Cless returned home feeling like a weight had been lifted from her back. Her petty revenge wouldn't hurt the City any more than if Clegane was allowed to remain and feed on the taxes, smuggling, and racketeering. At least now the city could heal. Part of her knew of her hypocrisy but she couldn't let it go. The anger she found in that warehouse resounded with another kidnapping event in a warehouse months ago and it didn't burn like a bonfire but smoldered like embers. They threatened her guild, her family.

Something awakened. She was experiencing the same changes she felt back then. As if another layer of her being activated. If that time it was a cunning one, now it was a dark, vengeful Cless. What would she do? Cless had nobody to talk to, to give her advice. The girl would have to figure herself out on her own. Were these changes normal? Were they part of growing up or something else?

She remembered there was still one loose end. The contraband crates. Cless hurried back home, infiltrating through the church and the graveyard, using Blink to get inside her lot. Cless found her guild playing that bone game in the kitchen. Another weight got off her chest. She couldn't bear to be apart from them.

"Hello, guild master," Vic bowed. "Care to join us? By the looks of it, you're as busy as ever. What can we do to help you?"

She looked at them. The threats from the envoy, whether he was at the Lord's service or not, showed her two things. That she had a deep darkness inside her and that she cared about these four non-humans and the six Heroes that helped her the most in the world. She would burn Midgard to the ground before she'd allow harm to come their way.

"Guys, we are visiting the Association. It is time to cash in the crates of contraband. We are going in style to make a statement. Gear up and look your best. Meet the gazes and glares you get wherever and whenever you get them. The people out on the streets, the delvers at the Association will hate and loathe us for what we are. Don't let them knock us down a peg."

They went to the basement and moved the crates into their wagon. Since the golem was at the sawmill, Cless had to put Kate to pull the wagon. She placed gloves on her clawed hands to make her look less threatening. Hunched, Kate was larger than a warhorse but they had no big problems reaching the Association building.

The faces the delvers were making around them were not the friendliest. Cless stood up on the driver's seat cradling Shad on her arms. She looked around and met the delvers' eyes. With a deep breath, she climbed down, planting her feet firmly on the pavement. Two of the delvers nodded at her. She returned their nod with a smile. Cless turned around to face the wagon, the hem of her cloak fluttering around her.

She met the eyes of her guild. Vic gave her a fanged smile. Kurt fanned the feathers of his neck. Silverfang was too busy growling at some delvers that looked like they wanted to pick a fight. Venaris gave her a thumbs up.

"Venaris, please stay with Kurt by the wagon. Silverfang and Vic, help me carry the crates inside."

Each of them carried only one crate at a time. They had strength and coordination to do two or three but it would be awkward to walk without seeing and they wanted to take their sweet time. It was a parade.

As Cless reached the counter labeled "Drops Exchange", a man wearing a blood-stained apron came out of a door to meet her. He was big, almost two meters tall and had broad shoulders that threatened to rip his shirt apart if he flexed them too hard.

"Guild master Cless of the Blind Eye. Welcome!"

His big wide grin showed the lack of a few teeth. He had scars across his cheek and temple, deep gashes where a monster's claw attempted to flail his face. His openness made Cless feel mischievous and she dropped her hood. She also grinned back at him and enjoyed how he didn't flinch at her deformed face.

"I don't think we met before, sir. I'm quite at a disadvantage here."

"No, we don't," He chuckled. "There was no reason to, you didn't bring loot to sell before. Name is Harrison, I am the official dismantler and appraiser for the guild."

He reached out with his hand and Cless reached for a handshake. He took her fingers and kissed the air above them. She pulled her arm back and noticed the boys were on their second trip to bring crates.

"I should go back to carry the crates. It is not fair to let the boys do all the hard work. Shad, watch our loot. Poke the eyes out of any delver that tries to steal from us."

Shad raised a paw.

They carried all the crates. Cless sighed and leaned on them. "Please evaluate and buy the loot. We will collect the Association and City taxes at this time."

