The king at least seemed genuinely shocked and frightened, but it was hard to tell if he was alright at the time and thinking entirely clearly. At least he nod his head while listening to Gabriel, frowning at several points of his long talk, but not trying to interrupt. Instead, the young king listened and waited for Gabriel to be finished. Normally, he would have been shouting already, but this time, perhaps the scare had him quiet enough to think it over a longer time. Finally, he drew a deep breath and spoke up.<br/><br/><strong>"You have learned a lot and accomplished things that may have driven this C to a corner. I want this C captured and jailed, but I also see your point, and the man or woman called C has advantage. We dont have the numbers to attack the Duke right now I fear, and if what you are right, it would be a mistake anyway."</strong>He considered this over a moment before smirking, speaking up in turn.<strong>"Inform the guard that by royal order the kingdom is inviting foreign merchants and smaller merchants forth to offer them jobs, and to relay the word that the merchants guild has lost its standing after having been caught plotting against the crown. Any honest merchants in it are free to abandon that guild and work their way back to grace, but any support shown towards the guild will be considered supporting traitors."</strong><br/><br/>He took a breath and looked at Gabriel.<strong>"Its against what I believe in to let people go unpunished for the crimes they commit, but maybe a show of some mercy would be in order. Also, striking a blow against the foe's economic support should help. Besides, the Merchants Guild has been trying to dominate the markets a long time, inviting others in and attacking any guild-actions with harsh taxes should do wonders to break up that guild-master's power."</strong>The young king smiled a moment, then nodding at Gabriel.<br/><br/><strong>"You got a lot of good concerns in there. Most of all I dislike how this C has that much magical power. It sounds like he could just walk in here and destroy me if he chose so. Is there any way to get safer until the strengths on this scale have shifted more in our favor?"</strong>He asked this entirely seriously.<strong>"Also, while I dislike the idea of letting the prisoner go, I am going to follow your plan. If you can force some answers out of her, and make sure she is not <em>inherently evil</em> herself, I'll take your word on it and have her delivered back to her father, in chains but alive."</strong><br/><br/>The prince took a deep breath finally.<strong>"I cant disband my protectors or I will lose some of my last more powerful servants, and I cant afford that after how many have died here today. The situation isn't good for that, but I'll see about reviewing their actions and perhaps disbanding them and forming another sort of a group when this is all done."</strong>