[Erik felt a little guilty about your refusal and asked what reward you wanted. You prepared to reply...] [You told him you wanted 1,000 reputation.] [Erik flatly rejected your outrageous demand!]
Mu You had finally found a chance to milk some benefits and had planned to finish the reputation quest in one go. Sure enough, though, it wasn't that easy.
[Erik looked at you with a conflicted expression. After a long hesitation, he spoke again and offered a new reward: 400 reputation for clearing the rat nest in Looping Mountain Pass, plus one extra reputation for every Ratfolk Ear exchanged with him. This was his bottom line!]
"What a cheapskate..."
Mu You sighed inwardly. Back in the Elven Forest, killing any random Troll had earned him dozens of reputation points, yet here, each Ratman was worth just one... All he could say was that this race was seriously xenophobic. Letting outsiders benefit from them hurt as much as cutting off their own flesh.
But they were the ones in a hurry, not him. Mu You decided to haggle a little longer.
``` [You said you could accept this reward, but he would also have to agree to two conditions.]
[First, any Ratfolk Ears you obtained in the future could also be exchanged with him for one reputation each.]
[Second, you wanted to bring some people over to help and needed him to accommodate them.]
[Eric hesitated even more after hearing your conditions. But considering how quickly the Ratmen outside the city were breeding, he finally agreed, albeit with some restrictions: only Ratmen killed within Sunlight Elf territory could be exchanged for reputation; you could bring no more than four people and would have to vouch for them. If anyone you brought caused trouble, you would bear