Chapter 255 – Toxic work environment.

“You’re back?” “Yes my Lord.” “Is something the matter? Does anything require our attention?” “I’m not sure, the state of the city has been improving lately, it’s mostly thanks to Lord Arthur’s managing capabilities.” “Hah, well glad that all that studying paid off, they never let me do much besides read boring books, think they wanted to sell me off as a pawn to that rich merchant family remember? Luckily the girl never did fancy me too much.” “You mean the one that you tripped and ‘accidentally’ spilled tea on her very expensive gown?” “Or was that the one you ‘accidentally’ bumped into in the restroom? Hm, think that was Lady Alice perhaps it was…” “It was the first one, stop making me out to be some kind of villain, Mary. I still remember that baffled look on her face, she really could never take a joke.” Arthur started chuckling to himself while placing a stamp of approval on one of the papers. There was a large stack of these right on his desk. Behind him, he could hear the auctioneer shouting out prices which made things slightly more annoying. But he had grown accustomed to the workload due to a particular person outshining him when it came to work ethic. “Anyway, what’s the thing that is bothering you, Mary? Have you found someone to take care of these that we can trust?” “Not yet my Lord, perhaps getting rid of so many officials was not such a great idea.” “Perhaps… but at least now I can sleep at night knowing that they won’t embezzle anymore money from this tiny budget.” “Then what is it?” “It concerns the Runesmith, I’m not sure we can trust him.” “Wayland? Is there a problem? Is he part of the cult or something?” Arthur got up from his chair and turned away from Mary. Instead of looking at her, it was the magical mirror instead. Through it, he could see a golemic product being sold that came from his recent associate. The money he was gaining by selling these high-quality products was quite high and even people from outside the city were starting to pay attention. If things continued like this then perhaps more magically inclined types would start showing up. The city lord knew that true power came from magic and things related to them. A person could take a regular-looking sword and place an enchantment on it. The difference in power and prestige such a weapon brought with it was significant. “Nothing like that Lord Arthur, it’s just…” “Is it just one of your hunches?” “I’m not sure, not much time has passed since we came here but that man remains a mystery. Remember when he visited the other day to deliver that golem?” “Sure, you informed me about it, was there a problem?” “His levels, I think, are increasing at a much faster rate than normal.” “They are?” Arthur started rubbing his chin while looking at the auctioneer finalizing the purchase of the spider-like golem. It sold for quite the penny and the cut that he was getting would already pay for a large chunk of their expenses. Mary was someone that he trusted, she had stuck with him through thick and thin. He knew that Wayland was wearing some type of magical device that scrambled any identification attempts. Yet his maid had some specialized skills leaning towards threat detection. “Yes, when we first arrived here he was around my level but now…” “It could be possible that he has a skill or magical item that can even fool your instincts. He might also be much older than we think and he never showed that much respect to nobility in the first place…” Arthur was unsure what to make of the runesmith that was supposed to be working for him. The man was supposed to be around his age range but he had achieved much more than him already. That compound he was running also was steadily beginning to look more like a fortress. It was clear that he was hiding something and was even involved with the underground. “Hm, he has helped us in many ways since we arrived here so I would like to give our new friend the benefit of the doubt… at least for now we need him.” “I understand Lord Arthur.” “Speaking of which, has he agreed to our proposal?” “Begrudgingly yes but it felt like he had other plans, for now, he agreed to assemble those runic devices at the four main gates.” “Good, let us proceed with it then and if you’re still worried then we might have to find someone capable of a second opinion…” “Yes Lord Arthur, I’ll see what I can do.” Mary nodded with a smile and left the room while the young noble sat back on his chair with a tired expression. Things were looking up for him, the city didn’t take much of a hit during the whole cult fiasco and they managed to get rid of their hidden lair before anything got out of hand. Just as he expected refugees from the cities that were affected started flooding in. This of course brought in more problems as some of them were found to be afflicted by the strange parasites. Various steps needed to be taken to ensure the safety of his citizens and the growth of this city. “Everything is going well but…” Another sigh escaped his mouth as he grabbed a parchment. Things were proceeding as he had planned but everything was moving at a snail's pace. Even though he was managing it well the growth was nothing extraordinary, something like this would