The God Yuano gazed at the three groveling mortals with him in disdain. In the mortal world, notably in the city of Czitu, they were considered part of the uppermost echelon -- the Captain of the City Guard, a city Councilor and the city's Harbormaster. Now, they were sitting on their knees on the uncomfortably hard floor of this chilly room. Seeing them like this filled him with a smugness that he rightfully should possess. He didn't feel that he wanted ill for the mortals but they were interesting tools for trade with greed shown to be historically a good motivator. Now, though, their incompetence may demand something more than just greed which would be fear. Fear was an attribute that greedy people frequently had in abundance. He has met few who wanted to be rich through his blessings and also didn't faint with fright when he enacted punishment.

With a golden mask on, none of them could see his facial expresson which was just the way he liked it. Yuano hated it when mortals could read his thoughts. This didn't prevent them from seeing him stroke his beard though. Ah, the stroking beard approach is a good way to intimidate mortals and I'll have to thank Catiano for that notion, Yuano thought. He said in a calm voice tinged with an undertone of grave disappointment. "I hear that you were unable to capture the three magicians who are now running amok in this city."

The guard captain bowed his head even lower. "They were more much powerful than we expected, my divine lord."

"Are you giving yourself an excuse now? You have been paid quite handsomely over the years by me in addition to your usual city salary."

"No uh no um ...not an excuse at all, my divine lord. I sent several of my best guards to apprehend them but the three girls were able to defeat them in a matter of seconds," the guard sputtered out.

"Hmph, I heard one of them was a new recruit?" Yuano scoffed.

"That's uh ... that's true, my divine lord. He was in training but believe me, he was the most promising new candidate. And the other two were seasoned..."

"The best these days seem to possess skill little better than the average city thug. These three especially were a trio of buffoons. I'll encourage you, guard captain, to enact some strict punishment to those three once you're back or maybe I would have to take direct action."

The guard captain's face paled. Yuano was glad to see that the man's face was sweating from fear. Good, mortals do need to know their place, the god thought. The guard lowered his head even further until his forehead almost touched the floor. "Please, let me handle their punishments, my divine lord. I am responsible for the situation."

Yuanos sighed. "I've heard enough. Fine, I trust that you will take care of it. On to a different matter here. Harbormaster, what happened to the shipment of enchanted swords and shields which I expected to be here already?"

The harbormaster maintained a calmer composure than the guard captain but his voice still shook. "My lord, they were stolen. Pirates have been more brazen this season and have captured over two score of our merchant vessels."

The city councilor added quickly preempting Yuano's question. "Lord Yuano, we sent our warships after them but their ships were too fast and they disappeared into the fog every time we approached. It was like magic."

Yuano stopped himself just in time from gritting his teeth. These mortals wouldn't be able to see him doing that but they could possibly hear him. He would never demonstrate weakness in front of such a trio of such insufferable sycophantic ignoramuses. These mortals might believe it's magic but he knew the truth. That damn God of Thieves Edayth have grown bolder lately and was now actively using his own magic to help his followers. He would need to betaught a hard lesson soon once the current situation was resolved. Of utmost present concern now was keeping his city under his lawful control. Add on to that the very possibility that they were now being aided by the followers of Ayula and this whole ordeal was giving him a headache. In his view shared by several of his divine colleagues, the Goddess of Life has long outlived her usefulness in directing mortal affairs. To him, her followers and temples have brought nothing to the economic activities of this world; they don't even charge for their healing services! Supply and demand required at least a reasonable price point for basic divine services. Sure, lower price should have higher demand but nowhere was there the case where there was zero price. That would translate to infinite demand which was impossible. He could calculate and draw a simple diagram for Ayula if she wasn't an obstinate fool. Despite living for millions of years, the goddess had little grasp of basic mathematics.

Furthermore, trade was absolutely necessary for human society to function. Despite popular opinion by many of the poor that the temples were boons to the cities, he could show economically that the temples were a bane on society. There was no wonder that in cities where Ayula's temples were especially prominent that there were little to no activity in the trade of medicine or the craft of healing. In fact, the development of new beneficial alchemical concotions for mortals have stymied and in some cases regressed. Goddess of Healing Mara completely agreed with him that Ayula deserved no place in the cities though for completely different reasons. These musings flashed through his mind in scarcely a second. He gazed at the city councilor. "Councilor, you said you possess solid proof that the magicians are aided by her ever so divine goddess Ayula's followers?"

He inflected his tone on the words divine goddess to mark evident sarcasm. If the councilor noticed, he said nothing, which was a wise decision. Demonstrating respect for other gods when one has already declared one's allegiance to Yuano was a betrayal in the god's eye. That level of breach of trust would be tantamount to an unwillful contract cancellation. The councilor simply nodded. "Yes, Lord Yuano. After the three rogue magicians assaulted the three guards, they took their captive, a fine upstanding citizen of this city, along with his dog to the Temple of Ayula. From --"

"Any reason they decided to proceed there?" Yuano interrupted.

"From what one of the guards said, the dog was clearly hurt in a battle with the magicians. There were burn marks on his fur."

Yuano nodded and gestured for the man to continue with his recount. "We observed them discussing entry with a priestess at the temple. The temple was closing but she allowed them in any way. This is unheard of. No priestess or priest of any temple would ever allow a non-follower to enter their deity's domain after hours, much less a magician. Magicians are not known to follow any particular god or goddess."

Yuano raised his voice. "Mortal, do you think of me as a fool? Why are you explaining to me things which even a mortal child knows?"

