I waited outside the Baroness’s attendance hall with calm decorum. Ertal, my second tier Dedicated, stood in his finest robe to my side, fretting with his hair. With a quick glance, I once again confirmed my armor’s high polish. As a [Paladin], one had to become the inspiration to others—something that Ertal had yet to learn. “Calm yourself. Bi will provide for whatever strength you lack,” I assured him. “I don’t doubt that, Trusted Adam. I fear that my hair is beneath his glorious gaze,” Ertal respond and continued to fuss with his hair. This was an important meeting. It was not often that one was summoned before a noble, with required attendance no less. I was confident though that my god would see me through. This was simply another battlefield. As long as I carried his strength and valor, all would fall before his mighty horns. With a creak, the door opened. An [Administrator] carrying an open tome and quill. Her voice called out into the room, “Now presenting [Paladin] Adam, Trusted of the Order of the Charge, Guildmaster of Lark’s Adventurers Guild and Veteran of the battles of Smith’s Edge, Doran’s Creek, and Small Trees.” I held my head high with my helm under one arm and marched down the fine rug that led towards the Baroness’s seat. To either side, crowds of angry faces jeered at me. Oren the baker with his bald, sweaty head growled. Felli the carpenter, a sneer on his bearded face. Aera the herbalist, an otherwise pleasant and plump woman, had her arms crossed as if I were an unruly child. I ignored them all as I stepped forward. Yesterday, I had visited the barber for a haircut and shave and the bathhouse for a soak in body oils. Ertal spent the day ensuring my armor was fully oiled and shined. I was certain I was the picture of a hero. They might be angry now, but if a monster were to attack then I wanted them to remember my face. For all those that leaned on me in a time of need would place their gratitude in Bi. As we reached the appropriate distance from Baroness Lark’s seat, I stopped and gave a low bow. A courteous one. [Paladins] kneeled to no other but their god, but a bow was appropriate. “You may rise, [Paladin] Adam,” the Baroness spoke with an officious tone. I took in her look as I stood. She wore a blue noblewoman’s gown of fine silk and painted her face with colors that made it seem she was blushing. In her left hand, she held a closed fan that she tapped on the arm of the chair. “Do you know why I summoned you here today, guildmaster?” She asked. I didn’t, but with the reference to my position and the angry merchants, I could assume. Yet, it was better to admit a lack of knowledge than an abundance, “No, Baroness.” “Of late, I have been getting complaints from my merchants. They say that you are sending adventurers to harass them. You, what did you say earlier?” She pointed her fan at Stey the Miller. “My own daughter came to me not two nights ago and asked me if I were the greediest merchant in Lark? When I told her no, she asked me why I wasn’t! As if greed were a good thing!” The man had cleaned up well, as he was normally covered in flour. Others called agreement after him, a chorus of voices with similar stories. Guard Captain Untal, a man I respected as much as he respected me, stomped several times before they silenced. “What do you have to say for yourself, Guildmaster?” the Baroness asked as she gazed down at me with an angry look. I answered that look with a smile, “I am only carrying out the commissions, the quests, of those given to me, Baroness.” “And whom did you take quests from that would require Lark’s youth to accost its merchants?” She tapped her fan into her other hand. “The wizard Nemon Fargus, Baroness,” I said with pride. The wizard could do no wrong in my eyes. He not only created the symbol of my god in his tower, but my god sanctified it before my very eyes. That wizard had done so without a breath of hesitation. He charged forward like the bull himself. Of course, the court was full of people, and the merchants broke into shouts of anger. One man, that I didn’t recognize, stepped out onto the carpet as if to attack me. A guard unsheathed their blade, and that man quickly joined back into the crowd. The rest of the noise calmed as well in the face of that weapon. “Why would you allow the man to place such a quest?” She demanded. “Baroness, he issued not one but several quests. Some of them connected to one another,” I answered, and smiled even broader. “Oh? Do go on,” she said. I nodded once, “He has provided the guild with many quests recently, more than ten that keep Lark’s adventurers active. Some are connected in ways I don’t understand, but this one I do. The first quest placed was one of the scouting of your lands. Prospecting for stone or gems. Or fine metals.” I paused to take a breath, and noticed the court had gone utterly silent, “The second was for adventurers to discover who were the greediest merchants in your lands.” I stopped there, as the merchants around me began to murmur, almost like the babble of a creek. “And the third?” The baroness asked, leaning forward. Her voice cut through the babble like grass under a bull’s hoof. “To deliver the locations discovered to the greediest of Lark’s merchants,” I answered. I dropped my smile to feign a serious countenance as I did. The baroness leaned back into her chair and began tapping her fan against the armrest. The herd of merchants was utterly silent. That was until one voice broke out in a yell. “Sir Adam, I am the greediest!” he called. But he was only the first. Soon a great cacophony of merchants filled the hall, and each claimed a greed that surpassed their peers. The volume only grew for several long minutes and reached a deafening level. That is until the rhythmic beating of weapons on shields made it impossible to speak. When the room was again almost quiet, the yells now a murmur, the baroness spoke. She called out, “Does any man or woman here wish to pursue the matter against [Paladin] Adam, guildmaster of Lark’s Adventurer’s Guild?” She looked around, but no one answered her. Finally, she took a deep breath and declared, “Then I dismiss you all.” I bowed again to the Baroness and marched my way out to through the doors, ignoring the calls and grabbing hands of shopkeepers and tailors alike. They parted before me. Of course, they would. Who stands before the bull when he moves?