The Ruined Death Knight

At the end of the conference, the water that was creating the images fell down back to the pool.

"Spouting lies in front of the Magus itself... ridiculous." The man with a mix of armor and a robe said as he leaned back to his couch.

"That damned mercenary presence shouldn´t even be allowed in the conference room inside the tower in the first place! Wanting to end the war of just because some monsters appeared, such a disgrace of the Archmage title!"

Taking the pile of papers that lied on the table in front of him, his frown soon disappeared.

"Right, the union should bring me the crystal that I ordered. With it, I should be able to try some of my new enchantments too..."

*Knock~Knock

"Master, you guest have arrived."

"Mhhm, right in time." Raising his staff in front of him, a blue sphere appeared before showing images of a man with two black gauntlets and his black hair pulled back.

"Guide them to my room!" the man yelled at the attended behind the door.

After a short while, the room was opened, with the man with his black gauntlets walking inside.

"We from the Union, greet the respected Archmage..." The man, Hanson bowed slightly his head towards the man in front of him.

"I welcome you to my domain, Hanson of the Union. Please, take a seat." 

Nodding his head, Hanson seated down.

"I take it that you being here should mean that you got what I ordered from that union of yours." The man with the mixed armor said directly to Hanson.

Usually, Hanson would frown upon his customer being so direct, but as he was already used to his man behavior, he pulled out a big box together with a smile on his face.

"As you ordered, Master Anwir, a crimson crystal second to the highest grade of crystal."

"Mhhm, let me take a look first." Taking the crystal in his hand, a blue glow flows inside his eyes.

"Mhhm, the union sure is impressive to get their hands in such a treasure. I recognize the item as the one in the order I had put, thus here is the payment that we agreed beforehand" The archmage Anwir said with a monotone, with his eyes glued on the crimson crystal.

Giving a spatial ring of storage to the table and Hanson comment that it was the correct payment, Anwir almost stood up, wanting to experiment with the new toy that he got.

"Excuse me Master Anwir, but would it be possible to present you some items that I think will be for your taste?" Hanson hurriedly said, with his smile twitching a bit.

`Those damned magic casters, all they can think is of magic and crazy staff. They can´t appreciate the spirit of a merchant...´ Hanson thought bitterly to his heart.

"Mhhm? I mean... since it´s you I might as well take a look on those" Anwir said, with his smile cracking, making it obvious for Hanson to see that he was annoyed.

As one tasked in the research of finding new ways to increase their military combat be it for spells, items, and other forms of modification, the archmage Anwir lacked no wealth to say the less.

But getting his hands on resources by throwing just his wealth around wasn´t visible.

With a lack of resources and his recent research showing no good progress, the merchant Union did indeed help him a lot in bringing him quality resources, even if they were more pricer than their cost.

Though for now, he would be busy playing with his crystal around, doing Hanson a favor by buying what he got for him wasn´t all that bad.

Showing a wry smile, Hanson pulled out a small crystal together with a sword, not items covered in fancy cloth.

"Hmmm?" Anwir upon seeing these two items tilted his head in confusion.

"Let me introduce you to those items in front of you master Anwir!" With enthusiasm in his voice, he pulled the cover off, showing a sword that had runed letters in them.

"A sword and a crystal containing working runes."

Upon hearing that, it took Anwir a couple of seconds to process what Hanson said.

Once he did, his eyes widen up in surprise.

"What!? You telling me that those runes?" He said while pointing at the runed letters.

"Indeed they are..." Hanson said as he grabbed the sword.

"This sword that you are witnessing has runes that increase the sharpness of its edge by an incredible amount."

Putting the sword back on the table, he picked the crystal and showed the small runes at it.

"According to the runesmith, although that rune is a prototype, it increases the amount that the crystal can handle."

Putting the crystal down, he meaningful looked at Anwir's shocked expression.

"I also hold in possession of different runes of armor and weapons. But for crystal, there is only the mana increasing type for now." Finishing his speaks, Hanson stared silently at Anwir, waiting for his response.

Anwir shock lasted for a short before his face turned a cold and calculating one.

"Those items are indeed very attractive, Hanson. I believe that you mention of the runesmith himself, could it be..."

Understanding what he wanted to ask, Hanson quickly interrupted him.

"I apologize master Anwir, although we hold relationships with the runesmith. It's more of a one, the union, being the middle man between his items."

Frowning, Anwir nodded his head slowly.

"I see...I take it he was the one that came from Berum after he caused some kind of trouble, what was his name again..."

Smiling bitterly, Handon nodded.

"The one behind his item is supposedly called Rue Danzel."

"Ah, yeah. That was his name..." 

After a short silence between these two, Anwir's focus landed on both the items with a frown.

"Hanson, although I am impressed by the crystal, I can't say the same with the sword. Though the runes are useful, on such an iron sword it wouldn't last long between a fight among 3rd-tier ones. If it was a better sword with enchantments put together with the rune I would be much more worth."

"Sadly that goes to the crystal too...it's fairly a low-level crystal, quite small at that too."

Looking at Hanson with a cold expression and greed, he said.

"Would it be possible for " that" Danzel to engrave the runes into higher value items?"

'That guy...'

"That, Master Anwir is still under discussion. As his skills aren't in a match against the Berums runesmith..."

"Mhmmm...alright. I will get everything that is relatable to runes that you got." Anwir said, while his eyes focused on the runed crystal.

'If that Danzel were to upgrade my crystals then the possibilities that will open would be...'

Negotiating about the price and showing every rune and their abilities, Hanson and Anwir shook their hands before Hanson stopped right at the door.

Turning his head behind, he looked at Anwir with a serious face.

"I believe that I don't need to say it, but please refrain from doing something that will upset the runesmith. Otherwise, the risk of him leaving the Arcana kingdom is high, based on the reports from Berum."

"Mhhm... I will keep that in mind, please show Hanson the way outside." Anwir said to the servant outside.

As he observed Hanson leaving the building, he put a huge grin on his face.

"It seems like a huge treasure chest is hiding inside the kingdom.

Pulling out a communication device, Anwir started to make many different calls.

***

"Hey Danzel, are you really alright? Serran asked with a concert look on his face.

Coming out of the associations building with the reward in our hands, I shook my head

"I told you that I am fine..."

"Seriously, tell me if you are hurt. Light magic you see is my forte. Be it pain or regenerating deep wounds. Making them disappear would be a piece of cake!" Serran declared proudly.

'Hearing that makes me worry more that put me at ease

Though he hadn't experienced a confrontation between light magic, Danzel didn't risk him getting hurt by Serran.

"Killing that lizard wasn't that hard honestly...it was fairly slow like you said. Though it took some time to finish it off. Further injures I have not."

"Sigh...if you say so." Serran nodded somewhat hesitant.

"I am in believe either Hannes or that..Serah are in need of some care and not I."

Turning towards the road that lead him to the church, saying their farewell Danzel was walking towards the church.

"I still got two days, sigh. I guess I should use all those XP somewhere before they go past their expire rate or something..."

His eyes landed on his sub-class, his grin grew for a bit

'I guess it's time to see what the higher-level runes look like...' Danzel though, as he saw the all-out of the big church far away.