Devaguea simply gave his spy-mistress an amused smirk, before nodding. "Glad we decided on caution then."<br/><br/>A week later, Akiros got back, and while he had expected the waterclock and statue, the statuette that the guards with Akiros had found was not expected. Devaguea accepted the statue, and awarded the guards that had gone with Akiros a fully paid night in the tavern for them and their families. While it cost a significant amount of coinage, nearly fifty gold coins, it would hopefully have the benefit of boosting loyalty in the guard.<br/><br/>The statuette went to Lily as agreed, though he wasn't interested in her 'suggestions.' He already had enough semi-competent advisors, and now needed trained and fully competent, and he also had enough females that were slowly getting more and more fascinating already.<br/><br/>Then Talia came back, and he frowned as he listened. "If we can pick them up for other things before the meeting, that is one thing. But the leader is either captured or dead at the end of this. If she escapes, we have failed. So see if we can call the followers in for questioning or for actual crimes, so we can bring less to the actual meeting."<br/><br/>The guard had an excellent reputation with the population, most due to Devaguea not tolerating corrupt guards. The guard also had a reputation of honesty and clearing issues quickly. So the guard pulling people aside to ask questions was seen as reassuring.