I just thought of something spine-chillingly horrendous...what if people actually begin to ship my characters?

OY! THIS IS A WARNING. I BETTER NOT SEE ANY DOUJINSHIS OUT THERE OF MY STUFF WITHOUT PERMISSION, YOU HEAR ME!!?

It's bad enough having to deal with Thera becoming self-aware that she's a monster. Well, at least she's not throwing it around left and right, trumpeting it to the heavens, like a stupid elephant that I know.

Enjoy~!

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“Man, who were those dark-cloaked people anyways?” Helen asked, picking leaves out of her hair.

“I don’t know…but…” Briar stood up, clearly angry. “How dare they ruin my vacation!”

“Ahahahahah! That’s what you’re worried about?!” Laura asked, sarcastically.

“Of course it is! Day after day was nothing but training, training, training! Then we finally exterminate a bunch of bad guys, and Master tells us we have to lay low and can’t kill anyone—which gave me the perfect excuse to relax, and now these guys ruined everything!!!!” Briar was angry to the point where her martial spirit energy was manifesting on the outside as a flame.

“Unforgivable!” The voice broke out of the forest, disturbing the birds from the trees as they took to flight.

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In a dark place somewhere:

A cloaked figure approached a candle-lit table with a single chair at the end. The back was facing the cloaked figure, but a single hand was visible, drumming out a rhythm on the arm of the chair.

“Master, we’ve located the capture subjects of the late Nezumi-san. They somehow managed to arrive at the next town, where they subsequently vanished after flying over the wall in a straw-filled, horseless cart. Should we extend the search for them?”

The hand paused. “No. Withdraw your troops and have them expand to the neighboring towns. Sooner or later, they’ll need to show up in one. And when they do, that’s when we’ll catch them for sure!”

The hand clenched excitedly into a fist as the cloaked figure retreated with his orders.

Soon I’ll be able to see what that master Thales’s students are made of.

“Hu hu hu huhuhuhuhuhuuuuuuh!” the figure chuckled mirthfully.

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“Ano…Sensei, who is this ‘master’ you and Laura keep talking about?” Helen asked.

“Geh! Um, well, right now’s not really a good time to say…I’ll definitely explain everything later, though. I promise!” Truth to be told, while she was enraged, Briar had forgotten that Helen was also present.

“So? Have you got some sort of plan?” Laura asked.

“Well, so far, we haven’t been pursued, which is a good sign, but it means that whoever those cloaked fiends are, they’re pretty confident that they can catch us somewhere down the line.” Briar said.

“Which means?” Laura asked.

“Worst case scenario, they’ve infiltrated all the neighboring towns, so it doesn’t really matter which one we go to, we’ll be captured or chased in any one of them. Even more worst case scenario: they’ve occupied some point on the road that we can’t avoid going through, such as a canyon or a bridge.” Briar sketched out.

“Which means?” Laura asked.

“Which means, we’re not going to be sleeping in any inns for a while. Lucky for you, chibi: it seems you’ll get more adventurer practice while we travel through these lands.” Briar said, ruffling Helen’s hair. “I’d give them about a month before they realize we’re onto them and they attempt to comb through the forest with a fine-toothed comb.”

“How much supplies do we have?” Laura asked.

“Well, if we’re not having any more eating contests, I’d say enough for about three weeks before we’ll have to hunt in earnest.” Briar said, taking out the leather book she’d taken off the dead man from Helen’s town.

“What’s that?” Laura asked.

“Something I took off the dead intruder-san from yesterday.” Briar replied. “I was hoping to figure out who he was, who he worked for, or what his objective was.” On the front of the leather book was the painted impression of a rat.

Briar turned the pages, reading with a practiced speed that not many could emulate. After about half an hour, she closed the leather book, a solemn expression on her face. “It seems we’ve involve ourselves in something serious this time.” She said with a sigh.

“What is it?” Laura asked.

“This Nezumi-san was involved with a group of slave-traders as we had both surmised, at first. But he originally came from a local group of martial artists. It was only after he was expelled from their group that he became involved with the slave traders as a provider.”

“Artists!” Laura gasped. "Strong ones?"

