But what if Richard knew that she was going to do the opposite of whatever he said and picked the one he didn't actually prefer on purpose????

It probably doesn't actually matter that much, since they were already able to kick the guards' butts before disarming them. And if it turns out that only one of the guards can drive, the worst that'll happen is they got "swindled" into waking up both of the guards.

Twilly heals the guard Robina picked! He doesn't seem to appreciate it very much but that's okay, helping people is its own reward. 

Robina looks at Elan. "Do you want to explain the plan to this guy before we untie him, or shall I?" 

"I think I can do that! And if I forget anything big you can bring it up."

He addresses the guard next.

"Okay, so the bad news is we already took all your money and weapons. The good news is that we're gonna escort you to the place you were going and protect you in case anyone else tries to attack you and once we get there you can have your weapons back! Where were you going, anyway?"

"Uhhh...Verteroche Crossing?"

This guard is so confused right now, but he sure isn't complaining. This honestly seems like one of the better outcomes from a starting point of 'waking up after being knocked unconscious in a fight'. The boss looks furious, though, so that's going to be fun later. 

"Do you need me to...do anything?" 

"Oh, right. None of us can drive! So we want you to do that."

"...Okay." Man, he got taken down by a bunch of bandits and none of them can drive? That's kind of embarrassing. 

Anyway, sure, the boss seems to be going along with this plan so he will too. Fighting these guys didn't go great when he had a weapon and a buddy, and seems likely to go even worse if he has neither. 

Robina enlists the awake guard's help hauling his unconscious buddy into the carriage. She'll sit up front next to the driver with her bow, and everyone else can ride in the carriage if they want, with Elan and Ash ready to jump out and help if bandits attack. 

(Sir Richard is not a big fan of this plan, which involves sharing his carriage with an unconscious body, two bandits, and a moglin. Sir Richard does not get a say.) 

Hey, Twilly and Ash are nice! (Elan tries to be nice too, of course, but obviously he doesn't get to make that call for himself.)

"So… what do you usually do?" he tentatively asks, even though he's not sure Sir Richard really wants to talk to him.

Sir Richard just glowers. 

One awkwardly silent carriage ride later, without even any bandit attacks to liven it up, they reach the turning to Verteroche! 

Robina gathers the party together in a little huddle a short distance from the carriage. 

"Alright, any bright ideas for how we give them their weapons back without risking them turning on us before we can get away? I don't trust Richard to keep his side of the deal." 

"Is it a huge problem if they try? We did already beat them. Maybe we could… set them on the ground right here and then leave really quickly? Or I could give you the money and you and Ash could go ahead of Twilly and me."

"Or we could throw them the weapons while already running away?" 

"But then somebody might get bonked by accident!" 

"Well, we don't have to throw them very hard…"

Elan pauses.

"Wait. Robina, you have a bow! Okay, what if I let Robina hold on to the money, then I go and hand them the weapons normally, so it doesn't look like we're afraid of them. And then we wait to leave until they drive away?"

"Hmm...I think that works! Alright, hand me the moneybag." 

Elan hands over the money!

"Okay, I'll go over by myself so they can't try something mean and sneaky like taking Ash or Twilly hostage."

He then takes the guards' weapons out of his backpack and heads over to Richard.

"Here are your things back! In the future you should be nicer to people, and also less greedy. Then people like Robina won't want to steal your stuff."

"Hmph." 

The guard who isn't tied up takes the weapons. Sir Richard, wisely, does not try to order him to attack Elan. They drive away down the road to Verteroche without further incident. 

"Alright! Great job, everyone. Now we just need to give all this gold away!" 

Elan didn't really expect to be able to singlehandedly convince Richard to change his Vile ways, but it's always worth a shot.

"Hooray! Do you have a list, or are we just gonna find people and/or creatures in need on our path?"

"We're just gonna see who we find on our path! Unless they're bandits or sneevils—bandits can steal their own gold, and sneevils will just throw it away." 

"Wait, who does that even leave? We're in a forest, nobody lives here except bandits and sneevils—uh, and the Merry Women, of course." 

"The cuddly wuddly little forest creatures, right?" says Elan, who remembers what Robina said earlier.

"Exactly!" She grins at Elan. "It shouldn't take us long to run across some if we head back the way we came." 

"Wait, you were serious about that?"