Four days had passed with absolutely nothing of note happening. They chatted during the day and rested at night. Trillia was surprised to learn that Frederick's secondary class was a [Mage]. She thought someone who wore heavy armor and wielded such a large weapon would be a warrior.

Frederick claims it's to ensure he has coverage, he's never been very good with a bow, and if an enemy is far away, his sword doesn't do him much good. That made sense.

Layla's primary class was a pre-evolution to [Cleric]. Her secondary class was [Scholar]. That was one that interested Trillia since Runic Scholar was the combat variant. Scholar itself apparently dealt a lot in magic theory, runes, and other casting styles for magic. Frederick and Layla summed it up for her that a Mage was a warhammer to the Scholar's rapier.

Alfred was rather forthcoming with his class information. Trillia expected him to be more secretive about it. His secondary class was a variant of [Duelist]. A class he suggested everyone pick up at some point in their life. Since it excelled in one-on-one combat and gave you a lot of tools for facing a single enemy. In his opinion, it was a smart way to handle dungeon bosses or enemy leaders.

On the fifth morning, a patrol leaving Rift City ran into them. Six heavily armed minotaur with four orc scouts. Amelia took point since the leader of the group seemed like a minotaur.

"May the labyrinth shelter you, brother!" Amelia raised a hand in a salute that Trillia had seen used a few times over the years.

"And you, sister!" The minotaur responded with the same salute. Trillia felt her mana dip a little as she was scanned multiple times. She supposed that manners went out the window for a patrol party that was keeping the city safe. "Has there been any trouble on the road?"

Amelia shook her head and motioned to the cart. "We've just left Red River City with Sir Alfred. He is a renowned armourer in the human lands and is acting as the orc military's armourer under advisement to Chieftain Tormash. This is a shipment of armor and goods to the rift city so that they know what's available in Red River if they wish to put in an order or upgrade."

The minotaurs looked around and nodded a bit. "Would Sir Alfred allow us to see his wares?"

Amelia looked to Trillia, who was translating everything into human. Alfred nodded, standing up and pulling back some of the heavy tarps covering the armor. Trillia was rather excited to see some of it as well since she hadn't seen the goods yet.

"Come here, boy. Let's get a set of Minotaur full-plate out for our friends here. The lad asking looks to be a little taller than the Princess." Fred and Alfred rummaged about, and between the two of them, with some heavy grunting, began pulling out a large plate of polished metal. Alfred looked over at Trillia. "Any chance you could ask your extra brawny friends to help? I'm an old man, after all."

Trillia grinned and turned to a couple of the orc scouts. "The armor is quite heavy. Can a couple of you help pull it from the back of the cart?"

Two orcs strode forward and, with some back-and-forth translating with Trillia, pulled the armor out. Even the orcs seemed impressed by the heft of it. The leader of the group lifted it in his hands and glanced over at Amelia. "How does a human even create something this size? This is as heavy as Guardian Stone Plate!"

The armor itself was a well-polished silver color. No frills or engravings. Dark leather straps that Trillia recognized as the wolf fur from the dungeon dangled here and there. A dozen other ways to strap various bits and bobs in place.

Amelia spread her hands with a smile. "As I said, brother. Sir Alfred is a renowned armourer who is well respected by the orc leaders. Would you like to try it on and take a hit?"

"I wouldn't wish to damage such fine craftsmanship over my disbelief. I trust your judgment."

Alfred began waving his hands as Trillia translated. "Nonsense! You have two perfectly capable armourers right here. Tell the big lug to put it on. Frederick! Grab my warhammer!" Frederick's grin grew ear to ear, and he ran to the back of the wagon, pulling out a hammer that was as tall as he was, with a head that was the size of Trillia's own head. Despite their struggles with the armor, Frederick and Alfred seemed to have no issues hefting the giant hammer.

As Trillia translated, the minotaur looked at Amelia with more hesitance in his eyes. Amelia offered her sweetest smile. "Don't worry, brother. If you are scared of an injury while in the field. We also have a healer with us. Trillia and I can also heal to some extent."

The other minotaurs started poking and prodding their leader about being scared of a little human. The minotaur huffed and, with some help, began to don the armor. It took a solid fifteen minutes to strap him in fully. Alfred, with Trillia's help, went over everything in exact detail. Once the armor was fully donned, the minotaur twisted and turned. "Doesn't feel as constricting as Guardian Stone Plate. Despite how heavy it feels in my hands, it's not so bad once I'm wearing it. Is this some sort of enchantment?"

