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Vincent busied to train his Quiet Leadership for the rest of the morning. He walked around town, shook hands, and called people by their names. He spent half an hour with Thug, listening to details about his friend’s skills, of which most had Thug as a prefix. Thug-backstab, Thug-dodge, Thug-cut, and many others.
Then, he went to catch up with Jong and Jorge. The archer was keen to chat about his training routine. At the same time, Jorge worked on his pet project to transform the Calamity’s exoskeleton into a drone. He was pumping a disgusting liquid out of the trilobite, so Vincent stayed with him for only five minutes.
Thomas was his next stop. The sergeant had raised in level, approaching fifty, and welcomed him with the same warmth Vincent was to. Thomas’s wife’s garden had doubled, with many new plants next to the old one. Vincent listened to her explanations, trying to remember all the rose species, but it was a lost fight.
Despite his best efforts, no progress was made on the skill. Faking interest wasn’t working. Skills needed truth. He postponed his efforts for another day and returned to the guild. A ring of annexes was now surrounding the trunk, separated from the main building but connected to it through passages and secondary entries. One of them was the Guild Commander’s office, two stories high.
He found Irene giving audiences and Nora, their new secretary, biting her fingernails and trying to give Irene advice that the young woman obviously wasn’t inclined to listen.
“Hey… Nora, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Would you mind giving me some tips on how to organize my time?”
“…In your bureau?”
“I have a bureau?” Vincent asked with sincere surprise.
“You’re my deputy, sweetie,” Irene yelled. “Go, please, I can concentrate with both of you on my head.”
“Lead the way,” Vincent gestured, following Nora.
His office was on the upper floor and quite isolated. It had sturdy furniture, a couch, a few chairs, and a desk. Vincent stretched on the couch, yawning. Nora remained standing, taking out a notebook and a pen.
“Sit down,” he gestured toward an armchair. “Excuse me for lying down. I ran around the town all morning… Not that I achieved something…”
Sitting on the armchair's edge, the woman nodded, taking notes. “What would you like to improve?"
“Everything…” Vincent sighed. “I mean… a step at a time, of course… Coordinating with Irene’s schedule, maybe? Taking on some meetings she can’t? Can you list important meetings and let me know so I can attend? I want to hang around and learn the ropes.”
“You… want to learn the ropes?” Nora asked hesitantly.
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I want to help. Irene’s doing all the work, and I feel useless. Everybody’s—”
"You think your job is to organize market days and urban planning?” the woman gasped.
“S-sure? But I’m bad at it.”
“Guildcher Vincent,” Nora said, frowning at him exactly like his high school teacher did when he stared at her with the impurest thoughts in mind. “Nobles usually concentrate on doing their duties first and leave other things to competent people. You don’t lack talent around here.”
“I know, but they’re doing all the job while—”
“Let me put it in another way. Would you have preferred Guildchess Irene to stay and fight the Calamity alongside you? Or the enchanters to fight the Mongols?”
“I see… You mean I can’t help by stepping on Irene’s toes.”
“Exactly. Your job is to make the Byzantines fear you like you did yesterday or fight the battles only you can win. That’s what the Guildchess and the rest of the people respect you for.”
Massaging his forehead, Vincent remained silent for a moment. “OK. I get your point… By the way, you made an impression on me,” he continued.
“I’m… sorry to hear that,” the woman’s voice choked.
Raising his head, Vincent noticed her defensive posture. Both legs were on the floor, tucked together, and the blouse buttoned all the way up. Goodness, she thinks I’m making a move on her…
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“I apologize if I gave you the wrong idea,” Vincent rose to sit in a more formal position, his cheek beet red. “What I wanted to say is I was impressed by your cleverness. If I glared at you on the train,” That idiot, Hubris, started it… “it was because you look exactly like a teacher I had in high school… I was sixteen and smitten with her… I pretended to drop my pencil every five minutes just to stare at her legs… For a moment, you reminded me of her. There’s nothing more to it, I swear.”
“I’m sorry if I overstepped, Guildcher Vincent… It’s very hard to read you,” she started speaking quickly. “You have a reputation of both a hero and a womanizer… But the story is very funny. Thank you for confiding in me.”
For misleading the analytical senses of an Elite Secretary, level 90, and making her reach the erroneous conclusion you were pursuing her, you have reached level 100 in Slippery. Evolution available.
For being honest with an important subordinate and gaining her trust, you have leveled Quiet Leadership to 100. Evolution available.
Finally! “I have a question. Yesterday, you told the Byzantines that protocol is for snobs and losers. It’s obvious they’re snobs, but why did you call them losers?”
