Author's Notes: As it was pointed out to me, I failed to mention Naga's sword in my first writeup. I had initially decided to use the novel description of her since, from what I've heard, she didn't carry a sword in the novels. However, I decided to go with the anime version instead, thus I modified this chapter to include it in her description.
Chapter 2 – The White Serpent
"Ahhh, that hit the spot!" Lucia sighed happily, pushing the empty plate away satisfied. The waitress approached the table as Lucia took small sips of water from her glass, cleaning up the plate before returning.
"Would you like some dessert, miss?" the waitress asked, holding her serving tray in front of her and smiling happily. So far, Lucia had been her least troublesome customer, and it was a comforting escape from the pinches, grabs, and drunken pickup lines she'd faced so far this morning.
"Oh, no! No, thank you very much. I'm stuffed! Give my compliments to your cook.", she replied, patting her stomach to emphasize her point. She took the waitress' hand and placed a silver coin in her palm, a considerable tip for such a small meal. "Here, this is for you."
The waitress' eyes lit up and she smiled brightly. "Oh, thank you miss! If you need anything else just ask!" she offered before bowing politely and moving off to serve other customers. Lucia giggled at the girl's energy as she leaned back in her chair, idly sipping her water and taking a few more moments to let her meal settle as she watched the activities in the inn. Finding little to keep her attention occupied, she closed her eyes and began contemplating the rest of the day. According to the parchment the mayor had passed out, the camp was hidden, and Lucia had to assume that it was less than a day's journey if the bandits were able to mount effective attacks on the town and still retreat to their camp with whatever spoils they managed to steal. Fortunately, Lucia had performed some tracking in the past and while she was hardly a seasoned tracker, she felt confident that she could find the camp within a day or two. Her contemplation was suddenly interrupted by a particularly peculiar laugh.
"Ohhh, ho, ho, ho, ho…you don't really expect me to eat this, do you?" the woman's voice called out loud enough to echo across the inn. "I specifically asked for Dandora red sauce, which you list on your menu. This hardly qualifies!" she said loudly. The eyes of several tavern patrons were now focused on the woman, and Lucia appraised her curiously. She was very tall, possibly even over six feet, with flowing dark hair and bangs, her forehead adorned by an elegant circlet. While the woman's height and boastful voice were cause enough to draw attention to her, her incredibly busty and voluptuous form was accented by the unusually skimpy costume she wore that barely maintained her modesty and left nothing to the imagination. The waitress stammered for a second before replying.
"But…but this is Dandora red sauce. The cook-" the waitress started, but was cut off by the taller woman.
"Ha! You might be able to fool the lumberjacks and farmers in this little region with this poorly concocted farce, but you'll never manage to get past my sophisticated taste!" the woman said loudly. Lucia decided not to head out just yet, a smile forming on her lips as she found a new source of entertainment for the next few moments. "First of all, Dandora red sauce contains herbs found only in the remote region of Dandora itself. This sauce barely manages to emulate the delicate, spicy flavor that true Dandora red sauce is popular for." The woman explained. "Second, Dandora red sauce is much thicker than this, with a savory, fulfilling texture that clings to the meat and doesn't run off into the plate. Finally, it's clear that you've added something to this sauce to mask the taste of the simple tomato sauce you've used in place of the proper, high quality base."
By the time the woman had finished her explanation, the waitress looked at a complete loss, trembling and stammering in an attempt to explain what she clearly could not. Fortunately for her, the cook, who also owned the tavern itself, made his entrance from the kitchen and stormed over to the woman, nearly shoving the grateful waitress aside as she took the opportunity to retreat back to the safety of the kitchen.
"Would you keep your voice down? I don't need you scaring off all my customers!" the cook rasped at her in a low voice, trying to defuse the situation. The tall woman unleashed another haughty laugh that made the cook as well as several nearby tavern patrons cringe before she leaned forward, forced to bend at the waist to meet the eye level of the shorter cook.
"Well, I wouldn't have to make a scene if you weren't in the business of ripping off your customers, now would I?" the woman said to the cook, grinning slyly.
