"I’m sorry for the wait," Danton, leader of Archport’s Merchants' Guild branch, said; his large salt and pepper beard moved along with his angled jaw as he spoke.

The man did stand, but not to greet Lysander immediately; rather, he instead began to light a number of candles on the large, finely but still functionally crafted desk in front of him. It was well into dusk, and the auburn lights of late evening were only barely still streaming in from the bottom of the large, iron-framed window that opened up behind the guild master.

"I can understand you’re busy, master," Lysander said, grasping Danton’s hand once it was finally offered. "I’m sure your aide told you, but my name is Lysander Borncrest."

"Yes, busy indeed; there’s always paperwork to keep me and all the others honest," the man said as he gestured at the chair behind Lysander. "But please sit, Lysander. I'm Danton Walker, and I couldn’t outright refuse someone of noble blood, even if you're from quite some distance away."

Archport was actually the dominion of a duke that held no relation to Lysander’s family; in fact, the port city was a number of fortnights’ travel away from the land that the eighteen-year-old’s father held possession of.

"I appreciate your time today," Lysander continued, not immediately going for the ask.

Danton shook his head dismissively as he handed a number of papers over to his carmine-haired aide, who began to move them out of the man's way. "Think nothing of it. I am curious how I can help you, however."

"I was actually hoping we could help each other," Lysander answered.

"Oh?" Danton’s eyes narrowed, taking on a more serious gleam. This man was a commoner who’d risen to a highly respected position in a bustling and relatively successful city. How many times had he heard a statement like the one Lysander had just made?

"I don’t like to mix up my words by speaking too many when a few will do," Lysander continued. "I’d like to petition you for a writ of trade."

A writ of trade from the Merchant’s Guild essentially allowed one access to commodities and exclusive pricing throughout the known provinces. It also allowed one to pay lower taxes and skip many of the more thorough searches that would be conducted by officials on cargo and caravans.

"That’s something many work for years to earn, young man. A writ is a promise from the guild to all officials who are presented with it that the bearer is of good faith and reputation," Danton replied with a sigh. "I'm sure you’re of good stock, but I can’t just give that out to anyone."

"I know," Lysander replied, pushing past the polite dismissal of the guild master. "I also know coastline caravans have been disappearing as of late. Every second one, was it? The cost to your operations and morale must be staggering."

Danton’s head turned slightly towards Lysander. "Yes, I assume those rumors would be spreading now, wouldn’t they?"

"Allow me to help fix the issue for you," Lysander offered. "Let me root out the cause of the shipping troubles to earn your trust, so you'd at least know where the source of the problem is originating from and can then move to restore your coffers their profits and people their security."

The guild master leaned back and looked at the boy in front of him, crossing his hands in front of his face.

"And what, Lysander, would make you qualified to do this?" Danton asked.

"I’m castle-trained in the blade, but I'm the third son of a count. I’ve been raised, but not pampered. Most importantly, that means I have the need for ambition," Lysander answered, not breaking steady eye contact with his elder. "To put it plainly, I have skills most unaligned commoners do not have and the drive to adventure that most nobles have no need for."

Danton scoffed. "You’re very forward."

"Within the bounds of politeness," Lysander added.

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Danton acquiesced. "You are well-mannered. Also unshaking in your conviction is how you’re locking eyes with me, though perhaps that is practiced."

"Everything is," Lysander simply replied.

"Indeed," Danton further agreed. "If I were to grant you this chance, what would you need from me? Keep in mind that we’ve already rerouted caravans recently. Did your rumors tell you that?"

Lysander leaned back. "They did not, but," he trailed his voice, thinking on his feet, "you would’ve been using the new routes in the first place if they were the most profitable. Which means the current situation still isn’t ideal."

Danton nodded. "Astute guess. The issue will soon come to a head, and we’ve already lost a good bit of money. However, and I again ask this respectfully, why would we need you to help us? There’s no shortage of sell-swords in this turbulent time, whether castle-trained or not."

