Rebellious Maidens - Episode 6: Mill's Dungeon II

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Rance yawned, getting up after ten minutes of resting inside a tent they set up earlier.

"What?" He asked Maria, who was glaring at him for some reason. Also, she seems to have entered the tent recently.

"Don't "what?" me! We have something to do, right?" Maria spoke with annoyance, crossing her arms under her chest.

Milli had dressed herself up before Rance quickly did too.

"Well, it's time for me to begin my time to shine.... I think. After all, I'm the main protagonist of this story!"

"Huh?"

"Don't mind that, Maria. Let's just go."

[ ~ Line Break ~ ]

Rance, Maria, and Milli stood outside of the tent that was recently set up, as Rance looked at Milli.

"So, about your sister...."

"I'm gonna take down Milli myself. As her older sister, it is my duty to clean up her mess." Milli spoke, yet Rance crossed his arms.

"Because she was corrupted by the Phil Ring, that does mean you'll have a lot of trouble. That's also why you need our help." Rance replied, as Maria nodded her head with a smile appearing on her face.

Milli the handed him a stone tablet, though he grumbled in confusion.

"What's this for?" Rance asked, as Milli grumbled.

"I don't exactly know, but if you don't know anything about it, then it's useless."

The girl tossed the tablet away, as it broke into several pieces, all while Maria paled and widened her eyes.

"No!!! Why did you do that?!" Maria shouted at Milli, "That tablet might be important, you know?!"

"Well, might be... But if those were keys to the other teleportation devices, then those are useless. I can just hijack them and get us somewhere good or important." Rance interjected, before he shrunk down the tent and put it inside his backpack. "You know what? Let's just get moving already, time's running short."

Rance led the group back to the crossroads, where he and Maria wondered what is beyond the blocked passage.

"Hm, I've been thinking of destroying this wall for a short while now. With my new technique I've been working on, I probably can make a path for us." He spoke, looking at the sword that he has.

His current favorite sword was not even here, so he questioned if it could take the force of that technique.

"Eh? What technique?" Maria asked, as Rance grinned at her way.

"[Judgement Cut], it basically sends several slashes that cuts through space instantaneously to my target. Sadly, I haven't completely mastered this technique yet. Please stand back for a moment. Don't want you to get hurt."

Rance crouched and began to concentrate, grabbing the hilt and sheath of his [Ghost Buster Sword], before he unsheathed it and began rapidly slashing on the air like a master swordsman.

Several cuts then began appearing on the wall, before Rance sheathed his sword and sent a dropkick to the wall, breaking it apart and allowing them access to a deeper part of the hall in front of them.

He immediately stood up and patted his coat several times.

"Whoa, I just wanted to ask you, what is your Skill Level on Sword Combat?" Milli asked, both curious and at awe for having seen something new.

"Nah, that's a secret. I've worked and trained hard to try and recreate these moves from a powerful and skilled swordsman I know. I'm not even at his level yet!" Rance replied, shrugging his arms.

That specific swordsman was a slick white haired motivated half-devil on a plastic chair. Or just Vergil from the Devil May Cry series.

It was honestly pretty hard to actually do without focusing, plus it's not as powerful as the original, but someday it would. Still, his mana had been reduced by a quarter just by using that.

Anyways, Rance and his party moved forwards through the hall, until they found another crystal ball and two pathways they could take.

They strode on the west pathway, arriving in a large room with Guy Monsters all around it. The three of them defeated all of them with barely any sweat, though Rance noticed that his sword's edges had become very rough.

"I might need to use my gun even more this time...." Rance spoke, before they proceeded further into the hallway.

But, while they moved, a person suddenly appeared.

He has the appearance of a cartoonishly humanoid cat with a tall and lanky build, grey fur, large yellow eyes and an expression that is seemingly always contorted into a beaming smile. And, his clothing consists of a red suit with a blue bow tie and large white gloves.

The cat seems to be holding a sign that said "KD Quiz".

Due to his sudden appearance, and that large grin that should creep some people out, Rance's party took a step back.

"Call my name, and I shall appear in a flish-flash, mrrrow~!" The humanoid cat spoke rather cheerfully, and as if no problem was going to come for him.

".... What?" Rance's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Holy shit!! Who summoned this guy?!" Milli shouted.

"The great thing about me is that I appear even without being called, Ohohoho~!" The humanoid cat began to chortle as it happily bounced around the area like a cartoon character.

At first, Rance wanted to just run towards whatever was behind him, but he probably should be unable to.

".... Who the hell even are you?" Rance asked the humanoid cat, as he stopped bouncing.

"King Dragon! That's my name! You may abbreviate it to KD!" He introduced himself with a bow. "Oh! And you're not getting past me without taking my quiz, mrrrow~!"

"..... Fine, I'll take your quiz." Rance spoke with some hesitation on his tone, as KD bobbed his head up and down happily.

"Good, good! If you do answer three questions I have, I'll let you pass! Aside from that, maybe you'd get a mysterious reward if you answer all of them with utmost accuracy, mrrow~!"

Rance wondered what question KD would shoot at him, and the thought of getting a mysterious reward just fueled him to do such a thing.

"Hm.... Here is my question: What is the tallest mountain in the-"

"Rising Dragon Mountain."

