I joined the others at the entrance, taking a position next to Corinn. He turned as I arrived, and sighed as he noted my lack of clothing. He started to speak, but I was faster.

“I already participated in a battle dressed like this, so none of them should be surprised. The cut-off robe I was using is hardly more suitable, and a servant’s garment would cripple my capabilities. I’m going as I am, and they’re going to have to get used to it.”

“We might not even be admitted into the room if you leave like that!” Corinn objected. “There are spare guard uniforms available, and you aren’t entering a war zone! My reputation is at stake, and that affects you as well!”

“If anyone thinks my approach is unsuitable, they can question my results! If the assassins were able to manipulate Imperium records and obtain all the schematics I found, then we can’t count on security to keep us safe! I’m establishing a precedent of putting security first, and if anyone doesn’t like it, then they’ll have to solve the problems that left us here first!”

I’d spent some time considering how I would approach the meeting, and ultimately, it came down to whether we would accept letting other people push us around. From the sound of it, Corinn had been focused on just doing diligent work and trying to reason with people, and his peers had gotten used to him yielding on important matters due to lack of a way to push them back. If we didn’t drive home the value we provided, we were never going to change that dynamic. And part of that meant not weakening myself for the sake of social conventions imposed by others! Of course, we would need to prove we were worth that special consideration, but we had that covered.

Corinn paused and considered before replying. I could sense impatience: we did need to depart shortly. “We can’t make that argument if they don’t even let us into the room! Please, can you just make a little compromise?”

“If we want to get results, we need to start by making a statement. They won’t shut us out after we provided such valuable assistance, and when they give in, that will give us momentum. If you start a negotiation by compromising, the final agreement will always favor the other side. If we want to come out of this ahead, we need to begin decisively.”

Social techniques had been so confusing, but on reflection, a lot of the mechanics in play here boiled down to a competition. I still didn’t know most of the rules, but with knowledge of the obvious, a strong position, and confidence, we could push back against the forces that wanted to make us irrelevant. I would need to learn more before dealing with their reactions to today, but for now, we just needed to be strong.

Corinn paused again, clearly feeling the time pressure. Hope and uncertainty warred on his face. Finally, he decided. “Talia, follow me on my left, and stay invisible until entering the Ministry building. Shira, take my right, Renfry and Veers, follow myself and Shira. Let’s go.”

It was a fifteen minute walk to our destination. The headquarters of the Ministry of Espionage turned out to be nine stories tall, with the shape of a large, flat-topped pyramid. The entrance was just large enough to accommodate our group walking three abreast, and I disabled my ring of invisibility as I passed through, while Renfry and Veers turned back towards the mansion They would not be needed at the moment. The small atrium inside contained scattered foot traffic, and some of them turned to look as we entered. They continued staring as Corinn led us down a hallway to wait by a closed gate leading to a rectangular shaft. I didn’t quite like their attitude, but I had been looking to get attention, so I smiled as he pressed a rune; presumably to summon an elevator.

A platform descended behind the gate, and Shira slid it open so that we could enter. I couldn’t see any runes on the platform itself, so presumably they were located on the interior. Figuring out how advanced this world was would be a challenge at this rate. The platform rose rapidly, and we exited on what appeared to be the eighth floor.

This hallway appeared deserted, and we encountered no one as we made our way to a nondescript doorway on the left. Corinn entered first, and I reluctantly let Shira take second before following her in. She had been working for the Prince earlier, so I would have to make some acknowledgement of that. I was trying to strengthen his position here. And though he sometimes made that difficult, I’d always been able to bring him around in the end, so that was worth something.

Inside, a large, semicircular table surrounded a podium, where several people were seated behind a desk, on which notes appeared to have been placed. Many individuals were positioned along the table, with Oquila Mirandur seated in the middle. Our entrance soon had the attention of the room, as Corinn led us to seats on the left. Some of their looks were outraged, others calculating, but most of the room, including Oquila, evaluated our arrival without expression. Corinn looked like he regretted agreeing to my arguments. The two guards on both sides of the door, attired like the ones outside the palace, remained impassive.

