The mages guild building was just a small building with only two floors, and was barely bigger than the general store inside. There were three mages present when I entered and they ignored me completely until I stepped close to the counter.

One of them came over and looked at my outfit. “What can the mages guild do for you?” He managed to sound both disinterested in my answer and unwilling to help me, which I thought was telling.

“How much is it for a commoner to send a message to the capital?” I asked.

The mage reflexively looked down at my outfit again before he answered. “It's much more than you can afford.”

“I see.” I said. “How much is it for a magic student to send a message?”

The mage almost smiled and stopped before it fully formed. “If the person could somehow prove that they were a student at an academy, they will receive a discount of 25%.”

I managed to not sigh at his subtle refusal to quote what that price was. “How much for a business owner? The mayor? A baron of a territory? A fiance of a noble lady?”

The mage let out a sigh at my questions. “I shouldn't need to repeat myself.” He said. “You can't afford it, so I don't need to tell you all those different prices.”

“Are the costs more or less than the commoner one?” I asked, just for clarification.

“The more you ask, the less I am going to answer.” The mage said and stepped away from the counter. “You're just wasting my time.” He turned and went back over to the other two to sit down.

I looked at one of the men's faces and then at the other. Neither of them made eye contact with me, which meant they weren't going to offer me any help.

“Are there any other mages here that can do it?” I asked.

“If you don't leave right now, I'll call the guard and have you thrown out.” The one that had refused to serve me huffed.

“What guard? There's only the three of you in this building.” I said and he glanced at me and looked away again. He took something out of his pocket and injected some of his magic into it. I immediately used Detect Enchantment and concentrated on the thing. The mage held it for about twenty seconds and then put it away.

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You have learned the incomplete enchantment 'Warning Beacon'. When engraved on two identical items (coins, blocks, pendants, etc.) and infused at the same time, it will create a connection between the two items. When the holder infuses their magic into one, the other can emit either sound or light (depending on the rune used). Light and Sound runes not learned (insufficient rune knowledge).

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Oh, that could be useful. I thought. There's no range listed, either. I wonder if it's unlimited?

I felt someone enter my extreme vigilance range and nodded. The guard they called must be coming from the garrison, so I turned around and leaned against the counter to wait.

A very tall man entered the mage building and he immediately saw me. “I assume this is the problem?”

“Yes.” I said before the mages could speak. “These poor excuses of representatives for the Mages Guild refused to render any services to me, based solely on my appearance.”

The guard leaned to the side a bit to look at the mages. “Is this true?”

“You can clearly see that he can't afford even the cheapest price.” The one that talked to me before said.

The guard looked at me and he saw the adventuring clothing, then I turned to show him the botany course patch on the shoulder of my coat. “Since you're dressed like that, I have to assume that you're going into the marsh.”

“I came all the way here from the capital to do that.” I said. “I'll be gathering ingredients and...”

“You can't do that.” One of the mages said.

“Excuse me?” I asked and turned to face him with squinted eyes.

“The Mages Guild has claimed the resources of the nearby areas in and around the entire route from here to the Eastern Empire, which covers most of the explored areas of the marsh.” The mage on the left said. “If you want anything of ours, you'll have to petition the senior mage at the garrison.”

“Those resources are NOT yours to claim.” I said and drew my knife as I charged it. “That's MY marsh! I OWN it and everything in it! You are STEALING MY THINGS!”

All three mages stood and looked in fear at my glowing knife, almost as if they could see the one foot magical extension that my eight inch knife now had.

“Sir, please calm down.” The guard said from behind me in a calm voice. “I'm sure we can talk...”

“You will bring me to the senior mage immediately!” I spat as I swung my knife down on the counter. It split exactly in half instantly and I kicked one half to send it tumbling across the room. The three mages jumped out of the way just in time as it slammed into the table they were at. The table was crushed, as were the two chairs behind it, then the counter embedded itself into the now partially smashed wooden wall.

“I'm tempted to bring the three of you along, just so the senior mage has someone to vent at when I kick you all out of MY marsh!” I said, angrily.

The three mages looked completely terrified.

