Neither Aaron nor Eleanor noticed what Buer was thinking. They were discussing the territory's new guests.
"Thank goodness you're finally back." Miss Cleric let out a deep sigh of relief. "I can help you handle other things, but those snow elves... I honestly don't know what to do with them."
"The snow elves? They're here?" Aaron's eyes lit up.
His cousin Robert, walking beside them, sighed as well. "They arrived yesterday. Every last one of those elves thinks far too highly of themselves. They speak arrogantly, make demands, and insist on seeing you. In less than a day, they've already clashed with both the dwarves and the locals. Aaron, I almost questioned whether inviting them was the right decision."
"Almost?" Aaron found that interesting. He smiled. "Why almost?"
Aaron knew very well how difficult snow elves were. If he hadn't possessed Slaanesh's power, he would never have invited those aloof, unbearably arrogant chaotic neutral elves.
"Mr. Barrel Moonflower heard about it," Robert said, still shaken. "We found him in the elves' White-Headed Sea Eagle Tavern. Without another word, he charged outside, transformed into a magical giant bear, and slapped the troublemaking snow elves straight into the ground. They protested and threatened to report him. Mr. Barrel told them to go ahead and complain to Evermeet, to the Elven Court. That shut them up."
"Oh, Selûne above, I was right there! That gave me such a fright-I thought they were really going to fight in the street. But for some reason, the snow elves backed down and didn't dare offend Mr. Barrel again."
Barrel really is clever. He chose the approach least likely to damage relations between humans and snow elves.
That was what Aaron thought.
Hiring Barrel for five hundred gold pieces a month was certainly a bargain. The fat