The night after encountering Naga the now group of four made camp in a small opening in some forest. Lina and Gourry fought over food by a fire as Naga ate calmly aside and Amelia watched in horror.
After Lina and Gourry finished dinner Lina sighed in a happy-go-lucky sort of style. "That was good!" She said happily, Gourry nodded in agreement.
"Of course you liked it Ms. Lina." Amelia muttered bitterly. Lina sat up instantly at the comment.
"Are you implying something Amelia?" Lina asked angrily.
"Well, because of you being such a glutton Ms. Lina, I barely get any dinner!" Amelia blurted out, unable to keep in her anger. "And on top of that I am the only one who pays for the food, so I should get that much more."
"Fat chance." Lina responded as Amelia looked shocked at the cold response.
Naga stood up and laughed in her usual way. "Ahahahaha! Oh Lina, you're going to become as fat as that chance you speak of if you keep eating like that. That means your already flat chest will become even flatter in comparison." Naga said as Lina became infuriated, much to Naga's enjoyment.
"I have to say I agree with her about your flat chest." Gourry said as he nodded.
"Who asked you?" Lina yelled as Gourry became startled and afraid.
Suddenly a man came out of the bushes near the group. He stumbled in front of Lina and Gourry, Naga and Amelia walked over to see what he wanted. The man stood up and said, "I need your help."
"With what? We were in the middle of eating you know." Lina said, irritated.
"Actually you were in the middle of eating dinner Ms. Lina, we didn't really get any." Amelia stated sadly. "Alright sir, could you explain your problem to us?"
The man nodded thankfully and began speaking, "I am a traveling merchant, and lately I have been attacked by bandits quite frequently."
"So you basically want us to guard you on your next trip." Lina inferred. "Well, we'll help you, but our services don't come cheap."
"Ms. Lina, we must help this man in the name of Justice!" Amelia protested immediately.
"Your love of justice won't help Gourry and I pay our debts." Lina argued as Amelia sighed and sat back down.
"Ahahahaha!" Naga laughed. "You have come to the right person. I, Naga the Serpent, accept your offer and will take all the reward!" Naga announced as Lina immediately stood up in protest.
"As long as I'm guarded while I travel…" The man mumbled as Lina and Naga began bickering at each other.
The next morning the merchant picked up his belongings and headed out, Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Naga following right behind. An hour or so passed with no sign of trouble.
"This is great, we aren't working at all, and we still get a reward!" Lina beamed as she continued walking happily.
"Yeah, we really hit the jackpot!" Gourry agreed, a wide smile spread across his face.
"I still think we should've helped this poor man for free…" Amelia mumbled sadly.
"Nonsense Amelia, Guarding someone to a city from bandits demands a modest fee. My junior business partner was simply doing that." Naga responded matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean junior business partner?" Lina yelled as she turned angrily to face Naga. "I'm not a junior at anything!"
"Really Lina Inverse? I'd say you have quite the junior breast size." Naga replied with a sly smile on her face as Lina clenched her fists together in anger.
"They are quite small…" Gourry noted as he rubbed his hand against his chin, looking like he was observing and thinking.
"Who asked you?" Lina yelled as she spun around and faced Gourry. The blonde man had a startled and frightened face as Lina turned angrily.
"Ms Lina, will you please focus on helping this man? What if bandits come while you are still arguing?" Amelia asked quietly.
"No one's going to get us by surprise." Lina responded with a shrug. Suddenly a sphere of fire hit in the middle of the group of four and exploded, sending the companions in four different directions. Lina stumbled to her feet with a look of pure anger on her face. "Alright, who did that?" Suddenly ten or so men with swords surrounded Lina, followed by four spell casters.
"Prepare to die girl." One of the swordsmen said as he ran at Lina.
"Flare Arrow." Lina said have-heartedly as she shot a spear of flame from her hand. The fire hit the man running at her and exploded, taking down the man. "Who's next?" Lina asked as the bandits readied themselves for a fight.
Meanwhile Gourry was also surrounded, though he was only surrounded by nine swordsmen and a mage. Gourry drew his sword as a man with an axe ran at him. Gourry swung out with such speed, the attacker didn't have time to bring down his axe. Gourry's blade went across his stomach and the bandit fell to the ground.
Naga and Amelia were surrounded by the remaining fifteen swordsmen and axe-men, and the last eight mages. "Alright Ms. Naga, let's bring these evil doers to justice!" Amelia announced as Naga nodded in agreement. Amelia turned to face the bandits. "Elmekia Lance!" Amelia yelled as she shot forward a long and thin beam of light that hit one of the bandits, sending him to the ground.
"Bomb Di Wind!" Naga yelled as a massive flow of air went forward, hitting three more swordsmen away. Naga then followed the spell with another, "Burst Flare!" A stream of flame shot from the ground towards three mages, all three of them were hit and knocked down, (And burnt to a crisp.)
