Two days after the elves appeared, Caoilfhoinn greeted them with the message that the “Town Chief” wanted to see the team as soon as possible. Since Prof figured, it wasn’t a good idea to let important folks wait when they were summoned urgently, they left immediately.

“I welcome the representative of the Gyors Nyíllvessző Clan,” greeted the chief, who looked young even from an elf's point of view. Prof felt no contempt in him, assuming that the courtesy was for his position in the Clan, not for him personally.

Or he needed help fast. Even if someone is a hated and looked down upon, if it depends on their good mood whether the applicant gets some trainloads of modern weapons or a pair of armored divisions to protect their asses, a smile and common courtesy should not be underrated. Prof saw no point in taking advantage of the situation, and even though he was in a good position now, that could change very quickly.

He greeted the elf politely.

“I want to offer a contract to the Clan. The road to Wanderberg is generally safe, but at least two merchants have disappeared in the last two weeks. Since the Gyors Nyílvessző Clan used to oversee this border section, I suspect bandits have set themselves up in the woods. My offer is this: the Clan will find the bandits and destroy them. In exchange, I give you two Waterfalls in return.”

Foxy poked Prof in the side, who immediately understood what the half-blood wanted.

“Sir, I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss the matter with my advisors.”

The chief nodded and the team left the room.

“Quietly, they're probably listening!” Foxy warned them. “You are fortunate that the chief is so young, an older, more experienced nobleman would not have reminded you so harshly that the clan was virtually extinct, and to some degree it is the clan’s fault that bandits are raiding traffic on the road. The offered two Waterfalls are also quite a low pay for such a task, so it is an indication that the respect of the clan is low.”

Prof consulted his notebook for the name of the denomination, exchange rate and value of the proposed amount, and concluded, a Waterfall was the name for a hundred Bears, and it was a bit less than one gold in Bergian currency.

“Should I refuse the contract?”

“Don't even think about refusing! If you refuse, you admit that the clan is unable to complete the task, thereby tarnishing the clan's reputation. As soon as your little elf girlfriend finds out, you would be dead.”

“Then should I accept the contract without any bargaining? A gold is still a nice amount, even if divided into four.”

“No, you're wrong, the pay goes to the clan you will get nothing, you have only the right for half of the other loot. Which will be, according to our contract, divided into three equal parts. I wouldn’t recommend bargaining right now, but rather set it all up as an insignificant trifle.”

Prof thought about the situation, then nodded. It wasn’t ideal: he would see nothing of the payment, the other loot would be taxed and from the net amount he would get only one sixth… He hoped, the missing merchants were at least rich. They returned to the Chief’s office.

“Sir, on behalf of the Gyors Nyílvessző Clan, I accept the contract. We got bored anyway, and a little practice wouldn’t hurt our young hunter either.”

The chief nodded and provided them with a written contract – naturally in Elven – so Prof had Foxy to check the legalese. When Prof signed the contract, he caught the chief smirking, so he probably did it wrong. Probably he needed a seal or something, but since no objections were raised, he assumed the contract was valid even so. As soon as they left the office, Mini took his arm.

“Finally! A little adventure and a bloodbath! Treasures! Slaves! Can we keep a pair for the next orgy?”

“I didn't even know that slavery was legal here.” Prof turned to Foxy.

“No, in the Elven Domain it is not, but it is in Forestdeep and the Empire. Rather, except in some countries, the sale and purchase of intelligent beings is illegal, but the possession of beings purchased elsewhere is legal.”

“Mini, unfortunately you can't keep them as slaves." Prof turned to the vampire in fake sadness.

“No problem, we'll have the orgy on site and then bleed the survivors out. I'm thirsty anyway.”

Prof didn't say anything about that. He knew very well that vampires were closely related to mosquitoes, ticks, leeches, meaning they suck the blood of others – if they killed their enemies anyway, at least they could improve their party member’s food situation. The bigger problem was that there were still only three of them, four even if counting Ainmire. Plus Mini’s Scorpionlizard, Binky. A little few to smoke out a bandit's nest of unknown power.

Prof had two ideas on how to solve the task: get a cart, disguise themselves as innocent passers-byes, trap the bandits, or send the more stealthy members forward to capture and interrogate one of the freelance tax collectors and then hunt down the rest one by one.

