I strode into the bank, looking for damage, alert to danger.

It was after
closing time, but I did own it after all. Contrary to my expectations, I found
everything was in order.

Delmar was still here, working on the paperwork. I might have overdone it
with my bookkeeping requirements. Lacking Excel and printers made
complying with modern audit requirements much more tedious. [Scribe]
helped — it was much faster for someone with the skill to write with the
ridiculous feather pens we had to use than I could really believe possible, but
it could only do so much. I’d had to make some compromises — it wasn’t
like Price Waterhouse was going to be going over the books anytime soon —
but it still took a lot of writing to stay complaint.

Delmar looked up when I entered, but quickly went back to the books.

“Delmar,” I said. “Was Arno in here earlier?”

He looked at me blankly, so I elaborated further. “Big man, melee adventurer

type. I want to say… black hair?”

“Oh,” he said dismissively. “He was here, yes. He tried to get some money
without going through the procedures.”

“Did he… threaten you?” I asked curiously.

“He might have?” Delmar replied, still more focussed on his work. I let the
silence extend. Eventually, he raised his head and looked at me. “What about
it?”

“Arno’s a Level Five — at least,” I said. “I don’t know him all that well.
“You’re Level Three — are you in the habit of shrugging o [Intimidation] from
someone like that?”

A puzzled look spread across Delmar’s face. “No? Maybe he didn’t have
[Intimidation]?”

“A ghter without it? Unlikely.” [Intimidation] was an easy unlock if you were
a little bigger and stronger than someone else. Most people unlocked it
when they were kids, and the ones that became ghters tended to nd it an
irresistible purchase. A bit of a waste, since they rarely had the [Charisma] to
use it…

“Check your logs,” I suggested. He got a blank look on his face for a
moment.

“It says… an [Intimidation] e ect was resisted by [Bureaucracy]… but that’s

not my skill total. Is that yours?” He looked at me incredulously. “Just how
high is your [Charisma]?”

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I raised an eyebrow. I’m not sure if the ability to do that came with higher
[Dexterity] or greater [Charisma] but I was glad to have it. “Did you expect
me to answer that?” I asked.

“No, sorry, I was just surprised.” Delmar ushed at his lapse.

“Have you ever heard of someone using someone else’s [Skill] totals?” I
queried.

“No… but I don’t know much about [Bureaucracy],” he admitted.

“Neither do I…” I mused. “I guess I’ll need to nd answers elsewhere. You’re

going to be locking up soon? I assume nothing came up while I was away.”

“Yes — to both questions,” Delmar nodded. “It was all quiet, except for
Arno. There’s some applications for you to look over tomorrow.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then.”

* * *

Though it was too late for business, the Guild was open until late.
Adventurers weren’t much for business hours, and the place also served as a
bar. While the receptionist counter was closed, the bar sta could still get
word to the management if you needed it.

While I waited to see if Nadine was available, I cast my eye over the patrons.
Sure enough, Arno was there, drinking and laughing it up with his party and a
few others.

“Arno!” I said with false familiarity and friendliness. He looked over when I
called. At the sight of me, a look of guilt ashed across his face, but he hid it
well, and managed a fairly convincing portrayal of a guy who’s just been
approached by a hot girl. Unfortunately, he overshot a bit.

“Hey! You looking to party, girl?”

Now I didn’t really know Arno well. But I was fairly sure he knew a bit about
me, and my position in town. But… I was still a guild member, still one of
them. So addressing me like a common whore wasn’t entirely beyond the
pale. It was dumb enough though, that a few of his companions glanced at
him with concerned expressions. More entertaining was his expression. He
knew he’d fucked up as soon as the words had left his mouth.

I took a moment to let that sink in for him. Just a moment, I didn’t want to
give him enough time to double down.

“I just heard that you tried to shakedown my clerk for gold,” I said, loudly
enough for the next table over to hear over the din. The concerned looks
became alarmed and one of the men next to Arno slowly started edging
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away from him. The next table suddenly became very interested in what I
was saying and fell silent. This attracted the attention of further tables, who
quieted down to try and gure out what was going on. A bubble of silence
spread out from where I was. I lled it.

“Tried, and failed, at [Intimidation]” I said, with a bit of a smirk. “Against my

Level Three Clerk.”

There was a beat, and then half the room started roaring with laughter. The
tension that had been building was released, with only one embarrassed
person as a casualty. Arno didn’t much like being laughed at, I could tell.
While I could have taken this to the Guard, the fact was that a failed
[Intimidation] wasn’t really a crime in the same way a failed assault was.

Though, now that I came to think of it, I doubt the Guard would bother
arresting someone for losing a ght they started. Maybe sometimes.
Regardless, while I was relying on the rule of law to protect my business, this
seemed like a better option. I let the laughter die down before I spoke again,
enjoying the embarrassment on Arno’s face.

“Really though, how did you expect it to end up?” I asked. “Even if it had
worked — do you think Delmar wouldn’t have gone to the Guard? That he
wouldn’t have remembered your face?”

