Chapter 352 – Forced Apology.

“Master Brylvia… could you not…”

“Whit do yi’ll want me to do? if ye don’t tak’ it aff, then ah have to examine it this wey, now hush a’m needin’ to focus! On the runes, this is so fascinating yit so impractical it boggles th’ mind. How much mana wid ya need to activate such a runic component…”

“Ha ha, I see that you have formed a bond between craftsmen but perhaps we should have a small chat together about the future of this city and perhaps the new partnership with the Union!”

“As long as it gets me out of here…”

“Hey, stop movin!”

Roland tried to pull his arm away as it was being examined by a rather strange dwarven woman. She was wearing some special glasses that had something that looked like a magnifying apparatus attached to it. This little gizmo when looked through allowed the Master Runesmith to magnify the traces better to get to the heart of the components.

Brylvia the new Union Chief craftswoman and the new leader of the dwarves in the city had taken a liking to his armor. He was astonished that she had no quarrels about getting closer and trying to yank his gauntlets from his arms. An attempt to go for his helmet was also made but she was too short to lift it above his head. While he didn’t want to have anyone investigate his suit, it was also interesting to see someone from his own profession.

The woman was a Master Runesmith, something that he once aimed to become when he started out at the age of ten. She had all the textbook classes like mana scribe, mage, and blacksmith without the runic variants being there. Not many people that were given the mage class would choose this profession without belonging to the dwarven race. There was a reason why almost no runesmiths existed that weren’t part of their group. The mage class offered a lot of possibilities that didn’t involve tiresome work at a stuffy smithy.

“Please, I’m sure Master Wayland will allow you to look through his creations later. First though, perhaps we should discuss an agreement?”

“Ye wish to do business?”

“Of course, as explained before, my head knight who is also the one that created that armor has not been on good terms with your people, I wish to remedy that and let bygones be bygones.”

“Ah thought ye wur trying to pull a fast yin on me, bit this lad seems to be th’ genuine article. Hm…”

After hearing Arthur’s points, the dwarven woman decided to look away from the runes on his armor. Even though she belonged to the Union it didn’t mean that her opinions and motives were the same. Instead, it looked like she was far more interested in his body of work than that he was a human runesmith.

“So thay really did that, ah will have to apologize on thair behalf. Ah have hoped that the idiots would learn something wi’ age bit old habits die hard. But… oh weel, that’s just how those mallet-heads ‘re, can not do much ‘bout it.”

The woman shrugged while grinning in Roland’s direction. He wasn’t sure what to make of it but at least at this moment, it didn’t feel like she saw him in a negative light. The two other dwarves that previously led the branch didn’t like him and didn’t change their tune to this day. While Roland was sometimes petty, this didn’t mean that he couldn’t see the broader picture.

‘Is she actually willing to work with me? Wouldn’t this make my work a lot easier?’

The current main issue was his position. He was acting as the head knight and had some troublesome duties. This didn’t allow him to leave the city too hastily and he was even forced to monitor Arthur’s villa. There were even incidents with trespassers that probably belonged to some information guilds. Everyone was trying to gather information on the new Valerian son that was rising in fame.

Watching over Arthur, instructing the construction workers with the runic wires, and also having to produce them himself. Assembling home appliances and working on a way to magically innovate the city. Helping Mary along with his friends to level up and finally do it himself. All of these things had to be done and if he had an actual master runesmith to push some of the load of, it was something he had to keep in mind.

‘A Dwarven Master Runesmith does never wander alone, she must have a few regular runesmiths under her wing, with multiple people like that around…’

There were a lot of advantages if he decided to work with the union. However, they had already wronged him once and he could not just trust this unknown person. While she seemed more interested in his armor than anything else, perhaps that would be all that he was to her. He could see their partnership ending the moment all of his smithing secrets had been revealed.

‘It has to be an equal trade. I at least need to get something else from this if they decide to screw me over in the end.’

Roland was a lot more experienced now and knew what to look out for. Arthur was also here so it wouldn’t be hard to draw up a few binding contracts. This was all going to be a business partnership where all the sides were profiting. There were a lot of things that the Union could take care of for them but a line needed to be drawn.

“Can’t do much about it? I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with just that?”

“Oh? Was there more to it?”

Brylvia looked to Arthur who was sitting on the other end. All of them were outside in the same location he had invited Knight Commander Emmerson before. Previously he had explained some things but even Arthur didn’t know the full extent of the bullying received from the dwarven union. Roland somewhat glossed over a few details that also involved him having to work together with black market merchants. It was no laughing matter and normally someone in his situation would have been forced out of the city, or into an unfavorable contract.

“I’m not sure what your colleagues have told you, probably some nonsense to make themselves look better but it’s not something that can be forgiven with a simple apology. Plus as you saw, they weren’t very apologetic and tried to shove the blame on me.”

“Ah see that yer lad will not just let it be, just lik’ ye said, m’ lord.”

Roland was a bit out of the loop here, before he arrived at the villa Arthur and his guest had ample time to chat. It was possible that he mentioned the people that wrong him. The two that were the biggest troublemakers were even here and they tried to paint him as being in the wrong. Brylvia even saw Dunan trying to make excuses when Roland arrived.

“Very well, Kin ye call them idiots ower?”

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The Woman looked towards Mary and after getting a confirming nod from Arthur she headed out. After a minute, Dunan and Bamur were before them. Both didn’t look very well and were somewhat nervously sweating. Roland didn’t know what she was trying to do but it seemed that the two would be in for it.

“Dunan, Bamur.”

“Y-yes?”

“Apologize, to master Wayland ‘ere.”

“Apologize?”

“Do ah have to repeat masellf? Wha do ye think yer talking to?”

“B-but Master Brylvia…”

“Don’t ye Master Brylvia me, Lower yer head an apologize, now!”

To Roland’s surprise, the scene devolved to Brylvia shouting at the two dwarven craftsmen. It reminded him of a mother having to force their kids to say sorry. The two were adamantly refusing the order but when they did, all hell broke loose. It was quite a sight to see her fists descending on their heads. Her level was quite high and the strength increase from smithing classes was tremendous. It only took one hit per person to knock them down to the ground and out for the count.

“Ah didn’t hit ye that hard, git up!”

“Ah… Ah apologize, please stop hitting me…”

“Aye, me too… I wus wrong!”

No one stopped the woman from giving the two dwarves a few bruises. Arthur that was watching this seemed happier than Roland who wasn’t sure what to make of it. If a few punches to the face didn’t really make the years of struggles any better. He remained quiet while staring down at the two kneeling men as if waiting for something.

“Aye… Ye’ll be demoted back to th’ apprentice position.”

“A-apprentice?”

“Ye, dat enough?”