Akko is captured and imprisoned in Appleton, without having the chance to escape, much because it is very guarded, but hope has not died, still has the presence of Marianne coming from a long journey from Edo specifically for the rescue of the warrior of Luna Nova, as well as Princess Diana who is on the high seas going on a trip towards Luna nova, all in order to know the truth that happened in six years after a war where she ended the dominion of Wedinburgh that was peaceful for so many years, this time in the hands of the tyranny of Lord Andrew Hanbridge.
Marianne, Lotte, Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze travelled out of Edo docking at a port in the far east of Hyrule, which then continued a journey along the roads, disguising themselves, hiding their faces when necessary and resting in the forests without being discovered, all in the utmost secrecy and with the intention of not wanting to be discovered under any circumstances.
Within a few days the group will arrive just at the walls of Appleton, already breathing deeply that they were close to that place where Akko is being held as a prisoner, they pass the guards already quite tense and walk through the city towards a place to rent temporarily.
"We're finally inside, now we just have to find a place to stay" Marianne said.
"Will we really make it? This place is very militarised and guarded, every street we pass there is an Appleton soldier, it doesn't even seem that it is impossible to escape from here, they even watched our wagons so that we can't hide anything" Sucy said.
"It doesn't hurt to try, wow, in six years a lot has changed, I had never entered the city of Appleton, besides being cold like that it is also huge, there are a lot of people, I hope we can fulfil the mission" Leclerc said.
They walk through the city, where they find a house that they can rent for a while paying a good amount of Rupees that they have been gathering, which they have already left with everything paid for to stay there for a month, although they stay much less than that during the rescue.
As they enter the house, they soon relieve themselves, lowering the face masks they wore while walking around the city, so as not to be identified and saving magic so as not to be identified, which was already a good rest.
"Finally, a house for us, it will be enough to start planning the action and everything we will need for that, well now it's safe to talk openly about here" Said the dark-haired one.
"Everything has changed a lot, I didn't think we'd be like this, everything seems to be dead, people hardly smile around here, as if it's dead" Lotte said.
"I've barely left Luna Nova and the few days out here have made me realise that, on the roads and at the stops we made on the way, even on the roads people were always smiling, even the soldiers from Wedinburgh, everything has changed, it's become darker, which I think is cool, but not the way it is around here" said Manbavaran.
"Very well, without much conversation, yes here has changed a lot, but Appleton has always been like this, it's a thing of the place, on the way it was really strange, it seems that the kingdom simply abandoned everything, the pretty roads they had are all more abandoned, as if they had no care, things are much more expensive than before, it's really different, but let's focus on our plan, I was able to draw a map here from our hiding place to the entrance to the city walls" Said the brown-eyed one already showing a drawing she made.
"It's not easier to buy a map of the city" said the pink-haired one.
"I'll do it, I just need to walk around the city a bit more, you stay here, as I'm the one with the most magic to disguise myself I'll go after some merchant selling maps of the city and I'll also come back with information about the surroundings" Said the girl from Wedinburgh.
"I hope Akko is really well" Jasminka said in her ever-soft voice.
With that the girls go on packing her things, Marianne dresses in a more civilised way, with a bag full of Rupees, where she then changes her appearance to someone typically from Appleton, where she is already leaving the city inside knowing well where the house is.
She went for a walk down the street where she saw the stalls until very quiet, very different from what it was in Wedinburgh when she used to live there, people don't even shout what they want to sell, they just stay in the greatest silence showing their stalls.
(Wow even the shopping street here is quiet, there are no people here jumping and shouting to buy her stuff, even that they managed to kill and wow, isn't it that it even has a map of the city, let me see here and already buy, then I watch the castle).
"Good morning, I would like to buy some maps" Lerclerc said.
"Oh you bet, which map do you want?" asked the salesman.
"I want a map of the city and a map of Hyrule please, as big as you have" said the dark-haired girl with red locks in disguise.
"It will be 125 Rupees for both, I'm having a promotion today since the trade is weak" Said the seller.
"125 Rupees? That's a rip-off, all that for two maps!" Said the shocked brown-eyed girl.
"It's that or you don't take it lady, please don't cause so much confusion, I don't want to lose the privileges of being a seller with the licence, the lord can make me lose everything, please buy" for the desperation of that lord the girl goes paying for the map, since that way she would have the product in hand.
