Koenig glowered at me from across the desk.

“Here we are again, Councillor,” he said sourly.

“I’m not sure I’ve done anything to deserve that attitude,” I said. “Are you going to accuse me of stealing Guild secrets or something?”

“No,” he sighed. “Though I would like to know where you found out that bit of information.”

“Someone told it to me.” I shrugged. “I’d prefer not to say who… but it’s no one from Talnier or part of the Guild.”

“Why not name them, then?” Koenig frowned, probably trying to think of someone outside that group that I might know.

“It would say a little too much about me,” I hedged. I was keenly aware of both Nadine’s absence and that of their truth-telling item. Without being able to see it, I couldn’t illusion it, but I wasn’t sure if it needed to see me to tell if I was lying. So I was playing it safe.

“Fine,” he said. “Moving on. Are you any closer to deciding - you and your team - if you’re going to progress further in the Guild?”

“I don’t want to close off any options at this stage,” I said. “But we’re not greatly enthused by the offer.”

“You won’t find a better path to progression,” he said urgently. “And our requirements can… be reduced.”

“I need to look at the alternatives before I can give an answer,” I said carefully.

“Alternatives? You mean the nobles have made an offer?”

“More like they’ve offered to make an offer,” I said, grimacing.

“Those grasping thieves… listen, you can’t choose them over us. You know as well as I do what they’re like.”

“True… but the only thing I know about the upper levels of the Guild is that they’re keeping secrets.”

“You can’t…” His eyes were getting a little desperate, so I decided to throw him a bone.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on telling the Nobles about [Territory Status].” I gave him a few moments of relief before I hit him with the bombshell. “You’ll need to convince me not to tell the King though.”

Watching his face closely, I thought I could see the actual thoughts go through his head. First, shock that I knew they were keeping the King in the dark, then annoyance as he realised it was a guess on my part that he’d just confirmed.

I gave him a smirk, just so he’d keep thinking that. Of course, I already knew the King didn’t know… but it would be difficult to explain just how I knew that.

“Maybe you could start with an explanation. Aren’t you supposed to be loyal to him?”

Koenig considered me for a moment and then sighed. “I suppose with what you already know, there’s no point in hiding the rest.”

I kept my face blank. Obviously, he was still going to be keeping secrets — I was starting to suspect the Guild was stuffed full of them — but accusing him of it wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Actually, wasn’t he being too reasonable about this? Was he still playing nice to recruit me? I’d been expecting threats by this stage, but perhaps my expectations were being misled by movies. The Guild wasn’t the government, after all. While they had jurisdiction over me, they’d lose it if I just decided to quit adventuring.

“The noble families, most of them, are older than the Kingdom,” Koenig started, unaware of my speculation.

“They date back to the Empire, or even before,” I agreed.

He nodded. “Some of them were on the right side during the Fall. They saw the corruption and supported the Champions in the fight. But most of them — the survivors at any rate — either sat out the fight entirely or switched sides when it looked like they were going to lose.”

“In return for keeping their privileges, no doubt.”

“Some of their privileges. Some of them are still complaining about their losses.”

It had been eighty-odd years, but that didn’t surprise me in the least.

“King Nestor knew from the start that it was going to cause trouble, but only a few of the Champions lived after the Fall, and they were split between the three successor kingdoms. He was too weak to eliminate them…”

“So he compromised, no one was entirely happy, and the kingdom wasn’t perfect.” I finished for him.

Koenig frowned at being interrupted, but he kept going. “King Hector knew that the nobles thought long term and that they’d work to undermine their restrictions over time. So he founded the Guild as a countervailing organisation.”

“So the Guild and the nobles have been… not fighting, I guess, but in a conflict over who’s in control for the last eighty years.”

“Oh, there’s been fighting,” Koenig corrected me. “Some of it in secret, but there have been large-scale battles.”

They couldn’t resolve this in the King’s Court? I wondered. Kaito’s theory about the people of this world relying on killing more than we did flashed through my mind. But this didn’t sound that much different from historical conflicts back home. As long as one side was unable to accept the outcome, violence was always a possibility.

“So how’s it been going?” I asked.

“It’s gone back and forth over the years, but right now it’s been swinging the noble's way,” Koenig admitted. “The current King… he’s too close to the nobles, has been since before he ascended to the throne.”

“Which brings us to [Territory Status],” I realised. “You kept this from him because he’d tell the nobles, and you want to keep this from them.”

“Yes… the secret was entrusted to us by his Grandfather, but we didn’t feel either of his two successors could be trusted with it.”

“Well… congratulations on keeping it a secret for this long. Must have been hard when just saying the right words can reveal it.”

He gave me an unamused look. “Are you going to work with us?”

“I think we can come to a deal, now that the cards are on the table.”

“A deal,” he said flatly. “And what is it that you’ll be wanting from such a deal?”

“Nothing much…” I said slowly. “In fact, nothing that you shouldn’t be already doing.”

