The Runesmith
chapter-364

“... and then I just smacked them straight in the jaw! You should have seen the stupid look on that moron’s face!”

“Stop lying, I saw him the next day and he looked fine. I bet you just passed out in a ditch somewhere and dreamt it all.”

“Buahaha, that sounds like him.”

“Hey! Are you calling me a liar?”

“What if I am? What are you going to do about it?”

“Why you little, I made bigger shits than you.”

Two men were glaring at each other, the loud one was on the larger side which made him feel superior to the man that was confronting him. The other people that were gathered around them didn’t do much to stop them and instead just egged them all on.

“I wouldn’t let him talk to me like that.”

“Yeah, are you just going to take it?”

“Are they going to fight?”

“Fight, fight, fight!”

People started cheering while looking from the sides. Some had large mugs filled with cheap beer while others started moving away to not get involved. One man looked like an average warrior while the other was a more nimble rogue or archer. The larger man seemed to have the advantage when it came to plain fisticuffs but one well-placed punch could turn the tide quite easily.

“Hey, what are those people doing? Someone needs to stop them!”

“Those idiots have been getting rowdy lately, it’s all thanks to the guild masters' bright idea of expanding the bar area. Just leave them be, we’ll just subtract the damage from their earnings and give them a penalty.”

An elven woman shrugged while talking to a new co-worker that had joined up a few months ago. The flood of new adventurers had allowed them to expand the whole guild that was starting to fit the name more. There were slight problems with the new people that continued to join. The new adventurers continued to get into fights while trying to assert dominance over the others. Everyone wanted to be the alpha wolf in the new budding city with a higher-ranked dungeon.

The scuffle was taking place in the newly expanded eating area. There were a lot of benches and tables placed in a larger room. Adventurers could order proper food and drinks while waiting around for their party to assemble. It was more or less an inbuilt tavern for them to spend time in. However, whenever alcohol was introduced things tended to get rowdy.

In their haste to meet the demands of the new customer base, they had to skimp out on protection services. There were no bouncers around to toss people out and not many would take on a job like that. Fighting seasoned adventurers in a bar setting was a good way of landing in a clinic with missing teeth and broken bones. There was no way of knowing how strong a person was and accidents always happened.

The two men started sizing each other up before attempting to land a few blows. The smaller gentleman was fast on his feet and was able to land a couple of body shots while also evading large haymakers. His opponent wasn’t as quick but even one of those large swings would be able to take him out.

“Is that all you got?”

“Stop moving, is running the only thing you are good at?”

It seemed that the two were somewhat equally matched. The faster fighter was unable to make any substantial progress while the other continued to tank all the hits. Probably the one that could land the first big shot would be victorious but before a winner could appear, the door to the adventurer guild opened up.

“What is this? Make way you fools!”

A voice called out from behind the door but was ignored by the rowdy adventurers. No one was paying attention to the people coming in nor did anyone care. With how long the fight was taking, they started taking bets and became invested in the scuffle. Their shouts drowned out the man that was speaking.

“Have they lost their mind?”

“What’s the problem? Why have you stopped?”

“C-commander it’s nothing, I’ll have these adventurers moved out of the way in no time!”

The man that was shouting started trying to shove some of the people out of the way but instead of them moving, he was the one that had to back away.

“Fuck off, I’m watching the fight.”

“Don’t you know who this is?”

“An idiot? I don’t care, now fuck off I don’t care who tha… uhh…”

His tongue started twisting as he noticed something. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the man who was dressed as a guard but behind him was a strange individual. There was something terrifying about this person and how his visor started glowing red. Before he knew it a foreboding feeling of fear took over his body. There was something about that armored man that activated his survival instinct. He was in full-blown fight mode without even once thinking about fighting.

“...”

The man wearing the suit of armor didn’t reply but it was clear that moving to the side was the best option. For some reason, the people that had their backs to the people coming into the guild started feeling a chill. They all suddenly looked back to see an armored man with the Valerian crest engraved over his chest. Instantly they recognized him as Sir Wayland, the newest Knight Commander within their city.

The Knight didn’t say anything but instead just started slowly walking forward. One by one the adventurers started looking back and quickly making more space. A bout of fear overtook them all as they realized that one wrong move and their life could be in danger. Even though they were all hardened warriors, there was nothing they could do against a tier 3 knight.

“Fucking little shit, stop running!”