Rance immediately answered the first question while KD went silent for a moment.

"Aaanndd the first question has been answered, mrrow~! Now, how about the second one? Hmm... What color is the strongest Hanny?"

"White." Rance answered, recalling the color of the Hanny King, the strongest of the Haniwa and quite literally the God of all Haniwa (technically, he thought).

After a short while, KD's grin became larger.

"Very well! You've answered the two questions correctly, mrrow~! Now, here is the final question, a technically impossible one, unless you have enough knowledge, mrrrow~!"

So what will that question be?

"Hmm, let's see..... All souls came from me, and all souls return to me, who am I?" KD fired the last question to Rance, who began to try and recall who that was.

"My answer is.... Ludo-Rathowm."

He answered KD, who began to jump, and suddenly appear a feet near Rance.

"Woah!" Rance took a few steps back.

"You know, you could have just incorrectly answered that, but still! A promise, is a promise." KD spoke, taking out a fist-sized egg from his coat and gave it to Rance. "Thanks for being my guest, fellow showman, mrrroww~!"

KD then began marching somewhere, and when Rance, Milli, and Maria looked at where he was, KD was already gone.

'.... Strange, I didn't even feel him using any magic, as if he was literally gone without a trace....' Rance thought, before he glanced down at the egg. Because it was given to him, he wouldn't really want to waste something possibly valuable, right? Therefore, he kept the egg inside one of the inner pockets of his coat.

KD does sound like an enigmatic Cheshire Cat, though.

"What an annoying person.... I wanna punch him once we meet again!" Milli spoke, slamming her fist to her palm. "Still, I'm thankful he's gone right now."

In front of them, the room where KD had been formerly blocking their path was a dead end, if not for Rance noticing some magical energies near the ceiling, where a tarot card is present.

He extended his hand towards the card, and with his force of will and some help of magic, he pulled it towards his hand and caught it between his fingers.

Maria and Milli approached him to inspect the card he has. Although they were curious enough to try asking about the card, Rance unceremoniously put the card on his breast pocket.

He turned around and walked to the other end of the hallway, with Maria and Milli both following him as usual. When they did arrive, they found absolutely nothing.

Which just annoyed Rance, as he was about to turn around with a sense of disappointment, when suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared in front of him and his party.

And when it vanished, a girl appeared in front of Rance.

".... Alright, what is it now?" Spoke Rance as he immediately began to inspect the girl in front of him head to toe. "Though I'd admit, she looks cute in person.... maybe around 95/100..."

She had green hair, pale skin, and looked to be at her post-teenage years. She also had pointed ears, a red gem on her forehead, bat-like wings, a tail and large yellow horns above her ears. There were also three red marks on both her thighs. Her elbows have spikes, too.

Her clothing consisted of a dark green one piece leotard, and dark green boots.

Maria immediately recognized the girl as something else other than a Kalar.

"A... devil?" Maria spoke, however she was ignored.

~~~~~~∆~∆~∆~~~~~~

It had been a long while since she had been summoned. She was simply a 6th Ranked Devil, soon enough she would rise to a higher rank after several more summons.

All of her previous summons all proceeded as if they were a walk in a park. She would occasionally do something easy-as-pie, or something hard yet still doable from her summoners.

Now, as she was summoned to this world once again, all she had to do was follow a script she made in stride.

By that, she confidently approached her summoner and with a smile, she began her introduction.

"Pleased to meet you. I have come here in response to your summons via the devil talisman. I'm happy to make your acquaintance."

Once she made her introduction, she bowed her head towards her summoner, a brown haired man who somehow exudes an aura similar to most devils.

That was a strange thing, though she shook her head off those thoughts. It was completely impossible for a human to feel like that.

"Wait a second, we didn't summon you!" The blue haired girl on glasses spoke in denial.

The devil girl pointed at the ground.

"That warrior stepped on this spot. That is the method of my summoning. Very well, as for you who summoned me, I shall grant three wishes. That is my job. You cannot wish for more wishes, and you also cannot wish me to ressurect the dead."

She folded her arms to her chest as she looked at her summoner's way.

"Now, say your wishes. In return.... I'll take your soul!" She declared, however, the warrior looked the slightest bit indifferent, no, it was as if he was thinking of something else.

"I see.... For my first wish: Become my companion. That also means I can summon you anytime at anywhere if needed so." The warrior spoke, as she granted his wish without problem.

"Done."

Then, with her suddenly realizing something wrong with that, as if a contract had been partially made, she felt a little scared. Still, there's other wishes that had to be made, right?

"Er.... what us your second wish...?" She asked the warrior, as he shook his head.

"Apolo, I'm not in the mood of wasting my two other wishes right now." He replied, sighing.

"B-But, I could give you riches! Power, and other things you would like to have using some wishes!"

"Well, I could earn money easily through various things I do like taking random quests and exploring dungeons. Anyways, it was nice meeting you here." The warrior spoke, just before several runes of unknown origin appeared around her.

Once she glanced at her summoner, he smiled as he waved his hand up as a gesture of goodbye.

"See you later when I summon you again!"

And then, she was sent back to the Realm of Devils, screaming in fear of being demoted for a job that was almost done.

[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]