Shinead Sidhe, currently in hot… lukewarm… marginally not-cold pursuit of the filth that killed her Clan, wasn’t having a good time.
Although they managed to travel around 40-45 kilometers a day, it was still slow going. Without the animals – that included a monkey and a reptile in her definition – she would be able to sustain a much higher tempo.
Of course, she would be able to, she was an Elf!
All right, the tempo wasn’t that bad, but the company was. One of the only satisfaction she got out of the trip was that the Traveller was even more uncomfortable than herself. He wasn''t allowed to go into any further settlement, so he would not traumatize innocent Elves. Or so that he doesn''t face reality and start whining and complaining again.
The other was to abuse the reptile verbally, and when the Traveller wasn''t paying attention a little bit physically. The Traveller still refused to put it on a leash, even after multiple days and a few warnings from the campground guards. Hopefully, it would wander off, and catch an arrow with the face. Well, the Little Sister still refused to put the Traveller on a leash too…
While taking a quick soak in one of the towns, Shinead wondered about why Humans – and Travellers especially – were so obnoxious, perverted, and stupid. Sure, Arkadian Humans were mostly uncultivated peasants, living in mud hovels, dug into the ground, barely intelligent enough to be called sapient creatures. At least they had the decorum to know not to bother their betters (the Elves, that is), and at least they knew the rules, Arkadia was working on.
The Travellers were just… idiots? Perverts? They were supposed to be from a highly advanced planet full of wonders – so not much different from the Domain – and still, they obviously thought everybody should have Elven Rights (Prof once called it Human Rights, but that just didn''t make sense), even other species! Why would a reptile or a greeny have rights? They did not know any rules, customs, or laws, they just whined and complained non-stop. They just wanted to get into the panties of every female they met (mostly Shinead''s, despite him having a whole harem already) and were open about their desires. They obviously got the wrong ideas about completely normal nakedness.
Of course, Shinead only knew one Traveller, but there were stories. Most of the stories told about perverts who tried to fornicate with everything, and most of the stories included Travellers, who gave not a damn about the rules and customs of Arkadia and the Domain. All stories warned about Travellers, and how dangerous and stupid they were.
Although Shinead only knew one Traveller, all the stories were validated.
Most concerning was his habit of collecting females – and his open ogling of Shinead. That was offensive harassment! No Elf would display his arousal openly, courtship or casual fun had very clear rules to follow and neither drooling nor eyes falling out of one''s head was an accepted form to do it.
What was the Traveller thinking? Just because he saved her, she would not jump into his bed with all the other females and tangled limbs in a pile of naked flesh, doing depraved, perverted things to and with each other!
Oh, no!
Not that Shinead ever saw the Traveller do perverted and depraved fornication with any of the other females, but she was absolutely sure, such fornication was done. He was a male Traveller (everyone knew, what they did), he collected females like trophies, and he was clearly aroused by the proximity of her. Logically, fornication was done in secret, without inviting her to the party! How dare they! Leaving her out! Ehmmm… Those perverts trying to get her too!
Shinead shuddered in… disgust. Yeah, disgust!
It was time to continue the chase, and plan some accidents for the underlings forced upon her.
Getting information from the different Clans, Princes and governmental offices on the way wasn’t hard. She just needed to walk in and ask for an update. Getting useful information was way harder. Sure, she got a headcount on the Humans, including their Levels and some details about their Skills and Perks, but for the curs, details were much scarcer. She got names, and a few tidbits, but nothing like on the Humans. What their ultimate goal was, or who was backing them? Nothing.
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It was almost like they had an influential backer, who pulled strings and covered the relevant information up. That wasn’t like the Domain worked! Or even supposed to work! No one would protect criminals to this extent, especially, when said criminals were curs!
No matter what the Little Sister said, it had to be a conspiracy! Someone was working against the Domain to topple the millennia-old legitimate order of things! Who were they? Some lizard people, a secret cabal of magnates, extra-Arkadians? Shinead was determined to find out, uncover the truth and avenge her Clan! It will be glorious! Shinead Sidhe of a small Clan saving the Domain from evil-doers!