To make things worse for them all, the path that this man was taking was in the direction of the fight. As all of them started parting to let him through, a lone wooden chair flew through the air. It was thrown by the warrior out of rage and headed right for the Knight Commander’s face. Before it could collide with that helmet of his, it exploded into many tiny wooden splinters.

The whole place went silent as the magical explosion was quite audible. Even the two men that were fighting finally realized that something wasn’t right. Everyone had gone silent, some of the wooden chunks remained in front of the slow-walking Knight Commander who had now stopped moving. The four soldiers that had arrived to accompany him were stupefied by the display.

In their eyes, the man that threw this piece of furniture was as good as a dead man. Going against noble houses and their knights was forbidden. There was even harsher punishment if someone like a Knight Commander was involved, the man was now lawfully allowed to just execute the perpetrator on sight. No one dared to even whisper out of fear, the nobility had its claws deeply ingrained into these people's minds. Most of them would rather face a berserked beast with no equipment than catch the ire of a noble.

“How dare you throw a chair at the Commander! Apprehend that man!”

One of the guards that the Knight Commander was with pulled out his sword and pointed it at the warrior. However, before the other three could move forward their leader raised his hand. All of them stopped in their tracks as he was obviously telling them to stop. The scared adventurers weren’t sure what he was about to do but suddenly the same hand that he raised started glowing in a blue haze.

Before anyone knew what was happening this hazy blue fog shot towards the two adventurers that were previously fighting. Both of them recoiled in horror but as they were overtaken by the faint blue light, their bodies stopped. Everyone could see them grasping their throats while flying up into the air, the two men were being choked to death in everyone’s presence.

Some wanted to call out to the man performing this magical act but after being overtaken by the strange pressure, they just couldn’t voice their complaints. The quiet room was filled with strange choking sounds as the two men dangled in the air with their legs flailing around. Was death the only thing that awaited anyone that inconvenienced the nobles?

Luckily for everyone gathered here, the man performing this violent act was not as vicious as he was presenting himself to be. Just as the foam was gathering around their lips the pressure on their necks was lowered and their bodies were tossed against the nearby onlookers. The two started coughing instantly, a sound that indicated that their lives had not yet ended.

Silence still prevailed as the armored man just continued on his way toward his destination. The door leading out into the inner guild rooms was apparently his destination and the people working here dared not to interfere. Most of them assumed that he had something to talk to with the guild master which after this spectacle made everyone even more nervous. Only after his large frame vanished behind the door and his men also left did anyone dare to speak out.

“Did the Guild Master do something? Are those two going to fight?”

“I’m getting out of here if those two start fighting, this whole building might come down.”

“Why would he fight the guild master?”

“I don’t know but does it matter? I’d rather wait outside until they are gone, better safe than sorry!”

The ladies at the counters stared at the mass of adventurers clearing out of the main building hall. It was the first time for them to see something like this happening. The only people that remained were the people that worked here and a handful of platinum adventurers that didn’t seem to have been intimidated by the previous spectacle.

“Mrs. Solana, what should we do? Is the guild master going to be okay?”

“The guild master? Yeah, he will be fine… I think, wait here I’ll go check up on him.”

Solana who was the de facto leader of all the receptionists in the guild quickly left. She made her wait to the back door that was used by the new Knight Commander in hopes of getting to the bottom of everything. She was not sure what to make of this, the man inside the armor was Wayland, an old acquaintance and the man her friend was with. After his origins arose she was not sure what to make of it, would the guild master be in danger? He had a low tolerance for intimidation but going against a noble knight was probably not something he would be willing to do.

“Halt.”

“Why are you blocking the way? I need to see the guild master, do you want him to be angry?”

“The Knight Commander ordered us to not let anyone through, please leave.”

“The Knight Commander doesn’t own this place!”

“Please leave!”

Two soldiers were left in front of the stairs going up. All attempts at convincing them to let her go up were unfruitful. There was a way of getting to the upper floor that she knew of but there were two other guards that weren’t here. They were probably stationed in front of the guild master's office or on the inside. If she attempted to sneak up there then the next person that was choked out could be her instead.

“When did Wayland become so overbearing? I hope that those two are able to talk it out without any trouble…”

Solana retreated back to the main guild hall. She knew about the old contract and the quick dissolution of it a few years ago. It was possible that Wayland was going to use his new position to get back at Aurdhan for it. There was nothing that she could do, waiting was the only option that remained.

