"I'm sorry, Kvalinn. I'm not sure what happened back there." Bekhi intertwined her hand in mine as we walked behind our fathers through the pitch black tunnels. "Are you ok?"
We had been walking through the tunnels in silence for hours. This was the first time any of us had worked up the will to talk, as everyone was still processing what had happened yesterday.
In an unexpected turn of events, my grandfather, the clan head of the weapon clan in Einangrad, had known about the magical runes on my hands and back from the beginning, and had intended to marry me to a second cousin to kick the can down the road. But when Dak, my father, and I threw a wrench in his plans by not cooperating, he had disowned me and cast me out of the clan, naming me Kvalinn Runecursed in the process. I was now forbidden from crafting weapons on the mountain by the authority of the Weapon Clan, and any attempt to circumvent or ignore that order would be seen as a crime by the King and I'd either be put to death or spend a few hundred years in prison. In dwarven politics, the clans trumped even kings when it came to managing its profession.
I gave a heavy sigh as I squeezed Bekhi's hand. "I think I'm ok. But what about you? You mentioned yesterday that they were insulting your mother and sisters?" Bekhi gave a wry chuckle as she recalled the events from yesterday.
According to her, after being led away by several female members of the clan, they had served her a very potent but subtle alcohol whose flavor didn't stand out against the beer, and spent several hours trying various mind games to get her to give up trying to marry me. When all that failed, they moved to personal insults and attempted to convince her that she wasn't worthy of me, but since she had heard those same insults multiple times during our years at school this tactic was also ineffective. Finally, they moved on to insulting Bekhi's mother, sisters, and the entire town of Vesturhildrun in general, not with any motive in mind, but just out of spite. It was at that point that Bekhi snapped and attempted to swing at the members of the clan, but since she was half seas over by that point and completely exhausted from weathering all the verbal abuse, she was quickly subdued and brought to the great hall, just in time to see me get kicked from the clan.
"I'm truly sorry, Kvalinn. But when they started insulting my mom, calling her an ugly sow only fit for grubbing dirt and making babies, I just snapped. I grabbed my hammer to beat that rock toothed hag to pieces, but whatever they put in my beer slowed me down to the point where they could just grab my hammer midswing."
"Vodka." Dak said from just ahead of us. "They probably spiked your beer with vodka, it's a tasteless and very powerful alcohol from the northern country of Tochka. I'm surprised they had any down there. Humbart in The Halfling's Haven doesn't stock any because no one would ever drink it." Father had the answer for how the clan had any.
"My grandfather, the clan head before Irgadhim, called himself 'a connoisseur' of various alcohols from around the world. I heard that his curiosity even caused him to try the vile wines of the odious elves. It was that action that caused the clan to depose him and choose my father to take his place. They probably retrieved the vodka from my grandfather's vault."
"Good to know if we ever go back there." Dak let the sarcasm drip from his words before turning to Bekhi and speaking in a much softer tone. "The vodka and you taking a swing at Kvalinn's great aunt didn't make any difference whatsoever. Kvalinn's grandfather wasn't ever going to allow you two to get married anyway. With the war escalating with Zaihan, Irgadhim knows that he has King Thralgrorlum by the beard and can turn down a thane from a surface colony."
"But why would he not want us together, dad?" Bekhi asked in a plaintive tone. "Why would he even care?"
"My father somehow knew about Kvalinn's runes, and hoped that by keeping him out of marriage talks until the more traditional age of a hundred, Kvalinn would have enough time to prove that he wasn't tainted by the gods magic. It was his own twisted way of showing care for his grandson." My father shuddered as a painful memory jumped to the forefront of his mind, he closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to dispel it.
"What does that even mean? How could Kvalinn be tainted by magic just because he can make runed weapons?" Bekhi looked to the three of us to explain magic, and since I was the only one who had taken rune theory, I did my best to explain.
