“Let’s try it out! Pour mana in … and shoot!” Outside in the training field of House Helvas’s mansion, Ellaine, wearing her repaired dragoon armor, was concentrating her mana into her sword before swinging it. Six blue glowing lines suddenly lit up on the sword, before the sword’s blade split into seven individual shards, all held together by one single, thick mana thread.
In awe at the blade shards dancing in the air, Ellaine kept swinging her new weapon around, testing how long the thread could extend. The mansion’s guards began to take notice, watching Ellaine play with her “toy” before being called out by the Count. Once the spectators were gone, Ellaine’s father returned his attention back to his daughter.
[“Oooh, the blacksmith did a fine job with your blade, dear. The extension of the weapon is controlled by how much mana you pour into the weapon, and you can retract it whenever you want by decreasing the flow of mana. Easy to control,”] Klea’Hatma, without revealing her eyes, spoke to us through her telepathy. [“Hmm, how about releasing my powers to see how it works with them?”]
“Please, take care not to startle my guards, ‘Ellaine,’” the Count warned, not to his daughter but indirectly at the demon since he couldn’t say her name out loud.
Ellaine’s whipblade was finally finished. The blade was made using the metal of the High Ogre’s axeblade, which was able to withstand my [Dreadflare Aura] at point-blank range, a handle and crossguard made from Cernust’s broken antler-horn, and a few of my old, shed layers of my claws and carapace spikes. Just from the materials used, most adventurers would immediately recognize this as a high-tier weapon.
In addition to those, the weapon itself had a mechanism inside its rather large crossguard. Under Grimnir’s instructions, Ellaine managed to contribute to her own weapon by implementing the mechanical parts needed to control the whip aspect. Ellaine could control the length of the mana thread released and extend or contract the blade’s reach. Grimnir did mention it could use some more tweaking, but Ellaine could do this herself once she became better at tinkering.
“Woah!” Once done with the tests, Ellaine stopped pouring mana into her weapon and it snapped back into a sword, causing Ellaine to fly backwards, unprepared for the recoil. She groaned before I helped her up, chuckling at her mistake.
Her father sighed as he saw this, scratching his head. “You need more arm strength and a better core for stability. The ideal of a noble lady does not fit with that of an adventurer, so your training must be stricter. Don’t forget to come back home the moment your classes are over.”
“Well, if you could help me skip a few lectures, I would be able to train more. Right, Father?”
Ellaine’s mischievous comment only earned her a fierce scolding from her father, who was trying to inject more discipline into Ellaine’s character, similar to how he would train a soldier or a squire. Ellaine has been training with her father daily since we arrived in Griffonpeak, and it seemed their relationship has improved a bit. Ellaine was acting more relaxed around him, in my opinion.
Speaking of school, Ellaine just came back from the academy just a few moments ago. When she learned Grimnir had finished making her new weapon and repairing her armor, she instantly changed out of her academy uniform and jumped right into her armor. Poor Josine had no experience armoring a knight up, so Count Helvas had to teach Ellaine’s maid how to do so.
When her father told her to name her sword, as it was customary for a knight, I couldn’t help but think of Farron’s weapon, back in Firwood. “Caliarus” was its name. I guess I should have figured it out back then when I saw his “Artorian Lionheart Sword” in his Profile, that Farron was a former Knight of the Lionheart.
However, Ellaine decided to hold off on naming her weapon for now, since she felt too anxious to do so. Still, this was her weapon’s stats.
Still a bit weaker than Farron’s weapon, but Grimnir mentioned he could reforge it stronger and better as we gained better materials. Still, it would serve her well enough for now.
After helping Ellaine up, I noticed somebody leaving the mansion. With blond hair similar to Marianne’s, I realized it was Ellaine’s elder brother, Jonathan. “Hey, Jonathan, welcome back. Are you leaving for training again?” I waved at him before he left on his gargoyle, prompting him to turn around to respond.
He waved back at me. “Ah, Lady Hestia, good day! Yes, I am currently leaving to train with the other squires.”
“Dedicated, amazing. Oh, would you have some free time before then? Ellaine just received a new weapon. Would you like to see her wield it?”
“My sister’s? Uhm, I apologize, haha, but I must take my leave right now. Maybe next time.” Suddenly breaking his gentleman-like behavior, Jonathan’s brows frowned a bit when he saw Ellaine. He then jumped onto his gargoyle and flew off into the orange sky.
Ellaine looked dejected while Count Helvas sighed deeply as they saw him leave. Jonathan has been acting weird around Ellaine since they met up at the academy again, and I also heard they had a meeting with their parents the day before. It was their family business, so I didn’t want to pry, but it still felt wrong to me.
Nevetheless, my thoughts didn’t last long as somebody suddenly interrupted them.
“By Crustacia’s twin locks, are you lasses trying to have me burn the wagon down! I told you to come over here now if you want to see a runesmith at work!” It was Grimnir, peeking his head out of the RV, shouting at us with a red face. He only had stubbles for now, but his orange hair and beard were slowly growing back.
With Ellaine’s sword and armor finished, Grimnir decided it was finally time for him to work as a runesmith again. He had been preparing for it since midnight, apparently, and he was frantic enough to shout at us to hurry the hell up.
As we didn’t want to anger him, we all rushed over to the RV, including the Count. Unfortunately for him, Grimnir wouldn’t have it.
“I did not invite you, akong,” Grimnir called out Count Helvas, calling him “human” in dwarven. “Sorry, Count, but runesmithing isn’t for everybody to see. I might have been dishonored and exiled from the Ankor-Nazta, but I still ain’t letting any outsiders watch my craft. You ain’t a runesmith, you ain’t learning!”
“Then why are you inviting my daughter and the others then? Aren’t they onlookers just like me?” the Count asserted, seemingly unsatisfied that he couldn’t see something in his own yard.
“You want me to kick the lasses out every time I want to work on some runes? The wagon only has so much space until I figure out how to turn the lass’s [Room] into a rune,” Grimnir argued back. “Enough arguing! The damn furnace has been on since damn midnight! You four, get in here now, or I’ll shut the door!”
We obeyed and did what Grimnir said, leaving the Count behind. Suffice to say, when Grimnir mentioned he might burn the RV down, he wasn’t kidding.
“Ack! What is this heat!” Saori complained as we closed the RV’s door shut. As I looked at Grimnir’s forge, I could see the flames flaring like a beast from hell.