"Look, true Dandora red sauce is hard to come by, especially this far north. The stuff I make here is close enough. You're the first one to spot it as a fake." The cook said at length, pointing a stubby finger at the woman.
"The fact that you've managed to trick your customers so far is hardly a reason why I should allow such a grave injustice to continue! It's a culinary crime to pass off such third-rate ingredients as a highly valued delicacy." The woman replied with a smirk.
"Fine, how about I give you the meal for free, then?" the stocky man conceded, preferring to lose the cost of a meal to the chance of losing a lot of customers over some stupid imitation sauce.
"Well, I guess I can't really argue if it's free, can I?" the woman replied, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of a free meal. "In that case, I'll take another order as well as a pint of your best mead!" she said excitedly. "You know what? Just leave the bottle!" she added, sitting down and quickly, wordlessly returning to her meal as the cook frowned and stormed off to order the waitress to fill the woman's request.
Lucia giggled softly and slid from her seat as soon as the waitress delivered the woman's food, moving across the inn to stand beside the woman's table. "Very impressive." She offered simply, smiling genuinely at the woman. Lucia prided herself on being able to appraise people as well as valuable treasure, and seldom found reason to distrust her senses. She'd already pegged the woman as a sorceress of some sort due to her outlandish costume and lack of any suitable protection save for a simple long sword hung at her hip. At her comment, the woman looked up at her, chewing a mouthful of food for a moment longer before swallowing and taking a drink from her mug of mead.
"Of course." The woman said simply, looking the diminutive girl over. "What's with the clothes? Are you supposed to be a thief or something?" she asked, taking another sip from her mug.
"Oh, no. Treasure hunter, actually!" she said, smiling so brightly that the sorceress thought she might need to shield her eyes.
"Treasure hunter, huh? Well, I have to admit at least your priorities are in the right place." The sorceress commented, moving to refill her mug from the half-empty bottle on the table.
"My name is Lucia." The swordswoman said cheerfully. "And I'm impressed by your knowledge of culinary delicacies. I'm also a fan of good food. I enjoy cooking in my spare time."
"Hmph. It takes more than a few ingredient substitutions, however well made, to pull one over on Naga the Serpent!" the sorceress proclaimed proudly. Lucia tilted her head. She'd heard that name somewhere before, but she couldn't quite place it. She remembered an incident further south involving Lord Calvert's kingdom. She'd passed through in the aftermath of a great battle, and in the wake of the construction learned that the damage had been mostly attributed to a Dragon Slave spell cast by none other than Lina Inverse. Ah, that was it! While staying in the city, she'd also heard mention of Lina's busty traveling companion, and now she realized she had a face, and other body parts, to go with the name.
"Naga the Serpent? Aren't you the one that helped to defeat the dragon Geizneau?" Lucia replied with a wide smile, curiously wondering how easily she could stroke the woman's ego. Naga's eyes lit up at being recognized, something that happened far less often than she'd willingly admit.
"Oh, so my reputation does precede me! I couldn't just stand by and let that dragon enslave humanity, after all. I'd look horrible in chains." The sorceress replied, taking another long drink of mead from her mug.
"Well, it's a pretty popular story down there, you know. Speaking of which, what's a famous heroine like you doing in such a little town?" the swordswoman asked.
"Oh, that. Well, it just so happens that I was passing through this area and heard that this town was being terrorized by a bandit gang. Naga the Serpent does not simply stand by while the safety of innocents is threatened by evildoers!" Naga said, finishing off her second mug of mead.
"Oh, I see! And the reward of thirty gold pieces didn't factor into your decision at all, then?" Lucia replied, punctuating her question with a short giggle. Naga only grinned in response, and Lucia felt her heart drop a bit. "Wait, the bandits are why I'm here, too! I traveled almost thirty miles in the past three days to get here." she said sullenly. Naga gave her another appraising look, then smiled.
"Well, I suppose it would be unfair of me to simply steal the opportunity from you since you came all this way." The sorceress said slowly. "So, how does this sound? We'll split the reward from the mayor, and in exchange for letting you accompany me to find the bandits, I get two-thirds of whatever treasure they've got stashed away." She stated, taking a look into the diminishing bottle of mead before pouring what was left into her mug. Lucia thought about the offer for a moment. She'd never taken the bandits' treasure stash into consideration, but weighing that it could be considerable, even settling for half of the reward and a third of the stash would still give her a lot more treasure than she'd originally come here for.
