n

n

nIn Administration Building of the army.

n

"What do you mean that you can´t find them!

" Nikzel screamed with rage while throwing his seat to the ground.

nHe looked at Archman as if he was about to jump at him and strangle him on the spot.

nWhich of course made Archman in turn very nervous.

nHe knew, the moment he received the news of the disappearance of those dwarfs and the ones that traded runed items with them, he was bound to get himself in trouble with the general.

nWorst of all, the mercenary who disappeared was suspected to be the runesmith himself.

nThat information alone made Nikzel lose his cool.

n

"Our troops are undergoing investigation all around the capital, news of their finding will soon arrive....

" Archman said while looking down to the floor, afraid to meet the gaze of the enraged old man.

n

"Soon!? What are you talking about! They probably have already left the capital by now!

" Nikzel said while pointing at his window that the sun has already risen.

n

"But general... since months ago we increased the security on the gates. Someone leaving the capital without any notice would be impossible-

" Though Archman tried to explain the situationto him, he was shortly cut in the middle on his sentence.

n

"I don´t want to hear anything of you anymore! Go out and give the orders to continue the search!

" Nikzel pointed at the door, making his statement clear.

n

"Yes...

" Archman said dejectedly.

nStaring at the closed door, Nikzel picked up his seat and sat at it.

n

"That damn idiot... to think he would actually do such a thing in times of war

" Nikzel whispered to himself while looking at the recent reports.

n

"I should even gotten rid of that noble who plays the king in the filthy slums. Even though we warned him, he got bold enough to kidnap dwarfs!

" Nikzel said enraged.

n

"Heh, ridiculous. The nobles who were supposed to protect the kingdom are instead pushing it deeper into the flames. If only King Bernes didn´t have died, this situation wouldn´t have occur.

" Closing his eyes, Nikzel remembered the first time he met the almighty sovereign behind the Kingdom of Berum.

nHis death fifteenth years ago was also the beginning of the Fallen War.

nWith the main players being the Arcana kingdom and the Berum kingdom.

nThe war was named as such since the fall of their king bought fourth the war itself.

n

"Sigh...there is no point about talking about already spilled milk. What´s done is done.

" Nikzel shook his head before staring at the other reports.

n

"Although I can work around that problem somehow, that guy...Rue Danzel was it? While he played the porter, he might actually been the runesmith himself!

"

nThat guy was already on their suspicious list a long time ago.

nThrough many background checks, the man Rue Danzel never existed in the first place and just simple appeared out of nowhere.

nGoing through the reports, they said that he would just stay at a house near the slums for weeks without going out and then magically come out with a patch of runed weapons and deliver them to the dwarf Iffuro Gerak who was known for selling multiple weapons and different armor sets to the black market or outside the kingdom.

nThe only reason why they didn´t arrest those two was that Gerak was a member of the three factions of the dwarf kingdom, while Danzel might be the clue they needed to find the runesmith.

nIf they by some chance were to arrest them and turned out to be wrong. There was the chance that they would have scared the runesmith that was backing them away, which if that were to happen would be a huge loss towards the kingdom.

nAfter all, runes were extremely rare with the only known runesmith through the whole kingdom being the Archmage Raphael Crafbinder, one of the Feathers.

nIf they were to compare that unknown runesmith to Raphael, he could very well be an archmage himself.

nIf they were to receive the wrath of such a being, they would fall in a very annoying position.

n

"Ahh! I feel like my brain is trembling! I only got so many years until my retirement and yet such a situation occured. And all that because of an idiot noble playing with lowlifes!

"

nAfter throwing insults left and right towards all the people he could hold responsible for, he calmed down and started to think about how to fix the situation.

n

"First I will have to keep that information of going outside the kingdom for as long as possible. If that guy, Rue Danzel really is that runesmith then he might attract outsiders such as the council into the mix....

