都合の悪いところ + 見て判断したそう + punctuation of this sentence

Question

I am having several problems understanding this sentence:

「都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った、小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。」

First of all と一緒に持ち帰った、, especially the "、" confuses in the sense of the scope of と一緒に. Does the scope include only 日記 or 小型デストロイヤー as well? I know that punctuation is somewhat variable and not as crucial for the meaning of a sentence but I just want to know how to interpret such "breaks" in the future.

I am not sure whether my understanding of 「都合の悪いところは」 is correct. I've read a different post, where 「は 」 as particle was described as often being used to mark some kind of "contrast", especially in regard to what was said earlier.

The preceding clause 「依頼もなく賞金首でもなかったというのに袋は結構な重さがある。」 makes it sound to me that 「は」in the second clause is used in mentioned "contrasting" meaning. (Hinting at the contrast of convenient and inconvenient)

However, my next problem is that I don't understand what 「見て判断したそう」だ is supposed to mean. I found 「見て判断する」 used as definition for 「見受ける」 (https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/210824/meaning/m0u/);however,I still cannot decipher the meaning of this phrase. I interpreted this 「そう」as the "hearsay-version" as it stands after the "full-verb-form".

Especially the interpretation of the last verphrase is troublesome for me and I think if somebody could point out what exactly 「見て判断したそう」 means I might be able to get the whole sentence.

TLDR: What is the meaning of this sentence「都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った、小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。」// Can the 「は」particle be understood as "contrasting" in above stated context?

Thank you in advance!

The whole passage:

「ルナが満面の笑みを浮かべて資金の詰まった袋を手渡す。 依頼もなく賞金首でもなかったというのに袋は結構な重さがある。 都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った、小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。これだけあれば人数で割っても十分金が手元に残る。」

Answer 1

［都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った］、小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。

The "、" clearly shows that the whole 「都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った」 is a long relative clause that modifies 小型デストロイヤーの足.

"... the destroyer's foot, [which I brought back (from the quest) together with the journal...]"

Without the 「、」:

都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記と一緒に持ち帰った小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。

It can be ambiguous; it could be interpreted as:

［都合の悪いところは破っておいた］日記と（、）［一緒に持ち帰った］小型デストロイヤーの足を見て判断したそうだ。

... with a relative clause 都合の悪いところは破っておいた modifying 日記, and another relative clause 一緒に持ち帰った modifying 小型デストロイヤーの足.

"... the journal [with unfavorable part torn off], and the destroyer's foot [which I brought back together with it]"

So, the former means she(=Luna) judged from 足, while the latter can mean she judged from both 日記 and 足.

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I am not sure whether my understanding of 「都合の悪いところは」 is correct.

都合の悪いところを破っておいた日記 would also be fine here. You're right that the は is a contrastive particle; it's like "As for the unfavorable part, I've torn it off / it's gone (and as for the favorable part, it's still there)". Using は here adds a nuance "unfavorable pages have been torn off, so it's alright to show the journal to her."

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However, my next problem is that I don't understand what 「見て判断したそう」だ is supposed to mean. [...] I interpreted this 「そう」 as the "hearsay-version" as it stands after the "full-verb-form".

You're right that the そう indicates hearsay. You can interpret 見て判断する as 見て+判断する, "see" + "judge".

足を見て（報酬額を）判断したそうだ。
"She says / I was told that she saw the foot and decided (the amount of my reward)." /
"She says / I was told that she judged (the amount of my reward) by seeing the foot."

Answer 2

都合の悪いところは破っておいた日記: a diary with undesirable parts trimmed

と 一緒に持ち帰った…足: legs that she took home together with (the diary)

足を見て判断したそうだ: She said that she judged it from legs

All in all, "She said that she judged it (how much the reward should be?) from legs of the mini-destroyers she took home together with the diary with undesirable parts trimmed".