Runeblade-Chapter 200B2 : Second Mission, pt. 3

Mid-morning sun streamed in from the windows of the fifth floor meeting room, blanketing the richly stained wooden table where Kaius and his team were discussing their upcoming rewards for their next mission.

Kaius cleared his throat at a lull in the conversation, drawing the room's attention. Sharing the nature of his sword was inherently risky, but if he could secure an oath from Ro, he would be far more comfortable.

“Rieker, Ro, I have a question for you.” Kaius said

“Oh, what's on your mind?” Ro asked, looking at him with curiosity, the rest of the table's eyes turning with her to train on him as he interrupted. “It's not like you to interrupt, did you have a request?”

“In a sense, though it's only tangentially related to the topic at hand” Kaius replied, still feeling a little nervous.

His response only seemed to pique Rieker and Ro’s curiosity all the more; the pair of experienced gilded administrators looking at him with curiosity.

“Go on,” Rieker responded, encouraging him to continue.

Kaius paused for a moment, gathering his nerves. “It relates to our gear—another secret, and a rather large one. Unfortunately, it is one I have realised will become rather suspicious with the extent of your involvement in our current training. Hiding it would be…inconvenient and wasteful.”

That got their attention, Ro in particular narrowing her eyes as she watched him closely.

“There’s just one thing,” Kaius continued. “If possible, I would like Ro to take an oath similar to the one you did, guildmaster.”

Rieker immediately winced, cringing away from his request—even Ianmus stared at him in horror. Curiously, Ro herself didn’t seem too surprised by his request, the corner of her eyes crinkling as her lips tweaked upwards.

“Kaius! You can’t just ask that!” Ianmus all but yelled, aghast.

He looked to his teammate in confusion, brow furrowing. Why not? It seemed like a pretty reasonable thing to do?

Ianmus sighed, running his hands through his hair as he took in Kaius’s expression. “You can’t just ask a Hiwiann to take an oath, especially not on one of the blood stones—they’re sacred! There’s all sorts of protocols that have to be followed.”

“Oh, don’t mind him—we all know the idiot grew up in the middle of nowhere, he didn’t know what he was asking. Besides, I'm no puritan.” Ro assured the mage, before shooting Kaius a smile. “He’s right though. If you were anyone else, I would be apoplectic—be thankful you’ve already proven you’re an idiot of the highest degree.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realise it was a taboo.” Kaius replied, bowing his head respectfully. He didn’t feel truly bad, after all, he considered their security more important than cultural practice—but if he had known he might have reworded his request. “Thank you for being gracious, but this is important—I might have to share with Rieker privately.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t take the oath, greenhorn. Just that you had been rude.” Ro grinned.

The guildmaster turned to the manager of his branch, one eyebrow raised in surprise. “Really, Ro? You decide to pick up a new binding now, of all times?”

“What can I say? The boy is interesting—I’ll go get the stone.” Ro replied, pushing her way out of her seat and leaving the room before any more words could be voiced.

The room lay silent while she was gone—Kaius and Porkchop struggling to understand the hubbub around the oath, and Ianmus and Rieker astounded by the ease at which Ro had agreed.

Ro swept back into the room, setting the ornate box that held the shard of the bloodstones down on the table. “Now, so you do not make this mistake again—and end up getting thrown out of a caravan or worse—there are two main things to abide by when you want to make an oath with a Hiwiann.”

Kaius leaned in. Even if he didn’t fully understand the custom or importance, it clearly existed. Given that he was likely to end up traveling all over Vaastivar, learning how to not piss off the trader-peoples who supplied half the continent with goods seemed like a wise choice.

“First, never ask. You can state it, if you make yourself the sole focus—’I would be willing to make an oath on this’ is acceptable.”

Nodding along, he filed the information away. He still thought the custom strange, but if he could work around it—it would do.

“Second, always be prepared to bargain. A Hiwiann will never make a one-sided oath, even with death on the line.” Ro gave him a predatory smile, the points of her teeth glinting in the wardlights and raising the hair on the back of his neck. “With that in mind, here’s the deal. I swear on this, and you swear to give me three days of your full effort on one or multiple tasks of my choosing—as long as they are not a risk to your life.”

Kaius cocked his head. When the guild manager had given him that smile, he’d been expecting something egregious—she clearly knew he wanted something, so she had him over the barrel. A few days' work was… not very much, in his eyes.

“That’s…uncharacteristically kind of you, Ro.” Rieker said, watching the woman like she’d grown three heads.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“Hah! Kid’s going to be Platinum before the decade’s out—or I'll eat my boot. You best believe I’ll be banking those favours.” Ro said, letting out a bark of laughter at the guildmaster’s words.

Rieker nodded, looking immediately more comfortable. “That’s more like it.”

Kaius looked between them in confusion, before looking at Ro in surprise as he processed what she was saying. From what he knew of the ranks of the guild, they went up every hundred levels after you hit the second tier, so Platinum would have to be the first half of the third tier.

First, the fact that Ro was confident he would make it there so quickly was flattering—from what he knew the geniuses who even made it to third tier usually took decades. Second, it seemed…reasonable? Sure, he’d be stronger, but it was only for three days.

“Deal.”

