The Runesmith Chapter 292: Aftermath

“All things considered, this went better than expected, this amount of damage is indeed minor.”

“I’m glad that the destruction of my ho is considered ‘minor damage’, Lord Arthur.”

Roland replied to Arthur while Morien and Myrtle listened in from the side. It was quite surprising for them to see soone acting in this fashion when talking to a noble. While he was inserting the proper titles here and there, it seed he didn’t feel intimidated by the title.

“Haha, I’ll be sure to task soone with the repair of your gate, with all those skeleton bones lying around. It won't be hard to find the funds for it but so of those will be needed to cover the damages to the city gates, so of those magical turrets of yours lted down…”

“I told the dwarves to not overuse them, unless we make them from a superior alloy they will keep breaking down during long sieges.”

Roland frowned while pushing the bla on the dwarves that were tasked with tending to his turret system. Those that he installed at the city gates were the sa ones he had here. They were still made from tier 2 grade materials and required a cooling period between firing off mana bolts. It was likely that the defenders got overzealous and didn’t let them cool down enough between shots.

There was a possibility of hardwiring a forced feature that would bring the turrets offline if they start overheating. He decided not to include it however, as during a siege it was still better to have the magical guns suffer damage than the defenders behind them. An operator needed to decide if it was better to let them rest or continue attacking if the situation was dire enough.

“Perhaps next ti it would be better if a proper Runesmith tends to the runic devices instead~”

A grumbling sound escaped from Roland’s lips after he heard Arthur’s response. Soon their conversation started wrapping up.

“Nevertheless, you may keep the Lich remains but I don’t think I can hand over the remains of the skeletons that are outside of the city. With this we can finally open the gates, that is unless you have sothing more to add?”

“No that’s about it, Lord Arthur…”

“If that is all, then Sir Morien. Take the soldiers and do a sweep around the forest, there might be other monsters that could have made it inside the forest. Securing the dungeon entrance is also a priority, we must establish the route there again.”

“Yes Sir.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“You can help the soldiers with securing the dungeon entrance but if there are not tier 3 monsters to kill for you, then I’m not sure if our agreent will stand, you’ll have to consult with the Guild Master, it was a joint effort between the guild and the city.”

Arthur replied to the cryomancer who was still standing there. Her expression remained docile and without emotion but a faint smile crept up the mont the noble ntioned a potential breach in the contract. This would of course an that they wouldn’t be getting money if there was no Lich to defeat. They would not get the tier 3 monster materials that sold for gold coins either and the trip to this remote region would mostly be wasted.

“I see, I’m sure to have a conversation with the Guild Master then…”

“I’ll excuse myself then, My Lord.”

“Take care and return safely after you complete your mission.”

“By your command!”

Sir Morien perford the usual knightly salute while Roland just stood there and listened. Finally, after the two were going away he could continue with the conversation. He did not ntion his plan to the adventurer party as he did not know where their allegiance lied.

“Wayland, is there sothing more you wish to discuss? If not then I need to get back to…”

Roland peeked behind himself and could still see the adventurer party there along with the soldiers. They were slowly exiting the premises but it would probably take a while until they couldn’t eavesdrop on the conversation. There were two options he could take, one of them was just cutting the feed and contacting Arthur before the adventurer party returned to the city.

This tactic carried a risk of Arthur going away on official business and not being there for a talk. He could not expect a busy noble like him to drop everything just to speak to him every ti. The citizens of the city were probably waiting for him to make a speech and finally allow them to leave.

Thus instead he activated a sound barrier through which the others wouldn’t be able to listen in. It would alert the adventurer party to the hidden talks but not like they had a reason to hear it. Normally there a sound barrier spell could be used for this occasion to block out any outgoing sounds. However Roland didn’t need it, instead, he could directly interface with this runic device and send the sound into his helt. Not even Myrtle a tier 3 mage, or the tier 3 archer would be able to listen into the conversation.

“There is one thing I wanted to ntion, it’s about the Platinum Adventurer party, do you think we can trust them? Also, don’t worry, they won’t be able to hear what we are talking about”

“Is that so? About trusting them? I’m not sure, they are supposedly people that Guild Master Aurdhan knows. They ca here at his behest, it wouldn’t be strange if they owed him sothing.”