I stopped infusing my knife and slipped it into the sheath under my armpit as I turned back to the startled guard. “Lead the way.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard said and opened the door to leave.

“If any of you send messages to anyone, I'll find you and kill you.” I said and stopped in the doorway, then I turned back as I waved my hand at the walls. I lit the whole room on fire and the mages yelled and hollered as they ran to the center of the room to get away from the all encompassing flames.

“You've killed us all!” One of them exclaimed.

I glanced at the guard that was staring at the fire with a blank expression. “How easily they panic.” I said and pointed to the fire suppression enchantments around the room. The guard looked and saw them just as they activated and sprayed water all over everything. It soaked everything in the room, including the three mages. The three men looked like drowned rats and we left them there like that.

“Was that necessary?” The guard asked.

“No; but, it felt good.” I said and he gave me a questioning look. “Sometimes they need reminding that they aren't the top of the social ladder, even if they think they are.”

The guard looked forward and didn't respond.

“I honestly don't care if they look down on me, since that's their own shortcoming. However, I won't stand for people stealing from me. If need be, I'll go to every mage that's done so and I'll take one of their hands as compensation.”

“That I know is unnecessary.” The guard said.

I managed to not laugh. Barely.

He led me all the way up the road to the garrison that contained about the original capacity of a thousand soldiers. I didn't comment about it and I was led to the mage contingent of the base. According to the guard, there were twenty mages stationed there, all men.

The guard brought me to a nice building and knocked on the door. “I've brought the disturbance.”

There was a huff inside and the door opened to reveal the shortest full grown woman that I had ever seen. She was completely proportioned as if she was six feet tall, except that she was only four feet tall.

“I don't see why those fools reported...” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at my coat and the edge of the bandoleer, then she mumbled something and her eyes widened. “What happened?”

The guard explained everything for the next few minutes.

“Is that so?” She asked and looked at me. “Please explain your actions against members of the Mages Guild.”

“I was acting against admitted thieves.” I said and she took in a sharp breath. “So, you know of me.”

“I was... briefed about you, yes.” She said and looked slightly uncomfortable.

“You meant warned.” I corrected and she didn't deny it. “They were right to warn you.”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “Please, come inside and we can discuss things.”

“There's nothing to discuss. You will cease and desist all ingredient gathering operations within my personal property, stop your incursions onto my lands, then you will compensate me for everything that's been taken and destroyed.”

“We can return...”

“No.” I cut her off. “I know what you do to gather and collect things within the marsh without consequences. You strip whole areas, not caring if it grows back, because it's just a marsh.”

She let out a sigh. “We didn't know you owned it.”

“I am the sole resident and I even have a house built here. You were warned about me growing up here. I even warned the guild and the garrison a long time ago to stop their ingredient gathering activities around the village and in the marsh.” I said. “What part of that are you going to claim you didn't know?”

She didn't say anything in response, which meant she knew it all.

“I need to send a message... no, two messages to the capital. One personal and the other... I suppose that's going to be personal as well.” I said. “I went to the mage guild building in the village for the personal one and their treatment of me was atrocious.”

The short woman let out another sigh. “Are you sure you want to request this?”

“It's not a request. If you don't comply to my order to evacuate my lands, I will be forced to take matters into my own hands.”

Her face went angry. “Don't you dare start going around to start your hobby on my mages! They'll fight back and...”

“They aren't mages right now. They are thieves and they are also poor combatants, even the strong ones. The combat mages might last a minute or two, until I close the distance.”

“You have no right to...”

“I am Lord Drake of Drake's Marsh, granted the marsh in its entirety and given the full Lord title by the king.” I said and pulled out the protected document to show her, even though she should know it already. “I am ordering you to get your people off of my lands right now, or I will remove them by any means necessary.”

The woman clamped her mouth shut on whatever she was going to say. She glared at me for nearly a full minute before she stepped back and waved me inside. “The communication mages are in the side office. I'll send the order through them and have them contact everyone in the marsh.”

“No, contact everyone here, in the marsh, and in the Eastern Empire. I want all harvesting to stop.” I corrected her.