(This is really scary and strange, it seems that even being a seller has restrictions, very different from Wedinburgh, where anyone could open a stall to sell whatever they want, well the most important thing that are the maps I already have in hand, now we go to the centre of this city, you can see the castle from here).
The girl from Wedinburgh goes to the centre, where she can already see the entrance to the castle, realizing that it is full of guards walking from one side to the other, without even a gap for an entrance, none that she could find there, which was already thinking about what she could probably do to gain access, already looking at the guards.
By keeping a close eye on that castle entrance, Marianne walks around seeing some soldiers and notices the perfect place, where there is an alley and in that she is already getting close to the alley waiting for a guard and the perfect moment to attack, throwing a dart at the back of the guy's head and then pulling him, he just fell into a deep sleep.
(Sorry mate, but I need your clothes for my plan to work, so I won't raise any suspicion)
The man's clothes were taken off along with the armour, which was then placed in a bag and so that the gentleman would not end up naked he was even given a tunic over his body that Leclerc had picked up for this occasion and with that she was already all disguised walking through the city towards the house she had rented with the girls.
"Whew... That took a while, what did you do? We thought you'd been captured" Sucy said.
"I brought maps here, we have Hyrule and also the city, I was able to watch the entrance, the guards really watch a lot, but anyway it was not just that, I also stole the clothes of one of the soldiers here, as I know Jasminka is good at making clothes, we can replicate the armour of the soldiers and thus gain access to the castle or even escape without being noticed" Said the brown-eyed one showing the things she took in the city.
With that they were already marking an X where exactly is the house they rented and the path that was noted to go to the castle, the exit of the city, where the map also detailed well what was each thing in the city, but unfortunately did not have a castle map.
In Hyrule it was already clear that it had some differences, some villages that were part of Wedinburgh simply disappeared, the cities were renamed for the most part, except for the capital Wedinburgh that remains there, well detailed on the map, which they will look very well at what they were getting.
"Oh, all that iron mesh is going to be a lot of work to make, we'd need a blacksmith and a lot of Rupees to make enough armour for us" said Antonenko.
"I wasn't thinking about the idea of making them out of the same material, but rather one that mimics the effect of metal" Marianne said.
"Oh I get it, it can be a lot of work to make one, I would need the cloths in the colours of the armour and I will also need to make plates to hold our body features so that we are not perceived as women, well anyway I think you can find that, I still think it's good to have some metal, there is no cloth that leaves it the same" Said the pink haired one.
"So I already know what to do, Constanze knows how to work with iron, this house even has a boiler on the side, it can be used to forge armour like the guards have, we just need to get iron, but I think it's difficult to find it in the city at a good price, unfortunately these maps cost me 125 pounds and we don't take that many pounds for us" Said Leclerc.
"Go with Constanze to the city again, you buy the necessary materials for the armour, we will prepare the food, enjoy and take a good look at what's in the city" Sucy said.
"Well at least my disguise won't be discovered, I changed my disguise to pretend to be someone else when I immobilised the guard, this main disguise to walk in the city is not compromised yet" Said the dark haired one with red locks already going to disguise herself.
And with that Constanze and Marianne go out into the city in search of materials to buy, which they already realise that there is a stall on the street where there was a group of miners where Braunchsbank pointed them out to go.
Leclerc bought enough iron that ended up costing an expensive 450 Rupees, but according to the girl it was enough and also material to forge that iron, spending a lot that first day, but already being very useful, with that the first day was already being made only by their arrival the preparation for the great mission.
[...]
The next day arrives, the girls rested a lot in that house, managed to settle in and the next phase of training is already beginning, which the brown-eyed one is already leaving early disguised as a soldier managing to look very different, she ties her hair, puts a wig on top to appear more like a soldier and even change her voice a little and hide the proportions.
She walks to the castle where she walks watching the entrance, more in detail, which soon she is surprised by one of them who ends up noticing her in that place.
"Soldier! What are you doing here?" Said the man staring at Marianne who was even cold.
"I'm a rookie, a recruit I am... Dorian... I'm starting my first day guarding the castle" I said to Leclerc pretending to be someone else.
"Dorian? I've never heard of a Dorian soldier in our troops" said the guard suspiciously.
"I'm a transferee, I came from Hanbridgeland" said the girl, managing to pretend better.
