The Runesmith

Chapter 475: Big Brother Is Watching.

“First a geothermal generator and now a magic gate? Are you planning to establish a magical academy here?”

“I suppose that’s possible, but I don’t think I’m good at teaching…”

“That’s a shame…”

Two men were talking while sitting opposite each other. They were outside inside a gazebo, taking in the sun while enjoying some black tea. Near them was a maid with orange cat ears, placing cake onto the plate of the man with whitish hair.

“I don’t think the city could afford it. There’s a reason why these institutes are usually old and backed by mages who have lived over a hundred years.”

“You’re probably right, my friend. But thanks to you, we’ve attracted quite a lot of investors. Albrook is beginning to turn heads.”

“...”

Roland nodded at Arthur, who was ecstatic about the prospect of developing the city. The two were opposed in this ambitious endeavor, with Arthur driven by the desire to transform Albrook into a prosperous hub, while Roland focused more on his runesmithing innovations and personal life. Nevertheless, their fates were now intertwined. Without Roland, the city could not continue prospering, as it needed his runic inventions. On the other hand, Arthur made all of this possible by providing the city's runesmith with resources and free rein. Without his backing, Roland wouldn’t be able to accomplish half of his projects.

“So, you’ll be leaving again?”

“Yes, but with the gate, I should be able to return at a moment’s notice. So, if there are any issues with your brothers, just use this.”

The two men were discussing some issues before Roland headed back to the institute. With the assembly of the teleportation gate, it would be possible for him to make the jump back. He was now a high-ranking member of Xandar’s Institute of Wizardry, which allowed him to use almost any teleportation gate within the kingdom.

Even without those gates, a device that allowed him to return was possible. It had not been completed yet, but in theory, he would always be able to return to his own magic tower by tethering the coordinates to a separate artifact. However, without a steady location on the other end, separate calculations were required.

That’s why mages usually connected through some more publicly accessible teleportation gates, ones that required a steep fee but were easily accessible. As long as he reached such a waypoint in his travels, he would be able to quickly return home. Roland eventually reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, rune-inscribed medallion, handing it to Arthur.

“Take this. It’s a direct line to me. If there’s anything urgent, just press the center rune, and even if I’m at the other end of the kingdom, you should be able to contact me or one of my associates named Arion.”

“Oh thank you, I'll be sure to use it but I think it won’t be necessary.”

Arthur placed the medallion into a side pocket before glancing in Mary’s direction. The woman brought up some papers and handed them to Roland. His eyes quickly scanned through the contents prompting his brows to furrow.

“Having trouble flushing out the rats?”

“Yes, my dear brother has made a move.”

“Good, I think before I leave we should activate ‘that’.I think we have enough runic cameras in the city now.”

“Quite so, I can’t wait to see that artifact fully at work!”

After finishing with the first issue, the three moved away from the treats inside the gazebo. They quickly headed over to the secret underground chamber beneath the mansion, where one of the biggest runic city projects would be activated. It was not quite finished, but with some help from the union dwarves who produced most of the parts, it could be assembled into a working console.

The underground area was separate from the skill training facility and the underground dungeon where they tested the runic prosthesis. Right in the middle of it was a giant table made of metal with many runic symbols etched through runesmithing onto it. It looked to have been produced from several parts and later assembled to fit this place. There were no chairs around the table; instead, a large, thick panel of something resembling glass was attached to the wall.

“Alright, let’s get this started. Everything seems to be in order.”

Arthur and Mary took a step back while Roland approached the nearby console, situated between the big table and the large glass screen. As he placed his hand on it, various runes began to glisten, and he was greeted by a welcome screen resembling something from old-day computers. The interface was quite basic and lacked any graphics, but eventually, after it finished loading, he was able to enter a few prompts. Below the console were letters representing the alphabet in a fashion similar to keyboards from his world. After a few inputs, the large table started buzzing with energy.

Arthur and Mary stood to the side, watching with anticipation as blue lights began flickering atop the table. A rectangular shaped area appeared above it and was divided into several smaller squares, each one dividing the area into smaller zones. If someone leaned in closer, they would notice that this table had the current Albrook map on top of it, with a hologram projection on top.

“Fascinating, I didn’t know magic could be used in such a way”

“I suppose not many put that much detail into monitoring a whole city. Now, if you forget something, consult the guidebooks”

Roland had provided Arthur with a detailed manual about using this new device. Arthur, along with the maids and his personal knights, would have access to this area, which represented the entire city. Roland had hoped to turn the entire map into a working hologram, but for now, it would remain a collection of squares and dots. Once he had cleared up everything at the institute and got things in order with his family, he planned to reconstruct this into something more functional.

