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 compliant.

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 off [Intimidation] from someone like that?”

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

“A fighter 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 fighters tended to find 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] effect 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]?”

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 flushed 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 find 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 are 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 staff 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 flashed 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 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 figure out what was going on. A bubble of silence spread out from where I was. I filled 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 fight 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 affected 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 notification, 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.

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

“I suppose,” she said. “We can talk in my office. 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 Official] profession,” I said, deflecting 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 off my face and simply shrugged again. “We do have a degree of independence. It’s not like the Latorran-specific [Professions] have gone. I’m sure any noble could have done as much for his territory.”

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

“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 flowing, floating 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 off 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.

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?