Season 2, Chapter 3, Part 3.
Below the surface.
The group looks ahead at the short humanoid figures with dark green skin and dark blue eyes with slits as pupils. They all wear ragged pants and shirts, and with tusks and sharp teeth, they growl at the intruders.
"What even are they?" Fiola asks.
"They are called Groungords, Miss. They are generally peaceful and keep to themselves," Millie softly explains.
"Yeah, them pointing their spears at us isn't what I call friendly," Haze tells her.
"We are the rude ones intruding on their territory, sir. So their hostility is warranted," Millie replies softly and takes a few calm steps forward, and all the spears get directed at her.
"Millie, careful," Mimosa says concernedly.
"It will be all right," Millie says softly before speaking in a different language, and the Groungords reply to her in the language, and they begin to talk amongst themselves.
"Uh, what are they saying?" Sky asks.
"Something about telling the chief of this encounter, and they are asking about us," Millie softly explains before she is asked a question by one of the Groungords, and so she answers. And one of them in the back walks away from the group.
Then the one that spoke lowers his spear and walks up to Millie. With its big nose, it begins to sniff her stomach, and the girls look at each other. "These things aren't exactly tall, are they?" Lydia whispers to Mimosa and Fiola. "I suppose that is the reason for the cave being made for short people," Fiola replies.
The Groungord looks to the rest behind him and tells them something, which has them all ease the spears, and the one next to Millie grabs her hand and begins to lead her towards the rest of his friends who step aside to form a path for them to walk through.
Millie looks back at the teens. "They will bring us to their chief now, so stay calm, and it will all be all right," Millie softly explains, and the teens look at each other and begin to walk, looking at the Groungords watching as they pass by them. Millie looks to the walls of the cave and notices more of the runic markings adorning the walls, ceiling, and floor.
They move along, and a little further down the cave, they arrive at a big ravine in front of them where on each side of the narrow cliff are small houses edged into the stone walls with brightly glowing flowers to give light as well as small lanterns filled with glowing fireflies.
They notice a river flowing in the middle and down through the town, and they notice female groungords with their children walking along the stone-edged path in the town below. "It is amazing. It is a whole society down here, right underneath the village," Mimosa mentions. "Are these guys responsible for what is happening above the surface?" Haze thinks out loud. "Well, we will find out soon enough, I believe," Lydia replies. And Millie looks to the ground and sees more of the runes.
They move along the path overlooking the ravine with a small fence alongside it. Asta looks on in wonder at everything before looking ahead, seeing a bigger house with a couple of Groungords outside guarding the entrance.
They walk up to the house, and the Groungord holding Millie's hand opens the door and leads her through, and everyone follows, needing to hunch over as they walk inside to a big room with a big hexagon-shaped table at the far end with Victorian-style chairs, where one of them is adorned with jewels and surrounding the jewels on the chair, following curling strings of plants that seem to be hugging the chair, neatly forming marvelous patterns. And on the crown of each plant is more of the glowing flowers.
In the chair sits one of the Groungords who is resting his head in his hand, his skin more wrinkly than the rest, and his eyes tired, and his nose is bigger than the rest, and he is wearing a brown cloak with green plant-like patterns on it with flowers and the occasional letter in a foreign language that is well represented in the cloak but remains a good part of the pattern on his cloak.
This Groungord then proceeds to stand up and walk around the table towards the group in an easy manner, with a thoughtful expression he looks at the group of humans before him. "Eh, hi there. The name is Asta, and we are magic knights trying to figure out what is causing the weird happenings above the surface," he explains in an easy-going tone.
"I do not think they can understand you; it does not seem any of them understand our speech," Lydia mentions. "I must agree; they seem to be talking in a completely different language," Mimosa adds. "Well, it is worth a shot," Asta says awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. The head Groungord looks to Millie, who has her usual confused expression on her face, and the Groungord clears his throat before speaking.
"Good evening, Clover residence. I must admit it is rather unusual for a surface dweller to be found in our corridors. Although with everything that is happening lately, someone would surely be bound to stumble across our entrance eventually, especially since I have had to send a few of my own up there a lot more frequently than I usually need," the Groungord tells them, and all their mouths gape open.