"I accept!" the swordswoman piped cheerfully a moment later. She extended her hand, which Naga shook casually while downing the rest of her mead with her other hand. Lucia noted that the sorceress still had one full plate of food left, so she excused herself to prepare for the trip while Naga finished eating.
An hour later, the two women found themselves walking out the eastern gate of the city. Lucia had packed an additional day's worth of trail rations in case finding the camp turned out more difficult than she'd expected while Naga, to Lucia's dwindling surprise, had only elected to bring along a spare bottle of mead from the tavern.
"So, how were you planning on finding these bandits anyway?" Naga asked after a moment, glancing down at her traveling companion and musing to herself that it seemed she always got stuck traveling with companions that were shorter than she was. Of course, this girl was decidedly more agreeable than Lina had been, but then again Lina had been her foremost rival while this girl was simply a business partner.
"Well, I figure the easiest way would simply be to wait until some of them make the mistake of trying to rob us, and then track them back to their camp after we send them running in complete terror." Lucia explained at length, the sorceress letting out a laugh in response.
"That sounds perfect." Naga replied, amused at the mental image. "So, tell me about yourself, Lucia." The sorceress said, seeking a little small talk to pass the time.
"There's not much to tell, really. I'm a traveling treasure hunter and adventurer. I once considered hiring myself out as a mercenary, but that usually requires more killing than I prefer. I like to use stealth or diplomacy when possible." the swordswoman explained.
"Hmm. Don't you miss your parents? You seem a bit young to be heading out into the world all alone." the sorceress asked with genuine curiosity, recalling that she herself had left home barely after becoming a teenager. Her question seemed to immediately put Lucia on the defensive, and she noticed a cringe from the girl as her apparently permanent smile wavered briefly.
"My...my parents approved of me leaving home." she said quickly, seeking to change the subject. "What about you? Does the great and beautiful Naga the Serpent ever find time in her busy career to visit home?" Lucia asked, her smile returning as she returned to stroking the sorceress' ego.
"I…keep in touch." Naga said, swallowing a lump in her throat after feeling suddenly uncomfortable. She was hardly used to answering questions about her past, and she rarely thought of her home aside from the occasional letter she sent to let them know she was doing alright. Part of her longed to return home, even if only for a short visit, but there was still a sensitive spot that kept her away. Lucia could see the distracted expression on Naga's face and considered that it was entirely possible that the sorceress had left home on less-than-amiable reasons as well, so she backed off and decided not to press the matter. The two women continued on in relative silence for another hour before Naga suddenly stopped in her tracks and placed her hands on her hips.
"Looks like we've got company." The sorceress said as two men blocked the road ahead. Lucia turned and noticed two more men stepping out of the bushes behind them. They were armed with swords and wore well-maintained armor, hinting to the swordswoman that they were better funded than typical bandits. Their strategy had worked exactly as planned so far.
"Let's just get this over with, ladies." The lead bandit said as he stepped forward. "Give us your gold and possessions and we'll be on our way. Nobody's gotta get hurt." It was a simple demand, voiced with a steady tone that indicated that these particular bandits have probably done this many times before. In fact, the bandit's rehearsed line bordered on boredom.
"Ohhhh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho…" Naga's laugh sliced through the tension in the air. "The only ones who are going to get hurt are you. Run while you can." The sorceress boasted, pointing her finger at the leader and the bandit flanking him. Lucia turned and placed her back to Naga's, facing the two bandits behind them. Naga turned her head slightly to talk to Lucia in a low whisper. "You get those two, I'll handle these. Just…don't chop them up too bad." She said lowly, unused to traveling with a warrior and unsure she could handle seeing blood spilled all over the road.
"I wouldn't worry about that." Lucia replied. She wasn't really in the mood to use her sword, anyway. Normally, she wouldn't rely on magic in combat, but at the moment she was more eager to get down to tracking these bandits back to their camp, and a few singes from some low-level magic were a lot less crippling than being impaled.
