After they handed the ordered and excess materials over to the alchemist, and the herbs to the steward, Prof became richer by the equivalent of twenty-two silver, even after paying taxes.
Mini negotiated with the furrier and the tailor to make her a fur hat from the raccoon fur, and Prof sold the two rabbit pelts for another five silver. At their guesthouse, Caoilfhoinn told Prof that he would not be allowed to eat until he had acceptably solved a prepared exercise. As at school, Prof had to write down the Elven alphabet for a while, then write his, Foxy’s, Shinead’s, and Caoilfhoinn’s names in Elven script, and finally write a one-page report about the run in Elven letters but thankfully in Bergian.
There was no problem with his own and Foxy''s names, but it transpired, he wrote the other Elven names by hearing, but officially they should have been written with completely different letters. So, Prof had to practice the two names, and for good measure, a few other common Elven names too. With the reports, Caoilfhoinn had no real problems, she corrected some spelling errors, and let Prof re-write the whole page. For his second try, she simply nodded appreciatively.
Before going to bed, Foxy turned to Prof with a serious expression.
“Prof, we need to talk about something. According to one theory, Travellers attract beings of different races like magnets, and they then become loyal companions. According to some records, they formed complete harems for themselves. I haven’t believed in this theory much so far, but now I’m starting to suspect it has a basis in reality. You’ve been here for just over a month, and you’ve already befriended a Red Elf, a half-blood, and a vampire. The latter does not seem to have any problem with belonging to a harem at all. Isn’t it suspicious that all three of your new companions are females? Do you intend to build a harem?”
“Honestly, it didn''t even cross my mind. I saved Shinead and you, let''s say, accidentally, I didn''t plan on forming a party. We recruited Mini against the what’s-their-name lizards, and that was also not planned.”
“I doubt that the multi-species parties the theories and records speak of, or even harems, were planned and yet they happened. My question remains: do you want to build a harem for yourself?”
“Foxy, if things got together, I wouldn’t say no, but on the one hand, I would never force someone to participate. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be actively working for a harem. It looks like too much work and effort for the added trouble.”
“And the vampire?”
“Mini is for my taste… too direct? Too slutty? Why?”
“Wouldn''t it bother you if she slept with someone else?”
“Why would it bother me? She doesn’t owe me an explanation, we don’t even know each other so much that I would have a say in what she does with or to whom. Anyway, she probably found someone to have fun for the night with by now.”
“Wouldn''t it bother you if I slept with someone else?”
“My answer is the same, we''re not grown together and you are a grown girl.” And Foxy wasn’t really his type. Too much hair and fur. He was smart enough not to say it to her face, though.
“I see…”
Intrigued by the sudden interest in his preferences for women, Prof went to sleep.
The next week and a half passed peacefully, Prof learned the elf language – he was coming along nicely, the letters gave him no problems anymore, and he could understand the gist of a conversation, if the others kept to easy words and spoke slowly –, the party did some easy tasks in and around the city, and gathered in the evenings at either the Reds or Mini’s “white” guest house for a little chat.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
During the gatherings, it turned out that despite all her mental problems, Mini was a great companion and radiated general good humor even when she became offended for some reason. Foxy and Mini became ironically quite close, and Mini kept trying to get into Prof’s pants.
Foxy made a few attempts to gain information about Earth through Dream Magic, but she had to realize that her current Skill and Mana Points were not enough. She would have to successfully perform several powerful spells in a row to have a chance at success. She hoped two or three Levels would be enough to succeed.
The food in the guesthouse turned out as fruit and vegetables for breakfast and porridge with nuts and fruits for dinner. That was the “free” option, they had to pay for anything else. Caoilfhoinn wasn’t an overly good cook, so Prof and Foxy declined the chance to pay for any extra food, and mostly ate their lunch at Mini’s – it was cheaper and better.
Unfortunately, there was no new applicant to hunt the lizards in the forest.
After a week and a half, as they returned from one of the local assignments four Red Elves were waiting for them at the guest house. Prof haven’t learned enough of the language during that time to understand what they had to say outside of a few words and phrases, and the elves couldn’t or wouldn’t speak Bergian, so Foxy had to translate again. After a short discussion, it became clear what was going on.
“Prof, good news, at least for Shinead. These four are survivors of the Clan and were hiding in the woods so far, a patrol told them that a representative of the Clan was here in town. They’re not overly happy that a Human is a direct ally of the interim Clan Leader, but as the highest-ranking person in the Clan present, you can order them until Shinead returns. I would be very cautious, though.”
“All right. “üdv?z?llek benneteket, Klántársak.“ Prof summoned up a polite greeting. The grimaces of the elves said his pronunciation (and possibly grammar) was not up to the level of an artistic performance of classic Elven poetry. Probably not even for everyday survival. "Foxy, ask them, please, what their Levels and specializations are.”
“Prof, since you are a direct ally of the Clan Leader, in the current state of the Clan you are probably second in rank. If I’m not mistaken, you can view the character parchment of clan members even without their permission.”
“I might have the right to it in theory, but in practice, I’d rather wait for Shinead to actually permit me to do so. I don''t want to suffer an accident."
Foxy shrugged, though it seemed that she wanted to slap Prof for wasting time. The elves listened to Foxy''s request, and after a short deliberation, sent Prof their character parchments. That''s not exactly what he asked them to do, but it still worked.
Based on the three parchments received, one of them, a young man, was a Level 1 stealthy-climby archer, one woman was Level 7 and specialized in cooking, to the extent that she no longer used the general [Cooking] Skill but increased the [Chef] and [Butcher] Professions. By the way, she was also a pretty good alchemist. The other woman, who had surprisingly low Stats, had chosen Skills in [Agriculture], [Livestock Breeding], [Taming], and [Hunting], and was Level 6. The fourth elf was maybe eight years old (at least Prof pegged him to be a pre-teen in Human years), so he didn''t have a character parchment yet.
Prof wondered what he should do with them. With the exception of the archer, none of them could be taken on an adventure, and even he was too low Level compared to the rest of the party. First, he asked Caoilfhoinn to give them a room and take care of their food. Their host obeyed without further problems. Either Prof had some power, after all, Shinead left some instructions behind, or it was customary for wandering clan members to receive accommodation and food without asking and extra command.
Prof eventually discussed with Foxy and Mini what the newcomers could occupy themselves with. He immediately discarded some of Mini''s ideas about having a good time. After some deliberations and asking Caoilfhoinn, Ainmire, the archer, was sent to the public archery range (which was more like a standard commando training ground), Either, the chef, was entrusted with helping out in the guest house, but Prof didn''t really know what to do with Maoliosa, the farmer-animal woman and the little guy. Eventually, they were told to look for something to do for themselves.