Taking off the glove on my right hand, I channeled some magic to it, causing it to glow in the darkness. "Magical runes are made out of the godly essence that has been channeled into the lines of the rune by runesmiths. Me having these runes means that I have magic in my body, something no other dwarf has. It allows me to make the runed weapons we grew up with, and it also seems to attract monsters to me. Although I'm not sure why the reaction was so fierce yesterday." I looked to my father for an explanation, nothing in my school lessons had ever mentioned such a fierce hatred of magical runes.
"Do you remember in the great hall, how I said that no new weapons have been added to the collection since the last high king reigned several centuries ago?" I nodded, unsure where my father was going with this. "When High King Brodgrith Bonebender died after falling down the stairs, rumors began circulating throughout the mountains that he had been cursed by the magic runes decorating the throne. Since then, while runed weapons and armor remain highly sought after by both man and elf, dwarven smiths have spent the centuries perfecting non magical crafting. I myself was brought up to see runesmiths as troublemakers who seek to improve upon perfection, and taught to reject their attempts to add runes to my work. Some clans go further than that and refuse to do business with runesmiths entirely. That's the only reason why an Elder as old and respected as Elder Thrikrondromm, is teaching in such a small town as Nurnwuhr. No other city will accept him practicing or teaching his art."
"So that's why everyone reacted the way they did when I told Irgadhim that I could make magical runes." I thought back to the angered faces, and incoherent insults that Irgadhim had thrown when I mentioned magical runes. He had likely been teaching that the weapons made by his clan were already perfect, and had no need of runes. "But why was I cast out of the clan? I thought I demonstrated to Irgadhim that I could craft high quality and powerful weapons without runes."
"Because you can use the magic in your runes!" My father barked out in anger. "Magic is the power of the gods, the former enslavers of our race, and our grudge against them for that offense shall never be fully wiped clean. Not to mention their part in their creation in the many monster species that forever plague our race. So the fact that you are branded with the gods runes, and can wield their power, is an anathema to not just the clan, but to the dwarven race!" My father's answer was pretty much instinctual to him. Belted out with the same tone that a military cadet would answer an obvious question.
After my father's outburst, we walked wordlessly through the still tunnels for some time. Looking out into the blackness of the road and listening for the scratching sounds of goblin claws or the growls of hellhounds. I thought back on the lessons taught by Elder Rongrim, those two races were just two species out of the hundreds created to fight against the first demon lord thousands of years ago. But ever since that threat was defeated, the gods had lost track of their creations and let them prey on dwarves, causing innumerable deaths and grudges to be entered against the hated menaces. Considering how many dwarves had been killed by the gods' creations, the dwarves anger against the gods and anything associated with them made a little bit more sense.
"So what will you do now, Kvalinn?" Dak asked, breaking the silence. "You've been cast out of your clan and I doubt any other clan is gonna let you join easily. Besides, I don't want to see talents go to waste watching you herd sheep."
"I guess I'll go back to my original plan and travel the world." I said with a small smile. "Irgadhim said I'm not allowed to craft weapons inside his jurisdiction, and the human lands are outside where he would care to look. Also, I want to learn from other runesmiths to see what else I can make."
"Sounds like a good plan, Kvalinn. Where are we going first?" Bekhi squeezed my hand in excitement, and I could tell from her tone of voice that she was eager to see what fights awaited her out there.
"Just a minute, young lady!" Dak said with just a hint of sternness in his words. "Who said you are going anywhere? I can't just let my daughter run off with a single male dwarf who has been cast out of his clan."
"Dad, I know you aren't serious. But even if you were, Kvalinn was there for me the entire time we were at school. He made weapons for me so I could fight. He talked with me when no one else would. So now it's my turn to be there for him. I'm going to follow him wherever he goes." Dak glared at his daughter through the darkness for a few minutes before giving an exasperated sigh and a smile.
"Alright, but you two aren't leaving until spring. No ifs ands or buts about that. Your mom wants to spend some time with you, and it's too dangerous to start traveling in the middle of winter. Besides, you both need to learn Imperial if you want to travel among the humans."
