She returned "home" to the ruined manor by opening a hole in the shared wall of the graveyard.

"I swear I'm dedicating an entire day to landscaping tomorrow. I didn't even have time to check the orchard." Cless complained. The orchard was the only part of the land she didn't till and ground with the vegetation with her Earth magic.

"Sounds good to me," Venaris commented. "But please let's find a place to take a bath tonight. Or make one."

She focused on [Tremorsense] and found four bipedal creatures inside her land. Also that Shad and Kate were about to pounce them. Cless ran and jumped her way back to the front and barely made it.

"Stop!" She shouted at her monsters before they slaughtered the four thugs and their "package".

"We brought him as you requested, milady!" One of the thugs reported.

"Say no more. Bring him with you, we are going down into the basement. Less chance of someone hearing his screams. Good job Kate, Shad."

The prisoner was brought to the basement. He struggled and when Cless removed the burlap bag covering his head, she recognized the real estate agent.

"Mister Clegane, how nice of you to answer my invitation for tea."

"You fucking bitch! You are dead! Nobody touches a city officer like this, the Viscount will have your head!"

The thug next to him was almost about to hit the man but Cless raised a hand. She endured his stream of slur because of a single thought. With the priest dead, this one was the last link into the smuggling conspiracy. She sighed. More drastic measures were needed.

"Everyone, leave me alone with him. I'm going to get him on our side."

They left her alone with Clegane in the basement. Cless steeled herself. She was going to hate it and had to fake exactly the opposite. She mellowed up, looked at the man with upturned eyes and batted her eyelashes at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confused.

"Oh, Mr. Clegane, can't you figure it out?" She giggled and covered her mouth with her hand, looking away but turning briefly to steal glances at him, smiling.

"Are you insane?" Outraged and confused.

"Maybe I am, Mr. Clegane. But ever since I met you at your office, I... No. I mustn't talk about it."

"You what, woman?" Confused and slightly curious. "Speak!"

"You are a powerful man, aren't you? I like powerful men like you. They entice me!" Cless purred.

"You do? Well, I'm almost the second after the Viscount, you see." Confused and proud.

Cless kept flirting, complimenting, giggling and goading Clegane. Little by little his barriers crumbled. She learned from previously using [Succubus' Kiss] more times than she wanted, which was zero. She had to keep the interactions short and pause between them so they would count as discrete attempts. So she did. Cranking [Seductress' Charm] to the max, she converted Clegane.

"Can I touch your jaw? It is so manly, so endearing!" She poured giddiness into her voice, raising it an octave.

"You can touch me anywhere you want, mistress!" Clegane exulted. His face was flushed, his breathing shallow, his heartbeat as fast as a courier running between towns.

"Do you want me to touch you in your special place, Mr. Clegane?" She asked faking bashfulness. Inside, Cless wanted to throw up.

"More than anything!" He was almost going on his own from pure excitement.

She started to unbutton his trousers and stopped.

"Then agree to give me everything I want. Information, names of your accomplices, crimes you commit, your Skill, stats, Experience, all the ill-gotten money and treasures you have. I'll give you another skill of my choosing in return and a single touch in your special place. Promise me you'll confess your crimes and denounce everyone you know that was involved in it as many times as needed so you can come clean for me and help me. You'll never speak of me or what we did. If someone tries to read your mind, you'll forget everything."

"Yes, mistress, I promise! I'll do anything for you."

Cless felt her Skill trigger and bind the man's mind tightly to what she demanded and he pledged. She felt several things. First, she was glad for the bullet she dodged in the Inquisitor's cage. Given enough time, that fake nun would've turned her into a brainwashed slave. Second, she had to release the boys. If they really wanted to stay with her, they would, without the force of her Skill compelling them.

But now she had to give him his payment. Cless brushed a finger inside Clegane's trousers and poked him in his 'special place'. The man went off just from that.

You gained 8,200 Experience Points.

Contract estabilished.

You gained the C-rank Skill [Perfect Accounting]: Gain the Administrator profession at at third of your level. You can keep a mental inventory of all assets you or the organization under your control possess. Immediately recognize any embezzlement, loss, or fraud in reports or inspections. You can perform calculations twenty times as complex and faster.