not grab the attention of his father. “I should go back to work… perhaps an opportunity will present itself to me, I can just do my best until then…” … “He he.” “Could you stop grinning…” “But Boss, how can I not be grinning? Those Union bastards must be seething with rage!” “I guess they might be…” “They must!” Roland and Bernir were walking towards the city while the large mule golem was lumbering behind them. This time around he wasn’t going to the dungeon for more mining materials instead, he was going to the city to start a new endeavor. ‘I can’t stay in the dungeon forever so this might be a good change of pace… I’m still unsure if this is the right choice but thanks to that new skill it could be beneficial…’ A few weeks ago he was given another business opportunity. This time Arthur wanted him to install a few runic turrets at the city gates. The main reason was due to the existence of the cultists. New city guards were slowly being recruited as the population increased yet this was not quite enough. They needed more protection for the city and these mechanical turrets were supposed to be the answer. At first he wanted to decline the offer. Placing his runic devices all over the place would bring unwanted eyes. It would also give anyone that wanted free reign to examine them and find out all of his secrets. Yet after further consideration, he realized that it was already too late to worry about such trivial things at this point in time. The auction house was slowly being filled out with his golemic products and magical weapons. If anyone wanted to examine the runes that he was making then it wouldn’t be that hard. They could also just come to his shop and get them directly from the source. There were no such things as patent laws in this kingdom so anyone could copy his designs without him being able to do anything about it. This was fine as he had already done the same exact thing by just stealing runic schematics with his debugging skill. He would be a large hypocrite if he didn’t see the double standard in that. While there was a possibility of people reverse engineering his creations to find some type of countermeasure later, he just needed to keep altering his designs. Perhaps if someone actually found some type of backdoor it would help him progress. Then there was the second reason that he was willing to go through with it. The turrets were still made by him so he would naturally be able to control them with the help of his skills. He would be placing these throughout the city and could always seek their aid if he found himself in trouble. Even if the guards at the location were against him, he could always interact with the turrets and order them to fire at whoever was against him. These devices would mostly work through an exterior controller similar to the ones used for golems. Voiced commands were possible as always and only runesmiths or runemages would be able to directly interact with these runic machines. Yet even then it wasn’t that easy to go around the locking mechanisms of these instruments. After the master was registered it took some time for a new one to be integrated into the system. That is unless the creator was there as their unique mana signature was always present and could only be removed by another magical craftsman with comparable knowledge in the field. Thus from his point of view, installing these turrets all over the city would just make the whole place a lot safer for him in the long run. There was also a secondary bonus, if these turrets meet the standards he might be able to mass produce them and get a massive amount of money and prestige. Even the Union Dwarves would not be able to shut him down in other places if he becomes a household name. “Look at those bozos, they must be fuming.” “Just don’t say it out loud, those guys are very prideful.” “Don’t worry boss, if they try something I’ll just blow them away with this!” Bernir patted the side of his tool belt to which he had a portable runic gun strapped to. It came together with a small battery and could fire off a few blasts depending on the setting. This was something he and all of the other members of his shop carried with them, even Elodia was wearing one for protection. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of…” While rolling his eyes he glanced toward the group of dwarves. It seemed that the smell of money had taken them here. They could no longer sweep him under the rug, the city lord was on his side and if he was investing in the city then there was a lot of money to be made. The Dwarves from the union like one thing more than their pride and that was money. For that, they would put their squabbles to the rest and he was not that much different. This was an opportunity to gain the upper hand and stick it to the union. They would probably try to provoke him and perhaps even undermine the whole procedure. ‘If they try to sabotage anything I’ll have a case against them though, they are probably not as stupid to try and pull something like that.’ Roland looked at the group of people that were gathered there. While he and Bernir would be assembling the turrets the dwarven craftsmen were responsible for the foundation. They would be the ones to bring it up and fasten it to the wall. His job was to explain the way it worked and then perform some tests. “So th' esteemed Runesmith has finally decided tae shaw up, you’re late.” “Nay, we aren’t late, we are just on time, how about you learn to read a clock ya dolt.” “What did ya say?” “Ya heard me, I guess we shouldn’t expect much from such an old fart.” Bernir shrugged while shaking his head side to side. The group of dwarves looked at each other in astonishment. Dunan was one of the big wigs in this city and along with a small group of others was part of the union leaders here. They could never see another dwarf that was this young to berate an older craftsman. “Bernir…” ‘I guess he has been holding in a lot for a while.’ This reminded Roland of a few talks the two had with each other. Bernir painted his youth as being pushed around by dwarves that didn’t really consider him a part of their community due to his lineage. This was probably the first time that he was truly able to show what he had gained as his achievements were considerably greater than most of the dwarves in his age bracket. The moment they arrived Roland could see the leader moving forward. He looked quite dissatisfied with the whole situation and was certainly using excuses to throw in some jabs. This was not something his trusty assistant would allow though. While Roland had kind of accepted what had happened to him, Bernir was pettier than that. If no one did anything then the two would probably continue to sling words at each other, perhaps it could even dissolve into a fistfight. If that happened he would probably need to jump in to save his assistant who was probably behind in stat points. However, a sudden change in the conversation forced his hand as Dunan decided to go for the lower-hanging fruit. “That’s why half breeds like you are…” Before the dwarven leader could finish the sentence a loud explosion-like sound caused everyone to jump back. When everyone turned to the source they saw red sparks of energy gathered around Roland’s metallic gloves. “Dunan was it? It would be better if you didn’t finish that sentence…” He came from a more modern world and never could understand the fixation on people's birth. Though even the world's system was skewed in favor of the nobles by the sheer fact of some special classes and titles existing. Perhaps the only reason he was able to gain the Runesmith Lord class was thanks to his father being a Baron or a Knight. In his eyes, everyone was the same, what decided a person's worth was not the circumstances around their birth but how they conducted themselves. Actions spoke louder than words and he would not allow anyone to belittle his friends in front of him. “Whit's th' meaning o' this? Ye threatening me?” “Threatening? No, this was just a friendly suggestion from a fellow craftsman.” “My my, I was wondering why it was so lively today, if it isn’t Mr. Wayland and Mr. Dunan~” Roland's eyes moved to the side from where the woman’s voice came from. There he saw the city lord’s maid slowly moving towards them while not making a sound as always. Her feet weren’t leaving any footprints behind which just made things a bit concerning. “Good that ye'r 'ere, go 'n' tell th' lord about this unreasonable hoodlum!” “Oh? Where is this hoodlum you speak off, I don’t see anyone that fits that description.” Mary moved her palm to her forehead and started looking around playfully. It was clear what she was doing but this only made the dwarf go red in the face. Thanks to her appearing on the scene he was able to remove the sparkling effects from his gauntlet. There was a lot of work to be done and even though these guys didn’t like them, he would complete the assignment given to him. “Now then gentlemen, the Lord wishes to express his gratitude for seeing past your grievances and working together. He hopes that this will be a great opportunity for everyone involved!” ‘Opportunity my ass, they probably just want to see how I work…’ Roland had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the speech Mary made. It was clear that he was just here to earn money and spread his influence. The other's motivation was probably quite similar. Thus to speed things up he finally decided to call his golem over, doing it with the help of his skill which did raise some eyebrows. ‘It doesn’t seem to be a widespread skill then…’ While he didn’t want to reveal his cards to his so-called enemy he was interested to know about the limitations of the regular Runesmith class. This he could mostly decipher from the dwarves as they did wear their hearts on their sleeves. They were interested in the slow-moving golem that just went to the right location and started opening itself up on its own accord. From within everyone could see what looked like a magical turret along with a few other things. “Well then, please carry those out and organize them as I tell you to, of curse if that’s fine with you?” Roland looked towards Mary and then at Dunan and the rest of the dwarves. Their leader after glaring back, turned to the maid and just nodded. Finally, they started unpacking with some luck they would be able to assemble the two that were brought over for today and then move on to arm the rest of the city gates.