"What's Imperial?" I asked.
"It's a common language among humans that dates back to when the entire surface of the continent was one great empire. Several regions have their own dialects or even entirely different languages, but Imperial is spoken by nearly everyone in addition to their local tongue." Dak then said several sentences in Imperial, and I found to my surprise that it was English! It sounded very odd though, as if it had seen thousands of years of culture drift since it was first introduced to this world. I tried saying something back to Dak in the same manner.
"You can speak Imperial, Kvalinn? Is that an effect of your runes?"
"Something like that." I didn't want to mention that I was reincarnated from another world. I was already kicked from my clan, I didn't want to lose what few connections I had left.
"If you are going to be staying in Vesturhildrun, Kvalinn, I will stay there as well so that I can see you off." I looked at my father in surprise. The thought of him not only going to a surface town, but staying there for several months, was shocking to me. He had another reason for staying on the surface though. "I need some time away from Nurnwuhr. It's clear that my father has eyes down there and I need to spend some time in a place he would never think to look."
"Still trying to avoid marriage, eh?" Dak grinned at my father mischievously.
"No! Maybe. Yes." Father tried to deny the allegations, but his voice grew softer each time. Dak just chuckled as if he already had a plan.
"Tell you what, Ekgor. I'll help you find the perfect girl, and in exchange, all you have to do is settle down in Vesturhildrun and make weapons like Kvalinn makes. I'll even set up the house and forge for you."
"...I'll think about it." I could feel my jaw drop at those words. My father had been against me even visiting the surface, and now he was thinking about living up there!? His dislike of his own father must be extreme for him to go to these lengths.
The rest of the trip was spent having Dak teaching Bekhi and me Imperial. Even though I had spoken English in my previous life, it was American English, while the version spoken in this world was an offshoot of UK English. There were hundreds of words whose meaning and pronunciation had changed significantly since it was first introduced by the otherworldly hero, so I had to relearn many of the words that I thought I remembered.
When we finally arrived at Vesturhildrun, Dak sent Bekhi and my father ahead to his house, while he took me to the inn.
"Humbart? Are you here?" Dak entered the tavern and called out for the innkeeper. The tavern was currently empty since it was still early in the day and everyone was at home celebrating the New Year's with family. A loud banging was heard from the back and Humbart emerged looking worse for wear since the last time I saw him.
"Where else would I be, Dak? The better question is, what are you doing here? If you just got back from retrieving your daughter, shouldn't you be celebrating with your family?"
"I'll go there in a bit, have to ask you a favor first." Dak grabbed my shoulder and pulled me forward. "You remember Kvalinn, right? Well due to circumstances I can't get into right now, he needs a job and someone to teach him Imperial. He'll work on the machines you bought last time and maybe make a few more if you pay for materials. What do you say?"
Humbart gave me a quick look over before grinning in excitement. "Hjerouhrdinn's hammer! You've got a deal! Dak, I'll see you tonight with the family. Follow me to the back, Kvalinn."
I was then led to the storage room of the kitchen, where I found the machines I had created in a state of heavy use and disrepair. The only thing still in one piece was the rune powered waffle maker.
"Sorry about breakin' all these, but they were just so easy to use that I ended up loanin' em out and they came back all busted up after just a year and a bit."
"As long as they were useful." I felt my heart begin to stir again, the first time since getting kicked to the curb by the clan. "If you have a cart or something, I can take them over to the smithy and start repairing them."
"Really?! Grildem puzzled over them for weeks before giving up and sending them back in a worse state than before. If you can repair them that would be capital! But first we need to prepare for tonight. If you could peel and cut up the vegetables and prepare the meats I'll get to work on getting the beer and mead ready."
I was then left in the kitchen with a mountain of vegetables and a small knife for peeling and chopping. Looking at the pile, I muttered to myself in English. "Even in a fantasy world, my first job out of school is in fast food. Fan-freakin-tastic."
