The Runesmith

The moon elves didn’t have a single monarch like most of the kingdoms. The ruling class was composed of houses that elected one head. These heads would then form the moon elf council of elders and perform votes on important matters.

Lady Aredhel was someone from such a house. She would be considered a noble if you applied human standards to her status. She was related to one of the current elders but was just one of the many children.

Aredhel was tasked with going to the Caldris Kingdom, just some work requiring diplomacy. Regretfully they were attacked by unknown forces. The people there were clearly aiming to make a profit. Instead of killing everyone, they were sold off as slaves.

The attack didn’t happen that long ago and they were in the midst of being moved around. The slavers had bought them off the assailants and they were being moved towards a slave auction to be sold.

The convoy was attacked by bandits while they remained in one of the carts and behind bars. During the ensuing battle, one of the rocks collided with their carriage and they fell down below. During the chaos of the fall, they were surrounded by various mana bubbles. This and the large river below was why they had survived the fall.

The reinforced cage was smashed in certain places and even though they suffered some minor injuries they were now free to leave. He together with a half-orc and his Lady Aredhel managed to crawl out. This is also where they found another lone survivor that his Lady demanded they helped.

Fast forward to now and they were facing off against a large group of goblins. There were even several hobgoblins sprinkled into the mix. Due to the slave collars around their necks, none of them could use any of their advanced skills. If they tried a massive electric shock would be discharged right into their necks.

Logon was grasping a one-handed sword with his hand. He had taken it away from the unconscious human that his lady ordered him to carry inside of a cave. He already noticed that this wasn’t a simple sword as it had various runic symbols on it. This would be helpful in this fight if he could use his mana that is.

In his hands, it was just a regular steel sword, not much better than your average blade. The craftsmanship wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

To the side was a peculiar ally of him and his moon elf lady. A half-orc that Aredhel managed to somehow bring over to their side. He didn’t trust this person that much but he was someone that they needed right now. His name was Golgrim and he wasn’t the brightest.

Golgrim was swinging a large log that he used as a club around and smacking some goblins away. They kept their distance though poking him with some crude spears. The large half-orc seemed to be having trouble with these fast-moving shrimps.

He moved his gaze forward towards his own enemy. There it stood a more robust looking monster, a Hobgoblin. It wasn’t the only one in this group as he could see another one moving towards Golgrim’s direction.

“Puny goblins no run away!”

The half-orc shouted out while delivering a devastating strike to a nearby rock. Even though he also was wearing a slave collar his natural strength was enough to make him a priority target. This was also probably why most of the hobgoblins from this group were moving towards him.

‘If only I could use my skills...’

Logon thought to himself while looking at the weapon that the hobgoblin had in his hand. He had a large metal mace. Combined with the creature’s enhanced strength it was a deadly item. If he got hit with it directly even once, he would probably suffer a critical blow. Without any armor, he was more or less defenseless against it.

He was tier 2 swordsman himself so he knew that the weapon he was holding would probably snap in a direct exchange. He would need to use his speed and footwork to get in a good stab while the beast is off balance.

He had to protect the lady behind him. With the slave collar around her neck, she was more or less useless. She possessed a class that only shone when using mana, without it she wasn’t much stronger than a newbie tier 1.

The battle was finally starting, the hobgoblin wasn’t the only enemy. One of its minions charged forward in a blind attack, it met a swift demise. Logon shifted his body to the side and evaded its attack. His footwork helped him get into a good position to stab the arming sword through the creature’s eye socket, killing it instantly.

The hobgoblin gave out a big scream but didn’t charge forward. Instead, more of the regular mountain goblins appeared. They all started running towards him from various directions. They were clearly trying to overwhelm him with their numbers.

If he was alone then it would be fine, but he had a defenseless woman to protect. He couldn’t let any of these small monsters through, otherwise, the lady he swore to protect could be in danger.

Logon would normally not have much trouble dispatching these monsters. But he was in a weakened state, long travels without food or a warm place to sleep. Then they fall down from the mountain top was causing him to run on fumes.

The first goblin was greeted by a slash to the neck, its head fell off cleanly and landed in the bushes. The other goblins didn’t falter and continued their assault by swinging their rusty weapons that they had stolen from adventurers.

Two, three, and then four. More goblins fell to his borrowed sword but his streak would be coming to an end soon. The fifth goblin came in swinging, Logon’s reaction was slow and he finally suffered a blow to his side.

