Nate sensed Avery’s approach, even as his eyes told him there was nothing there. Kiri sat beside him, watching the shouting match between the Guild Platinums, Prefects included. Luc, unsurprisingly, bayed for the blood of House Desmarais. Evindal half-heartedly tried to calm the man down. Nate’s normally calm and controlled guardian, Aisling, yelled at Prefect Allais, the air between them charged. Prefects Raoult and Porter had both stood and were yelling at each other while the trio of Platinums with the surname Jamison argued with the illusion Avery had left behind.

  It was the last interaction that piqued his curiosity. Personally, he could comfortably split his attention three ways. Uncomfortably, he could manage four. He wasn’t certain of the maths, but he suspected every additional one hundred and fifty in Intellect let you split your attention an additional time. He knew Kiri was working towards achieving at least that much in her own Intellect, based on his suggestion. That was why Avery interested him. Unless she was using some Skill that allowed her to give an Illusion a semblance of her personality, she was splitting her attention three ways. There was the possibility that what she was doing was all Skill based, but he doubted it. She had two different Illusions going – the one that was making her invisible, and the one that made it look like she was still sitting in her seat, looking like a man, and arguing with the Jamisons. That last one meant she also had to be monitoring the argument since it was clear she was responding to what they said.

  As Avery slipped into a seat near Nate, he acknowledged he had two choices. He could ignore her, pretending not to notice, and see what she did. Alternatively, he could let her know he was aware of her, and see where that led. He intentionally ignored his third option, which would be to use an Illusion runic array to try and actively oppose her Illusions. Not only was there no reason to do so, but he wasn’t convinced he could succeed. She was, after all, a Platinum.

  Thinking through his options, he decided to see what she wanted. It meant revealing a small amount of his sensory capabilities, but it wouldn’t tell her how he was doing it. Only that he could. Besides, he was curious about what she wanted.

  Turning his head, as though to look out the window behind them, he whispered quietly, “What do you want, Avery?”

  The only reaction was a slight shift in the woman's posture, though he could only sense it, the illusion still hiding her from his sight.

  “So it was you. I was wondering if it was one of the others. It feels almost like something running its hands gently over me. Some form of mana sensing? Don’t tell me. It’ll be more fun figuring it out on my own. I only have one question. Did you deserve to be attacked?”

  “No,” he stated confidently.

  “That’s all I needed. Let's talk again soon. Don’t worry about House Desmarais. Whatever the Prefects decide, no one attacks the Guild and gets away with it. Pleasure meeting you, Nathaniel.”

  With those words, the woman drifted back to her seat, sitting exactly where her illusion was waving an arm threateningly at one of the two Jamison women.

  “I like her,” said Frick into his mind. “Think she can make herself look like a goblin?”

  Nate rolled his eyes at Frick. He knew his Familiar was just trying to cheer him up, but now really wasn’t the time.

  “Order! Calm down everyone!” yelled Prefect Raoult, finally bringing the outburst to a close. “It’s agreed that, as far as we can tell, this attack was unprovoked. Which means, it warrants a response.”

  A grunt of agreement from Porter and a vicious grin from Luc were quickly silenced as Raoult continued, “However, Prefect Allais makes a good point. With the declaration of war by Asmuisil, an overt attack against House Desmarais in response could be seen as the Guild supporting Asmuisil. As such, we will delay our response till the timing is better politically.”

  The room erupted into shouts again as Kiri leaned over to whisper angrily to him, “Fucking cowards! They’re going to sit on their hands and do nothing!”

  Nate nodded his agreement and patted his sister on her back. Maybe he was becoming jaded, but he hadn’t expected the Guild to rise to their defence. Luc, Aisling, Evindal and Deverell would, of course, but the Guild as a whole would act to protect the whole, not the individuals. A response was warranted, but politics got in the way. It had been a long time since Helmfirth. Over a year at least. But even then, he had seen the Guild's hands were tied in this country. What could they do? Complain to the King about a Ducal House? In this country, the Nobility did whatever they wanted and only feared the reprisals from other Noble Houses.

  “Quiet down,” grunted Porter. “We’ll put it to a vote.”

  The old Earth Mage sounded resigned and Nate understood why. The Prefects' votes counted for two while the Platinums’ votes counted for one. It was a decent system, since it meant if the Platinums disagreed with the direction the Guild was taking, they could overrule the Prefects. But they would need to be united in their opposition, and the Jamisons clearly agreed with Prefect Allais.

  “Those in favour of delaying our response to the attack by House Desmarais, raise your hands,” intoned Raoult.

