Elydes

Chapter 173 - The Runesmith

The stocky building nestled between its soaring neighbors. Plain granite walls, windows covered by dark curtains and a sturdy oak door, an unassuming oddity in the opulence of the upper city. Kai had walked past it twice before he realized this was the place, his eyes slipped over the gray cube.

Everything in the upper city was made to impress, to showcase the wealth and status of their owners. Everything except this house. There were no metal ornaments on its facade, no blooming flowers or sculpted heroes. He had seen public bathrooms that looked more ostentatious.

So this is the place?

Kai rechecked the address on the slip of paper. Reishi had written the note himself, there were no mistakes. The supposed best runesmith in the whole archipelago lived here.

Is this why that sneaky fish was smirking in the end?

He had to coax the merman through five cups of tea to get the address and a letter of introduction. And he agreed to bring forward his next delivery of potions. Kai had thought Reishi’s reluctant act was a ruse for those benefits, once again, he had underestimated that devious mind.

Spirits willing, this runesmith guy is going to be easier to deal with.

Kai straightened his clothes and climbed the steps to the door. There was only one problem.

Where is the doorbell? Do I just knock?

Every house on the hills had one, usually of sparkling brass or silver, shaped into the head of some animal. Kai examined the oak door with Inspect. Not only was there no doorbell, but there was no handle either. The only feature of the front door was a peephole at his eye level.

C’mon, that wasn’t even a proper jinx!

Out of better options, Kai did a double knock and stepped back with his best smile. Even if the smith was eccentric, Reishi's letter of introduction should get him a deal. He just had to be patient and respectful. Easy.

A minute passed, then two. No answer.

Maybe the smith hadn’t heard. There was a reason why people who lived in big houses had doorbells. Resting his cramped jaw into a neutral expression, Kai knocked again, if a bit more forcefully, still within the bounds of politeness.

Minutes ticked by, the street filled with a small traffic of passersby as he awkwardly stood there, though no one paid him attention. He pulled his backpack at his feet to look less inconspicuous. It bulged with his designs and a sample of the sea serpent’s fangs.

“Ehm… excuse me, is anyone home?” There was no sound of footsteps or voices from inside.

What do I need to do? Damn Reishi, I bet he’s laughing right now.

Kai tried to peek inside through the peephole, there was just darkness. Was he making a fool of himself in front of an empty house, or was he being ignored? His pride didn’t allow him to give up just yet.

Fine.

It was rude to probe private possessions with Mana Sense, but he was running out of options. If the owner wasn’t home no one would know, and if they were, they had been rude first.

The skill surged forward at his command, ready to sweep through every crack in the building. There was—

That’s weird.

Kai furrowed his brows in confusion. According to Mana Sense, there was no house at all, he stood before a void of empty darkness. The harder he tried to look, the more his attention slipped away to its flashy neighbors as if the squat house didn’t want to be looked at.

It wasn’t by chance that I walked by without noticing this place.

Either there wasn’t a drop of essence in the building, or it had been hidden. Judging by the motes of ambient mana that seeped through the granite walls and vanished, it was the latter.

Cloaking enchantments were quite common, the clothes he was wearing had one to hide his profession. Most distorted or altered the mana signature, to make something disappear entirely was different. He had only seen it with the items he received from his teachers, though they didn’t work in quite the same way.

His spatial ring let a few motes pass through to look like a piece of ordinary silver—which was perhaps more subtle. Still, enchanting a whole building would be anything but simple.

Reishi wasn’t hyping up this guy's skills for nothing.

Thanks to Inspect, Kai noticed there was a single pinprick of light on the door, right at the edge of the dark area where the handle should have been. Essence was always swirling in motion, but this mote stood perfectly still.

Frustrated by the situation, Kai skipped introductions and reached for it with his will and skills. No matter how hard he pushed, the pinprick stubbornly refused to move an inch. “Why don’t you move!” he snapped.

Just what I needed, now I’m arguing with a door.

Kai puffed his cheeks and exhaled slowly. As a last resort, he extended a tendril of mana. The stubborn mote of light disappeared at his lightest touch and an identical pinprick appeared on the other side of the door.