“Yeah.” Briar nodded. “At least brown class, and from the looks of it, they’re quite the talented ones, at that. Not to mention that they’re also a band of rather unscrupulous rogues. Compared to them, Nezumi was just a weak, sore loser who quit the game early because he wasn't winning. I can’t help but feel that this group was the reason why Master Thales wanted us to lay low in the first place.”

“So, now what are we going to do?” Laura asked.

Briar didn’t answer, but took a very detailed map out of her magic bag. This was also one of the things she had managed to obtain from ‘Nezumi-san’s belongings.

She unfurled it and secured the ends down with stones, pointing to a spot on the map.

“This is where we are, currently, in the forest just outside of Wako Town. And this is where Master wanted us to meet up.” Her finger slid up the map to a spot half-way across the map.

“If we can just manage to avoid their scouts until we reach this spot, then we’ll probably find ourselves outside of their area of influence. The only thing is, we can’t enter any towns between here and there. After a few days, they’re going to start to suspect that we’re onto them. So, first, we need to throw them off our trail.”

“And? How are we going to do that?” Helen asked.

“Heh heh~ Well, it just so turns out that this Sensei has a reeaally good idea for this~” Briar grinned pointing her thumb at herself.

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The next day:

“Master! We’ve got reports of sightings of the targets in a town southwest of their previous point! It looks like they are attempting to escape towards the jungle area! They disappeared outside the city soon after that.” The black cloak reported to the man in the chair.

“Good. Withdraw your troops from the north and concentrate them in the southern region. We can’t allow them to escape.”

“ Yes, Master!”

-----------------------

“Tell me again why we had to appear in a place farther away from where we’re trying to go?” Laura said, annoyed.

“To mess with the people who are after us, of course!” Briar said it as a matter of fact.

“Don’t you think it’s just going to make them more angry at you for doing that?” Laura asked.

“Don’t you think they’re getting a bit too complacent and arrogant?” Briar countered. “They’re the ones who think they’ve almost captured us. I’m simply giving them a lesson they won’t possibly be able to forget. Moreover, this is revenge for them ruining my perfect vacation.”

Briar was quite stubborn on that point.

“Vacation, you say? When nearly every step of the way was paved with slave traders, rogues, kidnappers, and assassins, and you say it was a vacation!” Laura sighed.

“Yeah. And the fun was just starting, too…It’s too bad we couldn’t pick up that free lunch from Penelope. Now we’ve got at least three whole months before we can stay in a proper inn again.” Briar sulked.

“I agree! Penelope’s food is yummy!” Helen added, mouth drooling at the memory.

“But, looks like you’ve got a great chance, chibi~ Now you have more time to learn about the work of an adventurer~” Briar grinned.

“Don’t call me a chibi!” Helen sulked.

“Kohon! Very well, then, Helen-chan. What is the first thing you need in order to be an adventurer?” Briar asked.

“A really powerful weapon?” Helen replied, tilting her head in thought.

“WRONG!” Briar formed a large X with her arms. “The first thing an adventure needs is survival skills! SUR-VI-VAL! It doesn’t matter if you have a really powerful weapon or not: if you can’t even light a fire, then you’re chances of living until the next town is zero!”

“Oh! Now I get it!” Helen said.

“So, at camp tonight, you’re going to keep at it until you can make a survival fire!” Briar assigned.

“EH!?” Helen whined.

“NO ‘EH?’!! You’re the one who wants to learn survival skills! That’s why the only thing you can do right now is practice, practice!” Briar pointed out.

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Over the course of the next few weeks, Briar drilled the basics of survival into Helen’s tiny frame. She learned how to start a fire, how to tie different knots, how to set up a tent, how to throw other creatures off scent, how to catch fish and cook them, how to trap food, how to find and test for clean water, and how to properly set up a safe camping perimeter.

Only after Briar was assured that Helen had ‘the basics’ down, was she allowed to move on to the next stage.

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Briar and Helen hid motionless in the bushes. Before them, a white rabbit with a horn on its forehead stood, quietly nibbling on some clover.

Helen clenched her makeshift bow, trying hard not to make any sound as she took aim and then let the arrow zoom towards its intended target. The white rabbit was skewered through the heart.

