Rebellious Maidens - Episode 3: Maria Custard

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Rance looked at the girl on a lab coat, as the girl looked like she was a research assistant. There were beakers and flasks placed on a few tables, there's also a shelf containing books related to Scientific and Magical Research (though mostly about the former than the latter), and this room is technically a lab.

The girl had blue hair, blue eyes, and a sideways braid. She also has glasses that helps her eyesight.

"Apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I'm Maria Custard, nice to meet you." The girl spoke before giving both Rance and Sill a quick bow.

'She looks friendly, but I don't think I should trust her....' Sill thought, glancing at Rance who was crossing his arms.

"Hey, can you please grab the book named 'Mechanical Engineering Vol 6' off the shelf?" Maria asked, as Rance did as said.

They began helping her for a short while, before Rance halted by his tracks.

"Aside from helping you at this moment, what were you doing down here?" Once Rance asked that, Maria turned to face him as her eyes lit up.

"You know that anyone is unable to use magic without a talent, right?" Maria spoke, before she gained a very confident smile "Nowadays, it's common for mages to be fighting on the backlines, right? But what if you could reverse that? What if warriors could fight with the same firepower mages wield? And without having the talent or train for it?"

"....." Rance was silent, looking at Maria as if she was reckless.

"Uhh.... That sounds reckless. You should at least train to be strong, I think." Sill spoke.

"Even if it's reckless, with my intellect I can make it happen! I'll make it possible with the weapon I'm currently developing!" With confidence, Maria crossed her arms. "With this weapon, battle as we know it would change completely! And no, you can't know of it, it's a secret until I finish it."

"Secret, huh..... You mean the Tulip Series?" Rance spoke after noticing several notes and books on the corner, making Maria flinch as her mouth twitched in annoyance. There was a drawing of a bazooka-like weapon somewhere with a description below it that read "Tulip 1".

"Ugh... yes...."

And then, Rance noticed a ring on her finger.

"Is that one of the four Phil Rings?" He asked her, as her expression slowly changed while she showed it to them without hesitation. The ring she had was made of silver, with a blue gem engraved on it.

Just by the information Ragisis told him, he knew that the rings were enchanted, though something felt off...

'.... The ring, it's draining her energy while multiplying her magic power? How strange.... perhaps I should ask Ragisis about this later.' Rance immediately gained a small suspicion about the rings. With a glance, he sneakily casted a high level [Intel Magic] on the ring, and internally frowned.

For what reason, though?

"Oh, this? You're after it just like the others, huh? To be honest, I thought you'd be one of my assistants, but here I realize you two were just enemies trying to get through me. Haah.... you leave me no choice...." Maria spoke, glaring daggers towards Rance and Sill.

She took off her lab coat, and the shirt behind it, leaving her with only a white dress, though that felt utterly unnecessary.

"Waterstrike!" She chanted, closing her hands together as a massive wave of water was sent towards Rance and Sill.

Rance used barriers to prevent the wave of water from pushing both him and Sill, and after a while, he smirked.

"Well that was pretty amateurish, but I admire-..... and she escaped, great.... now come back here!"

With a frown, he grabbed Sill's arm, with the intention of not letting Maria escape them.

On the room they had previously strode into, the walls had once again tried to crush them. But due to Rance's agility, he carried Sill and quickly dashed out of the room.

At their east, Maria was seen running somewhere at the east.

Rance put Sill down, before both of them began to chase after the first of the four witches.

Right now, the moment they took a turn, they noticed a door that had been recently closed, and with the key they received from Nay earlier, the door was unlocked.

After they entered the room behind the recently unlocked door, they observed their surroundings.

There was another door in front of them, though it looked like the door is magically sealed.

Rance approached the door, and reached out to it.

"Alright, let's get this working already.... I haven't tried removing a seal using magic for months now. Sill, stay on guard, these statues Nay spoke of earlier might activate too." Rance spoke, before two magic circles appeared before his open palms, and glowing strings were created from them.

Those glowing strings attached themselves to the sealed door, and Rance began to focus on this task while Sill has her wand ready.

Meanwhile, behind the door, Maria sighed in relief, expecting the duo to have been killed by the statues she made to guard the gates.

"Any moment now...." She spoke, just before she heard the door open, to her shock.

When she turned around, she noticed Rance looking at her with a lot of disappointment as his partner immediately approached him.

"....."

Rance and Maria stared at each other.

"Yo. Please hand over your Phil Ring and nothing bad will happen." Rance spoke, as Maria shook her head.

"No! I'll have to die if you want the ring-"

"[Non-lethal]! [Paralysis Shot]!" Rance shouted while pulling out his [DEagle] and with a loud boom, Maria's abdomen was shot with a non-lethal shot that didn't wound her that much.

The girl groaned in pain, before realizing that she was unable to move as she fell back to the ground.

What did he just do?!

He approached the girl, and arranged her position so that she would look like she was resting on the ground, before trying to pull out the Phil Ring on her hand only to realize he cannot pull it out.

"Time to use magic to get that cursed ring out, then." Rance spoke, before he used the same spell he used to remove the seal on the ring Maria has.

Sill remained on guard.

'This ring..... why does it contain the souls of nine people? Plus, the enchantments this ring has are practically made by a hopelessly cruel person, 'cause it only sticks on the finger of any female virgin, and one of its enchantments twists the wearer's mind too.... I've got to thank the Old Witch Mysteria Tou for teaching me magic for four entire months, her hundreds of spells I learned and mastered at this day still helps.' Rance thought, with a proud smirk on his face as in half a minute, he was able to get the ring out of Maria without much of a problem.

With that, Maria is cured of the curse the Phil Ring has, returning her personality to what it once was.

Though she looked really confused after the [Paralysis Bullet]'s effect wore off.

However.....

Without him or Maria knowing, Sill was suddenly engulfed by a mysterious light.

"This is....! A teleport wave!? Master-" Sill shouted, though was suddenly silenced due to the spell transporting her to somewhere unknown, possibly deeper into the dungeon.

With that, she vanished without a trace, and Rance only realized that when he looked behind.

[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]

Character Image:

• Maria Custard