Chapter 197: Making A Deal

Sometime after Villin's spider found the warehouse where the runemasters were still working on enchanting spears and spearguns, a lone figure walked in.

When Hazel noticed the figure, she gasped as she recognized the figure before getting red, then she quickly bowed, "Runemaster Villin! I didn't realize you were awake, welcome back!" she said while hiding her face.

As soon as she said this, all of the enchanters in the building turned towards the new arrival. 

Keith was the second to respond, "Sir runemaster, I have to say the scar suits you. I am glad you recovered quickly."

Villin simply nodded towards the two he knew best before walking into the warehouse fully. He hadn't bother casting the illusion that generally hid his facial scar but the enchanters didn't seem to mind.

Villin had a good reading for coming here, without exchanging pleasantries, he turned to Keith, "Show me the spears you've been working on."

"Ah, yes sir, we're still working on them but these two are the new prototypes we made. We tried to simplify your design to the point where we could make it," he explained as he carried two spears towards Villin.

Without a word, Villin inspected the spears under the gaze of the hundred-or-so enchanters.

These spears were why he immediately headed here after the spider found the place. The way he heard them discuss the enchantments that should be on the spears made him suspicious of something.

After inspecting the two spears for a little over a dozen minutes, he finally turned to Keith again, "Who worked on these two spears?"

Nervously, he responded, "That would be me and Hazel sir. I mostly worked on the one in your left hand and Hazel on the other one. We were deciding on a design to follow when you entered the room."

Hearing that Keith and Hazel were responsible for these two works, Villin knew his suspicions were correct.

"I need to go do something first. Continue enchanting using my previous design, I'll finish them, we only have two days left so let's hurry it up," he spoke before heading straight back out of the warehouse, he needed to meet with the leaders.

It didn't take him long to find one of the generals that could guide him to the palace as they were strategizing in the main barracks and soon he was let into the throne room once more, under the gaze of the three leaders.

He looked at the leader who had come to him after he woke up and he did know he had somewhat misplaced his anger, hence he decided to apologize, "Sir, I apologize for my impoliteness earlier, after being so close to death I wasn't quite myself."

After saying this, he turned to the leaders as a whole, he had a very good reason for being here, "I have changed my mind and decided I will be aiding you in the defense of the city. The spells I know are more powerful than their Atlantian counterpart and I am capable of transfiguration, the art of controlling earth."

Villin could feel one of the leaders was about to accept his help so he quickly continued, "However, I will not do it for free. As a new runemaster, I am in dire need of assistants, this trip has shown me the usefulness for having those. I will help you to my fullest extent in the defense of the city but in exchange the enchanters Keith and Hazel will come with me as soon as I get permission from The Academy or I graduate, whichever comes first."

Once they heard the condition, the leaders looked at each other for a moment, Villin thought they were about to convene again as they did the previous time but it seemed there was no need as a few seconds later, one of the leaders spoke, "We agree to your demand, if you defend our city alongside our troops, you will get the two assistants you have requested."

Villin barely withheld a smirk as he thanked the leaders before leaving the throne room. Once he left the palace, he had an excited grin on his face.

This deal was more than just worth it, the leaders didn't realize but they had just sold the future of their independence and their future trump cards. When inspecting the spears the two of them made he noticed how good the quality was. If a runemaster saw it they would probably be unsure if it was made by an enchanter or an inexperienced runemaster.

They were both only a step away from becoming a runemaster. Villin guessed they were about as skilled as Rein overall, as soon as they got used to using the runes from the outside world they would be on the same level.

Villin guessed that the previous runemaster probably saw the potential in Keith and that was why he was one of his apprentices, as for Hazel, at the point the runemaster died she was still too young for her potential to be clearly visible.

But overall it was clear that they both had the potential of becoming extremely young runemasters.

Taking a risk and entering the fight was nothing compared to the benefits it would bring. Hell, it things went wrong he could always transfigure himself into the ground and hide.

When Villin got back to the warehouse, he didn't slack off at all. He immediately began enchanting, barely exchanging any pleasantries at all. He did keep Hazel and Keith very close though, to the point that they were set to perform more complicated tasks than the rest of the enchanters, the kind that was generally done by a runemaster.

Even though they often failed, they still managed to succeed about a third of the time, and then they would give it to Villin who would do the truly complicated part.

Villin could do this since all of the important spearguns were enchanted and so he could assign almost all of the enchanters to spearduty, there were too many enchanters so even if only a fourth of the spears got to him he still got overwhelmed.

Seeing the pace of the regular enchanters here, Villin also found them all to be quite fast and extremely disciplined. If the Atlantians were to use them correctly they would be able to do great things. So after noticing some of the admiration they sent his way, Villin actually changed his attitude and began giving certain hints and engaging in certain small conversations causing the enchanters to feel closer to him.

Even though he wasn't planning anything now, if he could get these enchanters to join his organization at some point in the future it would be a ginormous win.

Since the enchanters were so much faster at completing their part of the spear compared to Villin, a lot of them soon began working on the designs made by Keith or Hazel and so production soon ramped up.

Even though they only worked for two more days, the pace they worked at was extremely fast and they had an extremely large amount of spears around being transported to several defensive towers.

Villin also enchanted certain metal chains so they could tie down monsters more effectively. Before she left it seemed that Ruby helped the generals and high-ranked soldiers improve their armors and finally Cornelius enchanted a bunch of soldier's weapons focusing quantity over all.

All in all, Atlantis was a lot stronger now compared to a month ago and their chances of success were substantial.

Soon, only a few hours were left until the attack. The beast king's army would generally mainly attack from the north side but some beasts would try to go around and attack from different areas.

Villin had been sent to the eastern front, in the chaotic northern front his talents wouldn't be able to shine so much while he should be able to make a substantial difference here.

He sent the enchanters out to do a final check on all of the equipment they made before the group disbanded and they all went back to put on their full suits of armor and participate in the fight.

After some consideration, Villin decided to go onto the top of one of the tall, enchanted towers that held the benders. During the attack, there would be one bender on the top as usual, within an enchanted, enclosed space so they couldn't easily be killed, and the backup would be two floors lower, taking over if anything were to happen.

As far as Villin heard, half of the tall towers could be destroyed before the dome collapsed so that wasn't too much of a risk, the water would start leaking in much sooner though.

For the last couple of hours, Villin talked with an experienced bender about the enemies they were to face. There were all kinds of sea creatures that would be coming from magical squids to mermaids to gorgons and a whole bunch of weird-ass fish.

While he was talking Villin had also spread his underground magical tunnels all over the eastern front, so he had a better idea of what was going on. Finally, he made a small thirty-centimeter wall a few meters to the inside of the dome, this way in the beginning when only a little bit of water leaked, beasts wouldn't be able to instantly attack the ground troops.

And then finally, the bells rung, it was time for the battle to begin.