Runesmith: Chapter 481 – Before The Gate. (Patreon)

“We are here!”

Margaret shouted while pushing the carriage door open, jumping out, and almost stumbling forward onto her face. Her maid was luckily there to stick out her hand, her long red hair bounced around with the sudden movement. Hadley, with surprising quickness, caught her mistress to prevent an ungraceful fall.

“Careful, Miss Margaret, your dress isn’t meant for running.”

Margaret looked like a daughter of a rich merchant. She had many shiny accessories adorning her neck and a rather long dress. The other girls came wearing the academy uniforms while she was wearing something unique. Roland stepped out of the carriage while ignoring the two guests he didn’t really wish to bring with him.

“Thank you, Hadley. I’m just glad that we are finally here, my legs feel really stiff.”

As the two chatted, Roland stepped out of the carriage. His gaze swapped the area for any potential enemies but none seemed to be immediately present. The noble district of Ballac was bustling with activity, but it was clear that security was tight. Guards patrolled the area regularly, and the presence of several noble houses could be seen within the area. While it belonged to the De Vera household, some shops here belonged to some of their allies.

Thanks to the luxurious carriage and the emblem from the Institute, they were allowed entrance without much trouble. It was something that Roland expected as mages were something even the nobility respected. Their potential in warfare was quite sought after and as long as they had an army of soldiers to protect them, they could unleash continuous barrages of spells.

Lucienne emerged next, looking around with clear anxiety in her eyes. Roland could see that her concern for her brother was weighing heavily on her. He wondered if she had felt the same about him when he was pronounced missing. It reminded him of her small fist flying towards his face after she realized who he was. It was clear that she would not take it well if harm came to Robert, but he wasn’t sure if there was anything that could be done here.

"Don’t worry, Luci, we’ll find a way to help your big brother!"

“Yeah, we are all here for you!”

Both her friends appeared from behind her to hug her. There was no need for him to cheer her up with so many cheerleaders present. Thanks to this, he could focus on devising a proper plan. Escaping during the day would be hard with so many soldiers, but there were a few weak points through which he could slip.

‘I wonder where they are holding him. He is a noble’s son, so he should be in their private dungeon or perhaps only under house arrest?’

Robert was still a son of a baron, so they might have given him somewhat humane treatment. To avoid creating too much tension with other nobles, in such cases, they would just be imprisoned and placed inside houses. Perhaps while they were worried here, Robert was enjoying some tea in a summer house? While this was a possibility, they could have gone with the exact opposite.

‘Won’t know until we get there. It would be easier if they stuck him into a regular dungeon. I might have to go against multiple tier-3 knights and hundreds of soldiers… and then there are also probably magical traps. They might have a mage on their side too…’

His mind raced with unfavorable possibilities, but eventually, they needed to move. Once the girls were done having their moment, it was time to find the woman who hated him and was his sister’s mother.

“Miss Lucienne.”

“Yes, Professor?”

“Do you perhaps have an idea where your mother could be?”

“Um… no, this is the first time I’m here… but wait, perhaps we could use this?”

They needed to find Francine in this large city and have a talk with her. The woman probably knew the details of Robert’s case and could give him a good idea of what he was dealing with. Going around and asking for a noble wouldn’t be that easy, and their time was limited. Luckily, Lucienne was still a mage, and she retrieved a little magical trinket from the bag she was carrying. Along with it, an old friend also made an appearance.

“Ah, stay inside.”

It was the small chubby drone spider he had gifted to his sister. It had been placed inside one of their traveling bags and peeked its head out once it was opened. To Roland’s surprise, his golem was wearing some kind of fuzzy suit over its metallic skeleton. It seemed that the girls had turned him into a strange-looking plush toy with a smiling face.

Roland couldn't help but smile as he saw the plush-clad drone spider peeking out of the bag. It seemed that the girls had taken a liking to the little golem, even dressing it up. While it pushed itself back into the bag he looked at the item she brought to the forefront.

"Miss Lucienne, what exactly is that trinket you're holding?"

Roland asked, eyeing the small, ornate device in her hand. Lucienne smiled, holding up the trinket, which seemed to have some sentimental value to it.

“This is a charm. I gave a similar one to my mother when I was home, and when the person with the other half is nearby, it lights up.”

“I see.”