If Arno had a plan for those contingencies, he wasn’t sharing it, preferring to
make himself as small and unobtrusive as possible. I kept going.

“But the dumbest part is this,” I said, still talking loudly enough for the room
to hear me. “Half the people in this room are investors in that bank. That
means you were stealing from them, just as much as you were trying to steal
from me.”

The room got quiet again, as quite a few people in the room suddenly
realised that they could have been a ected by this. My point made, I
dropped my voice, just addressing Arno.

“That’s right, you just tried to steal from half the people in this room,” I
repeated. “The richer, more successful half. I won’t tell you who, I’ll let that
be a surprise for you — the next time you’re in a dark alley.”

There was no noti cation, since there wasn’t anything I actually wanted from
Arno, but from his face I was fairly sure my [Intimidation] had been
successful. I gave him a smile.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your drinking, I see that the Deputy is ready for me
now,” I said, and left him to his life.

“What was that about?” Nadine asked as I approached.

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“Just business matters,” I said. “I realise you’re o the clock, but can I ask
you a few questions?”

“I suppose,” she said. “We can talk in my o ce. It’s quieter.”

“Thanks,” I said, following her in.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Nadine settled in behind her desk,
leaving me to sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs at the front.

“Well, I had a question about [Bureaucracy],” I explained, “and the Guild is

just about the only organisation in Talnier that might have a need for it.”

“True enough,” she replied. “The King’s Guard is big enough, and spread out
enough to need it, but they prefer to keep order with force of personality.”

“I just had my employee win a Social Contest with my [Bureaucracy] skill

while I was out of town. Is that a normal thing for that skill?”

“Of course, that’s what the skill is for. If someone with [Bureaucracy] skill
sets up an organisation, anyone in the organisation with [Bureaucracy] can
use the Founder’s skill total as a defence to avoid violating the organisation’s
rules.” She paused, frowning in thought. “How do you have the skill without
knowing this?” she asked.

“The help screens aren’t very… helpful,” I said.

“Yes, but… I would have assumed to get the skill, you would have been part
of an organisation that had it? Was that not the case?”

“It’s available as a skill in the [Talnier O cial] profession,” I said, de ecting

her question. She narrowed her eyes at me, and then stared at nothing for a
moment.

“This… when did this become available?”

I shrugged. “Recently?”

She frowned. “This implies a certain degree of… independence from the
Kingdom.”

This could get messy. The Guild report directly to the King…

I kept my worries o my face and simply shrugged again. “We do have a

degree of independence. It’s not like the Latorran-speci c [Professions] have
gone. I’m sure any noble could have done as much for his territory.”

“The nobles don’t —” she cut herself o . “But you do. You know about the
[Territory Status].”

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 “That’s not a state secret is it?” I asked lightly, keeping my concerns to
myself. Fyskal had said that the current King didn’t know about it, so if the
Guild did…

“I can’t talk about that… but Koenig will want to speak with you.”

I’m going to get scolded again? Do not like.

“Now?” I said, instead of protesting.

“No, he’s drinking and this is important, but not urgent,” Nadine said, with
just a touch of embarrassment. “He won’t want to be bothered.”

“I didn’t see him outside,” I noted.

“He doesn’t drink here,” she explained. “Because he doesn’t want to be

disturbed when he drinks. Can I ask you to come back in the morning?”

“Is that really necessary?”

“You may be a Councillor, but you’re still under the authority of the Guild.”
The glare she gave me was suitably authoritative, but I sensed some doubt.
Perhaps she wasn’t certain of her authority. Even so, I wasn’t going to
challenge it. A scolding would be unpleasant, but it wasn’t the end of the
world. If Koenig decided to take things physical, it would probably be the
end of me.

“Fine, but this seems unfair. You can hardly hold what I already knew against
me,” I complained. “It’s not like I’m stealing Guild secrets.”

Although, speaking of Guild secrets. I focussed on my [Conceal Mana] spell.

I just about always had it up, but [Dispel Image] wasn’t strictly an Illusion
spell, so I wanted to make sure it was still covered. Then I activated [Sense
Mana] and took in what I was seeing.

As always, it was a mess. Mana of one kind or another was always owing,
oating or moving around in some other fashion. Still a person’s mana was
fairly self contained, and as I concentrated, I couldn’t see mana conduits
coming o of her.

[Dispel Image] I cast silently.

“So did you have any more questions about [Bureaucracy]?” Nadine asked.

“What? Oh… no. I think you actually answered everything in that one
sentence.” I cast my mind back to what she had said… and indeed, she’d
covered the basics. I could maybe worry a little less about what would
happen to my bank while I was away.

“Thank you for the help, and I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” I got up, gave a
little curtsey and showed myself out.

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As I headed back to the gang, I felt a new worry start to worm its way into
my list of concerns. Exactly what was that concealed spell that I’d seen on
Nadine doing?