I started preparing the meats and vegetables with a vengeance. Cutting, chopping, peeling, and slicing as if I were still in Elder Dworhick's class practicing my combat skills. It only took a few minutes before I was done.
Looking around for something to do, I figured making a quick bite before the dinner rush started wasn't a bad idea. After some scrounging in the pantry for available ingredients, I got some eggs, bread crumbs, flour, and a chicken breast. Dipping the chicken breasts in the ingredients and adding a few spices, I threw it in the oven and after waiting a few minutes. I was munching on a rather tasty chicken sandwich.
"Ah, Kvalinn. I see you made some dinner for us. I'm surprised you know how to cook with surface ingredients." I passed Humbart the plate with his sandwich. "Hmm, rather tasty. Interesting use of breadcrumbs, maybe a little less salt next time. Or a little more if we're trying to sell beers. But not bad. I see that you have more recipes in your head besides that meatloaf. Once the New Year's celebration is over we can test run a few in the kitchen."
Upon hearing the first customers enter, Humbart wolfed down his food and went to go serve them. Leaving me with instructions to make the usual menu items, which was just chicken soup and baked chicken wings. Oil was too expensive in the winter to use the quantities required to deep fry the wings, so they were just baked over the open fire. Since the recipes were so simple, not even I could mess them up, and the rest of the New Year's celebration was spent in the kitchen of the Halfling's Haven.
"Another beer, Kvalinn!" I rolled my eyes at the running joke Bekhi had started using once she found out that I was working at The Halfling's Haven. The joke had been funny the first couple times but after two months it was getting old. I looked up from the corner of the dining hall that I was sweeping up.
"Good morning, Bekhi. How is my father doing with so many kids around him?" I had been staying over in a spare room at the inn while my father was staying with Bekhi and her family in their only guest room.
"He's still getting used to it. At first he tried teaching them how to craft weapons, but gave up when he realized that they only wanted to use weapons and not make them. Now he's helping Grildem at the forge and trying to learn home repair to make himself useful."
I chuckled to myself at the thought of my father trying to teach normal kids how to craft a weapon. I had only survived his intense training because I had all the knowledge and experience from my past life. A normal kid would either get bored or frightened off by his intensity at the forge.
"Ah, good morning, Bekhi. Here for another lesson in Imperial?" Humbart stepped out of the back where he had been preparing for the lunch crowd. "At this rate, you two should be more than ready to travel anywhere on the continent by spring."
"Thanks, Humbart. No offense, but I'll be glad to be done." Bekhi said with a sigh. "I thought I'd be done with school when I came home. After this, if I meet someone who doesn't understand me I'll just whack them over the head and be done with it."
"Well then, I'd better do a good job at teaching you Imperial. I don't want you leaving a trail of bruised heads throughout the human lands." Humbart chuckled as he joined Bekhi at the table, and after I put away the broom, I got to work as well.
Our lessons mostly consisted of Humbart speaking conversationally to us in Imperial and teaching us to read the language, which was much more difficult than speaking it. Evidently, the language had been introduced by a summoned hero over fifteen hundred years ago, and over that time period the writing style had shifted dramatically away from its roots to the point where it was unrecognizable as English.
Eventually, Humbart was called over to deal with a small lunch crowd, but since it was just a couple people, he left me to study with Bekhi.
"You know." I slowly started. "You really don't have to come with me. I can handle any monsters or bandits on my own."
"I know." Came the instant reply. "But I'm still going to go with you."
"But why? Won't it make things more difficult for you when you get married?" Bekhi gave me a sharp look, so I held up an ungloved hand meaningfully. "I've been kicked from my clan, blacklisted from my craft in this mountain, and given the name Runecursed. I don't want any of my negative reputation to rub off on you and affect your future."
"Kvalinn, that's the stupidest thing you've ever said." I was about to object, but Bekhi barreled onwards. "I went through hell with your clan to marry you, and a little roadblock like you getting kicked from your clan, or getting called Runecursed, is going to stop me!"