Ellaine and Tasianna immediately began sweating, feeling the effects of it even at the door. I couldn’t sympathize with them since this felt more like a comforting fireplace hearth to me, yet I could acknowledge the heat surrounding my body like a veil right now.
“Tasianna, could you—”
“No!” Grimnir interrupted Ellaine with a shout. “Don’t change the damn temperature, bladdarg! Do you know how long I had to keep the damn flames going, waiting for you to come back home? Fucking enough, I’m sweating! Here, look!” Grimnir pointed at his slightly damp forehead.
Still not understanding the situation, I had to finally pose a question, “You said you’ve been preparing for this since midnight. Are you kidding me, you’ve been keeping your furnace on since then? Why?”
“Runesmithing,” Grimnir grumbled before pulling a cloth, revealing an anvil underneath it with multiple shining runes. “Do me a favor, Tasianna. Cast [Air Shield] around us. You should be able to control it perfectly with your Goddess’ blessing, right?”
Tasianna did exactly that. When she cast the spell with her catalyst blessed by Zephira, she could control the spell to let air in and out whenever she wanted.
Once the spell was up, Grimnir continued, “To tell you the truth, I was lying to your father, Ellaine. Technically, I’m not even supposed to show you lasses any of what I’m doing. The runesmithing guild is a dwarven-only guild, and, as with every other tazongn craft, we don’t like letting others learn our trade secrets. We especially don’t like sharing our craft with the other races. The runesmithing guild, though, is especially stubborn. It’s an exclusive art for only dwarven runesmiths and their apprentices.”
“I have heard about that, Master Dwarf,” Tasianna stated. “This jealous possessiveness of their runecraft is linked to the dwarves’ lives before the Origin Gods’ advent in Peolynca. I heard that runecraft was made to alleviate the dwarves’ inability to cast magic, and, as such, your people are unwilling to share their techniques with others. You are telling us to keep this a secret, correct, Grimnir?”
“Aye, correct, fiflei,” Grimnir nodded, calling Tasianna “fairy” in dwarven. “I can’t lie to the God of Runesmithing, but I can still trick the other runesmiths. I don’t care about the guild’s rules anymore, but I still agree I shouldn’t be sharing our race’s proud craftsmanship with outsiders. Can I have your word on this, to not share any knowledge I impart on you? Close your lips under the God of Oath’s eyes?”
Seeing as Kargryxmor is looking down at us, breaking a promise like this would be kinda awkward. Not like I had any intentions of betraying Grimnir’s trust.
All four of us nodded, swearing we wouldn’t share any runecrafting secrets to calm the anxious Grimnir down. Grimnir glanced at the demon, prompting her to answer, too, [“Not like it will interest me, so speak away.”]
Grimnir scoffed at Klea’Hatma’s response but accepted it regardless. “Then, let’s get started. Lass, your sword. I need to add a fail-proof to it.” Grimnir glanced at his newest creation with pride, looking up into the ceiling of the RV. He then placed it on a workbench and pulled out a couple of iron ingots.
“Listen well, for a runesmith never repeats this lesson to their apprentices,” Grimnir said as he placed the iron into his forge. Once it started glowing orange, he pulled it out and began hammering away. “Rune magic, as we runesmiths call it, is our race’s attempt to even the battlefield between you magicians and us magic-less. In the words of our priestesses and historians, it is both a curse and blessing that our original creator gave us on our birth.”
Dwarves weren’t like the other races with their origin story. It wasn’t clear for the elves and humans how they came to be, but everybody knew full well how the dwarves came to live. Created through the ores and stone of the world, their creator molded them into their humanoid forms of today.
“We can’t commune with elementals the way other races do, even though we were made by the original primarch of the Earth element, the Earth Elemental Emperor. Neither can we use conventional catalysts like staves, spell rings, and such. Without elementals and catalysts, we couldn’t become mages. Our race had hoped Goddess Crustacia could fix our curse when we betrayed our creator for her, only to find out how much it stung when we learned the truth.”
Crustacia was unable to do so due to their biological conception. She revealed to her blessed during the first years of her rule that the Earth Elemental Emperor, one of Peolynca’s old “gods,” how they came to be.
Using ores and rocks to create their form, which they then turned into flesh and blood, the Emperor was able to bring the dwarves to life. As such, they weren’t biological beings per se. Yet, in this process, they were left magicless and the Emperor never attempted to correct his mistake, leaving the dwarves in their current state. Even with the Divine System, dwarves were unable to expel mana without a proper conduit.
The dwarven race’s hopes died when this revelation came to be, confusing them on who they should blame for this betrayal. Their original creator of their new god who promised them something she wasn’t able to fix. Obviously, they managed to forgive Crustacia while they cast their creator into the nether of history, with many historians explaining it was most likely the work of Plesia.
“As the chief goddess, she has full control over the divine laws. A god is omnipotent, right? Crustacia could fulfill her promise, but you can’t do much if your boss says no, right?” Grimnir shrugged.
“Correct, Goddess Plesia is the chief goddess!” Tasianna puffed up her chest, still frustrated with the discussion she had with Theodore.
I wonder if this is the truth, but then again, why would Crustacia lie? The dwarves were furious that they couldn’t cast the spells of their own patron Goddess, so if she lied, it wouldn’t have ended so well. Well, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, since Aurena had nothing bad to say about her.
“Still, it’s not like us tazongs would be content with this. Before the Origin Gods came to our world, we created the first runic tattoo.”
Grimnir explained runic tattoos were made to resemble magic circles, however, they used the dwarven language and their culture’s engravings. Conventional catalysts made using alchemy were useless for a dwarf, so they came up with a version they could use.
Dwarves weren’t able to expel mana from their bodies, so it was simply impossible for them to combine it with the elements and mold it. For example, if mana was mixed with one of the six elements or the composite elements, its color would change corresponding to them. That was why magic circles were colored according to the element of the spell.
Dwarves could only channel their mana through objects related to the earth—rocks, metal, wood, plants, and blood were primary examples. They could still empower their fists and weapons with mana to cause massive damage, while their body was protected by their “stubborn” mana, reducing any incoming magical damage, as mentioned in the dwarven racial skills [Body of Earth] and [Dwarven Magic Resistance].
Therefore, dwarves were perfect melee combatants and warriors. Their innate mana control allowed them to bolster their strength, leading to them wearing armor far too heavy for even the strongest humans or beastmen to comfortably fight in.
