Chp 6 - Missing Princess

Earth/Europe/Bertotia Kingdom/05_09_2020 (The place Ivan and Andresia are staying):

(POV Andresia): Jeez, that Ivan sure is a weird one… Thinking about it though, I don’t actually know much about him, only that he was locked in a cell for ages, and that he's a good strategist but an awful Weaver. He’s pretty hot-headed though, which seems to make most of his strategies completely reckle~

CLANK CLANK CLANK. The lamp by the door is suddenly knocked away, clattering as it rolls. Looking up, Andresia realises why, the door is open, a tall, spindly man stood at its entrance.

(Roberts): Shit! The princess is still in here, you said they’d both left, Milner!

(Milner): *Sigh* No, I said that the guy left, I said nothing about whether the house was empty. Why were you even going in there to begin with?! We’re supposed to report back to the Lieutenant if we find them, but now she’ll run i~

Roberts suddenly cries out and runs inside. Looking through the doorway allows Milner to understand why. There’s now a gaping hole in the wooden wall opposite to them. One other important observation to be made is that the princess is now gone. Eyes widening, Milner turns around and begins to run around the outside of the shack, while his partner chases the woman through the hole she made, the idea being that they'll pincer her. He suddenly realises they’ve underestimated this princess, she’s a Weaver, and from the size of the hole, a pretty decent one. After carefully navigating a path through the small wooded area behind the shack, laying traps as she goes, Andresia begins to run (full speed) up a large dirt hill.

(POV Andresia): I managed to send a high amplitude, low frequency wave towards the wall, ripping a hole in it. Fortunately, those idiots were too busy arguing to take advantage of their surprise attack, giving me the opportunity to run aw~

Her vision suddenly becomes blurry and she’s thrown to the floor, or she would be, if she were stood on the floor. Slowly standing up and looking down, Andresia can’t help but gulp, suddenly, she’s now stood at the top of a 10m tall plinth made of dirt. Paying close attention to the ground below, she realises that the hill has been drastically reduced in height and has been flattened.

(POV Andresia): Ahhh, I see, so he’s moved the surrounding earth and stacked it all up in a tower below my feet. But to move a mound of dirt this size so quickly… Who are these people?!

(Milner): Sorry, you’ll just have to wait there for a bit. We must wait until our boss gets here, then we’ll decide what to do from there…

Roberts finally catches up, just reaching the top of the (now small) hill his companion is stood on, seemingly exhausted.

(Roberts, out of breath): Yo-you bitch! Hhhh—hhhhh. Phew. You moved air into the gaps between the soil’s layers so it would be slippery, didn’t you? Do you understand how exhausting it was trying to get up here while sliding around like that???

(POV Andresia): First that blonde haired “Milner” person took a different route to avoid my traps, only to then go and build something as ridiculous as this tower, instantly. Then that other guy managed to get through my traps so quickly (even if he fell for them all lmao) and even identify how I did them… All in such a short time span too… I see.

(Andresia): So, you're part of the Bertotian Army’s Masked Weaver¹the Southern Masked Weaver is a type of bird, often said to be the best nest builder of all of them platoon then? In that case, you guys are probably only the scouts…

Gritting her teeth, Andresia decides to stay where she is as if she runs here, they’ll likely kill her.

(POV Andresia): While the fact that I’m alone means I won’t be able to escape, at least Ivan won’t get caught up in it this way…

A little while later, the same place:

(Ivan, huffing and puffing): Damn, she’s not here…. What’s that weird hole in the wall doing there? Oh, I see, so she tried to run then?

After struggling to get through the remainder of Andresia’s traps for a while, Ivan finally makes it to the top of the hill, where he hears a loud male voice barking commands.

(Couture): Just tie her up with rope. It’s not nearly enough to hold a Weaver, but as long as we’re here, it’ll be fine even if she does escape. On another note…Roberts, Milner… *sigh* What the hell is this?

(Roberts): Ahh, w-well you see sir, e-errr i~

(Milner): Roberts was neglecting basic protocol again sir, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Fischer has devised a cure for stupidity yet.

(Fischer): Even if I could do something as complex as raising someone’s intelligence, Roberts would still be an idiot, sir. I’m a healer, not God, there are just some things that can’t be done.

Shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head side-to-side, Fischer heaves an exasperated sigh.

(Roberts): Oi, I’m not tha~

(Couture): Sorry Roberts, there’s little I can do to defend you here, you're an idiot.

Couture looks to his junior with pity. Wiping away his tears of compassion, he resumes his role as Lieutenant, once again barking commands and making everyone’s life miserable. Meanwhile Ivan, watching from afar, decides to tail them, patiently waiting until he can find an opportunity to release Andresia.

(POV Ivan): I’m gonna have to pull some real creative wizardry if I want to deal with this nonsense. Wait…why am I helping her? Do I particularly care for this person? No… that’s not it. I guess, she’s the first person I’ve ever spoken to as “Ivan Bisset” rather than “Briggin’s slave”. If I don’t at least try to help her out, then I might as well declare that they were right.

(Ivan, trying to look cool, despite an absence of people to witness it): Then it’s settled, I’ll give her a hand.