Amelia waited for the translations back and forth before answering. "Sir Alfred says that it is not enchanted and that this is only high quality. According to him, it's not even what he calls 'Masterwork', which is lighter and more durable."

The minotaur's face screwed up in confusion at that. Trillia smirked and motioned to Alfred. "Ready to take the hit? Sir Alfred would like to know if he should hold back."

The minotaur was more and more skeptical. "A level hundred-something human is asking if he needs to hold back? You keep interesting company, Princess Amelia. Let me use some bracing skills." After a few seconds, the minotaur's body sunk a little further into the dirt, and his eyes held the faint glow of mana. With a nod, he was ready.

Alfred lifted the hammer in one hand, and Trillia felt a thrum of mana wash over the area. Alfred's hands began to glow a warm orange that slowly seeped into the hammer. With a quick spin, the hammerhead landed squarely on the minotaur's chest. A painfully long ringing sound was produced from metal on metal, and the minotaur was thrown backwards off his feet. Everyone except Frederick stopped to stare at the human. Frederick was chuckling. "Good thing you held back, Pa. I don't think they were expecting that."

Trillia translated as the other minotaurs helped their friend up. The armor itself held a few scuff marks and was dented slightly. The minotaur was grinning. "Please tell Master Alfred that I will certainly be visiting his shop to get a suit of armor made. I barely felt a thing from the blow itself! I think my heavy ass did more damage to me!"

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As Trillia translated, Alfred let out a chuckle and nodded. "Please tell our friend that I would be happy to make him a suit of armor. I can also help guide him to the right set of enchantments for his fighting style. Fred, come over here, lad. Fix that suit of armor up. It will show people what you're capable of."

Fred's grin was replaced by a serious face. The lad stood and walked over to the minotaur, still wearing the plate armor.

"By temperance of might and metal. Reshape what was broken. [Mend Armor]!"

Trillia felt a surge of mana flow out of Frederick and watched in awe with the others as the dent and scuffs in the armor slowly mended themselves. Frederick looked rather drained from the ability.

The minotaur looked down and ran his fingers over it. "Damn...the boy was right. We really do need to expand how we view the class system." Trillia had a pretty good idea who that 'boy' was. A lot of older warriors were still calling Tormash a boy because of the age gap.

"I'm honored to have been able to test the armor. Sorry to have kept you all from your journey for so long. This has certainly been an eye-opening experience for me." The minotaur removed the armor with some help, bowed deeply to Alfred, and thanked them again for the demonstration. As the patrol left them, Alfred blew out a heavy sigh.

"That was a damn scary experience." Trillia gave him a puzzled look. "You have to understand, lass. Your friend is literally royalty. You are basically royalty. I'm just some shmuck who swings a hammer. If that had gone wrong, I wouldn't have been able to stop that group from crushing me."

As Trillia translated, Amelia let out a loud laugh. Putting a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "I know that our people are still seen as wild savages by many humans. But we are not. If that had gone wrong, or if you had actually hurt him. It would have only earned you more respect from our people. Our people are not savages, Sir Alfred. We just respect strength and understand that a weak leader can only lead their people to weakness. Because that is all weak people know."

Alfred stared at Amelia for a few seconds as Trillia translated. A moment later, he shook his head. "You found yourself a good group, Fred. This one is going to be a damn fine leader one day. I hope I'm alive to see it. Sorry that I still have some of my old prejudices. I hope you don't think less of Marg or my boy."

Trillia translated with a smile. "We don't think less of them or of you. All of us have a worldview that is limited to the world we see. Amelia and I want to travel the world so that we can better interact with it. So that we can better lead our people into the future. You may not think highly of yourself, but the same royalty that you mention trusts you with our lives, our well-being and trusts you with the lives of the military that keeps us safe. You should hold a higher opinion of yourself, Sir Alfred. We do."

Amelia and Frederick worked together to get the armor back in the wagon. Trillia helped them cover it up with Layla's help. Fred took his father's hammer and stowed it away. Alfred stared down at his hands the whole time, mumbling to himself.

Layla walked up behind him and patted his arm. "It's ok. To feel better about yourself. I underestimated myself my whole life until Lady Ora'sys came to me. The only way to make Alirast safer is together." She didn't wait for Trillia to finish the translation before offering a wide smile and climbing back up into the wagon.

