Transmutation 4

The carriage was being pulled by two horses and and room enough for someone to sleep in the back. Charlotte and Julie were talking in the back while Brutus drove the carriage on the road towards the city.

"So Julie, how did you get to know Brutus?"

"Well we both have similar classes so we were just together a lot."

"So Brutus has a seamstress class? I thought he handled a sword well enough to be a swordsman."

"Hey, I don't have any -tress class."

"Wait, you didn't tell her what your class was? And when have you been fighting with your sword?"

"Brutus has not told me his class. Brutus, tell me what your class is."

"Tell me when you have been using your sword."

Charlotte and Julie were both looking at Brutus who was driving the carriage as they asked him these questions.

"Lady Charlotte, do you want me to say when I have been using my sword?"

"Yes, and you will also tell me your class."

"Fine. Julie, I have been fighting monsters for lady Charlotte to collect the parts from them, and lady Charlotte, my class is the transmutation artist."

"Transmutation artist? Never heard of it."

"Oh it's really cool it lets you-"

"It lets me see a perfect image of something in my mind so I can make art from it. If I see something or touch it, I can remember all the details perfectly."

"So that is how you make the figures so well?"

"Precisely."

"If your memory is so good... what was the first thing I ever said to you?"

"hmm... you told me to carry you."

"That is good memory."

"But that does not explain why you two were together in the undead plains."

"Well we were with a larger group but it got attacked by bandits, so me and Brutus just ran until we got out of the forest."

"So you two were in a party together?"

"You probably don't want to hear about our time in the party do you Charlotte?"

Brutus thought that Julie was starting to get a little too talkative and wanted to stop her before she said something about coming from another world. Even Brutus who had done this kind of thing multiple times did not go around telling people where he was from originally.

"No, I want to hear, please tell."

Charlotte told Julie she wanted to hear and and Julie told Charlotte all about it. She told her about being summoned by a rouge mage and being helped by the royal family for a few days before being sent away, then about how they settled in a camp in the big forest and how bandits came to attack them. The only things she left out was the abilities and classes of the people in the group and the guns. When the story finished, it was night.

"I will pull over to the side here and prepare something to eat."

"Julie, help me prepare the sheets for us to sleep on."

"For us?"

"Yes the both of us, we ladies can't be sleeping on the ground can we?"

"I suppose not."

Julie happily smiled as she unfolded a thick sheet to be placed in the carriage floor after the seats were folded down. They then got out and waited for Brutus to finish preparing the meat at a fire.

"Julie, you are not Brutus' wife right?"

"Pf!"

Julie spit out the meat she was chewing and looked at Charlotte and then Brutus, but then back to Charlotte.

"No no no no no, what even makes you ask that?"

Julie waves her hands in front of her and her face turns red. Brutus is just looking at Charlotte wondering if he gave off that impression. He could not think of any time they did something romantic because they truly were not involved.

"I just thought it was funny how having only known you from work he decided to take you with him to safety and not any of the fighters in your group. Also, how when Brutus heard we were going to the city he immediately thought of bringing you."

"I just know that Julie wanted to go to the city for a while sense our group was split up, so when the opportunity presented it's self I took it."

"So you agree that Julie is special to you?"

Charlotte was eating her strips of meat and looking to the side at Brutus who had stopped eating the meat. Brutus could not say yes, because of the implications and the imposed awkwardness it would bring. He could not say no because it would hurt her feelings and make his reputation with both Charlotte and Julie drop, plus he was not a cold hearted person to tell someone they did not matter to him.

"Julie is an important friend that I need to protect."

"Well you can do all the protecting you want from the outside of the carriage tonight. Julie will be sleeping with me inside and I trust that you won't try anything funny while we sleep."

Charlotte smiled as she finished her food and crawled into the carriage that was outfitted into a bed.

"Well goodnight Brutus."

Julie finished her past piece of meat and moved into the carriage with Charlotte. Charlotte grabbed Julie's delicate hands and looked over at Brutus who was still eating strips of meat.

"We ladies need to keep ourselves pure while traveling with such an ogre."

Brutus saw it. Julie felt it but did not understand the implications. All the servants knew too, but nobody told the maids or the workers including Julie. Charlotte had just touched Julie and tried to play it off as something friendly. Brutus never told Julie about what happened at night after Charlotte touched him, but he could only hope for the best.

"Whatever happens Julie, I will protect you with everything I have."

