Surprise~! I know, I didn't expect to finish this chapter so soon, either. And I was laughing the whole time I was writing it, too. I'm pretty sure my neighbors all agree that I'm a crazy highly-functioning sociopath...

Oh well.

On a side note, I sense a pattern forming of Thera using the special characteristics of local animals to rain terrors down upon the evil ones. Should I develop this even further? *brushes non-existant mustache*

Oh well...enjoy~!

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“Haaah.” Briar sighed. “Princess, how many satchels do we have left?”

Laura checked her bag. “About twelve. Why?”

“Oh, good. It’s just enough.” Briar stretched a bit before grinning mischievously. “Shall we go, then?”

Once more they continued down the road. This time, Briar disappeared from the road. Before the men even had a chance to move, they had been taken down.

“And that should do it.” Briar said as he came out of the forest, rubbing imagined dirt off his katana.

“I can see the village now! How long until the first packet starts working?” Laura asked.

“Oh, not too long now. The first batch should start coming into effect right about…now.” Briar said, a smile on his face as he looked back down the road.

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Back on the road to the village:

“Ugh!” the man groggily woke up, his face one mass of pain. “What happened?” He then remembered the two kids he had met on the road, and his already ugly face grew uglier.

“Those little gits! The next time I see them, I’ll rip them full of scars, I will!”

His men also began to wake up at this time.

“Wake up, you useless clods!” He began kicking at them. “The prey escaped! It’s all your fault!”

“It weren’t my fault, mastah. The blinkin’ brat was too farst!” One of the men said, unaffected by his kicking.

“Ow!” The slave trader’s foot was not as sturdy as his man, whose hide was as sturdy as a troll. The slave trader began hopping about on one foot, holding his injured one.

“Ow ow ow ow ow! It is completely you’re fault, you incompetents! I’ll dock your pay for this!” He squealed, as he nursed his bruised toes.

One of the men looked at his neighbor. “We were getting paid for this? I thought we’d already gone down to no pay for a month with the last failure two weeks ago.”

“Shh! Don’t remind him!” The other man hurriedly shushed him.

One of the men turned around upon hearing a certain tiny noise.

“Uhh…master?” He said, sweat beginning to run down his face.

“WHAT!” The slave trader yelled, turning in the man’s direction, and freezing.

A bunch of men were speeding down the dirt road as fast as they could, but that wasn’t the real problem.

Approaching at a rapid speed was a hoard of unidentified beasts. Within moments, however, they could identify the beast.

The slave trader’s tanned face became white as the blood drained from it. Then he snapped out of his daze and turned around, dashing off towards town.

“RUN YOU FOOOOOLLSSS!!!!” He shrieked. “IT’S A STAMPEDE OF WILD LUVMINS!!”

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Oh? You don’t know what a Luvmin is?

Well…it’s rather hard to explain. Or rather, you don’t want to know.

….

No, really. You don’t want to know.

….

*sigh* Fine.

Luvmins are a cute and loveable creature…most of the time. But they have their own dark side. Under the effects of a certain fragrance, they can become terrible, horrid creature that most humans should never, ever cross.

Don’t get me wrong, if left on their own, they usually keep to themselves. Heck, they would never have shown up at all if not for the little *cough-present-cough* that Briar left on the men.

Suffice to say, that most men know to never, ever get caught by a Luvmin when it’s under the influence of that certain scent, or they will taste hell in all its different forms. Anyone captured by such a Luvmin will emerge an empty shell of what they once were.

And I think that’s enough explaining for now. Let’s get back to the story.

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Because of the scented packets that were slipped into each person’s clothing, the entire local population of Luvmins had currently been drawn into chasing the group of running men.

Several stragglers had already been caught and sucked into the roiling waves of Luvmins.

Various shrieks and screams echoing out from within, spurring the chased men to new speeds, which also spurred the Luvmins to pursue them all the harder.

One by one, the men were taken down, exhausted, tripped, betrayed. Some of the men were actively grabbing the men around them and throwing them into the Luvmin stampede in the hopes of slowing them down a bit. But the Luvmins only chased all the harder.

The Slave Trader was already close to the back of the ragtag group of running men, burdened by his expensive silk clothing.

Little did he know that Briar had placed not just one, but two scent packets upon his person when the slave trader was still unconscious.

This drove the Luvmins into an even higher frenzy the closer they got to him.