“Blood is our catalyst. The main material used in runic tattoos is blood. A runic tattooist traps mana inside these blood tattoos using special equipment, while chanting like a magician, to grant them power. This means that runic tattoos could act like spells for us,” Grimnir explained after finishing hammering the iron ingot into shape. He then placed it back in the forge and began melting it. “It all changed when the Origin Gods came to our world. That was when our ancestor, the father of runesmithing, made his way to the top. Etch this into your minds, lassess, for his mortal name is Dhuinn Gleiubnekkar. The God of Runesmithing, Dhuinn.”
Dhuinn Gleiubnekkar was an ordinary inko blacksmith before he created runesmithing. Unwilling to accept the fact his race couldn’t understand and use the spells of his patron Goddess, Dhuinn dropped his hammer and anvil to pursue the answer for this question, sorting through some of the last notes of the God of Magic, Istari, before he ascended to godhood.
Despite reading and trying to understand it with the help of the mages of Aleistunum, Dhuinn got nowhere. As he slowly slipped into insanity, Dhuinn resorted to the only skill he learned during his lifetime and that was his smithing. Going back inside a forge, Dhuinn began smithing, dedicating all his new works to Crustacia instead of the God of Smithing, Bleidla.
During this time, Bleidla was still the subordinate god of Danterno and, as such, the faith Danterno should have received went over to Crustacia. During his time with the Aleistunum mages, he made some friends amongst them, who helped him create phenomenal equipment people nowadays consider artifacts. With a mindless obsession of praying to Crustacia for answers, after five years of smithing works just for her, she finally gave him the knowledge he needed to create runesmithing.
“It sounds like Goddess Crustacia also has a hand with runesmithing,” Saori mentioned. “So shouldn’t she get the credit for creating it?”
“Guess so, but either way, the result of this dedication was runesmithing. There are four rules we runesmiths must always follow, and the fourth one is the ‘Rule of Work.’ Always show your respects to your seniors, for they have sacrificed their time on Peolynca for your success,” Grimnir said before taking a wooden bottle from his workbench, opening the lid to reveal it filled with blood. “Number one, Rule of Blood. Blood is the most essential part of runesmithing, for it binds mana to create rune magic. Three runes may be placed on any item, and two additional slots open up for every rank above D. That wyvern was a B rank monster, so using his blood allows me to place up to seven runes on any weapon or certain pieces of armor.”
“This includes Saori’s and mine, right?” I asked, to which Grimnir nodded. Farron’s Caliarus had seven runes, if I remember correctly, so I wondered whose blood he used.
“Runesmithing isn’t easy and it’s more akin to a ritual than actual smithing.” Grimnir then threw more charcoal into his furnace, stroking the flames as the ingot kept melting into liquid metal. “There are two phases, the first is the preparation. Let the fire of the forge roar when the moon stands up in the sky, and allow it to live until dawn comes. Splatter the forge fire with the same blood as your runes, for the fire will enhance the mana of the metal. Heat iron ingots until they glow orange and hammer the impurities away. Allow the purified ingot to melt and rest until the rune forging begins.”
He then turned around, staring at us as we gulped from anticipation. He picked up Ellaine’s sword and removed the blade from the mana thread, picking blade shards up and placing them next to his runic anvil. “This is my runic anvil; it aids in the mana binding and allows me to create certain runes more easily with the assistance of my [Master Runesmith] skill. Lasses, I need your help as my assistants. My cousin and my former apprentices used to do it for me, but I only got you four now. Mind lending this fool of a dwarf a hand?”
“Of course!”
“All right, then let’s begin. Don’t get overwhelmed now…” Grimnir took in a deep breath before his lung released his bellowing voice. “Ellaine, get a cloth and make sure not a single drop of sweat gets on the rune! Tasianna, pour some of the beer in that cask into a bucket and get water ready for everybody to drink! Hestia, feed the fire charcoal as necessary to keep it going as hot as it is now! Saori, once I say so, quench the shard in the bucket of ale and clean it off with this hair cloth! Umslid fie Dhuinn!” (Honor to Dhuinn!)
The four of us jolted into action, preparing what we needed to do while Grimnir began to take the first step of the second phase. He told me to take out the bowl with the liquid iron from the furnace, since I was the most heat-resistant person in our party, and to bring it over to him as fast as possible. He picked up a hand-sized metal stick, dipped it into the liquid metal before beginning to use it like a pen, carefully drawing a magic circle with accuracy and deftness.
“Ellaine, a spoonful of blood! While Bleidla’s heat singes my beard!” Grimnir shouted, ordering Ellaine to splash some blood onto the iron drawing the moment he finished. “Time is of the essence!” Picking up his ever-molten voldunna hammer, he imbued it with mana before striking the first shard of Ellaine’s sword.
The massive metal clang resounded around us, causing our bodies to shiver at the impact this master blacksmith could produce. “Saori, hold the tongs like this! Don’t let it go otherwise my strikes won’t have the impact needed!” High strength was needed to hold onto the tongs as Grimnir continuously struck the blade shard three times every second with the power of a veteran warrior. Thankfully, Saori had the second highest strength in our party, staying unperturbed by the rattling shockwaves sent through her arms.
“Uuuuuuuh, huuuuuaaaaaandaaaa vieeeeeeeee.” Unexpectedly, Grimnir stopped shouting and began singing. Grimnir’s bass was incredibly deep, causing me to snap my head around and smile. “Saaaaaarlooooontaaaaa fieeee uuuuumsliiiid! Feeeeelknuuuuln lasaaa mahoooooj’ku ruuuuunek daaaaaahbu, Cruuuuustacia.”
Whether it was classical operas or the more emotionally-powered musicals, a woman could fully display their ability to control their voice and the tone range in such a setting, but I had a soft-spot for men with baritone and bass voices who could perform. It was soul-warming as their singing shook my very core, not to mention how soothing it felt inside the echoing halls.
Grimnir was nowhere close to these virtuosos, but I very much appreciated the experience. It was clear he had done this often as I noticed him singing with intent care. Outside of a concert, I didn’t worry about how I performed as I knew well enough I was good enough to always hit the notes. This was different for our dwarven friend, and as an enjoyer of music, I wanted to clap and celebrate his efforts.
[“I think this is a song dedicated to Crustacia, Lady Hestia. I’m not sure, but this might be related to the ‘ritual’ Grimnir mentioned?”] Tasianna informed me. Regardless of what it was, we girls didn’t let this stop our part of the work.
