It was another bright and sunny day in the world resting atop the Sea of Chaos, at least in the walled-off continent severed from the rest of the planet due to the ancient Monster Barrier surrounding it. In the bustling village of Riesenfalle, people went about their daily business as usual, motivated by the balmy weather and pleasantness that their town afforded them, located a great distance away from their local regent to maximize their independence and freedom in governance. As children ran gaily through the cobblestone streets, they narrowly managed to avoid bumping into two young women at the local bazaar who were browsing the stands while enjoying a local seared meat kebab, both of whom seemed to be visitors to their fair city.
The first of these two women was a tall, beautiful, and voluptuous visage of beauty, a violet-maned buxom bombshell clad in a black leather outfit that left most of her curvaceous form on display. A large pair of iron spiked spaulders on her shoulders, matching leather gloves, a billowing red cape, and a long sword sheathed at her side would indicate to anyone looking at her that she was far from friendly. In stark contrast to the other woman, the second young lady was a short girl under five feet in height, almost mistaken for a child both because of her diminutive stature and her flat chest. With flaming orange hair that easily made her stand out in any crowd, she donned a similar outfit to that of her acquaintance, sporting a yellow overshirt, black headband, purple cape, dull pink pants, and forest green boots. Large obsidian shoulderpads adorned with sizeable, fake magic jewels rested upon the top of her arms, while small golden spheres hung from her ears, emphasizing that she enjoyed the rarer treasures of life. Anyone who possessed a basic knowledge of the world’s various professions could tell immediately that both women were dressed in the traditional garb of sorceresses, making them incredibly powerful magic users.
The citizens of Riesenfalle had no idea that their quaint little town was being frequented by none other than Lina Inverse, the notorious so-called “Bandit Killer”, and her off-and-on friend and occasional rival, Naga the Serpent.
“Lina, this town is a bit strange, don’t you think?” Naga asked her fellow sorceress as they casually walked along the length of the bazaar, taking in the various local vendors peddling their wares. As they passed by the shops, the girls could not help but notice that each of the shopkeepers came across as having something unusual about their physical appearance: one merchant showed off what looked like an extra set of arms, another seemed to have his lower legs replaced with flesh-like springs that allowed him to bounce in place like a human pogo stick, while a fortune teller had a third eye in the middle of her forehead to draw customers to her predictive arts booth.
“Well, I suppose a town dedicated to body-altering magic is quite the tourist trap,” Lina replied, taking a bite from her kebab as they kept up their pace. “Huh… ‘Try our head-swapping magic. Take a picture with your favorite celebrity’s head temporarily morphed onto your body as the perfect souvenir. Only two silver coins,’” she continued, reading off a nearby booth sign as they walked past it. “When they put it like that, it’d be hard for the average person not to give it a shot and impress their friends back home. Take a picture, tell them where you went, and it’s another boost to the local economy. These people really know how to sell these things…”
Just as Naga was about to reply, the panicked screams of townspeople caused her azure eyes to widen slightly, both girls able to spot a fleeing crowd of locals running towards them in a frenzy from down the road. The duo simply blinked in place as people ran past them left and right, unaware of the situation at hand.
“Run for your lives!” a man shouted among the scrambling mob. “He’s overdosed on strength magics and gone berserk!”
“Strength magics?” Lina asked aloud, looking to Naga for any form of clarity on the subject. “That’s certainly a new one.”
A loud crash in the distance drew the sorceresses’ attention as a large, burly man clad in tattered rags appeared from a billow of smoke, obviously crazed by his appearance alone. Carrying with him a large, crudely-made club from a tree stump, the berserker stood roughly thirteen feet tall with a tough, musclebound frame, his red eyes alerting everyone who gazed upon them that something was clearly not right in his mind. With a loud, primal roar of unadulterated fury, the man swung his bludgeon wildly in front of him, smashing the heavy weapon into a nearby inn door and sending more citizens fleeing with his mere imposing presence alone. A second mighty brandishing of the club impacted into a nearby fruit stand, causing numerous pieces of rind and fruit juices to spray all across the area, the cherries and cranberries crushed by the blow giving the appearance that a bloody massacre had just taken place.
