The Runesmith

The vines twisted and writhed around Roland, forming a protective barrier between him and Professor Fortuna. They seemed to emanate a soothing energy, countering the oppressive force that had been weighing him down moments before. Roland looked around in astonishment, unsure of where these vines had come from or how they were aiding him. Luckily, soon a small figure formed from within these vines and started speaking out.

“Old hag, what do you think you are trying to do?”

“Of course, it had to be you, ancient fossil.”

‘Old hag? Ancient fossil?’

It was instantly clear that these people knew each other and had some history. The Spiritualist lady wasn’t pleased with the appearance of the vines and was staring daggers at the small figure that was speaking. The facial features weren’t quite well but he could recognize that this person was the Institute Headmistress, Yavenna Arvandus. He was not sure how and why she decided to aid him but he was grateful nonetheless. Power seemed to be returning to his limbs and he could even use his mana now.

“I was just having a friendly chat with our young professor here, no reason to be rude and interrupt…”

Professor Fortuna leaned back in her chair while trying to act as if she didn’t just disable Roland’s whole body. It seemed like she was about to perform some strange experiments to see how his soul ended up in the state that it was.

“Friendly chat, you say? It seems to me that you were about to do something rather unpleasant to our young colleague.”

Yavenna retorted with her voice being stern while Roland remained silent. He was unsure how to interject in this conversation between two seemingly powerful tier 4 class holders. From his perspective, it was quite hard for a tier 3 to just disable him even if they were close to ascending further. His mana was like a toddler’s compared to these two and the atmosphere was growing increasingly more charged with magical energy.

“Is this how you repay an old friend, Yavenna? By interfering in matters that don’t concern you?”

Fortuna spat out her words in anger while the whole hut began to shake. The will-o'-wisps started turning red and shifting chaotically. It seemed that they were reacting to their master’s mood swings. Roland could feel the magical energies crackling around him as the two powerful mages faced off. However, it was clear that the witch-like lady Fortuna had the advantage as this was her lair they were in and not at the Institute.

“I'm not here to argue with you, Fortuna and if you continue, then I’ll be forced to intervene directly…”

Yavenna was probably feeling that her power was wavering but she didn’t relent. The vines around Roland started to shift to create a strange structure. They started to form something in the form of an oval with a magical surface within. Roland could feel what type of magic was taking form there and it was identical to the portal gate he had seen in one of the magical towers.

As the vines continued to weave together to form the portal-like structure, Professor Fortuna started to waver. Her expression which was scrunched up with animosity began to show signs of softening. At first, it seemed like the two were on equal footing but the moment Yavenna expressed her willingness to come here directly, the atmosphere in the room changed. The red soul orbs returned to their previous form and eventually, the hut also stopped shaking.

“Now now, my dear friend, don’t do anything hasty…”

Professor Fortuna’s tone had shifted from aggression to one of caution, her eyes darted between Roland and the portal forming before them. It was evident that she had weighed her options and concluded that having the headmistress arrive here in person, wouldn’t be wise.

“Have you come to your senses, Fortuna? Or must I pay you a visit to refresh your memory about who enabled you to exist in that humble swamp of yours?”

While Roland wasn’t sure about the history of these two powerful mages, it was clear that the Headmistress held more power. Considering Fortuna's status as a tier 4 class holder, it seemed plausible that she enjoyed certain privileges within the institute. It would also explain why she wasn’t reprimanded even when she didn’t attend the faculty meetings nor did she seem to hold any classes either.

He remained seated and silent as the situation was resolving itself by itself. It would be possible for him to activate his armor now and attempt to escape but he still needed something from this old woman. While he had been constantly scanning this area for spiritual energy, it would be better if he had some samples he could examine for a more prolonged time.

Eventually, the portal materialized and sprang to life. Within it, he could see the woman that he had met previously. Though uncertain of the mechanism, it seemed that during his visit to the Headmistress's tower, she had somehow marked him. Perhaps some plant matter the size of mushroom sports had made its way onto his armor and remained dormant. Through them, she was able to control the plants in this hut and created the portal thereafter. It was a magical feat beyond his current comprehension.