His voice really has a good bass. Yeah!
As Grimnir continued the song three more times, his forehead began to form sweat beads, which were quickly cleared away by Ellaine. Tasianna finished pouring beer into a wooden bucket and began handing everybody a mug of water to drink. The moment Grimnir stopped his song, Tasianna poured his share down his throat as he kept on swinging.
With his throat parched, Grimnir transitioned to something similar to chanting. I couldn’t understand the Dwarven tongue yet, so I couldn’t tell what he was saying. After the chant was done, he once again began to sing Crustacia’s song until the rune suddenly began to glow blue.
“Saori!” Grimnir commanded and Saori quenched the shard in the bucket of beer. Steam exploded from the bucket, filling the room with a sickening alcoholic smell. After it settled and Saori wiped it clean with the cloth she was given, she gave Grimnir the blade shard back and he inspected it.
He poured mana through the shard, and the rune once again glowed blue. “Excellent. I hope everybody has the stamina because we still need to do this seven more times. One on each shard and one on the handle. I will not stop until this is finished, so you lasses better not give up!”
“Got it!”
Seven times. We had to repeat the same process that often. While our response was filled with vigor, by the time the third rune had to be applied, Tasianna began to feel dizzy from the heat. With Ellaine too focused on wiping Grimnir’s sweat away like a surgeon’s assistance, I had to take over Tasianna’s role for the moment until she recovered.
By the fifth rune, Saori’s arm started to ache from the constant ringing Grimnir’s hammer caused. Once Tasianna was back inside, we had to shuffle people’s roles around. I held onto Grimnir’s tongs, Ellaine kept the furnace’s fire up, Saori poured water, and Tasianna wiped Grimnir’s waterfall forehead.
During all this chaos, Grimnir never stopped working once. His hammering and singing filled the smithy with sound, never leaving it silent for a second. Although he was dehydrating himself from the constant sweating and breaking his voice, Grimnir kept working.
Once all shards had a rune, it was time for the very last rune on the handle. Far smaller than the rest of the shards, this last rune required the most concentration and accuracy from Grimnir. Not only was the rune on the handle different compared to the other seven on the shards, but so was the chant Grimnir spoke. Everything else, however, was the same, and when the last rune glowed blue and received a beer bath, Grimnir let out a deep sigh and fell onto the ground, exhausted.
“Grimnir!” I called out, healing him in case he was hurt.
“I’m good, I’m good, lass,” Grimnir said through bated breath. He pulled himself up and picked up the shards and handle. He opened up the door and called us out, before throwing the shards on the ground. “Give me a dragorade, lass. I actually feel like I’m building up too much arcane corruption. I used up too much mana while I was working. My skills and endurance rusted up, it seems.”
Every hammer strike was filled with mana, filling the rune with it. After eight runes, Grimnir must have been exhausted physically, mentally, and magically. I looked up in the sky after I gave him a dragorade to drink, realizing we’ve been working until the moon was at its highest point. Grimnir set his furnace on fire last midnight and it was kept alive for a whole day.
Damn.
“This is the fruit of our labors,” Grimnir said after finishing his drink.
The blade shards of the whipsword were on the ground and Grimnir was holding onto its handle. He poured mana into the sword, activating the rune and like a domino effect, the runes on the shards lit up, too. They shook wildly before flying over to the handle, perfectly aligned.
Ahh, a retrieving function in case the mana threads snap!
“[Utility Rune: Retrieval], that is the name of this rune. A very popular rune for throwing axes amongst us tazongs. I etched the number of the shards, making sure when the shards reformed into the sword, they would fit.” Grimnir then swung the sword, now attached to the mana thread again. After whipping the blade around, he deactivated the blade’s mechanism, retracting the mana thread without the shards. As the blade pieces began to fall to the ground, Grimnir activated the rune again, the pieces flew back to the handle and it was back to normal.
Grimnir then turned to Ellaine, handing her sword back. “The Rule of Blood is non-negotiable. More runes than what the weapon can handle and it will break. Thankfully, the retrieval rune and its connector runes count as one single rune on an item.”
“You mean?!” Ellaine’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, we still have six slots left for your sword. Sadly, we used up all the blood for today, but it ain’t too bad. Once a rune is etched onto something, you can’t remove it, so we can think it throught for later. Ahhhhhh, seven runes, not good for anybody’s health with how us tazongs aren’t immune to arcane corruption. You fairies have it good, Tasianna.”
Tasianna shrugged. “Sure, but we make good mana battery fuel as a result, right?”
“Haha, true, true! Sorry about that, lass, I misspoke!” Grimnir patted his chest with the giggling Tasianna. “Well, let’s take a break for now. We took a day off from work today, so we need to continue this another time. Don’t wanna work like this and create something like those ‘runes’ those humans can make for ya, hahaha!”
“Huh, what do you mean by that, Master Grimnir?” Ellaine asked bewildered.
“What do you think, lass? Do you think a runesmith would teach a human anything more than a basic tattoo rune? I’ll make sure you learn what a [Passive Rune: Silence] actually looks like!”
Time went by again but we didn’t let it go to waste. We still kept doing what we usually did—restaurant, white grace work, singing, smithing and potion selling now that Tasianna was an alchemy guild member. Nevertheless, as we broadened our horizons within Griffonpeak, we also had other activities ready for us.
The mage’s guild was a perfect place for us to test new custom spells and train our skills. The magic barrier around the training area meant we could sling spells as much as we wanted, so we were able to train our resistance and magic skills at a safe location inside a city. Tasianna also asked Maverina if she could find a talented alchemist teacher for her. Sure, we could have asked the alchemy guild, but we figured somebody from the empire would have more contacts for us to work with.
Also, about the fulinoe leaves, well, Maverina seemed to have figured it out and was now acting suspicious around us after Saori had President Sarlenzia raise the prices of fulinoe leaves specifically for the mage’s guild. Maverina wanted them so badly, she couldn’t say no to the price. She took 68% of our Davi, so we would just take it back the legal way, right?
After some more theology lessons, I felt I was filling my head with too much info from the holy book to the point I got sick of it.
In any case, time went by peacefully as we lived our life and got used to Griffonpeak. Once the first of SpringBloom arrived, it was time for us to prepare for King Drangleic’s ball.
It was time for the idol to enchant Artorian noble society.
AbyssRaven Rune-tastic.