"Oh Hanbridgeland, they make very good men there, why didn't you say so before, let me show you more of the castle, introduce your shifts and when you can work, why didn't you tell me before haha" Said the soldier who even patted the dark-haired woman with reddish locks on the back.
(What an oaf, he fell for my chat, let's see now if I can get access to more of the kingdom, luckily I got very tall in those years, it made me almost the size of the soldiers, even though I'm still short, luckily I can lower my voice to the point of sounding like one of them).
"Dorian, you're quite short for a soldier, you look quite young too, you have quite a future in our troops" said the older man.
The girl only had a brown wig as a disguise, with a fake scar made by her face and even with very little magic she could pretend to change the colours of her eyes to green and change the shape of her nose and voice when she wants, making herself unrecognisable.
The older guard takes her inside the castle, where she is already walking amazed at everything inside, it is a very extreme luxury and all that atmosphere of death inside the castle was different, things seemed much more peaceful, people were much more dressed, with sophistication.
But soon she was following the path to the soldiers' quarters and already saw that everything was different, there were several beds and weapons, many of them well made and several of the soldiers.
"Hello boys, we have a newcomer among us, Private Dorian from Hanbridgeland" Said the one who had approached the girl from Wedinburgh and everyone nods to her.
"Hello, I'm Dorian, I came from Hanbridgeland, I've trained hard and I'm very grateful to finally be able to live here in the capital with my comrades" said Marianne pretending to be the soldier.
"Dorian allow me to introduce the royal troops, these are soldiers like you and me, we are the guard soldiers, our job is to watch the city or the castle from threats, or to enter the war when necessary, now that's our
general Ron, he commands our troops, above him is the royal general Liam, he is the superior who always talks to the lord about royal strategies, he is almost the king's right arm, he is part of the royal guard which already makes him in a high position, these are part of the nobility and when they are not protecting our integrity and winning important battles, they are great businessmen, these are the ones you owe an obedience, I am John and we will get along very well in this castle" Said soldier John.
"Sure, I think I understood correctly and where my post is, where are the places we can go and can't go" Leclerc said.
"Oh yes of course, let's go for a walk in the castle, my job is always to help new soldiers get used to their new duty station" Said the man and simply the girl goes just feeling very grateful for everything.
(I'm already memorising the castle by the smallest details, this soldier really fell for it, how wonderful, I'll soon be able to watch every detail here and find out where Akko is being held, this is perfect, right when I arrive he already presents everything to me as if it were nothing).
And he is really presenting everything, showing the corridors where the guards watch, showing the royal kitchen, showing everything in the castle, where the soldiers could go, which was also leading to the castle dungeon where there is precisely the prison and there was no presence of Akko which already opened a strangeness on the part of Marianne who did not even question it.
"This service here only when you have the trust of the lord you can watch the prisoners of the dungeon, here are the biggest criminals we capture in the city" Explains John.
"And there are no other prisoners who have caused so much trouble that they should be kept in their own dungeon because they are dangerous, or have they already executed this criminal?" asks the curious Leclerc.
"Well we do, it's the Lord of Appleton's special prisoner, she's in the east tower high up and only the lord's most trusted royal guards can watch that corridor, so special is that prisoner, I never got to see her up close, but they say it's the lord's trophy, I don't even want to think about getting close there, only a highly trusted guard is around watching that place, it's an honour to have such a service, were you curious boy?" Said the soldier.
"I just wanted to know why they always talk about the lord's trophy, and we also have the special cell in Hanbridgeland where the count puts the most notorious criminals there before executing them" said the dark-haired one.
(I'm making it all up so they don't suspect me, but it's all working now, I know most of the castle already, hopefully I won't have to take any drastic measures involving an escape with a mess like that, my cover can't be jeopardised now).
"Oh without a doubt very peculiar, I had never heard about it, very interesting, finally not even a member of the royal guard has access without being with the proper permission and also a proper dress that only these soldiers receive, besides themselves knowing who they are among themselves, but anyway, it is a different training that they receive, precisely to watch over the special prisoner, the lord always talks about her being beautiful and a trophy showing that we will perpetuate forever, I sincerely hope that this materialises, I have never lived so well since the war ended, I lost my nephew in battle and now I am finally having a lot of luxury to live better than ever" Said the smiling John.
With that he was then showing the rest and even showed one of the specific soldiers where he was already at the entrance to the east tower and really the guard was dressing in a very different and peculiar way, his armour even had some gold details, which was already passing in the head of the girl from Wedinburgh about how she would do in this.
