My power expanded. The air became charged. I looked at Greyson with cold eyes. “You wish to challenge me?” I did not shout, yet my voice filled the entire room. It carried power, magic. I heard a thump behind me as the receptionist collapsed.
“Come then, draw your weapon. Face my lightning, endure my thunder, embrace the storm!” I opened my hands wide. A cloud formed inside the building. Rain began to fall as lightning danced around me. I heard a cry from the tables as the sound of thunder filled the room.
Greyson still stood, but there was no more arrogance on his face. He trembled slightly and started to kneel. “My deepest apologies, my lady. I submit to your judgement and beg of you to spare my people.”
Huh? I was surprised. His apology looked genuine. There was respect in his eyes. I looked around the room. The group at the table was visibly shaking. The mage was openly crying. The cat kin at the bar was finally looking our way. I noticed she was female. Her eyes were wide with shock but she seemed less frightened than the others.
Having made my point I withdrew my power. I felt bad for scaring the people that did not confront us, but I did not have the ability to exclude someone from the effect. At least Lucy seemed to enjoy my aura. Probably because she was my warlock. Lily did not seem to mind either. Maybe because of the bond? Something to investigate later.
As my power receded the cloud disappeared and the room returned to normal. Well, it was drenched in water now. I checked on the receptionist who collapsed earlier. While I still thought she should have simply called her boss, she was just doing the job she was hired for. And I did not want her to be injured from the fall.
She had a small bump on her head so I used my healing spell. Wait… wasn’t there another person here earlier? One counter for members was open too, but the person there disappeared at some point. No matter. I did not heal any of the adventurers Lily had incapacitated. They were fighters and should be used to taking a few hits. Also, it might teach them a lesson to not draw their weapons so quickly in the future.
Greyson was still kneeling. “Rise, guildmaster. Why don’t we discuss this in your office?”
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“As you wish, follow me.” He stood and walked deeper into the building.
The three of us followed him. His office was quite cosy and very organised. A lot of shelving held books and records. There were neatly stacked papers on his large desk. Lucy and myself took the chairs meant for guests. Lily stood behind us.
“Again, let me apologise.” Greyson started. “The reports I received mentioned a demon incursion near Iron Rock that was defeated by the Dominion. It also implied that a small unknown sorceress took the credit and hinted to a foreign plot. I know that the Emperor called a summit afterwards.”
I just stared. Wasn’t the adventurers guild kind of big? Did they not have offices in multiple countries? How could they be so misinformed? Then again, this world had no phones, no internet. There were messaging spells, but those were out of reach for ordinary people. And one should never underestimate the power of a nation to restrict information.
“Where did you get this information?” Lucy asked, while I was still trying to make sense of everything.
“The inquisition, mostly. The Empire is very cautious when it comes to independent organisations. We can only operate here under their supervision. We are too useful to be banned but too dangerous to be free.”
“Why are you so open now?” I wondered.
“I have spent 50 years as an adventurer before I retired to a desk job.”
50 years? He must be older than he looks. It was really hard to judge people in a magical world.
“I have seen many things in my life, faced countless monsters in battle… but I have never encountered such power. Staring at you made me feel small… insignificant. It was like staring at nature itself. I would be a fool to oppose you.”
The man seemed a lot more reasonable than I expected. That was good news. And I was sure he would spread the information across the guild to leave us alone. But it was time to address the real reason we were here.
“So, who hired you to watch us? And was that the only mission? We were attacked by assassins as well, but were unable to identify them. Additionally, there was a mind controlled woman that tried to kill us.”
“Mind control? That… is very concerning.” He looked genuinely shocked. “As for who hired the observation, I will have to look into it. People can hire us without proof of their identity. Some people are sending servants, or using fake names. Especially if they want us to spy on nobles. But I can assure you, we did not send any assassins. At least not officially.”
“Does this mean it could have been adventurers, but the job was not approved by the guild?” I asked.
“Yes. We are mercenaries and attract a large variety of people. Some have questionable morals and could have been hired directly.”
That made sense, unfortunately.
“Another thing, the attacker we captured and freed is called Minerva. While I was able to break the magic controlling her, she has been asleep since then. Do you have a healer that could check on her?”
He pondered that. “I am afraid we don’t have anyone here right now. With the recent demon incursion most of our people are deployed somewhere. You might have to go to a temple. Mind control is high level magic and very illegal. It's also hard to detect. That someone is using it in the city is very worrying. Do you think it’s connected to the demons?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”