"Wait, you can speak our language?" Fiola says in surprise. "Why didn't you guys do that at the start, then?" Haze asks suspiciously. "Not all of my subjects can speak your tongue; however, due to an agreement made long ago, the head of this society has to know it if an event where surface dwellers and Groungords were to meet," he explains.
"An agreement?" Mimosa asks. "How rude of me. The name is Magertz Flitch, the chief of this humble place nestled in this ravine."
"Right, like I said, my name is Asta, and the girl next to me is Mimosa, and the one next to her is Fiola, and Lydia. And the guy to my other side is Haze, with Sky standing next to him. The bird on my head is Nero, and this little guy," he says and points his thumb to his shoulder, "is Liebe, and the one standing in front of me is-"
"A Millenty," Magertz interjects and looks to her. "Sorry, sir, I do not remember telling anyone my name, Chief Magertz," Millie softly says, looking perplexed. "Your hair and eye color do not align with your family's usual features; however, your facial features and the way your collar looks are unmistakable. However, your magic and soul, are the complete opposite of how a Millenty should be. Perhaps that is why you are disgracing yourself by not being in the appropriate form for a meeting between speeches that has not happened in centuries," Magertz tells her with disdain in both his voice, but Millie's expression remains the same.
"It is a long story, sir," Millie explains. "I am certain it is. However, for a Millenty to have a scorched one amongst themselves, it makes me fear that the future may take an ugly turn," he tells her.
"A scorched one?" Mimosa questions. "My apologies for speaking out of line, sir. I believe that my family matters and my current state is not what is the most pressing issue at the current moment, Chief Magertz," Millie softly tells him.
"That certainly is true," he says and turns his attention to the rest of the group. "I am guessing by your choice of words that whatever is going on is not caused by your, eh, people?" Fiola says.
"That is correct," he says and looks back to Millie, bringing out his hand wanting to grab her face, but he stops himself before taking his hands to his back. "Let us go for a walk, and I will show you all what is going on," he tells them and walks past the group.
The teens share glances before they move along to see where Magertz will lead them to. They head out of the house and follow the path that heads down, and down, and down, until they are at the bottom of the ravine.
And down at the bottom, they see spaces with fields for growing crops and such, and Millie notices more runes the further down they go.
They all head over to a big area with different paths leading in every direction. Millie looks to the Groungords who are attending the fields, and she looks at the plants sticking up from the dirt, which do not look to be too healthy.
"Sir chief, if I could ask, why do the crops look poorly?" Millie asks. "I was just wondering the same thing," Mimosa utters, and the group stops and looks to him.
"Well, whatever is draining the natural mana also drains traces of what is keeping the plants alive and healthy. This needs to be sorted soon before the food supplies have run dry. There have been attempts to sort this out, and we suspect it comes from the caverns below, but so far, we have been unable to locate the source. And also, the ground itself does not cleanse the water running through this town like it used to or should," the chief explains to the group.
"Sir, if something is draining the natural mana, is that the reason why you have been sending people to the surface to make the swamp's tree roots grow further outside of the swamp?" Millie asks.
"Correct, a lot of the underground plants and such are carefully placed and strategically made to ensure our water, food, and source of magic go as they should. However, since the magic is being drained, the plants cannot do their job of cleansing the waters and keeping the grounds safe and pure for us to live down here," the chief explains, and the group looks at each other.
"So we still have no clue what the cause is, and now I bet you want us to get to the bottom of this mystery," Haze mentions, and Millie crouches down to look at the runes more closely.
"That is correct, and things will need to happen soon, both for us and for the village living above our heads," the chief explains. "Wait, you know what is happening on the surface?" Lydia asks.
"Correct," the chief says and snaps his fingers, and the tiny flowers on the wall slightly move and twiddle their leaves and roots.
"There is a big network of roots running all over, giving us plenty of information from the surface," he explains. "But can't you use the plants to tell you what is causing this?" Fiola asks. "Their reach has been diminished, and on top of that, the roots running into the chambers below have stopped responding for weeks now."
