The following months were a blur between experimenting with runic wands, combat-focused training with Sis, and the flood of demand that Master Yoren and Gam had pulled me into working on. On top of how busy I was getting, I found myself frequently unable to find new materials. The whole town was in a buying frenzy to secure the best materials for their friends, family, and apprentices. The crafters are in the meanwhile eagerly consuming everything the community feeds them to refine or improve their work. As the son of a knight, you would think I would have plenty of support, but the family’s savings were still thin even now. Turns out raising us with all of their effort was expensive.
Mom and Dad made no mention of how expensive all the projects I had worked on had been. The runic ink was expensive, wood from outside the town walls was expensive, and I hadn’t held back in using metals from Gam’s workshop, which was normally a strategically controlled material. Not tightly controlled but still something that needed to be imported from the Earthkin clans in the Kal’Ren Mountains. It turns out I was a money sink that had no concept of money because Mom and Dad thought that the only use of money was to support family. It was a warm feeling, but I could already tell my sense for what someone could afford was very skewed.
To give a perspective on how much the materials I had used cost, if I had saved the money, I could’ve bought a high-quality runic hunting galley and forty years' supply of food for the whole family. With this revelation I couldn’t help but wonder how much Callia had spent. I regret asking because apparently Callia had taken a liking to bargaining whenever Mom had dragged her out shopping together. In total Callia had actually saved the family money. I was in fact the only major expenditure in the family, and I was the only one who hadn’t realized it.
With that revelation I immediately ended up spending more. However, this wasn’t for personal use but to give the family something back for their support. After all, if I suddenly became stingy with improving my crafts, then all the efforts put into helping me reach my potential up until now would be wasted. The important thing was to know, recognize, and appreciate what they had contributed to my future and to share the fruits of my efforts with gratitude. I’ll make Dad the best equipment to keep him safe, and I’ll make Mom’s life comfortable and easy. As for Sis, well, I’m sure that I’ll have a hard enough time being dragged into trouble with her antics.
After ending up losing a bidding war on several occasions across town, I decided to take another approach. Instead of fighting for the materials, I could try offering something on top of whatever project they were working on. My official master's certificate made a lot of craftsmen willing to bring me in on their projects. A runic-heated designer chair was something far more impressive than just a designer chair. Because I insisted on being paid in materials, I quickly found my workshop with a surplus of materials. Though quickly was still from the perspective of months, custom projects took careful work and sometimes even consultation with Master Yoren.
Actually, I was surprised when I found Master Yoren competing with me. Turns out he saw how easily I got the materials I needed, and despite having a lifetime experience competing for others in normal methods, he had seen my success and offered his own services. With unbeatable competition muscling in on my market, I considered that my cue to switch to using what I had gathered.
The first thing I made was some gifts to show my family appreciation. Mom got a ‘Child Alignment stick’ designed for safely whacking disobedient kids without actually hurting them. With how eagerly she put it into use disciplining Sis, I get the feeling more traps will be waiting on my path in the future.
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I decided to try making something practical for Dad. Since he frequently travelled to dangerous areas with only his reflexes for protection, I made an enchanted necklace with the skill instinct and runes to make it glow and vibrate if the enchanted skill was triggered. The enchantment took barely any mana to activate the instinct skill, and the runic signal for danger, while not permanent, would only be consumed while the user was actively in danger.
Finally Sis roped me into arming her band of adventurers. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Crescent awkwardly standing with Sis’s group. I had originally planned to help her meet Sis, but after Madam Laina started spreading rumors about me, I hadn’t felt comfortable enough to join her lessons. I would’ve spent more time catching up with her, but I think I was embarrassing her, so I gave her space. Honestly, I didn’t know someone could turn so red, but hopefully she can get more comfortable around Sis and the others in the future.
Sis didn’t hold back at all and spent everything I had earned prototyping weapons and equipment for her group. A bunch of runic taser arrows and a bow enchanted with dual concentration for Sis. Nixie ended up getting a number of smaller tools, and I was honestly a bit scared when she expressed an interest in a chainsaw. Reesia was interested in a number of enchantments for her clothes and armor. Mainly Reesia wanted things that helped her hold her ground. Honestly, I would bet her legs would break before someone could push her, and that comment seemed to make her all the more excited. My project for Crescent was the most interesting. Her healing was held back the most by the need to control/suppress mana while healing. It was an issue I was very familiar with, and after throwing some ideas back and forth, we decided to try enchanting gloves with Mana Zone and Suppress Mana. It didn’t make a huge difference from my lack of skill, but Crescent seemed thrilled to receive them.
With Sis and the others busy adjusting to their new toys, I found myself buried in a pile of sticks; crafting new wands for whatever might come up was simple enough and seemed vaguely interesting. I had decided for my stall I would have a number of wands for people to try out using to show off the unique twist of mixing rune work and enchanting in a way that I doubt many have before. I was confident that even if I wasn’t the first to make wands or enchanted tools like this, I would be one of very few who had. Since it seemed like a simple runic tool, I bet that only a proper rune master would understand its value. This was how I had decided to thread the line of showing my worth to the Earthkin Grandmaster while hiding the diversity of skills I had from any nobles lacking an understanding of runecraft.
Mayoral Dilemma
Mayor Hew finished penning the last invitation to the apprenticeship festival. He sighed as the messengers each took a stack of letters and set out. Hew had reached 150 years old this year and had long been accustomed to the pressures a non-noble in a position of authority would face during these events. He leaned back in his chair reminiscing. It wasn’t that the nobility didn’t want control over a royally mandated location, but for some reason the local Great Monster had some kind of grudge against nobility. Nightshade was typically reclusive, only acting when something threatened her ‘garden,’ and that seemed to include noble rule.
Throughout his life as mayor, Hew had served three noble lords, typically second sons who thought they could tame Nightshade and claim prestige for their factions. Every time he had to send home their still bodies. The kingdom and Nightshade had long come to a sort of silent understanding: no nobles would control her, and she wouldn’t persecute visitors.
This state of affairs had left Hew with considerable authority. In some ways this town was a faction unaffiliated except by aid provided by the rest of the kingdom. The town had never thrived because it was placed right at the border of humanity's territory. A region far too hostile to develop in a meaningful way. It took most of the town considerable effort to survive. It made for an expensive investment for the kingdom, but it also brought support from various tribes that wanted access to oceanic resources.
Several days later sweat beaded Mayor Hew’s head. Why would an Earthkin Grandmaster visit? Not just any grandmaster but the most successful grandmaster in hundreds of years! Hew groaned in stress until suddenly an idea rose up. I’ll just offload this whole mess! It’s time to retire! Hew promptly called in his son, explaining this would be the perfect opportunity to win the confidence of the townsfolk and take over his work. In the following days, Hew did his best to ignore the shadows building under Korin’s eyes as the reality of what his dad had left him sank in.
