Chapter 25
Taxes
This was one of Star's happier days. Her father had taken her to the water park, where she splashed around for hours with her parents. She had even gotten to duel with him with water blades. Water blades were just made out of water, so they didn't hurt or anything like that; they just got you wet when they hit you. They would repel other water blades, so you could parry them against each other. They drew a large crowd just practicing, although she wasn't sure who actually had the bigger cheering section. Naturally, her father was much better than her, but still, it was a lot of fun.
After that, they went to a fancy dinner, with her mother still shocked about being out with Lord Samuel. I am not sure why; she had been out with him before, right? Maybe she hadn't gone out with him for a while. Anyway, my father dropped us off at our house, and mom held me the entire night. It was embarrassing, but I was used to it with Raythiel, so I didn't complain. In the morning, it was time to teleport back to Cress. My uncle made an illusion of Blaze, well, Seraphina now, and we popped back to Cress on top of a building.
"Ok, Star," said the summoner. "You and Seraphina, once she finds us, can help with the negotiations, as you both have good social abilities. Just back me up, and we should be able to pay less in taxes. "We are going to have to deal with the town, the village elves, and the White Foxes, not to mention the GERV customs outpost we will have to pass to enter the valley."
A few hours later, all the parties, other than the GERV, were seated at the negotiation table to discuss the dragon horde. From the White Foxes, there was Lt. Loud and a rogue hero named Ranthiel, who were likely good at these things. There was also the village's noble, an elfess named Triflagner, and the border towns' mayor and aid. The town was named Crossroad, by the way. The mayor was yet another noble, an elf named Yars, who was assisted by a scholar elfess named Firanthe.
"Well, let me begin the meeting by showing you what Star's party found in the dragon cave. This can be confirmed by Triflangner, as she was there as we cataloged it. He handed out the sheets of what was discovered, its value of 450.5 mithril and 13,500 copper, and the value of each magical item."
Almiel continued, "The two goblins have been awarded a village in clan Lark lands and therefore will not be receiving rewards here. However, they do count toward the maximum value of the taxes that can be collected from our clan. Here is the value awarded to the goblins: He put down a deed, and cash was given to the goblins as 800 gold."
There was quite a commotion as all the other sides started arguing that it was way too much to give goblins. Star then spoke up.
"The goblins lost six of their eight clan members fighting the dragons, but they helped to defeat the dragons. A hundred gold per goblin is pretty standard, so don't make a fuss about it. Clan Lark paid for their share, so it is only right that it is subtracted from any tribute.
The others fought tooth and nail to try to say that the value of empty lands in clan Lark were not worth that much, until Seraphina asked, "How much would you charge in taxes to let a goblin village own land, live near them, and be able to come into the town to trade and for protection?"
Finally, they agreed to let that be part of the maximum taxes, as they then discussed what those taxes were, since the caravan was going to enter the GERV, and if they were too greedy, the GERV would take it out on them by way of import taxes. The maximum tax was twenty percent, but they decided on 10% between the parties. They then had to squabble about who would receive what. In the end, Lt. Loud and Ranthiel were at a disadvantage. The two nobles ganged up, since Crossroad would benefit from the destroyed villagers receiving money, as the town is where they would spend it. Plus, the White Foxes had already received gifts from the caravan back in Cress.
Star was blushing as they discussed what the party and show were worth in terms of gold pieces. Grey and Blue were the most heavily discussed. This was just as disconcerting to the summoner, as they were his children, so he tried to change the subject, but the others were adamant that this was important for the taxes. Then it was onto how much for a forced sword maiden who didn't even stab you in the morning! In the end, Lt. Loud was shamed into letting the villagers have the 10 percent in taxes, noting he had gotten the better end of the deal. He gave the blushing Star a wink. He insisted that the White Foxes be allowed to buy whatever magical items they wanted at the listed prices after the villagers took what they wanted. This was agreed to.
Almiel chose a mithril worth 100 copper instead of 1,000 because common coins were valuable to both parties. He would then let the villagers have their choice of 540 gold worth of items. They decided on taking all the bronze, as it was a medium of exchange between heroes and commoners. That was 75 gold. They also took all of the silver and high silver, which was worth 170 gold pieces. Plus the potion of remove disease, as it could fetch quite the price for a desperate hero party. They set aside the mithril and gold coins for the GERV, as that is what they would want.
The White Foxes bought the resistance potion for 200 gold, and they also bought the ring of protection for 200 mithril. This left the caravan with 90 high gold coins, a couple of thousand white copper and iron coins, 1000 copper and wrought iron coins, the fire wall scroll, the lightly used Wand of Will, and the bookmark.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The meeting concluded, and the summoner gathered Star's party to discuss what items they would keep for defeating the dragons and what would be kept by the caravan. Olier said that he was giving his share to Alliasaz since he had gotten paid for regaining his alignment, and he wanted to cement that further by not taking a share of the treasure.
