Chapter 436: Inspections

The very first inspectors arrived at the Grand Adventurer Hotel before breakfast, carrying official Capital seals. By midday, another group was walking through the Dining Quarter.

Before Sage finished reading their notice, men from the market authorities appeared at the Exchange, followed by officials who wanted to examine the Smithing Complex, the warehouses, the stables, and the records showing where the Guild purchased its supplies.

By evening, Sage had signed so many inspection acknowledgements that the sight of another sealed parchment was beginning to irritate him.

At first, he accepted it as another consequence of operating in the Royal Capital. Greyvale had never possessed enough officials to inspect such a vast complex separately.

The Capital did, and more than a thousand Warriors were registering daily. If the city inspected established inns and markets, Sage could hardly complain because his buildings were larger.

He therefore instructed every Guild worker to cooperate, provide requested records, and correct genuine problems instead of arguing merely because the timing was inconvenient.

The hotel inspection found little. Selene Arkwright personally guided the officials through kitchens, guest rooms, storage chambers, servant passages, wells, and fire precautions.

One inspector found linen stacked too close to an oil lamp, and Selene ordered it moved immediately. By the time they left, the hotel had received three minor corrections and no punishment. Sage considered that reasonable.

The restaurants were similar, although Maura Bellamy nearly frightened one inspector when he reached toward a pot without washing his hands after handling a crate outside.

She caught his wrist before his fingers reached the food and politely informed him that if he wished to inspect her kitchen, he would follow the same cleanliness rules as everyone working inside it. The man stared at Maura, washed his hands, and continued.

The officials checked storage, water, waste, ovens, ingredients, and cellars. Two restaurants needed better ventilation. Maura complained for several minutes after they departed, then ordered the work completed before sunset.

The Exchange inspection took longer. Officials checked scales, appraisal procedures, records, valuable monster materials, and merchant fees. Irene Valcrest joined the Exchange clerks and produced every requested record with such speed that one inspector eventually stopped trying to surprise her with questions.

Sage watched from the upper gallery and found himself almost entertained. Irene had arranged the Guild’s accounts with an obsessive precision that made questioning her feel like challenging a fortress using a spoon.

The next morning, however, the inspections continued.

Smiths showed where coal was stored. The Monster Material Processing Center was inspected over disposal of unusable remains.

Officials compared warehouse goods against purchase records, while the stables were checked for drainage, feed quality, and fire hazards.

Sage still found most of the questions sensible. Then three officials arrived at the Mana Cultivation Tower and asked to inspect its internal safety measures.

Oren Thales met them at the entrance, while Sage joined after receiving word.

The inspectors wanted to know how the Tower regulated mana density, what prevented a Warrior from entering a floor beyond his limits, whether injuries were recorded, and whether the Guild possessed a means of removing an unconscious person.

Those questions were fair. Sage demonstrated the safety formations and explained how the Tower stopped users who could no longer withstand a floor.

Then one of them asked Sage to provide the complete formation structure responsible for operating the Tower.

Sage looked at him. "No."

The inspector, a narrow-faced man named Helmar Doss, reminded Sage that they had authority to determine whether the building was safe. Sage agreed and told him they could inspect every safety measure relevant to people using the Tower.

Helmar repeated that the formation structure would allow their appointed Mages to verify the entire system independently, but Sage calmly answered that asking a smith to prove his forge was safe did not entitle an inspector to demand every secret behind the weapons he forged. The Mana Tower’s internal workings belonged to the Guild.

Helmar’s expression hardened. "Refusal may be recorded."

"Record it," Sage replied, keeping his gaze on the man. "Record that I offered access to the Tower, its safety records, injury records, emergency procedures and every area used by the public. Also record exactly what I refused to provide."

One of the other inspectors quietly told Helmar that the request exceeded their notice. That ended the matter, but Sage remembered it.

By the third day, he was no longer amused.

A second group arrived to inspect warehouses that had already been inspected forty-eight hours earlier. They carried a different seal and claimed responsibility for stored imported goods.

Later that afternoon, another official requested records concerning the stable’s manure disposal. Before sunset, a clerk delivered notice that the Guild’s wine storage would be inspected the following morning.

Boren found Sage standing in the administration building surrounded by notices and remarked that at this rate somebody would soon arrive to inspect whether the chairs were sitting correctly.

Sage rubbed his forehead and said, "The Capital has too many offices."

Boren, who had spent the morning escorting inspectors between buildings, looked exhausted. "The Capital has too many people who enjoy carrying seals."

Sage still wasn’t convinced anything improper was happening. The Guild had opened an enormous complex containing businesses and facilities that normally would have been scattered throughout different districts.

Perhaps every office had simply noticed something under its authority inside the Old Western Garrison. That remained believable until Pax arrived after dusk with four copied notices.

Pax didn’t sit. He asked Sage how many inspections had occurred since yesterday morning. Sage counted from memory and answered eleven. Pax nodded, then told him that six appeared ordinary. The hotel, restaurants, Exchange, stables, smithies, and food storage all faced regular Capital inspections.

"And the others?" Sage asked.

Pax tapped the copied notices. "Someone asked for them."

Sage’s hand stopped over the papers.

Pax explained that his people had spent the afternoon following messengers and speaking with clerks who enjoyed cheap ale more than discretion. The second warehouse inspection followed a complaint about undeclared foreign goods.

The Mana Tower inspection had been moved forward after questions about dangerous mana facilities. Someone had also asked the market office to review whether the Exchange’s appraisal service created unfair control over monster-material prices.

"Who?" Sage asked.

"I don’t know yet," Pax admitted. "The requests didn’t come from one name. That’s the clever part. One complaint came through a merchant representative. Another was delivered by a clerk working for a city councillor. The Tower question came through an office that received concerns from several unnamed citizens. Individually, none of it looks strange."

Sage leaned back. "Together?"

Pax gave him a thin smile. "Together, someone wants officials walking through your buildings every day."

The inspections weren’t fabricated. Most officials were doing their work, and even the deliberately requested inspections used real rules. Whoever was applying pressure wasn’t foolish enough to order an inspector to invent violations.

They were using the Capital itself, pushing existing offices toward the Guild and hoping something useful emerged.

Pax warned Sage that the goal might not even be immediate punishment. Constant inspections slowed work, frightened merchants, created rumors, and produced records that could later be misused.

If ten inspectors found nothing serious but the eleventh found a damaged warehouse ledger, people would remember the damaged ledger. More importantly, every inspection taught someone outside the Guild a little more about how the Grand Complex operated.

Sage looked down at the notices again and asked whether Edmund Krail was involved. Pax answered carefully that Krail’s people had spoken with merchants connected to two complaints, but that wasn’t proof.

He had also found movement around mercenary circles. Iron Fang and Black Banner representatives had recently held private meetings with several traders, although Pax didn’t yet know what was discussed.

"Then don’t guess," Sage told him. "Find the connections."

Pax nodded. "Already started."

The following morning, another inspection party appeared at the Grand Complex. This time Sage welcomed them personally. He instructed his employees to cooperate completely with every lawful request, record every question asked, copy every notice received, and note which office had sent each inspector.

Irene would keep the records together rather than allowing them to disappear into separate piles across the Complex. If the Capital wanted to inspect the Guild, the Guild would learn from the Capital in return.

Sage watched the newest officials cross toward the warehouses while Adventurers streamed through the gates around them. He no longer believed the sudden attention was coincidence, but he wasn’t angry enough to interfere with legitimate inspections. Whoever was behind the pressure expected him either to make mistakes or lose patience.

He intended to do neither.

And somewhere in the Capital, Pax had begun following the paper trail backward.