She wants to talk about Aelbrecht

“Take a seat.” Agnes says.

I roll my eyes. “Is this going to take long? I have things to do.”

All of a sudden, Agnes stares at me with anger obviously noticeable in her eyes. “Sit … down.” She commands me.

Damn. Sounds like this is being serious. I sit and wait for her to start.

“Now that you’ve had some time to calm down … I want you to tell me what you’ve done to piss Aelbrecht off.”

“What I have done?” I ask. “It’s Aelbrecht who came in and ruined everything. Maybe you should ask him why he did it!”

Agnes leans back in her chair and looks at me with disdain.

“I have known Aelbrecht for far longer than you have, little boy.” Agnes continues. “He never does something for the heck of it. There is always a reason to it. There is always something behind why he does things. If he breaks his 10-year rule to humiliate you, then I can only assume you did something to give him a reason. So … what did you do?”

I lean closer towards Agnes and ask her, “Have you ever thought this has nothing to do with me and it is just him trying to humiliate Oblivion? There is no way he could have known I would win. As far as he was aware, there was a good chance you would win. Then he’d have to face you. Humiliate you.”

“If that was his goal, then why didn’t he just join the tournament from the very beginning?” Agnes counters. “Why go straight to the queen and ask her to bend the rules specifically for him? Or are you going to find an excuse to fit the queen into your little conspiracy theory as well, just so you won’t have to tell me the truth?”

“He did it to show everyone he has control over the queen and can make her do whatever he wants.” I reply while getting angry myself. “I think Aelbrecht is interested in performing a power grab. Midnight Dawn is weak. Has been weak for years. All Aelbrecht has to do is flex some muscle correctly, and he can motivate enough guild members from Midnight to switch over to his. Then he threatens an attack with his best fighters, and he takes over all of Midnight Dawn’s territory. Once that happens, he will control half the city, and we only a quarter. If then a guild war was to happen, Oblivion would cease to exist.”

If I were guild leader of Oblivion, that’s exactly what I would do to Midnight Dawn. So, I am positive Aelbrecht would do the same. I lean back in my chair and smirk, confident in my argument. Let’s see how Agnes counters it.

“Has it truly been so long since the ascension of Midnight Dawn that kids these days don’t remember it anymore?” Agnes sighs disappointingly. “Right then. Get comfortable. I’ve got a history lesson for you, and you will pay attention.”

Oh great. A mandatory history lesson. I honestly can’t see the value in it. History is in the past. It doesn’t affect us anymore. But fine, I will oblige her.

“Before I was born, the three big guilds in Riledo were Dark Dragons, Oblivion and Elysium’s End. Midnight Dawn was but a smaller guild allied to Elysium’s End. It governed the region that Midnight Dawn has now and was expanding it. It found dirt on the guilds and guildmasters of smaller guilds that were allied to Dark Dragon and Oblivion and then blackmailed them into switching allegiance. One fateful day, some Dark Dragon adventurers discovered it, and wanted to inform Aelbrecht of it, except they got found out by Elysium’s guild members and were killed for it. Only one made it to Aelbrecht and told him all about it. The next day, Aelbrecht reported it to the royal guard, but they said Elysium’s End had no interest in handing over their members for trial and the guild was too big a guild for them to do anything about it. So, Aelbrecht went to Elysium’s End’s guild master, an S rank named Nolan, and demanded he delivered the culprits to the royal guard. Nolan stood up for his guild members and refused to extradite them. The next time those adventurers left Elysium’s End’s guildhall, they were beset by multiple Dark Dragon adventuring parties, got apprehended, and delivered to the royal guard.”

“Damn. That old bag of bones has some balls.” I say, surprising myself at how interesting this story is becoming to me. “I bet Nolan and the rest of Elysium’s End didn’t like that?”

“Indeed, they didn’t. Nolan demanded the royal guard to let his guild members go. But the Royal guard was not in a position to do so. If they did, they would signify that killing another guild’s guild members in broad daylight is acceptable. It would normalize **** on the streets and that is something that they couldn’t permit. They would also have the Dark Dragons turn against them. That is why instead, Nolan had some Dark Dragon members captured and held them hostage in his guildhall unless Aelbrecht dropped the charged and the imprisoned Elysium’s End guys were released.”

Agnes leans in close and rests her arms on her desk. “I want you to now guess what Aelbrecht did next.”

I shrug and say, “Convince Oblivion to join him and gang up against Elysium’s end?”

Agnes smiles and says, “He did something far more devastating. The main method for guilds to earn money is by fulfilling quests. After all, the quest giver pays for the reward and the guild takes a percentage from that before the reward gets handed over to the adventurers who completed it. So, Aelbrecht sent a message to all the people who usually send their quests and odd jobs to Elysium and told them that if they send their quests to Dark Dragon instead, the quests will be done for free.”

I start laughing at the absurdity of it. “What, does Dark Dragon have such a vast treasury they can afford it?”

“Dark Dragon has been a big guild in Riledo since before even Nolan was born. They have had many years to fatten their treasury. Aelbrecht is also a good manager. He knows how to make money and invest.”

“And you have proof of this?” I ask.

Agnes opens a drawer from her desk and reaches for something inside. “I have sent spies into the Dark Dragon guildhall on some occasions. They have never found a treasure chamber, but every time I did this, the next day one of these appears on my desk.”

Then Agnes places what appears to be 4 black chess pieces in front of me, except they are no chess pieces I know of for all of them have a dragon’s head on them.