"These flowers are dependent on natural mana, which means whatever is draining the magic is stronger below as it has drained the magic away and most likely killed the plants below," Mimosa says.
"We suspect that to be the cause, but despite our many expeditions below, they have not shown any results."
"And so you want us to go down there," Haze says lazily. "Correct. After all, nearly everything down there is human-made, so maybe it is made for humans to figure out," Magertz tells them. "Human-made? How can that be? I mean, if it is, we haven't heard of it at all," Fiola tells him.
"It will appear that certain things get lost to the ages. Those chambers are old, really old from an era far, far gone," Magertz tells them.
"Who wishes to go down, and who wishes to go up?" the chief asks.
"Uh, what do you mean? I thought you said the trouble is below?" Mimosa asks.
"Well, we believe the source comes from below. However, there is another matter which needs attending to. So, if any of you have plant magic, it will be highly needed," Magertz explains.
"Well, that would be me," Mimosa says.
"Good. Now, you all decide who goes with Mimosa and who heads down. Meanwhile, if I could ask to borrow the Millenty for a moment," he asks and looks at them. Millie stands up properly.
"Uh, all right, I suppose," Asta says, looking at Millie and then at the group.
"Good. Now come with me," he tells Millie, who follows the man a bit away and around a curve until they are out of earshot and vision, to a more quiet area.
The group looks at each other. "So, how do we want to do this?" Asta asks, and they begin to chat amongst themselves.
"What do you need, sir?" Millie asks in a calm, respectful tone.
"When I prayed to the spirits of earth to bring aid, I had hoped that a Millenty, who are known for being capable, at least amongst spirits, channelers, and the like, would come. But to send a scorched one, it appears the heavens have forsaken us after all," Magertz tells her.
("Did he honestly bring me over just to tell me that he disapproves of the mark of my disobedience?... No, there has to be more to this,") Millie thinks to herself, watching Magertz as he looks through his thoughts.
"Sir Magertz, you said you had hoped for a Millenty to come, and I get the sense you wish it for more than just capability," Millie softly queries, and he looks at her.
"Some of that, to an extent, yes. After all, your family has a bigger duty to carry out in regards to what this may be involving," he says.
"Involving? So you know what is behind all of what is happening around here?" Millie asks.
"I have my suspicions, yes, and the very thought unnerves me greatly, and will require a great deal more than a scorched one is capable of. After all, you are no longer a part of your family. I mean, you can't even contact them in the way you could have, and the same the other way around."
"So what you really desire is to contact Minty Millenty?" Millie asks.
"Well, that is what my signaling and prayers were for, but I suppose they are out of range, living in the Sun Kingdom. And since you no longer have the connection, it means you no longer can sense the plea for aid. Honestly, it is just terrible, no matter how you look at it."
"I should have thrown you out the minute you set foot in my house, but interfering with the contractor is not wise." Magertz tells her.
"Sir, if one could get to the point?" she asks which slightly annoys Magertz.
"I suppose you won't live long with a scorched soul, so I suppose there is no point in keeping it a secret. Although I believe your kind can already sense it, can't you?" he asks and looks at her, and she looks back at him with slight confusion.
"The walls of this world are—"
"Weakening," Millie finishes his sentence.
"So you know about the more frequent occurrences that have been going on these last three centuries, and after the whole war in the Spade Kingdom, it has gotten even worse. The wounds of this world are being felt even for us earth dwellers," he explains to her, growing impatient and angry from the whole thing, but Millie takes it as it stems from his fear of what might happen.
"You know what this means, right?" Magertz asks her, and her eyes dart from Magertz's left eye to the right, back and forth for a moment. "It means your family has an ancient responsibility to uphold, not that you would know what being responsible even means," he tells her with clear annoyance, not bothering to hide his dislike of her.
"Then why are you telling me this, sir?" she softly asks.
"Because right now, you will have to. Meaning no abandoning the mission, no breaching of the contract. You got that?" he says sternly, like a warning and in an accusatory tone.
"Of course, sir. I will be sure to see this through to the end."
