'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 4: The System

Runes

"His Majesty, do your school teaches magic?" Perky asked as it walked beside us, his tnkerbell boots making those soft sounds of the bells.

"Not at the moment, Perky. Why do you ask? Our Priest and Priestess do not learn more magic that what they had right now and have no ability to pass down the knowledge that they were imbued. Like me, I cannot teach magic because I was bestowed and not through learning at all."

"Ohh... As you see, you know that we gnomes lived underground and do not have the opportunity to be in such schools where the children or anyone who is interested would be able to learn anything. Like us, you remember the rune inscribed pebble I gave you? Well, if someone is able to teach them about rune inscription, don't you think it would be a very splendid idea?"

Hmm...I thought to myself for a few moments and wondered what good would the runes be for us humans since we do not even have any magical skills to start with. As I was pondering to myself on the uses of runes, Perky interupted my thoughts and remarked, "A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets."

"They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of Elder Futhark, Anglo-Frisian Futhorc and Younger Futhark."

This is the first time I had heard of the categories and I asked Perky to explain more of the them. "His Majesty, rune inscriptions means mystery", "secret", "intention" or "affectionate love." Similarly in Welsh and Old English, the word rhin and rūn respectively means "mystery", "secret", "secret writing".

It sure sounds mystic to me since I was able to summon Perky using a small pebble with a rune writing on it and a few seconds later after using the pebble, it would appear in front of us. Is Perky trying to tell us something about these rune inscriptions which is related to the school and students?

"Rune writing is an art, His Majesty, above the rest. It also contains secret way of writing, like a casting stone or a curse or hex, something like that. Other than that, the pebble is one summoning stone, there would be runes that would be written on blades, axes and other types of weapons and armours that would be able to serve as an additional layer of protection or even offense for the wielder."

I was surprised to know about it and wanted to find out more but my dear children who were tagging along with me with their mummy was getting a little cranky at this point of time. So I bear what Perky had in mind and then we walked over to the factories where our children were the ones who made the introduction as well as the production of each of the factory.

"What do you think of those inscriptions, Phoenix? Do you think its a good idea on having them on our pieces of armours and weapons as well? I guess there are more to these inscriptions that meets the eye."

Phoenix and Eagle joined us when we had entered the factory grounds as they greeted us when they had done with their initial work the day before when the wood elves adventurers had finally settled down in the town.

"What I can perceive from Perky that it might want to run a school like the one we have there, Your Majesty. So instead of having an underground school, why don't you invite Perky to be one of the teachers here that teaches runes writing? Also the pebble with a rune inscription that it had given to you seemed to be very good tool."

"Seems so, Eagle. It may wanted to have a school of its own but I think they do not have such resources or even the space to do it too. I have not seen a gnome's settlement before, the same goes to the Dwarves as well. But if Perky have the desire to be a rune teacher here, be my guest then. The more teachers the better, innit?"

We then approached the group that was led by HRH JR and Amy through the factory grounds as they explained the uses of each factory, the products that each factory made and the group even came back with souvenirs in their arms after a full round trip. The one that had the widest smile on the face would be Artemis because he had discovered several beauty products that he would be most likely to share with his sister when she had been fully recuperated in the hospital.

As Aerin had gone for the first day of recuperation in the hospital, aided by Priestess Isabela, she would likely be stuck in the hospital for up to a week since she does need a crutch to help her move around the town aided. Besides, she was also heavily sedated on the arrival from the battlefront and then sedated once more when she was under recuperation mode.

The group then had their lunch, courtesy of the cooks from the outdoor kitchen area and the group had been served with hot gruel made with crushed grains with lots of liver, gizzards and other internal parts of game meat as well as cabbage, carrots, beans and other greens.

The community that was taking their break along with us looked at the mythical races and was asking among themselves whether the mythical races would be spending more time with the humans as well as rest of the community after they had learnt that one of the races had an injured member and was being treated at the hospital at this moment.

The community who were having their break were a bit unaccustomed with us  having the meals with them but after some time, HRH JR and Amy spoke out to the community that it was norm for us to occassionally have meals with the community so that they would not forget that there is a ruler among them after all.

"Audemars, I am sure that Perky the gnome is hinting at you to open a class based on rune inscriptions that would be beneficial for the human kind as well as the gnome race. Besides, rune writing and in secret language would also open up another class of a human race where the community would be able to learn some magical skills. It may not be a too much of a BIG deal but I am sure that the community would learn to make blessing spells for the house et cetera. You get what I mean? If I am physically in front of you I would be winking at you but right now just pretend that I am winking and hinting to you, alright?"