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“Let’s try it out! Pour mana in … and shoot!” Outside in the training field of House Helvas’s mansion, Ellaine, wearing her repaired dragoon armor, was concentrating her mana into her sword before swinging it. Six blue glowing lines suddenly lit up on the sword, before the sword’s blade split into seven individual shards, all held together by one single, thick mana thread.
In awe at the blade shards dancing in the air, Ellaine kept swinging her new weapon around, testing how long the thread could extend. The mansion’s guards began to take notice, watching Ellaine play with her “toy” before being called out by the Count. Once the spectators were gone, Ellaine’s father returned his attention back to his daughter.
[“Oooh, the blacksmith did a fine job with your blade, dear. The extension of the weapon is controlled by how much mana you pour into the weapon, and you can retract it whenever you want by decreasing the flow of mana. Easy to control,”] Klea’Hatma, without revealing her eyes, spoke to us through her telepathy. [“Hmm, how about releasing my powers to see how it works with them?”]
“Please, take care not to startle my guards, ‘Ellaine,’” the Count warned, not to his daughter but indirectly at the demon since he couldn’t say her name out loud.
Ellaine’s whipblade was finally finished. The blade was made using the metal of the High Ogre’s axeblade, which was able to withstand my [Dreadflare Aura] at point-blank range, a handle and crossguard made from Cernust’s broken antler-horn, and a few of my old, shed layers of my claws and carapace spikes. Just from the materials used, most adventurers would immediately recognize this as a high-tier weapon.
In addition to those, the weapon itself had a mechanism inside its rather large crossguard. Under Grimnir’s instructions, Ellaine managed to contribute to her own weapon by implementing the mechanical parts needed to control the whip aspect. Ellaine could control the length of the mana thread released and extend or contract the blade’s reach. Grimnir did mention it could use some more tweaking, but Ellaine could do this herself once she became better at tinkering.
“Woah!” Once done with the tests, Ellaine stopped pouring mana into her weapon and it snapped back into a sword, causing Ellaine to fly backwards, unprepared for the recoil. She groaned before I helped her up, chuckling at her mistake.
Her father sighed as he saw this, scratching his head. “You need more arm strength and a better core for stability. The ideal of a noble lady does not fit with that of an adventurer, so your training must be stricter. Don’t forget to come back home the moment your classes are over.”
“Well, if you could help me skip a few lectures, I would be able to train more. Right, Father?”
Ellaine’s mischievous comment only earned her a fierce scolding from her father, who was trying to inject more discipline into Ellaine’s character, similar to how he would train a soldier or a squire. Ellaine has been training with her father daily since we arrived in Griffonpeak, and it seemed their relationship has improved a bit. Ellaine was acting more relaxed around him, in my opinion.
Speaking of school, Ellaine just came back from the academy just a few moments ago. When she learned Grimnir had finished making her new weapon and repairing her armor, she instantly changed out of her academy uniform and jumped right into her armor. Poor Josine had no experience armoring a knight up, so Count Helvas had to teach Ellaine’s maid how to do so.
When her father told her to name her sword, as it was customary for a knight, I couldn’t help but think of Farron’s weapon, back in Firwood. “Caliarus” was its name. I guess I should have figured it out back then when I saw his “Artorian Lionheart Sword” in his Profile, that Farron was a former Knight of the Lionheart.
However, Ellaine decided to hold off on naming her weapon for now, since she felt too anxious to do so. Still, this was her weapon’s stats.
Still a bit weaker than Farron’s weapon, but Grimnir mentioned he could reforge it stronger and better as we gained better materials. Still, it would serve her well enough for now.
After helping Ellaine up, I noticed somebody leaving the mansion. With blond hair similar to Marianne’s, I realized it was Ellaine’s elder brother, Jonathan. “Hey, Jonathan, welcome back. Are you leaving for training again?” I waved at him before he left on his gargoyle, prompting him to turn around to respond.
He waved back at me. “Ah, Lady Hestia, good day! Yes, I am currently leaving to train with the other squires.”
“Dedicated, amazing. Oh, would you have some free time before then? Ellaine just received a new weapon. Would you like to see her wield it?”
“My sister’s? Uhm, I apologize, haha, but I must take my leave right now. Maybe next time.” Suddenly breaking his gentleman-like behavior, Jonathan’s brows frowned a bit when he saw Ellaine. He then jumped onto his gargoyle and flew off into the orange sky.
Ellaine looked dejected while Count Helvas sighed deeply as they saw him leave. Jonathan has been acting weird around Ellaine since they met up at the academy again, and I also heard they had a meeting with their parents the day before. It was their family business, so I didn’t want to pry, but it still felt wrong to me.
Nevetheless, my thoughts didn’t last long as somebody suddenly interrupted them.
“By Crustacia’s twin locks, are you lasses trying to have me burn the wagon down! I told you to come over here now if you want to see a runesmith at work!” It was Grimnir, peeking his head out of the RV, shouting at us with a red face. He only had stubbles for now, but his orange hair and beard were slowly growing back.
With Ellaine’s sword and armor finished, Grimnir decided it was finally time for him to work as a runesmith again. He had been preparing for it since midnight, apparently, and he was frantic enough to shout at us to hurry the hell up.
As we didn’t want to anger him, we all rushed over to the RV, including the Count. Unfortunately for him, Grimnir wouldn’t have it.
“I did not invite you, akong,” Grimnir called out Count Helvas, calling him “human” in dwarven. “Sorry, Count, but runesmithing isn’t for everybody to see. I might have been dishonored and exiled from the Ankor-Nazta, but I still ain’t letting any outsiders watch my craft. You ain’t a runesmith, you ain’t learning!”
“Then why are you inviting my daughter and the others then? Aren’t they onlookers just like me?” the Count asserted, seemingly unsatisfied that he couldn’t see something in his own yard.
“You want me to kick the lasses out every time I want to work on some runes? The wagon only has so much space until I figure out how to turn the lass’s [Room] into a rune,” Grimnir argued back. “Enough arguing! The damn furnace has been on since damn midnight! You four, get in here now, or I’ll shut the door!”
We obeyed and did what Grimnir said, leaving the Count behind. Suffice to say, when Grimnir mentioned he might burn the RV down, he wasn’t kidding.
“Ack! What is this heat!” Saori complained as we closed the RV’s door shut. As I looked at Grimnir’s forge, I could see the flames flaring like a beast from hell.