Brutus finished preparing for the night and slept in the drivers seat that was made flat. It did not allow him any room to move around, and he did not have a soft sheet to lay on like Charlotte and Julie, but at least he was sure he would not have any nightmares that night.

In Julie's dream, she was walking with Brutus in a huge field, golden wheat as far as the eye could see. She and Brutus were happily moving forward towards nowhere in particular when some monkeys came hoping towards them in the wheat. The black monkeys grab onto Julie's arms and legs and held her in place as Brutus turned around and was grabbed too. Brutus struggled in the dream as more monkeys came up to him and tore off his clothes and ate his flesh from the bones. Julie was screaming and unable to break out of the monkey's grip, and Brutus was being eaten alive by the monkeys. Most of the skin on Brutus' upper body was gone as he asked Julie for help as she could only watch and cry at her friend being killed. The monkeys let go of them both and ran away. Now it was just a 1/5th eaten Brutus and Julie in the field, Brutus laying in the wheat unable to move and Julie over top of him. Julie was suddenly pushed down heavily onto Brutus as she saw the monkeys come back. Julie could not get up from on top of Brutus as the remainder of his flesh bled and squished under her. Finally she woke up.

It was morning the next day as she woke up with cold sweats and saw Brutus over top of her and shaking her shoulders.

"Julie you're awake!"

"Brutus..."

Julie did not understand quite what had happened. Brutus was dead in front of her one second and alive the next. Not only that but neither of them had injuries. Julie suddenly grabbed hold of Brutus and held him closer.

"I was so scared-"

"It's alright."

"monsters surrounded us-"

"Everything's fine."

"and they ate you alive"

"That's..."

"and I couldn't do anything!"

Brutus knew this kind of thing happened in the dreams Charlotte gave him, but did not think it would be so serious for Julie too. It was another level of scary for Charlotte to do this to someone just because they were his friend.

"Charlotte!"

Brutus pried Julie off of him and exited the carriage and turned to Charlotte who was sitting on the chest she had used for a chair the night before.

"What is it Brutus?"

Charlotte looked at him as if she did not know what was going on.

"Why did you do that to Julie? She is not a servant at the house, and you have to right to do that kind of thing to her!"

"Who are you to tell me what I have the right to do?"

"Did she make that dream..."

Julie had popped her head out from the curtains of the carriage and was looking at Charlotte defend herself from Brutus' questions.

"I was beginning to think it was not working because you never said anything."

"She does this to you..."

"Charlotte, I put up with a lot from you, but I will not allow anything to happen to Julie."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Brutus lowered his right hand and pulled the gun from his hip and shot at Charlotte with it. Charlotte had the body of a 12 year old girl, so a bullet to anywhere on her body was going to make a lot of damage. Charlotte saw Brutus was reaching for something and was able to utter one word.

"Curse"

The bullet impacted Charlotte's forehead and she was blown back several feet. It was instant death. That marked the end to their 3 week period as employees of the Pender family.

"Ah!"

Julie screamed when she was Charlotte's head explode and fly back. Julie herself went further into the carriage and into the corner. She had the nightmare all right, but it was just a dream. What was happening right now was real.

"You killed her!"

"She was evil and deserved what she got."

"No, she was still a person!"

"You saw those dreams she gave you. Would a normal person do that to someone?"

"She might have been extreme, but if we said something to her, she could have changed."

"There is no way for that to happen now. We need to get out of here. Come out so I can fold everything back up."

"No this is fine, just take the carriage to the city as fast as possible."

"I just have to clean up this and then we will go."

Brutus put the chest back inside the carriage and used transmutation to make a stronger shovel than the one hanging on the side of the carriage and dug a grave for Charlotte. Brutus then then make a metal sheet and placed it over Charlotte and filled the dirt back up on top of that. The campsite was clear of any evidence that they were there and the grave was a few feet off the road.

Brutus got into the drivers seat and went down the road. 125 bullets remained but he could get more. All that mattered was his and Julie's safety.

"What are we going to do now?"

"We are going to the city to look for survivors from our class and then we will go into the forest to search the camp."

"No, what are we going to do about having killed that noble girl?"

"We just have to not tell anyone about where we came from."

"and it's been over 20 days from when those bandits attacked."

"I have a theory about those bandits Julie."

"What?"

"I think those bandits were after our guns after Logan's group showed them off in the city."

"If we have the guns with us will they target us too?"

