Chapter 292 – Aftermath.

“All things considered, this went better than expected, this amount of damage is indeed minor.”

“I’m glad that the destruction of my home is considered ‘minor damage’, Lord Arthur.”

Roland replied to Arthur while Morien and Myrtle listened in from the side. It was quite surprising for them to see someone acting in this fashion when talking to a noble. While he was inserting the proper titles here and there, it seemed he didn’t feel intimidated by the title.

“Haha, I’ll be sure to task someone with the repair of your gate, with all those skeleton bones lying around. It won’t be hard to find the funds for it but some of those will be needed to cover the damages to the city gates, some of those magical turrets of yours melted down…”

“I told the dwarves to not overuse them, unless we make them from a superior alloy they will keep breaking down during long sieges.”

Roland frowned while pushing the blame on the dwarves that were tasked with tending to his turret system. Those that he installed at the city gates were the same ones he had here. They were still made from tier 2 grade materials and required a cooling period between firing off mana bolts. It was likely that the defenders got overzealous and didn’t let them cool down enough between shots.

There was a possibility of hardwiring a forced feature that would bring the turrets offline if they start overheating. He decided not to include it however, as during a siege it was still better to have the magical guns suffer damage than the defenders behind them. An operator needed to decide if it was better to let them rest or continue attacking if the situation was dire enough.

“Perhaps next time it would be better if a proper Runesmith tends to the runic devices instead~”

A grumbling sound escaped from Roland’s lips after he heard Arthur’s response. Soon their conversation started wrapping up.

“Nevertheless, you may keep the Lich remains but I don’t think I can hand over the remains of the skeletons that are outside of the city. With this we can finally open the gates, that is unless you have something more to add?”

“No that’s about it, Lord Arthur…”

“If that is all, then Sir Morien. Take the soldiers and do a sweep around the forest, there might be other monsters that could have made it inside the forest. Securing the dungeon entrance is also a priority, we must establish the route there again.”

“Yes Sir.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“You can help the soldiers with securing the dungeon entrance but if there are not tier 3 monsters to kill for you, then I’m not sure if our agreement will stand, you’ll have to consult with the Guild Master, it was a joint effort between the guild and the city.”

Arthur replied to the cryomancer who was still standing there. Her expression remained docile and without emotion but a faint smile crept up the moment the noble mentioned a potential breach in the contract. This would of course mean that they wouldn’t be getting money if there was no Lich to defeat. They would not get the tier 3 monster materials that sold for gold coins either and the trip to this remote region would mostly be wasted.

“I see, I’m sure to have a conversation with the Guild Master then…”

“I’ll excuse myself then, My Lord.”

“Take care and return safely after you complete your mission.”

“By your command!”

Sir Morien performed the usual knightly salute while Roland just stood there and listened. Finally, after the two were going away he could continue with the conversation. He did not mention his plan to the adventurer party as he did not know where their allegiance lied.

“Wayland, is there something more you wish to discuss? If not then I need to get back to…”

Roland peeked behind himself and could still see the adventurer party there along with the soldiers. They were slowly exiting the premises but it would probably take a while until they couldn’t eavesdrop on the conversation. There were two options he could take, one of them was just cutting the feed and contacting Arthur before the adventurer party returned to the city.

This tactic carried a risk of Arthur going away on official business and not being there for a talk. He could not expect a busy noble like him to drop everything just to speak to him every time. The citizens of the city were probably waiting for him to make a speech and finally allow them to leave.

Thus instead he activated a sound barrier through which the others wouldn’t be able to listen in. It would alert the adventurer party to the hidden talks but not like they had a reason to hear it. Normally there a sound barrier spell could be used for this occasion to block out any outgoing sounds. However Roland didn’t need it, instead, he could directly interface with this runic device and send the sound into his helmet. Not even Myrtle a tier 3 mage, or the tier 3 archer would be able to listen into the conversation.

“There is one thing I wanted to mention, it’s about the Platinum Adventurer party, do you think we can trust them? Also, don’t worry, they won’t be able to hear what we are talking about”

“Is that so? About trusting them? I’m not sure, they are supposedly people that Guild Master Aurdhan knows. They came here at his behest, it wouldn’t be strange if they owed him something.”

“They did get here fast, all things considered.”

Roland nodded as he also agreed that Aurdhan had to have some kind of pull with these five. But he could have just chosen this group as they were willing to do more for less, perhaps the monetary offer was enough to make them move. It wasn’t strange for tier 3 adventurers to have a lot of debt either, they could have been desperate and he used his knowledge of their situation to his advantage.

“We could use those five if you could get them to sign a contract, remember what I told you about the passage to the other dungeon?”

“That… yes we could use them to help us with that issue, it would hasten the process by a lot…”

Arthur started looking down at the ground and thinking. Roland was sure that if it was possible that this noble would push for everything to go as fast as possible. One thing that this man didn’t seem to have was time, he was constantly taking risky bets which could be avoided if he just waited a while for things to play themselves out.

“I’ll have to talk to the Guild Master but what about you? Are you in a state to prepare that passage in the dungeon?”

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“While parts of my workshop have been destroyed, I should be able to get the tools I need within a few days… I’ll just have to get a few things in order but it will be doable.”

Roland didn’t really want to leave his home while it was destroyed but this was a good chance to move things along. If they let this platinum party go now they could be waiting months for another one to arrive. The city was also in a lockdown which put Arthur in a better position. His authority could not be denied, in crisis situations, nobles gained a lot more authoritative power over the citizens and even the adventurer guild.

“Hm…”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I just thought that you, my friend, might be even crazier than me.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult…”

“I’d say both, but now is not the time to chat, we both have a lot of work to do.”

“Before you go, there is one last issue.”

“Go on.”
“Could you not mention that I was the one that defeated the Lich?”