Harrison opened the crates and checked the contents one by one, scribbling on a piece of parchment. After he finished tallying everything, he showed the result to Cless.

"Is this correct, guild master? Do you agree to this listing? What about the prices?"

Cless knew it to be right. She could tally everything with only a glance. She could also sense that the prices were slightly below market but that was expected from the Association. They had to turn a profit after all.

"Yes, Mr. Harrison. I agree with everything." She tried not to let her inner greed show at the value he was showing her. When Harrison spoke next, she knew she'd failed. An appraiser is a perceptive person, after all.

"Well, I still need to calculate taxes, please don't run to the magic weapons shop next door yet. I need to confirm the origin of this loot. Most of it seems to be from our Dungeon."

She shrugged. "I took it from bandits in the northern woods. I didn't ask them where they got it from. I believe you know the rest of the tale."

Harrison grimaced. He looked at the tavern side of the building and back at Cless.

"Yes, I do. And now with all of them dead, nobody can dispute your claim," He detached a slip of the parchment and signed it. "Here, take this voucher to a booth and claim your coin."

She didn't move. "I beg your pardon?" Cless heard what he said just fine, but she couldn't believe.

He shook his head and spoke in a low voice loaded with gravitas. "They all died in the garrison several days ago. Dagon, his delvers, and all the other prisoners. I think even people not involved died. Some guards too."

Cless felt some bile climb her throat. Someone sent an assassin to silence them. Guards that had nothing to do with the smuggling died. The failed kidnapping a few hours ago. Were they connected? Was the mastermind still on the loose?

"Girl, look at me," Harrison's voice stirred her from her worries. "It had nothing to do with you. I've seen too many soft-hearted delvers exactly as you get devoured by the wickedness of the world. You can't control the world. Things beyond your reach are beyond your grasp. So I'll give you one phrase for you to put together with what you are feeling right now.

"It was not your fault."

Cless wiped the dampness on her mouth and face. She looked at the voucher and thought for a moment about burning it.

"Go and cash it," The scarred man told the scarred girl.

"I will. But not for coin."

Cless went to the guild master exclusive booth and flashed her charter. The clerk called her. A woman this time. Very beautiful and bountiful too. Probably padding, impossible to know because her uniform covered everything up to her neckline. 'Bet she is popular with the delvers,' Cless thought.

"What may I help you with, guild master? May I see your charter?"

They were too eager to handle her charter for some reason. It was the same thing as before, but she gave the Dragon Delvers' one that time.

"What do you want to do with my charter?"

"Well, we have a ranking of all the guilds who delve in our Dungeon. If you get ranked, you can earn special discounts and opportunities with both the Association and our partner shops."

"Not interested. I am here to cash this voucher I just got from Harrison."

She gave the voucher to the clerk and the woman went wide-eyed. Harrison was leaning on his counter, smirking. She glanced at him and he nodded slowly. Then he gave Cless a thumbs up.

"Do you want the money? I'll go get the sovereign coins..."

"Wait. Give me the book catalog. History, geography, Dungeon maps, spellbooks. Show me what you have."

Cless got a couple dozen crowns as pocket money and five crates of books. 'A couple dozen crowns as pocket money,' she sighed at how her notion of money shifted. Kate knew the way home, Cless didn't need to drive. She held the reins just to make people on the streets a little less disturbed.

Two weeks after her visit to the Association, nobody came to visit Cless and she liked it. The statement sent to the Lord clearly said: "all crates previously in the trust vault created by Clegane were transferred to another trust with the Lord as its trustee." There was no reason to come after her now. The bank also issued an apology for their clerk's behavior. Not that it mattered now, he committed suicide by lying to her.

Resting in her new bed, in her bedroom with a proper door and windows, she reviewed her two weeks of apprenticeship. People were getting suspicious about how she was getting the wooden logs from. They switched to carrying the logs on the Kate-drawn wagon through the gate.