"If they used the guns until now, they should have ran out of bullets by now. I only made a few bullets for the people that would not be in combat."

"So they have the guns, but aren't able to use them."

"I don't know that for sure, but it is what I think."

Julie slept for a few hours and when she woke up she did not speak to Brutus. It was not night on the second day of the 6 day trip.

"Brutus, your face looks a little strange."

Brutus thought Julie was disgusted at him for being able to kill a 12 year old girl, but unknown to him his face really did change over the course of the day. They did not have a mirror though, so it was impossible to check. The next day, something was definitely wrong.

"Brutus, you need to look at your face."

"Why, what is wrong with it?"

"Just make a mirror and look."

Brutus used a transmutation circle to make a sheet of glass and then coat one side of it with polished silver. The result was a simple square mirror, but the reflection was something he had never seen before. Brutus touched his face and could not believe it.

"Is this really me..."

"I think Charlotte said curse just before you..."

"Damn."

Brutus remembered. Charlotte had said curse just before he killed her. Brutus had never had this happen before, where his hole face became disfigured.

"Maybe you should make a mask."

Julie's suggestion was what Brutus would have to do. Brutus gathered some stones and made a transmutation circle for a simple bronze mask. As he finished making the mask something came up.

** Transmutation Artist Class Level Up, Current Rank: 4**

This new rank gave him a new ability... and it was even better than duplication. Imagination Transmutation, being able to transmute without a transmutation circle. No more drawling for Brutus.

"Hang on Julie, I just got another level up. Watch this."

Brutus put the mask he just made onto the ground and reached out his hand. The mask shifted in position and formed a better shape. Brutus then picked it up and put it on his face.

"That is amazing Brutus, you didn't even have to make a circle for that."

"I wonder what else I can make."

Brutus looked around and looked at the ground. He didn't even need to point and a bullet to replace the one he shot at Charlotte was formed from the dirt. The bullet floated in the air for a second and then fell in the crater from the used dirt.

Brutus made a wall around the carriage that night with his imagination transmutation and slept in safety. In the morning he disposed of the wall continued to the city with Julie. With catalog memory Brutus was able to replicate anything he had already made with another form of transmutation, but for other things he had to think about actually shaping it at least once.

On the third day Julie told Brutus off for acting to quickly when killing Charlotte. Brutus was able to make a steel fence around the carriage at night that would be at least twice as strong as the one from when he built the house.

On the forth day, Julie forgave Brutus and asked him to come inside the carriage with her to sleep. Brutus spent the day collecting small amounts of dirt from along the road and making it into thick steel rods. Brutus stored the rods in a pouch like a quiver for an archer which they had for some reason in the chest along with a bow even though none of them could use it, except for Brutus but nobody knew that.

Brutus and Julie made some alterations to the quiver and make it long enough to cover most of his back and could hold 30 of the rods. This would allow him plenty of mass to replace having to find tools.

On the fifth day, nothing eventful happened. Brutus practiced drawing the rods from his back and changing them into things.

On the sixth day, Brutus and Julie arrived at the city. There was a line of carriages outside the gate and guards were checking them. One guard stopped the carriage or wagon and a second one searched it.

"Stop! State purpose for coming to Taurus while we inspect any cargo you might have."

"We come to buy construction materials."

The first guard is looking at Brutus drive the carriage and the second guard is looking under the seats and inside the chest in the back. A few minutes pass and they finish looking and wave for Brutus to pass.

"Alright, go on into the city."

Brutus drove the carriage into the city. Past the gate were many buildings as if space had run out long ago and the buildings had no choice but to be made on the outer edge. Brutus past a few stores and inns and eventually settled on a restaurant for himself and Julie to eat at.

"Brutus you really have to try this."

"I know it's so good."

After being on the road for 5 days Brutus and Julie were happily taking as much food as they could. The slow roasted beef and steamed vegetables were a welcomed change from fire cooked and preserved meat. The beer was weak, but it flowed endlessly as they requested it. After they finished eating and left the restaurant, Brutus and Julie got a double room at a nearby hotel.

It would be about 7 days until anyone got suspicious about Charlotte's whereabouts, and then a few days after that someone might come to check on her. Brutus had the bronze mask, but Julie was going to be recognized if anyone from the manor came to the city. Brutus made the decision to stay in the city for 14 days to account for the travel time between the city and the manor.