“You can't stop us along the trade route.” She said, surety in her voice.

“You've already stripped them.” I said and she looked surprised. “I'm not stupid. As soon as you had available troops and mages to spread out through the relay stations, you've been going deeper and deeper into the marsh all along the route.”

She sighed and reluctantly nodded.

“I hope your guild has a lot of available money on hand.” I said and her eyes widened. “Unlike you, I know how much those ingredients are worth, even the ones your people trampled and ignored while getting the ones you recognized.”

The guard came with us and he looked like he was out of his depth as he followed us to the communications office.

“Ma'am, we've received an urgent message from the outpost in town. They've been attacked and the place was destroyed by fire.”

“So, they were thieves and liars.” I commented and she gave me a brief glare. “I promised to go back there and kill them if they sent a message to anyone, then I started a fire on the walls under the fire suppression wards to get their attention. The fire was extinguished right away with water as it soaked them and everything else in the room.”

She lost the glare. “I can't let you kill them for that.”

“I didn't ask for your permission.” I said and her glare came back. “I always keep my word.”

She walked over to the mage that spoke and started to whisper to him. “Send word back and tell them to take what they can and run. We'll recover them when he leaves and...”

I walked over to her as I pulled out my knife and charged it. I picked her up by the neck of her robes and she let out a startled yell. I slammed her against the wall to knock the air out of her lungs and held her there. None of the mages or the guard moved, I assumed because they were too shocked.

“How many times do I have to tell everyone that I hate people stealing from me?” I asked with a calm voice and eased the magically extended knife towards her heart. The robes parted for the nearly invisible blade extension and she took in a huge breath.

“S-s-s-stop!” She gasped. “Please!”

“Those men's lives are mine. They forfeited them and I will claim them. If you want to trade places with them, I can't accept that. However, if you keep them from me, I'll kill you first for stealing them from me and then I'll hunt them down and kill them.” I said and nodded at the man she had whispered to. “Cancel your order telling them to run.”

“You... wouldn't dare... kill me.” The woman said. “I am a prominent...”

“I'm a full Lord and I'm marrying into Grand Mage Henrietta's family to give him an heir. Do you really think he's going to say one single thing to me if I dispatch thieves that are stationed way out here in Ester's Village?”

She looked defiant for a few moments, then she sighed. “Let me go. I'll cooperate with you.”

“You can't! He's a criminal and...” One of the mages started to say.

“I was cleared of all charges by a military court.” I said and the mage shut up. I looked at the short woman I held against the wall.

She had struggled at first, until she realized I wasn't choking her. “You will be charged with these crimes.”

“That's fine. If you can get any court in the kingdom to agree to have me charged after they hear how much money and resources you've stolen from me, I'll face any punishment they see fit to enact.”

The woman looked surprised for a second, then she sighed with a nod. I eased her down to the floor and let her go. She gave me a pointed stare as she straightened her robes, only to pull open the spot my knife had sliced in her clothing above her heart. Her face flushed red and she covered the spot with a hand.

“Cancel my orders and send this instead.” She said and recited exactly what I had asked her to do.

The four mages stared at her with dumbfounded expressions, probably because they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

“Just do it!” She exclaimed and then they did. Within minutes, every relay station was sent notes with the details of their 'retreat' from the lands owned by Lord Drake, while also not destroying anything else. If they did, they would suffer the loss of at least one hand for stealing and possibly death for disobeying the order.

Nearly all of them responded with disbelief and that it was some kind of joke. Some even refused to relay the order, let alone obey it. She was livid with them and had the sender tell them again that they would be severely punished if they didn't comply. The Lord of the land was coming to visit them personally if they didn't leave right away.

“Tell them that if they see me, all I'll bring them is death.” I said and everyone in the room looked at me. “In ten minutes, I'll declare the Mages Guild an enemy of Lord Drake, a personal family friend to the royal family. May the heavens above have mercy on you all if you think I won't kill you all for what you've done.”

Complete silence greeted my words, then the woman in charge quickly motivated the senders to hurry up and send the messages. The more they were warned, the higher the chance that she and the others in the room were going to live during the next ten minutes.