Laurentius stayed up that entire last night of their preparation to face the supply cart and managed to stop Laginna before she could sneak into Mia's bed again. He then lit all of the candles under her bed again and waited until the smell of the wax wafting up would bother Mia to the point she'd come down. When that didn't work he burned a stick of incense until the small enclosed space was filled with that powerful oppressive smell.

It didn't take long for her to throw herself out of the tree to escape the smell. Lagina was a bit disappointed that she didn't get to wake her, and Mia was a bit disappointed that her watch tower now reeks of incense.

"Come on, the elves could be here any minute we must prepare to meet them on the road."

"Can I at least have breakfast first?"

"I thought you might ask that."

Laurentius started the conversation by lifting Mia up by the back of her shirt collar. since she sleeps with her buttons open she was essentially being held up by her armpits. she complained a bit but Latif came soon after with a small cart of breakfast foods.

Five plates, flapjacks, duck eggs, and thinly sliced cuts of boar lay steaming on each one. to the left of each plate lay an empty mug. Lahahana walked out behind him with a kettle and a box of tea.

"Eat quickly we need to get there soon or they'll remove our roadblocks before we can take their supplies."

"Alright."

Came the unanimous reply of the other four. After breakfast, they got themselves in position and waited about a half mile down the road from their encampment Laurentius was hiding in a tree with his bow drawn and Latif hiding behind him with a crossbow at the ready.

Lahahana was hiding behind a tree sword at the ready waiting for the enemy to arrive. Mia and Lagina were sitting on one of three logs laid in the road to impede the carriages in their approach.

The five of them waited impatiently until around noon when the carriages finally made their way into the sight of the five. The elves themselves didn't notice the humans down the road and the slaves didn't bother to wake them fearing punishment and decided just to travel as far as they could before stopping about ten feet away from Mia and Lagina.

Before long the five could hear elven shouting from within though apart from the slaves only Mia could understand it. before they could turn around and try to go the long way however Laurentius loosed an arrow and struck down the elf commanding the driver of the last carriage in the line right between the eyes.

"What's going on?"

"Why are we stopping?"

The elves cried. The one in the front saw the two of them idly waiting for them Mia, bored, idly carving a block of wood with her pocket knife. Lagina was sitting upright with Mia's head in her lap as she carved away.

"Did these women come to us to be enslaved after running away?"

"We were never slaves, to begin with"

The elf in the front most carriage asked mockingly to the elf in the carriage behind him. before they could open their mouths to laugh at their own joke Mia responded to them in their own language; her fluency caught them off guard.

"Who are you two?"

"Your death."

The moment he blinked she was already in front of him and relieved him of the burden weighing down on his shoulders with the swift motion of her sword. a fountain of green saplike blood spouted up about a foot over his now barren shoulders as it finally sunk into the disembodied head as it sailed across the air that he was already dead.

It took the other elf a second to register what happened so Mia caught the frightened skull of the freshly killed elf and gently tossed it back to the other elf. He caught it out of instinct but soon dropped it when he realised what it was he was holding.

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Mia began to slowly audibly stomp her way towards him and he began to run away. Mia followed close behind and taunted him in elvish as he ran.

"Don't worry, you'll see your friend again, in fact, I'll help you meet him again."

He turned past a wider tree in the forest and came face to face with her again. He narrowly dodged being beheaded but instead got a really bad wound on his arm after he'd instinctually raised it to protect his head.

"Where are you going? The fort's too far to run on foot you know. You're a long way from home as well."

She sang to him in a sing-song voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. He ran frantically away from her voice over rocks and past trees desperately trying to escape her. Soon she chased him into a cave where he drew his blade and turned to face his death like a man.

She stood at the entrance sword in one hand but her attention was diverted to the other. She was looking at her nails, not even meeting his gaze. His fear turned to anger and he shouted.

"Don't ignore me!!"

After his voice echoed into the cave's depths. a small mocking smile stretched over her lips. Her grin rising to meet him returned a bit of the fear he felt but he resolved himself to fight her until he heard a sound from deeper in the cave, a muted heavy thudding followed by a grizzly growl.

"Tell your friends I said hi."

She said before disappearing into the woods as the bears came out and tore him to pieces for disturbing their slumber. The last thing he saw was her back as she walked away.

When she rejoined her friends the slaves were being set free from their cage and Latif was releasing the magic that sealed their fate as slaves to the elves. Latif began frantically healing every one of them once they were freed, but they were all suffering from malnutrition and overwork which he could not personally fix with magic.

Laurentius and Lagina led the now freed humans to their bandit camp and began tending to their various needs, everyone who was incapable of standing was given a bed to rest in, and everyone who was starved and on the verge of death was given light meals and soup until their stomachs remembered how to digest food instead of their own bodies.

Latif looked after everyone in more serious conditions than basic care could take care of. Mia and Laurentius moved the stolen supplies to the storage room after Mia made the abandoned carts look like an animal attacked them. the horses were brought back to the hut and permitted to roam relatively freely.

The entire next week was spent moving stolen supplies and recuperating the slaves they stole from the elves. 30 of them were women though when they'd arrived they were too emaciated to be able to tell them apart.

Over the course of the week of their rehabilitation, expediated through magic to aid in their recovery speed, the need to get the slaves out of rags and into proper clothes became soon necessary and the furs Mia had been collecting since they'd arrived were found lacking. as their rags would not feasibly fit on healthy bodies.

The men and women were separated for safety reasons, and it became necessary for the five to teach the slaves how to hunt, not for food as they'd stolen pleanty already but for pelts.

The supplies stolen were as follows:

- 2 months' worth of field rations and preserved foods for 500 soldiers to eat comfortably.

- 2,000 arrows and 30 spare bowstrigs

- 500 crossbow bolts and 30 crossbow repair kits

- 500 soldier's wages (30 platinum coins and 1497 gold coins)

- 25 provocative letters from loved ones left home