The first option, unfortunately, had the serious setback that Arkadia did not have cart rentals and Prof did not have the money to buy one. The others were spectacularly unwilling to participate in the increase of the party’s road mobility, leaving only the second chance. However, there were also problems with that option: Prof, as the best melee, was completely unsuitable for stealth, and although Mini was good enough for melee and stealth, the Irresponsible Perk made her less suitable for solitary and unnoticed hostage taking, and Foxy was outside of combat chi not the best in melee.

Eventually, they were decided that Foxy and Ainmire were going to look for an unwilling informant together, and if they got into trouble, they would retreat to the hiding Prof and Mini. If they manage to catch a bandit, they'll bring him back and Mini will start interrogating him. It all depended on what they learned. Prof and Foxy were forced to reluctantly invest in Health Potions – on Mini, being technically dead, unfortunately they had no effect.

Early the next morning, they set off on the road to Wanderberg, watching closely for any clues to the missing merchants. Their elf archer was of great help to them, with [Tracking] a little over 100%. It was already late afternoon when Ainmire pointed to a half-overgrown path.

“He says he thinks a wagon have passed through the path not so long ago, and someone tried to disguise this afterwards. It would be worth looking around there.” Foxy translated. Prof nodded and together with the Elf he began to search the area.

As it turned out, the path was camouflaged for only about ten meters, then transformed into a simple neglected cart trail. A few dozen meters from the main road, in a dip between the trees, they found the missing merchants: they lay beneath a thin layer of dirt, carelessly tossed down and completely plundered. After a brief discussion, Prof and Mini settled into the branches of a larger fallen tree, and Foxy and the elf hunter set out in search of a lone bandit.

Mini, of course, took advantage of the tight space, snugged close to Prof, and her usual light outfit didn’t stop Prof from taking a closer look at the vampire’s more interesting body parts.

“Hey, Mini, I noticed this earlier. You have a lot of clothes, you change them all the time, but you always keep your leather jacket on. Why is that?” Prof tried to find a neutral subject.

“I simply love the jacket. It looks so good. And, by the way, it’s worth more than all my other garms combined. Tyrant lizard skin with pretty strong enchantments. But I see, it bothers you that it's on me, I'll take it off right away!”

Prof should have guessed that stripping and making advances would be the end of the story anyway.

“What is a tyrant lizard?” Prof wondered if it might have some connection to the iconic carnivore he knew from certain movies.

“A two-legged Boss-category fucker, more than ten meters long, two people tall, brutal teeth. It could swallow Foxy with one bite. Powerful hind legs but shrunken hands. Unfortunately, it's quite rare, you can make great things out of it! Its blood can feed an entire family for half a year, for example.”

Based on the description, Prof was pretty sure that parallel evolution may have been quite widespread in the multiverse. Or Arkadia’s main boss has been collecting interesting species for millions of years. Because of the train of thought, a suspicion awoke in him.

“Mini, how would you translate the names of the lizards we have to hunt?”

“Hmm… Fast Thief or Fast Robber. Possibly Fast Predator. It depends.”

That didn't help Prof out much. He was never interested in ancient lizards to memorize the meaning of Latin and or ancient Greek names – assuming a similar name was given to the same beast on Arkadia. He was sure, however, that the name of the other iconic bastard had something to do with speed. But why did a different name appear in the job description than what they actually had to hunt down?

Foxy and the elf did not return until sunset, so Prof and Mini set up for the night, leaving the guard to Mini's mount. Mini positioned hermself until she could maneuver herself into Prof's arms, hugging Prof's waist with one leg - the whole position and pose reminded him of a cat. With the proviso that a cat didn’t want to mate with its pillow.

Despite all the discomfort, Prof slept especially well, but in the morning he woke up to Mini rubbing herself against his waist and trying to untie Prof's belt.

“Mini, seriously?” Prof asked half asleep.

“Yes, I have to, now! You've been exciting me with your proximity all night, now you don't want to! What an evil man you are! Come!”

Prof was saved by the fact that Foxy burst out laughing behind the fallen tree.

“I would have bet it will come to this! Don't let me disturb you!”

“Oh, Foxy, come on! And bring our little elf friend too! It's time for an orgy!”

"Not now, Mini, we found a bandit and we brought him for you!"

“You're the best girlfriend in the world! Excitement, play and food in one!”