What’s going on…?

He repeated the action with the same result, only this time it moved in the upper right corner of the oak frame, away from his reach. In his moment of hesitation, the point of light moved back to the initial position.

With his interest piqued, Kai kept testing the puzzle. Every time he touched the mote, it reappeared in a different spot unless it took him more than a second, then it reset.

You want to play hard to get? Have it your way.

Kai cracked his fingers and molded his mana into a dozen tendrils to cover the door gate. If the door wanted to challenge him, he was happy to oblige. With a light tap, the chase began. The mote ran away blinking all over the wooden surface, and he followed, playing a game of whack a mole with his mana.

Compared with Virya’s puzzle, this was laughably easy. After twenty touches or so, the motes became two, then three, four and finally five. He was starting to have fun when the point of light reset in the initial position. Kai wondered if he had been too slow when an empty compartment sprung open from the side of the door, making him jolt and almost trip down the steps.

Blessed spirits, he cautiously approached.

The metal locker was two palms across and three fingers high, seamlessly disguised in the granite wall. “What am I supposed to do?” Kai asked out loud, hoping for a hint. There were no further instructions or answers.

The compartment could fit a hand, or… a letter? Cursing Reishi again for the lack of clear directions, he put the letter inside. The paper had barely touched the bottom when it sprung close with the same sudden movement. Kai thanked the spirits he had not put his fingers in.

He expectantly looked at the door, forcing another polite smile. Five minutes later, his face hurt, and the door soundlessly opened. There was no one to greet him, just a hallway shrouded in darkness.

Not spooky at all.

“Should I come in?” Kai hesitated a moment before jumping inside, he wasn’t going back empty-handed after all the hassle. As soon as he crossed the entrance, the gate slammed closed behind him, plunging him in the dark.

For fuck’s sake!

When a series of crystals lit up on both sides of the hallway, Kai squinted at the blinding lights, lowering his gaze. His skin gave a familiar tingle, warning him the mana density had jumped several times, similar to Dora’s greenhouse at the estate.

A red carpet embroidered with intricate geometric forms and runes covered the floor. They shaped a preserving enchantment, a variation he hadn’t seen before. Fascinated, he observed how the runes were woven for both decoration and function.

There were a series of closed doors on both sides of the hallway, spaced out by short marble plinths housing all kinds of enchanted artifacts glowing with mana. There was a golden chalice, a bone-white sword, a vase covered in runes, and more he couldn’t identify.

Kai looked down at a pink spiraling shell covered in holes. He could almost hear a voice singing amidst the washing wav—

“Stop gawking and come inside.” A deep voice rumbled. “And don’t touch anything, I don’t like people snooping around.”

Geeze, and Flynn says I’m grouchy.

Kai reluctantly stepped back from the pink shell-flute. That mesmerizing voice echoed in his ears, beckoning him to come closer and listen to the song. Maybe another time, he couldn’t study it anyway. Each plinth was enchanted to scramble his mana senses, and something nastier if he touched the items.

The enchantments also cloaked every wall inside the house, it was clear the owner had a way of watching him. Kai considered flipping his middle finger at the air, no one on Elydes knew what it meant. He had the inkling this guy wasn’t very well-versed in societal norms. If he passed it as some form of foreign greeting, it might just work.

I can always do it on my way out.

With a cheerful wave at the polished walls, Kai strolled down the corridor. Every door was barred, leaving a single path forward. The carpet ended upon black onyx stairs that, instead of leading up to the second floor, spiraled underground.

“Hurry up, kid, I don’t have all day.” The voice rumbled again.

Why does it feel like I’m walking into a trap?

Kai descended, the light grew dimmer with each step, he’d bet the blinding welcome had been no accident. Images of old, grotesque men flashed in his head. Reishi wouldn’t send him to an unstable individual, right?

The steps ended before a large bronze door, where chains of delicate glowing runes intersected to form larger symbols. The sight was enough to make his head hurt, he hadn’t seen anything with the same level of intricacy since Virya left. He recognized perhaps a tenth of the symbols, and he couldn’t begin to guess their use.