You gained +10 Strength, +10 Agility, +20 Health, and +30 Intellect. Deferred points withheld until next dawn.

You gained 155,000 Experience Points. The 3,200,000 Experience points you loaned were returned. The levels of the borrowers were adjusted back.

You reached level 92. +1 Stat Point.

You reached Wizard princess 19. +1 Intellect, +2 Charisma, +3 Magic.

Clegane's level was in the late forties. Maybe already fifty but no more. Cless released Clegane from his bindings. She also emptied the deferred pool, giving 10 health to Shad and 10 Intellect to both Shad and Kate. She also loaned Clegane's Skill back to him, she needed him to remember his inventory. She also gave him [Bikini Muse] so he wouldn't appear as without a Skill should anyone appraise him.

"Clegane, is anyone above you in this smuggling and racketeering scheme?"

He smiled. "No, mistress. I am the mastermind. The Viscount trusts my accounting so much he'd never notice anything so long I turn a profit to the City!"

Cless felt revolt. She wanted to kill him but she would have justice instead.

"Compose yourself and follow me. We need to go to the guard station." Cless ordered in a neutral tone. She didn't need to keep the farce anymore.

"Let's go to the bank first, mistress. I must give you everything. Then we shall go to my office so we can transfer my properties. And after that, the guard station!" Clegane said as if he was embarking on the most exciting journey of his life.

"Your office first," Cless corrected. "I have an idea."

She went outside with Clegane. The four thugs were sitting with their backs to each other, afraid of the huge furry critters surrounding them. Werewolf Silverfang and Kate were keeping guard around them.

"Is our job done, mistress?" One of them asked when he saw her. "Can we go now?"

"Which one of you killed the woman? Which one of you abused her or her body?" Cless asked coldly. "Don't answer now. Say it at the station. If you are not guilty of any of these, you'll be released then."

They had little daylight to work with. Cless left with Venaris and Clegane only and went to the real estate office. There Clegane took bundles of scrolls and notarized them as deeds to the bearer, to be transferred by the next person to hold his office. There were almost a hundred scrolls. Cless made him separate them by neighborhood and also make a list of the victims he stole the properties from.

Next stop was the bank. Clegane shifted all the money in his account into a holding account with Cless as the trustee. He insisted to put the money on hers, but she knew better. They also rented a deposit safe from the holding account to store all the deeds. With that done, Cless took back the Skill.

They hurried back and took the thugs and everyone else with them to the tavern. She left the monsters and the golem to watch the property.

"Gerald!" Cless called from the kitchen door by the alley. There was an urgency in her voice.

A minute later, not only the tavernkeeper and cook appeared but also Helga from the apartment upstairs.

"Cless?" Helga asked, eyes swollen.

"Guild master?" Gerald studied her face. She noticed she didn't see the usual disgust people show her in Gerald's face each time they met. Maybe she was too worn out.

"Gerald, you might want to follow us and bring Helga and Heimdall. We are going to the guard station to turn in the criminals before the sun goes down. We gotta hurry."

He furrowed his brows. "You already caught them?"

"Yes, and they are ready to confess. There's little time, I'm going. If you are coming, now it is the time," Cless looked up at the girl on the stairs. "Helga?"

She heard Gerald shouting something inside about canceling dinner that night and the stairs creaking as the siblings descended in a hurry. The three humans joined the procession as they walked to the guard station. Upon reaching it, Cless barged inside and scanned the people present until she found the guards she knew, the ones assigned to watch her front gate.

"Where is the captain? We got more criminals." She said straight away.

"There you are, guild master!" One of the guards approached. "You vanished from your waiting room and things became hectic. The captain started rambling like a madman and started to speak of crimes he and the delvers committed, and soon all of them were telling some tall tales about smuggling loot out of town."

"That is all true, I assure you!" Clegane pushed forward. "I am Clegane, clerk of the registrar of real estate. I am also the organizer of the whole scheme! Captain Fairfield is my minion as are Dagon and Steppenwolf and their guilds."

Cless groaned. "They lost their charters to me, Clegane. I expelled them already."

"Oh. Their former guild members then. Let no stain mar the charters!" He looked haughtily at the guards. "What are you waiting for? Arrest me and those four!"

The guards were frozen with indecision. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

"They are speaking the truth, guardsman," Cless intervened. "They are under no spell and are speaking the truth. Call a mage to assert that if you must."