With lacking armor, the cut was deeper than usual and the moon elf faltered. The goblin seeing its enemy backing away moved in for the kill, but to only receive a sword stab directly to the heart.

“Logon!”

Aredhel called out from behind him in concern. He grasped his bleeding wound while gritting his teeth.

“Stay back, I’m fine... when I give you the signal, run away Lady Aredhel”

Logon knew his body better than anybody else. Even before engaging in this battle, he realized that his chances of winning were slim. He was just tired, the lack of sleep and nourishment had caused his body to wither away. He didn’t see himself winning against the hobgoblin without his skills, even with those it would be hard to do in his current state.

“What are you talking about Logon? We are going to make it out together.”

The moon elf woman called out while clutching her hands together. She knew that she wouldn’t be much of a help in this fight but she had to aid him somehow. She grasped a weapon that one of the killed goblins previously had. It was a rusty shortsword, the blade had already dulled with time.

“What are you doing Lady Aredhel? You must flee, I’ll distract them.”

Logon looked back to where the hobgoblin was. The monster had made up its decision and was now charging forward. It sacrificed a few of its subordinates to land the wound on the strong enemy and now it was time to reap the rewards. It didn’t see the woman as a target worth its attention, it focused on the male moon elf and swung its large mace.

Logon jumped to the side while the mace connected with the spot he was previously in. This wasn’t just a regular random swing, the hobgoblin’s arm muscles expanded. The moment the mace connected with the hard ground a large dust cloud was kicked up.

Pieces of dirt and rock flew in all directions and even caused Aredhel to fall onto her backside in fright. Even before she could help with the battle she was already down on the ground. She was clearly not someone that was used to this, her body shook in fright at the display of power that the monster possessed.

This wasn’t over, the monster didn’t give Logon time to relax. It continued with its charge, the injured moon elf was unable to retaliate as dodging the rapid blows of the hobgoblin was the most he could do.

This would have been a good chance for the one he was responsible to escape. The stubborn girl didn’t listen though, instead, she stood up with the weapon in hand and angrily threw it at the hobgoblin.

The monster was preoccupied with chasing after Logon so it received the attack to its back. The damage it took was minimal. The shortsword was far too dull and the throw was uncoordinated and weak.

“No, run!”

He called out and tried moving forward. The moment Aredhel performed this action her fate was sealed. The enraged hobgoblin turned around and gave out a strange high pitched shout that immobilized both of them momentarily. It then bolted towards the person that attacked it from the back.

The angry-looking Aredhel quickly changed her expression to one of horror. Before she could run away she heard a voice behind her, it was coming from the cave.

“Hey you, get down! You’re in the way.”

It was a man’s voice but it sounded still slightly youthful. Logon could see the person that Aredhel helped patch up standing at the entrance to the cave. He was holding a metallic object and pointing it forward.

He wasn’t sure what this item was at first but soon enough he realized. The item started glowing in a bright red color. Vague runic symbols appeared around the whole piece of metal and it was as if tiny fireflies were coming together onto the tip.

Aredhel was stunned at first but she somehow kept cool under pressure. After seeing the person that she helped out pointing a magical rod at her she realized what he was doing. She instantly dropped down to reveal the hobgoblin’s form to the man in front. The moment she did a bright flash of red followed by an explosion of heat materialized.

From the ‘weapon’ that this person was holding a large surge of energy traveled forward. This heated energy collided with the monster’s face and caused a small explosion. The creature dropped its large mace while the momentum of its run carried its lower body forward. The top part on the other hand snapped backward due to the strength of the spell.

After the smoke had cleared the people there were greeted with a melted hobgoblin face. The monster wasn’t quite dead yet but it was clearly out of commission.

.........................................................

Roland had been waiting in the cave for some time. He had been there a moment before the goblin attack, he had waited while watching the moon elf fighting to measure his strength. The man was clearly strong but his movements felt sluggish. Soon he needed to spring into action as he didn’t quite want these people to die yet.

After the hobgoblin went down the battle still continued. There were more regular goblins around that were moving forward after their leader succumbed to the spell. The half-orc in the background was also covered in wounds after having to tussle with the small monsters for so long.

The regular goblins didn’t pose much of a threat. They all succumbed to a barrage of regular mana arrows and mana bolts that Roland could produce with one of his earlier magic wand creations.

