The rest of the loot was not overly interesting, mixed personal items, a total of three complete camping gear, and six tents. Prof was especially pleased with the latter, at least they didn't have to spend money on them anymore.

The three horses and two mules and donkeys each came in handy as the bandits recycled the wagons and carts to firewood. Prof hoped the owner would not apply for at least some of the animals – keeping them would mean a huge saving or not lugging around stuff.

Not counting the jewellery that Prof definitely wanted to keep as an easy-to-manage investment, they could expect a good fifteen gold income, even at discounted prices, so around 250 silver per head! Twenty-five Grand in Earth currency! A real fortune for a two-day job! Prof's capitalist drooling was disturbed by Foxy, who finished identifying the magical items.

“Prof, the rings aren't overly interesting, half of them give only some bonuses for [Commerce]. This one is the best, giving a full twenty percent.” She showed a well-worn bronze ring. Prof wasn't really concerned about it in giving “only” twenty percent, he immediately put it on his finger

“Then there are two that increase Luck if the base is below 12, meaning neither of us can use it. This one will increase your HP by five, and this will detect if you have alcohol in your hand. I don't really understand why that is important and how it makes sense.”

While Prof threw the ring that gave HP to Sharpclaw (she had the least HP and every little bit helped), Foxy also democratized the alcohol-detecting ring and one of the [Commerce] ones. Prof wasn’t bothered, he planned to distribute everything available to the party after all.

“These three are more interesting ones. You better check yourself, it's harder to tell.”

The Explorer’s Headband

As long as the headband is equipped, the wearer have the Perks: Explorer, Sense of Direction, Pioneer.

Value: 125 silver

Earrings of the Martial Artist

The wearer of the earrings gets 10 extra Chi Points every ten hours and every Battle Chi spell costs only half for 10 minutes every ten hours.

Value: 120 silver

Healer’s Wand

The wearer can once a day – if a healing is successful – heal every ailment of one person and heal him back to full HP.

Value: 150 silver

There was no question that the earrings would go to Foxy, and Prof kept the headband for himself, since it supplemented his [Navigation] Skill and his Perks nicely. They couldn’t do anything with the wand at the moment, there was simply no one had a high enough Skill to use it – but that didn't mean they would sell it.

Since it was clear that there was no chance of getting back to Willowflower that day, they decided to spend the night in a bandit camp. The corpses were dragged to the entrance of the valley, and the chief bandit was imprisoned in the cage Sharpclaw vacated. Mini was apparently massively overcharged with energy from the two bandits, and she also apparently wanted to do something with that energy.

Prof skillfully excused himself, their elf archer simply disappeared to patrol, so the noble task of entertaining a vampire noble fell to Foxy. A few hours later, when the girls deployed the bandit leader too, Prof was fed up with the sound effects and moved to the top of the steeper hill. The show presented down in the ravine was a whole new dimension for people with niche interests in certain movies. To Prof’s surprise, Sharpclaw was already waiting at the top of the hill.

“Misssssterssss femalesssss loud!” she complained “Bad to hide! Enemy hearsssss! Enemy sssssurprisssse femalessss! Missssster be angry! Sssssharpclaw guard!”

“Thank you Sharpclaw. I hope they stop soon.”

They didn't stop for a long time.

The next morning, it was quite surprisingly difficult to get started. Those who tried to sleep or did the guarding on top of the hill were as tired as those who had a good time down in the camp. Only Mini was still full of energy.

The way back took all day, they arrived late at night, and had to drag the bandit leader on the ground, he was so squeezed out. By the time the loot was unloaded, and the animals and the bandit leader put away in the Reds' stable, it was long after midnight.

The next morning, around noon, they checked in with the village chief, leaving the loot and the animals behind. Prof only took the illegal stuff (and a bottle of the good booze each) with him, he wanted to finish their task, and maybe get some extra for informing about the local drug dealer. He brought the drinks as a gift – it never hurt to be on the good side of the local boss.