It was several more minutes before the meeting was called to order. A few more people took their seats, and the existing participants occasionally recorded notes with what looked like pencils, but no one talked. People occasionally glanced my way, as if to confirm that I was in fact here and in my present attire. Then, with a promptness that hinted at a timekeeping device, Oquila began the proceedings.

“You are all aware of the increased recent activity of the Gilded Hand within Almandir over the past month. Eleven hours ago, we conducted a raid on a major stronghold of theirs within the city, which was found by tracking their relocation efforts after a previous area of operation was exposed. We will now be reviewing the intelligence gained. Trevyr, if you would begin?”

One of the men at the front desk cleared his throat and began to speak. “From what we’ve gathered, the building in question was an intermediate storage location used for relaying goods between smaller cells and larger operations in other cities. Some rooms seemed designed to be training facilities as well. It is unknown whether other such buildings exist in Almandir, but given the nature of our findings, this was likely the main one.”

“Thirty two individuals were present inside at the time of the attack; of them, two were captured and the remainder are dead. The building could provide long-term accommodation for up to sixty people, so even accounting for their earlier losses, it is very likely that they retain a significant presence in the city. We are still piecing together what activities they were involved in, through analysis of what we could find, and early results of interrogations. Orlic can fill you in on what we have so far.”

Another man, shorter than the first, took over. “Many of their resources were directly related to assassination or provided enhancements that would be useful in such a role. Several recovered artifacts appear to have been designed for communication, but they appear to have been remotely sabotaged before we could analyze them. More concerning is a large quantity of recovered engineering schematics, runic formulae, and alchemical recipes, which appear to have been copied from respected craftspeople throughout the city. We’re still investigating how they might have been obtained, but of greater concern is how they might have been used.”

“The value of the trove is at least several million kehlmarks, though given how much certain parties outside the Imperium might pay for some of the secrets contained within, the Hand may have been able to recover far more than that by selling their knowledge to multiple groups. Fortunately, given the continued presence of the paper copies, it is likely that these particular secrets have not yet been disseminated. Unfortunately, other secrets may already have been spread, with no record of their passing.”

“It is clear now that the Gilded Hand has significantly more resources than we previously thought, and their recent behavior shows they are willing to use them aggressively to cover their tracks. That leaves the question of their goals, beyond their obvious desire to expand their resource base. For that, I will leave things to Rembra.”

The last occupant of the desk gathered her notes and spoke. “Unfortunately, the long-term goals of the Gilded Hand remain mostly inscrutable. Nothing we found in the building casts doubt on the hypothesis that they have the support of one or more nation-states, but all of the equipment was either locally obtained, generally available on the Kehldirad black market, or lacking in a clear source altogether. The research base required for the items in that final category provides further support to the theory of nation-state support, but doesn’t point to any individual actor.”

“Interrogations of the two prisoners are going slowly, but their attitude does indicate a contempt for how the Imperium system promotes ‘narrow focus on personal interests’. It is unknown what the Hand’s attitude is to the other nations of the South, but if members here are motivated by political opposition rather than patriotism to another power, that would suggest that the Gilded Hand is interested in general regime change, possibly to something more centralized.”

The attitude in the room became markedly more grim as this Rembra finished what she had to say. Clearly, centralization was not popular over here. Given the amount of power royals held, that position seemed a little bit questionable, but then, I was still learning just how unstable such a position could be. “Centralization” here evidently meant more here than the standard definition would indicate.

Oquila moved things on to the next phase. “Thank you for your work. If there are any questions, now is the time to ask.”

The first to speak was one of the men who’d been outraged earlier. “What does the Prince of Illorum mean by insulting the dignity of this meeting? Can he not be bothered to properly dress his employees?”

How arrogant of him! Corinn was hesitating, so I would have to answer this one myself… which I wanted to do anyway.

