The moon hung low in the night sky, casting an eerie glow over the dense forest. Two people both dressed in dark attire, sprinted through the underbrush, their breaths ragged and hearts pounding. Behind them, the sound of snapping twigs and distant shouts echoed through the trees. It was accompanied by howls of trained hounds that were quickly closing in. The duo glanced at each other, their eyes filled with concern.
“We need to keep moving,”
The woman urged, her voice barely above a whisper.
“They’re getting closer.”
The man nodded, his hand pressed tightly into her as he pulled her forward. However, the sounds of their pursuers only grew louder and it became clear that something needed to be done.
“I know, but we can’t keep this pace up forever. We need to find a place to hide, they are trying to surround us.”
They pushed forward, the forest closing in around them like a living entity. Every shadow seemed to conceal a threat and every rustle of leaves was a prelude to capture. Their minds raced as they frantically searched for any possible hiding spot.
“There! We can hide there.”
The woman exclaimed, pointing to a partially exposed area surrounded by thick vines. At first glance, it didn’t seem like a good place to conceal both of them. There was a small ditch they could fit in but their bodies would probably be discovered. The plants were dense but not enough to avoid being discovered by tracking hounds. However, the man just nodded at the woman’s proposal and lowered himself into this small hole.
Both started squeezing into this narrow gap while pushing the foliage away. The woman didn’t move in instantly but instead started mumbling something under her breath. Her voice was silent and her words were too quick to make any sense of them. The shouts and barking of dogs grew even closer but she did not stop.
Soon, a strange green aura surrounded the plant matter around them. The vines started to wiggle around, multiple in number as the magical chant she finished took effect. The vines wove themselves into a thick, living blanket over the ditch. The woman joined the man in the small cavity, their bodies pressed together, hearts pounding as they tried to steady their breathing. The green aura shimmered faintly, blending seamlessly with the forest's natural hues, masking their presence.
Moments later, the pursuers burst into the clearing, their torches casting erratic shadows across the dense underbrush. The dogs barked and strained at their leashes, noses to the ground, but the enchantment on the vines masked the scent trail.
"They have to be here somewhere." One of the men grunted and his eyes scanned the area. The hounds they used had clearly lost their scent but they were not willing to relent.
"Spread out and search, they couldn’t have gotten far! ”
The search party fanned out, poking and prodding at the vegetation, but the magically enhanced camouflage held strong. Hidden beneath the vines, the woman whispered another incantation, her eyes glowing faintly as she focused her will on the spell. The winds around the area picked up and blew towards the barking canines. It made their ears perk up as they caught the scent of the ones they were pursuing but with the aid of the spell, it was pushed in another direction.
“The hounds, they have picked up the scent again!”
Their barks were loud and they tugged on their leashes dragging the search party away from the hidden pair. As the sounds of pursuit gradually faded into the distance, the man and woman remained perfectly still, holding their breaths until the last echo of barking had vanished.
“We did it,”
The woman finally whispered, her voice trembling
“Yes, but we can’t stay here long. They’ll realize it was a false trail soon enough.”
With caution, they disentangled themselves from the vines. The forest was silent now, save for the distant rustle of leaves. As they climbed out of the ditch, the man took the woman’s hand, his grip firm but gentle.
“Thank you we wouldn’t have made it without you, If only I was…”
The man lowered his head, it was as if he was blaming his lack of power for this situation.
“Don’t blame yourself, this is all because of my father, we just need to get out of this territory, somewhere our father won’t reach.”
“That’s true, if we manage to get there, we should be safe, I’m sure he’ll help us.”
The two nodded at each other as an image of a certain person appeared in their minds.
“We need to keep moving. They'll probably have people in all the nearby villages, so we need to avoid those.”
They were being chased from multiple directions and their pursuers had the manpower to block all the prominent checkpoints. To get away, they would need to keep moving through the woods and avoid large settlements. The villagers would instantly inform anyone of strange new arrivals, they could trust no one but themselves.
“We make a good team,”
She replied with a faint smile, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. The two moved closer, dead leaves still stuck to their clothes and with dirt on their faces. Even though the situation was dire, they found solace in each other’s presence. Their resolve was unwavering and they had no choice but to succeed. However, during this moment of peace, a sound of someone clearing their throat resounded.