There was a lot of preparation done in the square in front of the building, a tall pine tree was decorated with all kinds of coloured ribbons, next to it something like a stage was built, stalls were erected in several places in the square. Being summer, Prof assumed no Christmas market was being built, no matter how similar the thing was. Although, the whole show started earlier each year so it actually be an early start for the Christmas rush after all.

“They're getting ready for the Midyear celebration" Foxy answered his unspoken question, then added, seeing Prof's slightly incomprehensible expression, “On that day the Sun will be in the sky for the longest time. The other three major holidays are Blooming, Leavesfall and Year’s End.”

“Let me guess! They are celebrated at the spring and autumn equinoxes, and the shortest day?”

“Exactly! Each species and culture considers different holidays to be the most important, with the Blooming Festival being the most important among elves in general.”

“In Forestdeep, we consider the Feast of Bones to be the most important thing,” Mini added. “We bring sacrifices for the dead so they could rest in peace till they are needed again. I remember a few years ago there was an insane Bone Knight who preached how exclusionary, racist, speciesist and hateful the whole holiday was and we urgently needed to make it much more inclusive.”

“Have you changed your habits?”

“No way! We remembered an even older sacred tradition: we scattered its bones among the estates and put its skull on a spear at the largest place for holding the Feast. Its ghost can enjoy the view for a few hundred years. Since then, we hold an extra ceremony there every year, and everyone can laugh at the Bone Knight swearing. It’s really funny.”

Prof shrugged. It was not too polite to badmouth the centuries-old traditions of others, especially if those traditions are practiced in one’s home country. If you go to Rome, speak Roman! But at least Latin.

Luckily, they didn’t have to wait long for the chief, and the transaction was fast too. Prof recounted how the bandits were defeated, what they captured, and what they experienced – specifically the Grey Elf army and their involvement in the siege of the Clan. The chief was not overly delighted that the bandit chief would be judged by the Clan, and the presence of the Kobold made him especially outraged.

At least the discovery of the drug smuggler, and especially the two bottles of the luxury booze more than offset this. Regardless, Prof was warned not to let “it” roam freely, because “it” could easily run into an arrow by accident. The chief’s adviser promised that the revenue officers together with merchants and craftsmen would visit them within an hour to count and appraise the loot. As they left the building, Foxy hugged Mini and Prof with a face that glowing in happiness.

“I Leveled up! I have been waiting for this for some time! We're going to celebrate tomorrow! Let's see… I do need [Magic: Dream], I should put some in [Magic: Floramancy] too, and in [Observe]. For the rest… Hehehe, Mini, you'll enjoy this!”

“Ooooh! A present! I deserve it, I'm the best! I have to get gifts!”

Prof just shook his head. Since the night in the ravine, Foxy basically clung to Mini, and the vampire didn’t harass Prof that much. Maybe, this situation could keep up for a time.

They had previously decided what they wanted to keep for themselves – jewellery, magic items, the two better quality weapons, the luxury alcohol, camping gear, and three bolts of spider silk and silk each, the leopard skin, and of course the non-illegal recreational things for Mini – so it didn’t take long to put these items in separate piles.

By the time the valuation team arrived, including the steward, the local tailor, tanner, alchemist blacksmith, and a few people Prof had no clue about – everything was ready. Like in an Arabian Bazar, the bargaining, estimating, dividing began. As it transpired, some of the looted stuff had owners, who could prove their ownership, so they could not keep those and only got a small “Finder’s Fee”.

Every last piece of loot was inspected, valuated and sold at a heavy discount to the present merchants and craftmen. Prof was beginning to regret not throwing all the stuff in a pile and setting it on fire. It would have meant less hassle. At the end of the haggling, they still had to pay taxes (at a few different rates), tolls, duties, levies, and a few other things, so in the end, each of them got about 150 silver worth of currency, though in the end they kept the food, the remaining alcohol, and a few other small things (including a dagger for Sharpclaw).

Prof was devastated. Almost a full gold per head was stolen from them because of the discounted prices, previous owners making an appeal and the evil practice of paying taxes and imaginary other contributions.

“I feel cheated…” he cried.