203 Off to Ashdale

Sir Stout welcomed Mindy and the gang as they arrived carrying a stretcher with Remian unconscious on it.

"That's my ex-husband." Mandy pointed.

"Right, right." Sir Stout nodded absently. "Aide, hand me your rifle..."

"And that's his new girlfriend." Mandy added, pointing.

He looked up and totally forgot about the rifle.

Sir Stout was a man who was accustomed to beautiful women. Born in the upper class of Ashdale aristocracy, he practically grew up around the daughters of the rich and powerful, girls with easy access to high quality cosmetics and skilled beauticians. He had seen, spoken to, met and… interacted… with hundreds of dolled-up beauties in his twenty-five year lifetime.

But today, he took one look at a girl and froze.

Dolled-up beauties thick with make-up and wearing jewelry might not be able to move him any more, but there in front of him was a battered belle marked with ash and soot, fresh from the battlefield with the light of violent combat still flickering in her eyes.

She looked at him.

BAM! Sir Stout was suddenly whacked in the head from behind by something somebody carried. His whole helmet rang with the impact. Whoever it was, the other guy simply wasn't paying attention to where he was going any more…

Sir Stout didn't blame him. He himself was completely distracted and in half a daze, too stunned by her face to even look and see who had crashed his cargo into the commanding officer. Blood began to trickle down the back of his head, but he didn't pay that any attention either.

On the side, Mandy saw the dazed look on his face and snorted. "Hmpfh!"

"Mandy! I brought my friends!" Mindy said, hopping over.

"Mindy, how did you…?"

"Remian did it." Mindy pointed.

"Remian…?" Mandy blinked. "How did he…?"

Mindy just shrugged. "I have no idea. But it's Remian, after all. He's really powerful."

Mandy peered at the guy laid flat out on a stretcher. Powerful? "So… what happened to him?"

Sir Stout rubbed the back of his head. "Probably the same thing that happened to me, only he wasn't wearing a helmet."

It was a joke. That Girl seemed to get it. She smiled.

The whole world disappeared, and the only thing left in his eyes was her smile.

BOOM! Behind him, there was a loud sound and an Ashdalian Assault Frigate directly fell from the sky.

"OOF!" Two gunners and a chef collided. Lunch spilled all over the deck. Someone stepped in it and stumbled sideways into the railing, almost falling overboard.

"Sir Stout, I believe we have just found a potential Weapon of Mass Destruction." The commander's aide told him in an awed voice.

Looking at her now, Sir Stout suddenly felt that all those gussied-up beauties in their pristine palaces were boring. This valiant girl of the battlefield was far more exciting compared to those dolls.

Mandy whapped his head with her sailor's hat. "Sir Stout! Pull yourself together!"

"I… er… what… um…" Sir Stout scratched his head. "Right! Salvage the fallen ship! The one that just fell."

"Sir, it's regained altitude." The commander's aide informed him. He was still holding out his rifle as if he expected Sir Stout to take it.

"We need a place to rest and repair our ship." Mindy said.

"Yes, yes, of course, we'll provide you an escort to Ashdale." Sir Stout said, absently waving away the rifle.

Mindy was startled. "Just like that? I haven't even talked about the Wasp yet."

"Just go with it." Mandy smiled, a little self-satisfied smile.

"Right! Mandy can take you there." Sir Stout said suddenly.

"What?" Mandy blinked.

"She's your sister, after all…" Sir Stout said, musing to himself. "You're the most suitable person for the job. Take the third hospital ship; it's almost full, and they should be unloading the wounded at a ground hospital soon."

"But…" Mandy hesitated. "What about you?"

"Me? I'm staying right here, of course. Off you go now, bye-bye." Sir Stout waved, and sauntered off whistling.

He understood now what it was about Mandy that attracted him. It wasn't actually her; it was her fighting spirit and battle-grime. Other than that, he actually didn't like her, and she really didn't have the social qualifications to match up with him anyway.

Back home, finding girls like that would be impossible, but here he was on a world-class battlefield, and rumor had it there were actually a few good ladies who were keen on glory and battle. If he could find one, well then… SHE would be a great match for himself. The names of three such rumored beauties that he'd met before flashed across his mind. He smiled to himself. Just imagining any of those three in battle-grime made his temperature rise. Class, dignity AND valor. Now THAT would be a girl for him.

Oh yes. Far better than these stray girls from the Wildlands.

But first, just one last look at Mindy's gorgeous friend…

"Thank you!" Mindy's gorgeous friend said, seeing him turn.

"You're welcome!" Sir Stout said, feeling like he should be thanking her instead.

BONK! With his head turned, Sir Stout walked right into a support beam head-first.

***

"Are you okay?" Mindy asked Mandy as they headed out toward Ashdale together with the Third Hospital Ship and the Escort Frigate that had fallen out of the sky earlier.

"Yes, of course, I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem a bit… peeved."

"I'm not peeved! Why would I have to be peeved? Hmpfh!"

They made their way to Ashdale while Mindy and Mandy caught up. Mandy had a great many things to say about the Ravens children and their academic accomplishments, their abilities and talents that have bloomed in Ashdale and her hopes and ambitions for their futures with support from Charlie's family…

"How has Charlie been, anyway? I haven't seen him in a while." Mandy asked.

"What?" Mindy blinked. "Don't you live in his house?"

"In his household, yes, but he never comes home." Mandy frowned. "It's been months. It's almost like he's avoiding coming back. But he should be back soon. He should have heard by now that I've been hanging out with Sir Stout."

She was using Sir Stout to make Charlie jealous? Mindy bit her lip from telling her. Charlie had definitely returned to Ashdale several times over the past few months, because he kept bringing goods and equipment from Ashdale. He just never visited Mandy.

Mindy also had a lot of news for Mandy, plenty to say about Kara-Goth and Three Pines and her travels around Ecclesia and La Vive and whatnot. Mandy smiled and nodded and murmured in affirmation, but she didn't really seem to be paying much attention, often frowning off into the distance.

It took four hours for their damaged ships to limp to Ashdale's borders, and then another hour or so to make their way to their favorite airport. On the way, they saw lines upon lines of ground traffic clogging up the roads on the ground.

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"What's going on?" Mindy asked.

"The war's going on, and Germat is getting closer every day." Mandy sighed. "People are trying to run away. Even in the upper class areas, Charlie's neighbors are selling their mansions at dirt-cheap prices and fleeing the country."

"Mansions at dirt cheap prices, you say?" Mindy brightened. A sudden smile appeared on her face.