Chapter 109: Chapter 108 – Another expedition and preparations.

“You want me to be a babysitter?”

“Hah, that's what I like about you kid, you catch on fast.”

Roland was rubbing his temples while looking at the guild master. The man was dangling the manufacturing methods to the mana alloys and to the special smelter in front of him. The horrendous price seemed like it was just an excuse to shove a particular mission on him, one that involved the nobles.

“This mission isn’t even that hard kid, you just join the expedition and protect those snooty noble brats.”

The guild master had already revealed what he wanted Roland to do. In a month’s time, a group of noble youths would arrive in this city. These kids were members of influential noble families that studied at the various noble academies.

Some would be from the knight academy, the same one that Roland was supposed to go to when he was still living at the Arden estate. He wasn’t sure if it was exactly the same one as there were more of them across this kingdom.

The knight academy wasn’t the only one that was sending young nobles over though. It was a joint venture with the magic academy. From what Roland knew this was something the older students had to do when they were close to graduation.

The academies would send them out to do missions like this. They would need to venture towards dungeons for a time with a couple of instructors and be judged. It was something like a rite of passage where they needed to prove that they could fight under pressure.

This dungeon had not yet fully been explored but the levels could be rated. The first ten levels were good for anyone to get the hang of it. The level Roland had been venturing to was also rated as something that silver adventurers like him would be able to handle. No monsters above the 150th level had been spotted which was the tier 3 barrier.

“Why do you want me to be there? I’m sure there are other adventurers…”

“Hah…”

The guild master gave out a sigh as his big grin subsided.

“I wish that was true but you recall our little Armand?”

“Yes…”

“He was actually someone that was more dependable than most of those other idiots…”

“You must be joking, how could he be…”

“Think you two got off on the wrong foot, he is surprisingly dependable when it comes to fighting.”

Roland didn’t reply to that as he started weighing the options. It seemed that this guild was still not fully operational. If they were then this guild master wouldn’t be asking him to take on an important mission like this.

They were talking about noble children here. They were the future of their houses, if something went wrong during the mission then their heads would roll. He would need to risk his life to protect those young brats on the off chance that a unique monster appeared.

“You worry too much kid, you’ll only be going into the volcano area. Those brats are there to gain some battle experience, they will also have instructors from the academy with them. You and the other adventurers will only need to guide them there.”

“And act as bait if something goes wrong?”

“Can’t hide anything from you kid but that’s why I like ya. Listen, you can either sign up for this mission or cover the costs for the items you want instead.”

“Let me think about it…”

“Sure, you have a week, those noble brats will be arriving in a month but before that, I need to have the team ready.”

This was understandable, the mission was quite important so the participants had to be picked wisely. There was always a certain ratio that went into a party of adventurers. The basic composition had some warriors along with backline supporters like archers. A healer would also be needed but those were hard to come by thus most people used potions instead. Then there were unique spots occupied by classes like mages that could fill more roles. 

“I understand.”

After some more chit-chat, he finally left the guild master’s office. There were a couple of things he needed to think about. The most important one if it was smart to get involved with the nobles.

While heading home he contemplated on what was the correct thing to do. The guild master wanted him to be there due to his magic craftsman class. He did mention during the conversation that having someone there that could repair runic weapons would be handy. He would be also responsible for certain heat mitigating equipment that would be used. 

Roland also proved himself to be stronger than Armand, who was close to the 100th level. This would put him close to gold rank adventurers that had to have a minimal level of 100 and capped out at 150. Past the 150th level was the tier 3 bump, after reaching that a person was able to advance from Gold to Platinum rank as an adventurer.

The mission was to venture below the labyrinth where he battled the Ruby Golem. Then remain in the lower regions for a few weeks. It was supposed to be a test for the noble sons and ladies that the academy organized.

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Down below he would also need to answer to the nobles. The group of adventurers as he had mentioned before was there as guides and also meat shields. If something did go wrong they were required to use their bodies while the nobles escaped. This was only if there was some kind of unforeseen event.

If everything went as planned then it would be a very boring few weeks in a heated dungeon. He would only need to make some repairs to the equipment and together with the other adventurers work as a lookout. Yet because this was a mission given by the nobles he would receive a massive reward.

The high nobles were willing to pay a lot to have their kids protected. There would also be a Platinum rank adventurer coming along which made Roland consider this mission.

It was the fastest way of getting what he wanted, with the new technology he would be able to create a competent battle golem body. The only real downside was working with nobles that he wished to avoid.

The responsibility seemed to be high but the job looked to not be that hard. He had already ventured into the dungeon many times and the tier 2 monsters weren’t really a problem. From his perspective, the mission wasn’t that dangerous but mostly annoying. He would need to take orders from noble children and act as a chaperone.

‘I wonder how those brats are doing…’

While walking through the city he started thinking of his own family. He did have three brothers and sisters, with just one sister being younger than him. Roland was seen as almost the youngest child in the family but if he added the age from his previous world he would be the oldest.

‘I bet they don’t even remember how I look by now.’

It had been many years since he had left that estate and was successful in slowly cementing his life here. He didn’t feel like a noble anymore, just your regular commoner with a knack for crafting. Roland still felt a bit guilty about the lie that he told to Lucienne but the girl was really young back then, only three years of age. The possibility of him leaving a long-lasting impression on her was quite faint.

“That will be eight large silver coins.”

Roland placed some items into his storage bag while looking at his coin purse. There wasn’t that much left in there. After spending quite a bit on the golem toy and then further house renovations he was slowly becoming poor.

His savings that he received from his severance package while leaving Edelgard had also dried up. Most of it went into the house renovations and deep steel that he used for his runic armor.

If he wanted to get his hands on those manufacturing schematics he would probably need to take the job or wait some years till he had enough money. The biggest downside to this was the possibility of the offer not being on the table down the line.

He knew that these sorts of things were kept hidden from other races. The dwarves didn’t like their secrets being spread around. The possibility of something like this being up on the auction was low. He would need to visit the black market for something like this and pay a premium price which might be even worse than what the guild master was offering him.

“I think you should take the offer boss, dwarven knowledge like that almost never leaves a dwarf forge.”

Roland was now back at his own house. Both he and Bernir were down in the Runeforge crafting some gear. He had brought up this with his assistant as he also needed to know about this.

“You think so as well, huh?”

“I know those old fogies, they would never sell outside their little circle…”

Bernir replied with a somewhat annoyed tone. Roland knew that the half-dwarf had a run-in with many blacksmiths and they all denied him entrance. He knew well how this race liked to keep their secrets hidden and only allowed the techniques to be passed on to true dwarves.

“That guild master must be crafty if he managed to procure this kind of knowledge, wonder how he did it.”

*Clang*

Bernir’s hammer descended on some metal as he got it into the right shape. The young tier 2 craftsman was working on a breastplate. It wasn’t for him but to be sold off later after some mana stones and runes were added to it.

“He could have access to the black market, or someone owed him a favor...”

*Brrrr*

Roland replied while sharpening a sword on his runic grindstone. With the added wind turbines outside he and Bernir could use them at the same time. While working together Roland could also compare his smithing skills to Bernirs.

His assistant had lower stats, he couldn’t hold a candle to Roland’s dexterity and strength but he made this up with knowledge. Bernir had spent his young life looking at his father crafting, thanks to this blacksmithing came naturally. The only thing that slowed down his progress was him getting a carpenter job as his default class.

“Hm…”

Roland looked at his sword that was finished.

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