“Who is there?”
Both of them instantly turned around, the man raised his sword and moved in front of the woman. From the shadows emerged a figure cloaked in dark robes, his face obscured by a hood. Underneath, a suit of shiny armor was visible, and moonlight was reflected giving the intruder an otherworldly glow. The pair tensed, readying for a fight, but the figure raised a hand in a gesture of peace.
“Young lady, don’t you think that this has gone on for long enough, please return home, your father is worried.”
The figure's voice was calm and resonant, echoing through the stillness of the forest. The woman's eyes widened in surprise and her grip on the man’s arm tightened. It was apparent that she knew who this individual was and her body shook in fear.
“Why would the Grand Commander be here…”
“Your father was worried, so he has given me a task to bring his daughter home safely. Come now, there's no need for further resistance. Let us put an end to this foolery."
They started backing away but soon, the man that was trying to protect the woman buckled under pressure. He found himself going down onto one knee, his voice cracking from pain.
“What are you doing? Leave him be!”
“Young lady, I’m not sure what this man has done to convince you of this foolish act but, if you wish for him to return safely, I advise you to surrender peacefully.”
The man glanced at the collapsed man, his voice laced with disdain. He approached with slow steady steps, his body relaxed as if he had no worldly worries.
"I won't let you take her!"
The man's voice was strained, but he struggled to stand, his sword wavering in front of him. The woman moved closer to him, shielding him with her body. This prompted the Grand Commander to sigh softly.
“I commend you for being able to stand but this is as far as this farce will continue. Also, don’t be mistaken, you’re not going to avoid punishment for this transgression…”
With a swift motion, the Grand Commander drew his own sword, its blade gleaming ominously in the moonlight…
******
*Clang.*
The sound of several metallic objects being dropped resounded through the closed workshop room. A tall man glanced while sighing and then waved his hand. The metallic objects flew up towards the workbench they fell from.
“Are you okay Boss?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just spaced out for a moment.”
Roland had bumped into the table while making the last preparations for his departure. His mind was preoccupied with future possibilities of disasters. Things had been quiet for this month but he couldn’t help to think that some kind of storm was coming. His sister had no contacted him for a while but she was still safely at the Institute, once there he needed to see how things were shaping up.
‘She should have asked her mother for help, I hope they managed to clear things up with those Castellane bastards. If not, will I have to stay there until she graduates?’
It was impossible for him to watch over his sister forever. She was part of the institute which conducted classes outside. They would have to form parties with adventurers and knights to test their skills. Would he have to always go with her each time she was away or would his father do something about this predicament?
“Good, but what is this here boss? Is this supposed to be your language?”
Bernir was confused about what Roland was doing. In the middle of this workshop was a strange plate of metal. There were various runes on it and it seemed to be divided into several parts that were now unfolded. It was quite large and took up almost half of this room, ten meters in length and around six in width. On top of it, he could see foldable tables and various blacksmithing equipment.
“Yeah, I’d like to have access to my own tools while traveling, grab whatever you think might be helpful, and place it down there… I guess I can just take the whole tool cabinet with me…”
It was a strange order but Bernir didn’t even ask, instead he helped by picking up the necessary tools. He knew Roland the best and picking what he liked to use for smithing was quite easy. After around twenty minutes everything was assembled on top of this thin metallic plate. Roland checked everything once more before nodding in satisfaction. “Alright, that should do it, let’s test it out.”
Bernir stepped back, knowing well that his boss was about to activate some kind of magical ability.
“Boss, you sure this thing is safe? I mean, we haven’t exactly tested whatever you made here…”
“It’s fine, don’t worry, I’ve gotten better at these things, it won’t blow up or create any black holes.”
“Black… hole?”
Roland chuckled softly, patting Bernir on the shoulder reassuringly but it didn’t stop his assistant from inching away. Suddenly, the runes on the metal plate started to shine and engulfed everything in a soft blue glow. The entire workshop seemed to shimmer momentarily as the magic took effect. Bernir watched as the tools and equipment atop the metal plate began to disappear not into thin air but instead sunk into the rune-covered plate.
“Oh, is that a new storage space? But isn’t it too wide… oh, is that what’s its for?”
“I see you catch on fast Bernir.”