“Yes, yes… you have made your point, dear Headmistress… Don’t worry, I will treat your precious faculty member with respect…”

The portal remained in place while Fortuna scrambled around. She was clearly panicking at this point and fumbling her words around. The woman on the other side of the portal observed with a stern expression, not convinced by Fortuna's sudden change in demeanor.

“I know, this fine young man had come here to research the spirits, how about…”

After thinking for a moment, Fortuna conjured up a spell to order one of the spirit orbs to fly over to the table. Along with it was a large flash into which the soul orb squeezed into. This wasn’t all as various other old books and texts about the subject matter Roland was researching flew over.

“How about this my lad, it should be enough right?”

It was as if the old lady was now pleading with him instead. Roland remained silent for a moment while looking at the items on the table. There was a lot of research material there and along with it a will-o'-wisp in a flash. With all of this, he was certain that he would be able to make a big leap in his research of analyzing the soul and mana relation. There wasn’t really more that she could offer him and it was better to get out of here before these two powerful mages changed their mind.

“Yes, this will suffice, Professor Fortuna.”

“See? The young lad thinks it’s enough? Now can you just leave me alone!”

The old lady was quite annoyed with this situation but had also resigned herself to her fate. The tension inside this wooden hut was starting to dissipate. The portal through which the Headmistress was peeking in started to tremble and it would probably close soon. Yavenna Arvandus watched the exchange with a scrutinizing gaze but she seemed satisfied with the outcome.

“I’m glad that we could clear this matter up and… I expect you to attend the next meeting at the Institute, we need to speak about a few things, understood?”

“You want me to attend that boring…”

Fortuna frowned and returned to her previous self but quickly resumed her docile act the moment she saw the Institute leader frowning through the portal.

“Yes, of course, I’ll be sure to be there! Not a problem at all!”

“... Good, I’m glad that we could resolve this issue. Now, I’ll be taking my leave. But remember, Fortuna, I'll be keeping an eye on you and as for you, Assistant Professor Wayland, please come to my office when you return.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Ah yes, of course, Headmistress.”

He wasn’t that taken aback by this order as he was certain that the Headmistress wanted to know about what happened in the swamp area. It was also something that could perhaps keep him safe again as Fortuna needed to let him be if he ever was to reach Yavenna’s tower.

With that warning, the Headmistress withdrew from the portal and it dissipated soon after. The wooden plant matter that it was created from wilted away into dried-out husks of its former self. He was now left alone with the woman who tried to use him as a lab rat. After glancing at her he could hear her awkwardly clearing her throat.

“Ahem, well then, young man, it seems we've come to the end of our little adventure… It would probably be better if you left now.”

“I think so too…”

After slowly standing up without making any sudden movements, he took the research material that he had come here for. The old woman raised an eyebrow as he slid the items into his armor where he was hiding a spatial compartment in. However, right before he left the woman left him with a few words.

“I don’t know what you are hiding young man but your soul is certainly unordinary and its not only the color, there is something underneath it…”

“Underneath it?”

“Indeed, if you wish, you could stay here and we could get to the bottom of this very interesting issue…”

“No… I think I should go back and make a report to the Headmistress…”

The old woman had a strange glint in her eyes as she continued to mention his soul. She was probably not willing to prod any further without his consent but he could always stay here and have her do it willingly. Roland knew that he was a denizen from another world and would rather keep that secret. There was a possibility that he would be turned into some sort of lab rat if this truth came out.

“Are you sure? Well, you can come back here if you change your mind~”

“I’ll keep that in mind…”

So did his strange journey to get more research material for the runic prosthesis finally end. Once he found himself outside the witch hut, everything started to fade away into fog. After walking for a few minutes he recovered the connection to his golems that quickly rallied around him. The bodies of the three knights he defeated had begun to be absorbed by the swamp, which would hinder him in recovering their gear.