While utter bedlam continued to break out on the once peaceful bazaar avenue, a young woman, appearing to be in her late teens or early twenties, fell down while attempting to escape the scene with her fellow townspeople, left to fend for herself against the rampaging thug. The fall left the woman completely paralyzed with fear, unable to pick herself up from the ground despite the looming threat rapidly approaching her. Hoping to spur herself into action, the young girl made the mistake of looking behind her at the rampaging oaf, immediately catching his attention. A toothy grin formed on his malformed face as his eyes fell upon the girl, spying his latest plaything. Another loud grunt emanated from the man’s mouth as he proudly smacked the edge of his club in his opposite hand, making a slow, menacing beeline towards the helpless damsel.
Is… Is this really it? I’m gonna… Am I really gonna die here...? the woman thought as her attacker drew ever closer, her body refusing to respond to her demands to move as she became even more paralyzed with fear. No… N-No! This can’t be how it ends! Not today! I still have so much I need to live for! If only there was someone… anyone… Mustering up what courage she had within her, the girl closed her eyes tightly and began screaming at the top of her lungs. “I’d give anything if someone saved my life right now! Anything!”
“Anything, huh?” a young female voice asked her in response to her plea.
“Truly anything?” another woman added, her tone much more smug than that of the other mysterious savior.
As the girl heard the sound of nearby heroes having come to her rescue, she quickly opened her eyes in surprise, finding two smiling sorceresses towering over her - none other than Lina and Naga. The woman remained speechless for a moment, unable to express her gratitude before the heavy stomps of the berserker behind her brought her back to reality, reminding her that time was of the essence.
“So then, do we have a deal?” Naga asked, chuckling slightly as she complacently placed her hands on her hips.
The young woman hesitated at the offer the two strangers had placed before her in exchange for her safety; if they truly meant what they said, then who knew what sort of payment they would ask for after saving her life. On top of it all, judging on how the two women dressed, they appeared to be rather shady characters, ones who may not even hold up their end of the bargain regardless of the agreement. These thoughts and many other worries were immediately washed from her mind as the sound of wood shattering into splinters caused her to turn her head around once again, spying the aftermath of the ogre’s latest rampage: a wooden barrel had been smashed into pieces as a warm-up for his next act of wanton destruction, the death of a helpless young woman. Now a mere step away from the trio, the young girl had run out of time to decide as the man lifted his club high over his head, preparing to bring it down upon her without a shred of remorse. A loud growl of fury escaped the man’s lips as he readied his attack, the girl’s life immediately flashing before her eyes as the blunt object began to descend.
“Yes, yes!” the woman cried out in pure terror at the very last moment. “Just please, save my life!”
“Heh. Well, you heard her, Naga,” Lina nodded, the two magic users already prepared to go on the offensive. Extending their left hands out in front of them, both mages drew back their right arms as if pulling the string of an imaginary bow, a ball of crimson light appearing at the tip of Lina’s left index finger as a result while a similar azure light formed at the same position on Naga’s hand. “Flare Arrow!”
“Freeze Arrow!”
Shouting the name of their spells one after the other, the duo launched a simultaneous attack on the crazed man, firing their magically-charged arrows directly into the ogre’s torso and scoring direct hits, interrupting his swing and sending him stumbling backwards into an abandoned stall. The young woman let out a cry of relief as she saw her champions’ strength before her very eyes, saving her from certain doom. However, before she could thank her mysterious heroines, the man began to stir from the wreckage of the now-disheveled booth, letting out a true savage howl of pure hatred.
“My, my, aren’t we a tough one?” Naga gloated, taunting their furious opponent. “Then again, it wouldn’t be as fun if you went down that easily in the first place.”