"Fireball!" Lina yelled as she threw forward a red ball of flame at the remaining seven swordsmen. The spell hit one of them then exploded, killing the last seven. All that remained was the four spell casters. "Freeze Arrow!" Lina yelled as she threw forward a pure ice spear at one of the mages.
"Windy Shield." Spell caster said as a ball of swirling wind surrounded him. The arrow of ice exploded harmlessly off the barrier. The mage dispelled the barrier soon after.
"Damn. I guess I'll have to use the bigger spells." Lina muttered to herself.
Two more swordsmen ran at Gourry. Gourry then swung sideways, cutting the two men down before they could swing. Now there were only three melee men left and the mage. "Astral Vine!' The mage yelled as two white lights in the shape of thin fines came up from the ground and wrapped around Gourry. Gourry squirmed around but couldn't get lose. Then the mage snapped his fingers, causing the fines to explode and Gourry to by shot back a couple of yards, his sword now out of his hands from the explosion.
"Stone Spiker!" Naga yelled as she quickly placed her hand on the ground, causing five large spikes to come up from the ground, hitting five bandits.
"Mono Volt!" Amelia yelled as electricity shot up from her raised hand and onto four swordsmen, each falling to the ground after the spell. Amelia nodded in satisfaction. Suddenly a spear of ice was shot from one of the seven remaining enemy mages as Amelia. Amelia barely had time to dodge the spell. She stood up and said, "Ms. Naga, you need to take out the remaining swordsmen while I deal with the mages."
"Alright." Naga said with a nod. She ran up to face the last four bandits. She smirked at the sight of only four weaklings to fight. "Let's finish this up, shall we?" Naga asked as the four men charged at her. "Gaav Flare!" Naga yelled as she shot forward a massive stream of read fire which hit and burnt the last four swordsmen down to the ground. Naga ran over next to Amelia.
"Vibration Blast!" the two yelled at the same time, sending a wave of energy through the ground which hit and exploded on contact with five of the mages. The last three mages countered with a Fireball spell which hit right in front of Naga and Amelia. When the explosion faded the three bandit-mages were surprised to see the spells didn't get through the barrier put up by the two women.
"Ahahaha! You thought spells like that would work against the great Naga the Serpent? Don't make me laugh!" Naga chimed as she and Amelia then yelled, "Sleeping!" The spell caused a see-through dome to expend past the three mages, causing them to fall into a deep sleep. Naga and Amelia then high-fived each other for being victorious.
Lina side-stepped away from a few Flare Arrows that were shot at her. "Explosion Array!" She yelled as an explosion of purple light came from under the bandit-spell casters. The spell casters deflected the spell with a combined Windy Shield. "Damn, this isn't working." Lina mumbled. Gourry ran over next to Lina.
"Sorry I'm late." He said with a smile. Gourry turned to face the mages. "I almost got beaten back there after a spell, but I'm ready now."
"Don't forget about us." Naga said as she and Amelia ran up next to Amelia. Suddenly many more bandits came up from behind the three mages. Dozens of them swarmed up, mages and swordsmen alike. The four companion's eyes were wide with shock.
"That's it, I'm going all out." Lina said at last.
"Wha…wait, Ms. Lina, you don't mean…"Amelia began. "Oh no." She muttered. Naga caught on quickly as she, Amelia, and Gourry ran off so they wouldn't get caught by the dragon slave. Amelia grabbed the hiding merchant's arm and made him follow her. "Don't ask question's Mr. Merchant, just keep running!"
Lina began her chant, "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the stream of time is where your power grows, I pledge myself to conquer, all the foes who stand, before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands," She chanted as the bandits attempted to run away. Lina opened her eyes and yelled, "Dragon Slave!" A large red beam shot from her hands, massive amounts of energy was swirling around it. The Black magic beam hit the center of the bandit group, exploding into a massive dome of demonic energy. The bandit's were vaporized and a massive crater was where the second half of the forest once stood. Amelia, Naga, Gourry, and the merchant came up to Lina.
"Good job my junior business partner. That's what they get for messing with Naga the Serpent!" Naga said in triumph. "And let that be a warning to all those evil doers, never to mess with me, Naga the Serpent! Ahahaha!"
"Yeah, you did it Ms. Lina!" Amelia congratulated.
Gourry Nodded with a smile and gave a pat to Lina's back. The merchant walked up to Lina with rage in his eyes. "What have you done?" He yelled.
"What do you mean gramps? I stopped the bandits from robbing you." Lina reminded him as Naga and Gourry nodded in agreement.
"You obliterated my rare antiques and the forest with the bandits!" The merchant yelled furiously as Lina scratched the back of her head and shrugged. The group of four began running off into the distance, an angry merchant not far behind.