Hogg walked along the flagstone pavement of Golden Cross Avenue in the Royal Capital.
More than fifty apprentices followed behind him, carrying tool bags stuffed with chisels, plumb bobs, and folding rulers.
Their destination was Hundred Blossoms Hall, where they would enter the service of the lord from the south.
The group had just rounded a street corner when several people emerged from an alley, led by two guild officers wearing Stone Ruler Emblems on their chests.
They blocked the way.
One officer approached with a broad smile, walked straight into the group, and patted a young apprentice on the shoulder.
"Little Tim, what are you doing? Hogg's old and muddleheaded. Are you going to join him in this nonsense?"
"Come back. The guildmaster said that if you return now, you'll immediately become a Third-Rank Artisan, with a thirty-percent raise."
Tim's face flushed red, and he flung the man's hand away.
"My master isn't muddleheaded!"
The other officer looked at the remaining apprentices, his voice turning cold.
"Think carefully. Leave the guild, and your names will be struck from the rolls. After that, no workshop in the Royal Capital-no, in the entire Haiti Duchy-will dare employ you."
"Do you intend to spend your whole lives playing in that swamp lord's mud?"
His words immediately stirred unrest among the apprentices.
A slightly older apprentice spoke hesitantly.
"Master, perhaps... we should reconsider? The officer is right. Outside the Royal Capital, our skills count for nothing."
Tim glared at him. "Buck! Have you forgotten how your father died? He couldn't afford treatment from the guild's designated physician, so he coughed himself to death in the workers' shack! Now they offer you a thirty-percent raise, and you forget?"
"I..." The apprentice named Buck turned pale, then flushed. In the end, he lowered his head