Bertram felt like he had been working himself to death lately.
He was an official in the City Hall of Port Nyanzaru, originally a private tutor for a noble family near the South Coast. He had been exiled for having an affair with the voluptuous mistress of the house, eventually ending up as a military advisor to pirates. He was one of the earliest officials in Port Nyanzaru, and by now his position in City Hall was equivalent to a department head. To this day, he still remembered the scene when he went to the temple for his evaluation upon being appointed. It really broke him out in a cold sweat because a cleric actually cast a spell of detect thoughts on him and conducted a detailed interrogation regarding his identity. Originally, he thought it impossible for someone with his tainted background to enter the official ranks, but to his surprise, he had passed.
Thinking about it still made him angry. Obviously, it was a mutual seduction between him and that noblewoman, yet somehow it later turned into him seducing her.
On the surface, that noble looked righteous and respectable, but underneath he was truly full of malicious schemes, and his methods for whitewashing himself were endless. Regardless, it was from that time on that he began entering City Hall, starting slowly from a mere clerk. Perhaps, as far as Port Nyanzaru was concerned, it did not mind employing some talented individuals with flawed histories.
Bertram had a lot of things to do recently.
Early this morning, before dawn, he arrived at a warehouse on the south side of Port Nyanzaru. A considerable number of metal ingots had already been piled up here, and three duergar squatted nearby drinking.
"Old Beard."
Bertram greeted the duergar leader in front of him,