“This is Aelbrecht’s way of letting me know that not only did he notice I sent a spy into his guildhall, but he is also telling me one of his spies successfully infiltrated Oblivion’s guildhall.” She then gives me a stern look and says, “If in the coming days I receive another one of these, I will know you infiltrated Aelbrecht’s guildhall.”

Damn, there goes that plan. I will have to find another way to get information on him.

“Anyways, back to the story. Elysium’s End lost its usual jobs to Dark Dragon, and Aelbrecht delegated those quests to smaller guilds he was allied to. Elysium’s End quickly started hemorrhaging money and it wasn’t looking good for them. So, Nolan thought the best course of action was to attack the smaller guilds in Dark Dragon territory, which resulted in Dark Dragon defending those guilds while also attacking Elysium’s allied guilds in return. It was becoming an all-out guild war, with not just 2 of the big guilds, but also all their allied guilds battling it out.”

A freaking guild war? I was wrong, this is exciting.

“It was so bad the king demanded the guild masters to appear before him and talk it out. Nolan accused Aelbrecht of starting the war, Aelbrecht presented the king with evidence that Nolan was blackmailing guilds to join him. Nolan declared those to be lies. Both guild masters were stubborn and no peace treaty could be made. So instead, the king came up with a compromise. Dark Dragon and Elysium’s End could fight out a guild war, but none of their allied guilds were permitted to participate. There would also be royal representatives in each of these smaller guilds to report if they get attacked. Elysium’s End tried to circumvent this by having adventurers from the smaller guilds quit their guild and join Elysium until the war was over. Aelbrecht’s tactic was to focus on defense. So, Elysium’s End marched into Dark Dragon territory and attacked one of the dragon’s chapterhouses. They found the building occupied by only the undead and elementals. Otherwise, it was deserted. There was not even anything valuable to loot. Then suddenly, it was surrounded by fire. The whole building got immolated and many Elysium guild members died. The chapterhouses were set up as a trap. That is when Nolan learned he should go straight for the Dragon’s guild hall instead. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen that place, but it is a fortress. Attacking water mages tried to drain the moat, but defending water mages filled it back up. Attacking earth mages couldn’t break through the walls, because defending earth mages repaired them again. And on the highest tower was Aelbrecht himself, throwing lightning bolts and other spells onto Elysium. Nolan figured that the best way to deal with Aelbrecht was to make him cast so many spells that he ends up depleting his mana reserves. Once he ran out, it would be easier to break into the fort. Thing is, Aelbrecht apparently never ran out of mana.”

I raise my hand to get Agnes to stop and say, “Hang on. Does that mean Aelbrecht has unlimited mana?”

“I don’t know of any normal skill which does that. He is a centuries old mage, so he must have learned many tricks. And then there are the rumors that he is the last Zrephian mage alive. But if I were to make a guess, then yes, I believe that when he had his awakening, the goddess offered him a gift and Aelbrecht asked for unlimited mana. Regardless which of these is true, the fact remain that Aelbrecht can cast high mana spells for a very long time.”

“Back to the story. Elysium’s End couldn’t break through the Dark Dragon defenses. They lost too many men and incurred too many wounded. So, they had to break off and head back to their guildhall to rest. But when they were heading back they noticed smoke from where their guildhall lies. Turns out that Aelbrecht had hand picked some of his best adventurers and sent them towards the Elysium guildhall. Elysium never noticed them because they took the shorth route, while this Dragon attack squad took the long way around. Into the northern section, through Oblivion’s territory, evaded Elysium’s chapterhouses and then attacked Elysium’s guildhall from behind while there was barely anyone there. They liberated the hostages, destroyed the treasury and leveled the guildhall. Elysium’s guild members now had to sleep on the street. Which is of course when Dark Dragons who earlier defended their fort performed another surprise attack. Many of Elysium’s members felt Nolan made a big mistake at starting a war with Dark Dragon and decided to quit Elysium and join other guilds. That was pretty much it for Elysium’s End. Nolan felt so guilty over his guild members he led to their deaths and went retired early, then Elysium’s End got disbanded. By all rights, Dark Dragon could have taken over all of Elysium’s territory, like you previously suggested. Instead, Dark Dragon simply took back the guilds Elysium stole from, then allowed Midnight Dawn to rise and take over of Elysium, as they had absorbed most of Elysium’s former guild members.”

“So, that was an interesting story, but what do you want me to learn from it?”

“That Aelbrecht is not expansionist like Nolan was, so Aelbrecht didn’t humiliate you in the arena because of some delusion for taking more territory. That if you fuck with Aelbrecht’s guild members, Aelbrecht will teach you a lesson. That if you refuse to learn your lesson, this may become a conflict far bigger than you can handle. And that I will not make the same mistake Nolan made and defend you at the expense of Oblivion.”

What did she say at the end? She can’t say that! Not to me!!

“You can’t talk to me like that.” I reply, showing no anger but seething on the inside. “You are old. You are going to retire soon. You need me to replace you. You have no one else. I am the future of this guild.”

“No.” Agnes says as she shakes her head. “If Oblivion and Dark Dragon go to war for you, you shall not be the future of Oblivion. You will be the future of Midnight Dawn instead. Or do you think Midnight will not take advantage of the weakened states of both Dark Dragon and Oblivion?”

Damn, she has a point there.

“So now, I want you to answer my question, Kase. And if you don’t, I will send you to chapterhouse we have that is the furthest away from Riledo. What … the fuck … did … you … do.”

She is clearly not going to let this go. I can either come up with a good lie, or tell her the truth.