I paused, considering. How far could I trust the Guild? Not very far. They were still keeping secrets about Dungeons, not to mention the mana conduits coming off of the two of them. Felicia and I had done some investigation there, but while it was suggestive, we didn’t have anything solid.

For one thing, there were two of them. I’d checked when I entered Koenig’s office, and both of them were sporting invisible mana connections. The other thing we’d learned was that the conduits seemed to be heading in the direction of Dorsey. It was hard to follow them for any real distance, but they definitely left the building. Nadine’s conduit was back to being invisible this morning, which we thought meant one of two things.

First, the spell was cast by a human and they’d re-cast the [Conceal Mana]. The other possibility was that it was a Dungeon Item (or a Dungeon) that automatically refreshed the spell every twenty-four hours.

The main difference between these possibilities was that either someone knew we were fucking around with the Talnier Guild management… or they didn’t.

Koenig hadn’t brought up the spells, and I wasn’t going to either. I couldn’t see a good outcome there, and plenty of bad ones. So the best plan seemed to be to proceed without revealing too much.

“Go on,” Koenig prompted cautiously.

“From what you’ve said, the Guild must be in favour of the Free City charter. Just by existing, it strikes at the noble's power.”

“That’s true as far as it goes,” he said slowly. “We have some concerns that it may… change into something that we’d approve of less.”

“How suspicious of you.” Well, I couldn’t blame them really. “Would it reassure you if I agreed to consult with you over any changes made in the [Territory Status]?”

“What? Consult?” he said, confused.

“I’m not giving you control over any changes I make — I suspect that would result in me losing the access. But I want input from a broad base when it comes to making decisions like these — and you already know about it, so I won’t be risking details getting out.”

“That would be… nice,” Koenig said, shaking his head. “But I was asking about what you wanted.”

“I want the Guild’s support,” I answered. “I suspect Talnier has some significant challenges in the near future, and I want the Guild to go beyond what it would normally do for a local authority.”

“What kind of challenges?” Koenig asked warily.

“If you’re aware of [Territory Status], then you should know it lists active threats,” I explained. “Currently, the threats are listed as Seren, Arryen and Bargougne.” Hector was listed as a separate threat, but my assumption was that he was part of the Arryen threat. I wasn’t sure why the other threats were listed by the province names, and not by the noble in charge… another mystery of the System.

“Arryen is a surprise,” he mused.

“The Duke was involved in the recent assassinations. I’m not sure exactly what he’s trying to do, but he has some interest in both here and in Anchorbury.”

Koenig looked surprised. “The Inquisitor did say he suspected the Duke’s involvement, but you’re stating it as fact? Interesting.”

I shrugged. “I have my own sources of information. So given these threats, the logical time for at least one of them to make a move is while I’m at the Capital.”

“You think they’ll bring troops in?”

I frowned. “I didn’t, I thought Latorra was more law-abiding than that until a few of the things you said. Are we not under the protection of the King?”

He snorted. “There are technical loopholes you can move an army through, but I’d worry about the troops that are already here.”

“I am. I’m fairly certain that Captain Hector is at least sympathetic to Arryen’s cause. I’m hopeful that he won’t make a move until I get back.”

“Hmm. You can perhaps expect Arryen to defend you from a Bargougne attack, but I wouldn’t count on them to not ally against you.”

“So you can see why I need allies of my own that I can count on.”

He leaned back and grimaced. “Adventurers don’t do well against troops, generally. They don’t take well to command, and there isn’t anyone of us that has [Leadership].

“The level difference must make up for that, at least a bit.”

“Some,” he agreed. “But if you’re imagining us as irregular troops like the Tribes have, you’re wrong. They have [Leadership], they don’t limit it to nobility as we do.”

“I’ve made some inroads with the Tribes, but I can’t ask them to fight against Kingdom troops,” I admitted.

He nodded. “It would start a war, and set you back some.”

“Yes. Even if adventurers can’t stand up to troops in the field, having them active should act as a deterrent. The nobles won’t have planned for them to be acting in an organised fashion. I’m also thinking your other branches can let us know if a noble is massing troops.”

He nodded slowly but was still reluctant. “You’re probably underestimating how fast a force can move,” he warned me. “Leaders can boost [Run] if they’re not expecting to be ambushed. Having to move together slows them down some, but it’s still lightning fast. We won’t be able to get word here much faster than the troops.”

“I see…” That was a blow, but I kept going. “Well, there’s also plenty to do inside the town. I’ve arranged for my investors to keep my Bank protected, but we might see sabotage in the town, assassinations of key personnel… if Hector hasn’t turned entirely, the presence of a Royal official might help remind him of where his loyalties are supposed to lie.”

“Alright already.” He shook his head, but he was on board. Then he got a sly look. “Adventurers do need to be paid though…”

I sighed. “I don’t have unlimited funds available, but I should be able to convince the Council to budget for a share. Let’s discuss the details.”