Underground town- morning

We step off the stairs that leads up to the platform we were on a minute ago. On my way down, I got a good view of how the streets and buildings are. This doesn’t have the same layout as the village I found in the Hell Mine, but the aesthetic and design of the buildings are the same. The one in the mine is long gone since the Mine was destroyed.

“Proxy,” Richard leans toward me. “...you know about this place?”

“I saw something like this in the Hell Mine. I even found your glasses there.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember losing my glasses there. You know, I still remember getting punched by Racheal’s father… I never want to experience something like that ever again.”

“I hope so, too. I was scared half to death that you would bite the dust...”

Memories of the Mine is flooding back as I look around this place. Of course, it’s not enough to make me break out in a cold sweat, however, it’s kind of freaky, in its own way; the type of way that makes it seem like we walked back into that place.

“Hey, what’s what’s up with you two?” Marie asks as creeps up behind us. She’s real sneaky when she wants to be. “...You guys look like you seen a ghost.”

“Kind of. We seen a place like this before, back in the Hell Mine,” Richard informs her.

Her eyebrows raise from the mention of the Hell Mine. “There was? Weird.”

“How is our village weird?” The hug crazy girl walks in front of us, with her cheerful smile still plastered on her face.

“No reason,” I tell her. In truth, the subject doesn’t matter to me all that much. Whether this place and that one are similar or not doesn’t matter to me. But where the hell is anyone else down here? The buildings here are empty, the only lights that are on are the street lights. It’s as if this is a ghost town. “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re all in that building.” She points to the tower way in front of us. The neat stone-layered road leads up to it. Getting a good look at it from the front, it's a tower palace. It shares the Victorian as everything else. “Shall we be off to see the elder?”

“Hang on, this elder, what is he like,” Chip, with his shifty tone, asks the question that hadn’t popped into my head.

“It is a she, and you’ll see. Come, come!”

She takes my hand, pulling me forward as she leads us to the tower palace as if I was the one who asked the question.

“Hey, take it easy! You don’t have to drag me.”

I break out of her grip.

“Oh, sorry, I was excited. I didn’t mean to be annoying.”

Well, when she puts it like that, I can’t exactly come and say “yeah you are”. I’m only rude to my enemies...

“Eh, I guess it’s okay, but are you always get that easily excited?”

She lets out a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of her head. “I am, it’s unbecoming of me, I know.”

“Nah, it’s fine, just don’t go and snap my neck when you hug or something like that, kay?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not strong enough to do something like that.”

Yeah, you’re selling yourself short there.

“At least I don’t have to worry about that from you, uhh...?”

“Oh, my! I forgot to tell you.” This girl is more than a bit ditzy. “My name is--”

“Vella, what are you doing out here?” A grown woman calls this girl’s attention, their voice sounding mature, if that’s the right word. She’s wearing the same white gown. Her hair is long and black, it’s covering a half of her face. The woman’s attention comes to us as we’re all standing around. “Who are these people?”

“He saved me from some bad guys...outside of here.”

She places a finger on her lips as she eyes us. “Really?” The bottom of her heels clicks against the ground as she walks toward us, stopping in front of me. She’s a bit taller than me.

“Thank you for saving this poor girl. As you can tell, she’s a…simple-minded girl.”

“I’m not simple-minded, I’m single-minded,” she cheerfully corrects her, failing to realize she didn’t make it sound any better.

“Right, of course, how could I forget,” the woman says in a way that makes her sound like she’s talking to a baby.

She rubs Vella’s cheeks and she also pokes at them and squeezes them.

“Stop it, you’re embarrassing me!”

Even though she said that, she’s clearly enjoying it.

“Um, excuse me,” Alex calls their attention. “...I don’t wish to be rude, but may I know your name as well?”

“Oh, where are my manners. I am Vezra. It is a pleasure to meet you.” She and Vella elegantly bow to us. The men in the group seem to be mesmerizing by them. “...As a token of appreciation, allow us to have our elder reward you all.”

“The elder is in that tower, correct?”

“She is, don’t worry, she won’t bite,” Verza tells me, her face contorting into a teasing smile.

Man, so she’s one of those ladies, huh? Eh, not that I mind…

Tower - palace - morning

Setting foot into the palace gives me the same feeling when I entered the castle in the kingdom; like I’m stepping into a different world from this one. The interior, as expected, shares the Victorian design that the other buildings do. The colors that dominate the interior are brown and red. There’s a staircase in the center of the room, leading up to another floor.

This place is what I would call a palace. The only place that can compete with this place is the Kingdom’s castle.

There are a couple of girls walking down from the stairs, wearing the same gown as the two we came in with. They see us near the entrance of the palace.

“Strangers,” one of them points out, taken back by our appearance.

“Vezra, Vella, what are strangers doing here?”

“We wish to have the elder reward them,” Vella answers.

“Why reward them?”

“That’s because this boy saved me when I was being attacked by bandits outside. Since these people are with him, I thought we could have the elder reward them."