" Getting a communication device out of his pocket, he said with an unemotional voice.

n

"Kill all the found slaves, leave not a single one alive. Also, make it so that you don´t get found...

"

n

"Yes, General...

" Another voice replied from the device and the light of the device faded away, indicating that it was closed.

n

"With that out of the way, I will have to find a scapegoat, otherwise either one of the Feathers or the church will come and create some trouble-

" As he was scratching his head for any ideas, Nikzel froze as a light of insight came before him.

n

"Right! Where was it now...

" Searching among the resent reports, Nikzel found what he was looking for.

nReading through the report, he sighted out loudly.

n

"After all those years I refrained to take a side in their business, but it seems like it´s time to pick aside.

"

nPutting the report on the table, he stood up and left his office with the communications device in his hands.

n*Bam.

nThe closed-door brought a small breeze through the room, throwing the report that Nikzel placed in the table to the ground.

nThough the report was covered with other papers at the top, a line was able to be seen.

n

"-Involved into freeing the slaves, Sacred Cross 3rd-tier paladin, Lewis Appolo of the true believer's faction-

"

n***

nIn a run-down house near the walls at 2 am...

nTen small cloaked figures were waiting outside the house together with a two meters tall figure.

nSuddenly the door of the house opened, revealing to be an old man.

nStaring at the eleven cloaked figures, he signaled them to come in.

nFollowing the man into the house and closing the door, every one of them removed their cloaks.

n

"Thanks for guiding us outside of the Capital Sebas.

" Gerak said towards the old man.

n

"It´s nothing worth mentioning

" Sebas replied with a smile, before opening a trap door hidden beneath a worn-out carpet.

n

"Follow me.

"

nGoing in the trap door was revealed to be a long tunnel lightened up by a few glowing stones.

nPointing towards the seemingly unending tunnel, Sebas said.

n

"Now I will take my leave, you just have to walk straight that path and in around twenty minutes you will find your way out.

"

nThe old man bowed slightly before turning this back towards the trapdoor.

n

"And here I thought he would guide us towards the exit...

" Danzel said as he looked at the departing old man.

n

"Well, they probably have their own reasons for doing that. Instead of chatting away, let´s go already.

" Gerak said as he took the lead towards the long path.

nThe other dwarfs who were previously anxious followed behind Gerak.

nThough Sebas mentioned that it would take twenty minutes to reach the end of the path, the old man probably forgot to mention that he meant in human standards.

nWith the short legs of a dwarf, they reached the end of the tunnel after half an hour of just walking.

nWhile some of the dwarfs breathing heavily, Danzel stared at them the whole time silently, which the dwarfs interpreted as

"Why are you guys so slow?

".

n

"So that's the exit right?

" Danzel said while pointing at the door.

n

"Ha~ Yeah, it should be...

" Gerak said with difficulties.

nNodding towards Gerak, Danzel bought the Veren sword out of his sheath and walked towards the door.

nThe dwarfs who saw this flinched for a second, the scene of this dark gray knight was still vivid in their memories together with his blood-drinking sword.

nAlthough he killed those bastards who abused those slaves and in the end freed them from the cruel fate that was awaiting them.

nThe scene of him fighting was still terrifying to watch.

n

"Let me go first,

" Danzel said with this cold voice.

n`His voice is creepy too...´ All the dwarfs though at the same time.

nOpening the door, Danzel was greeted by rays of light that would usually blind someone and make them turn their head away.

nBut as an undead, he didn´t have to.

nAnd he was glad that he didn´t.

nAs before him was a sight that closely rivaled the cave where he first woke up.

nComing out of the door, where it was hidden inside a huge tree.

nHe stared at the beautiful huge walls that he once saw when he entered the Capital of Bernes for the first time.

nWith the sun rising in the right angle, the already beautiful walls seemed to now glow in golden light, making a mesmerizing sight to witness.

n

"It´s time to leave...

" Danzel said, frozen upon that sight.

n