"Oh, well, if you do abandon the mission or fail, I will have to come up with a different solution for our predicament, even though it will thin our resources even further for a good while. But if things do not change, we will have to," he tells her.
"Sir, you will see that I will not disappoint you," she softly tells him.
"I have my reservations, as it is coming from a scorched one," he tells her, seeming even more annoyed with her.
"You are quite impertinent, aren't you? That is the fourth time that you have spoken out of line," he says, slapping her cheek. It turns a little red from the impact, and some of the life in her eyes goes away.
"You clearly have forgotten your place. You know you are not supposed to speak unless asked to. Or did Minty fail to teach you a scorched one's place?" he asks.
Millie's lips quiver as she swallows the lump in her throat, and she makes an accepting nod. ("This kind of thing will never end, it seems to be following along even beneath the earth,") she thinks to herself, taking a deep breath and looking to Magertz, who has his eyes narrowed and showing clear distrust towards her.
"Now just do as you are told. After all, I have my own people to keep safe, and I will not have a scorched one mucking it all up because she can't stay in her place," Magertz explains to her in a stern tone, suppressing his anger, clearly taking his frustrations out on her. "Is that clear?" Magertz asks her sternly.
"Y-yes, sir," Millie softly replies.
"Good. Hopefully, your master will be the one among the ones heading down into the catacombs so that you can uphold your family's duty to this world. Now rejoin them and be sure to handle things accordingly," he orders her.
"Yes, sir," she softly replies as the moment grows silent, and she turns to leave.
Meanwhile, the group has finally agreed on who goes where, and Asta looks to his shoulder. "I wonder what is taking Millie and Magertz," he says.
"I can check," Liebe says with a sigh and flies over in his small form, heading towards where Millie and Magertz went.
He rounds the corner in time to see the slap, and he sees Magertz quietly and sternly utter something to Millie before she turns and leaves Magertz, who soon follows. Liebe thinks the situation over and heads back to Asta's shoulder.
"She is on her way," he says, and Asta smiles. "All right, it will be time for action soon, I can feel it," he says with a bright smile.
"Well, hopefully, nothing too much will happen now," Mimosa says a bit more cheerfully as she has gotten some of her courage back.
"Well, either way, if helping out with whatever this is will put an end to what is going on in the village, it will be worth it," Fiola utters.
"I agree, but who knew there was an entire society living underground like this?" Lydia says, looking around at the many plants and such growing in the fields made between the stone walls and illuminated with more of the flowers that have been planted within the fields, and the water running between them. "Everything is so clearly thought out to utilize the limited space as much as possible."
"It makes one wonder what else grows beneath the surface," Sky utters while Haze looks off into space as his mind is somewhere else.
Asta turns his head and sees Millie walk up to the group with Magertz following shortly behind, and shortly she walks up to the group. "Millie, you are back. Are you ready to head down?" he asks excitedly.
"Yes, Master," she says softly, and Asta and Liebe notice that she keeps her eyes straight and looks down, avoiding eye contact. "Are you all right?" he asks her, and his question brings more life into Millie's eyes, and she nearly lifts her gaze before—
"I trust that you have agreed on which team should go where?" Magertz asks and Millie looks down again.
"That we have, sir," Mimosa answers.
"Right, then. I suppose there is nothing else to do aside from getting to it," Magertz tells them and looks at the group of teens, and soon Mimosa, Lydia, Fiola, and Nero get escorted to where the source of the problem is.
And soon Asta, Liebe, Millie, Haze, and Sky are shown to a big circular door made from a greenish stone with more rune carvings on it, which Millie looks carefully at.
"Right, I will open it, and once you are inside, I will need to close it, for safety measures."
"Safety measures," Sky utters.
"You aren't having second thoughts, are you?" Haze asks, and Sky frowns and looks to him. "In your dreams," she retorts and ties her hands together before looking at Magertz, opening the big gate. And once the door opens, an icy cold gust flows by them, and Millie narrows her eyes. "All right, you guys, let's go!" Asta loudly exclaims, and Millie is taken out of her thoughts and watches as the teens walk on ahead. She takes another look at the runes before heading on after the group. Her eyes go to Asta's back as the group continues into the unknown depths below...