Lord Kendrik was about to eat his hat. He lost his best accountant, probably the best accountant to ever live under the sun, he lost the head priest of the church, he lost a lot of gold, he even lost one expensive silk dress. All because of a girl.

"That girl is dangerous!" He vented his mind.

Gilean, one of the top guild masters in the city nodded. "She is not dangerous, she is deadly. That girl defeated three of the top twenty guild masters of our branch. She defeated Steppenwolf and Dagon but we don't know the details and the captured delvers aren't saying a word. However, she defeated Xander without losing her poise right before my eyes."

"Xander the assassin?" The Knight-commander asked. He knew about that man. Deadly with his twin poisoned shortswords, he could deliver dozens of doses of a secret type of lethal poison in minutes. "How did she defeat him?"

Gilean snorted. "She tanked his assault. The girl is good with a sword, not exceptional but good. She tossed a Holy Bolt from his blindside but was unaware of his armor's enchantment. Xander trapped her in a bubble of darkness. When the bubble vanished, the guy was without both arms and with his head stuck inside a wall."

Kendrick opened his eyes wide, "Isn't she a Priestess? Didn't you tell me she was focused on peace?"

"I told she was focused on defense," the Knight retorted.

"Does she have the gold?" Kendrick asked.

"She probably has," The Association lady replied. "She spent a lot of coin with us. She bought more than two sovereigns worth of spellbooks with us yesterday."

Gillean interrupted her. "She paid with Xander's coin, Sondra. She probably had that much money on her, but you didn't check her guild's gear. They are not top-notch but each one of them had a magic item or two. And only she is human. I wonder what mix of abilities and racial traits that guild has at hand. I think they are a very versatile guild."

"You digressed, Gilean." Sondra pointed out. "What about her funds?"

"I paid her four sovereigns on the charters she won. She wasn't interested in absorbing them, it would put her in the top ten guilds straight away. She isn't interested in fame or wealth. I felt like she was trying to get rid of the charters."

"Maybe she is trying to lay low." The knight suggested.

Gilean snorted again. "Nice job she is doing if that's her goal. The girl picks a fight with two strong guilds barely a week after arriving, sends half of them running and another half to jail, picks a fight with the church, unravels a scheme that stole thousands of crowns right beneath the Lord's nose—"

Kendrick cleared his throat and sent the archer guild master a death glare.

Gilean nonchalantly continued unabated. "Comes unarmed to this summons, expels the head priest, turns the accusations on her head, makes our esteemed knight-commander spend his strongest blow to make her shield flicker... Did you notice she barely flinched when he attacked her? I won't even mention how she ignored Herman's magic? Not even a singled strand of hair!"

"I don't know how she has such silky hair..." Sondra went on a tangent.

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"Answering your question, Lord Kendrik, that girl is dangerous," Gilean spoke seriously. "She is at a 'don't step on her toes' level of dangerous. Ah. I remembered. She spotted an appraiser at the Association right away. And she gave him a single warning to stop."

"What should I do?" Kendrick asked for advice. He obviously trusted those people.

"Leave her alone," Sondra suggested. "Take her offer, get the deeds and return them to the people Clegane scammed. Help her solve that problem with the church. It will help your standing with both the church and the girl. I heard Herman say she wanted an exit to the Dungeon street. Just relocate a couple of people and give her the properties in exchange for the graveyard. Then donate the graveyard to the church. You can use these opportunities to interact with her and measure her character."

"One more thing I remembered. Man, that girl's visit to the association was something!" Gilean quipped full of mirth. "She talked down Agatha! I didn't hear the details of their conversation, but Agatha pushed rank on her and she talked her down."

"That's Dame Agatha for you, commoner." The knight-commander chastised the irreverent archer.

"That's it! She resisted my technique! I gave her a command and she ignored it. That means she either has a Wisdom over a hundred and twenty or she's of a higher station than me."

"No way that girl is a marchioness or anything higher than that," Sondra dismissed that line of thought. "You've seen the dress she came in. The craftsmanship was superb but the materials were common. And did you see how she admired the silk dress?"

"Wisdom! That's what she has!" Gilean slammed a fist on his open hand. "It explains her mental fortitude, her resistance to magic. But a hundred and twenty? What level she is to have that much Wisdom?"

"She is not of a higher level than me." The knight-commander added. "I'd have known."

"Maybe her Skill is [Sage's Wisdom]. It is a C-rank Skill that both unlocks and improves Wisdom. If I remember it right, the Skill also gives a minor boost to spell learning rates. That might be why she bought that many spellbooks."

"Yes. But to do that, she would have to spend a lot of points in Wisdom. Unless her magic runs off wisdom and not Intellect like everyone else. And didn't she just spend forty Power just to test our knight-captain [Armor-Rending Slash] just a few minutes ago? The one that, I remember everyone, didn't break her shield?"

Sondra was clearly irritated, "What is your point, Gilean?"

"Hers is a B-rank. Or even an A-rank. I think you scratched the surface of what she can do but it is much more. She severed Xander's arms and sent him flying, did I mention it already? Or how she defeated Steppenwolf at night and captured Dagon?"

"Wait," Sondra raised a hand to stop the archer from firing more words. "How do you know she defeated Steppenwolf at night?"

"I looked into it," Xander lied. "She brought Dagon and the delvers she captured to the guard station first thing in the morning. Members of Steppenwolf's guild were found dead along the road half a day away the same day. Just do the math."

"Then it is decided. We will give the girl a wide berth and follow your suggestion. Get the deeds from her, get the graveyard for the church, everyone stays happy. We'll get authorization from Clegane to get into his bank account and see what happened to the gold he stole." Kendrick declared.

Everyone left the Lord's estate and went on with their day. Gilean climbed his favorite spot, a tall chimney that gave a good view of most of the city. He fished in his pocket and took the three charter tokens. He merged these charters with his own, cementing his guild's position as the number one in the city. He sighed. Getting these cost him more than a thousand crowns, the four hundred he paid the girl plus what he lost when the idiots blew the smuggling operation.

The girl did him a huge favor. Gilean was glad for the charters. She even got Xander's guild out of the picture. Right now Dagon, Clegane and their idiotic minions should all be writhing in pain and dying in the jail. Dead men tell no tales, indeed. It was good that the girl fixed Xander's damaged arms and left him destitute. It was so easy to convince the man to work for him after he was left with nothing. Debt is really a scary thing, isn't it?

He would follow his own advice. Leave the girl alone. She smelled like trouble and without knowing what she was capable of, he wouldn't act. Nah. He and Xander were going for a nice and long vacation in the countryside. It will be good to let people forget about him.

Steppenwolf was on the loose, and if there was one thing Gilean hated the most, it was loose ends.