Exterminating the bandits wasn’t overly hard, and Prof even came up with a plan that was not utterly bad. In fact, the Little Sisters would have employed something similar. Archers taking out as many enemies as possible in a surprise attack, and then the melee fighters would have been sent in to mop up any remaining resistance.

Of course, the Little Sisters would use overwhelming force – in numbers and Levels – and not just a ragtag band of low Level “adventurers”.

Foxy was hoping that some of the bandits survived or surrendered, but in the heat of battle, no one would – or should – pull punches. It was kill or be killed. She needed an informant, nonetheless. Surprisingly, they were even able to take a prisoner or two. The head bandit even surrendered, obviously hoping to survive the ordeal – not that he had any chance to do so. In view of his crimes, Foxy could have executed him on the spot, and handing him over to the Reds… With a Human in the party, he probably hoped for a bit of corruption or intra-species loyalty. Or something.

However, with his willingness to co-operate, he just dug his grave even deeper.

Bad luck.

The information was interesting, the bandits were specifically hired by a Grey Elf for the attack. That was concerning, to say the least – an officially backed Human detachment exterminating a Red Clan, and being allowed to cross the Domain without further investigation and punishment? She definitely needed to make a report, and fast. But first was the time-proven ritual of looting the enemies.

Foxy was aware that one cloth, one fur and one fur merchant went missing, so it was no surprise that they found their merchandise covered by tarps. However, there was no mention of a jeweller missing or even one that was leaving Willowflower or was expected there! Truly, even a Protagonist wouldn’t be so lucky that an unexpected wealthy merchant just pops up at a convenient time?

Even, if Prof and Mini both had a Luck of 16.

Foxy already warned Prof that he would have to put the loot on the market at a discounted price – that was actually only part of the truth, there were legalese to bypass the rule – but now she had to come up with something that left less money in the hand of the Traveller. Extra-Arkadians with an over-abundance of liquid assets were universally regarded as dangerous as Hero’s Parties. They would wreak havoc with the economy! Actually, Foxy already got some ideas.

Of course the Protagonist found an enslaved Kobold included in the loot. A female Kobold! He was planning on keeping it! Her… That was very close, dangerously close, to the Harem-Pervert category. The fourth female in a bit more than a month, and three of them were saved by the Traveller! Another point for her report, and another thing she had to look out for.

They also found smuggled, illegal drugs with the spice merchant’s merchandise, but Foxy was glad that Prof was willing to throw the dealer and his clients under the wagon. Of course, Foxy would take care of them on her own, it was her duty after all, but Prof proved that he was willing to follow the law. Not every Traveller was.

Finally, the jeweller’s box revealed not one, not two, but THREE magical trinkets. They weren’t overly good, but still useful – and two were almost custom-made for Prof and Foxy. Was the Heavenly Game Master throwing bones to the Traveller and trying to bribe Foxy? No, a pair of fancy earrings wasn’t enough by far to let her forgot her duty! She would take them and continue with her investigation. If Prof was considered a threat, she would take care of him, earring or not.

The rest of the merchant’s personal trinkets were nothing really good or valuable, she wouldn’t have considered most, but Prof was happy nonetheless – and gave a HP-ring to the Kobold! As far as Foxy remembered, Travellers had a mating ritual that included giving rings to each other. Was Prof asking a Kobold to be his wife?!?! After only a few minutes? No, probably he was just handing over the most useful trinket to the party member that could make use of it the most.

If that was how it went, Foxy wouldn’t have to pocket the alcohol-detecting ring – despite what she said, it was a very useful one for every Dwarf or for anyone with low alcohol tolerance. Like Foxy, for example. She also pocketed the most pretty-looking [Commerce] ring and planned to give it to Mini. She deserved some pretty things, after all!

She was very grateful for the ring. Her Endurance of 18 was telling after a few hours, Foxy was spent, but Mini even voluntold the bandit for a second round.

The morning after they got back to Willowflower, Foxy snuck out before Prof woke up. She had to compile a report for her superiors and talk to the prince, how they could decrease Prof’s reward. There were laws and traditions they could employ – some were rarely, if ever, used, others were there to fleece Humans and the occasional Greenskin or Lizard trader, and some were just normal.