Hmm, it seems that Ceres, my guidance system had some preposition for me but sure enough, anything that comes from it would be beneficial for me in the long run. It seems that even Aragorn had something to propose to me since he is more exposed and experienced in the mithril pieces that could be made into ornamental pieces or even armour inserts.

"Aragorn, do you have a preposition for me as well? Such as having some people who are expert in handling these mithril pieces that could fashion some ornamentals like the one you have around your neck? Besides, I am sure Doc do have some dwarves who are basically experts in this kind of field, am I right? We have one human who seemed to be like a dwarf as well since he had a full bushy beard and would be constantly be hammering those pieces of ingots at the fireplace from dawn to dusk. He is one of the support person for the engneering guild as well."

"Seems like a good idea, His Majesty. We have some skilled craftsmen who would be of beneficial to your town, His Majesty. The true forgers would be Doc and his kin. Why not ask him if he has some spare good men who would be able to forge those mithril pieces once you have the blueprint to make them into gates, archways or pillars."

Hahaha...Little did Aragorn knew what I am going to do with the mthril pieces because a normal king would only make use of the mithril pieces to beautify his castle or manor and also a way to show his wealth to visitors and other dignitaries. But hey...not Audemars, alright... I have some idea of making these mithril pieces and turning them into armour inserts for the present armour pieces that the militia is wearing.

"Eagle, could you bring me a spare armour suit to me later on at home? I want to experiment on that later on with my children later on." Eagle nodded his head and his eyes glinted the moment he heard that I would be tinkering with the armour pieces to give it a more enhanced look and feel as well as to withstand the volcanic saliva of those three headed hellhounds.

The children overheard that I would be doing a project with them and quickly cheered since it had been some time since we had been doing things together as a family. "Dear, what do you need me to do later on?" Heather asked since she knew that I would be going to the realm once again with the rest of the family members to perform something with the armour pieces as time flowed slower 3x there in there.

"Doc... Mind if I ask you something about your kin? Do you have expert forgers that would be able to fashion these mithril pieces that you had gifted us earlier? We would like to fashion something for our armour pieces so that we can release as many enchanted mines for you and your kin. Also in releasing those enchanted mithril mines, we are also eradicating the greenskins totally out from the face of this earth."

Doc was busy sniffing one of his souvenirs when he suddenly heard that someone had been calling his name and he lifted his head. Seemed that his stubby nose had entered the bottle that was used to store the body shampoo and a dollop of it had transfered onto his nose. He looked quite comical and even Perky was laughing hard and pointing at Doc's nose while clutching its stomach.

"Uhh...Hmm...Did you call me, Mars? I was just trying this scent and it smelled very wonderful and the smell seemed to be stuck on me right after I had opened the container up. What do you need, Mars?"

I reached my hand out and wiped the dollop of hair shampoo off from the tip of Doc's nose and passed it to his open palm. He laughed at it when he received the smeared dollop of shampoo. He then realised that the scent that had been following him had been on the tip of his nose all along. Hahaha...

"Yes, Doc. Of course I am seeking your kind help. Besides, do you think you can spare some expert forgers that would be able to work on the mithril pieces while at the same time I upgrade myself? Frankly (as I whispered to him) I am only Level One Blacksmith and would need to be Level 11 before I could work on those mithril pieces. I would not want to waste any of those mithril pieces for nothing if I am not competent enough. Would that be alright?"

I inquired since I knew Doc had been acquainted with Robin the Hood way before and I am sure that he have some sentimental thoughts and feeling with Robin the Hood and I am hoping that he would spare some of his men for our cause. Besides, we really need their help since I am no longer able to render the assistance required at this moment. It would take about 6 months or more based on the current situation we are right in now. I simply had too much on my hands to do since the workload that I had right now seemed to be overladen right now.

Doc pondered for a few moments before he asked me if there would be a problem for them to have their own working space instead. I placed my hand under my chin and support the elbow with my other as I thought for a short while before giving him a reply. I saw an engineer walking by and I quickly called for him and asked for his opinion.

"Do you think we could have a double storey building here for the essential services to serve the Royal family? It would be a place for the Dwarves to ply their their trade here solely for the militia use. The footprint for the building would be based on a 20 feet by 20 feet. What do you say, Doc?"

The engineer blinked at me questioningly when he heard that we need to have another locale for the Dwarves this time and when he heard that the trade would be solely for the militia use, he was more sceptical since anything to do with the militia forces would only be handled and approved by the Royal family. Involving the works among other mythical races would mean that some BIG and MAJOR things would be happening real soon...!