(I need to steal this guy's clothes, so I get into this part of the castle and I know what to do, I can seduce him by pretending to be a noblewoman, or I can just pretend to be the lord, but then I would compromise my disguise, I need to think big).
"Well these guys there I wouldn't even mess with, they are all eunuchs, no woman is able to attract him, they are really iron, only a very powerful training to make them that way, I'm not kidding, you can even receive a position like that, but you will have to sacrifice your virility in exchange for earning thousands of Rupees and being acclaimed by everyone" Said the soldier.
"Woah, I think I'd rather just try to be a real soldier, I don't need to be that rank" said Leclerc.
(Well at least if they touch the middle of my legs I can pass for a eunuch, but it's still bizarre, I know that seduction doesn't attract these guys, but it's good to know, let's analyse it better).
And soon after the soldier John was showing more of the rest of the castle where Marianne could walk being only the soldier Dorian and could already analyse very well everything around, which then was left near the entrance of the castle and there the soldier beat a salute to her.
"Very well, where will you take up your post today?" Asks the soldier who had approached her at that moment.
"Today I'm going to watch the shopping street" Lerclerc said.
"Oh well done, I wish you good luck and a great patrol, I'll be here at the castle entrance keeping watch" said John.
(The first alley I find I will take off the disguise and go to the hiding place, let's see now how to escape and then tell the girls).
The escape was not so difficult, with magic the dark-haired one pretends to be a resident of the city and walks until she reaches the house of the hiding place where she returns to normal and already takes off the armour as well as the disguise wig and the makeup she used to fake a scar.
"Finally, it took almost a whole day, did you get any information at least?" Sucy asks and a smile opens on the Wedinburgh girl's lips.
"Bring me sheets of paper, I have more than enough to show you about the plan to capture Akko, I'll draw what I could already decorate of the castle" Said the brown-eyed one.
The whole route that Marianne spent in the castle was well explained from pretending to be a soldier to even the escape, with a detailed drawing of what were the corridors of the castle that she can decorate, with some squares showing the various floors, until the much acclaimed part of the east tower, where the desired Akko is, with a well sketched drawing was already giving more details to the probable map of the place and just where the soldiers' posts are, that was becoming a very strategic mission.
It was such an extensive explanation that it lasted a long two hours just showing all that, drawing the map and talking about the situation which the girls understand better that the plan is not as simple as they thought it would be.
"Woah, so we really will need to look at more of the castle, but what about your Dorian disguise? How are you going to get back into the castle?" Sucy asks.
"This disguise I no longer care about being compromised, I can pretend to be one of the nobles and already gain access to the inside, the important thing that is to enter the castle I have already done" Said Leclerc.
"That's interesting, the map of the castle from what you have shown is well done, we will soon be able to rescueAkko, but it will be hard work pretending to be a soldier of the highest class, how are we going to make the escape plan with Akko after all that?" Lotte asks.
"I'm going there tomorrow pretending to be one of the royal soldiers, they have more access to the castle, maybe also gain access to other parts of the castle, there soldier John explained to me that there is one of the eunuchs who serve as a guard in the east tower, that's where some of them settle, so I can take their disguise and escape, I can compromise the disguise on this one, but I already guarantee a disguise for one of you, accompany me to the room where Akko is and then we do the whole scheme to get out of there safe, I already take the opportunity to watch the tower before, I'll just need to be a ninja, but I can do that quietly" Said the dark-haired one.
"Oh then this will be interesting, Jasminka or I can pretend to be those soldiers, with you magic works well, we dress up like that and grant access" Manbavaran said.
"It will be easy for me to get access to these special clothes, but the sewing plan still stands, we need different clothes in case the armour of our size to escape, the armour that I steal in the castle will only be the ones that the eunuch guards wear, those are impossible to replicate" Said the brown-eyed one.
And so they continued to explain more and more of the plan so that they can penetrate Appleton's defences and thus disguised enter the castle inside to capture Akko, but for that they will have to be very fast, since the plan can be noticed by Appleton and end up failing.
With that the group is discussing more efficient ways to plan everything more carefully and already thinking about acting in the best way without compromising anything, Marianne does not want to see it ruined since it is the only chance she has to save Hyrule
Far from there on the high seas, Diana, Hellene and Amanda, were reaching the halfway point to arrive and dock near the beach that leads to the forest of Arcturus, which did not stop reflecting on reaching the land of Hyrule and all the difficulties that may lie ahead that will not be few, especially since the news for Appleton's coastal troops arrived to search islands nearby regarding the whereabouts of the princesses.