Before I knew what was happening, Bekhi grabbed my cheeks, and dove in for a kiss while blushing furiously. I could feel my own cheeks heat up from the unexpected kiss. I knew that up here on the surface, things like hand holding, hugs, snuggling, and the like were all common between couples who were out in public, but I wasn't sure about kisses. I got my answer when a bunch of wolf whistles came from the lunch crowd.
"Go get him, Bekhi!" Said a friend of Bekhi.
"Hjerouhrdinn's hammer! Kvalinn's one lucky dwarf!" A younger lad commented.
"That's my sister for you, always going directly for the kill." We realized one of Bekhi's older brothers was in the crowd and she broke off the kiss. Blushing all the way up to the tips of her ears.
"Alright, break it up you two. We need to talk." Bekhi's face somehow got even redder when Dak spoke up from behind us. He sat in between us and started quietly speaking in Imperial.
"Kvalinn, Bekhi, can you understand what I'm saying?" When we both nodded, he gave an approving grunt. "Good, Kvalinn, you may have noticed that the snow has started melting. In a couple weeks, we'll be holding the assembly. It's normally where we hold routine discussions about the management of the town such as field assignments, crop goals, grudge settlements, and other small things. But this year, several of the Elders are planning on speaking up for me to kick you out of town due to your unfortunate title. I know you were planning on leaving in spring anyway, but to satisfy the Elders I'll need to be a little harsh on you when giving you the boot. So I'm letting you know now that it's all for show."
"Thank you, Dak, for letting me know. How much time do I have left to prepare?"
"I'd say you've got around fifteen, maybe sixteen days left. We usually hold the assembly when the first blade of grass is seen by the hunters. So get to work on making any runes you need for the trip. I'll talk to Grildem later about you using his forge during his lunch break."
"Thanks again, Dak. Sorry I couldn't make any weapons for you."
"Just take care of my daughter for me. I couldn't ask for anything more than that." Dak gave me a pat on the shoulder as he got up from the table. He paused for a minute before whispering in my ear. "But just know that if I find out that you got her pregnant while out adventuring, then I will beat you black and blue with your own hammer before throwing you in your own forge fire. Do I make myself clear?" I hastily nodded to make it crystal clear that I would not dare try anything. Dak smiled in approval and gave me another forceful pat on the shoulder before leaving.
With the silent pressure gone, I drained my beer mug and let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. Bekhi chuckled at my plight.
"Dad gave you the talk, didn't he?" I stared at her in surprise, I didn't think Dak was being loud enough to be heard. Bekhi half smiled wryly. "Mom says that he gave the same talk to all my sister's future husbands and to all of my brothers. Apparently he finds it fun to tailor his threats for every profession. For my brother in the hunting clan, he threatened to strangle him with his bow and feed him to the wolves, and for my brother in law in the farming clan, he said that he'd turn him into fertilizer for his fields. No one is sure if he's serious and no one is daring enough to find out." Bekhi started laughing at her dads antics while I nervously joined in. I wasn't sure if Dak was serious or not, but I sure as heck wasn't going to test him!
Bekhi and I resumed our lessons in Imperial until it was time for me to help Humbart prepare for the dinner crowd. Now that spring was coming, people were coming in larger numbers since they knew that they would be too busy for the rest of the year to stop by for a drink, so we were nearly as busy as we were during New Year's.
While cooking up the seemingly endless orders of soup and wings, I began mentally compiling a list of everything I needed to prepare before leaving town. I'd have to ask my father to craft new weapons for us since I was forbidden from making weapons on the mountain. After that, I'd have to add the magic runes to the weapons and armor, and finally, I'd need to prepare food supplies. Dwarves can walk long distances on empty stomachs, but we still need food. Overall, it was a long list, and I worried that fifteen days wouldn't be enough time. But I would do my best to make sure we were ready for anything that this world could throw at us.
"Sorry I had to go so rough on you back there, Kvalinn. The Elders were apparently on the verge of sending a complaint to the king, so I needed to be extra hard on you." Dak was apologizing for roughly the tenth time since we left Vesturhildrun.
