CaleThe meeting went about how I expected—stupid and tedious, but mostly stupid. Why do bureaucrats insist on being so bureaucratic?Okay, that was dumb, but you get my point. A dark mage high on the Dark Mercenary lists comes to your island and tries to create a mass-casualty event, and you’re worried about jurisdiction? Optics? Reporting structure?Maybe I should simply wipe all these idiots out and take over. It feels like I would be doing the world a service.I sighed. That was a dark one.Still, shit like that was part of the reason I stayed independent. In the Wastes, after I… well, dealt with more aggressive elements in my area, I was able to set things up on my own. I could not stand the bureaucracy, even in places where might makes right. You just ended up fighting a lot… about stupid things, mostly having to do with paperwork. In the Wastes, you fought more with the sword, but it was all the same in the end. Stupid people fighting about stupid things when they should be focusing on those around them.Suffice it to say, I was glad to get out of that office without incident. Not that everything had gone smoothly. The reputation of the Ghost of the Wastes was bigger than I thought. Damn near mythic at this point. People were in awe, cloaked in fear, or just tense.And it wasn’t like Captain Aidan didn’t help. Good gods, was he a terrible actor.I knew it was going to be tough the moment I walked in. The man winked at me. Actually winked.It was a good thing I had a mask on. Captain, you’re not supposed to know me, at least not very well, you idiot.I played my part as the mysterious mercenary. I didn’t break stride or really acknowledge him or the others. I sat and answered their questions the best I could. Honestly, I don’t think they got it. Maybe there were people there who understood and actually knew what they were doing. But the boxes they placed themselves in didn’t seem very efficient. (...)