It was tough trying to act defeated and impotent when one was on the verge of becoming the emperor of Ness. Orion had to put up with the abuse from Saxe and Larsen, and he had to lower his head and pretend to go along with their plans out of fear, but, for him, it was all part of an elaborate plan that ended with him as the emperor of the city.

To the populace, he was the nice guildmaster. Some called him the heir to Pietro, which Orion outwardly took as a compliment, even as the comparison to a thief made his blood boil. As guildmasters went, he didn't retreat into his tower to focus on political maneuverings. He was a regular guy. No one wanted to assassinate him. Those rumors were reserved for Guildmaster Polo. Orion was the guildmaster who wasn't a threat to anyone.

As part of this role he played, Orion would often walk through Founder's Park, waving and smiling at members of every guild as he admired the various statues that had stood there for ages. For some reason he couldn't explain, his favorite statue was the one of the class he loathed and that no one visited—the statue that represented the Thieves Guild.

It was comprised of two men with wide smiles conversing. The one thief was reaching into the pocket of the other thief as they talked, while the second thief was doing the exact same thing to the first thief. Orion loved the absurdity of the statue. Both thieves were stealing, but they gained nothing for their efforts.

The statue reminded Orion of Larsen's brother, the wretched boy Ralan. Orion enthusiastically voted for him to be named the Guildmaster Thief. He loathed Ralan nearly as much as he loathed Larsen, and watching the boy in a cage getting pummeled with rotten fruit on Founders Day was exactly the kind of punishment he considered appropriate for the irresponsible and offensive boy.

Yet Ralan had the last laugh as he ruined Orion's grand plan. The thought made him clench his fists and frown. Everything had gone so perfectly. Larsen believed that Orion was dumb and going along with Larsen's plan to unite their guilds out of fear. After Orion agreed to vote yes on the guild unification, Larsen pretty much ignored him.

During that time, Orion had put in place all the pieces for him to be named the Deputy of the new unified guild. And once he was Deputy, all he had to do was assassinate Larsen, and if there was one guildmaster in Ness that no one would much care about being assassinated, it would be Larsen.

Orion was slightly worried about Karch. He was a slippery and devious one. But he wasn't a guildmaster, and Orion had many more resources than Larsen's deputy. Not the least of which was his Blade. No guild had a better Blade than the Craft Guild. Orion's Blade had already discovered that Karch had assassinated Pietro, that Polo was holed up in Harvest House, and that Ralan was lost in the wastelands of the Wretched Quarter.

The last point was a key one. With Ralan out of the picture, the entire focus of Orion's plan was now dependent on Polo, the annoying old Guildmaster of the Harvest Guild. Orion's Blade had told him that Larsen had some kind of sophisticated plan to assassinate the old man.

Good, thought Orion. Do all the dirty work. When you have finally achieved everything in unifying Ness under one guild, then it will be my day.

Orion did have one thought: With Larsen focused on Polo, maybe Orion could take care of Ralan. He'd be practically impossible to find amongst the wretched poor across the river, but the search would be completely out of the view of any of the other Guildmasters. Orion could surreptitiously help Larsen make his move by killing Ralan, not revealing his true intentions in the process.

All he'd have to do is find Ralan, kill him, and have his body dumped somewhere that could be found. Sure, the odds of that are slim, but it is a good plan, thought Orion. Let Larsen play his risky games. While no one is looking, I'll solve this problem myself.

He turned and hurried back to Craft Tower. He had a new mission for the Blade of the Guildmaster.