The slow Experience trickle granted her the twentieth level of Wizard Princess. Some of the hardest projects she took gave her a little Experience. She got +2 Agility and +1 Health and learned [Stronghold II] - Cless now could have two "homes" set. It led her to believe tasks had a "level" assigned to them.

She went to her apprenticeships like a clockwork machine. During the morning, while she was with the northern ward craftsmen learning glassblowing, blacksmithing, and pottery, the four from her guild went out of town through the farm tunnel and harvested timber. The logs would arrive with her at the sawmill and she used her four hours to craft doors, window shutters, and furniture for her house. Her proficiencies were skyrocketing. Her high multiplier, level, and stat value let her gain the lower levels not as fast as she expected, not even fast enough. Her lowest proficiency right now was pottery and it was thirty-seven after the first week. Sixty-one after the second.

By any means, thirty-seven proficiency points in a week were huge. To anyone else but her. She knew what she could do to get it up to speed, but she was reluctant to do it. She avoided using [Crafter]'s 3x crafting speed during her apprenticeships. She would have made three times as many items and learned three times faster, but it would draw too much attention to her. Things were going to change now. Cless felt it was time to start her own workshop. She knew how to handle the tools, what kind of infrastructure she needed, and most importantly, she had contact with the suppliers.

She decided to make her own tools during the second week. The Spring thawing and rains came back with a vengeance. Emergency orders came from places whose previous emergency orders were already fulfilled. It caused a scarcity of raw materials, drawing prices up. An edict controlling the sale of materials washed away her plans. She couldn't finish her tools and the training wouldn't be as productive now.

Venaris entered her room with a jiggling coin pouch. "Hey, sister. I got money," She said with the dismay of a child that gets coal in their surprise bag.

Cless raised her head and called the gnome to her bed. "What happened?"

"We brought the wooden logs through the gate. The guards had an edict to buy our timber. We had no choice! They only paid half market price."

She shrugged. There was nothing they could do about it unless they wanted to fight the Lord's orders.

"Nah. That's fine," Cless comforted the dismayed gnome. "We should delve. We took way too long to visit the Dungeon. There's nothing we can do here without materials."

Venaris perked up. "I'll let the boys know."

Status:

Name: Queen Cless Hreidmar of Myrkheim and Infernal Realm (in exile)

Race: Human.

Level: 92 ( 3,998,764 / 4,278,000 Exp ) [Experience Threshold > level 40]

Class (tier) level (Experience):

— Dabbler (1) 25 ( 300,000 Exp / ** ) — Beast Tamer (2) 25 (900,000 Exp / ** ) — Vicar (3) 25 ( 1,500,000 Exp / ** )

— Wizard Princess (4+1) 20 (1,623,932 / 1,710,000 Exp )

Professions — Veteran Warmaster 25 (300,000 Exp / **) — Master Instructor 19 (662,765 / 665,000 Exp)

— Crafter 25 (*) — Farmer 25 (*) — Herbalist 25 (*) — Alchemist 25 (*) — Diplomat 25 (*) — Administrator 25 (*)

Base Stats — Strength: 95 [229] — Agility: 122 [295] — Health: 138 [333]

— — — — Intellect: 211 [426] — Wisdom: 200 — Charisma: 304 — Magic: 303 [612]

Available Status Points: 151

Skills:

S-rank: [Absolute Contract]

B-rank: [Fear Aura] — [Perfect Might] — [Succubus’ Kiss]

C-rank: [Appraise Immunity ] — [Craftsmen] — [Dangersense] — [Dragon Skin] — [Earth Magic] — [Eat Anything ]

— [Elven Longevity ] — [Master Miner] — [Perfect Accounting] — [Seductress' Charm] — [Shadow Eminence]

— [Shrinking] — [Underdog] — [Will of the Mage]

