The Runic Artist Chapter 45: Chapter 364 - Walking Old Paths

Read chapter 45 of The Runic Artist by Ellake on NovelPedia.

Nate walked hand in hand with Camilla down the paved road of what had once been the Merchant District of Etrua. An Illusion Rune was etched into his Regalia, making the pair invisible to those around them, while a secondary Soul Rune made those same people want to avoid stepping into their paths. Beneath the illusion, his Regalia was shaped into the form of loose white pants and a yellow shirt that left his arms bare. His blond hair had been left free to grow for months and was hanging down to the nape of his neck. Even as resplendent as he acknowledged he looked, he still felt he paled in comparison to his fiancée. Camilla had gone with something a little more chaste since they were out in public, with a highnecked, light green dress that mirrored his own attire by leaving her blue arms bare. Her dark blue hair was tied up in a complicated bun with sea shells holding it in place that contrasted with her pale blue skin. He thought she looked like a vision. Pausing outside a particular store, he nodded towards it. “This was our first shop, back before Kiri and I made the jump to Lesser Divine.” “Should we go inside?” she asked. Nate shook his head as he roamed his senses through the building. He felt Camilla doing the same, mapping it using the moisture in the air. For him, space simply parted before his eyes, letting him see his old handiwork. It had been good for his capabilities back then, though with his improvements he could see efficiency flaws and over-engineering in some of the runes that the new residents were making use of. His wards had been concerned with people spying on him. The new residents apparently had a different concern. Not that Nate cared about a little smuggling, so long as it was just contraband. That sounded like a job for the guards. Maybe he’d leave an anonymous tip for them. They started walking again, the crowd parting around them without even noticing they were doing so. Camilla leaned into him as they talked. “So, they’re smuggling in some sort of narcotics? What was it you were smuggling in when it was your store?” she teased. “Oh, everything,” Nate replied, playing along. “Weapons, foreign operatives. I thought I told you the story of how we toppled a regicide that was trying to set himself up as the new King.” “Mmm, yes. I do seem to recall that. Something about sacrificing a Legendary robe absolutely laden with your lovely, little runes to kill the man as he was ascending to Divine. Kiri may have mentioned it in passing. I particularly liked the part where she carried you out in your underwear afterwards. But she’s not the best of storytellers. I might need a visual aid. Say something at least three metres tall and a metre and a half wide?” Camilla waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively and Nate tried not to smile. “Don’t you have enough paintings of me barely clothed in your villa already? Your servants are going to start getting ideas that you might have an unhealthy interest in me.” “My love, I could never have enough of your paintings. Clothed or otherwise. As for the servants…if they don’t know that my interest is unhealthy by now, well, then they’re not suited for spy work at all.” “They can’t all be spies,” countered Nate as they continued to stroll through Etrua with Nate leading Camilla along. “Oh my sweet, hopelessly-naive artist. If they’re not all spies then my competition within the Eternal River Sect has truly lost their touch. You know we don’t deal in violence. Politics for many of them is the next best thing and a good leader always knows what their competition is doing.” “Or who, in this case.” “Precisely. I knew you’d understand. For example, would you like to know who Lord River has been bedding whenever he can get away secretly?” asked Camilla sweetly. “Heavens no,” replied Nate instantly. The last thing he cared about was the sexual proclivities and activities of basically anyone else. “Even if they’re part of the faction that opposes our alliance with the Risen Sun Se