“They did get here fast, all things considered.”

Roland nodded as he also agreed that Aurdhan had to have so kind of pull with these five. But he could have just chosen this group as they were willing to do more for less, perhaps the monetary offer was enough to make them move. It wasn’t strange for tier 3 adventurers to have a lot of debt either, they could have been desperate and he used his knowledge of their situation to his advantage.

“We could use those five if you could get them to sign a contract, rember what I told you about the passage to the other dungeon?”

“That… yes we could use them to help us with that issue, it would hasten the process by a lot…”

Arthur started looking down at the ground and thinking. Roland was sure that if it was possible that this noble would push for everything to go as fast as possible. One thing that this man didn’t seem to have was ti, he was constantly taking risky bets which could be avoided if he just waited a while for things to play themselves out.

“I’ll have to talk to the Guild Master but what about you? Are you in a state to prepare that passage in the dungeon?”

“While parts of my workshop have been destroyed, I should be able to get the tools I need within a few days… I’ll just have to get a few things in order but it will be doable.”

Roland didn’t really want to leave his ho while it was destroyed but this was a good chance to move things along. If they let this platinum party go now they could be waiting months for another one to arrive. The city was also in a lockdown which put Arthur in a better position. His authority could not be denied, in crisis situations, nobles gained a lot more authoritative power over the citizens and even the adventurer guild.

“Hm…”

“Is sothing wrong?”

“No, I just thought that you, my friend, might be even crazier than .”

“I’m not sure if that’s a complint or an insult…”

“I’d say both, but now is not the ti to chat, we both have a lot of work to do.”

“Before you go, there is one last issue.”

“Go on.”

“Could you not ntion that I was the one that defeated the Lich?”

“You do not wish to be ntioned?”

“Yes.”

“Hm… I understand but what do you want to say? If I tell the people that the adventurers defeated it, then they might want to keep the full reward.”

“How about, you just ntion that your own soldiers did it, by luring the monster into a trap?”

“I guess that could work but don’t you want the title of hero? I’m sure you’d be also able to profit a lot from this incident.”

“It’s enough if you just ntion that I made the trap, nothing more.”

“If you say so…but you truly are a mystery, well then, I have a lot of work to do, let us talk later.”

“Mhm.”

The conversation between the two ended. He did not really want rumors of a no-na runesmith beating a tier 3 monster to leave the city. At least he didn’t want it to be painted as a solo endeavor. Including the city soldiers and knights in the conversation would steer people away from him. ntioning that he just made the trap that aided in the subjugation was enough to send more clients his way and that was enough for him.

Roland was left to tend to his broken ho and body. The soldiers got on their horses and the five adventurers followed after them. The magician kept glancing at him while entering the forest which he wasn’t sure what ant. During the conversation, he was sure that no one should have been able to hear him talk to the city lord. This didn’t an that it wasn’t possible as there could exist a skill that went around all of his defenses.

‘It shouldn't matter even if they heard it… unless they were sent by one of Arthur’s brothers.’

He wasn’t sure if this plan would work, they were in need of so competent personnel to set up the initial entrance. The issue of the Lich escaping was also out there, he could only attribute it to his mana corrupting the monster in so way. At least he would now be wary of oversaturating the monsters with his mana. It was possible that it was a unique variant and that it wouldn’t happen again but it could also be the reverse.

‘There might be other Liches like this one in there, I need to be careful but there are ways of keeping even a Lich like that in there…’

Roland looked at the destroyed gate and the rectangular-shaped hole before it. The trap that he constructed there was enough to even destroy a Lich. Considering that the undead monsters there were of lower levels than the one that crawled outside, it wouldn’t be that hard to kill them if they managed to walk outside. They would just need to get enough divine crystals to make it work and perhaps soon he could just emulate the energy pattern and forgo those costly gems altogether.

“That is if the deal goes through, I should probably get to work…”

While the monster was dead this was not the end of it all. His ho needed to be repaired and then perhaps he needed to prepare enough materials for the gate inside the dungeon. There was also the problem of so people besides Arthur knowing of the secret mining spot he occupied. A wave of trouble in the form of the dwarven union was probably approaching him but he didn’t fear them anymore. With Arthur’s na he could just deflect everything, if they were told that it was his order they would not be able to pin anything on him.