Alfred glanced at Trillia with teary eyes. "You've got good people, lass. A damn rare thing, that." Trillia didn't translate, only offered him a smile. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath before climbing back onto the wagon. "To the city!"

-=- A Couple Days Later -=-

"By all that is radiant." Alfred stared up at the wall as Amelia spoke to the gate guards. The stone wall was, of course, a single solid piece of stone that had tens of thousands of runes etched into it, acting as a lattice of enchantments. The wall itself seemed like granite to Trillia's rather untrained eyes. It ran from the ground up a solid hundred feet into the air.

Ballista were trained on the wagon from on high, and dozens of minotaur in stone armor walked the ramparts. Frederick sat in the wagon next to his father, also staring up at the wall. "Not even with a hundred catapults..."

Alfred gave a vague nod. "To think...a city like this already fell. What horrors exist in this world."

Trillia nudged him slightly. "In their defense. The attack came from within during a cataclysm. Wasn't a fair fight. Besides, you've traveled the world. You've had to have seen some of those horrors."

Alfred glanced at her with a smirk before turning back to the wall. "I've seen horrors of the sea. But they are in the ocean...everyone knows that the ocean houses horrors. I guess, I guess it's just humbling to see this."

Trillia sniffed the air as the smell of freshly baked bread and honey filled her nose, and a familiar voice rang in her ears.

"If you think this is impressive. Visit Kadessa someday. The walls are so heavily enchanted they hold a faint golden glow. Beautiful sight to behold, especially during the sunset. That's how it got the name, the Golden City, you know." Trillia turned to see Brutus walking up the road behind them.

The man still seemed so painfully normal. Trillia was starting to question if it was a skill taking effect on her mind. Making him blend in with the crowd and not stand out so much. "Uncle Brutus! I didn't know you were here."

The man smiled and walked up to her, giving her and Ialu a hug and also giving the wolf some much-needed head scritches. The guards at the gate snapped to attention, seeing him there. "Is this the armourer that Tormash let move in?" Trillia nodded and glanced at Alfred, who had gone significantly paler.

"You're...you're the duelist of the sun...." Alfred whispered the words with trembling hands. Brutus glanced at the man.

"Oh! You're also a Duelist! You've even evolved it into [Champion]! Well done!" Brutus walked up to the man, grabbing and shaking his hand. "It's a hard path to follow. So many battles are sprawling, chaotic shitshows. Not many people appreciate the beauty or efficiency of one-on-one combat skills."

Alfred shook the man's hand, still in a daze. "Forgive me, my lord. I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to meet you again. My wife and I spent time in Runaan. I made my living as a gladiator, and she as a dancer. You're still talked about. By Infernus, you were my inspiration for going into the [Duelist] class line!"

Brutus threw his head back with a laugh. "I haven't been to Runaan in decades! Maybe more! Tell me. The Colosseum hasn't resorted to using slaves again, have they?" Despite the smile on his face, there was an edge to the question that set Trillia's nerves on end.

"No, my lord. You and Queen Alliyah liberated us. To the best of my knowledge, the Colosseum still stands, but slavery is outlawed."

Brutus' murderous aura vanished in an instant. "Good, that's good. I'm sorry that it took us so long to liberate you. I hope you've led a good life since then."

Alfred immediately nodded. "I have, my lord. This is my son, Frederick. Marg is back at home in Red River City. She and I work as armourers now under Chieftain Tormash."

Brutus motioned to the wagon. Once Alfred nodded, he walked back and rummaged about. Pulling a smaller-sized full plate out. "Huh...this is steel. I didn't think anyone had perfected it to the point of armor except the dwarves. Still light and flexible, though."

Frederick blurted out the question in shock. "You've met the dwarves?!"

Brutus nodded absent-mindedly as he looked over the metal, his fingers flexed, and he bent it out of shape, pulling out a dagger and poking and carving at it. "With a few hours of enchanting, this would be a suit of armor I'd wear into battle. It's good to see you've done so well for yourself, lad. Tormash is in good hands if this is the low-quality stuff you're handing out for free to drum up business."

Trillia was pretty sure that Alfred was ready to swoon. She offered a smile as Brutus yammered on about different heating and smithing techniques. It was at this point that Alfred was significantly less shy and star-struck and in his element. Frederick had pulled out a notepad and began to take notes. The guards had already waved them in, but seeing that there was no one else waiting behind them, no one was really brave enough to demand Brutus move it along.

Trillia breathed out a sigh of relief. More and more things were going right, which scared her a little.