Chapter 456 – Walking Into Trouble.

“Sir! They are getting closer!”

“I know…”

“Why didn’t I just leave… I had to play the hero…”

“Sir!”

“I know, stop shouting… take the reins.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, do you see anyone else?”

A boy of around twelve looked up at Roland with wide eyes, his hands trembling as he reached for the reins. On the other end, a large lizard-like creature whose size exceeded a horse was speeding forward on a dirt road. It was pulling a large elongated somewhat armored wagon, which held some people inside. Behind them growling and shouting echoed as a group of armored men pursued them on horseback. They were armed with swords, axes, bows and had wolven monsters acting as their bloodhounds.

The boy hesitated for a moment, unsure if he could handle the responsibility of controlling the large creature. But Roland’s urgent tone spurred him into action, and he grabbed the reins tightly, trying to steady his nerves. He focused on guiding the creature forward in a way he saw Roland do it before and to his surprise, the creature responded.

Meanwhile, Roland positioned himself at the rear of the wagon, keeping a watchful eye on their pursuers. He could hear the pounding hooves of the horses drawing closer and their shouts growing louder with each passing second. The armored men closed in as the bulky carriage was quite heavy and slow. The crest the men carried on their clothes was a crowned stag. Their weapons glinted in the moonlight and continued to get closer with each passing moment.

“Well… it’s too late to turn back now…”

Roland muttered to himself while activating the runes on his staff. While they were outnumbered, they were certainly not outmatched in terms of firepower. In a matter of seconds, multiple orbs of magical energy emerged above the wagon and shot forth in the direction of the pursuing battalion.

The orbs of magical energy exploded upon impact, sending shockwaves rippling through the air. The pursuing riders were caught off guard, their formation disrupted as some were knocked off their mounts while others struggled to maintain control. The wolven monsters howled in pain as the magical blasts hit them, causing them to scatter to avoid the damage. However, the numbers didn’t seem to dwindle as the pursuers numbered in the hundreds.

‘Will we make it… in time?’

Roland looked back at the boy, trying to hold back his tears, then glanced down to the roof of the wagon, where sounds of sniffling could be heard amidst the chaotic escape. Many people were with him, and he was the sole combatant. He turned his gaze back to the approaching forces and gathered his magic. He had already made a decision, and it was too late to go back now. While holding up his runic staff he thought back to the choice he made not so long ago…

******

“Get back soon, Agni has been getting annoyed with the Solarian worshipers… some even followed him back home and tried to scale the fence…”

“They did? Are you alright?”

“Yes, they were shot down by the turrets before they went too close, luckily no one got hurt.”

“I see, I’ll have to talk to the Soliarian bishop when I get back so something like this doesn’t happen, I should be back in a day or two, not sure yet.”

“Good, get back quick, everyone is waiting.”

“Everyone?”

“Mhm, you might not realize how much some of them look up to you~”

Elodia chuckled as the two conversed through magical means. A little holographic image of her appeared before him as he rested in one of the city inns. After the incident with the supposed orphans, he had seemingly turned in for the night. He had purposely paid for a room with a large window through which he intended to sneak out in a few hours. Then he would disappear into the dark streets and make his way over the city wall, as if he was never there. His presence here would become known with time, and perhaps he would have some guards to contend with in the morning. Before that could happen, he needed to leave.

“I’m not sure about that…”

“You underestimate your own charms. sometimes I’d wish you were more aware of them… mostly when you are around other women.”

Her sentence trailed off a bit at the end so he didn’t truly get it. The magical instruments they were using had some faults and sometimes the audio cut of due to static or the person not talking directly into the microphone device.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Oh, nothing… I’ll be waiting… I love you.”

“… I love you too…”
After ending the call, a sense of warmth enveloped him. Knowing that he had someone waiting for him back home gave him newfound motivation. For Roland, who had expected to live a lonely life stuck in a smithy, this feeling was quite odd but also something he now desired. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to go back to those old days, but this didn’t change the fact that he preferred a limited number of people around him. He was still a true introvert at heart.

“Now that I’m able to make better spatial spaces, I should make some replacement parts…”

While waiting, Roland went over his ‘Rune Mark I’ armor set. It was slowly but surely reaching the limit of its life cycle. His skill that allowed him to reform his creations had been activated several times, and the runes had deteriorated as a result. He had patched up some critical places, but eventually, it would break down. Using his Overlord’s Might Skill in conjunction with magic increased the rate of failure. In a situation like this, it would be best to replace the parts directly, but he didn’t have the resources to create multiple sets of this armor.

“I was gone for around a month and I asked the dwarves to leave some mithril for me, Arthur should have ordered the materials I asked for too.”

Once he returned home, he would be quite busy. Not only did he need to make a working prosthesis and a new runic armor, but he also had another project in mind. There was a reason why he had researched mage towers and dimensional magic. His next grand project would be to create a gate within his workshop, through which he could freely travel between the institute and his own home. This gate wouldn’t be limited to just that; with his status as Deputy Professor, he would have access to many other gates throughout the kingdom. If he achieved this feat, traveling away from his home would become quite mundane.

“When creating a mage tower, it comes down to the power source and a tower spirit. Once that geothermal generator is up and running, the first issue will resolve itself, which would leave the spirit to help with the calculations…”

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Roland saw the tower spirits as something similar to artificial intelligence which aided mages with various calculations. They utilized the magical energy stored within the towers to function. Otherwise, the mage would be compelled to activate everything manually. He had already prepared a certain thing for this issue and was eager to move into the testing phase once he was back home.

“I’ll wait half an hour and head out…”

With all this in mind, he started to wait, and once the coast was clear it was time to make his way out through the window. He had already paid for his lodging, so with a clear conscience he activated some concealment runes. His body faded into the shadows and stopped producing any sounds. This helped him to arrive on the streets without alerting any of the patrolling guards.

There was a loose curfew in this city, with some areas off-limits during the late night hours. The district where most merchant-owned stores were located was one of them, usually under the watchful eye of the city lord. On the other hand, districts like the slums seemed to be ignored, with guards seldom wandering in even late at night. This made his plan a lot easier, as he could arrive at his destination by passing through the areas that were not being closely watched.