“Can I try it out?”

Arthur asked and Roland replied while nodding, his tone rather casual as within this place they were equals.

“Sure, go ahead.”

The young lord smiled and approached the map. He had read the instructions and began typing on the keyboard. Roland peeked over his shoulder to ensure he was applying everything correctly. Although people in this world had never interacted with anything similar to computers, Arthur was doing rather well. However, his typing form started bothering Roland immensely, as Arthur continued to poke at the keys with one finger instead of using both hands.

After what felt like an eternity of poking at the roughly produced keyboard, the holographic map over the table reacted to the input. One of the squares started blinking and then expanded, along with a few others around it. The enlarged squares revealed more dots inside, which moved every so often.

‘It would be better if he could just click the square by hand to enlarge the area instead of putting in long coordinates, but for now, this will do’

Roland watched as Arthur continued to navigate the holographic map in an awkward fashion. The system, though rudimentary, provided a groundbreaking way to monitor the city. Each dot represented a person or significant object within Albrook, thanks to the numerous runic cameras and tracking devices Roland had discreetly installed throughout the city. Arthur finally managed to zoom in on a specific area, one of the marketplaces. The dots moved around and represented the city inhabitants there.

“This is incredible, we can track everything and everyone just from this room.”

Arthur said in awe of this groundbreaking technology. Roland approached while contemplating why others never developed anything similar. He could only assume that with so many people that had discovery magic and tracking skills, there was no need for something this intricate. There were various other spells that could be placed around a lord’s mansion to keep assassins and villains away. People could also train beasts or take in guards with specialized skills.

“This is just a part of its use. I divided the city into sectors and while the runic cameras don’t cover all of it yet, it is possible to access the camera from here.”

He explained while bringing up a direct visual feed up to the marketplace that Arthur had highlighted. The holographic projection didn’t change as the camera image was produced on the large screen that was in the room with them. There was no sound but they could cleary see all the people that were in the marketplace moving around. While the camera quality wasn’t too great, it would be enough for what they needed.

"Remarkable, you have truly outdone yourself with this. What do you call this new invention?"

“Name? I guess… we could go with ‘Big Brother’ “

“Big brother? Ah, I think I understand, quite the naming sense as always my friend.”

This system monitored the entire city, and while it currently lacked storage capacity, in the future it would be able to record everyone's activities. If a crime occurred, they would be able to access the databank to determine if the accused person was actually there and look up a camera snapshot to assist their guards. For now, there was no facility capable of such a thing, and none of the footage here was being stored.

“It lacks a lot of functionality for now, but it should help us with Theodore’s men”

The primary reason for creating this system was to identify where the spies of the other brothers were hiding. Once they passed through the checkpoints in the city and their status was read into the system, they would be tagged. When tagged, their dots would appear with a reddish tint on the hologram map, allowing their movements to be tracked without their knowledge. There was a possibility they would eventually notice something was off, but without a magician among them, it would be hard for them to counter or detect the mana pattern tracking devices Roland had created.

Roland tapped a few more keys, pulling up the current locations of individuals flagged as potential threats. Little red dots appeared on the map, scattered around various parts of Albrook. Each one represented a spy or an agent associated with Theodore or that were in possession of similar status hiding accessories the raven member they captured used.

“Don’t worry Lord Arthur, I’ll have these people investigated, immediately!”

“I’ll leave it up to you then Mary but as Roland mentioned before, they might not be Theodore’s men. I’m sure some people just prefer for their status screen to be hidden, we can’t assume that everyone is after me, now can we?”

“I understand, Lord Arthur but we have to be careful.”

Roland watched as Arthur and Mary discussed the issue of the potential threat. His system wasn’t perfect and this was its first real iteration. Once he was back, he would examine the data it produced. Sebastian his artificial spirit was connected to this area and would be monitoring everything in his absence. With this, he could leave with a clear conscience as he wasn’t sure if he would be returning as quickly as he wanted.

“I need to leave then, if there is any trouble…”

“No need to worry my friend, you’ve already done enough.”

“I see, well then…, I’ll excuse myself.”

“Thank you, Roland. Your work here is invaluable. We’ll make sure to put it to good use and safe travels!”