He nodded at the question as after the item sunk into the spatial space, he activated the other feature. The metal this was created with was rather thin and foldable on itself. After a few folds, it shrunk to something that could be easily carried around. To complete the model, he slid it into a container that he could carry with one hand.
“Oh? What do you call this Boss?”
“I guess, it’s a briefcase?”
“A brief… case? Does it not last long?”
“I guess we can just go with a runecase…”
Bernir was confused by the naming sense that came from Roland’s original world. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name. Here, on the other hand, nothing like this existed. This foldable workspace was an advanced creation, designed to provide him with the ability to work on his projects even while away from his main workshop, and had a series of advanced runic power tools included.
“Alright, I think that should be everything.”
Roland checked the latches on the briefcase and made sure that they were tightly secured. Even if someone managed to steal it off him, they would first have to open this reinforced casing and then figure out how the runic spatial enchantment worked. Without a true specialist in runes, this would be impossible.
“Don’t worry boss, I’ll take care of everything in your absence, with this new arm, there is nothing that can stop me!”
“I’m glad that you’re feeling better but try not to exert yourself too much, that prosthesis is still in the experimental stages.”
“Haha, stop worrying boss, I’m fine, I’m more than fine! I’ll go tell Sebastian to start.”
“Thanks.”
Bernir nodded and Roland left the workshop to tie up some loose ends. He found Elodia in the shop that was bustling with new faces. Thanks to the dungeon and their good name, they were never short on customers. His wife Elodia was behind the counter, showing off some bracelets but when he appeared, she asked Marcie to take over.
“Well, I’ll be heading out then.”
“Take care, and here take this with you. I packed some supplies, food, potions, and a few other essentials and a few sandwiches for your sister.”
“I’m sure she’ll love it, thank you.”
“Maybe when you’re done, she could come and visit.”
“I’ll see what I can do…”
Elodia prepared some food for his trip. The sandwiches she made were just as good or better than what professional chiefs could cook up. Roland on the other hand wasn’t sure if he wanted to bring over more of his family members. Soon, the two hugged and parted.
Roland returned to the workshop and arrived at the teleportation chamber. Sebastian in the form of a glowing orb was already there and preparing the coordinates. Just as he walked in, the runes on the gate started to vibrate with power and activate. A watery pool of magical energy erupted from within and the gate appeared before them.
“We are ready, Boss.”
“They accepted the connection, good.”
For the gate to activate, the people on the other side had to allow it. During a transfer, people sent in a hidden key that could establish such a connection. In Roland’s case, as the Principal’s right-hand man, he had special permission to travel back and forth. No one besides the Institute’s leader had the authority to stop him, not even the Vice-Principal or the other Professors.
With a final nod to Bernir, he stepped towards the teleportation gate. The journey through the gate was disorienting, as always. Roland felt a brief moment of weightlessness before his feet touched solid ground again. He found himself standing inside a mage tower inside the Xandar’s Institute of Wizardry. The man that previously sent him off was there as well, along with Arion who was floating in his direction.
“Welcome back my friend!”
“I suppose, I’m back.”
Arion seemed rather cheerful to see him here and instantly started talking about things that happened in his absence. He mostly focused on how his classes had grown in popularity with the students.
“Using runic blocks to create new spells was quite ingenious, those youngsters can’t get enough of them, my classes have quadrupled in number and did you know what happened?”
“Uh… no, what happened?”
Roland attempted to hide his disinterest in the topic. He did not really care about how the classes were. What he was concerned with was his sister, the principal and how he could get out of here to continue his research. His technology was brand new and he wished to produce more prototypes.
“They started asking me questions, they never asked me any questions before!”
“Questions? I see, that’s great.”
He attempted to appear attentive and his cat friend didn’t notice his disinterest as he was in his own little world. Luckily, the principal wasn’t anywhere to order him around and the two were able to return to the runic department. Many students greeted them on the way and parted ways the moment they saw his robed form. His armor was sleeker than before and covered by his magical robe but they could tell that the Full-Mithril Enforcer was back.
‘Hm, maybe everything will be fine this time around… yeah.’
Then just as he was about to open the door to the runic department, he noticed someone rushing his way. It was a young girl with golden hair that he was familiar with. She seemed out of breath and in distress…
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