Runeblade-Chapter 223B2 : Growing Problems, Finale

The common folk were getting desperate, Kaius realised.

It wasn’t so much their looks. Most seemed well enough fed, and as clean as anyone could expect to stay in a city.

No—it was the pervasive tension that seemed to seep from their very pores, suspicion and anxiety hanging over the city streets like a contagious miasma.

Where before people had gone about their business with single minded focus, weaving their way through the crowds and brushing shoulders, now people were slow.

Furtive, as they watched those closest to them out of the corner of their eyes—scanning their surroundings just a little too frequently.

As visibly travelled as they were, with a ‘warbeast’ at their sides, he and Ianmus got by far the most looks.

Equal parts envy, suspicion, and occasionally an unnerving level of concern.

It had to be what was sending Explorer’s Toolkit haywire. Muted and dampened as it was by his presence in a settlement, it was hard to get a clear reading.

Just potential danger, somewhere, an a feeling of being watched.

He just hoped it wasn’t a portent of budding unrest, and uneasy populace one bad day from a riot.

Kaius shook his head, hoping to clear the discomfort—they’d be in the Delver’s district soon. That, at least, had proven a surprising bastion of normalcy in the city. Afterall, it was a wealthy area, and its inhabitants by and large could look after themselves.

…

Kaius walked down the wide staircase of the Dusty Stables, Ianmus and Porkchop close at his heels. He enjoyed the little animal motif that had been engraved into the skirting boards—a little bit of whimsical fun that he’d grown to appreciate about Hensch’s taste in decor.

After entering the city, they’d made full haste to the inn, eager to get their rooms secured and wash off the trail dust—Hensch had been as helpful as ever, simply passing over the keys and reopening their account. Kaius would have been happy to pay up there and then, but the innkeeper had insisted that it was easier to do it this way when they would, in all likelihood, be coming and going unpredictably.

That first wash in the Stable’s heated baths was heaven. Kaius might have been a man of the wilds, but hot water was one of the few luxuries that he could admit were worth the discomfort of the crowds.

If only artifacts that produced enough hot water to wash with weren’t so bloody expensive if they were anything approaching a portable size. Though, his other option was a larger spatial storage, something that would be a little bit more difficult to acquire than what amounted to an expensive luxury trinket.

As nice as it was to be clean, none of them had dawdled—meeting in Kaius’s and Porkchop’s shared room with damp hair and clean gear. Their conversation with Rieker and Ro loomed—two of them, in actual fact.

Kaius felt like he wouldn’t be able to relax until it was done. The inevitable dressing down and planning for their next mission was one thing, but now that they had decided the course of seeking Rieker’s help with Porkchop’s Aspect, and on sharing their knowledge of Honours, the anticipation was gnawing at the back of his neck like a gnat.

The sooner they could be done with it, the better.

A board flexed as he stepped down onto the main floor of the Inn. A couple of delving teams—scattered across the common room—looked up, before giving him a nod and turning back to their conversations.

Hensch, on the other hand, hurried out from behind his counter. He smiled at them, carrying three packages wrapped in brown paper.

“Kaius! I was about to come up.” he said, juggling the packages until they were piled in one hand—freeing him up for a handshake.

Yong, his bonded beast, looked up from their bed at the bar’s entrance, peering curiously at what had gotten their companion to move. The cat let out a friendly chirp as he saw Porkchop looming in the corner of the room, before they resettled themselves and returned to napping.

“Hensch—thanks again for working with us quickly, we needed that clean. We’ve got business at the guild, but I imagine we’ll be back for dinner—maybe you can tell me more of that story of how you found Yong in the southern jungles, eh?”

“Of course, my friend! We hadn’t even gotten to the best part before you last left!” the innkeep replied. “But listen, I know you missed lunch, and I doubt you got the chance to eat much if you’ve been on the road since this morning. I made you a few sandwiches. I was going to bring them up, but I suppose you could always eat them on the way to the guild.”

Kaius grinned, nodding to the man as he took the waxy paper packages—a quick peek inside showing thick slabs of bread filled with some leftover roast, cheese, and leafy greens.

For what felt like the thousandth time, Kaius was glad he’d decided to take Ro’s suggestion on lodgings to heart. Hensch had proven himself to be a wonderful host—making their stays easy enough that he was of half a mind to think he was almost as good as Hurrin. Though, he did think that the beer in Three Fields was better.

“Seriously, Hensch, you didn’t need to do that. We could have gotten some food on the way.” Kaius said, shaking his head.

“Bah,” Hensch waved him off. “Nonsense—you’re some of my best customers, and Porkchop is awfully patient with Yong. Only the gods know what fresh hell you lot are getting up to outside of those walls, keeping soft men like me from ending up in some beast's belly. A few left overs is the least I could do.”

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Accepting the praise with grace, Kaius nodded his head to the man. Hensch had proven himself steadfast in his welcome, and it was impossible not to like him.

Still, as much as it would have been nice to stay and chat, they did have places to be.

Giving the innkeep some final passing thanks, they left the inn—digging into their lunch as they went. However, Kaius did get more than one odd look as he tore chunks out of Porkchop’s meal to toss it to him.

….