‘Well… that happened…’

The battle was over and he had managed to level up multiple times as his three enemies were many levels above his. While it wasn’t as much as he had received from battling the pseudo-tier 4 horror at his home, it was enough to make him progress fast.

Besides the few levels and stat increase he had managed to acquire one new passive skill.

It was a nice addition to his passives and seemed to help out during stressful situations. It looked to be an all-encompassing skill that boosted his resistance to anything that would attack his mind. This probably included magical attacks as well as ones through other skills or concoctions. Perhaps if he had this skill before entering the hut, he could have resisted the strange paralysis he suffered.

‘Interesting… but what now?’

The gravity of the situation that he had been through started to set in. He had just destroyed a whole platoon of knights and three Knight Commander-level enemies. Their bodies were sinking into the swamp and would be soon erased. However, he didn’t fool himself into believing that this event wouldn’t reach others. Some knights had escaped during the chase and some others were probably stationed above ground. Once he left the dungeon, they would be there to confirm that he was still alive.

‘There is no way those Baskerville bastards won’t know that I did everything here…’

Roland started thinking, was there a way to spin the outcome in his favor? Perhaps he could claim that the supposed tier 4 spiritualist came to his aid and took care of the trio. However, he had already made his recording technology known and it clearly showcased that he had been the one doing the slaying. If it ever came to a confrontation in the noble court, he would have no way of getting away from the situation

To make things worse Professor Ulfine was one of them and her fate was unknown to him. He did not know what Fortuna would do to Ulfine and he was in no position to ask the old woman for it. At most, he could go to the Headmistress to inquire about the woman’s fate. If for some reason she was let go, then it wouldn’t be strange if she reported to the Baskervilles who contracted her.

He was now between a rock and a hard place. One hit on his life had already been carried out and he had no reason to believe that those people would stop. He would probably be thoroughly investigated by his new enemies, which could even end up in Albrook. His identity was in real jeopardy now as he had made his power known. Then to make things even worse, there was his little sister who was in the middle of this whole mess.

‘Things are getting out of hand, what should I do?’

For the time being he believed that he would be safe for some time. It wasn’t plausible for the Baskerville knights to go directly after him after failing so miserably. The same could be said for his sister. He could use this time to prepare for the worst but what could he do? The only people that he could think of were Arion, Thorne, and perhaps the Headmistress. If he could get more help from them, then perhaps they could take care of Lucienne in his absence.

Now that he had all this research material, he could try to make a prototype prosthesis, the true reason that he was here. Once back in Albrook, he would be mostly safe as even the Castellane house wouldn’t dare to send assassins into the Valerian territory. The only loose end would be his sister and what would happen when he was gone.

First and foremost, he needed to check on his sister, Lucienne. Despite the chaos surrounding him, her well-being remained his top priority. Professor Ernas left with all the other students to let him analyze the ‘anomaly’. He wondered how he should explain this issue to the man who was probably tasked by Delauder to observe him. For all he knew, they were all in on it.

‘She could be in danger, I need to return.’

Having remains of the knights in his spatial bags would probably make things only harder to explain so he decided to leave the non-devoured equipment alone. It was nothing that he couldn’t recreate himself so it was not worth the hassle. Their bodies would soon vanish from here without a trace, so it didn’t matter that much.

He had previously taken his own dimensional shield back from within the swamp area and quickly ordered his golems to return to it. After around five minutes he was ready to leave he could only hope that his sister was indeed safe and that Ernas wasn’t another mercenary for the Castellane’s. Thus with a quickened pace, he made his way through the swamp that was surprisingly devoid of adventurers.

As he arrived at the stairs going up his mind was abuzz with multiple countermeasures. The encounter was fresh in his mind and he hadn’t fully recovered from the clash with the three Knight Commander class enemies. His armor had also been damaged and the runes on it had slightly deteriorated. If another enemy of the same caliber was waiting above ground, then he would have his work cut out for him.