  Among the Prefects, both Raoult and Allais raised their hands. Among the Platinums, all the Jamisons raised theirs, while Avery and his own guardians and mentor kept theirs down.

  “Seven against six. We will delay the response. Note down the votes,” Raoult reacted, the last of his words directed at Deverell.

  Nate swallowed his disappointment, even as he sensed Kiri seething next to him. Though, even with the Guild’s ruling, there was Avery’s words and Luc’s disposition to consider. Avery, it seemed, would act regardless, though given her apparent Skillset, he expected it would be covert. Luc on the other hand, was known for doing whatever he wanted anyway. He doubted his mentor would obey the directive. That meant he had a little to look forward to, even if the Guild itself had not backed them.

  “Second order of business, the declaration of war by Asmuisil,” stated Prefect Allais, moving the topic along, before glancing at Nate and Kiri. “You two may leave.”

  “I request they stay,” stated Aisling.

  “Why?” demanded Allais in annoyance.

  “They will be returning to the University after this. They can inform the rest of our students of the Guild’s response. Our response will be disseminated to the rest of the Guild, will it not?”

  “Fine. If there are no objections?” Allais asked, looking around. Nate suppressed a laugh as he sensed one of the Jamisons raise their hand. Avery had hidden the movement of the Platinum and they hadn’t noticed. Instead the Platinum looked snubbed when Allais continued.

  “With the declaration of war, the Etruan Nobility has moved to prepare. While we were not invited to any discussions, we have received confirmation of the King's intentions. It seems he is viewing this as a method to further choose his heir. The information provided to us has detailed the intention of creating three armies, each under the command of one of his children. To no one's surprise, the three are First Prince Thane, Second Prince Bordain, and First Princess Morgane. All three have sent requests to the Guild for multiple job postings.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “How does that work with the Adventurer’s Guild in Asmuisil?” blurted out Kiri.

  With an annoyed sigh, Prefect Allais replied.

  “As the Guild is apolitical in nature, we neither support nor oppose wars between countries. In the case of Guild members, the jobs on offer will range from support, to logistics, to actual combatants. For anyone taking jobs that relate to the war, they will receive a token that links to their soul energy and identifies their ranks. The Guild will pay for any token returned, so long as the link remains intact, meaning the Guild member is still alive. This encourages both members of the Guild and others to leave our members alive. It also encourages our members to return to their Guild Headquarters if they are defeated and their token taken. Accidents still happen, but this keeps the death rate of our members quite low. In addition, during times of such upheaval, we often see an increase in more common job requests, depending on how much of the populace is sent to war. Now, if I can continue?”

  The look Allais shot Kiri was icy.

  “Of the three heirs,” continued Allais, “all three have made job offers that include Platinums. There are, of course, a number of Gold and Silver ranked jobs offered as well. Any opposition to accepting these job posting requests?”

  No one raised a hand.

  “If there are no other issues to be raised, that concludes the Tribunal.”

  Aisling smiled, “I propose that Nathaniel Weber and Kiri Beaufoy be raised to Gold-rank. Their skills and actions against House Desmarais act as proof of their rank capability.”

  “Ha!” laughed Porter, “Seconded!”

  Nate could sense Prefect Allais grinding her teeth, “All in favour?”

  Hands shot up, including Prefect Raoult and two of the Jamisons.

  “Approved. Since you seconded it, Porter, you can handle the administration. Now, if that’s everything?”

  Silence reigned for a moment before Porter muttered loudly, “Concluded.”

  Everyone began filing out and Nate heard another whisper by his ear, “Let's talk soon.”

  He wasn’t exactly sure what he had done to garner Avery’s interest, but he wasn’t opposed to seeing what the Platinum wanted. Besides, he really liked her skillset. Illusions were a form of art after all. Moving art. Not quite the way he wanted to focus his Classes, but still something he was interested in, and her application of Illusion had been amazing to witness. Especially since he could see behind the curtain.

  “Let's get lunch,” suggested Aisling as they all walked out together. Everyone agreed and they headed towards one of the inns before gathering in one of the private dining rooms. The moment the room was warded Kiri and Luc started griping.

  “That was bullshit!” yelled Kiri angrily.

  “Fucking cowards,” muttered Luc.

  “Yeah! Let’s go goblin-mode on those assholes!” yelled Frick as he materialised from Nate’s Familiar Contract.

  Evindal took a seat, waiting for Aisling to take control of the situation.

  “I agree with you. Both of you,” stated Aisling. “But for now, we need to plan what we are going to do given the situation.”

  “Do we leave?” asked her husband.

  “What? No!” interjected Kiri. “My family and Coralie are here. We stay and we fight!”