“They’re on the verge of breaking apart. There are many princes with huge egos and little brains, each controlling a province. In a way, like the Mongols, only the Byzantines should know better. My previous employers told me that if I had the opportunity to pass the message, I should do it. The world is watching them, and they’d better behave.”
“What do you think about Irene’s idea to have the two Mongol chiefs make peace?”
“The idea has merit, but both chieftains are stubborn and proud,” Nora said bluntly. “The one in Wrocslau has an army of a hundred thousand with guns. The other is young… yearning to make a name for himself. There’s a good chance there will be a war.”
“No, it won’t be…” Vincent shook his head. “They can’t go against each other on their own, right? The one with the fortress can’t afford to run after the younger one, and the other can’t attack without our help. We do nothing and let them marinate in their own sauce. We call that a frozen conflict. They'll make peace by themselves in due time.”
“The Byzantines are going to think you are a coward.”
“Not that I give a shit, but I assure you, the Byzantine will think nothing of the sort. I’ll make sure of it. Did Irene give you a phone?”
“One of your magical tablets? No.”
“I’ll take care of it… What hour is it… half past twelve? Take a lunch break.”
“I just had one!” the woman protested.
“Then prepare to explain to me in detail everything you know about that empire. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
Leaving the office in a hurry, Vincent descended the steps two by two, barging into Irene’s office. The young woman was alone. “I need Nora for the afternoon. Is it OK with you?”
“I need her at three,” Irene sighed. “Missis Mayor is coming to ask for my endorsement for the next election. You do agree to endorse her, right?”
“Yeah… Stability is good.” Irene’s frown showed he had missed a point. “I meant to say reform is good,” Vincent yelled on the way out.
The first thing to do was to grab a sandwich and a beer at the closest terrace and inspect his options.
Choose an evolution for Slippery:
Diversion. Inspecting, mind-reading, or mind-control-type spells or abilities cast on you will give erroneous results. Keeps the +25% chance of evading attacks.
Or
Mental Armor. Inspecting, Mind-reading, or Mind-control-type spells or abilities won’t work on you anymore. Does NOT prevent your body language from being read. Requires at least 50 in the Mind Stat. Keeps the +25% chance of evading attacks.
Yeah, I don’t care so much about body language… Mental Armor it is.
Vincent was about to invest five tokens in Mind when he remembered about Quiet Leadership.
Choose an evolution for Quiet Leadership:
Retain the current path, doubling the gains. Increases the stats of your followers by +4. Gain +16 in every stat for yourself as long you have at least 30 followers.
Evolve the skill intro Inspiring Leadership. Increase the stats of your followers by +8 (Combat only). Transform your +8 buff in every stat into a permanent gain. This skill will no longer need you to have a number of followers. Warning: The increase in stats will happen over a period of two hours. You are advised against Striding or leaving Krivoburg during this period, or some progress might be permanently lost.
The buff of Quiet Leadership was nice, but Mental Armor offered him enough defenses, and he didn’t need a big increase in stats anymore. Inspiring offered him a permanent increase, making him independent and saving precious tokens for later. Plus… it was nice to offer his team a good bonus.
He left a silver coin on the table and left, reviewing his stats on the way.
Name: Vincent Valaška Age: 28
Level: 71 (18 tokens available).
Body 74 / Mind 49 / Spirit 64.
[Vincent to Titan]: Where are you?
[Titan to Axe Raven]: Vincent? Y-You are t-talking in m-my head?
[Vincent to Titan]: It’s called chat. It’s instinctive, focus your thoughts. We brought phones and laptops, right?
[Titan to Axe Raven]: Affirmative. One thousand phones and a hundred laptops.
[Vincent to Titan]: I need one of each, with a working operating system and access to the local intranet. How long will it take?
[Titan to Axe Raven]: Come to the Guild in five minutes. I was preparing a laptop for—
[Vincent to Titan]: I’ll be there in ten.
“Hubris, are you around? Come here,” he asked aloud, repeating the message in chat.
The Archetype appeared next to him within two seconds. “What do you want? I was showing Selim how to fight with a spear to increase his body.”
Hubris’s grand granddaughter has a sexy ass; Vincent tried to project his thoughts.
“Why are you frowning at me?”
Good… No more mind reading…
“All’s OK.,” Vincent waved his hand. “I need a list of rogue Archetypes situated in the Byzantine Empire. I know you don’t have the most recent data, but it could still prove useful.”
“I’ll ask around. Give me a few days.”