Pursuit

As he was still new to Tantalus and had never acted before, not even in a school play, Andrew didn't mind when Baku informed him that he wouldn't be partaking in the performance. Instead, his job was to sneak behind the Nobles that would be viewing the play from the main gallery, waiting until Zidane and Blank were in the middle of their mock battle to sneak into the castle and ensure the coast was clear.

"Phew..."

Exhaling a sigh, Andrew did his best to steady his heart as Baku walked out on the Theater Ship's main stage, bellowing, "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's performance is a story that took place long ago. A tale of love and despair, where our heroine, Princess Cornelia, is torn from her lover, a commoner named Marcus. She attempts to flee the castle, but alas, she is quickly captured by her father, King Leo. When our story begins, Marcus, having heard of his beloved's plight, crosses swords with the King. What follows is an epic tale of love, tragedy, and forgiveness..."

Gesturing to the audience, Baku puffed out his chest, his voice echoing even louder as he shouted, "And now, Your Royal Majesty, Queen Brahne, Your Highness, Princess Garnet, Noble Ladies and Lords, and, of course, our rooftop viewers, the Tantalus Theater Troupe is proud to present, 'I Want to be Your Canary'!"

Following his opening narration, Baku performed a deep bow. At the same time, the orchestra onboard the Theater Ship began to play, the sound of their brass and string instruments drowning out the raucous cheers from the crowd.

"It's go time..." muttered Andrew, slipping out a trap door at the aft end of the M.S. Prima Vista. Fortunately, most of the people in the nearby crowd had their eyes firmly fixed on the stage, allowing even a youth that looked like a rat and another with shadow features, glowing yellow eyes, and the attire of a Black Mage to slip in unnoticed.

Though Andrew would have liked to greet the duo, recognizing them as the runaway Prince of Burmecia and one of the main characters of Final Fantasy IX, Vivi, he didn't have the time. If fate were willing, their paths would invariably cross, so while he waved at the duo in passing, earning a curious look from the young prince, Andrew didn't stop to greet them.

Waiting for his signal, the moment when Blank betrayed Marcus to let the injured King Leo flee, Andrew discreetly slipped into the castle and made a beeline for the barracks/guard house of the Knights of Pluto. They were the only male group of Knights in the entirety of Alexandria, the rest being highly-skilled warrior women, so the plan was to steal some of their armor so they could slink around the castle undetected.

Fortunately for Andrew, the guard house of the Knights of Pluto was, as he remembered, adjacent to the entrance he had snuck through. It was a little different than it was in-game, as the castle was much larger, but he just needed to head straight, turn right at the midpoint of the corridor, and then the guard house was directly ahead.

Expecting people to be inside and understanding the plan was ruined if he failed to take them out before they could signal the other Knights, Andrew burst into the guard house, surprising the two Knights within. The moment he saw them, the flow of time slowed to a crawl, causing their movements to stagnate while Andrew's were largely unimpeded.

"Sorry about this!" shouted Andrew, taking advantage of the fact one of the Knights wasn't wearing a helmet to punch him square in the face. He felt the man's nose break from the impact, but if he held back too much, Andrew suspected that, as Knights, they would be able to endure.

While the first man was flung across the room, producing a much louder noise than he would have liked, Andrew sidestepped the drawing swing of the remaining Knight, unsheathing his dagger in the same motion. Zidane had taught him how to disorient and deal with helmeted enemies for this very occasion, so Andrew smacked the center of the Knight's helmet with the pommel of his dagger. This not only stunned the man, but by following through with the motion, Andrew was able to knock him off balance, slide off his helmet, and then incapacitate him with a swift strike to the chin as he attempted to regain his footing.

As blows to the chin caused the brain to rattle, the second Knight rag-dolled from Andrew's combination attack. Fortunately for him, Andrew wasn't completely heartless, catching the man and guiding him to the floor before he could faceplant onto the stone tiling and cause even more noise.

After waiting a few seconds and hearing no sounds from approaching guards, Andrew breathed a sigh of relief before pulling out a slip filled with sleep powder, a drug that, as the name implied, put a target to sleep. He just needed to sprinkle it into the mouths of the Knights, turn the one with a broken nose onto his side, and then raid the nearby lockers in the hope of finding a spare armor set. In the game, Zidane and Blank took the armor directly from the unconscious Knights, but due to the poor hygiene standards of his new home, Andrew would rather avoid wearing the armor someone else had been wearing in 31-degree weather...

"Fuck..." muttered Andrew, not because he couldn't find any lockers with armor inside them, but because they were locked. Zidane had given him a few lessons in lockpicking, but he wasn't at a level where he could employ the skill practically. He had the tools in his Inventory, which functioned as a convenient, seemingly boundless space to store equipment, items, and other goods, but if Zidane and Blank arrived while he struggled to pick the lock, it would be embarrassing...

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After a tense few minutes, causing sweat to break out across much of his body, Andrew was relieved when the sound of footsteps that caused him to flatten himself against the wall turned out to be Zidane and Blank.

