A voice came through the office door, breaking the silence.

“Mackenzie Team, come in.” The man’s voice demanded.

Inside the office was a portly older man, completely bald with his head shining under the fluorescent lights, and sweat stains on his shirt. It was obvious that he was not one of the Elites, even without considering his age, just by the condescending look that he was giving the group.

“I hear that you have done wonderful things for the productivity rankings of the Public Safety department. Excellent work. However, we must check your equipment for contraband, to ensure that there are no prohibited or sacrilegious items going back to the public.” He smugly announced.

Doug turned to Karl as if to say, “I told you so”, but Karl knew as well as everyone else that what the man was after was a bribe. He didn’t give a damn about contraband, and his position in Public Safety didn’t even allow him to handle it, he would have to call in the army to dispose of it for him if any was found.

But if a few gold coins were declared suspicious, who would be any wiser?

The others waited for the man to make his pitch, but Karl decided to move first, and picked up Doug’s backpack, which had nothing in it except what it had come with. He set it on the desk and smiled at the bureaucrat.

“Of course that won’t be a problem. Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development already has our inventory, but you are free to verify the contents of the bags.” Karl replied with a genuine smile.

The man’s face fell like Karl had kicked him, and his whole attitude changed.

“You met with the Colonel?” He stammered.

“Of course. She is my direct supervisor, and has a pair of agents assigned to my development at the Academy. We spend quite a bit of time together.” Karl informed him.

“Then I think that we are finished here. I will get a copy of the contents from the Bureau, and they can take responsibility for any contraband that might have made its way off the battlefield with your team.”

He waved to dismiss the team from his office, and they silently made their way back into the hall, where their escort was still waiting.

“That was a short meeting. I am glad that you could sort things out so quickly.” The young woman greeted them while standing in the middle of the hallway, as if prepared to prevent them from leaving.

“Yes, it is always a pleasant experience dealing with Public Safety. Now, will we be staying here in the compound, or are we set to fly out right away?” Doug asked.

“You will have to stay here for a moment, Brother Doug.” A voice called from behind them.

Karl turned to see a rather familiar looking inquisitor behind them. If he was right, this was the big shirtless one from the Seminary Academy, who had been present for his interrogation after the discovery of the Trial Instance Holy Relic.

The man seemed to recognize him as well, but he didn’t say anything as he led them away from the office, leaving the now smirking staff member behind them.

The inquisitor led them into a soundproofed room and locked the door, then turned to Doug with an expectant look.

“Don’t blame me for this one. The new guy name-dropped the Bureau, and the Public Safety guy nearly shit his pants. I take it that he hit the alarm?” The Cleric asked with a laugh.

The Inquisitor sighed and rolled his eyes. “I got an emergency notification that your team had intimidated their way into bringing contraband back from your mission, and I was already standing next to you in the hallway. So, I need to check all your bags, while Brother Doug explains how things work to our newest Ascended Elite.”

Doug chuckled as he put his bag on the floor, as did everyone else, before the Green Dragon Cleric turned to Karl, laughing softly.

“There is an unofficial policy that if a mission is run by an agency that isn’t part of the Elites, they tax the gains a maximum of five percent. It’s a get-rich-quick scheme for the politically connected, but it’s not officially sanctioned.

However, unlike whoever you have used that intimidation tactic on before, these ones have connections that can make your day very difficult if you don’t play along.

Now, you know, and I know, that we don’t have anything. But if I didn’t know the Inquisitor, how do you think our afternoon would have gone after he was informed that we definitely had contraband?” Doug asked.

Karl nodded. “I see. I was thinking of him like the shift foreman at the mine that used to want bribes to clock you out on time. The guy in the office was such a greasy weasel that he just didn’t give the impression of politically powerful.”

The big Inquisitor nearly choked as he did his best not to laugh, then shook his head.

“Yeah, this one is definitely one of us. Young Karl has a lot left to learn, but he’s off to a good start. You should ask him about how he managed to cutesy his way out of an interrogation by having Thor come out and beg for head pats until nobody could take the session seriously.

Wait, there’s not much about that he’s allowed to tell. I will tell Brother Doug privately after. But it’s a funny story.” The big man explained.

Danni chuckled at the mention of Thor. “He’s a big suck. You should see him now, he’s gotten huge in the last week with all the fighting that we’ve been doing against Awakened and Commander Rank beasts. I always told you that it was the best way to gain power, and it looks like it works for the Lightning Cerro as well.”

The Inquisitor gave Karl a curious look, so he called Thor out, taking up half the room.

“Goddess, but he’s gotten big. That’s a full-grown Lightning Cerro, for certain, and perhaps bigger than average. Thor might be ready to challenge for the position of Pack Leader if he was still in the wild.” The Inquisitor gasped, then gently rubbed the bone ridge that ran across the back of Thor’s head, protecting his neck from attack.

The Inquisitor absently rubbed Thor’s head with one hand as he finished sorting through the packs.

The Inquisitor turned to Doug, “You should send Karl back to the Seminary Academy when you leave. We can exchange his share of the gold into the Church Bank account that all Elites get set up automatically, and I’m sure that there are a few Ascended Clerics that would be eager to meet him before the next mission he goes on.

We introduced him to mostly Awakened Rank students last time, but he’s already outgrown that. Plus, you all likely need to be tested again, and that’s done at the Church.”

Doug nodded and looked at Karl to see if he had an issue with it.

“I will have to get permission from someone to go on another adventure, I’m certain, but I don’t have a problem with that.” Karl agreed easily.

Brother Doug was a great healer, and his advanced cooking skills were a real lifesaver on this mission, but Karl couldn’t count on having him available all the time, as he was graduated, with a real job and responsibilities.

But if he could find a nature priestess, or another Green Dragon Cleric among the students, he would be in luck. It might not be written in any textbook, but finding the best cook was an important part of developing the perfect mission team.

Even the beasts agreed. Especially Thor, who now had a large pile of the special mount feed that Doug had been making for him daily.

That was much better than the regular roughage that he could get anywhere in the wild, or from the Academy Cafeteria, and the spell that Doug used made so much of it that even Thor’s mighty appetite didn’t keep up with the supply.

He didn’t tell the Cleric that, though. Instead, he hid the extra in his space so that he had more for later, when he didn’t have a Doug around to keep making it for him.