The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 766: The Streets of the Sanctuary 4

[A Village Lyoren of Sanctuary – POV of a Kid named Riky from the Streets]

Riky was bored. The village called Lyoren was equally as beautiful, if not more, than he remembered from his memories—it was just too empty now. Many of the original villagers, along with them, had returned, and the village was slowly getting its people back, but even if it was full, for Riky it would never be anything comparable to the city of Sanctuary.

They had a home. Ely and he had cleaned it perfectly by now. But there was no job. They never had land to do farming, and even if they did, neither Riky nor Ely knew anything about farming. Their father was a hunter, and he had not passed on his skills to them. So even doing that was too dangerous for them.

For a few weeks, they tried to get hired for any type of work the village might have. They already had a nice home—only food was the problem. But most people in the village had just arrived from the cities, the money was limited, and they all wanted to somehow survive on it until their land grew crops, months from now.

There were no big shops or anything that could use their skills here.

“What do we do?” Riky asked his older sister one night when they were both trying to sleep, after eating whatever they could find and could get from the neighbours.

“Eastmere might have some jobs, but travelling there every day is too dangerous,” Ely said.

“What if we..” Riky asked, not finishing the sentence, knowing full well that Ely was thinking the same thing.

“Living in a hut on the street? Even though we have a perfectly nice house? I can’t do that to you—I owe Father that much,” Ely replied.

“You miss him too, don’t you?” Riky asked back. “He is alone now, because of us.”

Ely turned on her side, her face away from him. The answer was obvious. Riky had tried telling her not to come here at all, but she was determined to have a house they could live in. A good place for him to grow up. He too wanted to see the house from his memories, but staying here a long time seemed too difficult a thing for them.

Even if they sold the place, which had so many memories of theirs attached to it—the village was too small, and new people coming to the village were too poor to afford it. It would take months or even years before they could manage to sell it.

After two days, when Riky was roaming around the village, some horse riders arrived at the village square. They were the men of Eastmere Seat. The lord of Eastmere had been removed, and in his place, five knights—placed by the Sanctum—ruled the small town and villages surrounding it. Riky heard the villagers talk every day about how the new seat of Eastmere was much more lenient and paid attention to solving the issues of the town instead of just showing off like the last noble did.

The horse riders told everyone they had to come to the nearest city tomorrow. The order had come straight from the Lord Keeper, and anyone missing out might regret it later. Riky remembered the massive gathering Lord Keeper had organized when he announced the seven heads of the Sanctum. The cryptic words suggesting the possibility of dungeon access for the spellswords were still the most controversial topic discussed by all, young and old.

The men stayed for the night; they were going to escort everyone to Eastmere tomorrow. From there, they would all be sent to the Sanctuary City without any waygate charge.

When the next day came, Riky and Ely were ready to go. Seeing the intimidating steel armor on the knights, Riky thought they would force everyone to come along, but when some villagers told the knights about the elderly who could not travel, the knights simply told them to remember to do the registration when the Sanctum officials would visit the village. It was a mandatory thing to do, and that was all.

“They will come here eventually.. It’s still better for us to do this as fast as possible; there might be some benefits for doing this early,” Ely said, and Riky nodded.

“Not to mention we can visit Luca,” Riky replied.

Riky and Ely travelled to Eastmere with seventy percent of the village. Everyone remembered the last time Lord Keeper had called for them—people had talked about the food and colourful moving statues for days. No one wanted to miss out this time. After the two-hour walk to Eastmere, they entered the waygate and were inside the Sanctuary in a few minutes. The time was barely 10 in the morning.

They were called pretty early for the Sanctum ID registration, and in half an hour Riky and Ely were done with theirs. Both had received a metal card with their name, ID, and rank written on it. Ely was a mundane, but Riky was an Esper—in name only though. His power was a dud. It did nothing when activated, only sucking mana out of him. He had gambled for it when they were lying on the streets.

Ely and Luca had worked hard to earn enough to provide him with an ascension stone, and it had been wasted. It was one of the biggest disappointments Riky had faced. He wanted to help Ely and Luca so much.. but in the end, Ely and Luca were the ones who had gone above and beyond to cheer him up. It was a difficult time, but they had survived. Riky knew very well why—because all three of them were together.

Once finished, Ely and Riky started strolling slowly on the main street—even though very little time had passed since they had left, so many things had changed. Not to mention, Lord Keeper was rebuilding the Sanctum building right in front of them—it had gathered quite a crowd. It wasn’t just the Sanctum building though; the whole empty space of the Sanctum officials was being reshaped by their powerful leader.

Riky remembered all that time when Luca complained how Rune Shapers were the worst class ever. But seeing Lord Keeper—the man everyone called the strongest transcendent ever to live—Riky could not help but sigh. Some had so much power.. He only wanted very little of it to help his friend and sister. It was so unfair.

Ely put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer, successfully breaking the cycle of old memories going on in his mind. Riky smiled as she made them turn around and walk towards the main street, which was uncharacteristically empty. It was nothing less than magic—how his older sister had this power of taking all his sadness away like it was just an illusion.

Riky fully supported the idea of her and Luca getting together one day and building a family of their own. He had not missed the looks they gave each other at times. But when that day comes, he will indeed miss the comforting, constant presence of his older sister.

When they reached near the hut they had spent a large part of their life in, they found it empty. Luca wasn’t there. The look of worry and discomfort on Ely’s face made Riky smile instead of making him worried.

“He must have gone to register. Let’s just wait for him here,” Riky said, and as if relief had washed over her worried mind, Ely nodded eagerly.

They didn’t have to wait long. In just another five to seven minutes they heard a voice behind them:

“Ely! Riky! You are here!”

It unmistakably belonged to Luca. He rushed near them in a second with a wide smile on his face. Once he was within arm’s reach though, he stopped. Riky had noticed his arms rising higher, but as if Luca was unsure of his actions, he tried to lower them. Before Riky could take a step forward to give the guy the well-deserved hug, Ely had already pushed herself forward.

Riky gave the two their time, just standing there awkwardly until finally the couple remembered him and pulled him in the hug as well.

“You look.. nice,” Ely said.

“You guys!” Luca exclaimed. “I was planning to visit your village. Did you two see the factories Lord Keeper has made? It’s for dismantling metal. I got a job there, and you won’t believe the wage they give us!”

“For real?” Riky’s eyes widened.

People were talking about the factories all the way here, even in Eastmere and the city itself. Riky had heard the rumours and could not believe it.

“Yes,” Luca nodded, “It’s 80 silver per day! I have been going for weeks now and have already made more money than I could spend!”

“That is very impressive!” Ely said with wide eyes. Luca looked back at her and smiled.

“I wouldn’t be able to qualify for the job without all those practice sessions you made me go through for memorizing things. My speech helped as well. Lord Keeper himself made me a Supervisor. I can teach you the job—maybe Lord Keeper will need more factories in future and you two can apply as well.”

The smile on Riky’s face turned to one of sadness as his eyes met Ely’s. After a few seconds of the silent exchange, Ely looked back at Luca and sighed.

“Jobs in the city are much better. Guess we could work here for a while, and collect enough money to spend the cold winter in our village.”