(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

As Kaius trudged down the stairs to the Pegleg’s below decks, he found his friends waiting for him. All three were spilled out across the over-sized couch that wrapped around the back of the vessel — Porkchop stretching out over a solid third of it.

All of them were staring at him, looking expectant. With their stats, they would have heard every word of his conversation with their hostage lord.

“Flowers seems…chatty,” Porkchop said, shuffling down the couch slightly to make room.

Kaius slid in next to him, throwing an arm over his brother’s back. He almost made it half way across.

“Still just as insufferable.” he said, frowning. “He’s decided that my being from a lost Housesomehow makes it just fine and dandy that we got the upper hand.”

Across the bend of their seat, Ianmus shrugged. “It affirms his world view — that we have a right to the power we wield. Seen more than my share of it in Mystral.”

“Mighty convenient,” Kenva replied. “He seemed more than happy to write you off as a scholarship student, and the rest of us as backward yokels the last time we met.”

Ianmus cracked a smile. “That was before we had him by the balls.” The mage glanced at Kaius. “Why’d you come down here, anyway? You seemed to be getting somewhere with him. Just run out of patience?”

Kaius shook his head. Though his patience had been running thin, that wasn’t the reason why. The man had been staring at his Ring of Unseen Empathy, waggling his brows with all the subtlety of a warhammer.

“He recognised our rings — made it damn clear that he wants to speak without that beastmaster being able to overhear through the bird.”

His friends paused.

“Why the hells would he want to do that?” Porkchop asked.

Now it was Kaius’s turn to shrug. Who in the hells knew, but it seemed like there was trouble in the noble’s home camp. It didn’t surprise him — with every interaction, Kaius grew more certain that Flowers breathed a life of scheming and backstabbing. It was the only way the man could have assumed Kaius and his team were trying to screw him over, instead of any of the other dozen, more reasonable, explanations.

“You’re going to hear him out then?” Kenva asked, unsurprised.

“I’d be a fool not to. We know far too little about any of this business surrounding Kanmost, and Flowers is our best bet to actually learn something. Besides, I might not like the man, but our time in Baanswell will be much easier if he likes us.”

“Take mine,” Ianmus replied, though he didn’t pull his ring off just yet. “He must harbour suspicions about how information on the Wellspring got out. Regardless of if he is right or not, it works in our favour.”

Kaius nodded. That’s what he’d thought too. Kanmost might have been the source of the leak, but he’d certainly seemed careful, and he had a lot to lose by betraying his benefactors when he was an Archivist of the Aanthrast Grand Library.

He rose to his feet as Ianmus pulled the ring off his finger and passed it over. Nodding at his friends, he made his way back to the stairs.

Flowers was where he’d left the man, sitting beside the hatch with his hands bound in front of him. The sparrow hadn’t moved either, still perched on the railing at the rear of the vessel.

“Fancy a partner to test your forms against?” Flowers asked casually, arching a brow.

Kaius arched his brow, slowing his pace. He’d planned on running a few drills before he ‘checked’ the man’s bindings, but that would work too. As far as excuses went, it wasn’t the worst one.

“And how do I know you won’t try and run as soon as you are out of those ropes?”

Flowers’ scowled, a flash of genuine indignation glimmering in his eyes. “I give you my word.”

The lord stressed the sentence like it was worth its weight in gold. Kaius didn’t buy it. Oh, he didn’t think Flowers was trying to pull a fast one on him, but he still didn’t think the man’s honour was worth the muck on his boots. It only held value as much as Flowers thought he could benefit from it, and no questionably friendly chat could dissuade Kaius from that belief.

The man’s scowl deepened. “Hells, man, you can bloody teleport. I’m not going to run. These are just chafing.” Flowers held up his hands, wrapped in tightly knotted rope.

“Fine,” Kaius said, walking over as he drew a dagger from his ring. The same one he had held to Flower’s neck.

Crouching down in front of the man, Kaius summoned the spare Ring of Unseen Empathy and dropped it in the noble’s waiting hands. He cut the ropes, forcing himself not to glance towards the bird at the rear of the craft.

Flowers rubbed his wrists, slipping the ring on as he popped to his feet.

“Got any training blades?” Flowers asked.