“Yes! We’re going to have rabbit stew for dinner tonight!” Helen celebrated.

“Good job! Your aim has improved these past few days.” Briar smiled, proud of her student. It had been almost a month since she had taken Helen on as an apprentice.

“Now, show me how good you’ve gotten at skinning the beast.” She said.

“Eh? I’ve got to do that too?” Helen complained.

“What are you talking about, chibi? Do you think you’ll have me to baby you around when you go off on adventures of your own? Besides, for those who know how to skin, the pelts can become an extra source of income, which is always welcome amongst adventurers.”

Briar ruffled Helen’s hair again.

“Like I said, stop calling me chibi!” Helen retorted as she retrieved the dead horned rabbit.

Even cooking was a learning experience for Helen. Except this time, she had two teachers for that, as both Laura and Briar freely offered advice on how to make a tasty meal fit for a hero. Under their tutelage, Helen’s skills grew day by day.

Until one day, when they came across a caravan camped out on the road.

“Should we go up and talk to them? Or should we just avoid them? It could be a trap, after all.” Laura consulted with Briar.

“Hmm...that could be the case. But, then, why are they camped out here in the middle of the daytime? In the middle of the road, no less? You two stay here, I’ll go and see what’s happening.”

Briar wrapped a torn sheet around her head, forming a makeshift hood before making her way down to the road around the bend.

Staff in hand, she really did look like some sort of nomad, or lone warrior.

“I’m afraid, it’s no-it’s no use!” A voice came from the caravan. “Traveller, you’ll have to turn back and find a different route.”

Briar looked up from the road. “Why? Has something happened?”

A man came out from the circle of wagons. “Indeed there has. The yearly floods have risen the water level to the point where it’s too dangerous to cross the river, even with the stone bridge in place. Even though it’s made of stone, the bridge is so old that we don’t know when it may collapse.”

“Really? That’s really bad news! Are you sure there isn’t a way to cross?”

“No, not unless you have a magician on hand.” The man said, bitterly. “But good luck with that! I’ve heard that magicians all like to keep to their towers and rarely help anyone unless they are paid handsomely for it. But who other than the king would have the kind of money to pay them outright?”

“Ah, True, true.” Briar sympathized. “But, man, for the bridge to be so troublesome after I’ve come all this way! To turn around without having done anything, it’s too frustrating!”

“You’ve got that right!” The man said. “We came with a load of herbs, spices, and animal furs to sell in the next town, but with things being the way they are, it looks like we won’t be making any profits this time.”

“Heh? Herbs and spices, huh? I happen to have a bit of coin here. Would it be all right to have a look and maybe buy some of that off of you? I can also trade you some furs I’ve collected on the way.”

“Sure, why not? After the waters go down, people will be wanting more furs anyways in order to prepare for the winter-time. I hear it’s going to be a cold one, this year.” The caravan trader allowed Briar into the circle of wagons.

“Uwa! Not only herbs and spices, but dyes and colored cloth as well? There’s even jewelry! Did you people make all of these?”

“Of course! It’s our clan’s specialty, after all.” The caravan trader said, puffing out his chest with pride. “My name is Gypsum. I’m the boss of this caravan, as you can probably tell. As long as you’ve got money, you can buy as much as you’d like from here!”

“Thank you. Then, How much is it for all of your herbs and spices?”

“…What?”

“How much for all of it?” Briar asked again.

“At least f-fifty-seven gold coins. But, boyo, how are you going to carry it all? I assure you there’s quite a lot of it!” Gyspum recovered from his stupor, realizing that he had a rich customer.

“There!” Briar placed the money in his hands. “That’s money I thought I’d not get to spend. Lucky me~I was hoping to find some nice fresh herbs and spices in the next town, but I can just buy it from you fellows, instead!”

“Ah, Yes! Then, i-if you will follow me!” Gypsum led him to a wagon filled with herbs and spices.

After Briar filled her magic bag with the countless bundles of herbs and spices, she bid the man farewell, and walked back down around the bend, before vanishing into the trees.

Gypsum watched while the man disappeared around the bend, then smiled sneakily. “Looks like he took the bait.” He chuckled darkly. The figures gathered within the circle of wagons joined him as they also laughed.