Right then, here we go! The next chapter is ready to go. Hope you guys enjoy this.

Chapter 11: The Hearings of a War

Nothing else of note really happened for the next few days. Louise kept going to her classes, hoping to find some way to use her magic. Tlopfest, however, continued to try and use Thaumaturgy with his crucible, but still no luck with it. One evening, yet another problem decided to land on their laps.

"Come on…there has to be some way of getting this to work…" Tlopfest was pouring over some of the libraries' books, attempting to find any form of thaumaturgy that he could use to even have a chance of getting Minecraftian Thaumaturgy to work.
"Tlopfest, enough." Louise sighed and put down her textbook, annoyed at Tlopfest's murmurings for the upteenth time. "You told me there was no way, and yet you still continue to try anyways. Why?" Yet, Tlopfest seemed to ignore her, continuing to mumble and flip through the book he borrowed. "Tlopfest!" Still, he did not look up. Growing frustrated, Louise got her wand and proceeded to cast fireball on Tlopfest…AKA, throw an explosive in his face.

"Gah, son of a wither! What Louise?! I'm trying to think here!"

"Tlopfest, enough already!" Louise continued to stare angrily at her familiar. "Why the

hell are you still on the idea of your magic working here! It obviously is not going to work!"

"Says the one that is still trying to use magic that has failed her for the upteenth time." Unfortunately for Tlopfest, that last quip just earned him another explosion to his face, knocking him down to his last heart. "Ok, ok! I yield! I'll stop for now."

As he finished saying that, the duo heard a small chuckle behind them. Turning to the

noise, they saw a familiar cloaked figure standing by the open window. "It appears that the two of you have not changed much since our first meeting."

"Princess!" Louise quickly bowed towards her, Tlopfest doing a half-bow, seeing as he was on the bed. "What are you doing here so late by yourself again?"

"Who is to say that I need to have a reason to come and see my friend?" Henrietta walked over to the bed, sitting down near where Tlopfest sat. "Although, I also bring some news. I have decided to marry into Germania."

"What?!" Louise was shocked to hear that. "Why there? They're nothing but a savage and stuck-up country!"

"It cannot be helped. I am doing this for the sake of protecting Tristan, in which an alliance with Germania can guarantee that."

"That is disheartening to hear Princess."

"Well, as I am the princess of Tristan, I do not mind making sacrifices for this country. However, before I depart back to the castle, I have just one thing to ask of you two."

"Another favor?" Tlopfest muttered under his breath, much to the annoyance of Louise. He quickly put his hands up in defense though when she brought her wand up to his face.

"Please let us know what we can do to help you Princess."

"Thank you Louise." Henrietta stood up and walked over to the window again to look out. "I need you two to help find an item, specifically a letter. One that is addressed to Prince Wales of Albion. Should it be found and released to the public, the marriage with Germania will be void, and Tristan will be vulnerable."

"I've heard that Albion is rather unstable with its foundations. A rebellion has been going on that threatens to overturn the nobles there."

"I'm afraid that is true. Unfortunately, I have no one else to turn to for this kind of task. I am sorry that I have to ask you to do this Louise…"

"Princess…" Louise bows again towards Henrietta. "It is an honor for you to assign such an important mission to me. Thank you. I will be sure to not let you down."

As Louise was saying this however, Tlopfest glanced towards the door and noticed it ajar. Pulling out his pan and quickly getting over to the door, Tlopfest yanked it open to reveal Guiche eavesdropping. Said eavesdropper quickly fell to the floor from having the door pulled from him. "Guiche?! What the devil are you doing here?!"

"I have heard everything that was said." Guiche quickly pulled himself up and walked towards Henrietta, bowing towards her. "Guiche Gramont, at your service your highness. I also wish to provide aid in this mission of yours Princess."

"The son of Marshal Gramont, correct?" Henrietta asked. Guiche nodded in agreement. "Then I shall be happy to have your aid in this as well."

"Well, it's either that or figure out a way to keep him from spilling the beans…" Tlopfest said.

"Louise." Henrietta got Louise's attention again. Kneeling down, she gave her a sapphire ring. "This is a water ruby ring that my mother gave me. Show this to Prince Wales when you see him to prove that you come from me."