RUN! RUN! RUN! I’VE GOT TO GET AWAY! The slave trader panted, desperation in his eyes as he kept running, even though his legs already felt like jelly.

He looked off to the side. One of his own men was also running alongside.

“You…pant…fall back and keep the Luvmins occupied…gasp…while I go run ahead…wheeze… and get the local guard.”

He ordered.

Heheheh~! your sacrifice will be going towards a worthy cause~. The Trader snickered inwardly.

The man, a rather bull-like and sturdy fellow, looked over at him, and snorted. No way was he staying back there to get caught like that!

Then his brawny brain came upon a rather simple and more agreeable idea.

The man reached over and grabbed the slave trader by the neck, flinging him back into the stampede of awaiting Luvmins.

“NOOOO!!!! TRAAAAIIIITOOOOR!!!” He shrieked.

The rest of the men ran on, silently praying that he rest in peace.

Your sacrifice will not have been in vain. Was the attitude of the whole group of men there.

Surprisingly, the slave trader did manage to stop the Luvmin crowd for a total of ten seconds.

“MOOOMMMYYYY!!!!!” A shriek pierced the heavens, causing the nearby birds to take to flight.

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Briar looked back from the village gates, grinning slyly as even he had heard an echo of that last scream, chuckling to himself.

“Whot’s sew funnee, ey Laddie?” One of the guards asked, prodding Briar on the arm. Laura also looked at Briar, a question on her face.

Briar turned back. “Oh, nothing~. I just thought that the sky was extraordinarily blue today.” He said as he and Laura were admitted into the village.

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As the two walked through the village, looking for an inn to rest in for the night, they came upon a rather worn and aged-looking pub.

“Well! This looks as good a place as any, right prince-oof! I mean, right, Miss Laura?” Briar said with impunity.

“Hmmph! It’s a step up from camping outside at night, I’ll give it that.” Laura said, with a disappointed sniff.

“Well, SORRY abou’ thar! We’re all out uv mansions and palace quarters in these ‘ere parts.” Chuckled a gruff old man whom Briar assumed was the Barkeeper. His balding head and single yellow tooth did nothing to make his appearance any more pleasant.

“Let’s find a different place.” Urged Laura.

“Heh heh. Dis ‘ere be de only inn for miles, Lass. ‘Sides, I wouldn’t leave the village at the moment. It seems the local Luvmins ’ve decided to par-ooz de area fer a bit. An yew wudna wanna be caught by a bunch of em aroun’ night-time for the whole world.” The Barkeep said, then looked around and leaned closer, confidentially.

“I even ‘eard tha’ a whole bunch o’ young’uns like yerselves ‘ave already been caught by ‘em, not even an ‘our ago.” He whispered loudly.

“Goodness! And to think, if we were any slower, we’d be…” Laura paused and shuddered a bit.

“Right, it’s settled, then. Mr. Barkeep, we’ll be in need of a room for the night-oof! Make that two rooms. How much will that be?” Briar said, once more being elbowed by the cloaked figure beside him.

“Tha’ll be thir’y-six coppers, meals included.” The Barkeep said.

“Does that include a bath?” Briar asked.

“Baff’s four coppers extra.” The man said, holding out his hand.

Briar sighed as he counted out forty coppers into the barkeep’s hand. After the man tested the coins, he nodded, satisfied, and passed two keys over the countertop.

“Yer rooms’r tha two at tha end uv tha hallway upstairs. Dinner’s at sundown. Don’ be late. The bathwater’ll be up in harf an ‘our.”

The old man turned to serve one of the regulars as Briar and Laura made their way up to the second level to go investigate their rooms.

It wasn’t long before Briar heard a knock on his door.

With a knowing grin, he opened the door, admitting Laura inside, shutting the door and locking it securely behind her.

Then Briar voicelessly made a sound barrier spell so that the conversation would not leak out.

When he nodded to show they were safe from prying ears, Laura relaxed, grinning.

“You rogue! So that’s what those packets were for? To attract Luvmins? What a shivering horrible punishment!”

Briar laughed. “Yes. Yes it was.” Then her golden eyes darkened as her voice changed to a somewhat steely tone.

“But, it was no worse than what they would’ve done to us, and others. That’s my policy, really. If you are willing to dish something out, then it should only be fair to receive a similar dishing in return.”

Laura rolled her eyes. “Noted. But must all of your punishments be so…unusual and torturous?”

Briar laughed and tilted his head, extending a hand.

“Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met? The name’s Briar.”

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