“Alright, Naga, time to finish this,” Lina commanded, earning a nod from her traveling companion in complete agreement. Bursting forth from the wooden wreckage around him with another garbled screech, the behemoth charged towards the group of women with reckless abandon, discarding his weapon in the process and now acting solely on instinct.
“Mega Brand!” the two shouted in unison, both mages snapping their right index finger and thumbs to activate the powerful spell.
Two large magical seals formed on the ground in front of the man’s path, triggering their effects the moment he stepped foot upon them. A powerful set of explosions blasted the rampaging doper upwards high into the sky, blowing out a large amount of dirt to cover the nearby area in dust and debris as an unintended side effect of the spell. The pair of magicians simply stared forward confidently after their spells had activated, waiting for gravity to do the rest. Several seconds later, the man’s body came crashing back down to earth, his body burnt to a crisp and his eyes closed tightly, clearly having been knocked out cold by the non-lethal dual attack.
With the brute now fully subdued, the terrified masses settled down almost instantly, gathering around his unconscious form to admire the heroines who saved their town from certain doom. The young girl’s eyes remained affixed to the bodies of her saviors as they quickly turned around to check on her, amazed that they had taken out such a powerful opponent with such minimal effort.
“Are you alright?” Lina inquired of the girl, acting as if the threat they had just dealt with had never existed in the first place.
“You seem to be fine,” Naga observed, offering the girl her right hand. “Can you stand?”
“M-Me?” the girl stuttered, nodding her head frantically and suddenly finding the will to move once again, slowly rising to her feet of her own accord. “Yes, I’m fine, thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done back there if it wasn’t for the two of you showing up when you did!”
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that’s all,” the Bandit Killer smiled, happy to be of service.
“That ox over there was no match for the two of us,” the purple-haired witch concurred as she smugly placed her gloved palms against her sides.
“I really don’t know how I can thank you two sorceresses enough,” the young woman said, bowing her head slightly in place in thanks. “Again, thank you so much for saving me. I’ll… just be going now, so-”
“Now then, about our payment…” Lina interrupted, cutting off the girl as she attempted to politely leave the area without paying her dues.
“You did say you’d give us anything, didn’t you?” Naga grinned, joining in on their debt collection.
“O-Oh, yes, I, um…” the local woman flustered, scratching the back of her head awkwardly as the two sorceresses drew closer, causing her to step backwards to keep a noticeable distance between the duo. “I just sorta meant that in a figurative way, you know?”
“We certainly didn’t,” Naga made clear, both magic users continuing to slowly push forward towards their client.
“Yep! Where we come from, a deal’s a deal,” Lina affirmed, taking another ominous step ahead of her.
“Well, there was just so much going on at the time what with my life flashing before my eyes and all, so I really just-” The girl’s eyes widened as she felt a strong barrier press up against her spine after taking her latest step backwards, unaware that the two foreigners had cornered her against a brick wall, leaving her with no possibility of escape. “I-I guess maybe I could… come up with something to thank you?”
“That’d be great!” the bejeweled mage grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, by the way, my name is Lina, and this is Naga. You can reward us with a meal if you want, and if you do, you should know that I like all kinds of food!”
“And I’m the same way about food too,” Naga concurred, flashing an equally radiant smile. “Though I suppose the drink I like the most is bread!”
Realizing that she had no other option than to acquiesce to their demands, the young girl let out a loud sigh, summoning up her courage to address her greedy saviors. “I can’t offer you much, but… would you ladies like a meal as my thanks?”
“Really? If you’re offering, how could we say no?” Lina enthusiastically accepted. “You’re too kind!”
“Hmph,” Naga gloated, crossing her arms beneath her breasts in a pompous display of faux displeasure. “Well, I guess it would be rude to turn down such a generous reward...”
I can’t believe I’ve just been saved by two con artists… the girl lamented, watching as the sorceresses gave themselves a high-five to celebrate their confirmed payment. And to make things worse, they’ve conned me into giving them a free lunch… I probably should’ve taken my chances being attacked instead. Maybe he would’ve missed? Why is my life so terrible...?
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