I awoke in the same room as last time I passed out in the Earl’s residence. At least this time I was in a sleeping gown. A sleeping gown with a broach on it. Arem’s defense. The Viscount must have sent for it and placed it on me. Speaking of the Viscount. He was sitting in a chair staring at me. Ruberm was in the other chair in the room. Justinian stood up and moved next to the bed. “How are you feeling, Trevor?” He asked.

  “Somewhat tired and fuzzy headed, but otherwise 100%.” Actually, I felt wonderful. Score one for my regeneration. But I demurred, because I wanted to keep my regeneration a secret. I sat up and got out of bed. “How is Jaster doing, my lord?”

  “He is much like you, weak and somewhat fuzzy headed”, the Viscount said while smiling, showing a sense of humor, I would never have suspected. “Jaster is completely healed, thanks to you. Your efforts will not go unrewarded, Master Trevor.”

  “No reward is necessary. I agreed to do my best on healing your son’s hand. The rest was incidental, and I consider myself amply paid.” And patted the broach on my chest, indicating Arem’s defense was more than sufficient payment.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked.

  Ruberm replied “About two hours, much less than last time.” His grin was as wide as the Viscount, he continued “Let’s try to not make this a habit.”

  “On that we both agree.” I replied with a grin just as wide.

  “We will leave you to get dressed. The Earl will want to see you when you are ready.” Ruberm said as he and the Viscount turned around to leave.

  As soon as they left, I went to the wardrobe and gathered my clothes. I got dressed, called my sword to my hand, just to make sure it was available. Put my sword away. I did, however, place my knife in my belt. While getting dressed, I checked my notification.

  [Congratulations you have learned the skill Magic Sight, level 1]

  Fully dressed and feeling ready to handle the next emergency, I walked out of the room ready to see the Earl. While I was curious about Magic Sight, I would look deeper into it later. Right now, I needed to focus on the Earl and the Healer’s guild.

  We found the Earl in his office speaking with Captain Tyus of the City Watch. We waited outside his office until he was finished speaking with Captain Tyus. There was a comfortable waiting area with nice chairs, and we all sat down.

  “Any clues as to what I am doing here?” I asked, hoping to get a heads up.

  “Hopefully, just an update on the situation as there have been some interesting developments.” Ruberm said, not showing whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

  “Don’t look at me” the Viscount said, “I have been by your bed this entire time.” That was unexpected, but with Ruberm nodding his head, I accepted it.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Captain Tyus walked out of the office and gestured for us to enter. We went in and sat down, waiting on the Earl. “Some interesting fallout from today’s events have occurred. While we were busy with Jaster, the Grandmaster left. He hasn’t been seen since. I sent a summons to the Healer’s guild. The guild responded that he is not there. He has, apparently, left the city without notice to anyone. The guild leadership is in turmoil. His leaving doesn’t release the guild from its obligations for compensation to either of you, so think on an appropriate level.” He stopped talking to take a drink of tea. “It was a good idea to ask about Jaster’s knife. The Healer at the party gave it to him, just before the duel. Jaster did not know it was poisoned. He was fuzzy about the reasons why he challenged you, but he does acknowledge his culpability. Nor does he appear to have any animosity towards you, Trevor. So, I want that problem to be over with the adequate compensation received.” He looked at me and I nodded.

  “As I believe Jaster was manipulated by the Healer’s guild for unknown reasons, I hold no animosity toward Jaster or any of the Corville House.”

  “Good, moving on. Finally, the assassin Justinian captured is dead. Before anyone was able to stop him, he committed suicide via a poison. He had a false tooth and was able to release the poison. He was dead in seconds; he won’t be helping us in this investigation.”

  “Earl, what are the plans for the Healers guild? Will they continue to operate? What about the Healer that gave Jaster the knife? Is he in custody or did he leave along with the Grandmaster?” I was pretty at this point that the Heaven’s Healer was either gone or dead. Either way, he wasn’t answering any questions.

  “Healer Jenese, that’s his name, and is missing. I assume he left with the Grandmaster. As for the guild itself, I will be placing several sanctions on it and the leadership. While not crippling the guild, it will definitely cause it pain. The City Watch is currently going to conduct a search of its premises to see if it can discover more about why you were targeted or any other nefarious deeds. The tax agents will go along with the City Watch to conduct an in-depth review of their income and apply heavy penalties for any back taxes. While I won’t kick innocent Healers out of the city, I will punish any corrupt ones and only close the guild if the leadership is complicit. My city needs the Healers and they do much good, so closing the guild is a drastic step to take.”

  “Earl, I agree that closing the guild is the least wanted path. Instead, may I suggest that if the leadership is found corrupt, that you place the guild under your control for a limited time period. This way you can install a governor to oversee it. The governor and their staff would have the authority the leadership use to have, but also the ability to remove anyone from the guild. They would report to you or Ruberm, so their loyalties would be with you. You make sure the guild knows this is a temporary measure and the only other alternative is removal of the guild from Forest Glen. This allows you to do a full investigation, while letting the guild members know it is a temporary situation.” I had been involved in similar situations back on Earth, where a critical company was taken over by the State government. This was done until the corruption was removed or other companies replaced it. It was unpopular as hell in the US, but sometimes necessary. But this is not a democratic nation, so I don’t see a problem here. If the Earl does take over the Healer’s guild, then I don’t have to worry about them coming after me. If he doesn’t, then I will need guards. Hell, I should probably get guards anyway, seeing as assassins are a thing here.

  Long story short, the Earl would be moving forward with his plan about the guild. The Viscount and I needed to determine what recompense we wanted, and that I should take care for the next couple of days/weeks because of fallout from the Grandmaster leaving. In the meantime, the Earl assigned two guards to protect me while I visited the Guild district. I headed to the Church of Kronozo when I left.