Forget epic poems and paintings! She would get a mythical statue in every town! Legendary legends telling her deeds for generations to come, to educate the little ones in proper Elfdom!
Luckily, she was able to make inroads in her epic – or was it legendary or even mythical? – quest of getting revenge on the way to the border city, the main band of curs and Humans left the Domain from! A small gang of Humans have split from the main band and thought it was a good idea the find a niche in providing service by turning to banditry. However, it was not an accident, that no one occupied that particular niche – the Domain cracked down on criminals in a swift, and final way. As it should be, the Domain was not some chaotic and lawless place like the Human lands!
She had to admit, her underlings were at least somewhat competent, even the Traveller and that disgusting reptile. The Traveller had the most problems, for some inexplicable reason he was fixated on [Evade] without raising his [Parry] and [Blocking]. He wasted a lot of energy by evading attacks – without using [Acrobatics]! – if he would have parried or blocked, he would have defeated his enemy much faster. But hey, Humans were stupid, to begin with, and obviously, Travellers only thought about fornicating and building a harem, so what did she expect?
If he was so fixated on fornicating, maybe he should put a few points into [Sex], no?
But no, he had these misconceptions of his grandeur, with females to fan his ego, while not even able to kill a bandit. He only knocked his enemy unconscious, leaving the killing to others! What a hypocrite!
Shinead was surprised, no one told the Traveller yet, how to build a viable Skill-set. Of course, she wouldn’t dispense hard-earned Elven wisdom to a Human, and neither would the Little Sister. But he had a Vampire and a reptile in his harem, and supposedly he spent some time in the Human Lands previously. Someone ought to have had a discussion with him already! Or was he just fornicating the whole time?!?
After arriving in Deadbranch – even after learning Elven, the Human was not willing to use the proper Elven name, the Vampire didn’t care and the reptile… was still alive – Shinead simply dropped the “party” in the worst guest house there was in the city and went to gather information and inform the KGB about her suspicions. They probably already knew, but it was the only way to be sure.
Strangely, the Traveller found some spine in a gutter and started demanding, that his Elven Masters share to costs for the upcoming expedition. Obviously, the Little Sister was a bad teacher, and failed to make it clear, that the lesser species were there to serve their betters – why should a proper Elf pay for anything, when a Human was there to pay instead of them? The Traveller wasn''t even from Arkadia! What a brazen idea, that some extra-Arkadian was equal to an Arkadian-born a raised Elf! What next? Should Humans get some representation or voting rights in the Domain?!?!
They should be happy that the Elves allowed them to have their own country, they could more or less govern themselves! Of course, self-governance was only valid until they did something (like questioning their Elven Masters’ right to decide on the policies) that was contrary to Domain’s wishes, the Clans were sent to make the Domain’s position clear on such a matter. If even that wasn’t enough, a team of Black Elves was sent. THAT was mostly enough to get the message through.
After all, if your “royal” family dies to the last handmaiden and your capital is in ruins, even the most thick-headed Human brute will start thinking about fornicating and not pissing their real masters off.
As it should be.
That an extra-Arkadian Human demanded shared costs while in the Domain, was simply not done. He should be happy and content to be allowed to walk around without a leash and bask in the presence of superior beings. That is Elves. That obnoxious Traveller should lick her boots, call her Mistress and beg for some playful lashing, not ask for shared costs!
And then came that perverted cur of Little Sister and agreed! How far the morals have fallen! It was clear, she was seduced by the Traveller’s perverted ways and was trying to lick her way up the harem’s pecking order! Shinead made sure to inform the KGB of the Little Sister being compromised – that way she could later argue about the Little Sister being a traitor to Elvenkind, and making her death legal.
Her usefulness was nearing the end, as soon as her Clan’s attackers were destroyed, the whole perverted coterie would disappear too!
Accidents don''t wait for anybody, after all!