  “Against Asmuisil?” asked Nate.

  “No, against House Desmarais!” replied Kiri, followed by agreement from Luc.

  “If we openly oppose House Desmarais, the Guild will throw us to the wolves,” commented Evindal.

  “What’s going to change because of the war? How will they fight?” asked Nate.

  The room quietened and he was surprised when it was Deverell who answered, the Dagger Dancer taking his seat and looking around.

  “Etrua and its neighbours take different approaches to each other in the accrual of power. Etrua consolidates it in the hands of the Nobility. It does this by controlling a large amount of the ambient mana throughout the nation, directing it to Dungeons, which it then uses to empower said Nobility. The Kirshell Mountains, to the North, take a different approach.”

  Deverell paused to glance at Aisling as he said this, and she took the hint, continuing the explanation.

  “There is no control of the ambient mana in my homeland. The mana flows constantly shift and the Clans are nomadic by nature as they follow these shifting mana flows. Our population is smaller, but we make up for this by utilising tamed beasts. Many among the Clans follow Beastmaster-type Classes. I was an exception as a Clan Chief’s daughter with an unusually high affinity for storm mana. The Clans are also as likely to fight each other as they are outsiders.”

  Deverell nodded his thanks before continuing his explanation.

  “Gashana to the south is mostly desert. Their population is heavily concentrated in cities. In addition, controlling the ambient mana in the desert is significantly easier than it is in Etrua.”

  Nate tuned out for a moment, wondering if the reason it was easier was the lack of geometry within the land itself. Deserts weren’t barren of life, but it was significantly reduced. Did that make it easier to draw mana towards gathering arrays?

  “...the main difference in Gashana is that the gathered mana is not directed heavily towards Dungeons. That is likely because they have far fewer Dungeons than other regions. Instead the mana is gathered and often traded with their many neighbours. They are ruled by a Council of Merchants.”

  “Then there is Asmuisil. In many ways, their country in terms of land and denizens, is similar to Etrua. They also gather a great deal of their ambient mana. The difference is in what they do with their mana. Where Etrua directs it to Dungeons which it then uses to empower the Nobility, Asmuisil sells it to their populace. They have far more crafters and the average level of their populace is higher than Etrua. Though they have plenty of Dungeons, likely more than Etrua does, they recharge slower as they’re not constantly fed mana. That influences how the two countries fight and wage war. Etrua uses a smaller number of more powerful individuals. They’ll treat their army like fodder, using it to wear down their opponents. Asmuisil will have heavily equipped individuals and empowerment enchantments.”

  When Nate raised an eyebrow at the last statement Deverell answered him immediately, “Empowerment enchantments are designed to direct a portion of the power of individuals to a recipient. They’ll use their army to empower specific individuals to match the Etruan Nobility, who are the most likely high-level combatants Etrua will field. In response, Etrua will likely use a crude militia to attack those empowerment enchantments. That is what we can expect.”

  “So, what’s our plan?” asked Kiri.

  “I’m still going to Asmuisil,” replied Luc. “Not like they can stop me and we have a lot to sell. Not just the Epic equipment but Jacque has been busy and the Guild's appetite for the runecrafted items is too low. If we can start selling to Asmuisil, or maybe even to Gashana, the coin and mana will flow in waves.”

  “I vote we steer clear of the war,” replied Nate, looking at Kiri.

  “I agree,” she stated quickly.

  “Should we leave the Capital?” Nate asked, turning to Aisling.

  “That could make us more exposed, and risk our business,” replied Kiri.

  “I agree with Kiri,” answered Aisling. “But it depends on what you want to do. Many of the Guild members will take the jobs offered by the Royals and join the Etruan war effort. They will pay well, because they can. The University may close its doors temporarily, which would free the two of you up to take a lot of jobs around the Capital and in its nearby environs. You could advance quickly, while supporting your growing business. But, it is slightly risky. Leaving might also impact your ability to craft as much…”

  Even though Aisling didn’t say it out loud he knew she was referring to the mana he was stealing from the Capital’s mana pipelines. He might still be able to get a decent amount in the wilds, maybe even constructing his own large mana gathering array, but doing so would take time and cut him off from the resources of the Guild, the University and the Capital itself.

  “Alright, if we’re not running, then we’re consolidating. I’ll be turning the workshop from a reinforced shop into a fortress.”

  The smiles on everyone's faces told him they were happy with his decision. It was only after they were halfway through eating their lunch together that it occurred to him that everyone had deferred to his opinion. Leadership, he thought, was not something he had intended, but for the sake of his friends and family, he would do what was best for them. All of them.

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