Rebellious Maidens - Episode 1: Underground Town of Custom

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

On the horizon in a desert, two figures marched forward, cutting through the sand, dust, and dirt around them.

One was a mage in white and fluffy hair, who was Sill Plain. She's still wearing her usual outfit.

"This is strange, we should already be there...." Sill spoke, as they kept marching forward.

And the other, was Rance, clad in a dark green coat, a buttoned white shirt with a tie underneath, and his green pants that were a part of his tracksuit. He currently doesn't have any armor and swords as they left it back at his house.

He's also left with the [Ghost Buster Sword] as his main weapon, as Sill had a lot of trouble trying to carry the [Rance Sword MkIV] due to it's sheer weight while he uses the [DEagle] as his secondary weapon that he utilizes to cast both offensive and defensive spells. It doesn't have working ammunition, yet he could simply use magic to replace the said ammunition.

They should return to take back their house after they finish this quest afterwards.

"... Yeah, that's really strange." Rance replied, before noticing a cave that probably shouldn't be here. "I remember there should be a town a hundred steps before me, but...."

Rance rubbed his chin, before curiously striding forward to the cave.

"Maybe something happened to the town?" Sill replied, staying close to Rance.

While they were approaching the cave, they noticed a girl waiting for them at the entrance of the cave with a warm smile.

"We've been waiting for you. You must be Sir Rance and his partner Miss Sill, right?" The girl asked, as Rance and Sill nodded.

"Yeah, we are." Rance replied.

"Welcome to the town of Custom." The girl spoke, completely throwing Sill and Rance off-guard for a moment.

"Town? The cave is the town? What happened here?" Rance asked, as the girl had a solemn look.

"A lot has happened months ago, but Father remembers most of what happened at that time, so he might give you the information you need. Anyway, I'm Chisa, the mayor's daughter, please follow me." Chisa introduced herself, before turning around and heading into the cave as if it was a normal thing to do.

Rance and Sill stepped into the cave, following Chisa. They've come all this way to solve a problem, right?

After a little while, they found a town sitting in the underground cavern.

"What.... what is this place? The whole town is inside a cave.... Is everyone fine with living in such a dark place?" Sill spoke, both amazed and confused.

"After wandering to a Kingdom and Empire full of Poppins, I'm used to seeing towns and cities inside a cave." Rance commented, remembering a time where he once managed to wander to a Poppin Kingdom while he was wandering inside a cave.

He also remembered being one of the people who instigated a total peace treaty between kingdom and empire.

Anyway.... back to what was happening now....

"Hmmm.... there are buildings that have been recently destroyed here... looks like a battle took place in this town." Rance commented while Chisa led them to a house.

Inside the house, Chisa walked to bedridden middle aged man's side, as the said man glanced at Rance and Sill with a hopeful expression.

"I thank you for coming to this town, good sir. I apologize for greeting you in my bed. I have been very sick lately. I am the mayor of this town, Gazel Gode. I hear from some of the adventurers and townspeople that you're a very brave warrior with exceptional skill, capable of handling all tasks thrown at you no matter how daunting it was. Please, save Custom...." The mayor spoke, before coughing twice.

Rance rubbed his cheek.

"Hm, I can do that easily! However, what happened here? This was just an ordinary town the last time I visited it, even for a very short while..." Rance spoke, wanting to inquire Gazel.

"Hmm... Let me remember.... A month ago, a battle of mages took place in this very town. One was a mage known as Ragisis, a man who has a school for training mages, I knew him very well: a kind-hearted, social person who is respected by all of us. And the ones opposing him were... sadly his own students. I do not know why they betrayed him, but Ragisis had sacrificed his life to protect us." Gazel spoke, sighing as he finished a sentence, but it seems like he's not done yet.

"His students, were the Four Witches. The four of them were talented ones, and they're supposed to be the town's protective force after they graduated. But, they suddenly rebelled against Ragisis at that same month. They stole Ragisis's treasured rings and felled him in combat. After that, those witches sealed this town underground using the power of the rings." Gazel finished, as Rance sat down on a nearby chair.

"It must take a lot of magic to do exactly that. Maybe the rings were also responsible to allow them to cast such an overwhelming spell?" Sill asked, curiously thinking about the witches, as Gazel nodded to confirm her speculation.

The town's mayor sighed, and coughed. "After they sealed us and the town here, monsters began to invade the town and threatened out lives. Luckily, the men here were good enough to keep the monsters away from the town for the most part. Because of the seal, we are unable to even leave, an adventuring group that ventured the dungeon hasn't returned yet, and the women of the town have started to go missing- *cough!*"

Rance began to frown a bit, as Chisa began to worry about her father. And then, Rance grinned.

"Hey, old man, just give that a rest already. We promise you, those four witches will be punished by me, and this town will be free soon!" He assured both Chisa and Gazel, as they smiled in relief.

For once, their flames of hope became brighter. The strongest adventurer, as many many adventurers have spoke of, was going to save the town with his partner. It takes time, but it works.

"Ah, about the reward, you can take the reward of 25,000 GOLD once you are done. You should go to the [Mouth to Hell] if you wanted to enter the dungeon to find and defeat the witches." Gazel spoke, as Rance turned around and walked out of the mayor's house with Sill.

When they were outside, Rance observed his surroundings, and even the buried town before glancing at Sill.

"For now, let's wander around the town for a while. Look for the weapon and supply shop, the info shop, maybe every important building in this town before we proceed to go to this [Mouth of Hell]."

[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]

Fun fact: Rance is unable to use the full potential of his magic most of the time. Until later.....