…

‘I always wanted to do that…’

Roland entered guild master Aurdhan’s office after taking care of the scuffle in the adventurer guild. The fight was an unexpected event that he didn’t really want to take part in. If it was the old him then moving around quietly would probably have been his main tactic. One problem arose though and that were the four guards that came with him.

His new role placed him in a commanding position. A Knight Commander was not supposed to move through the city alone. Even if he was strong enough to protect himself, city guards needed to escort him through the streets. The moment he appeared at the city gate he was surrounded from all sides by these people. They kept things moving fast at least but also forced him to confront the rowdy adventurers.

The chair that came flying was just the icing on the cake as he could not turn back anymore. As a noble Knight Commander, he could not look past such behavior. He did not want to kill the two adventurers, instead, he chose to give them a smaller punishment. After making the two look like mere bugs, his actions were somewhat excusable and no one would probably think too much into it. They would probably assume that he was unwilling to lose more time on the two idiots.

“You’ve caused quite the commotion down below, I almost had to intervene…”

“Maybe if you created some rules, they would stop acting like little kids…”

“Ho ho? Now that is an attitude worthy of a Knight Commander~”

Aurdhan’s face was all smiles and his pearly whites were out on the forefront. Ever since arriving in this city, Roland was forced to go along with this man but now things were a bit different. His status was higher and his power as well. After defeating Emmerson and the party of adventurers below he was feeling rather well. However, his confidence was lowered after a glance at the Guild Master’s status screen.

Name:	Aurdhan L 274
Classes:	T3 Destroyer L24
T3 Aura Axemaster 100
T2 Aura Barbarian L50
T2 Spirit Axeman L50
T1 Axe Warrior L25
T1 Warrior L25

The man was apparently already in his second tier 3 class. It was not one that he had ever heard about or read. He was not like that platinum party that was only filled with experts and the higher level was also a problem. He managed to contend with the gap against Emmerson but this man here seemed to have a lot more prestige classes than the Knight Commander.

‘Why would someone like this come to a small city like Albrook?’

There was something that didn’t add up after going through his status. This made even less sense when he considered that this man loved money. In a small city with a C-rank dungeon, the ceiling wasn’t that high, there weren’t that many opportunities for earning. It was as if he was either forced to be here or knew something that Roland didn’t know.

“I won’t take up much of your time, I just came to report an incident from the dungeon and also some other things.”

After his run-in with Brylvia the new dwarven union Chief, he had improved his status scanning capabilities. It came out that she had a specialized runic item that reacted whenever someone attempted a scan or broke through it. Thanks to their new partnership he was able to study it and could counter similar effects. Roland could tell that the guild master here was in possession of such an item and fooling it was not a problem anymore.

“Yes, I’ve heard already but what do you hope to achieve? Do you want money? Do you really want to hold the guild responsible for what happens in the dungeon?”

“The guild? No, just you guild master.”

“Me?”

A short pause arose as the two men in the room started staring at each other. While adventurers were free souls, they still were managed by the guild. It was up to the guild to give out adventurer cards that allowed these people to make a living. If some of them came out to be criminals, it was their fault for allowing them to persist without getting punished.

While both of the men in the room here knew that it was impossible to keep track of everyone, it didn’t really matter. Whenever an adventurer caused havoc, the guild was tasked with taking care of it. If they failed to do so and someone like a knight beat them to it, then something like a fine would be given.

“You know the laws and I intend for you to uphold them, the guild will pay for the damages.”

“Damages? You look just fine to me.”

Aurdhan shrugged while smiling and it seemed that he was trying not to comply with the order. Roland was here to show that the guild was not running the show anymore and was just part of the larger machine that was the Valerian house. However, without getting this blockhead to agree to compromise nothing would be done.

“Do you intend to go against the Valerian House?”

“Go against the Valerian House? Nothing of the sort!”

“Then will the guild comply or…”

“Comply? I’m not so sure, it depends on what you actually want…”

The guild master laughed again while also standing up. Roland met his gaze and the two started walking forward. Soon the two ended up in the middle of the office, it didn’t happen often but the large frame of the guild master overshadowed even the bulky armor that increased his height.

The whole room started shaking as a strange red aura was produced by Aurdhan and collided with blue mana exuded from Roland’s armor. Silence fell upon the room as the two men continued to size each other up. Neither one was willing to back away and perhaps more drastic measures would need to be taken to resolve this conflict…