"You went outside? The elder will get mad at you!" one of the girls yells, her voice sharp.

"I-I know.” Her smile turns to a wry one as the thought occurs to her. “...But is the elder busy? Can we speak with her?”

“Yes, I suppose you can, but you’ll have to accept whatever punishment she gives you, right?”

‘Yes, I understand, thank you for the warning,” she replies, her bright smile returns to her. “Would you like to accompany us?”

“I suppose so. I am interested in these outsiders.”

The girls lead the way upstairs while we follow close behind.

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“Man, these girls are beautiful,” Chip whispers. “Proxy, Blondy, what do you think?”

“I have no idea, but I am excited to see where this leads,” Alex answers with innocents curiosity.

“What do you think, then?” Chip passes the question to me.

“What? Yeah, I guess they’re beautiful.”

“You guess? What’s wrong with you two!? Ain’t it obvious!?”

“Yeah, that’s why I said it. You trippin’ or something?”

“I didn’t trip,” he barks, the meaning has gone over his head. “...All I’m saying is how can you guys be so aloof to the pretty girls!?”

“Dude, what’s up with you? We already have girls like Marie, Nunnalé, and Elizabeth.”

The girls, save for Nunnalé, puff their chest with pride.

“Listen, man, those girls are… They’re too rough for my liking. They’re not what I would call... ideal femininity.”

A sudden, deadly pressure erupts from the girls listening to our conversation. The intensity they’re producing rivals an oven burner, or a wildfire, to be accurate.

Elizabeth approaches Chip, putting her arm over his shoulders. "So, we ain't pretty?"

"H-huh?"

Marie copies what Elizabeth did. "You think we're not beauties?"

"Hang on a minute…! That's not what I--"

"Nah, we know what ya meant!"

"Gotta say, we’re not happy."

"C-c-come on… They didn't say you were beautiful either! In fact, I bet they think your not."

Their fire turns to us, cooking me and Alexander, metaphorically. You son of a bitch, don't drag us to hell with you!

"Brother, you think I'm cute, yeah?"

"Proxy, bud, you think ol' Elizabeth is charmin', right?"

Well, this is bad. Better come up with something, or I’m getting my ass kicked.

“Hey, come on, I’m sure there are guys out there who like muscled women, and besides, it’s not like you guys lack charm.”

“You think?”

“Of course, there’s bound to be people out there who likes girls like you.”

“What do ya mean, ‘like me’?” Oh, shit. “Ya know what, maybe I oughta show ya what my muscles can do.”

“Wait, wait, wait! It was just the slip of the tongue, nothing too serious.”

Her fists impacts against my head. It’s as if a rock came crashing from the sky. How the hell does her hits hurt more than getting stabbed!?

Alex trudges over to me, looking like a zombie.

“Girls...are scary,” I whisper to avoid pissing off the girls any further.

“Yes...they are terrifying.”

“Take for taking one for the team, guys,” Chip shoots us a thumbs up.

“You bastard, I’ll curse your food and I’ll hope for your meals to taste terrible!”

“My taste buds can handle anything, so cursing won’t do.”

Oh...you haven’t seen what horrors a man of culinary can whip up when he tries...

We ascend the stairs in silence, trying to not speak about anything involving girls. We kept going up from different staircases after reaching the level they connect to. Vella shoots me a smile as she walks beside me. We finally reach the end of the last set of stairs, we’re on the top floor of the tower. A regular-sized door greets us. it’s across from the stairs, being a few yards away. Several chandeliers are hung up on the ceiling, lighting up the path to the door. To top it off, there are several girls up here, coming from hallways that are on the side of the hall. Their attention is directed to us as we arrive. A red carpet on the floor, leading to the door, the girls looking and talking about us is making me feel like I’m some sort of hero.

“So many girls," Gil whispers, amazed by their number.

"Yeah, and no guys anywhere," Richard points out.

Hey, what's up with that? I can hear what some of the girls on the sidelines are saying; some calling us handsome, somewhat scary looking, and referring to me, Richard, and Nunnalé as young.

"This is sort of embarrassing, huh?" Richard says, lowering his head from view.

"Master, why are you blushing?"

"No reason, it's just… Nothing, forget it."

"You're acting weird, dude," I tell him.

"I-it's not my fault. I'm just not used to this type of attention, is all."

Zeal obnoxiously snickers aloud. "Now you’re pissing yourself, ain’t ya?"

“I’m not!”

“You totally are!”

“Zeal, you shouldn’t speak, especially since you--”

“Lalalalala, can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, brother!”

We stop in front of the door. It’s a clean, brown, wooden door. The older woman opens the door, a strong breeze hits my face as the door opens; there’s a whiff of fragrance that enters my nose. It’s no different than the fragrance the girls in my school use, so that must mean the elder is also a girl.

Vella turns to us. “We’re about to meet with the elder. We will be back in a moment, so please wait here.”

