Chapter 132 – Out shopping.

Roland glanced at his pouch that contained multiple golden coins. He even started looking over his shoulder, wondering if someone from the thieves guild would mark him after he came out of the bank with both Robert and Lucille.

Luckily he did not see any shadowy figures looming in the dark. The guards that were standing around the bank made sure to remove any suspicious elements from the premises. This building was also in the innermost reaches of the city.

To get in, a person needed to get past another gate that was surrounded by a large wall. This was recently created and most of the rich merchants lived in this section of the city. This of course pushed any poor citizens that previously lived here out into the slums that as always were kept hidden away from the main roads.

“Well then, I’ll excuse myself… you two take care…”

Roland said while nodding slightly. With the money in his possession now he could go prepare a list of materials that he needed. He didn’t even have time to look through the new crafting schematics that he received from the guild master.

There was also the problem with Robert being here, for now, he was successful in keeping his identity hidden but this could change. It didn’t seem that Robert was suspecting anything, this was mostly thanks to Lucille being here. It was clear that he was lovestruck and had a pile of roses inside his brain keeping him occupied.

“Wait Sir. Wayland!”

“Um… was there something else you needed?”

Roland asked while stepping down into the road.

“Yes, we have a request but it isn’t from me…”

Lucille looked to the side of the knight that was accompanying her. Roland turned his head towards his brother that instantly evaded his gaze.

‘Why is he acting all shy all of a sudden…’

The suspicious behavior was quickly explained by Robert’s next words.

“Yes, I have a request. Could you create a runic shield like the one you lent me in the dungeon? I will of course cover all the cost of manufacturing it!”

He said while pulling out a sack filled with some coins.

“You want me to make you a shield?”

“Yes, we will be staying here for another six days… is that not enough time to make one?”

Robert asked while his brows were furrowed. The shield that he lent to Robert had mostly turned into scrap metal after they left the hidden dungeon part. He was given it back later but the only thing he could do with it was to melt it down to get the deep steel back.

Six days were actually enough to create a shield from scratch. He just needed a thick enough slab of metal that he could cut into the shape of the shield then shape it further with his hammer. Attaching the handle and some mana stones was probably the more strenuous process as it required more control.

Then only the runesmithing would be left, this he could probably knock out in a day or two with his current skill levels. With his high mana reserves, he would probably be able to power through it without needing that many breaks. This also depended on the complexity of the runes as some of the lesser runes he could fashion in a couple of hours.

“Six days might be a bit…”

He lied, as he tried to refuse the offer. Even if he could do it, he still wanted to minimize the interactions with his brother. It was a half-lie, taking into consideration that he wanted to do some other projects first, making a shield was not something on his radar.

“It would be difficult… is that so… that’s a shame.”

Robert didn’t seem to even argue about it as he accepted the refusal but before Roland could escape this predicament an overzealous ice mage spoke up.

“How about we just buy a good shield at the store and Sir. Wayland just adds his runes to it? That should save a lot of time!”

“Uh well…”

Roland twitched slightly as he couldn’t deny that fact.

“Would that be possible?”

Robert’s eyes lit up in anticipation as he looked at Lucille.

“Yes, most runesmiths only focus on creating runes. There is no need for Sir. Wayland to craft the whole shield, with his skills he shouldn’t need more than a few days to finish, isn’t that right Sir. Wayland?”

Lucille looked at Roland with a big smile as if she gave him great advice. She looked like a puppy that wanted to be petted but he wanted to punt her instead.

“I guess you are right…”

Not wanting to seem like a total asshole he just agreed. He was still talking to a noble lady with high status. She was his ticket into the magic academy and more runic knowledge, it would be unwise to alienate her. She might seem all friendly now but after she left that could change.

“That’s great, do you know any good shops Sir. Wayland?”

Lucille asked while Roland just thought about his next move and how to minimize his interactions with Robert.

“Good shops? I mostly send my assistant to buy resources and I also craft my own weapons…”

He did visit some of the blacksmithing shops just to see how the city was structured. This he did to see if he could ‘borrow’ any new runic designs.

“But there are a few large weapon and armor shops here, I’m not sure which one would be the best, we will need a deep steel shield at least…”

Roland turned to Robert and started asking questions.

“What kind of runes would you like me to inscribe? Would you rather have a multipurpose item or one that focuses on something specific, both have their pros and cons.”

“Multipurpose?”

Robert asked as he was not sure what Roland was talking about. Most of the magical equipment that people came across had one or two enchantments on it.

A suit of armor would most of the time be given a buffing rune that for instance increased the user’s strength. Then it would also have one active skill like a magical shield that could be activated on command.

Roland’s own armor could not be used by anyone that didn’t possess a runecrafting skill. Without access to the runic code inside the item, it would be impossible to activate all of their features. This was why when Robert previously used his runic shield he could only activate one of its effects that was set as default by Roland.

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“Yes, I could place activation runes at the shields handles, you’d just need to focus your mana towards the activation rune to activate the spell. I wouldn’t put too many runes though, the more there are the quicker the shield will deteriorate.”

This explanation revealed some of his techniques. This was mostly learned by him when he was a runic blacksmith and when he had to be creative. There he just used spots in the weapons that when a person injected their mana into it would then activate the desired effect.

“Fascinating, a multipurpose runic structure… it sounds so elementary but also quite difficult if you take into consideration that the runesmith would have to customize the already created runic structure to fit the weapon…”

“It shouldn’t be that tough… you just have to alter the schematics slightly…”

“Alter the schematics?”

Lucille’s reaction to Roland’s statement was a bit strange. The girl’s eyes went wide and she looked like the first time she saw his runic armor.

‘Did I overestimate the runic knowledge of the basic runesmiths in this world?’

Roland was self-taught but this was not due to him wanting it. Due to this, he was still unaware of how other runesmiths operated. He thought back to all the schematics that he lifted from the stores.

That time he only attributed it to not being able to enter the inner parts of the stores. He thought that these runes were just the basics that everyone used and then altered for more promising effects. By how Lucille was acting this seemed not to be true, it looked like altering an already established rune was not an easy task.

“By Solaria, you must be a real prodigy Sir. Wayland, I just must inform the Professor about this, I’m sure you’ll have so much to teach each other!”

The girl started bouncing around like an overzealous slime monster. It took a few moments for her to calm down before the conversation could continue.

“How about we go to a store and pick out a shield for Sir. Robert here…”

“Ah yes… the shield!”

The group nodded and they finally moved towards the shopping district where most of the weapon and armor shops were at. As expected most of them were run by dwarfs. That was when another problem arose.