“Come in, kid. I don’t bite. Well… unless I’m hungry. You better hurry.” A raucous laughter echoed from some unseen enchantment as the gate opened with a creaking. Just enough to let him squeeze through.

Reishi owes me an explanation.

Steeling himself for whatever waited inside, Kai entered brushing against the cold metal. The smell of old paper, ash and iron washed over him, he stood before a large round hall with a vaulted ceiling.

A dozen different desks and an uncountable number of chairs and stools filled the floor in no detectable order. No surface was left unoccupied. Papers, books and scrolls covered in runes, pointy metal and glass tools that looked like torture devices, and a number of what were probably half-finished products glowing with mana.

The amount of chaos made his room look like the embodiment of neat and tidy.

“I should have known that merman would sell the information. Well, he can forget about me buying another fluffy pillow from him.” A squeaky voice grumbled. “What do you want, brat? Did the basilisk get your tongue? I’ve no time to waste.”

Kai searched the hall for the origin of the strange voice, his eyes zipped over the clutter coming up empty. That was until a crumpled paper flew at his head and a pile of scrolls moved. All the images he had conjured in his head collapsed, and Kai could only stare with wide eyes.

He had been right about one thing, the runesmith was old. The gremlin was no higher than him, probably shorter. White tufts sprouted from a head that sported a pair of protruding bulbous eyes too large for a human. The iris was a thin orange stripe around his black pupils focusing on him.

“What are you staring at? Never seen someone so handsome?” The gnome scratched one of his hairy, pointed ears, showing his sharp teeth.

Kai woke up from his stupor, resisting the urge to scan him and the entire hall. The runesmith was certainly shielded, and he might take offense if he tried to steal his secrets. “Sorry, sir. You’re very handsome.” It wasn’t a lie, in an ugly-cute kind of way.

Will he bite me if I try to pet him?

“You betcha I am! Now tell me why you’re here.” He beckoned him to come closer, cursing under his breath. “Broken gods, I came to this archipelago to get some peace, not to be disturbed at all hours of the day.”

Kai tiptoed around the papers and scraps of metal filling the floor. It was impossible not to step on something, but the gnome didn’t seem to mind. He was seated on a plump pink pillow embroidered with dancing sirens.

“I’m Kai,” he offered his hand in greeting.

The runesmith studied his extended arm like a strange type of insect. “Edgar,” he finally said, pulling out a knobby hand with six fingers and a knuckle too many. “If you think flattery and manners will get you anywhere, you're dead wrong.”

“Edgar?” Kai blurted absently, fascinated by the strange hand. The palm was surprisingly soft, and each nail looked carefully manicured.

“You can also call me Edgarmoulous Katorius Xe’Talouvoi if you prefer. No? I thought so.” He pulled his hand back, cleaning it on his worn robe. “Now say your piece and go. I hope your parents didn't waste too much money paying that merman, ‘cause I’m not taking orders.”

“Oh, I didn’t pay Reishi, he’s just a friend.” Whom I’m going to strangle as soon as I see him.

Edgar narrowed his bulbous eyes and burst into laughter. “A human with a fish friend. You're a funny one.”

“I’m not lying.”

“I know you’re not, that’s what makes it funny.”

Kai masked his annoyance by rummaging through his backpack. He took out his designs and a crystal fang, looking for a place to put them.

“Here.” Edgar pushed his scrolls back making something clatter to the floor at the other end of the table. He flipped through the papers with a disinterested wave and focused on the fang. “A sea serpent’s tooth, early yellow grade. I don’t recognize the variety.”

“I wanted to—” Kai tried to explain when was silenced with a finger.

“I’m going to help you make whatever knife or pointy thingy you want.”

“Really?”

That was easier than I thought.

Suspicion began to tickle him. “How much is it going to cost me?”

“I just want to study your cloaking enchantment.”

“My shirt?”

“No, the one for your race grade. Is it the ring, or one of those pendants? Don’t worry, I’ll help you remove it if you have implanted it under your skin, I’m an expert.”