After waiting patiently for a quarter hour, Kaius made his way to the front of the line that snaked its way through the guild’s common room. If he’d thought the place had been busy when they’d first arrived in Deadacre, now it was positively overflowing. The place had gotten so busy that he’d had to leave Porkchop and Ianmus at a table—the line would have been unmanageable if people had been sending up their full teams.

The air of celebration had fled too, leaving only focused eyes and hushed discussions as delving teams buzzed back and forth, turning in missions and picking up new ones.

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As the man in front of him—wearing an interesting set of dark leather armour that seemed to shift and writhe in the light—left the counter, Kaius realised that the receptionist was the same well-built man that he’d seen working the desk a few times before.

Stepping forwards, Kaius nodded his head respectfully as he passed over his Bronze badge.

The man swept it up, pressing it to something hidden behind the rise of the counter. A few moments later he looked back up, recognition on his face.

“Oh, Kaius—Ro mentioned I should keep an eye out for you. I thought it might have been, since you’re so tall, but I wasn’t sure.” he reached a hand over the desk, standing from his chair. “Name’s Frist—I've seen you ‘round but I’m not sure if we were ever introduced.”

Kaius clasped the receptionist’s hand firmly, finding it like trying to wrap his fist around a block of granite. It seemed like a measure of strength was a requirement of holding a position in the guild, even for the lower ones.

“Nice to meet you, Frist—you mentioned Ro? She told me to seek her out when I got back.”

Frist nodded. “Yeah, that’s what she told me too—though if you want to know why, I can’t help you. That hellion never tells me anything.” the receptionist replied, returning to his seat.

“She’s just down the hall,” Frist pointed down the corridor leading deeper into the guild. “Eight doors down from the silence room—has her name on the door and everything.”

Kaius thanked the man and took his leave, hurrying over to fetch Porkchop and Ianmus from where they waited quietly at a table tucked away in the corner.

Walking through the hall—still large enough that its comical size made him feel like a child—Kaius found the door quickly. Made of thick oak, with a darker stain and a smoother finish than the rest, it had ‘Drorome’ engraved on a thick steel plate.

Forcing down the nerves at letting the woman know they had something to share, Kaius reached out and knocked three times, a deep booming sound that bounced of the masonry walls.

“Come in!” Ro yelled, muffled by the heavy oak.

Kaius pushed the door open, his team filing in behind him.

Ro’s office was…quite something. Built to a similar standard as the guildmaster’s, it had none of the ostentatious flare that someone might expect from a guild member of import. However, where Rieker’s office was an austere space of regimented focus, Ro’s was closer to the site of an alchemical mishap.

A dozen shelves and drawers, bursting at the seams as what looked to be a whole library's worth of paper was strewn on every available surface and packed into any cranny they would fit.

Hells, there was enough of it on the floor to write a whole book with.

Kaius stood rooted to the spot, staring at the mayhem with a cocked eyebrow, while Ro watched on with narrowed eyes. At the very least, he was holding it together better than Ianmus, who was making half stifled strangled noises behind him.

Meeting her gaze, he couldn’t help but smirk.

“I have had a sudden revelation on why you hate paperwork, Ro.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Ro replied, rolling her eyes at him. “Wait until you’re Steel to start getting smart with me, Greenhorn—it’ll make your life a whole lot easier.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kaius replied, his smile unbroken.

Ro reached into her desk, shoving aside roughly stacked notes to pull out an inscribed metal disk.

It was one that he recognised. Father had used them as an example of classical uses of High Lothian. A communication amulet, though a fairly basic one—he doubted the linked artifacts could connect over anything more than a couple of blocks.

“They’re here, you free?” Ro said, channeling some mana into the disk.

“Send them up.” Rieker’s low voice rumbled from the artifact a moment later, tinny and distorted.

“Will do,” Ro replied, before sliding her line to the guildmaster back into the same drawer she’d pulled it from.

Slapping her hands on the table, Ro stood up—sending more than one leaf of paper fluttering to the floor. She watched it for a moment, before admitting defeat and ignoring it.

“Alright—I know fresh meat like you are want to quake in your boots at the thought of a dressing down, but don’t be. You know you fucked up, and how. Rieker won’t rub your noses in it.” she said, her face settling into a calm confidence as she stepped into her role as guild manager.

“What’s the chat for, then?” Kaius asked, curious what the guildmaster wanted from them if not to lend them a lesson. He’d expected Rieker would tear them to shreds over their failures—especially with how he had punished their hubris last time.

Kaius scratched at his wrist, the thought of the itching regrowth of his hand sending a spike of phantom sensation through the limb.

“A debrief, a chat about your earnings, as well as your next mission, and what training will look like before you undergo it.” Ro replied.

Kaius nodded, before he glanced at his team. They met his eyes, nodding. Now was as good a time as any to mention that they had something important to share.

Ro narrowed her eyes at them, catching the look. “What shit did you get caught up in this time?” she asked, exasperated.

“Nothing like that, I promise. We’ve just got something to share with you and Rieker—it’s big, but it’ll potentially be beneficial to the wider guild.”

Ro tilted her head at him, her curiosity burning holes into his eyes—like she wanted to reach in and pluck the secrets directly from his mind.

Then, just as the silence was starting to grow stifling, she gave him a curt nod.

“Always room for more world shaking impossibilities, I suppose. They seem to follow you like flies on shit.” she said, before she turned and marched her way to the stairs that lead the way up to the guildmaster’s office.

“Come along!” she said, waving them after her.