Looking between Andrew and the two bodies on the ground, presently stripped down to their underwear, Zidane adopted a broad smile and said, "Great work, Andrew! I knew you could do it~!" while raising his hand for a high five. Andrew readily reciprocated, but Blank immediately poured cold water on his head, asking, "Why haven't you changed yet?"

"There were only two sets of armor," replied Andrew, gesturing with his thumb toward the set of lockers behind him as he added, "I'd rather not wear a set stained with sweat, so do me a favor and pop one of these bad boys open for me."

Though Blank snorted through his nose and crossed his arms, albeit with a smile, Zidane responded with an obliging, "No problem! Just leave it to me!" before getting to work on the nearest locker. Blank, also not wanting to wear a used suit of armor, soon joined him, the similarly skilled Thieves making short work of several lockers, eventually procuring three relatively clean armor sets.

Changing into the set that most closely matched his size and stature, Andrew felt clunky and uncomfortable, but it was bearable. He had his normal clothes on underneath, so the moment they were in the clear or had their identities exposed, he could always dump the armor or toss it into his Inventory, scraping it once they returned to Lindblum.

Hearing the distant sound of cheering, Zidane remarked, "We should hurry up. If we fail to abduct the Princess before the closing act, we'll have the entirety of Alexandria's forces breathing down our necks."

Looking at Blank, Zidane asked, "You got the package, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's right here," replied Blank, holding up a magic bag roughly the size of a softball but with an interior volume of 500 cubic meters. The interior was filled with thousands of cockroach-like insects called Oglops, fist-sized critters with skull-like heads, six limbs, and predominately orange carapaces that could sweep through an entire field of crops if not eliminated quickly.

"Good," said Zidane, grinning from ear to ear as he added, "Then I'll make my way up to the balcony and see about slipping some sleeping weed into the Princess's tea. Once she gets drowsy and chooses to retire to her room, that's when Blank will release the Oglops, causing chaos among the nobles. Once the guards move to investigate, we snatch the Princess and make our getaway! Sound's simple, right?"

"Not really, but we should probably hurry up," replied Andrew, recalling that the Princess should be making her getaway around this time. If she slipped past them, that would probably be for the best, but he didn't want to derail the fateful first meeting between her and Zidane.

"Then let's go~!" shouted Zidane, thumping his chest before taking the lead to exit into the hallway. He wasn't wearing a helmet, which was fairly dumb, but as he didn't wear one in the game, Andrew didn't say anything and just followed along. Fortunately, they didn't have to travel far as the spiral stairs leading up to the balcony were at the opposite end of the hall from the guard house.

'Well, that's not good...' thought Andrew, witnessing a slim, athletic girl wearing a hooded white robe decorated with triangular red trim scurry down the stairs and take a left. She also wore an orange, form-fitting bodysuit and red slip-on heels, but Andrew only got a glimpse of the rather risque garment before she turned the corner and disappeared.

"Wow, that one sure was in a hurry," mused Zidane, not even considering that the girl might be their target, Princess Garnet.

"I'm pretty sure that was the Princess..." muttered Andrew, earning odd stares from the two Thieves.

"No way," contended Zidane, waving his hand in front of his face as he added, "The Princess is supposed to be on the balcony. I mean, we saw her on our way in. Why would she be running around when the final act is about to begin?"

"For the same reason we are...?" responded Andrew, quickly adding, "You heard what the Boss said. Alexandria is currently preparing for war, and the Princess is the Grandniece of the Duke of Lindblum. If she decided to run away and try and prevent the war herself, now would be the best time to slip out."

Hearing Andrew's surprisingly reasonable speculation, Zidane and Blank blinked in surprise, the former remarking, "Wow, Andrew...you might not have any memories, but that head of yours definitely isn't empty."

Thinking quickly, Zidane looked to Blank, saying, "You head outside and get into position. I'll head upt to the balcony to confirm whether or not Andrew's speculation is correct."

Shifting his gaze to Andrew, Zidane caused chills to spread through the former's body as he instructed, "If that girl was the Princess, you should follow after her. You don't have to kidnap her, but if she sneaks out of the castle, tail and keep her safe. If she tries to board the airship, I'll let Cinna and the engineers know to be ready to depart immediately."

Without waiting for Andrew's response, Zidane gave him a firm slap on his pauldron-covered shoulder, saying, "You can do it!" before turning around and departing up the stairs. Blank also ran off, so Andrew abruptly found himself alone in the hall, asking himself, 'Did I fuck up, or could this be the influence of Hydaelyn...?'

Not having the time to think, Andrew pulled himself together and darted down the hall Garnet had departed. Baku had forced them to memorize the basic layout of the castle before the mission, and thanks to his game knowledge, he had a decent idea of where Garnet had fled. A few of the Knights of Pluto were also known to sprint around the castle as a form of exercise, so while his hurried pace drew the eye of many scantily clad female Knights, none of them attempted to stop him as he raced to where he believed the Princess to be...

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