"Of course Princess. It will be my honor to do so." Louise replied.

The next morning, Tlopfest, Louise, and Guiche are waiting by the entrance of the Academy, a couple of horses in tow and Derflinger strapped to Tlopfest's back. According to the princess, a bodyguard would also be meeting them to guide them to Albion.

"The bodyguard should be here by now." Louise said. "I wonder what is taking so long.."

Before Tlopfest can start listing possibilities, a giant mole suddenly pops out of the ground, startling Tlopfest and Louise.

"Verdandi!" Guiche quickly seems to recognize the mole and runs up to it, hugging it like one would hug a pet dog.

"You know this mole?" Tlopfest asked.

"Verdandi is my familiar! Oh Verdandi, you came to see me off on this quest? How cute of you!" Guiche was rather infatuated with that giant mole of his it seems.

"You know that we cannot take that giant mole with us, correct?" Before Louise could say anything else however, Verdandi suddenly shifted its attention to Louise, making her confused. "W-what is it you giant mole?" Said mole quickly jumped onto Louise, almost crushing her under its giant frame. "What the hell?! Guiche, get your familiar off of me!"

Tlopfest went over to try to grab the mole off of Louise, though it refused to budge. "Come on you stuipd thing. Get off of her!"

In the commotion, Guiche noticed what Verdandi was going after. "I see, it's the ring that Louise was given."

"Pardon?" Tlopfest looked over to Guiche, still struggling with the mole - mainly because he couldn't get a good grip on the darn thing.

"Verdandi likes jewelry, especially ones that are rather expensive."

"I am not about to let a giant mole eat the Princess' ring!" Louise cried out. Suddenly, a gust of wind came through, knocking Tlopfest back and throwing Verdandi off of Louise.

"Verdandi! Who did that?!"

Looking around for a moment, Tlopfest noticed a figure up above them. "I'm guessing it came from up there." Unsure of what to expect, Tlopfest got his pan in his hand, ready to smack anything that seemed to be hostile.

Soon enough, said figure landed nearby the group, after which they were able to see that it was a griffin with a rider on top. Said rider hopped off to address the group after landing. "By order of the Princess, I am here to escort you to Albion as your bodyguard. Wardes, captain of the griffin unit, at your service."

Both Guiche and Louise instantly recognized the man. "Wait, you're-" "the famous mage-knight?!" Louise and Guiche started saying. Tlopfest, seeing as they weren't in immediate danger, put away his pan.

Wardes then stepped towards Louise, taking her hands into his. "Louise, I apologize if I startled you. I just feared that my fiance was under attack."

"Whoa, hold on." Tlopfest interrupted. "Fiance?!"

"Y-yes." Louise stammered out. "Wardes and I are engaged. It truly has been a long time Wardes."

Truth be told, Tlopfest was…really unsure how to take this.

After setting out to the port, with Louise on Wardes' griffin and Tlopfest and Guiche on the horses, Guiche took the time to explain the public knowledge of Wardes to Tlopfest. "So, long and short of it, high-ranking man who also claims to be the fiance of a freaking student was assigned to be our bodyguard?" Tlopfest just shook his head at this. "Good grief, this world is way too different from my own…."

Up ahead, Wardes and Louise were catching up as well. "I'm surprised you are our bodyguard Wardes. I wasn't aware that you would be coming" Louise commented.

"While we cannot take the griffin unit for a secret mission, when her Highness consulted me about the letter, I could not help but decide to offer my services for this endeavor." Tlopfest overhead this and immediately went on alert. "And yet when I heard that you would also be on this mission, I just had to be assigned to this mission. After all, what kind of fiance would I be if I sat by and did nothing for my sweet Louise?"

Louise couldn't help but blush at that. Tlopfest, however, was not fully convinced about Wardes' intentions. "Something seems…off. He mentioned the letter before Louise, so what exactly could be in that letter that is so important. More importantly…" Tlopfest looked at the two, Louise only really paying attention to Wardes. "How the hell does an older man become engaged to a freaking student. There is just….ugh." Tlopfest lightly facepalmed in frustration. "I just hope this mission goes well…"

Towards the end of the day, the group was continuing to trek along the path, currently in the mountainous region of Tristan. "Say…" Tlopfest got Guiche's attention. "If we're going to a port, why are we going higher into the mountains? Shouldn't we be near an ocean or something instead?"