"We've been at sea for a week now, I just keep thinking about getting there soon, I never thought the island of Triskellion would be that far away" Hellene said.
"That's because Mrs Croix asked us to take the long way round, not to risk meeting any of the troops, we have to be discreet" Amanda said.
"I keep thinking about how things must be... All these days at sea always make me think about these things, every night I just reflect on what this world can hold for us, our future, I don't know, it's a lot to think about ... Our mothers, Akko, I hope they are all well, all these days out I'm already thinking about our journey that we spent here" Said Diana.
"If the worst comes to the worst, I swear I will avenge our mothers and Akko, we will become the heroines of Hyrule, even if we are not the chosen ones, one day we have to act Diana" said Hellene.
"Girls! How are you doing? At this point you should be halfway there, in another seven days you will dock in Arcturus, remember not to leave at once through the forest, going straight to Luna Nova, first get used to the surroundings, if things get dangerous do not hesitate to return to the boat, stay safe" Said Croix through the device.
"We're fine, there's just a lot of rain here and it gets sick from time to time, but we're managing to cope, I hope we get there soon, this anxiety of not knowing that Akko is well gets me a lot" Cavendish said.
And with that they continue the journey looking at the sky, in the most by the sailboat observing how the outside is, Amanda is piloting the boat that even has a protective roof since that day it was raining very hard and the two girls were also inside seeing the boat jumping in waves, which even scared so nervous that the sea was.
And the days were passing away from there in Appleton, Marianne is following her next step of disguise, pretends to be a real soldier, where she uses the artifice to have immobilised one of them with a dart and in this way for a short time she goes walking through the castle exploring the areas where the noblest soldiers are and soon she will take one of the armour of those soldiers who stay in the tower, that day even ends up causing a little, but the whole problem was for the soldier she pretended to be who ended up being arrested accused of stealing the soldier's clothes from the elite tower, since it was not just one, as it was two of those armours that were taken in the soldier's hands.
Leclerc is already increasing the map of Appleton Castle in more detail by placing where the posts of more soldiers and their routines are pointed out, leaving later in the day this time managing to immobilise one of the elite soldiers in the eastern tower.
At that time she decides to explore there, managing not to compromise the disguise and seeing well inside where the soldiers were and even reaching the door where she already knew that there would only open with the presence of the lord of Appleton himself, which was already being much more interesting when knowing the points of the tower.
That information helped the girls a lot to discover the blind spots of the place where they can take the soldiers by surprise and leave them attacked on the spot in this way going to the plan that was about to be formulated.
It was already four days in Appleton and that day served to finish the final details of the escape, Constanze was extremely fast forging and already managed to leave the armour for the escape ready, now all that was left was to articulate everything for the escape which Jasminka also ended up doing some more disguises with her pretending to be a noble inside the castle, while Marianne and Sucy would go through the tower, with Manbavaran pretending to be just one of the soldiers there and Leclerc would pretend to be the lord himself accompanying to Akko's cell and being the perfect moment to capture the girl.
Inside the castle no one suspected anything that panic created by the soldier was soon ended with the royal soldier paying compensation to the one who had clothes stolen for a few Rupees or would end up with his
hand cut off and so everything was returning to normal, even the Lord of Appleton suspected nothing that under the cloths the perfect escape plan was being carried out, in the greatest stealth without causing any open panic.
The perfect plan to capture Akko and escape from Appleton towards Luna Nova was already all mapped out by the six girls, who were already thinking of realising it on the fifth day in Appleton, with everything detailed phase by phase, to last as quickly as possible, even the lord's own clothes were well copied by Marianne who managed to have some time in the throne room to know how the elder was and with the help of magic it could be perfect, a plan where it will bring hope back to Hyrule.
Akko is still stuck in that tower, just thinking about how she could get out of there, or the day something different happens, already without hope, but that hope is not dead on the part of Marianne, who travelled from Edo with her friends to carry out what will be her great asset, the plan may not work without magic, but with the help of the trained girl this could be a possibility of an escape that will become a matter of time to happen, especially since everything was caught in the minute details for an escape plan like that not to fail, to the point that the six feel confident that it really can materialise.
See you, spy witches