"It is as she says," Clegane completed. "Come, clap me in irons as I deserve!"

Did she do that? Which Skill contributed to making Clegane into a fanatically suicidal repentant? Cless was scared at her own potential. She could take over the world, one deal at a time. She could drain entire towns of their Experience, Stats, and Skills. She wanted none of that. She'd give a hundred Stat points for a relaxing warm bath right now.

"You four, it is better if you confess the kidnapping and murder of the woman," Cless pointed at the thugs. "You are free to not do that though."

She saw Gerald grab the arms of both Helga and Heimdall. The boy was about to pounce the thugs.

"Yes. Guard, arrest these four men!" Clegane ordered. "I hired them to do several heinous crimes, including kidnapping these children's mother. They murdered the poor innocent woman!"

Chaos ensued as the four thugs tried to escape. Silvefang and Vic jumped and brought them down. The five criminals were bound in irons and carried away. Clegane kept saying everything he did wrong. Everyone still free left the guard station while the first stars twinkled in the sky above.

"Can we go home?" Cless whined and shook her head. "We don't have a home, just a plot of land... What I wouldn't give for a warm bath."

"I know a place," Gerald said. "There is a bathhouse, I know the owner. It is usually closed during the night, but I can work it out. Come, you earned it."

"We have three people able to use fire magic," Cless reported. "Warming up water won't be a problem. Nor cleaning it up after we use the bath."

They were tired and the conversation soon died. Once they reached the bathhouse, Gerald went inside and Helga bowed and bawled.

"Thank you! Thank you for everything, Cless. Mom!"

Cless couldn't do anything but hug the barmaid and cry with her. She caressed the other girl's hair.

"I too lost my mom when I was two years old," She told Helga.

"How may I repay you?"

"Think nothing of it. We just needed to get the smugglers out of our basement."

Helga let go and looked at Cless. "Please. I must."

"Fine," Cless answered. "If you must, I will need a maid and someone I can trust to manage my orchard and gardens. If Gerald—"

They were interrupted by Gerald clearing his throat. "If Gerald what?"

Cless turned around and smiled. "I'm poaching your barmaid. I'll pay her double her wages plus lodging and food. Her brother too."

Gerald smiled. "I pay her a ducat a day," He joked. Helga dropped her jaw and widened her eyes. "She just earned a raise."

"Deal," Cless scoffed. "It is your loss, Gerald. You know I still have to build a manor and I'll hold you to your word until Helga moves in. Heimdall starts tomorrow though. I will demand a vow of secrecy from you two, but we will set the fine print tomorrow."

"Yes, tomorrow," Gerald sighed. He was probably thinking on how he'd pay Helga's new inflated wages until Cless took her in. "But the bathhouse is yours. On the condition you clean it after yourselves, you can use it as much as you want."

"Thanks," Cless nodded and the three went back home. She turned to her guild and waved her arm. "It is bath time, folks!"

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Queen Cless Hreidmar of Myrkheim and Infernal Realm (in exile)

Race: Human.

Level: 92 ( 4,238,700 / 4,278,000 Exp ) [Experience Threshold > level 40]

Class (tier) level (Experience):

— Dabbler (1) 25 ( 300,000 Exp / ** ) — Beast Tamer (2) 25 (900,000 Exp / ** ) — Vicar (3) 25 ( 1,500,000 Exp / ** )

— Wizard Princess (4+1) 19 (1,576,900 / 1,615,000 Exp )

Professions — Veteran Warmaster 25 (300,000 Exp / **) — Master Instructor 19 (650,212 / 665,000 Exp)

— Crafter 25 (*) — Farmer 25 (*) — Herbalist 25 (*) — Alchemist 25 (*) — Woodworker 25 (*) — Diplomat 25 (*) — Administrator 25 (*)

Base Stats — Strength: 95 [229] — Agility: 120 [290] — Health: 137 [331]

— — — — Intellect: 211 [426] — Wisdom: 200 — Charisma: 304 — Magic: 303 [612]

Available Status Points: 107

Skills:

S-rank: [Absolute Contract]

B-rank: [Fear Aura] — [Perfect Might] — [Succubus’ Kiss]