In the end the steward was, who came up with the solution. It was an almost forgotten rule that enabled craftsmen to claim ownership of certain looted things, if the merchant in question had an outstanding debt or the town’s prince (or an equivalent) authorized them for the Greater Good for all Elvenkind.

The survey and taxation of the loot went reasonably well. The steward was able to legalese the amount to be kept by the Traveller down to almost half of what Prof hoped to get.

“I feel cheated…” Prof cried. He was observant enough to figure it out.

“That’s probably because you were.” Foxy patted his back and supressed a smile. Everything was technically fully legal, and they even discarded some ideas that would have put the whole haul under governmental control, without any compensation whatsoever. They discarded it because they would have to reveal Foxy as an agent, and that would jeopardize her further investigation of Prof. She didn’t want to bankrupt him in one go, just prune the monetary income. If he truly was a Protagonist, he would find money laying around somewhere.

Next day they visited the Midyear celebration. Despite Willowflower being a little border town, the celebration was done very well. The costumes were splendidly done, even in the capitol they wouldn’t have been out of place. Rabbit-and-Hunter was the best match she have ever seen – the referee-mage was very skilled in painting traps, but still fair and both the Rabbit and the Hunters were exceptional in their respective tasks. The team would have been easily placed in the top three in the Elven League.

Unfortunately all the cultural significances were lost on Prof. He couldn’t even grasp the rules for Rabbit-and-Hunter!

At least they found another party member to hunt the annoying lizards, who was even willing to wait a week or so to get the party moving. Surprisingly, it was not another female.

A few days later she received orders regarding the Human band and the attack on the Red Clan: keep observing but don’t act. She had the feeling, her superiors already knew about the attack and the motives, if they didn’t order immediate action, probably the Greater Good of all Elvenkind was in play. Even with politics involved, such an attack was unthinkable. The only reason, this could have happened was the survival of Elvenkind, and even so, the one who ordered the attack would be punished.

Sacrifices were to be made for such an order.

When Shinead returned a few days later, she had new achievements on her skin – last survivor, lost Clan, Clan Leader, and First Hunter. The piercings in her nostril and eyebrow told about the significance of the Clan. Foxy even gleaned a peek on the tattoos for blood debt, sworn revenge and a few others. Shinead started to collect a proper number of tattoos for a Red Elf.

The hunt for the lizards was depressingly easy, to say the least. It looked like Prof recognized the animals, and got very careful from one moment to the other. After cracking some jokes – even Prof added a few sarcastic remarks – they found the lizards in a meadow with high grass. Prof did the right thing, and let their mage blanket the area in fire. Obviously he wasn’t stupid, Foxy knew a few Travellers (and a few locals) who would enter the meadow without a thought and die horribly.

Mopping up the last resistance was just an afterthought after burning down the meadow.

Since they planned to chase the attackers of Shinead’s Clan, Foxy decided that Prof didn’t need further funds. Only the amount to buy a few beasts of burden and some necessities was enough. It was time to apply Elven Law. Theoretically Prof didn’t need many papers, since he was an ally and deputy Clan Leader for Shinead and a “ward” of an agent for Extra-Arkadian affairs, so he was covered from two sides. Well, as long as Shinead or Foxy were around.

However, Elven Law technically required a proper parchment trail and for foreigners to have certain permits, licences and identification papers. It was a good excuse to liberate surplus money from Prof and teach him about how Arkadia worked. Maybe he could get away with having no identification in Human lands outside of the Domain – what Foxy knew about those lands, it was unlikely – but in other countries no identification an proper permits was a good way to be exploited or enslaved. Or fined and killed.

Having cleared the plan with the prince previously, it was easy to set up a fine and list for “needed” permits, licences and identifications that set Prof back sufficiently but haven’t bankrupted him totally. Mini unwittingly helped her and she told Shinead to play along with a few unobtrusively.

Buying a pair of the donkeys they rescued from the bandits – overprized, but just so that Prof could still buy them – set them up for the hot pursuit of the Human band.

Well, lukewarm pursuit, at best.