Kaius didn’t. You could get ones built for second tiers — heavy enough to replicate a proper second-tier weapon, and durable enough to stand up to the beating of crossing blades — but he didn’t have any. They were expensive, built of the same rare materials as a real weapon, and he was the only swordsman on the team. Besides, most guildhalls had them, so he hadn’t seen the need to pick one up for himself.

“Pass me my storage ring, then. I have plenty,” Flowers said.

“And no, I’m going to pull out some artefact of flight and vanish into the horizon," the noble added silently through Unseen Empathy.

Kaius weighed up his good sense against his curiosity, and found his wisdom wanting. It was a terrible idea, but the lord quite clearly wanted to speak about something. Plus, he did have to admit that he found the idea of a little light sparring interesting. Flowers was clearly well trained, and Kaius rarely got the chance to face a swordsman of comparable ability.

It was just a shame they would only have the small space on his vessel's deck to work with.

Reaching into his pocket, he chucked the man's ring over.

Stolen novel; please report.

Flowers snatched it out of the air, and a longsword appeared in his hand a moment later. It was a plain thing made of a matte-black metal. Kaius took it when it was offered, the sunlight rolling softly over its blunted edge. A bit shorter than A Father’s Gift, and far thicker in the blade, it was heavier than he was used to.

Kaius didn’t ask for the ring back. He found the man…distasteful, but it was clear that he was a rational man — even if he seemed to work to a different logic than his own. Allowing the lord his storage ring was an easy way to build rapport, and Julian had nothing to gain by trying to run or fight.

Kaius spun the training blade in a flourish, before gripping it with both hands. Perfectly balanced to a point a handspan above its hilt, as all blades should be.

“How did you recognise the ring?” Kaius asked silently. They’d specifically purchased the damn things to talk without Flowers’ noticing, so it was a bit concerning he’d spotted it so quickly.

Flowers didn’t so much as twitch at the question, giving nothing away as he pulled an arming sword and kite shield out of his ring. The blade was of the same make as Kaius’s own, dark, austere, and blunt.

“I have a half dozen sets of my own, and the artisan works from a limited number of patterns,” Flowers replied.

“So, standard rules then?” the man said out loud at the same time. “No Skills, and a point to the opponent if you fail to pull your blows?”

‘Standard Rules’? He’d never heard of that — still, he had more than enough dexterity to avoid breaking the man’s bones. He nodded, point of his blade drifting down into a low guard.

Flowers’ shield came up as he hunkered low in his stance, his eyes peeking over its edge as he drew his one-handed sword back, ready to thrust.

“What’s with this song and dance?” Kaius asked, kicking off the deck. His blade snapped up, lancing for the man’s eyes.

The point of his blade slammed into Flowers’ shield. The man angled it and pushed, shoving Kaius’s blade skywards as he advanced into a thrust of his own.

“I have a rat.”

Kaius slid away, twisting his wrists to catch Flowers’ sword edge to edge. Levering against their bind, he lanced towards the shoulder of his opponent’s sword arm. Flowers’ stepped off centre, smacking Kaius’s thrust away with the edge of his shield.

“It’s the only explanation for how much information this ‘Brokenlight’ has been working with,” Flowers continued, a low cry on his lips as he slammed his shield toward Kaius. “I had guards watching the Archivist at every hour, and they killed every single one without making a sound.”

Kaius booted the man’s shield with his full strength, knocking the man back. Flowers’ eyes went wide; Kaius slashed at his throat. The noble got his blade up just in time, flicking Kaius’s sword off-centre before he lanced for Kaius’s stomach.

Stepping back, Kaius played for reach, probing the man’s defenses in a lightning fast flurry. They were a surprisingly even match, physically — but then again, most of his points were invested in his mental Stats.

“How can you be sure that it came from inside? You don’t know how long they were watching, they could have ferreted out your agents before they struck.”

Flowers’ scowled, falling behind his shield as he rushed in.

“It makes no sense — you have to understand that this research was a flight of personal fancy. An amusement that just so happened to prove fruitful. There was at most a month or two between Kanmost convincing me the Wellspring was real and his disappearance. Too little time for what they pulled off.”

Kaius gave ground, flowing like the wind around the noble’s short stabs and heavy cuts.