With elegance, they enter the room, closing it behind them. Hopefully, this doesn’t take too long. Looking around, the girls are still giving us their undivided attention, yet not moving any closer toward us. This is awkward… Screw it, might as well introduce myself. Of course, I can’t just do it normally.

“Ladies, how are you this fine evening? I am the one, the only, and the grandest delinquent of NewPort Island: Proxy!” I grab Richard by the arm, as well as Alex. “...And this guy is my buddy/partner: Richard.”

“H-hello. Nice to meet you all,” he yells, stiff as a board.

“And this is--”

“I am Alexander, it is a pleasure to meet you all,” he finishes with a graceful bow.

The girls swoon over him from his self-introduction… He didn’t let me introduce him.

A couple of the girls come over to Ricard, me, Alex, and the rest of us.

“So are you guys from the outside?” one of them asks.

I strike a pose, my finger points toward the north, or where I think north is. “Yep, we are,” I answer. “We come from the south so we can venture to the north!”

“You’re on a journey?” one of them asks.

“So to speak, but we’re really--”

“Attention, everyone, may I have your attention?” We turn to the door, the girls who went in are in front of it. “We have spoken to the elder. She has acknowledged that boy’s good deed.” The girl’s attention goes from the others on to me. “...As a result, we would ask them to stay here for 4 days.”

4 days doesn’t sound too bad, hell, I can use a break from the road for a bit. Though, that depends on Alex and Marie…

“I don’t see why not. We would be honored to stay here,” Alex responds.

“Yeah, we can use a break,” Marie follows up.

“Excellent, then we shall throw you all a banquet, in honor of your stay here.”

A union of cheers sounds off from the girls. The word banquet is enough to get me excited.

“She also said we need to act as escorts for our guests during their stay here. So pick who you'll be escorting, everyone."

Like picking teammates for street basketball, the girls pick the guys they want to escort by wrapping their arms around theirs. Most of the girls are coming toward me since I saved one of their own. As they clump around me, they’re squishing me with their boobs. Shit, at this rate, I’m going to be turned into mincemeat! Time to escape! Using all my agility and swift skills, I slip away from the girls, rolling away from them. “Sorry, but you’re all suffocating me,”

They stare me down with puppy-dog eyes. “We didn’t mean to offend you.”

“We really are sorry.”

“We are.”

Why are they apologizing? Great, now I feel like I did something bad.

“No, it’s alright, really. But only one of you can escort me, kay?” Saying that, their face perk up, eager for me to pick one of them. Some of them pose seductively for me to pick them. Honestly, I’m kind of uncomfortable with this, but I ain’t gonna chicken out of this… The hug crazy girl is standing next to one of them… Hm… Yeah, that’s it.

I point to her. “You!”

“Are you sure?” she asks, posing her question without breaking her happy attitude.

“Kind of, besides, I kind of owe you an apology for having you face-plant against the floor.”

“Oh, what a gentleman,” the woman named Vezra says. “You got lucky, Vella. Treat him well,” she ends by giving her a comforting smile.

“Understood!”

Why do I have a bad feeling about this whole thing? Whatever, I’m the one who chose her, so why bother questioning it now?

“Okay, girls, let’s escort our guest to the dining hall!”

Vezra leads the way to the dining hall.

Vella approaches beside me. “Shall we be going?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but can I ask you something? Why did you choose me?”

“I already told you.”

“I might be ditzy but I can read people. Come on, it isn’t embarrassing, is it?”

“Why would it be? I’m serious about wanting to apologize for your injury.”

“But it’s healed, so why does it matter?”

“What if it didn’t”

“Then it would fade, so it’s no big deal.”

I mean, she’s not wrong, however, it doesn’t make it any better. Besides, it’s only common sense that you would say sorry for getting someone hurt; Birch drilled that into my head, along with other stuff...

“Even if that’s the case, I still need to say sorry for letting it happen. Whether it heals or not doesn’t matter. So, for the rest of my stay here, you can boss me around.”

Her joyful smile breaks for a second, turning to a puzzled look. It goes back to normal as she places a hand over her mouth. She’s trying to hold in her laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing,” she says as she’s still trying not to. “It’s just...you’re so strange.”

“The pot calling the kettle black,” I tell her in a dry tone.

“What does that mean?”

By god, how do you guys not even have that as a phrase!?

“It’s just a saying from home, forget it.”

She lets a giggle escape her mouth. “You really are odd.”

“Again, you shouldn’t be the one to talk.”

This girl is really a strange one; she treats her being attacked by the bandits like it was nothing, and doesn’t care if she got hurt or not; hell, her reaction to having her head split open is weird. Overall: she’s strange. At least she’s tough.

“Come on, we need to go, or else we’ll be left behind,” she says.

“Yeah, lead the way.”

She takes the lead for the dining hall. Despite my apprehension with this chick, I can see that this going to be fun, so I might as well stop bitching and just roll with the punches...