Arthur turned back to the display as it was hard to ignore the brand new toy before his eyes. Roland wasn’t sure if leaving such a device in this noble’s hands was the best idea but Arthur or any other craftsmen would be unable to recreate this system. He was sure to put in safety measures that would cause the runic components to overcharge if they were just directly copied. Without something like Sebastian connected to the monitoring system, it would just go up in flames.

After their discussion concluded, Roland bid farewell to Arthur and Mary. With a nod of gratitude, he left them to manage the city's affairs while he finished up his private matters. He wished nothing more to remain in the city and continue tinkering on all the runic systems but his sister was still in potential danger. His brother Robert had not been found and he had a bad feeling about his situation. Usually, things started going badly when he started to relax and there was still the issue with the Institute leader.

‘What does that woman want from me…’

Yavenna Arvandus, a Tier 4 class holder, had shown interest in him for some reason. People of this caliber were considered honorary nobility, even if they had no title. They were feared by everyone, as even a large group of Tier 3 class holders would usually have no chance of winning in a fair confrontation. Such a person was above him, and he did not wish to return to her lair where she held even more power. The spell she used to save him from the strange witch lady also bothered him, making him paranoid. There was a possibility that she could reach him from anywhere and already knew more about his origins than she was letting on.

‘I probably won’t be able to figure out what such an old magus is plotting. I might just be something she wants to entertain herself with…’

There were magical means to prolong one's life that could even surpass a high vitality stat, which usually just doubled one's age. Roland, who was twenty-two, could look forward to living to around a hundred fifty with his current constitution, and even more if he wished. However, with long age didn’t always come wisdom, and people who were around two hundred years old often started to get bored or even went crazy. It was possible that the Tier 4 mage just saw him as an interesting toy to amuse herself with.

Roland's mind was heavy with thoughts as he walked back to his private quarters. Before heading out, he made one final stop at his workshop to get everything ready. Everything had barely gone according to plan, and he managed to create a sleeker suit of armor along with a few exterior attachments. His firepower had been fully restored, and with the help of the union, even his golems would be there to assist him.

*****

“Are you really going to be back faster this time around?”

“I hope so… With the gate, I should be able to return home whenever I want. Hm… come to think of it…”

“What is it?”

“Did you ever want to visit any places in the kingdom? When was the last time you had a vacation?”

“A vacation? I’m not sure if I’ve ever had one.”

After a full day of planning, Roland and his wife turned in for the night. The two had some time for each other, an occurrence that had been happening less often lately due to both of their work ethics. He was either stuck in his workshop for the whole day or had to contend with the city expansion and his job as Knight Commander. Elodia spent half the day at the shop and then took care of the orphans for the rest. Only at night did things wind down, and they were finally able to have some personal time.

“I see. Maybe once this is over, we could take a break.”

“A break? Are you sure you are my husband?”

Elodia chuckled.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Roland playfully furrowed his brows at Elodia, who was now laughing softly. It was a rare sound, one he cherished dearly. The stresses of their responsibilities often left little room for such moments of joy. "Just that you never seem to stop working. A vacation sounds wonderful, though. Maybe we could take the children somewhere too. They've never seen the ocean and there aren’t any close-by lakes either.”

"The ocean, huh?"

Roland contemplated the idea, while he would prefer some alone time with his wife, having the kids play near the water would probably be a sight for sore eyes.

"That sounds like a good plan. But I was thinking about something more interesting, with the new transferal gate we’d even be able to reach the capital in a matter of moments.”

“Transferal gate? Are those safe? I’ve heard tales of people being stuck in walls or underground…”

“Those are just accidents from before the magic was perfected, I assure you, it's quite safe.”

“I don’t know… What if something happened?”

It didn’t seem that his wife was too keen on seeing the kids travel through teleportation gates. People in this world were naturally superstitious and wary of anything concerning magic. Perhaps instead, he would need to fashion a larger wheeled vehicle to get them to the nearby ocean. He had once created a rudimentary bike when he was a Tier 2 class holder, so it would be quite easy.

"Very well, once everything is settled, we’ll make it happen and visit the ocean.”

Elodia leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'll hold you to that."

As the night deepened, they drifted into a comfortable silence, each lost in thoughts of future possibilities. Roland's mind, however, couldn't entirely escape the weight of the upcoming challenges and visit to the institute that held potential dangers.

I would like to officially inform all my readers that I have started writing a new story called Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]