The assembly had happened the previous day, and just like Dak had predicted, the Elders spoke up in one voice and demanded I be ejected from the town. They had been pretty severe in their recriminations of him for even allowing me to stay until spring. So in order to appease them, Dak had been forced to make a show of being extremely harsh with me. Even going so far as to heap personal insults on me for at least an hour. All of that was for show though since he was currently escorting me and Bekhi to the nearest human village that was several hours hike down the mountain.
"Dad, you don't have to keep apologizing. Kvalinn understands that you needed to go along with the Elders to keep your position as Thane."
"Yeah, but it makes me feel better." Dak grumbled. "Next time you see your father, tell him I'm grateful for going along and publicly disowning you. It may have hurt, but it soothed the Elder's egos to see that."
I thought back to the assembly. Dak had completely run out of rude things to say about me, but from the grimaces of the Elders, everyone could tell they were not satisfied. The Elders were furious that their Thane, and consequently their town, had been treated so rudely by my grandfather when he had thrown us all out of the clan hall. They wanted a scapegoat, and they found the perfect target in me. Someone who couldn't do a thing to get back at them. When the first Elder stood up to begin his personal tirade against me, further dragging along the inevitable just so that he could hear his own voice, my father cut him off and publicly disowned me. Striking me with his hammer to signify that I was no longer any relation to him. It had deeply hurt me inside, my father had been my mentor, my teacher, and an awesome father for the past fifteen years, but it was this gesture that finally satisfied the Elders, they had all nodded to themselves in satisfaction that the one tainted by the gods had gotten what he deserved.
"I'll send you a letter when I find a good place to settle down." I said quietly. "It might not be for a while though, it's a big world out there, and very little of it is safe for dwarves."
"Knowing you, Kvalinn. I'm sure you'll land on your feet. And with Bekhi backing you up, you'll find a good place to make your gadgets in no time. By the way, did you make the thing?"
I took a sword out of my bag and handed it over. "It's the least I can do after all you've done for me and my father. My father made the weapon, and I added the rune of burning. It's not quite as powerful as the one you saw at the graduation ceremony, but it should be just powerful enough."
"Hello, gorgeous!" Dak unsheathed the blade and gave it a few practice swings. "Thank's, Kvalinn. I'll use this blade at the next match against the Elders who insisted I cast you out. Your father made it, so it should get around the rule against your weapons fighting in the games."
"Give 'em hell for us, dad. When I get back, maybe I'll finally be able to beat you."
"Lookin' forward to it, sweetie. But who knows, by the time you make it back here maybe Kvalinn will be a stronger warrior."
All three of us chuckled at that idea. According to Dak, I was well above a front line fighter in terms of skill, but I'd never be a top tier warrior. I just didn't have the reflexes for it.
"Well, this is where I leave you." Dak pointed down the mountain at a large human town that was surrounded by a wooden wall. "There's the Handelian town of Dorkastel, it should have an adventurers guild there that can get you registered and ready for your international journey."
"Thanks, dad. Say hi to all my brothers and sisters for me." Bekhi gave her dad a hug that made me wince in sympathy. Bekhi's hugs were like getting crushed by a hydraulic system.
"I will, sweetie. Take care of Kvalinn, alright? We both know he'll probably tear down a country or two by accident while making his runes and gadgets. But do your best to keep him out of trouble." Both father and daughter had a tearful laugh, before releasing each other from the hug.
"Kvalinn. Good luck, and may the ancestors guide you on your journey." Dak gave me a firm handshake. We then parted ways, Bekhi and me down the mountain, while Dak started slowly making his way back up the slopes.
This was officially the end of the first part of my life, and now it was time to start anew. This time, I'd find someplace more open to new ideas that had plenty of raw materials, and then I'd get started on launching the industrial revolution for real. One steam factory, one steam train, one steam boat at a time so that I could get back on the road to my beloved technology.