“While I was thus attired, I recovered a crucial information source, identified how the Gilded Hand could be tracked to their base of operations, and participated in the assault, personally recovering all of those schematics and recipes shortly before they would have been destroyed! What have you contributed?”

The hint of an Alluring Smile left him struggling to compose an answer. For an intelligence agent, he was certainly easy to manipulate! I had a short moment to appreciate my victory before Oquila cut in.

“Enough! The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the assembled evidence, not engage in political feuding. Should anyone else attempt to ask questions outside the scope of this gathering, they will lose the right to speak further. Now, are there any other questions?”

Further inquiries were made about the full assortment of recovered equipment, the exact wording of the prisoners’ responses, estimates of their available resources in Almandir, estimates of the level range of the assassins we had faced, and the nature of how they relocated to the building we had raided. Most were answered by the three people at the desk, with Oquila filling in for a few.

Many of the replies were vague, but I found it interesting to consider that none of the foes we’d faced had been under level twenty and over a quarter had likely passed thirty, though the one that struck at me after I’d left the building had been the only one who seemed above forty. I’d managed to pass 20 in under a week and was now nearing 30, but that had been through a long sequence of fights, many dangerously close, fought by myself with minimal equipment. These assassins evidently used training for some of their leveling, and the rest probably came from participating in operations of unknown frequency. Was it strange that, with so much more time to level, so many people were only marginally higher than me?

There were likely several factors in play. Most people just weren’t as motivated as I was; that was something I’d known for a long time. And as I’d recognized, opportunities for fighting classes to level were hard to come by in developed areas, and the tendency to fight monsters in groups probably slowed down leveling further, even though it made things safer. And perhaps there was another thing; good tactics were a combat advantage independent of level-based abilities. If I could defeat higher-level opponents by fighting smarter, then that might be another boost that could help me pull ahead. I would need to cultivate such advantages if I wanted to be free from depending on others.

I still took note of some relevant details about the assassin group over the course of the meeting, and when it concluded, I had things to reflect on later. As I followed Corinn out the door, the glances I got were more measured then they were on my arrival. Progress.

Of course, reactions on the first floor were the same as before, unchanged by the outcome of a meeting they hadn’t participated in. I avoided showing a reaction, and disappeared from view as we headed outside. I would not let their attitudes control my behavior. I could control my emotions now, and if I kept replacing whatever unhappiness their attention caused with justified scorn, it would eventually get easier right? Something to consider.

As we returned to Corinn’s mansion once more, I realized that for the first time since my arrival in this city, I had a large span of time ahead with nothing planned. I still had goals: finding someone to teach me how to win at social encounters, learning more about this world’s level of advancement, and gaining more levels in my classes. That Thief class was interesting, though I would have to decide whether it was the best option for a third class. Any classes after my third-highest would be punishingly hard to advance in, so if I did go with Thief, anything not covered by my three current classes would be something I would have to depend on others for. Yes, I would have to choose carefully.

For now, learning more about the social environment in this city was a priority, and I’d need to ask Merigar about Ulindi’s location to see if she had any suggestions. Although, perhaps Merigar would know some possibilities himself? He had greeted us when we returned, now I would just have to follow where he went…

I did not have to search long: he arrived through the opposite door of the room I’d just entered. Did he have an Ability to help with that?

“Miss Talia, is there anything you need?”

Well, as a matter of fact… “There are clearly many political factions in this city, and managing them effectively will require more than just a show of strength. Is there anyone who would be willing to teach me more about how to influence them?”

“Alas, if there were indeed someone like that, they’d be rich from the favors their students owed them. The political environment here is nearly as labyrinthine as is Kehldirad, and even the best schemers here have difficulty keeping track of everything. Those who know things best hoard that knowledge for their own use. Perhaps Ulindi might be of some help; you can find her in an office we provided on the south wing of the second floor.”