Ellaine and Tasianna immediately began sweating, feeling the effects of it even at the door. I couldn’t sympathize with them since this felt more like a comforting fireplace hearth to me, yet I could acknowledge the heat surrounding my body like a veil right now.
“Tasianna, could you—”
“No!” Grimnir interrupted Ellaine with a shout. “Don’t change the damn temperature, bladdarg! Do you know how long I had to keep the damn flames going, waiting for you to come back home? Fucking enough, I’m sweating! Here, look!” Grimnir pointed at his slightly damp forehead.
Still not understanding the situation, I had to finally pose a question, “You said you’ve been preparing for this since midnight. Are you kidding me, you’ve been keeping your furnace on since then? Why?”
“Runesmithing,” Grimnir grumbled before pulling a cloth, revealing an anvil underneath it with multiple shining runes. “Do me a favor, Tasianna. Cast [Air Shield] around us. You should be able to control it perfectly with your Goddess’ blessing, right?”
Tasianna did exactly that. When she cast the spell with her catalyst blessed by Zephira, she could control the spell to let air in and out whenever she wanted.
Once the spell was up, Grimnir continued, “To tell you the truth, I was lying to your father, Ellaine. Technically, I’m not even supposed to show you lasses any of what I’m doing. The runesmithing guild is a dwarven-only guild, and, as with every other tazongn craft, we don’t like letting others learn our trade secrets. We especially don’t like sharing our craft with the other races. The runesmithing guild, though, is especially stubborn. It’s an exclusive art for only dwarven runesmiths and their apprentices.”
“I have heard about that, Master Dwarf,” Tasianna stated. “This jealous possessiveness of their runecraft is linked to the dwarves’ lives before the Origin Gods’ advent in Peolynca. I heard that runecraft was made to alleviate the dwarves’ inability to cast magic, and, as such, your people are unwilling to share their techniques with others. You are telling us to keep this a secret, correct, Grimnir?”
“Aye, correct, fiflei,” Grimnir nodded, calling Tasianna “fairy” in dwarven. “I can’t lie to the God of Runesmithing, but I can still trick the other runesmiths. I don’t care about the guild’s rules anymore, but I still agree I shouldn’t be sharing our race’s proud craftsmanship with outsiders. Can I have your word on this, to not share any knowledge I impart on you? Close your lips under the God of Oath’s eyes?”
Seeing as Kargryxmor is looking down at us, breaking a promise like this would be kinda awkward. Not like I had any intentions of betraying Grimnir’s trust.
All four of us nodded, swearing we wouldn’t share any runecrafting secrets to calm the anxious Grimnir down. Grimnir glanced at the demon, prompting her to answer, too, [“Not like it will interest me, so speak away.”]
Grimnir scoffed at Klea’Hatma’s response but accepted it regardless. “Then, let’s get started. Lass, your sword. I need to add a fail-proof to it.” Grimnir glanced at his newest creation with pride, looking up into the ceiling of the RV. He then placed it on a workbench and pulled out a couple of iron ingots.
“Listen well, for a runesmith never repeats this lesson to their apprentices,” Grimnir said as he placed the iron into his forge. Once it started glowing orange, he pulled it out and began hammering away. “Rune magic, as we runesmiths call it, is our race’s attempt to even the battlefield between you magicians and us magic-less. In the words of our priestesses and historians, it is both a curse and blessing that our original creator gave us on our birth.”
Dwarves weren’t like the other races with their origin story. It wasn’t clear for the elves and humans how they came to be, but everybody knew full well how the dwarves came to live. Created through the ores and stone of the world, their creator molded them into their humanoid forms of today.
“We can’t commune with elementals the way other races do, even though we were made by the original primarch of the Earth element, the Earth Elemental Emperor. Neither can we use conventional catalysts like staves, spell rings, and such. Without elementals and catalysts, we couldn’t become mages. Our race had hoped Goddess Crustacia could fix our curse when we betrayed our creator for her, only to find out how much it stung when we learned the truth.”
Crustacia was unable to do so due to their biological conception. She revealed to her blessed during the first years of her rule that the Earth Elemental Emperor, one of Peolynca’s old “gods,” how they came to be.
Using ores and rocks to create their form, which they then turned into flesh and blood, the Emperor was able to bring the dwarves to life. As such, they weren’t biological beings per se. Yet, in this process, they were left magicless and the Emperor never attempted to correct his mistake, leaving the dwarves in their current state. Even with the Divine System, dwarves were unable to expel mana without a proper conduit.
The dwarven race’s hopes died when this revelation came to be, confusing them on who they should blame for this betrayal. Their original creator of their new god who promised them something she wasn’t able to fix. Obviously, they managed to forgive Crustacia while they cast their creator into the nether of history, with many historians explaining it was most likely the work of Plesia.
“As the chief goddess, she has full control over the divine laws. A god is omnipotent, right? Crustacia could fulfill her promise, but you can’t do much if your boss says no, right?” Grimnir shrugged.
“Correct, Goddess Plesia is the chief goddess!” Tasianna puffed up her chest, still frustrated with the discussion she had with Theodore.
I wonder if this is the truth, but then again, why would Crustacia lie? The dwarves were furious that they couldn’t cast the spells of their own patron Goddess, so if she lied, it wouldn’t have ended so well. Well, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, since Aurena had nothing bad to say about her.
“Still, it’s not like us tazongs would be content with this. Before the Origin Gods came to our world, we created the first runic tattoo.”
Grimnir explained runic tattoos were made to resemble magic circles, however, they used the dwarven language and their culture’s engravings. Conventional catalysts made using alchemy were useless for a dwarf, so they came up with a version they could use.
Dwarves weren’t able to expel mana from their bodies, so it was simply impossible for them to combine it with the elements and mold it. For example, if mana was mixed with one of the six elements or the composite elements, its color would change corresponding to them. That was why magic circles were colored according to the element of the spell.
Dwarves could only channel their mana through objects related to the earth—rocks, metal, wood, plants, and blood were primary examples. They could still empower their fists and weapons with mana to cause massive damage, while their body was protected by their “stubborn” mana, reducing any incoming magical damage, as mentioned in the dwarven racial skills [Body of Earth] and [Dwarven Magic Resistance].
Therefore, dwarves were perfect melee combatants and warriors. Their innate mana control allowed them to bolster their strength, leading to them wearing armor far too heavy for even the strongest humans or beastmen to comfortably fight in.