"Lord Yuano, I apologize for my misstep. I did not mean to offend. I was merely emphasizing the significance of this matter."

"And yet you did. I may execute some appropriate punishment after this conversation. Please continue, my dear city councilor," Yuano replied accentuating the man's title in sarcasm.

"Thank you, Lord Yuano. We sent half a dozen guards but none of them were allowed to go inside. A dozen more are on their way."

"And what good would that do?"

"Lord Yuano, we believe that with more intimidation, the temple followers would acquiesce."

"My dear mortals, from your ample experience, have they ever followed your directives before?"

All three shook their heads. "No."

"Then what makes you ostrich brains believe that they will do so now?"

"My lord, we have uh um never sent so many guards before at once?" the captain replied hesitantly.

Yuano nodded in pity. He was wrong. These mortals were beyond stupid. "I see, captain. If you wish to intimidate, why are you not there yourself? From what I hear on what you say about yourself, you are the strongest man in the city."

The man blanched with fear. "My lord, the councilor informed me that I needed to be here to report to you."

"You have told me nothing that I did not know already. And you have failed spectacularly with your half-baked strategy. These three guards were following your orders, no?"

The guard captain trembled tremendously and slammed his palms on the floor with his head completely touching the ground. "My lord, please have mercy. It is not my fault. No one knew that they would be so strong. I was not --"

"Enough! You're still denying responsibility. I heard that one of your subordinates, a man by the name of Chami, has handled quite such stressful situations. Did he not give you any thoughts or advice?"

The guard trembled more prominently and now he just soiled his pants. His voice trembled. "My lord, he is in house arrest for failing to uphold the law a fortnight ago."

"Mortal, I know. I also heard that in addition, he was whipped twenty times and had his salary revoked for the month. That was a 'rightful' punishment for him refusing to enforce the law on the raise of entry fees for travelers entering this city. All of you here, did you know raising the entry fee by 150% has caused overall trade to decline by 33% in the last month?"

This time, the city councilor trembled. "Please forgive me, Lord Yuano. Our accountants have not yet finished their ledgers."

"Ah, I see. That is the difference between mortals and the divine. You have no capacity for forethought. I see three fools in front of me. Now the question is which one is the biggest fool? I think that fool's conduct should be enough justification for a contract cancellation."

Only the harbormaster remained silent. The captain shakily pointed a finger at the councilor. "Lord Yuano, it is his fault. He's a leader of this city. I was merely following orders."

Hearing this accusation, the councilor steeled himself and glowered at the captain. "I never asked you to punish him this severely. I just told you to enforce rightful punishment. Also, I did not tell you to send three of your worst guards to confront the magicians."

Yuano laughed with sadistic mirth. "It always amuses me when mortals turn on each other. Harbormaster, you have been quiet. What do you think? Which one is a bigger fool here?"

There was a moment of silence as the man composed his thoughts. "My lord, money can be re-acquired and the policy changed but a clear affront to your authority should not be tolerated. Reputation is hard to reattain once tarnished. The present debacle originates from the captain."

The captain jabbed a finger at the harbormaster. Yuano saw that he has finished soiling his pants. "You ...you bastard. Whatever happened to the armory supply which I let you keep after the incident earlier this year? I thought you would be on my side."

Yuano scoffed. His voice hardened. "Let's see. A coward, fool and liar. Yes, you broke the contract. Any last words?"

"No, lord Yuano, please, I have a wife and a newborn child and --," the captain started to beg until Yuano interrupted.

"Then, I'm sure your family will appreciate this gift. I've calculated your worth and I see that you typically bring in 25 gold a month including your illicit gains. Let's say your income decreases by 10% annually over the next two decades, which would be an optimistic scenario given your latest gambling losses. I forecast your family in debt of at least 250 gold pieces by then. Now, let's say that you're actually gold. Your body mass is approximately 125 kilograms. Assuming a current market rate for food and other mortal living necessities with an average market price fluctuations of 12% given historical data and assuming the councilors doesn't enact any more inane policies, I forecast that your body should be able to provide for your family at least two decades with over 500 gold pieces remaining. Yes, that sounds right."

"The contract is null," Yuano said casually.

Yuano snapped his fingers and a piece of paper with squiggly lines appeared from thin air. A flame suddenly erupted which quickly burned the paper into ash that scattered onto the floor. Concurrently, there was a terrifying screech from the man. For a strong man, he had a very girly scream, Yuano thought. His scream cut off half-way as his body turned into solid gold starting from his feet. The process took scarcely a second. The golden statue had a face which had a mouth open in a scream with eyes rolled back. "A fairly ugly statue but his family could melt it down into appropriately sized ingots."

There was a moment of silence as the other two men shuffled uncomfortably. Yuano continued. "First order of business is having the entire city locked down. No going in or out. Harbormaster, ensure that no ships are allowed to leave the harbor. Councilor, ensure that all the city gates are closed and the citizens alerted of these rogue mages. Also, give Chami full authority as the new guard captain and inform him to have all guards enforce the rules."

The two men nodded and said at the same time, "My lord, we will comply."

The councilor appeared to wish to say something more. Yuano gestured for him to continue. "My lord, we will comply. I only have one concern."

"Speak."

"They are magicians with capabilities far beyond what our guards are capable of. How will our guards be able to stop them? I fear that even our mercenaries would be no match without enchanted weapons."

Yuano smiled smugly. "Ah, you leave them to me. Whether or not the Goddess of Life is supporting them, her power is weak in the city outside of her temple."

The two men nodded. "Arise and leave. You two have much to do and so do I."