The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 733: The Streets of the Sanctuary

[The City of Sanctuary – POV of a Kid from the Streets.]

“Ely, are you done yet?” Riky asked.

“Just a minute..” came the answer from the open window of the tavern.

Riky and Luca were waiting outside. They had finished their own work and were about to go buy something good to eat since today was Sunday — the one day in the week they tried to eat well.

Things weren’t always nice for them.

Riky and Ely were siblings. They used to live with their parents in the border village of Sanctuary called Oakenby. But that was before everything turned into a mess. They had once been subjects of the Ashenvale King, but then the king died, wars happened — somehow they survived all that. But when the Faerunians came attacking, many of their villagers died, including their mother. They were imprisoned with their father, but soon Lady Evrin came charging in with the forces of Sanctuary and fought a brutal battle against the Faerunians — saving them.

They arrived at the city of Sanctuary along with the other refugees. For a while, everything was good enough. They missed their mother, but having each other, they struggled through — their father took on odd jobs to earn just enough money to keep them from starving.

But when the demon came attacking the Empire, the Keeper of Sanctuary asked for help from the people.

Riky hated himself for not being strong enough to join the battle. Despite their father’s hesitation at leaving them behind, Ely and Riky encouraged him to go. Someone had to fight the demons — it was a battle that all kingdoms were fighting together.

After all, their father was a warrior. They had seen the way he looked at all the armored men walking the streets of the city, with an untold desire to join them. Ely was twelve years old then. Riky himself was ten. They could both find odd jobs and feed themselves. They already had a small hut of sorts to live in — one their father had made for them.

“Where are we going?” Ely asked brightly after stepping out of the tavern, having finished washing all the dishes.

“Laughing Lantern? That should still be open,” Riky suggested.

He had worked there before, as a serving boy, so he knew.

“Man! I wish they would hold another night celebration — the food there was so delicious, and so much of it. All free.” Luca sighed.

However, he instantly felt guilty seeing the faces of the brother and sister.

Riky didn’t want to think about that day, but he just couldn’t help it. The fight had ended, and they had won. Not just against the demons — the new Keeper had even defeated the Faerunians. There were even talks about all kingdoms signing a mana contract promising no war for a hundred years. What a wonderful thing..

But their father had not survived to see this day.

The first year of the war against the demon was the most brutal — only a few had survived. Their father was one of them, despite being a mundane human.

They had only heard from the redman — the man who reads out the notices issued by the Sanctuary officials. After two and a half years, their father’s name was finally read out among those who had been sacrificed on the battlefield.

If he had lived, he would have returned with the soldiers who came back three days ago.

“The Fox and the Fiddle has much nicer steak, right?” Ely said with her high voice and bright smile.

Riky smiled too. He still had her. She was always the one who knew exactly what to say to put a smile on everyone’s face.

It had been her idea to let their father go.

Riky was proud of his father — he had died fighting demons. He was brave. He was a soldier of the Sanctuary.

“Works with me,” Luca said.

Riky nodded, and all three headed toward the Fox and Fiddle — one of the few taverns that stayed open late into the night.

“All the people who came to the smithy today kept talking about some other thing the Keeper’s been building outside the city — something runic and big, they said,” Luca added as they devoured the delicious steak.

“Another thing?” Riky echoed.

Before going to their jobs, they had seen the open land outside the city gates filled with people — the Lord Keeper had built statues of knights and soldiers that looked so real. That was where they had buried all the soldiers who had died in the last battle against the demons.

That wasn’t all — there were giant steel pillars upon which hundreds and hundreds of names had been carved.

One of those names belonged to Riky’s father.

When others asked what the steel pillars were for, the Lord Keeper had answered:

“Consider them graves for all the nameless heroes who sacrificed themselves for our Sanctuary.”

The strongest third-ranker to ever exist had called his father a hero.

Riky’s heart was filled with pride.

He had always considered his father a hero — but now, there was a place he and everyone else could come to whenever they missed them.

In just a few hours, the graves of soldiers and all the steel pillars had been showered with flowers. Half the city had been late for work because of that.

Now, there was something else the Lord Keeper had built.

Riky wondered what it could be this time.

“We could take a look after this..” Ely said.

Riky and Luca nodded with excitement.

Lady Einar was a powerful and kind leader — but Riky felt like their new Keeper was something else entirely.

Three third-rankers — the youngest to ever exist in the world — were now part of Sanctuary. Years ago, they had entered a dungeon and had been trapped inside for over ten years. They fought monsters constantly all those years and came out as third-rankers.

“I saw that thing Ely was talking about today! It was so big — and entirely made out of steel!” Luca exclaimed.

“The flying ship?” Riky asked excitedly.