The man thrust, dipping just a little too deep into his lunge. Sergeant’s Insight pounced on the mistake. Kaius cleaved down on the man’s blade, forcing its tip into the deck of the Pegleg, before he struck like a viper. He halted at the last moment, the point of his training blade hovering over the top of the lord’s shield — aimed right at his eyes.

The sparrow at the far end of the deck squawked, rustling its feathers.

“Point to me,” Kaius said, grinning.

Flowers’ nodded, eyes narrowing just slightly.

They reset, circling each other.

The lord's explanation did make sense. If Flowers, with full access to Kanmost’s research, had been unconvinced, then it was unlikely for anyone else to be so interested as to spend the time and money on such a risky plan.

“How many know enough to pull off something like that?” Kaius asked, slapping Flowers’ blade away when the man slashed at his throat.

“My team, and maybe a dozen retainers and aides would have the means, and something to gain from it.”

His team?

The reveal came right as Kaius struck from a high guard. Shocked, he reacted just a little too slow as Flowers’ caught his strike on the lip of his shield, and thrust for Kaius’s heart. The point of the noble’s sword stopped just a hair from his tunic.

“Point to me,” Julian said, grinning.

Kaius rolled his eyes. They reset.

If Julian’s team was on the list… Kaius couldn’t help but think of the permanent sneer that had been etched into one Baron Rosenhall’s face. That man had been a prick from the very first moment they met — almost as if he was trying to drive a wedge between their two parties from the beginning.

“What about Rosenhall?” Kaius asked, hammering Julian’s guard from a dozen different angles; never giving the lord a chance to breathe. That shield was annoying.

“Edmund?! No,” Julian replied, grunting as they clashed a dozen times in a pair of seconds. “The man’s as subtle as a maul, and his House is already on a favourable trajectory to earning a viscountcy in the next decade. My prime suspect is Kel. He stands to gain much by undercutting my favour with my father. His brother, the Marquess of his house, is married to my sister. This business has already annoyed Father, and Francesca has been sharpening her daggers for decades. Plus, Marquess Frostbloom has been contesting a mine on the border of the neighbouring duchy. Using the Wellspring as a bargaining chip could secure the mine.”

Kaius staggered, again — though he managed to parry Julian’s opportunistic stab at his eyes.

This was why he hated politics. Julian was talking about being betrayed by men he had trained with since they were children — by his own sister — like it was a simple game of cards. What in the hells kind of life did the man live that this was normal to him?

Grunting in annoyance, Kaius hammered the noble’s guard again and again, forcing him to shelter behind his shield. The moment it covered Julian’s eyes, he dashed off-centre, whirling his blade into a wide horizontal blow to the back of the man’s head.

“Point,” Kaius said, halting his blade as it brushed Julian’s hair.

“What do you want me to do about it?” he added silently as they reset, their chests heaving with the exertion of their spar.

“Whoever it is, help me flush them out. They’ll be desperate — their plan will be foiled if I find out the location of the Wellspring. The only other way they can profit from this is me, my loyal men, and Kanmost die on this expedition. I can keep my team within six hours ride of your own using Sir Georg’s birds. I’ll play up being sour, make a fuss about keeping an eye on you, and using you to soften up the Onyx. You strike the camp, I follow — then, when we’ve rescued Kanmost, ‘abandon’ me on the pretext of extracting the Archivist. It’ll bait out the hidden knives. You just need to turn around and help me mop them up.”

Kaius arched a brow, playing it off like he was baiting the man into striking first. The ploy seemed…reasonable. It certainly didn’t cost him anything.

“What if Brokenlight has already left for the Wellspring when we arrive?”

“Then I abandon you to pursue while you are busy securing Kanmost.”

Kaius frowned. “That helps how? I can’t well take the man with me to the Midnight Crater. He’ll be a liability, and I’ve little interest in putting the man in danger.”

His back to the watching sparrow, Julian grinned. “Please. The man would sooner bite off his own tongue than miss seeing the Wellspring for himself. Regardless of what happens, Kanmost will find a way, even if it means rushing off unguarded. Either way, you help me clean up my House, and I’ll see you well rewarded — beyond a simple visit to my Place of Power.”

Kaius narrowed his eyes at the man, and snapped into a thrust. His sudden attack took the man by surprise: his shield came up too slow. Kaius’s blade stopped a hair before the bridge of the man’s nose.

“Point,” Kaius said. “We have a deal.”

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