"Well, then. I guess we're going to do this the hard way." The bandit said after a moment. "Now, it's time for you to-" he began, but was cut off.
"Dil Brand!" Naga called out, the two front bandits flying through the air as the ground exploded under their feet, sending them dozens of feet into the air. The two bandits approaching from the other direction slowed a bit, clearly not having expected either of their targets to be sorceresses. Lucia took that opportunity to open up with her own attack.
"Burst Rondo!" Lucia cried, launching several small flaming spheres at the two bandits. The spheres exploded around them, scorching their armor and singing their skin but doing little actual damage. The implied threat was clear enough, though, and they immediately began to circle around the two women towards their comrades, who were still picking themselves up off of the ground and staggering from numerous bruises.
"Forget this." One of the bandits said to the others. "I'm not pickin' no fight with a couple of sorceresses." He said as he turned to disappear into the forest. While saying nothing in response, it was clear his comrades agreed wholeheartedly as they turned and fled with him.
"Ohhhh, ho, ho, ho, ho! That's what they get for crossing Naga the- hey! Wait up, Lucia!" Naga called out as she noticed Lucia had already taken off in pursuit of the fleeing bandits. Lucia kept her pace slower than that of the bandits. She felt confident that they would not proceed back to their hidden camp if they knew they were being followed. Naga quickly caught up to Lucia. "Hey, why are you moving so slow?"
"We don't want them to know we're following them or they'll lead us the wrong way." Lucia replied quietly, pointing to a trail of bushes that had been disturbed by their passing.
"Oh, right." Naga replied. The two of them slowly followed the trail left by the fleeing bandits, though it became considerably more difficult as the bandits passage became motivated more by stealth and less by fear. A snapped twig here, a torn brush there, a branch out of place, all were clear signs of where the bandits had traversed. It took over an hour and required the two to backtrack at least twice, but soon they found themselves kneeling in the brush, less than one-hundred yards from the bandit encampment.
"I'd say this is the place." Lucia said after a moment. She counted at least twenty bandits, not counting the ones that were probably inside of the brick buildings the bandits had hastily constructed near the back wall of the clearing.
"So, should we just do this quickly?" Naga responded. "I could hit the buildings with a few explosion spells, then we handle the ones out in the camp." The sorceress suggested. Lucia evaluated her plan for a moment. It sounded easy enough, as she suspected that these bandits were no more menacing than the four they'd met on the road, but there were always surprises in store.
"What if they have a sorcerer or wizard working for them? That will complicate things, won't it?" Lucia asked curiously.
"Then we'll deal with that when we come to it." The sorceress replied, and from the sound of her tone she was getting more and more excited about the coming battle. With a nod, both women moved into the camp.
As luck would have it, the bandits had no other spell casters in their band. Lucia and Naga had little difficulty clearing the bandits out of the camp. Naga's plan to demolish the buildings in the back of the encampment worked like a charm, and as the buildings exploded in a blast of dust and flying brick, Lucia took advantage of the confusion by charging into the open encampment and attacking the bandits in close combat. Between Naga's explosive magic and Lucia's frenzied swordplay, the entire encampment was filled with unconscious, cowering, and fleeing bandits in less than twenty minutes, leaving the two women to mull over the bandits' treasure stash. There were far too many things to carry, but after Naga had taken her share of the more expensive items, Lucia picked out some choice gems, a nice decorative dagger, and a few handfuls of gold coins. The two decided they'd leave the rest of the treasure there for the townspeople to send for since they clearly couldn't carry it all.
"I guess we make a pretty good team!" Lucia said cheerfully, smiling as she situated her sack of loot on her shoulder. Naga looked over at her for a moment, then nodded as she stood, her own take of the treasure considerably smaller given their original agreement. Lucia was about to say something, but then figured that Naga's two-thirds probably referred to quality rather than quantity, and that she'd probably picked out a lot of small yet extremely expensive items.
"Let's go back to Duskhollow and claim our reward, then, shall we?" Naga said after cinching up her pouch. With a nod, Lucia joined the sorceress as the two women walked unimpeded out of the encampment.