Ro cackled, rubbing her hands together in glee, before she slid the box over to him. “Person who suggests it goes first!”

Ianmus’s subtle nod to him let him know it was likely another custom, so Kaius held back his pride and unlatched the box, pulling free the shard of pulsing red rock. Relieving himself of a drop of blood with the aid of his trusty hunting knife, Kaius made his oath.

Swearing to aid Ro with three full days of effort—as long as it wasn’t a risk to his life—Kaius felt his soul pulse as a faint and ephemeral connection linked him to something greater. An oath, set in stone.

As soon as the last words left his lips, Ro cackled, wringing her hands as if she had just gotten away with robbing a bank. “Fuck, I love a good mark.”

“I’m sorry, am I missing something? I understand she wants to wait until I’m strong, but she’s acting like I just signed away my first born.” Kaius directed his words to Rieker, desperately hoping that the guildmaster would explain the oddities in Ro’s reaction.

“Three days of effort from a third tier is not usually something that money can buy—Ro’s just gambling you’ll make it there, though it seems to be a pretty safe bet.” Rieker replied.

Kaius tilted his head at the woman, before shrugging as he put it to the back of his mind. Potential future value or no, it was still just three days of work. He didn’t see how that matched up to someone swearing to keep his secrets and never act against him. Though, he supposed the best deals were the ones where both parties walked away thinking they had won.

Gently taking the bloodstone back from him, Ro went through with her own oath—identical to the one that Rieker had made a month ago. She smiled as she did so, like it didn’t feel like cold water was poured over her soul. Kaius sighed with relief as soon as she was done—with his security confirmed, he could see about the guild helping with A Father’s Gift.

“Ro, I’ll loop you in later. Come to my office the night before your rest-day. It’ll be a long one, and I expect we’ll be quite drunk by the time we’re finished.” Rieker nodded to his second. “Now, Kaius, what did you think was so important you had to loop Ro into the oath.”

Nodding to the guildmaster, he unsheathed his blade, laying it flat across the table.

“It’s about A Father’s Gift…”

….

Walking out of the guild, Kaius still felt the afterglow of the satisfaction from seeing Ro and Rieker’s shocked reactions to learning his sword was a growth weapon. They’d simply sat frozen, not doing anything other than blinking. It’d taken clapping to snap them out of it, and even then they had little to say for minutes.

Good thing he’d decided against sharing that Father had made it, any more surprises and he was pretty sure that their hearts would have given out.

He’d gotten them to agree to see if they could help upgrade the sword in the end—though apparently it would be a bit more trouble than simply picking a good sword. Apparently, the guild had strict rules on who could know the contents of their artifact stores—for operational security reasons, according to the guildmaster. Moreover, there were also rules against removing items from the vault's protection without due cause, ones that even Rieker was bound to.

Troublesome, as it meant that they couldn’t simply ferry him materials until one resonated, and he couldn’t go in to show them which ones—if any—did. In the end, Ro had come up with a rather convoluted method, and he’d had to agree.

A binding formation—one that would cut him off from all of his senses. They’d cart his insensate body in, and he’d rely on his bond with A Father’s Gift to see if anything was resonating. Porkchop would wait elsewhere in the guild with a communication artefact, and he would tell his brother if something did, at which point Porkchop would be able to tell the guild administrators that there had been a resonance and how strong it was.

Once they’d been catalogued, they’d cart his body out, free him, and let him know if he could have his prize now, or if he would have to bank more rewards.

Convoluted and ridiculous in his opinion, but if that is what it took to get his blade upgraded he’d do it. Thankfully, they weren’t entirely sure if they had to—while they had never personally encountered such a case, it was likely the guild had dealt with bound weapon wielders before—they’d see if there were any official rulings that would make their lives easier.

Unfortunately, the same ridiculous rules that made it necessary also meant they couldn’t do it now. He had to wait until they could reward him.

Shaking his head at the memory, Kaius made his way back to the Stables with his team.

Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.

The rest of the day would be dedicated to preparation. Taking on a boggart swarm was no easy task—it could take weeks, and there was likely to be a distinct lack of anything edible once their business was underway with how voracious the buggers were.

Beyond food supplies, Ianmus had raised that it would be smart to pack mana restoratives, and potentially antidotes for disease and poison. If they were ambushed when Ianmus was out, he’d be almost entirely defenceless. Same went for the antidotes—Ianmus could burn out an infection, but if he was afflicted while low on mana, it was better to save the resource for defence.

That wasn’t all; Ro had offloaded three other jobs for them to tackle on the way there. They would be trivial for their strength, but, given how rapidly the state of things was changing, that might not stay the case for long.

His Glass Mind was already racing—pouring over his memories to plan the most effective route it could based on his understanding of the region. Aspect in full force, it planned for the campaign ahead.

Looking around the street, he noticed a man in a plush purple cloak almost running into his house, a sack of what sounded like jars held in a white knuckle grip.

It seemed that the air of desperation had finally begun to claw its way into even the wealthy in the Delver’s district. It was…sickly and heavy, seeing the weight that people carried as they walked the streets. Reminded him of the fragility of what had once seemed ironclad.

Gods, he couldn’t wait to get out of here.