"Also respectfully, if you could’ve hired the Swords Guild, then you already would’ve. If I had to guess, they’re refusing to operate any large investigative missions so close to another branch’s jurisdiction; they’d probably let you hire one-off guards for your caravans, but you also have a contract with the Crownhold Shipping Company that makes that difficult. You're required to pay them for armed escort regardless of whoever else you hire, but they're not allowed to do much more in the provinces other than escort your caravans after the treaty of the Five Years’ War. And, for whatever reason, you don’t want to employ that other Swords Guild branch, or you also already would have," Lysander said.

The Five Years’ War was a prolonged conflict involving the Crownhold Shipping Company and the elves of the Ragnon Isles, just off the coast of the provinces. Ever since it had been resolved, the Crownhold Shipping Company had been extremely limited in their legal right to field troops on open land.

"That’s quite another detailed series of guesses, isn't it?" Danton asked. "One that would require very keen insights into the political machinations of Archport, but you're still only partially right. It’s actually that the Swords Guild of Landhold won’t accept any jobs from us; for whatever reason, they’re also denying any operations too close to their area of operation by our local guild hall—though I'm not sure how long that can last. As you said, though, we do have contractual obligations with the Crowns that generally prevent us from easily budgeting for extra armed escorts. How long did you say that you’ve been in our fair city?"

Lysander cursed a bit internally. He wasn’t trying to show his hand too much; he wasn’t really guessing, but he didn’t want to get his source in hot water.

He decided to shift the topic just a bit.

"You’ve gotten yourself a workaround to your issue with the re-routing of the caravans, but it’s still an issue. One problem like that won’t tear down everything your merchants have built, but if you let your policy become one of ignoring such things, eventually everything will fall apart as other issues accumulate. Give me just a week to prepare; you can manage that considering caravans don’t move fast, and I doubt you’ll be able to shift any routes in the next fortnight anyway, even if I did find the source of the danger along the roads that quickly—which we both know likely wouldn't be the case. I'd also need you to lend me a recommendation to the Swords Guild to allow me to access their local bounties. I’m sure you can petition them for that much without too much issue."

"You plan to do some hunting?" Danton raised an eyebrow. "If you become a member of the Swords Guild, on my own recommendation no less, won’t I just have the same issue I already have?"

"We both know being a member of the Swords doesn’t stop someone from taking personal jobs, but that most of the journeymen and up wouldn’t consider it without the blessing of the guild since they'd be on their own, without any aid or organization to fall back on; I don’t have that concern, and I’m a good bit more capable than the average novice member they have. I need the recommendation to raise money for the journey, and going through their normal vetting processes would take too long for me to be of any help to you," Lysander continued.

"Is that all?" Danton asked.

"I also need access to their contracts to push my swordsmanship past an epiphany. I’m on the edge of breaking through to the apprentice tier, and I’d like to handle that before undertaking a quest for you that might have me drawing my blade. Me being more capable would only make it more likely we'd both be able to get what we want," Lysander explained.

There was silence for a moment before the guild master merely began to chuckle. "You don’t ask for money or even a loan, but for access to monster dens and combat? I’d think you were trying to swindle the swords out of their work if you weren’t so earnest. Not that it would be a sustainable plan."

The man calmed himself before continuing and gesturing to the same aide he’d handed the papers to before, causing her to pass the guild master an empty piece of parchment and to prepare him a quill. "Very well, young man, I will grant you your recommendation to the Swords and possibly your quest. As you've proposed, I would also only ask that you try to find the source of the issue along the roads, not that you eradicate it yourself, as I feel that would be unreasonable and better undertaken by the duke's men or the Swords if they were so pushed by official decree. There will also be other caveats before I allow you that task, however; even if it would just be an exploratory mission to find the cause of the shipping issues, I need to know you're as capable as you might suggest, and just your words alone won't do."