The Runic Alchemist

'So they finally made it public huh..'

The thought had crossed Damian's mind that the princess was just lying to him or something else but then again there was no reason to do so. War was starting but it had nothing to do with him. After listening the guy in the funny hat fully Damian walked out of the crowd, Sam following him close behind.

They had already been to the inn before to ask pricing and such before comparing it to other inns so Damian knew where they were supposed to go. The people around them were murmuring and discussing the news loudly and getting riled up against Ashenvale, cursing them and some getting excited with the prospect of war and recruitment.

These people may look like a peaceful normal everyday people but the history Damian had read about the five kingdom had only one thing in common. The whole realm believed in strength above all else. The history was filled with blood and battles, too many to count.

Which was why their ancestor had established Highswords to begin with, and the 'Monarch's trial' was introduced by the Highswords to shift power balance among their own people so they would not run amok and search for fights everywhere.

All kingdoms had their own 'Monarch's trial' every year at the same time 11th month of the year, when the realm wide ceasefire was ordered from the Highswords and the celebrations and fighting commenced for the whole month.

However now it was mostly a festival where only new knights and few minor nobles changed their political powers and dungeon seats. Politics had ruined the once proud ritual, no royalty had ever changed through the trials except Eldoris but even then it was among the family and not outsiders.

Of course there were many instances in history of people becoming an exceptions and making a big name for themselves, taking down major head of the noble household and gaining their seats and resources. It was rare though. People had come to love the peace nowadays but the nature of people never changed, so just like everything else they would also get bored with peace soon enough.

"Should we enlist..?" Sam's random question broke Damian's thoughts and made him forget what he was thinking at all.

"What..?" Damian asked.

"The war.. Should we join..?" His face was neutral Damian was not sure weather it was a joke or not.

"And fight with what..? Your sarcasm and my paper drawings..?" Damian felt amused by just thinking about it.

"Weren't you hearing..? The people were talking about training young kids from scratch.. They were especially looking for first ranker below the age of 18 something about a special unit and stuff..." Sam explained his reasoning behind the weird question.

"You are a risky Esper ability holder Sam and I am Rune shaper who fights with papers.. Even if we managed to enlist and join the army we can't show our powers to anyone at all.." Damian explained.

"It would be a good place to stay and train though..."

"Let's just get settled and think some more.. There are other ways to make money where our lives are not at risk.."

"Yeah... I would also like that please.."

They just smiled and walked slowly towards their temporary home. The inn was called 'New Hail maker' and it was pretty decent one. They had warm bath which was small but good enough, the food tasted nice and they had two beds in one room. Damian was used to living with Sam so it wasn't that big of a deal, he didn't understand what Damian was doing with all his research and runic drawings anyway.

And even if he did Damian trusted the little miscreant to keep it to himself.

They spent a comfortable night in soft beds without swaying left and right unlike on the ship for once and woke up in the morning refreshed and ready to forge ahead. They had a breakfast and then left the modest inn to make some money.

First thing Damian thought necessary was to continue his little side business he had started in Faerunia. To make up for the money they were burning staying in an inn and eating out. Sam and Damian walked to the Pyron city main gate and waited in line for half an hour before they could go outside.

Damian was met with disappointment after seeing very little forest outside, considering they were in Eldoris there should have been forests but instead there were just random wood structures here and there and rest was just empty fields filled with heavy snow as if all the trees grew legs and walked out of there. Finding materials of his special basic health potion recipe was much harder this way.

Still relying on his mana sense Damian collected enough Glimmergrass and Earthheart root because they had magic in them. He had to dig them out of the snow and soon he realized it was really inefficient and required twice the hard work.

Not to mention the hungry unranked monsters were just waiting for any prey at all in this cold environment, which did not let them stay free for long and wasted precious time and mana.

Damian and Sam went back to the city and rested for a while. Having a bath and a little breather they went out once again and found one abandoned building and made the potion as best as they could. But without willow bark, comfrey and chamomile it just wasn't the same. And it showed when Damian and Sam sold them in the commercial area.

It neither smelled great nor worked any better than the other basic health potion that were everywhere. Because of the lower prices they sold out but it took them the whole damned day and staying in open cold so much like that was nothing but a torture for their bodies.

After finishing everything they returned to their inn and freshened up then came back to have dinner in the warm tavern of the modest inn. Damian and Sam had heard talks about the war and recruitments all day long by various mouths and a lot of rumors had started flying through.

Some said Eldoris royalty was selecting elite members for their family by making everyone go through the recruitment trials, some said if one achieved good feats in war they would become knights and even earn lands, some even said that the Queen was looking for a worthy partner for her young daughter and would marry her to someone who shined the most in their time of need.

Of course it was all just things people said. Damian had yet to hear any conclusive reason as to why anyone powerful should do this thing at all, except for the money which was decent enough if you managed to become a soldier in the army after completing your training first, of course.

"This is not going to work Maximus..." Sam said while sipping on a little wine with their dinner after the freezing cold they had suffered through.

"I know.." Damian admitted.

"Any other briliant ideas to make money..?" Sam asked.

"None that we can effectively do in this snowy region.. Fighting is the second best..."

"But because of our age and your weirdness no one will hire us.." Sam glared at Damian. He had told him how he couldn't get any job without showing his status which he was unwilling to show to anyone. They already had this conversation before while selling potions.

"Should we do what Andrea and her friends are doing..? Or maybe join them..?" Damian thought aloud while eating his food.

"Ughh..! Maximus I don't think I can live on the ship man.. It's too damn annoying and boring.." Sam pleaded.

"Yeah, me too." Damian was also too tired of that endless swaying motion to go back to it.

"Our biggest expenditure is the inn and the food, both can be solved if we join the army... The income once we become soldiers would be just a cherry on top.." Sam said.

"It's not enough Sam. Just few coins are not worth fighting other people's war.."

"For a few coins..? It's not about the coins young man.." One of the two old men who were sitting on the next table looked towards them and spoke up hearing the familiar topic.

"I am sorry.. I apologies if we were too loud.." Damian realized his mistake.

"No, that's okay boy. Everyone is loud here." The two old men smiled at them warmly.

"The thing you said though. That's not true.." The other old man said.

"About the army..?" Sam asked.

"Yes, the royal Eldorian family has waged many wars in the past and they have learned a thing or two in the process. They pay with credits not gold and silver. And believe me when I say Eldorian credits are far more valuable than any gold or silver." The old man explained.

"How do you know that..?" Damian asked.

"Not in our lifetime but our grandfather's were part of a generation when war was common in Eldoris. With the harrowing stories, they also passed this knowledge. Many a common man had made name for themselves in that time and had reached great heights. Some even became knights and nobles who has still a strong bloodline today." The other old man elaborated.

"What are credits..? How do you use them..?" Sam asked eagerly.

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