“I need to fix this hole first.”

The place here beca empty and after glancing at his map he could tell that no more unwelco guests were coming. The soldiers didn’t take the thief corpses with them due to the current situation so for now he decided to encase them in earth with the help of his magic.

His boots began glowing as he had to do a quick nd of the entire compound. The gate was broken and mangled but most of the walls were intact. For the ti being, he decided to create a temporary fix by creating rock walls through his magic. These wouldn’t last for long due to the way they were made but at least he wouldn’t have a hole in his fence anymore.

“I should probably tell everyone that I’m alive, that explosion could probably be seen from the city walls.”

First of all, everyone needed an update on his well-being, Elodia, Bernir and a few other people he knew would probably like to know if he didn’t kick the bucket. His trusty assistant needed to get here as fast as he could as a lot of things needed to be repaired. The walls from earth needed to be exchanged with sothing sturdier and he also needed help creating a new forge.

After giving out a sigh he grabbed the misshapen box with the only working crystal ball inside and went into his ho. There he inford Elodia about this current status and that it was safe to go outside.

“Thank the gods that you are safe but why aren’t you coming to the city?”

“I can’t leave this place without any protection, all of the golems were destroyed and the sa goes for the turrets.”

He did not want to lie to her in this situation but also not say that a group of thieves had already tried to rob him blind. The ssage was probably sent by now so he didn’t expect any more burglars during the night but there was always a small chance that soone could seek revenge. He did not know who the people Agni killed were, there was always a possibility that they were related to soone up the totem pole.

“Are you going to stay there for the night? Wouldn’t it be safer to return to the city, what if …”

“Don’t worry about that, no one is going to attack or try to rob . They already lost the window of opportunity for that…”

He thought back to the three dead thieves that tried to get to his safe the mont the Lich had been killed. Now that the city soldiers were patrolling the outside of the city they wouldn’t have another chance. Even though the night would soon fall upon them, adventurers would also be hired to scout out the areas. It wouldn’t be easy to move during the night with so many people walking around, even less with a platinum adventurer party close by.

“The window of opportunity? Hey, are you hiding sothing?”

Roland could see Elodia fixing her glasses while leaning closer to the glass ball on her side. This made her head beco a lot larger on his end and made him actually back off while evading her gaze. At the ti being, he didn’t want to ntion that he had three dead people buried in his backyard waiting for so soldiers to pick them up.

Most of the ti dead thieves would just be buried in shallow graves outside the city, so they might have even forced him to do that. The last ti Bernir was left alone to defend the house he was forced to take care of the dead assailants himself.

“Whatever do you an? Anyway… how about you visit the adventurers guild tomorrow and send in a request for protection, I could use soone to watch this place, I might have to leave soon and I can’t leave Bernir and you alone here.”

If Arthur talked things out with the Platinum Adventurer Party and things went well, then he would need to go to the dungeon as a guide. Drilling through the entrance area would take so ti and he would need to create a temporary entrance that couldn’t be encompassed by the dungeon. The party of five would need to remain there and kill any potential skeletal fiends that would bother him.

“I could do that… but do you intend to leave sowhere?”

“There is a possibility… I uh.. I’ll see you later, the mana is running out… don’t forget to go to the adventurer guild tomorrow…I’ll contact you later.”

“Hey!”

With a sigh, he turned off the device as he wasn’t really in the mood of answering questions that he didn’t want to answer. With that, he prepared for a night of sleeplessness as he needed to get the place in order. Even if he told Elodia that it was safe he wasn’t quite sure about that, his escape route was still there so he felt rather secure.

“Hm… why do I have the feeling that I forgot about sothing… it wasn’t probably that important if I forgot about it, co Agni.”

“Woof!”

So did the day end and the night continued without anything of note happening. On the next day, a few people visited that had been missing through most of the encounter. It was the party of four that had assisted him in the completion of his gold-rank quest and had remained uninvolved in his latest adventure.

“I’ve heard that you were looking for so guards?”

Senna waved at him while walking next to Elodia that appeared in the morning. It seed that they decided to take up the latest request and with the four here he would probably be able to finish up what he started down in the dungeon.