“But…”

“It seems to have a limited range, ten meters at most.”

Before Lucienne could explain the main deficiency of this charm, Roland interrupted her. He quickly saw through the cheap enchantment it had been given. It was a simple location spell using mana patterns. When the two items were close to each other, they would start to resonate, and the little gem in the middle of the trinket would light up.

“Oh, that’s right. Have you seen one of these before, Professor?”

“No, but the enchantment is rather simple. Just give me a second, may I?”

“Of course.”

The other girls were interested and watched as Roland took the item from Lucienne’s hand. Upon closer inspection, he could tell that this charm was in the shape of a unicorn with a small gem intended to be its horn. The quality of the exterior was far superior to the enchantment placed on it, and he was sure it had been done by some overworked enchantsmith who didn’t care much about it.

"Alright, everyone, please give me a moment."

It was attuned to the other item through the use of a mana pattern, which he could copy. What he needed was to create something similar to echolocation; by producing a signal from his location, he could find the other charm if it was in range. The girls could see the horn starting to light up in a strange pattern as the enchantment was being played with.

Roland concentrated, and soon the location program was altered. His map reacted to the new mana pattern, and soon a dot representing their target appeared. It was more than probable that his stepmother was where this dot appeared. He came prepared with the map of this city already uploaded into his runic databank. After a quick check, he knew exactly where the signal was coming from.

‘What is she doing there?’

“...”

“Well?”

There was a momentary silence as Roland performed his search, broken by Margaret. The girls didn’t seem to see him as much of an authority figure like the rest, making him suspect her identity even more.

“Yes, I have her location. She should be in front of the De Vere estate. If we hurry, we might be able to get there before she decides to leave.”

“Mother is?”

Lucienne’s eyes lit up at the mention of her mother's location. While Roland had no positive feelings towards Francine Arden, now that they had a clear goal, it wouldn’t take long to get to the bottom of this situation. The only problem now remained in the form of three young women and their maid.

“Miss Hadley, why don’t you look for a place to stay for the night with the rest of the students while I escort Miss Lucienne to her mother…”

He was fine for them to be here to offer some emotional support, but he didn’t really want to involve them in his family's business. These people were still outsiders, and if he decided to go with a more drastic solution, they could get in the way. If possible, it would be best if he could send all of them away now, but their response indicated they were resolved to remain.

"Hold it! We're obviously coming with you, Professor!"

Margaret, the leader of the group, stated firmly. Her eyes flashed with determination, and she quickly jumped to Lucienne’s side, clinging to her arm.

“M-Margaret, I’m thankful, but this is a problem my family has to handle…”

Roland sighed internally, realizing it would be quite hard to argue with these teenagers. His sister attempted to refuse them, but the group quickly jumped to her side in protest.

“Family? We’ve known each other for years, Luci. We’re already like family!” Marlein chimed in, while Atasuna just nodded with a big radiant smile on her face.

“Y-you guys…”

Lucienne, who was still just a fifteen-year-old, started sobbing and nodding. She was not able to defend herself against such a large attack aimed at her heart. Roland knew it was a bad idea, but perhaps having more people from the institute with them would be good for something. Plus, he didn’t want to use force to get them to comply.

"Very well, but you must stay close and remain silent. If you offend the residing nobles here, even the Institute might not be able to help you. This is a delicate situation, and we can't afford any mistakes."

“Yes, Professor!”

The girls replied in unison. Roland turned around and grumbled. He now had many more problems on his head, but at least the maid was here with them. Margaret seemed to have some kind of hidden identity and showed favor to his sister. He could probably count on her being on his side in the instance of something going wrong.

“It’s not far, we should get there in around fifteen minutes, stay close together so you don’t get lost and don’t talk to strangers.”

He could hear the girls chuckling to themselves as he acted like their dad. His true age was above forty, so it wasn’t that odd to act more mature. Anyone besides his sister probably thought he was an old fart due to the voice changer he was using to make it look like he was some old, powerful mage. Thanks to his eccentric look, people started clearing to the sides. He was still a strange-looking man of large stature, wearing mystical robes.

Roland led the way through the busy streets of Ballac, with the girls following closely behind. The streets were bustling with some activity, but not as much as in the commoner districts. Just like in any other city, there was a clear divide by caste. The items on display were usually things nobles would purchase, like designer clothes and shiny accessories. There weren’t many restaurants, and it was quite orderly, with only a few groups of people walking around along with their own retainers.

