Myth-Ing Persons By Robert L Asprin

I started to argue, but my conversation with Aliman flashed across my mind. Nunzio was right. There were two sides to having a reputation. If anyone believed the rumors at the Bazaar and still meant me harm, they would muster such firepower for the attempt that my odds for survival would be nonexistent.

“Nunzio,” I said slowly, “you may be right, but in all honesty what could you and Guido do to stop a magical attack on me?”

“Not a thing,” he said calmly. “But they’d probably try to knock off your bodyguards first, and that might give you time to get away or hit them yourself before they could muster a second attack.”

He said it easily, like you or I might say “The sun rises in the east,” but it shook me. It had never really occurred to me how expendable bodyguards are, or how readily they accept the dangers of their profession.

“I’ll try to remember that in the future,” I said with a certain degree of grave humility. “What’s more, I think I owe you and Guido an apology. Where is Guido, anyway?”

“Upstairs arguing with His Nibbs,” Nunzio grinned.

“As a matter of fact, I was looking for you to break it up when I found you had snuck out again.”

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

“What for? There’s no rush. They’ll be arguing until you get there. I figured it was more important to convince you to quit going out alone.”

I groaned a little inside, but I had learned long ago the futility of arguing priorities with Nunzio. “Well, thanks again for the advice, but I’d better get upstairs before those two kill each other.”