Both of the moon elves looked on with astonishment at the fast casting that this human mage was capable of.

“That’s most of the ones here, the ones that remain are...”

Roland looked to the distance and could see the third person still battling. The half-orc didn’t look that good. He could see multiple stab wounds in his legs and there were even broken spears sticking out of his flesh.

Golgrim had managed to slay one of the hobgoblin attackers but was now at the mercy of the last one. Luckily for him, help was soon to arrive. It came in the form of a red energy bolt that collided with the hobgoblin’s shoulder. It wasn’t a clean hit and the monster dodged to the side. It suffered some burns and residual damage.

This wasn’t enough to defeat the creature but it was enough for it to back away. Hobgoblins were smarter than regular goblins and this one here could see that the battle was lost. Most of its brethren were dead, the evolved variants that were similar to its strength were also gone.

The monster had decided to flee, it let out a high pitched scream and turned around. The goblins that remained listened to its call and started running, the battle was over.

Roland looked at his wand that he had used in this battle. It was the same one he activated during the fiasco back in Edelgard. He could clearly see that the runic components had deteriorated.

He would need to repair it otherwise after one more spell it would be hard to salvage. It was one thing to repair one of these weapons and another to perform the whole runecrafting process from start to finish.

Roland had a decision to make now. He could see the moon elf male collapsing onto the ground and clutching the side of his stomach. The woman who he was with had run up to him and was looking over his wound.

The large half-orc that was fighting the goblins was also looking quite distraught. His large muscular body was riddled with cuts and scratches, even with bite marks. Somehow he was standing but he would probably not last long if he wasn’t treated.

Roland glanced to his belt where his bags of holding were in. He had some healing potions in there but should he share his limited stock with these people? He had saved their lives but he also owed one of their members his. He might have been goblin food by now if they didn’t drag him into this cave after he passed out.

While he was contemplating his next move the two moon elves were talking. The lady was wincing while pinching her lips as the battle wound that her bodyguard received was deep. He was slowly bleeding out, if the wound would later become infected was also a possibility.

“If only I didn’t have this collar on, I could heal you instantly...”

Roland’s attention was moved to these words. If what she said was true then she might have been someone that possessed a healing class. Maybe he wouldn’t need to give out precious healing items to strangers.

“Don’t worry about my Lady Aredhel. I will only slow you down.”

“Stop talking nonsense Logon, I can’t abandon you !”

Roland listened to the two dramatically exchanging words with each other. He didn’t really want to use up his healing potions but he wasn’t the type of person that would let people die in front of him. He was also helped by them, so he owed them one.

Before he could aid them, the woman did something unusual. She placed her hands on the man’s wound and it looked like she was trying to cast a spell.

“Lady Aredhel, what are you doing?”

The man shouted while the slave collar activated around the woman’s neck. It produced a faint spark that caused her body to go stiff. It was as if she was struck by a taser that also had a pain magnifying feature.

He could hear her scream which prompted him to go over. The man tried helping the moon elven woman up but while doing this, he caused his wound to bleed even more. If left to their devices these two would probably not survive for too long.

“What the hell are you two doing.”

Roland called out while going over. He looked at the collapsed woman. She was quite the beauty that would make most men’s hearts flutter but she looked weak and sickly. The moment he came over the man by the name Logon became weary of him.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you. We can call it even, you did help me out a bit.”

Roland pointed to the bandages around his head while blankly looking at the collapsed woman and her retainer. The man was still holding onto his sword.

“Also can you return my sword, I kind of need it...”

The two started staring at each other, Roland just waited with an outstretched hand. The ice breaker was the moon elven woman that finally woke up after the neck taser episode.

“Return his sword Logon, it doesn’t belong to you.”

“But...”

The man looked at the person he was serving. He was quick to give in and returned the weapon to the man he took it from. Roland took it back without answering and quickly activated his debugging skill to see if everything was in place.

Luckily the man using this sword wasn’t half bad. He knew how to hit the goblins without damaging the blade.

As Roland was looking back down after examining his sword he noticed something peculiar. He activated his debugging skill again while looking at the neck of one of the elves. He could clearly see that there were runic components there.

“So... did you say that you could heal if that collar was off... can I take a closer look at it?”

Roland said while the two moon elves looked at him funny, not really sure where the young man was going with this.