"Julie, we have 14 days and then we have to leave. The only question is, what will we do when we have to leave?"

"I think we should head towards the center of the kingdom and settle peacefully in a small town. I can make things from cloth and you can make things with your transmutation."

"I still have things I need to do, at least until I can find a way back to our world."

"And I still want to find the rest of our classmates. Let's start looking today around the north end of the city."

"Sure, let's get something to eat for breakfast first though."

"Ha, right."

Brutus and Julie left the room and got breakfast at the nearby restaurant and then headed for the north side of the city. They took the carriage there to have a better vantage point to look at the sea of people. The road also had a few carriages carrying people, but mostly upper class people. The west side of town had more tall buildings and aimed towards citizens tightly packing in as much as possible, however as they got north the buildings became shorter and more grass was growing on the sides of the road. The shops started to have unique appearances like they were made specifically for that shop.

Brutus stopped the carriage and went into a blacksmith shop and looked around. There were many swords on one side of the shop and armor on the other side. Brutus went around feeling everything as the ability to transmute with the material became his.

"Arg, can I help ye with something?"

The blacksmith at the counter finished dealing with a customer and walked over to Brutus who was touching everything.

"Do you have any blades made from special metals?"

Brutus was interested in finding new metals to make things with, and hopefully be able to make stronger tools.

"Arg, I got just what ye need."

The blacksmith was certainly not a dwarf. He was at least 6'4" and over 200 down of lean muscle. He walked over to the counter and pulled a few swords from the wall behind it.

"I keep these as the pride and showmanship of my smithing ability. Nothing can come close to the level of craftsmanship I have produced with these rare ores."

"Can you explain how rare the ores are for me?"

"Of course I can. This be Ignion, an ore extracted from the center of a volcano. Anything it touches will catch fire, and a dull red glow can be seen in the dark."

"Would It be alright if I felt the blade?"

"Just be careful when you find ye self catching fire."

The blacksmith handed the blade to Brutus and the knowledge of how to make it came to his mind. He removed his finger from the blade as it started to burn the instant he touched it, but the blade would be able to be replicated."

"Very good. What else do you have?"

"Ah, take a look at this. Freezium, taken directly from the summit of the highest mountain in the kingdom and will make your enemies stiff as a rock it will!"

Brutus held out his hand and touched the blade. He had to move his shoulder to remove his fingers from the blade but the knowledge was already gotten.

"Anything else?"

"Quite the hard to satisfy customer aren't you? This is the last rare metal I have made a sword from, it is mithril. Mithril has the special property to diffuse magic it comes into contact with, making it the ideal weapon to fight against a mage with."

Brutus touched the sword and remembered the bandits that attacked the camp less than a month ago. They were hit with spells and nothing happened to them.

"How much for a full suit of armor from mithril?"

"A full suit? I be thinking 50,000 coins at least."

"Alright thanks, I'll come back if I need anything."

Brutus left the blacksmith shop and got back onto the carriage. Julie was waiting for him to see if he got anything from the shop.

"Did you get anything?"

"Did you forget that we have no money?"

"Oh right."

"I did get to acquire some new materials to make things from, observe."

Brutus reaching into the quiver on his back and pulled a steel rod from it. He turned the part with his hand on it into regular steel and then the rest into a ignion blade. Brutus explained the material type and then repeated this with the other materials. After mithril Julie stopped him.

"Do you think that is what those bandits had that attacked the camp?"

"I asked about how much armor from mithril would cost, and get said 50,000 coins at least."

"At least!"

"That means those bandits were no bandits. They had great funds, and if we stay in the city we might find them."

"We should be careful then."

"Once we finish looking around and leave, I doubt the group would have any business in the safety of the kingdom."

"Then let's get going and keep looking."

Brutus and Julie moved from street to street in the north side of town looking for anything that might give them a clue to where their classmates were, but they could not find anything. They went to an inn in the north side that could have adventurers going into it regularly. The first floor was a restaurant looking place with plenty of drinks.

"Two beers!"

"100 coins."

Brutus set the coins on the counter and took the two beers to his table with Julie. Even though they were both underage, the beer was weak so it would not be a large problem for them. They had taken most of the coins they currently had from Charlotte's chest in the carriage, and they would be find until they had to leave the city.

"Hey mister, where did you get that fancy thing on your hip?"

Brutus looked over and saw a big man with a huge red beard looking at him and holding a beer in his left hand while the right hand was at his side. The big man had a sword at his side, but did not have any armor.