The six girls stared at all the money and magical items. Twixia instantly asked for the magical bookmark. All six agreed that was for the best, so she danced around with it and immediately left to go check it out. They decided to give Allie the wand, since she was the only one who would really be able to get value out of it. It would be stored in the caravan for now since she couldn't use it until she learned her class at the academy. Star took the scroll, as she could use it with her skills. Raythiel, Tira, and Zip split up the 200 mithril coins, and they gave Raythiel the 1000 copper coins to buy more common scroll supplies and to purchase what she would need to start making potions. Potions sold for twice as much after all. Raythiel wanted to spend the mithril on some spell scrolls to learn new spells as well. Zip and Tira would be able to upgrade their equipment. Tira, without a doubt, desired a finely crafted elven blade. The rest was given to the caravan to buy replacement horses and gear for all the second-level commoners.
After that was over, Almeil decided to go ahead and leave Crossroad, since there was no reason to let bandits set up an ambush in the forest or something like that. They headed west again, through the remainder of the dense forest, and towards the relative safety of the GERV. They put everyone on watch since there were still a lot of uncontrolled dragon minions running around. The trip to the station was quiet. During the trip, Blue, Grey, and Star started up a conversation.
"So, are you two going to keep being lovers?" Star asked the twins out of the blue as they were scanning the forest.
Blue whispered back, "Nah, we just wanted to try it once and bother our dad."
"Yeah, that was a pretty good joke," Grey laughed. "But now I really only get that expensive medicine. Not that we need coins right now."
"Wait, said Star, "was that just a joke?"
"Well, it's not just a joke," said Blue. "We sort of hate following his rules all the time. We really don't want to go back to court any time soon, so we figured this was a good way to ensure he wouldn't take us back there."
"Yes, we love traveling around and getting stronger," said Grey. "Now we just have to decide what classes to take."
Star replied, "Are you going to become a hedge sword dancer, Grey? They are pretty powerful even at first level."
"That isn't a bad idea at all, Star," said Grey. "Maybe you can teach me the moves before we get to the academy?"
"Well, I am going to be an archer, with both spells and magical abilities," said Blue. "It just makes sense for a High elf. It will take a long time to learn, but it is on the clan's dime, so who cares?"
"I imagine I will be running teams of commoners and a hero," said Star.
'That or fulfilling your prophecy, and so forth," said Grey.
"I have no idea what that could be, but I think Tira will handle all of that; I will just have to let it happen or something," said Star. "That reminds me, I need to talk to Zip about her level. Apologies, cousins."
Star dismounted the moving wagon with some acrobatics and entered wagon two to talk to Zip. "Hey Zip, Let's talk about your level now."
"Oh, right, why did you not want me to look it up?" Zip was filled with curiosity.
"Well, when I looked at your status, it said you had made a deal with the system and that you could change into a Hero class. I was just thinking that maybe you would want to wait until we got to the academy, that way you could see what class would suit you the best, unless you already have something that you want?
"Status!" said Zip, and she looked over her sheet in silence for a while.
"Well, it is complicated; I will get to the advanced four statistics and then any statistics for reaching fourth level. I am thinking, why not take a little of everything? Or should I go for a combat role? Maybe two weapon improvements and sneak attack? Basically a thug or a courtier?"
Star smiled at Zip and said, "There is no rush, Zip; just take your time, or even wait until you can talk to the academy instructors."
As they looked over Zip's sheet and talked over what statistics she could raise for certain classes, the caravan stopped as they had reached the GERV outpost. Star left the wagon to go help with the negotiations.
As Star approached the front of the wagon, Phenaquar and her uncle were talking to the outpost guards. Given that it was not a major road, the outpost appeared imposing. It looked like it was several thousand feet across. It seemed more like a small fort than an outpost. She decided to saunter up to the group. "Is there a problem?" asked Star.
Phenaquar looked over at Star and back to the guards, who seemed rather cross for some reason.
"Whoa there, young elfess, are you the leader of this caravan?" asked the lieutenant guardsman.
"Well, I am a Lark noble princess in training, I guess you could say," said Star.
"Oh, well, if you are not in charge, please keep your distance," said the guard.
The summoner spoke up in a rasp, "Look, we have all of our papers in order; as you can see, there is a substantial tax for a dragon horde included in the paper work; why are you not letting us pass on to the outpost?"
"Because this is fishy. I have been here for decades, and no "Lark clan caravan" has ever passed this way," said the lieutenant. "This paper is for a group of elves on their adulthood quest, but all of you are at least second level. This girl here is 4th! You are telling me she received three levels in the last week? "You also have two magic bearing wagons!"
"I did defeat lots of dragons; I don't see why I wouldn't have leveled up," said Star.
"Lots of dragons?" questioned the guard.
"Our caravan defeated a large group of dragons; that is why everyone leveled up," said Phenaquar.
The lieutenant responded, "I am going to have to go over these wagons and look for irregularities before I can pass you on, whether or not you have taxes to report. Please set up camp over there in that clearing, and I will send for some people to test all of you and for an expert on the Lark clan. It might take a few days, but I can't let such a powerful group pass until I get to the bottom of this!"
The caravan was forced to stop in the clearing for a few days, still in the dangerous forest, giving a chance for dwarves and others of a less than savory nature to catch up.