She Arrives At An Impasse-Part 2

Robin stood there for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out.

"And so?" She asked, non-plussed. "Where is he now?"

Quinn's face had a trace of pity on it as he answered.

"I don't really know. He told me to hand this to you." Quinn handed over a letter sealed in wax. Robin tore open the seal, reading the contents of the letter.

'Good Morning, Young Hero!

This morning, I chanced to find a young man with blonde hair wandering the streets. As it is quite dangerous to wander around at this time, I took him with me to the tower of meetings. Don't worry, he is perfectly fine.

For now, that is.

But, might I say, the Tower of Meetings does have one slight quirk to it. As it is an artifact from before the hero wars, it cannot hold humans in it for too long. If you do not come before noon time, I'm afraid his memory of everything will be systematically wiped.

I would extricate him, myself, but he accidentally locked himself in the room of lovers, which we call because only one of each gender can enter. Only when two opposite genders are present can you leave. Ah, blood relatives or different races don't work, either.

As this is time sensitive, I encourage you to try your utmost to extricate him.

Sincerely,

The Strategist.'

"Hey, Quinn...Do you know where the Tower of Meetings is?" Robin asked.

Quinn nodded. "Yeah. It's visible from the city square. Why?...wait. He took him there!?" Quinn exclaimed in surprise.

"Mmn. The penthouse suite, apparently." Robin said cooly. It appeared the Strategist had seemingly set up an impossible game. It was too bad he hadn't accounted for one thing: Robin was a girl.

"Suite?" Jasmine asked, confused at the unfamiliar word. Robin passed the letter to her.

"Robin." Jasmine looked at Robin, solemnly. "You can't be serious! If you go, then you know what'll happen."

"You read it. Do you possibly think we have any better option right now?" Robin said. "Besides, this happening to him is because of me in the first place. If I didn't want to go home, he wouldn't be there! As the reason for this journey, I bear a responsibility towards this company, him included."

"Okay, calm down!" Chelsea interjected. What is this about?" The note was passed to Chelsea. When she read it, the corner of her mouth twitched.

"Well, looks like now's your chance, Robin! Just waltz in there and take a good look at that blank face of his when you show up. It'll be like a coming-out party!" She laughed.

"No. Chelsea, the point is that Robin doesn't want to give him any ideas." Jasmine pointed out.

"But why not? They'd be the perfect duo!" Chelsea pointed out.

Robin snorted. "If I didn't know you knew about my situation, I might have tagged you as a fujoshi."

"Hmm? What's that?" Chelsea asked.

"Well it's a..." Robin paused as she realized the rest of the company was also listening. "Um...I'll tell you later."

"What's the letter say?" Dirk asked. Chelsea was about to hand the letter over when Jasmine snatched it from her hand and instantly burned it into ash.

"This involves the Hero's personal information. I'm afraid it can't be revealed to anyone in the information circulation business." Jasmine said, quickly salvaging the situation.

"Aww. I wanted to read it." Fairy Elise sulked.

"Sorry. I can't say anything. But, it's definitely not a bad thing, okay?" Robin smiled politely at the nosey winger.

"Basically, the letter said that Prince Christian is being held captive in the tower of meetings, and if I want to save him, I'll have to go alone, otherwise his memory will be wiped."Robin summarized.

"That's a fairly obvious trap, don't you think?" Dirk scoffed.

"Right? So the obvious thing is to go." Robin replied nonchallantly.

"What? Your just gonna waltz in there?" Dirk asked, surprised at the hero's seeming lack of planning.

"Why not? It's only obvious. But, rest assured, I will be in disguise." Robin reassured Dirk.

"That being said, Jasmine, Quinn, I am going to need your help." Robin turned to the two. "I'll also need a floor-length cloak, if anyone has one."

"Got it. I think Sir Daniel has a spare cloak, but it might be a bit large." Keith said.

"That's great! the larger, the better!" Robin replied as she brought Jasmine and Quinn to her room.

"So, what can I help you with?" Quinn asked.

....When Robin came out of her room with Jasmine and Quinn, her figure was completely covered under the hood. one couldn't see her face, as it was covered by a fox mask.

Quinn was desperately trying to hold back his laughter. "You sure that's all you need my help with, Robin?" He asked, his face slightly contorting.

"Certain." Robin replied in a deadpan voice. But, before she left, she paused and told Quinn "You do know that, if you leak any of this, you'll be banned from my cooking forever, right?"

With that, Quinn's contorted face froze stiffly. "I will never reveal it. you have my word." He quickly promised.

"Good." And, with that, Robin quickly left.

Gerard watched Robin leave the hotel until he couldn't see the hero anymore. "He's gone. What was he disguised as?"

Quinn couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. He patted Gerard on the shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm afraid my lips are sealed. But I can tell you this: the Strategist thinks that he is bringing the hero into a trap. But it is the Hero, himself, that is bringing the trap to the Strategist. I wonder what kind of face he'll make when he finds out he's been brilliantly countered?"

------

Robin stopped in a dark corner. She took off the cloak and fake mask. Then, she stored the cloak in her magic bag.

"Once again, if you breathe a word of this, I will never give you food ever again." She said the the mask, which returned into it's original slime shape.

"Understood!" It said, before bouncing off.

"It's been a while since I've done this..." Robin looked at her clothes, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"Uuugh, I don't wanna wear this! No, I can do this... I'll just pretend it's cosplay! Yeah....pretend it's cosplay."

Robin let out a small sigh.

"I really didn't expect to have to wear this ever again."

Then she stepped out into the light.

--------

Up in the tower, Christian sat there on the bed, and sighed in frustration at himself. He had been such a fool! When they had entered the tower, Christian hadn't even thought twice when that foxy gentleman had opened the door for him.

Thinking back, he was used to the servants opening the doors. But why would someone who was trying to employ him act like a servant? Even when Robin acted the perfect gentleman, he wasn't so humble as to extend such niceties to other men.

Christian heard his stomach growl. How long had he been here? the sky was already bright through the hand-sized window. They probably had figured out that he wasn't at the inn, and had gone to look for him.

No...The odds were that they would come here, first. Christian rested his chin upon his clasped hands, thinking.

Even if Christian hadn't been tricked so soon, to be able to bring him into this guarded tower meant that that gentleman had some kind of high status. It wasn't a stretch to say that the Strategist himself might be behind this incident. In which case, Christian had unwittingly become a pawn to use against Robin.

Christian once again looked around the room for any sign of a way out. He had to get out of there. The door was covered in some kind of barrier that he couldn't break.

"Hmm?" Christian paused, listening carefully. Footsteps clicked down the hallway, growing closer to the room. When it reached Christian's room, it stopped.

Christian stood up. Was it that scheming gentleman again? He looked around. there was nothing he could use as a blunt weapon, and the table was fused to the floor.

The door slowly opened.

Christian's eyes widened as a beautiful young woman with cat ears entered the room. His jaw dropped.

"....Robin!?"