The Runesmith - Chapter 593 – Not Welcome.

Roland looked at the grinning man before him but gave no response to the statement. The soldiers around him also remained silent, waiting for the order. The men who had escorted them showed slight nervousness at the lack of reaction. Their numbers were limited, and only one of them held a tier-three class.

“Captain.”

“Yes, High Knight Commander?”

Roland did not move. He simply spoke the word. The man he summoned appeared in front of him, wearing armor that set him apart from the rest of the soldiers. His gear marked him with the rank of Knight Captain.

“Take the soldiers to the outer district and wait for further instructions.”

“Yes, Sir.”

There was no surprise in this. From the moment they entered the district, it had been clear that Arthur’s entourage would be reduced. Before arriving, they had been forced to choose who would accompany them. Roland had decided not to involve Robert and Lucille. Together with Wischard, they had remained behind to protect their newly acquired holdings in the region taken from Theodore Valerian and Albrook. This left Mary, Gareth, Moiren, and Roland himself as the primary force responsible for Arthur’s protection. 

The soldiers who accompanied them were intended for show only. They would remain stationed outside until the noble gathering concluded. There was a limit to how many individuals of their power could be positioned near Arthur, and while they could have brought a few more, only those who could be fully trusted were selected. Some tier-three knights were available, but they had chosen not to include them. Their prosthetic limbs would likely draw unwanted attention from the other nobles.

‘Things should be more manageable with the five of us.’

To some, this number might seem small, but all were tier-three class holders, including Arthur. In Roland’s view, escaping with a small group of elites would be far easier than managing a large contingent of soldiers. High-class fighters could unleash devastating attacks, and in a chaotic situation, having too many people nearby increased the risk of friendly fire and confusion.

“Very well, then. The maids will take care of your luggage.”

The butler bowed politely as the Knight Captain led the soldiers away, then spoke. His tone remained mostly the same, though it now carried a subtle hint of triumph. Just as he had said, the mansion where they were staying already had several servants assigned to them, which explained why they hadn’t brought any of their own. It was clear that these people were affiliated with the Valerian household, but that did not mean they could be trusted.

Roland did not move his head, but inside his helmet, his thoughts raced. Several people were watching them, some even hiding behind buildings or other structures. It was clear they were being observed, though he could not determine by whom. Perhaps they were hidden guards sent by the Duke for protection, or maybe spies working for one of Arthur’s brothers, gathering information. There was also the unsettling possibility that someone more dangerous was involved. Regardless, his duty was clear. He had to monitor the situation and ensure Arthur arrived safely at the gathering in two days.

“There is no need. I have my own personal maid.” 

Arthur said. There was no luggage in the traditional sense. All their belongings were stored in spatial containers, which were light and easy to carry. Nothing remained that required extra handling.

“As you wish, Young Lord.”

The butler replied, inclining his head.

“Should you find our staff lacking, do not hesitate to make a formal request. We are here to serve.”

His words were polite, but the tone was strange. The man’s presentation revealed no obvious faults, so there was little they could do besides let him be. Arthur gave no further response. He simply gestured for Gareth and Moiren to enter the residence while Mary lingered behind him. The butler’s eyes lingered on them for a moment before he turned and rejoined the small group of guards who had accompanied him.

“I bet he’s going to report to his master, whoever that may be.” 

Roland spoke to Arthur as their group moved toward their temporary mansion. Although it was one of the smaller houses in the area, it still appeared spacious and luxurious. It had clearly been built for a high-ranking noble. Several maids stood in a line on one side of the path leading to the mansion and bowed as Roland passed by with Arthur walking behind him. On the other side, more servants waited, some of them likely cooks and others appearing to be stablehands who would take care of the carriage and horses.

The young noble lord was flanked by two knights on each side while Mary guarded the rear. Everyone kept a close eye on the servants, treating them as potential threats, but for now, none of them seemed strong enough to be a real danger.

“Welcome to Isgard, My Lord.”

One of the maids stepped forward. She was much older than the others, probably close to fifty. Though her face bore some wrinkles, she concealed her age well. Her uniform was slightly different from the rest, suggesting she was the head maid in charge of the mansion. Before she could continue the greeting, Roland raised his hand to stop her. He turned to Arthur and signaled for him to ask the question they had agreed on earlier.

“Are there any servants left inside the mansion?”

“No, My Lord. All the servants have come out to greet you, My Lord.”

“Good. High Knight Commander, if you would.”

“Yes, Lord Valerian.”

