"A tree? Uh, there are many trees around!" the foxgirl giggled, happy to get petted and rub against Cyra on their way back, while the small Silvery decided to nap comfortable in the paladin's arms!
It took a few hours to return back to the village, even with Momo showing the right way without much effort. It seemed they arrived along with the first rays of the morning sun...
The village still had its wooden wall around it, and it was even well guarded...for village standards that is. Just two guards, with spears - one of the cheapest weapons to have - and with some chainshirts that were probably family hairlooms...
"Oh....quick, help open the gate! Its the Foxy girl! And Miss Cyra!" the guard seemed happy to see them back. It seemed so long ago since Cyra had left the village...but it wasn't. The village was still the same, if anything had changed, that would be the paladiness...
The gate didn't take long for the 'gate' to be opened. It was just a large door made of thick planks after all.
The guards seemed happy to see them both, looking at Cyra with both admiration and perhaps some shyness. They were by no means seasoned soldiers.
"Ah...you are back! Welcome back Lady Cyra and Miss Momo! Did you really go to hell?" the guard asked before he was stopped by the other guard "Forgive him, he is not very bright....should I go wake up the Mayor, or you want to meet Miss Sera? Or something else we can help with?" he offered
After a while, Cyra and Momo would meet Sera once again! She wasn't even asleep. She had red eyes, proof that she has been reading thebig piles of tomes that were laid on her table. However, she seemed relieved to see Cyra again.
"You are back! You are back!" she gave a friendly hug. "She is My Snowfox!" Momo complained, but she just rubbed herself on Cyra a bit more to erase the witche's smell!
"Ah. sorry..." the witch said, leading them inside"...what happened? I heard the story..." she said blushing a bit "...and Momo, what happened, did you see any soldiers?" she asked.
After a short explanation, Cyra would learn the whole story. It was a tax collector, not an axe collector the one who had caused the trouble, it was just that Momo couldn't understand the meaning of the word. According to Sera, he had probably just kept the taxes for himself and then pretending that the goblins took them. That would get him both a revenge against the hobgobliness who had beat him up, and he would keep the gold for himself. Of course proving the goblins innocense would be hard...Sera had been trying to read all the law books she could find trying to find a solution.
"We can't fight the soldiers...they are just doing their work. Or so they think. And if we beat them, it will just make us look even more guilty. It is the goblins word against the tax collector's word...and well..." she sighed "...until recently they had been attacking. How are we going to persuade the Lord that they changed their ways...?"
"So I guess, they can only move away..." she explained, with one more sigh.