This reminded Roland of some gated communities from his old life. It created a more tranquil environment for the privileged, some of whom probably weren’t aware of how others lived outside. After about ten minutes of walking, they reached a small hill. The road was different here, much more even and surrounded by neatly cut trees that formed a sort of tunnel. This was the way forward and probably where they would find the entrance gate to the main De Vere estate.

‘There are a lot of guards roaming around, the whole place is surrounded…’

On his map, he could see many dots moving around in groups of three or four. He had to assume that once they took a step toward this road, they would be identified as potential threats. His assumption proved correct, as after they began moving forward, some of the squads moved in their direction. The trees here provided a nice natural barrier to hide them from view, but they were certainly being watched.

He could tell that the maid noticed them too, as she positioned herself closer to the side where one of the soldier units was. For the time being, he decided not to disclose this information, as his sister’s heartbeat was already increasing. She was aware that her mother wasn’t far away and that perhaps once they got there, they would receive some bad news.

“How dare you! Who do you think you are talking to, open this gate this instant!”

“Madam, please calm down, the Count has instructed us to not let anyone in without his permission. We have our orders, please understand.”

A commotion was coming from the front gates of the De Vere estate. As they approached, they could see a woman dressed in luxurious clothes, with distinctive hair that looked like twin-tail drills. The woman was hiding her real age behind a lot of makeup but sometimes her voice cracked during her shouting match with the guards stationed there. It was Francine Arden, Lucienne's mother, who was currently in a heated argument. The soldiers looked uncomfortable, clearly trying to maintain their composure in the face of her fury.

“Mother!”

Lucienne broke into a run, ignoring Roland’s advice to stay close. The guards immediately tensed, raising their spears, but Francine turned at the sound of her daughter's voice.

“Lucienne! What are you doing here?”

Francine’s anger melted into shock and concern as she rushed towards her daughter. The guards seemed unsure whether to intervene, glancing at each other and then back at Roland, who had caught up and was now standing with the rest of the group. They instantly identified him as someone strange and rather suspicious.

“Whoever you are, stand back!”

One of the guards repeated himself and this time around, pointed his spear in Roland’s direction in an attempt to intimidate him. For the time being, he ignored these men as he focused on his stepmother holding his sister. Some old forgotten feelings were coming out to the surface but once he noticed that she was just acting like a mother afraid for her child, his nerves relaxed.

“How did you get here from the magic school? Who are these people?”

“I… I was just worried, is Robert alive? You didn’t tell me anything, what was I supposed to do?”

Francine was taken aback by the angry look on her daughter's face. She wasn’t here alone as a carriage was to the side with a few guards and even a knight waiting. It seemed that she had come here to barter with Count De Vere but was not allowed to progress through the gates.

‘If Lucienne told the truth, she should have arrived here a few days ago and probably no more than two.’

Roland had used the teleportation gate and a fast carriage to get here. It was easy to estimate how long Francine would need to travel by herself. She might have arrived two days ago and been trying to seek an audience with the count. The man was in a much higher position than his stepmother but this didn’t mean that there weren’t some obligations here. While Wentworth Arden, her husband held the noble privileges and his second wife didn’t, he could still send her as a proxy. Refusing a proxy could be seen as an insult and perhaps something that he could use.

He watched as Francine and Lucienne embraced, their emotional reunion was quite intense but the guards didn’t seem to care. They started approaching with spears raised and arrows notched. There were six of them by this gate and another ten on the sides. Perhaps due to his unorthodox appearance, they identified him as a threat, or perhaps they saw this as a chance to act.

“Sir, I must ask you to remove yourself from the estate grounds. You are causing a disturbance, and we cannot allow any unauthorized individuals to approach the De Vere estate.”

Roland’s gaze shifted to the guards, who were now closing in. The people who were with Francine moved closer but they were outnumbered. His map indicated that multiple tier 3 class holders were nearby. Robert’s fate was still unknown and the person that was supposed to give him more information wasn’t even able to cross the gates. Now he needed to make a decision, should he retreat or lean into his role as a Deputy Professor and the right-hand man of a tier 4 arch-magus?