Roland nodded and pushed the door open. He then turned to the surprised head maid and said. 

“For the time being, no one is allowed to enter this mansion. Is that clear?”

“Ah… Yes, Sir.”

The maid understood and did not press for answers. It was clear that she had experience and knew better than to question a noble’s decision. Confronting Arthur or his soldiers could easily lead to trouble, so the maids stepped aside and allowed Roland to enter. Once inside, he closed the large oaken door behind him and began scanning the room.

‘I’m getting some readings. Let’s set up the cancellation barrier first.’

Without saying a word, he moved his hand over his chestplate. Ever since passing through the teleportation gate, he had been using his new skill to conceal some of his runes. Now that he was in a place without prying eyes, he activated them. The runes on his breastplate lit up, and a pulse of mana spread out in all directions, forming a grid of perfectly aligned squares. This was a basic scanning spell, designed to sweep through the entire mansion quickly.

‘As I thought, this whole place is filled with enchantments.’

It did not take a genius to realize that Arthur was being watched. There was likely a reason he had been assigned to this particular mansion, located near the outer district of the castle. Even before entering, he had noticed concealed magical threads running toward another district, likely where someone was monitoring them.

‘Now then, let’s just feed them some false information.’

Although Roland could have easily blocked the signal from escaping, that approach carried too much risk. If everything were suddenly cut off, it would raise suspicion. Whoever had installed these enchantments would immediately know something was wrong. It was far better to appear less capable and less aware. Feeding their enemies false information would create a false sense of security and lead them to lower their guard. When the time came, that overconfidence would give Roland the advantage they needed.

‘Let’s get this over with. They’ll grow suspicious if I stay here too long. First, I need to deal with the dummy enchantments.’

Roland quickly realized that their enemies were aware a rune specialist was among them. Various enchantments, not all written in the same magical language, had been placed throughout the mansion. Some were clearly meant to serve as decoys to obscure the real ones. He decided to disable the most obvious enchantments, since leaving them intact might make them appear careless or incompetent.

Once the initial scan was complete, he summoned a few of his floating golems. They began sweeping through the rooms, identifying potential threats. For someone like Roland, who had studied monitoring magic extensively and had developed an entirely new system back in Albrook, what he encountered here was rather primitive. There were no visual spells meant to record them, only audio-based enchantments and presence-detection spells similar to his own mapping devices.

‘Is it that kind of spell?’

As he moved through the mansion, he discovered even the toilet had been bugged with enchantments. This particular spell appeared to create a replica of the building in another location, with phantoms mimicking the movements of anyone inside. Multiple enchantments had been placed at key positions, allowing someone elsewhere to watch these phantoms and listen in on their conversations. He had no idea why someone would go to such lengths, but he had prepared for this possibility.

‘That should do it.’

His golems completed their sweep. Roland disabled the more obvious dummy enchantments along with a few of the difficult ones, though he intentionally left several untouched. This allowed whoever was watching to continue their surveillance, giving them no reason to grow suspicious. Once the cleanup was done, he activated a program that would feed prerecorded conversations into the surveillance network. These recordings, created with Arthur before their arrival, were filled with routine discussions and generic dialogue. For the next two days, no one would notice that what they were hearing was artificial.

At the end of the sweep, he identified what would serve as Arthur’s private chamber. Inside, he placed a square box beneath the bed. It contained the stored prerecorded dialogues and functioned as the central component of the runic formation he had just created. The four golems positioned throughout the mansion concealed themselves in strategic locations and activated a spell that allowed them to remain hidden from the servants. With everything in place, he finally returned to the entrance, where Arthur was waiting for the others.

“Everything is in order, Lord Valerian.”

“Good. Finally, something is going right. Let us go in.”

They said nothing more as Gareth, Mary, and Moiren rejoined them in the foyer. Roland gave each of them a quick nod. There was no need for words; they all understood the situation from his gestures alone.

The maid led them on a tour of the house. Arthur remained cordial throughout, asking polite questions and occasionally offering a nod of approval. His behavior was deliberate. He wanted to present himself as a proper noble who would not allow emotion to cloud his judgment, even in the face of clear injustice. Others in his position might have lashed out at the servants, but he chose to leave them alone.

Soon, Arthur was escorted to his quarters. He dismissed the servants, leaving only Roland and Mary in the room. His two knights stood outside to guard the entrance, just as they had in the past.

“How is it?” 

Arthur asked.

“Everything is under control. We can speak freely here.”