Well, it seemed my original idea was the most likely to bear fruit. But before I left, there was one thing I needed to clarify. “I’m sorry if this seems obvious, but my memory from before my accident is… hazy. I’ve heard the name ‘Kehldirad’ several times, but… what is it?”

“Oh my, I’m sorry, that must have been quite a loss. Kehldirad is an independent city further south along the Yrmor River, where it is joined by the Krond. It avoided annexation during the time of the Lady of Fortune through its own considerable resources and its foreign political ties. Since then, it has developed into a neutral gathering point for all the nations of the South, with permanent embassies from the Imperium, the Kingdom of Drokoth, the Confederation of Zirconnia, the Palantor League, the Brechonid States, the Tribes of Ursalla, and the Myrdomai Ascendancy. With the high volume of trade and unparalleled access to political connections it offers, it is a veritable nest of intrigue. I would not be surprised if the assassins troubling us are based in the underbelly of that place.”

Well, that was something to consider. I thanked him and left to see Ulindi.

*****************************************************

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to take an interest in politics, but it’s a healthy thing to know about in a place like this.”

Finding Ulindi’s office hadn’t been hard, and she’d made time for me readily enough. It was always frustrating dealing with the constraints of others’ expectations but… her experience of me had mostly consisted of watching me bisect people. Since she was being helpful, I could extend some credit and let her continue unchallenged.

“Of course, the first thing you need to know is that in this city, advantages are things to be hoarded. If a foe can be kept ignorant, they can be manipulated or tricked into breaking unspoken rules. A piece of knowledge can have devastating consequences, if used at the ideal moment rather than employed prematurely. When I choose to sell one of my secrets, people of import will pay very well to be one of the first to obtain it, because proper use of knowledge is all about the timing.”

“Going back to social expectations, people are judged by what they achieve, and by how they respect the achievements of others. The Imperium was founded on the idea that accomplishments should be rewarded in proportion to their worth, and those who do not keep to that ideal are rightly scorned. Be very careful about criticizing the work of other individuals; a miscalculation there can come with considerable loss of reputation. I know of countless instances where someone was baited into denigrating the work of another, only to be humiliatingly forced to acknowledge its true value. For the higher ranks of society, such maneuvering is an art form.”

“As for me, I’ve done what I can to stay out of it. I sell secrets, I don’t use them myself. Although I might have to make some changes now, I still intend to stay as far away from any further intrigue as I can. A couple days of mortal danger was more than enough for one lifetime.”

An interesting start, but if I wanted practice I would need to go elsewhere. “Thank you, that’s useful to know, but is there anyone who could help me develop my abilities?”

“You want practice? If you’re serious, you’re going to want to get a Class. Unless you already have one?”

Well, now things are awkward… should I tell her? She was under Corinn’s protection, so she would have to be pretty stupid to start revealing his secrets. And my class was nothing to be ashamed of! I would use it to achieve my goals, nothing more! And if anyone disagreed, then I would teach them the error of their ways!

“Well, I happened to unlock the Courtesan class…” I needed to phrase that more confidently. How could I have said that in a way that conveyed what I wanted? Too late now.

“Oh,” she said, blushing slightly. “I didn’t realize that you and Corinn… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry. In that case, there is someone who might take an interest in you. There’s a madame by the name of Zerana Fieri who returned here two decades back after a lengthy stay in Kehldirad. She’s managed to gather a surprisingly dense network of favors and connections during her time here, and many suspect she’s over level sixty. She’s always interested in meeting… unique women, and though she prefers to hire them, with your connections she might make an exception.”

Oh. Not what I was looking for, but… my Courtesan class had been invaluable for picking up on social cues so far, and this woman did sound like an expert… But I would not sink to common prostitution! I would never be reduced that low! If anyone tried, I would show them who the dominant one really was!

If she could be made to understand that though, she could be useful. I had time to spare now, and this was a potential opportunity to test while I still had the chance. A meeting, a conversation, and perhaps some practice at manipulating people. Simple.