After he returned home from the mountain range, leaving Dimon to heal, for now, Arthur was greeted with an unwelcome guest.
"Hello," Julia stood up from the couch and slightly bowed her head. Arthur didn't answer and merely looked at his mother, who was sitting on the couch as well.
"Greet the young lady, you brat!" His mother scowled at him, making Arthur not able to do anything but greet Julia back. His mother was always a sucker for etiquette and how society saw them, much to Arthur's disliking.
"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked as he sat on their couch as well, his hand resting on his left temple. He was exhausted from two days of hunting and only wished to rest for a bit before the academy. However, he was met with this unpleasant woman.
"I have something for you. Congratulations." Julia took out a runic bracelet from her bag, offering it to Arthur. The latter simply looked at it for a second before taking it.
"Thank you…"
"What's that?" His mother asked, snapping her head to see what Arthur held. Unlike the understanding mother Arthur hoped for, who would simply ignore the things he didn't wish to share, his mother was quite nosy. His father must've been after her looks for sure.
"It's nothing," Arthur tried to pocket the bracelet, but his mother glared at him in a way that said she would stab him if he didn't take it out.
Arthur then glared at Julia for making a mess out of this. He wanted to keep his affair a secret since his mother would only worry, but this woman had to barge into his house and reveal them.
As Julia realized her mistake, she started stuttering as she tried to salvage the situation. In the end, Arthur sighed and explained the whole thing to his mother. Even though he wanted to keep it a secret, there wasn't a need for it to be since it wasn't dangerous.
"I've registered in the Runes Association,"
"The what?"
His mother, being the busy single-mother she was, had no time for news or how the world worked. She knew about everything awakeners-related from his father, but things like runes were taken for granted these days. She didn't understand why an association was needed for that.
"Allow me to explain," Julia regained her wits and started giving a professional introduction to her line of work. His mother sat there silently as she listened. In the end, Julia had to restore to an ancient tactic: praise someone in front of his mother.
"Your son, he's a genius in this field! I've seen his test results, they're extraordinary. Only someone with the talent and dedication of several years could achieve his level."
'Dedication my ass, you think my mother doesn't know I only worked in cleared dungeons until now?' Arthur facepalmed inwardly. However, his mother started laughing and bragging how her son has holed himself up all those years to study. She then began to praise Julia and her willingness to come here to report his result, even inviting her over dinner.
In the end, Julia refused and stood up to leave. That was a good decision since she couldn't say anything more with his mother around.
"Can you guide to the station? I'm kind of unfamiliar with these parts." Julia asked him.
"Use your phone," Arthur declined since it was a lie.
"Go and guide her!" His mother yelled at him and Arthur had no choice but to grumbly leave his house. Julia simply walked by his side, a foot shorter than him, with her professional business suit.
"You know I can report you to the association for the privacy breach, right?"
"I know,"
"And? What was so important that is worth this risk?"
"How about we find a place to sit down and talk?"
Arthur looked at her in a way that said she had no right to suggest such a thing. Julia simply scratched her cheek and avoided his eyes as a guilty person would do. In the end, they sat in a nearby playground.
"Is there no other place?"
"Just spit it out."
"How about you show some respect?" Julia frowned and said. She was used to being showered with praise and respect for her accomplishments.
"I don't care if you're a genius or whatever, respect is earned." Arthur glared back, and a staring contest ensued. In the end, Julia sighed.
"I'm sorry, it was the only thing I can do." Julia apologized, sounding sincere.
"I doubt that," Arthur snorted.
"It's true!"
"Sure."
"That guy's father is a guild-master, I didn't want to provoke him."
"That's all?" Arthur asked, staring at her. Being stared at by his eyes, Julia felt like he was peering into her soul.
"He promised me that he'd take care of the resources I needed." Julia looked at the ground in guilt, avoiding looking at Arthur. "I needed them for my research, so I didn't want to lose them."
"By failing me? That says a lot about your character."
"I swear, I would've called you later to redo the exam. It was only for the sake of appearances."
"Okay, now what? Why are you trying to explain yourself to me? What do you want?" Arthur decided to forget about his grievances for now and listen to what she wanted.
"I want you to work under me. I'll take you in as a disciple and will teach you everything you need for the Runes Apprentice Cup."
"In return?"
"No in return, just work as my assistant."
"Okay, enough with the lies. I'm going." Arthur stood up from his seat to go away. It was a lie, he didn't even need to think about it. However, Julia grabbed his arm before he managed to walk away.
"Runes Apprentice Cup is merely the beginning; the Runes Cup is the real stage. I want you to be my assistant in that competition." She looked at his eyes urgently, but Arthur remained disinterested.
"In the end, the only reason you apologized is that you wanted something. There's only selfishness in you, it's sad. Good luck, Ms. Genius." Arthur shook her hand away like one would do to a bug before starting to walk away.
"You need a recommendation! I can give you!"
"Already have one, bye." Arthur kept walking away, leaving only the youngest genius alone. After a few steps, he stopped. She looked at his back expectantly, thinking he might have changed his mind.
"The Runes Cup, huh?" He turned around and looked at her. The setting sun reflected ever so brightly in his eyes. "Let's meet there." He said with a grin before leaving, leaving her to understanding the meaning of his words.
"Meet there? Does that mean…" Julia wished he meant as her assistant, but that was far from it. His grin said it all, he meant he would compete against her.
***
The next day, Arthur came into the clubroom wearing his runic bracelet. The bracelet could connect to the internet and provide him with a collection of artificial runes from the association that he could purchase. However, their prices were more than Arthur could currently handle, so he left his plans to evolve his runes for later.
He emptied the box on the ground, revealing six runic cords that the clubmates looked at with amazement. After examining them, they were far more efficient than what the others made. In the end, they used his cords for the main body parts like limbs and movements.
"How did you do it?" Ellen asked him while working to attach the cords to the frame. Even after a couple of days, each one of the other club members only came out with two successful runic cords. However, the 'newbie' suddenly came to them with six perfect cords.
"I had you as a great teacher," Arthur smiled and avoided answering. Ellen went mute and didn't say anything, Arthur could feel her being slightly embarrassed.
The group worked until the end of the day on attaching the cords to the frame, making sure they were properly connected. It took several trials for them to make it walk. They had to invite a biology student to explain the proper for the golem's muscles to work.
Arthur wanted to use his Force rune to achieve walking or gliding across the ground, but he couldn't so he had to work with the others. They listened to the instructions of the biology student and were able to make the golem walk, albeit clumsily.
This technique was not used in mechas, as it was too outdated and simple. There was always the rigidity that couldn't be solved. In the advanced mecha research, they used other runes like Telekinesis, Flight, or simply a Runes Circuit that achieved walking.
Arthur returned home to find a package has arrived from Mr. Tate. What he had ordered from the man was already here it seems and Arthur took the box upstairs. He opened it to find six armors placed neatly inside, all of them being reinforced leather.
He inscribed all of them with protection runes and decided to have Joe sell them the next day.