“Thank you, my friend. I’m not sure what I would ever do without your help.”

Arthur let his shoulders slump forward and released a long, heavy sigh. For a moment, he looked like a balloon slowly losing air, as if he might collapse under the weight of everything pressing down on him. Roland could see the strain in his posture and expression. The young lord was clearly under immense stress, but he was still holding himself together.

“How is our situation?”

“Around the same as we predicted. This place is heavily monitored. Someone clearly has an eye on you.”

Roland spoke to Arthur while moving to the large window in the bedchamber. Mary nodded and walked over to the window, pulling the curtains shut.

“There are people watching us. At least five of them. Some are hidden on the rooftops, others behind trees, and a few near those strange spiral statues.” 

Mary said as she narrowed her eyes. Her class specialized in assassinations and was equally skilled at detecting nearby assailants. Roland had noticed the same. Many eyes were on them from a distance, and their intentions remained unclear.

“I see. This will be an interesting night.”

“It will. Only two days remain, so if anyone plans to strike, it will likely be tonight.”

They had arrived earlier this morning, and the assembly was scheduled to begin in two days. This left the attackers with only two nights to act.

“Why tonight?” 

Arthur asked while glancing around the room.

“Your brothers arrive tomorrow, along with other high nobles. If something happens to you tonight, their absence would provide them with an alibi.” 

Roland replied, checking his jamming devices to ensure they were still active.

“That does make sense, regretfully so.”

Now that they were here, instead of calming down, they could do nothing but worry. It was possible the people watching from outside were only sentries keeping an eye on everyone and that nothing would actually happen. Still, they could not leave their fate to chance. There were those with real reasons to get rid of them, and they needed to be prepared.

“We still have most of the day. What would you propose we do?” 

Arthur asked Roland, who replied quickly while walking toward the door.

“They’re probably going to keep watching us even after we leave, but there’s no reason not to go outside and walk through the city. Wouldn’t it seem strange if we just stayed here and did nothing?”

Arthur nodded. 

“That’s true. I never really had the chance to explore this city fully before, father’s guards never let me wander. Mary, what do you think?”

After Roland spoke, Arthur turned to Mary. She had been in this city before and had apparently trained somewhere in the outer district. While Arthur had also lived here, he had been confined to a place with little freedom to move around. Mary hesitated for only a moment before answering. 

“It might be dangerous, my lord. How about you stay here and I’ll check fir..”

Before she could finish, Arthur chuckled and raised his hand. 

“Nice try, Mary, but I’m now a tier three class holder just like you. Stop worrying about me. Now tell me what you really think.”

Mary frowned briefly but eventually conceded.

“It would probably be wise to examine the area around the house and identify who is trailing us. If you are their true target, Lord Arthur, they will likely reveal themselves.”

Roland nodded in agreement. From his perspective, the obvious target was Arthur. Whoever was following them would likely continue doing so and eventually expose themselves in some way. While many tracking enchantments existed in the city, most were within the mansion rather than along the roads. This was not Albrook. There were many places without oversight, and he could easily lure their pursuers into one of those dead zones if necessary.

“I don’t think they’ll attack us in public. There are other nobles with their own knights wandering around who have nothing to do with this situation. It might actually be safer outside than here.”

A decision was made soon after. They agreed to go outside for a short time and do some sightseeing. Although this was primarily a residential district, there were still a few places worth visiting. With so many wealthy merchants and nobles in the area, several shops offered expensive items and even magical devices. Roland, though already an established craftsman, knew there was always new magic to study and adapt for his own creations.

There was little to prepare, as everything they needed was already on them. They spent a few minutes checking that everything was in order before heading outside. The head maid greeted them again, but after a brief exchange and a quick dismissal, their small party of five made their way into the city. This time, Roland took the rear while Mary led the group, as she was the one familiar with the area.

Roland scanned their surroundings, the visor in his helmet glowing faintly as he worked to identify any new pursuers. As expected, there was movement behind them.

“Just act normally.”

Each member of the group wore a special runic accessory for communication. For Mary, it was a pair of newly enchanted earrings. Arthur wore a stylish breastpin that served the same purpose, and for the two other knights, it was their helmets. 

‘Now then, who are we dealing with here?’

Shadowy figures emerged in the distance. They moved well through the alleys and narrow spaces, skilled at concealment but still not as capable as the group they were following. They likely had no idea their movements were being tracked and their mana signatures recorded. Roland could not tell if they intended to attack, but if they did, he would be ready.