C-rank: [Appraise Immunity ] — [Craftsmen] — [Dangersense] — [Dragon Skin] — [Earth Magic] — [Eat Anything ]

— [Elven Longevity ] — [Master Miner] — [Perfect Accounting]— [Seductress' Charm] — [Shrinking] — [Underdog] — [Will of the Mage]

D-Rank: [Acute Smell] — [Alchemical Tolerance ] — [Alchemist ] — [Architectural Ingenuity ] — [Breathless] — [Curmudgeon crafter ]

— [Dancer’s Grace ] — [Darkness Resistance ] — [Diplomat] — [Druidwalk ] — [Farmer ] — [Gemsense ] — [Giant's Stamina ]

— [Great Leap ] — [Grounding ] — [Herbalism ] — [Ladykiller] — [Merchant sense ] — [Miasma Sight] — [Ore sense ]

— [Poison Resistance ] — [Runner's Dash ] — [Sharp Mind ] — [Singer] — [Snakes' Flexibilty ] — [Spell Resistance ]

— [Steelshine ] — [Tinker ] — [Tremorsense ] — [Woodworking]

E-Rank: [Air sailing ] — [Axe Thrower] — [Burrower Bond ] — [Cat User] — [Chick Magnet] — [Coin Sense ] — [Enhanced touch ]

— [Food Conservation] — [Gravebreath ] — [Hearth’s warmth] — [Heavy Lifter] — [Howl ] — [Pack Rat ] — [Pickpocket]

— [Seamstress] — [Silk Hair ] — [Splinters ] — [Sword User] — [Virility] — [Wanderlust ] — [Weavertouch ]

F-rank: [Florist’s Wonder] – [Gardener’s touch] – [Inner Compass]

Techniques:

— [Beast Taming VI] — [Beast Status] — [Share Skills]

— [Sanctuary]

— [Appoint Stronghold] — [Appoint Demesne] — [Appoint Protector II]

Spells (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Spells without a number are at the soft cap / * denotes a level 25th ultimate):

Divine: — Mending — Detoxify — Light — Turn Undead — Blessing — Holy Bolt — Purify — Protection

— — — Hallow — Flametongue — Cure — Uncurse — Banish — Heal — Warding — Revivify*

— — — Censure — Bulwark — Mass Mending — Sacred Dance — Judgement — Song of the Accord*

— — — Water Breathing — Shield of Faith — Sanctuary*

Mage: — Detect Magic — Mage Bolt — Armor — Firebolt — Icebolt — Lightning Grasp — Shield

— — — Fireball — Resistance — Shockwave — Magic Missiles — Wind Blade — Deeppockets* — Blink*

House: — Detect Dust — Doorwatch — Prestidigitation — Never Overdone! — Touch Up — Dry — Repair

— — — Clean — Bloom — Hearth Recall*

Earth: — Soften — Earth Armor — Spike — Stone Shape — Earthen Maw — Earthwave — Terrakinesis — Golem*

— — — Earth to Stone — Grasping Hand — Spike Wall — Construct*

Wiz.Princess: — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — 18: ????

Proficiencies (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Values under 10 hidden / {A} = Automatic Proficiency: Soft Cap +5):

Appraise: Status: 80 — Resistance: (immune) — Forgery: (immune)

General: Prayer: 80 — Reading: 50 — Architecture: {A}

Academic: Magic Theory: 50 — Spellcraft: 50

Crafting (+9 Profession): Tailor: {A} — Embroidery: {A} — Knitting: {A}

Farming, plants (+38 Profession): Foraging: 30 — Forestry: 30 — Gardening: 17

Farming, livestock (+13 Profession): Dismantling: 30

Production (+9 Profession): Mining: {A} — Weaving: {A}

Social (+25 profession): Negotiation: 80 — Persuasion: 80 — Bluff: 80 — Flirting: {A} — Sexual Technique: {A}

— — Etiquette: {A} — Dancing: {A} — Singing: {A} — Gambling: {A}

Movement: Running: {A} — Athletics: {A} — Balance: {A} — Jumping: {A}

Martial (+18 profession): Leadership: 80 — Intimidation: 60 — Tactics: 80

Weapon (+18 profession): Long Blades: 80 — Unarmed: 80 — Archery: 80 — Maces: 60 — Pickaxe: {A}