D-Rank: [Acute Smell] — [Alchemical Tolerance ] — [Alchemist ] — [Architectural Ingenuity ] — [Breathless] — [Curmudgeon crafter ]

— [Dancer’s Grace ] — [Darkness Resistance ] — [Diplomat] — [Druidwalk ] — [Farmer ] — [Gemsense ] — [Giant's Stamina ]

— [Great Leap ] — [Grounding] — [Herbalism] — [Intimidating Authority] — [Ladykiller] — [Merchant sense ] — [Miasma Sight]

— [Ore sense ] — [Poison Resistance ] — [Runner's Dash ] — [Sharp Mind ] — [Singer] — [Snakes' Flexibilty ] — [Spell Resistance ]

— [Steelshine ] — [Sundering Magic]— [Tinker ] — [Tremorsense ] — [Woodworking]

E-Rank: [Air sailing ] — [Burrower Bond ] — [Cat User] — [Chick Magnet] — [Coin Sense ] — [Enhanced touch ]

— [Food Conservation] — [Gravebreath ] — [Hearth’s warmth] — [Heavy Lifter] — [Howl ] — [Lady's Countenance] — [Pack Rat ]

— [Pickpocket] — [Seamstress] — [Silk Hair ] — [Splinters ] — [Sword User] — [Virility] — [Wanderlust ] — [Weavertouch ]

F-rank: [Florist’s Wonder] – [Gardener’s touch] – [Inner Compass]

Techniques:

Beast Tamer: — [Beast Taming VI] — [Beast Status] — [Share Skills *]

Vicar: — [Sanctuary *]

Princess: — [Stronghold II] — [Demesne] — [Protector III]

Spells (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Spells without a number are at the soft cap / * denotes a level 25th ultimate):

Divine: — Mending — Detoxify — Light — Turn Undead — Blessing — Holy Bolt — Purify — Protection

— — — Hallow — Flametongue — Cure — Uncurse — Banish — Heal — Warding — Revivify*

— — — Censure — Bulwark — Mass Mending — Sacred Dance — Judgement — Song of the Accord*

— — — Water Breathing — Shield of Faith — Sanctuary*

Mage: — Detect Magic — Mage Bolt — Armor — Firebolt — Icebolt — Lightning Grasp — Shield

— — — Fireball — Resistance — Shockwave — Magic Missiles — Wind Blade — Deeppockets* — Blink*

House: — Detect Dust — Doorwatch — Prestidigitation — Never Overdone! — Touch Up — Dry — Repair

— — — Clean — Bloom — Hearth Recall*

Earth: — Soften — Earth Armor — Spike — Stone Shape — Earthen Maw — Earthwave — Terrakinesis — Golem*

— — — Earth to Stone — Grasping Hand — Spike Wall — Construct*

Wiz.Princess: — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — 20: ????

Proficiencies (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Values under 10 hidden / {A} = Automatic Proficiency: Soft Cap +5):

Appraise: Status: 80

General: Prayer: 80 — Reading: 50

Academic: Magic Theory: 50 — Spellcraft: 50 — Architecture: {A}

Crafting (+9 Profession): Tailor: {A} — Embroidery: {A} — Knitting: {A}

Farming, plants (+38 Profession): Foraging: 30 — Forestry: 30 — Gardening: 40

Farming, livestock (+13 Profession): Dismantling: 30

Production (+9 Profession): Mining: {A} — Weaving: {A} — Quarrying: 35

Social (+25 profession): Negotiation — Persuasion — Bluff — Flirting: {A} — Sexual Technique: {A}

— — Etiquette: {A} — Dancing: {A} — Singing: {A} — Gambling: {A}

Movement: Running: {A} — Athletics: {A} — Balance: {A} — Jumping: {A}

Martial (+18 profession): Leadership: 80 — Intimidation: 80 — Tactics: 80

Weapon (+18 profession): Long Blades — Unarmed: 80 — Archery: 80 — Maces: 60 — Pickaxe: {A}