“Blood is our catalyst. The main material used in runic tattoos is blood. A runic tattooist traps mana inside these blood tattoos using special equipment, while chanting like a magician, to grant them power. This means that runic tattoos could act like spells for us,” Grimnir explained after finishing hammering the iron ingot into shape. He then placed it back in the forge and began melting it. “It all changed when the Origin Gods came to our world. That was when our ancestor, the father of runesmithing, made his way to the top. Etch this into your minds, lassess, for his mortal name is Dhuinn Gleiubnekkar. The God of Runesmithing, Dhuinn.”
Dhuinn Gleiubnekkar was an ordinary inko blacksmith before he created runesmithing. Unwilling to accept the fact his race couldn’t understand and use the spells of his patron Goddess, Dhuinn dropped his hammer and anvil to pursue the answer for this question, sorting through some of the last notes of the God of Magic, Istari, before he ascended to godhood.
Despite reading and trying to understand it with the help of the mages of Aleistunum, Dhuinn got nowhere. As he slowly slipped into insanity, Dhuinn resorted to the only skill he learned during his lifetime and that was his smithing. Going back inside a forge, Dhuinn began smithing, dedicating all his new works to Crustacia instead of the God of Smithing, Bleidla.
During this time, Bleidla was still the subordinate god of Danterno and, as such, the faith Danterno should have received went over to Crustacia. During his time with the Aleistunum mages, he made some friends amongst them, who helped him create phenomenal equipment people nowadays consider artifacts. With a mindless obsession of praying to Crustacia for answers, after five years of smithing works just for her, she finally gave him the knowledge he needed to create runesmithing.
“It sounds like Goddess Crustacia also has a hand with runesmithing,” Saori mentioned. “So shouldn’t she get the credit for creating it?”
“Guess so, but either way, the result of this dedication was runesmithing. There are four rules we runesmiths must always follow, and the fourth one is the ‘Rule of Work.’ Always show your respects to your seniors, for they have sacrificed their time on Peolynca for your success,” Grimnir said before taking a wooden bottle from his workbench, opening the lid to reveal it filled with blood. “Number one, Rule of Blood. Blood is the most essential part of runesmithing, for it binds mana to create rune magic. Three runes may be placed on any item, and two additional slots open up for every rank above D. That wyvern was a B rank monster, so using his blood allows me to place up to seven runes on any weapon or certain pieces of armor.”
“This includes Saori’s and mine, right?” I asked, to which Grimnir nodded. Farron’s Caliarus had seven runes, if I remember correctly, so I wondered whose blood he used.
“Runesmithing isn’t easy and it’s more akin to a ritual than actual smithing.” Grimnir then threw more charcoal into his furnace, stroking the flames as the ingot kept melting into liquid metal. “There are two phases, the first is the preparation. Let the fire of the forge roar when the moon stands up in the sky, and allow it to live until dawn comes. Splatter the forge fire with the same blood as your runes, for the fire will enhance the mana of the metal. Heat iron ingots until they glow orange and hammer the impurities away. Allow the purified ingot to melt and rest until the rune forging begins.”
He then turned around, staring at us as we gulped from anticipation. He picked up Ellaine’s sword and removed the blade from the mana thread, picking blade shards up and placing them next to his runic anvil. “This is my runic anvil; it aids in the mana binding and allows me to create certain runes more easily with the assistance of my [Master Runesmith] skill. Lasses, I need your help as my assistants. My cousin and my former apprentices used to do it for me, but I only got you four now. Mind lending this fool of a dwarf a hand?”
“Of course!”
“All right, then let’s begin. Don’t get overwhelmed now…” Grimnir took in a deep breath before his lung released his bellowing voice. “Ellaine, get a cloth and make sure not a single drop of sweat gets on the rune! Tasianna, pour some of the beer in that cask into a bucket and get water ready for everybody to drink! Hestia, feed the fire charcoal as necessary to keep it going as hot as it is now! Saori, once I say so, quench the shard in the bucket of ale and clean it off with this hair cloth! Umslid fie Dhuinn!” (Honor to Dhuinn!)
The four of us jolted into action, preparing what we needed to do while Grimnir began to take the first step of the second phase. He told me to take out the bowl with the liquid iron from the furnace, since I was the most heat-resistant person in our party, and to bring it over to him as fast as possible. He picked up a hand-sized metal stick, dipped it into the liquid metal before beginning to use it like a pen, carefully drawing a magic circle with accuracy and deftness.
“Ellaine, a spoonful of blood! While Bleidla’s heat singes my beard!” Grimnir shouted, ordering Ellaine to splash some blood onto the iron drawing the moment he finished. “Time is of the essence!” Picking up his ever-molten voldunna hammer, he imbued it with mana before striking the first shard of Ellaine’s sword.
The massive metal clang resounded around us, causing our bodies to shiver at the impact this master blacksmith could produce. “Saori, hold the tongs like this! Don’t let it go otherwise my strikes won’t have the impact needed!” High strength was needed to hold onto the tongs as Grimnir continuously struck the blade shard three times every second with the power of a veteran warrior. Thankfully, Saori had the second highest strength in our party, staying unperturbed by the rattling shockwaves sent through her arms.
“Uuuuuuuh, huuuuuaaaaaandaaaa vieeeeeeeee.” Unexpectedly, Grimnir stopped shouting and began singing. Grimnir’s bass was incredibly deep, causing me to snap my head around and smile. “Saaaaaarlooooontaaaaa fieeee uuuuumsliiiid! Feeeeelknuuuuln lasaaa mahoooooj’ku ruuuuunek daaaaaahbu, Cruuuuustacia.”
Whether it was classical operas or the more emotionally-powered musicals, a woman could fully display their ability to control their voice and the tone range in such a setting, but I had a soft-spot for men with baritone and bass voices who could perform. It was soul-warming as their singing shook my very core, not to mention how soothing it felt inside the echoing halls.
Grimnir was nowhere close to these virtuosos, but I very much appreciated the experience. It was clear he had done this often as I noticed him singing with intent care. Outside of a concert, I didn’t worry about how I performed as I knew well enough I was good enough to always hit the notes. This was different for our dwarven friend, and as an enjoyer of music, I wanted to clap and celebrate his efforts.
[“I think this is a song dedicated to Crustacia, Lady Hestia. I’m not sure, but this might be related to the ‘ritual’ Grimnir mentioned?”] Tasianna informed me. Regardless of what it was, we girls didn’t let this stop our part of the work.
