like a bloodthirsty maniac if he just allowed his soldiers to slaughter people.

“What’s with all this noise?”

“It’s the big Boss! Now you are in for it!”

Not soon after he asked for a full surrender one of the bosses of this business appeared. There was a reason why he chose to attack this place he was trying to kill two birds with one stone. The man that appeared before him looked confident and was the man responsible for the ‘security’ in this place.

When looking at this man’s status he was reminded of another meathead that he knew. There were three classes that they even shared with each other. This person was part of the Goliath race and was a head taller than even Roland that was standing at around two meters inside of his armor.

Even if he didn’t go through the status screen it was painfully obvious that the man used his arms to fight. His fist looked like two boulders that had been strapped to two tree trunks for arms. There were many various scars all over those massive mitts and his knuckles had a plethora of calluses. It was as if this man spent his free time punching holes into boulders that caused all those injuries.

‘It’s probably a requirement to level up his skills…’

Some classes came with some specific requirements when it came to leveling up skills. The ‘Metal Fist’ class likely needed the person to continue hitting hard things with their hands. When looking at the state that those fists were in he had to have probably managed to level it up to the fullest. Roland was sure that if he got smacked in the face with something of that size, his face would be caved in. That is if he took in on directly without using his own ways of dampening the blow.

“So you are the leader? Is the man named Ivor inside?”

“Who are you to ask for Mr. Ivor?”

“How dare you speak to the Knight Commander in that tone…”

Before the guard captain could continue Roland raised his hand to quiet him up. The man seemed to have grown a type of fondness for his new Knight Commander. He was sold on the new leader after receiving a significant raise and some nice runic equipment. He knew that the man just wanted to show his loyalty but he didn’t really want this whole thing to erupt into one big melee.

‘Mary, I got Kabir here, I’ll leave Ivor in your hands. I’m sure that he’ll attempt to use one of the thieves guild passages to escape.’

‘He won’t get away.’

‘I know he won’t but try to leave him in one piece, it will look better if he answers for his crimes as per law.’

‘Mr. Wayland, I didn’t take you for such a law-abiding citizen all things considered…’

‘I’ll talk to you later then…’

Roland could hear Mary chuckle slightly after implying his involvement with the thieves guild. Considering how chipper his maid partner was, there didn’t seem to be any troubles inside of the gambling den. For now, it was all going according to plan. While he was confronting the big meathead here she would go after Ivor the real target.

“Are you unwilling to surrender?”

“What if I am? Do you think that me and my men are afraid of those tin soldiers? How about you go back and suck on your mother's tit before all of you die.”

Kabir spoke up while walking forward, it seemed that he didn’t identify the armored soldiers as much of a threat. Roland's side outnumbered the bouncers about two to one but after a quick scan it became clear that the new soldiers were still lacking. This growing syndicate employed old soldiers and adventurers that had probably spent at least ten years out in the field.

The people that he was training were still inexperienced but this was just a surface-level assessment performed by a thug leader. It was perhaps true that the soldiers here were lower leveled but their equipment was much better. Each and everyone had various runic weapons that could turn the tide of battle at any moment. The group of criminals was still inexperienced and would soon have a rude awakening.

"If you possessed even a shred of wisdom, you would recognize the futility of your resistance, but alas, your intellect appears to be sorely deficient. I shall give you one final opportunity to reconsider your course of action and surrender."

Roland started moving with slow steps towards the muscle-bound man. Some of the onlookers weren’t sure what his plan was as Kabir was clearly a close ranged fighter. The city Knight Commander was known as a magical knight that could use spells. Most people believed that he was at a disadvantage and making a big mistake. Kabir just watched as the man approached and his smile became wider.

“I refuse. If you want to meet Mr. Ivor then tell that little noble to come himself, he does not control the city, we do.”

“Is that so? Are you sure about that? Have you not been paying attention to what has been happening lately or do you just not care?”

“Bastard, you’re starting to annoy me. I gave you a chance!”

It didn’t seem that this man wanted to hold any kind of conversation and probably was also not able to. His size and demeanor told Roland that Kabir was someone that let his fists do the talking. Even before they could continue he threw the first punch directly towards his armored helmet.

“A man once said, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

Kabir didn’t respond as he found himself baffled by the situation. His large fist which was almost twice the size of his opponent’s, had been grabbed. The large man had used a good amount of his natural strength in this hit, yet it was still halted. He saw the hand going for the grab but intended to just send it flying in the direction of his opponent's face. In his mind, there was no possibility of his well-trained attack to be halted in such an easy fashion.

A strange blue glow appeared on the metal gauntlet that caught the wild right hook. The moment it collided with this light the power that was put into it started to fade away. Right after a strange ripple phenomenon took place. The glow started traveling from the left hand that caught the large fist upwards towards the left shoulder then to the right one and along the right arm.

“It was a good punch, now here, I’ll give it back to you.”

The large man quickly raised his left hand to protect himself from the hit while also grabbing the left hand that caught his previous punch. His plan was simple, take the hit and quickly overpower the knight that wasn’t even using any weapons. However, the moment that fist collided with his forearm he had a rude awakening.

“Guh…”

Everyone gasped as they heard a strange sound when the mithril gauntlet connected with flesh. The large man loosened his grip and quickly changed his plan as he slid back into two of his men that were shocked by this display of might.

“Isn’t kinetic energy a wonderful thing? Makes fighting against pure physical classes quite rudimentary but not like you’d understand the mechanics behind it…”

“I’m going to kill you!”

Kabir let out a giant roar as he activated a strange skill that was reminiscent of something Armand would do to increase his physical might. His whole body started shining as if it was covered by polished steel with an emphasis on his forearms and fists that now looked like they were made from metal.

The man charged and Roland allowed it to happen. His own skill was activated which produced a blue haze around his entire body. The punches rained down upon him and the soldiers weren’t sure if their commander could take all of it but soon their worries evaporated.

“Hey, isn’t this a bit too one-sided?”

“I didn’t know that the Commander was this strong…”

They were all mesmerized, knowing they were witnessing a spectacle they would never forget. The Knight Commander effortlessly evaded a barrage of punches while expertly countering his opponent. It was as if he could predict where each lightning-fast strike would land. His movements were almost mystical, and his own attacks packed the power of an ogre. In less than a minute, the opponent's enhanced metallic body was covered in fist imprints.

"Argh, I'll crush you to death!"

Desperate to turn the tide of the battle, Kabir charged forward without regard for his own safety. However, all his punches were effortlessly absorbed, leaving grappling as his only option. He managed to close the distance and trapped his smaller opponent in a bear hug, ready to squeeze the life out of him.

But before Kabir could gain any advantage, Roland unleashed a surge of lightning energy. Kabir's entire body was engulfed in electric shocks, intensified by the metallic buff he had on. Soon, the once formidable fighter lay on the ground, his body charred black...