Chapter 130 – Getting his cut.

“Ugh…”

A somewhat wrinkled Roland moved out of the bathroom. It was about seven in the morning and he had stayed inside the tub filled with water for the entire night. His body was kind of aching after resting against the metal tub that was clearly not meant for sleeping.

“I need to stop sleeping in that thing…”

Roland twitched a bit after feeling something press against the rear side of his knee. Agni was there to greet him which almost caused him to tumble forward.

“Good morning Agni…”

“Woof!”

With only a tower around his waist, Roland moved towards his bedroom to get dressed. After finding a plain white shirt and some pants he was ready to eat something. After looking inside the refrigerator he luckily found it restocked.

There was some cheese, eggs, and even meat in the form of sausages. There was also no lack of beer in here that Bernir was sure to buy.

“Here your share, you’ve earned it.”

Agni got a little pat on the head and also a bowl filled with meat. He had saved his hide back there in the monster chamber which Roland would never forget.

Roland started eating, the dried provisions that he had at the dungeon ran out quite fast. Afterward, he was stuck eating grilled monster meat which got quite boring after two days.

He wanted to relax and go to one of the more famous Albrook restaurants but that would have to wait. The guild owed him some money and crafting knowledge. The guild master stated that he would have everything ready when he returned.

‘This is the last time…’

Again he was consumed by greed and fear. The only reason he took this job offer was that he didn’t want to wait. With his profession, he would be able to make money even with the mana stone variant of the runic items.

With time he would have a chance to get that knowledge himself. He could even try going to different cities and hire some bodyguards with enough money. Yet he got scared of people moving in the background.

There were the cultists and the assassin hired by someone from the Arden estate. Roland found it hard to relax so he risked it all to get his hands on items that would help him build up his power.

He was successful this time around but he could have very well just fallen to his death during that volcanic worm event. It didn’t seem that his family was aware of his existence, even his older brother didn’t notice that it was him.

After so many years had passed he didn’t think that anyone was looking for him anymore. That would still leave him with the cultists which were probably a more realistic adversary. Yet he didn’t think they would bother sending anyone too powerful to find a young blacksmith.

They probably never looked into his identity and were forced out of the city rather fast. It was more believable that they focused their eyes on his previous gnome boss and his tier 3 bodyguards that fled the city around the same time as he did.

It was hard to relax for someone like Roland that was trapped in his own mind. Only when he gained enough strength to face someone at the level of those cultists, he would not be able to relax fully. With that in mind, he was already planning his next move, which was a golem.

After going through some of the runic theory books that Lucille lent him he was closer to achieving this. He had also nabbed a nice big Elokin crystal that could be used as a power source.

With it this automaton could move around freely, still this was a finite power source that could not be replenished. He was hoping to design a sort of runic battery that could be recharged with his wind turbines.

For now, he had a lesser prototype that could store an excess but it was not portable enough to insert into a human-sized golem. The easiest way would be to use some wires but this would be an easy target for any opponent this golem faced.

“Good morning boss!”

Roland’s thoughts came to a halt after his assistant appeared. Bernir looked somewhat different than before as if he matured slightly. The little scuffle with the thieves had apparently given the half-dwarf some confidence.

“G’morning, I’ve seen that you have been busy, that armor isn’t bad.”

“Aye, so you’ve seen it… wanted to give you a surprise but then those thieving bastards appeared…”

“Yes, I’ve seen the backyard, didn’t know your punches could produce holes that big, maybe you should become a pugilist instead.”

Roland smiled while Bernir turned his head to the side. His previous retelling stated that he battled the four with his bare hands but Roland obviously knew that that wasn’t true.

“So, how was the weapon I gave you?”

“Ah, the Runic launcher? It was great but…”

“But?”

“The reloading mechanism could use some work…”

Roland rubbed his chin while Bernir told him the real story. He described how he fumbled during the reloading procedure and almost died.

“The weapon is meant more for ranged support, maybe a sidearm would do the trick…”

Instead of improving on the reloading mechanism, Roland contemplated creating a smaller backup weapon. Something closer to a regular handgun that people without combat classes could somewhat utilize.

As before instead of gunpowder runes would be used, the biggest problem would be the ammunition. He was not able to condense the runes into something small like a bullet. This would mean that for now, the bullets would just be regular bullets.

A regular gun was still a good weapon for someone without any skills. A powerful archer would still be better with a bow and all the skills made them even deadlier than a modern-day sniper.

This would be only a backup weapon meant for more of a surprise attack. Without knowing what to expect, the enemies would not be able to react to a bullet in time. The problem would be the design, nothing like a revolver existed in this world.

On the other hand, something like a musket wouldn’t be hard. A small explosion rune or a pressurized wind rune would push the bullet outside. The reloading would be faster than a regular musket as the person would not need to shove gunpowder into the muzzle.

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Instead, they could just insert a round bullet and then instantly take aim. A smaller handheld version could also be made before he figured out how to create a proper runic revolver.

“So that’s what happened… Good job.”

“No need to thank me, boss! I’m sure the news spread through those thief guild circles, they will probably think twice before trying something like that again.”

Bernir commented while Roland nodded. He would also start working for the adventurer’s guild from this day forth. They would probably think twice before attacking someone affiliated with a giant organization as the adventurer’s guild.

The possibility of getting robbed while they left on business was always there. Roland would need to prepare more defenses while also thinking about hiring some muscle from the guild.

Just like any other merchant he needed some help. For now, he didn’t quite have the money to get himself competent protection. The most he could hope for is silver or maybe one gold-ranking adventurer.

After having his breakfast and discussing some things with Bernir, Roland descended into his workshop. The armor was put on and his face was hidden yet again. This suit of armor looked a bit strange as the parts on the arms didn’t match the rest of the set and were also in red color.

“This will have to do…”

“I didn’t think you’d wear it yourself boss… isn’t it a bit tight?”

Bernir scratched his forehead while looking at Roland standing in the armor he made. He didn’t show it but he was quite happy that the item he made was already being used.

“It’s fine… surprisingly fits well, did you use one of the old schematics?”

“Yes, why do you ask, boss?”

“I redid most of them to fit my size…”