"This thing? I bought it from a merchant."

"Oh really? Then what about all those things on yer belt?"

Brutus was worried that this man in front of him knew about the gun, and if he did, then he was from the group that attacked them at the camp.

"These came with it when I bought it."

"Hey Duncan, what's going on here?"

"Look at this Kyle, this kid has the same magic tool those other guys had."

"Oh you don't say. Hey kid, you have a lot of guts for coming back to this city after what your friends did."

"Hey I don't know what you are talking about!"

Julie spoke up as she watched two men walk over to Brutus and question him about the gun.

"Hey, how about you fellas sit down and have some more to drink?"

The bartender came over to prevent a fight and offered the men more to drink. The two big men looked at each other and then at the same time grabbed Brutus' shoulders and threw him over.

"See, they aren't that tough when they don't have the magic tool in their hand."

"Stay down Julie!"

Brutus yelled towards Julie who was getting out of her seat as he drew the gun from his side.

"I don't know what you have against my group, but you better not touch us or else."

"Or else what? We have this whole place surrounded alright."

"Or else this!"

Brutus shot the gun off and hit the man in the shoulder. Brutus had altered the gun to use a much larger bullet, so the single shot to the shoulder sent the unarmored man onto his back.

"It is the same magic tool!"

Some other patrons of the inn yelled out and fled from the inn. As they ran out, some people in full mithril armor started to move in and surrounded Brutus with their swords. As they did, Brutus grabbed Julie and jumped behind the bar.

"Just like your friends from last time, your aren't getting out of here alive!"

Brutus nor Julie knew what Logan's group had done when they were last in the city, so they did not know why the group attacked their camp, but by the way they reacted from just seeing the gun on his hip and how the other patrons reacted when he heard it, they must have done something bad.

Close to 20 people in full mithril armor with mithril swords came into the inn after the remaining patrons left. They surrounded the bar from a few feet away and held their swords and shields ready.

"You are surrounded by the Mithril Knights. Just come out quietly and let us kill you quickly."

"Julie, stay down and don't get up until I say it is fine."

Brutus said to Julie in a quite voice and then focused on his gun. 125 bullets, but now he could make them ignion or freezium. Ignion would probably be the way to go for this situation. As Brutus looked at the gun, he changed it to a full metal jacket type bullet with extreme penetrating power. Brutus then took a steel rod from his quiver and made a second gun and put his special bullets in it. Then he took out another steel rod and made an identical gun, over and over again until he had 6 guns made and loaded. Brutus placed the guns on the bar and prepared to fight.

Then in a fraction of a second, Brutus stood up from behind the bar and started shooting at the mithril knights. 11 of the knights fell and were killed by the bullets. The knights tried to advance on Brutus, but he dropped the two guns he was holding and picked up two more. 10 knights died this time and only 2 remained who stayed in the back.

"Shit! That magic tool is too powerful!"

"Where did he get so many of them!"

"I'm not done yet!"

Brutus picked up the last two guns and killed the remaining 2 mithril knights. Brutus used his transmutation to turn 5 of the guns back into steel rods and some of the mithril armor too which he placed into his quiver. The building that was made from wood was slowly catching fire from where bullets had pierced. Brutus looked outside and could see a few buildings across the road also burning.

"Julie, we have to get out of here!"

"Right!"

Brutus ran over to the back and retrieved Julie who was cowering from the sound of all the bullets. When they exited the inn, mages had already gathered to put out the fires, but it was no use. The ignion was a constant source of heat for the flames that could not be put out with water magic. Crowds of people ran down the street to escape the fire and from the sounds of mini explosions happening in the inn.

"Do you see the carriage?"

Julie asked and Brutus turned around. Sure enough, the spot where they had tied the carriage was now empty.

"We will just have to run."

"Oh Brutus, what are we going to do about our classmates?"

"If they ran into anyone from that mithril knights group, the would already be dead."

Brutus and Julie ran to the north gate of the city along with many other people. The ignion bullets must have gone through several buildings because almost 1/8th of the north side was now on fire. Brutus made a mental note to not use anti-tank ammunition with ignion or freezium.

As they got to the gate, Brutus pushed someone from a horse and pulled Julie up onto it. Brutus was quickly reacting to everything around him, and before Julie knew what was happening, she was riding with Brutus west to the center of the kingdom, behind them a blazing city.