Every head snapped toward the small centaur.
Mavis, who had been trying to make herself as small as possible, froze like a deer caught in torchlight.
"While everyone has some degree of stench." Luca continued hesitantly. "I don't want to say this, but...you probably have it the most. After all, you work in a workshop with a furnace running every single day. You sweat the most. And while working with you..."
He grimaced.
"I could definitely smell your stench."
"ENOUGH!" Mavis's voice cracked like a whip. "Enough! You don't need to say another word!"
She pointed at him with a trembling finger.
"I swear on every ancestor I have, if you say ONE MORE WORD about my stench, I will chase you around this village with my hammer until one of us drops dead!"
Luca wisely fell silent and the crowd, for its part, did not laugh. Even Riley, who lived to tease Mavis kept her mouth firmly shut.
This was not the time for jokes. This was a sensitive issue, and everyone knew it.