His voice really has a good bass. Yeah!
As Grimnir continued the song three more times, his forehead began to form sweat beads, which were quickly cleared away by Ellaine. Tasianna finished pouring beer into a wooden bucket and began handing everybody a mug of water to drink. The moment Grimnir stopped his song, Tasianna poured his share down his throat as he kept on swinging.
With his throat parched, Grimnir transitioned to something similar to chanting. I couldn’t understand the Dwarven tongue yet, so I couldn’t tell what he was saying. After the chant was done, he once again began to sing Crustacia’s song until the rune suddenly began to glow blue.
“Saori!” Grimnir commanded and Saori quenched the shard in the bucket of beer. Steam exploded from the bucket, filling the room with a sickening alcoholic smell. After it settled and Saori wiped it clean with the cloth she was given, she gave Grimnir the blade shard back and he inspected it.
He poured mana through the shard, and the rune once again glowed blue. “Excellent. I hope everybody has the stamina because we still need to do this seven more times. One on each shard and one on the handle. I will not stop until this is finished, so you lasses better not give up!”
“Got it!”
Seven times. We had to repeat the same process that often. While our response was filled with vigor, by the time the third rune had to be applied, Tasianna began to feel dizzy from the heat. With Ellaine too focused on wiping Grimnir’s sweat away like a surgeon’s assistance, I had to take over Tasianna’s role for the moment until she recovered.
By the fifth rune, Saori’s arm started to ache from the constant ringing Grimnir’s hammer caused. Once Tasianna was back inside, we had to shuffle people’s roles around. I held onto Grimnir’s tongs, Ellaine kept the furnace’s fire up, Saori poured water, and Tasianna wiped Grimnir’s waterfall forehead.
During all this chaos, Grimnir never stopped working once. His hammering and singing filled the smithy with sound, never leaving it silent for a second. Although he was dehydrating himself from the constant sweating and breaking his voice, Grimnir kept working.
Once all shards had a rune, it was time for the very last rune on the handle. Far smaller than the rest of the shards, this last rune required the most concentration and accuracy from Grimnir. Not only was the rune on the handle different compared to the other seven on the shards, but so was the chant Grimnir spoke. Everything else, however, was the same, and when the last rune glowed blue and received a beer bath, Grimnir let out a deep sigh and fell onto the ground, exhausted.
“Grimnir!” I called out, healing him in case he was hurt.
“I’m good, I’m good, lass,” Grimnir said through bated breath. He pulled himself up and picked up the shards and handle. He opened up the door and called us out, before throwing the shards on the ground. “Give me a dragorade, lass. I actually feel like I’m building up too much arcane corruption. I used up too much mana while I was working. My skills and endurance rusted up, it seems.”
Every hammer strike was filled with mana, filling the rune with it. After eight runes, Grimnir must have been exhausted physically, mentally, and magically. I looked up in the sky after I gave him a dragorade to drink, realizing we’ve been working until the moon was at its highest point. Grimnir set his furnace on fire last midnight and it was kept alive for a whole day.
Damn.
“This is the fruit of our labors,” Grimnir said after finishing his drink.
The blade shards of the whipsword were on the ground and Grimnir was holding onto its handle. He poured mana into the sword, activating the rune and like a domino effect, the runes on the shards lit up, too. They shook wildly before flying over to the handle, perfectly aligned.
Ahh, a retrieving function in case the mana threads snap!
“[Utility Rune: Retrieval], that is the name of this rune. A very popular rune for throwing axes amongst us tazongs. I etched the number of the shards, making sure when the shards reformed into the sword, they would fit.” Grimnir then swung the sword, now attached to the mana thread again. After whipping the blade around, he deactivated the blade’s mechanism, retracting the mana thread without the shards. As the blade pieces began to fall to the ground, Grimnir activated the rune again, the pieces flew back to the handle and it was back to normal.
Grimnir then turned to Ellaine, handing her sword back. “The Rule of Blood is non-negotiable. More runes than what the weapon can handle and it will break. Thankfully, the retrieval rune and its connector runes count as one single rune on an item.”
“You mean?!” Ellaine’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, we still have six slots left for your sword. Sadly, we used up all the blood for today, but it ain’t too bad. Once a rune is etched onto something, you can’t remove it, so we can think it throught for later. Ahhhhhh, seven runes, not good for anybody’s health with how us tazongs aren’t immune to arcane corruption. You fairies have it good, Tasianna.”
Tasianna shrugged. “Sure, but we make good mana battery fuel as a result, right?”
“Haha, true, true! Sorry about that, lass, I misspoke!” Grimnir patted his chest with the giggling Tasianna. “Well, let’s take a break for now. We took a day off from work today, so we need to continue this another time. Don’t wanna work like this and create something like those ‘runes’ those humans can make for ya, hahaha!”
“Huh, what do you mean by that, Master Grimnir?” Ellaine asked bewildered.
“What do you think, lass? Do you think a runesmith would teach a human anything more than a basic tattoo rune? I’ll make sure you learn what a [Passive Rune: Silence] actually looks like!”
Time went by again but we didn’t let it go to waste. We still kept doing what we usually did—restaurant, white grace work, singing, smithing and potion selling now that Tasianna was an alchemy guild member. Nevertheless, as we broadened our horizons within Griffonpeak, we also had other activities ready for us.
The mage’s guild was a perfect place for us to test new custom spells and train our skills. The magic barrier around the training area meant we could sling spells as much as we wanted, so we were able to train our resistance and magic skills at a safe location inside a city. Tasianna also asked Maverina if she could find a talented alchemist teacher for her. Sure, we could have asked the alchemy guild, but we figured somebody from the empire would have more contacts for us to work with.
Also, about the fulinoe leaves, well, Maverina seemed to have figured it out and was now acting suspicious around us after Saori had President Sarlenzia raise the prices of fulinoe leaves specifically for the mage’s guild. Maverina wanted them so badly, she couldn’t say no to the price. She took 68% of our Davi, so we would just take it back the legal way, right?
After some more theology lessons, I felt I was filling my head with too much info from the holy book to the point I got sick of it.
In any case, time went by peacefully as we lived our life and got used to Griffonpeak. Once the first of SpringBloom arrived, it was time for us to prepare for King Drangleic’s ball.
It was time for the idol to enchant Artorian noble society.
AbyssRaven Rune-tastic.
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