Chapter 180 Grease The Wheels

Chapter 180 Grease The Wheels

A voice came through the office door, breaking the silence.

"Mackenzie Team, come in." The man's voice demanded.

Inside the office was a portly older man, completely bald with his head shining under the fluorescent lights, and sweat stains on his shirt. It was obvious that he was not one of the Elites, even without considering his age, just by the condescending look that he was giving the group.

"I hear that you have done wonderful things for the productivity rankings of the Public Safety department. Excellent work. However, we must check your equipment for contraband, to ensure that there are no prohibited or sacrilegious items going back to the public." He smugly announced.

Doug turned to Karl as if to say, "I told you so", but Karl knew as well as everyone else that what the man was after was a bribe. He didn't give a damn about contraband, and his position in Public Safety didn't even allow him to handle it, he would have to call in the army to dispose of it for him if any was found.

But if a few gold coins were declared suspicious, who would be any wiser?

The others waited for the man to make his pitch, but Karl decided to move first, and picked up Doug's backpack, which had nothing in it except what it had come with. He set it on the desk and smiled at the bureaucrat.

"Of course that won't be a problem. Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development already has our inventory, but you are free to verify the contents of the bags." Karl replied with a genuine smile.

The man's face fell like Karl had kicked him, and his whole attitude changed.

"You met with the Colonel?" He stammered.

"Of course. She is my direct supervisor, and has a pair of agents assigned to my development at the Academy. We spend quite a bit of time together." Karl informed him.

"Then I think that we are finished here. I will get a copy of the contents from the Bureau, and they can take responsibility for any contraband that might have made its way off the battlefield with your team."

He waved to dismiss the team from his office, and they silently made their way back into the hall, where their escort was still waiting.

"That was a short meeting. I am glad that you could sort things out so quickly." The young woman greeted them while standing in the middle of the hallway, as if prepared to prevent them from leaving.

Wait, there's not much about that he's allowed to tell. I will tell Brother Doug privately after. But it's a funny story." The big man explained.

Danni chuckled at the mention of Thor. "He's a big suck. You should see him now, he's gotten huge in the last week with all the fighting that we've been doing against Awakened and Commander Rank beasts. I always told you that it was the best way to gain power, and it looks like it works for the Lightning Cerro as well."

The Inquisitor gave Karl a curious look, so he called Thor out, taking up half the room.

"Goddess, but he's gotten big. That's a full-grown Lightning Cerro, for certain, and perhaps bigger than average. Thor might be ready to challenge for the position of Pack Leader if he was still in the wild." The Inquisitor gasped, then gently rubbed the bone ridge that ran across the back of Thor's head, protecting his neck from attack.

The Inquisitor absently rubbed Thor's head with one hand as he finished sorting through the packs.

The Inquisitor turned to Doug, "You should send Karl back to the Seminary Academy when you leave. We can exchange his share of the gold into the Church Bank account that all Elites get set up automatically, and I'm sure that there are a few Ascended Clerics that would be eager to meet him before the next mission he goes on.

We introduced him to mostly Awakened Rank students last time, but he's already outgrown that. Plus, you all likely need to be tested again, and that's done at the Church."

Doug nodded and looked at Karl to see if he had an issue with it.

"I will have to get permission from someone to go on another adventure, I'm certain, but I don't have a problem with that." Karl agreed easily.

Brother Doug was a great healer, and his advanced cooking skills were a real lifesaver on this mission, but Karl couldn't count on having him available all the time, as he was graduated, with a real job and responsibilities.

But if he could find a nature priestess, or another Green Dragon Cleric among the students, he would be in luck. It might not be written in any textbook, but finding the best cook was an important part of developing the perfect mission team.

Even the beasts agreed. Especially Thor, who now had a large pile of the special mount feed that Doug had been making for him daily.

That was much better than the regular roughage that he could get anywhere in the wild, or from the Academy Cafeteria, and the spell that Doug used made so much of it that even Thor's mighty appetite didn't keep up with the supply.

He didn't tell the Cleric that, though. Instead, he hid the extra in his space so that he had more for later, when he didn't have a Doug around to keep making it for him.