Guiche couldn't help but chuckle. "You truly do not know anything, do you Tlopfest?"

"Uh, hello? Different world of origin, remember? Of course I don't really know much about this world….though I wish I did.."

"Nonetheless, Albion is not actually in the ocean, as you put it. It is a floating island."

Tlopfest just looked at Guiche for a moment before it hit him. "Wait…really? You guys have floating pieces of land here too? Did they build the island and then the city, or did it naturally generate that way?"

Guiche was almost surprised at Tlopfest's relative calm at that news. "The island was found that way. Albions eventually made their way to the island and built the city there."

"So, why not just build a bridge to the island?"

"Well…the island moves about. So, instead we use flying ships to reach it, some of which are here at this port." At that point, the group reached the crest of the path, giving them the view of the port city below. "Welcome to La Nocher, Tlopfest."

Soon after reaching the town, the group headed towards one of the local inns. Wardes went ahead of them to get their rooms setup, while the rest of the group got off their mounts and unloading supplies. During this, Tlopfest decided to approach Louise and ask her about Wardes.

"Hey, Louise, you got a moment?"

"Oh, Tlopfest. Is something wrong?" Louise asked while she was sorting through the supplies.

"Look, Louise, not trying to be rude or anything, but…can you really trust Wardes?"

Louise balked at that question. "What do you mean? Of course I can trust him! We're engaged, and the Princess also trusts him! What the hell brought this on Tlopfest?!"

"Hey, easy there, alright? I just needed to ask. He just…" Tlopfest paused at this, rubbing the back of his neck in thought. "Sigh. Look, just….be careful with him, alright? The way he acts and his whole reason to be here…it just doesn't sit well with me." With that, Tlopfest decided to head out for a bit. "I need to sort a few things out on my own, so I'll be back in an hour or two, alright? As I said though.." With that, Tlopfest shook his head and started heading towards the local market to get his mind off of things. Louise, meanwhile, stared after the pigman.

"What did he mean, his reason to be here? He came for my sake….didn't he?" Louise turned back to the inn, pondering what Tlopfest said.

Tlopfest, meanwhile, wandered about town and eventually made his way to the local marketplace. While he didn't have any money on hand to actually purchase anything, he could at least look around and see what others had to sell. Although he did startle many of the shop owners when he approached them. After looking at the tenth shop to sell some sort of food, Tlopfest got bored and started back towards the inn. "What am I even doing? There's nothing here that would be good for me to have, much less bother Louise about…" As he kept walking however, a shady man caught his attention, waving at Tlopfest to come see him. Curious, though on-guard, Tlopfest started walking towards the man. "Yes?"

"You seem to be in a bit of a bind, huh monster?" The mystery man cackled. "So, what do you say we make a deal, hmm?"

"Nope." Tlopfest turned on his heel and started walking out. "I know a bad deal when I see one. Now unless you actually have something important to talk with me about, I'll be on my way."

"Not even for some magic crystals?" The man pulled out what appeared to be an orange glowing shard.

"No you idiot, not even-" Tlopfest turned around to address the man again, only to spot the crystal in his hand. "Wait…" He quickly approached the man again, snatching the crystal out of his hand before the man could react. "This…this is…" Sure enough, it appeared to be an ignis crystal. Just to confirm it, Tlopfest took out one of his empty thaumometers and brought the crystal near it. Said crystal seemed to start getting magnetized to the thaumometer, further identifying it as a vis crystal. "Where did you get this?!" Tlopfest turned to the man once again.

"Heheheh…follow me." With that the man turned further down the alleyway, prompting the pigman to follow.

"Every instinct in my body is telling me this is a trap of some kind…but if this guy somehow got his hands on thaumaturgical crystals…" Tlopfest shook his head. "Let's just hope they thought these crystals were some weirdly shiny rocks and not the basic forms of magic or something.."

Told ya there'd be more Thaumaturgy shenanigans. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As always, if you notice something wrong, be sure to let me know! I'll see you guys in the next chapter.