She needs to be saved

"Ha, ha," Mikey could be heard, panting heavily on the ground. "30 damn rooms, THIRTY! Who needs that many rooms?" Mikey complained to himself, "Why doesn't she have guards protecting her at all times anyway?" Mikey stood up, wiping his brow. "Whoo, ok, this must be her room." Mikey walked through yet another large door, seeing a sign that calmed him down.

Princess's Room this way → 

Mikey smiled a sigh of relief. Walking in, confusion overtook Mikey's face. "The king wasn't lying; this is a boring room." The room Mikey was standing in could possibly be considered the most uninteresting room even. Stone gray walls, but like aggressive gray, like depression rubbed paint on itself and rolled across the room. The wooden floor looked muddy and mildly sticky, like it had regrets. A couple of dull red carpets tried their best to pretend they mattered.

. A bed that looks like it's given up on itself and is in a midlife crisis. An open wardrobe hung with dresses, all in various shades of "meh..." "Well, for a princess room, this is really boring." No chandeliers, no hanging lanterns, no custom artwork of your face on the wall, nothing?" 

Mikey scanned the room up and down, looking for any clues. "Ok, nothing out of the usual," Mikey said while rubbing his chin. "A bed, a dresser, a glass mirror, a big message on the wall saying, "Haha, I kidnapped your princess, signed evil wizard man,' a goblin tied up beside the message, a blanket, and a pink hairbrush." Mikey paused at that. "A pink hairbrush—that's something princessy," Mikey said while analyzing the brush. Then his brain caught up. "WAIT"

" Mikey turned back toward the goblin. "AHHH! MONSTER!" he screamed. The high-pitched scream of Mikey rang out. "Oh," Mikey climbed from behind the dresser he hid behind. "Sorry, man, I don't really see goblins much, ya know." The goblin simply squirmed in response, a mumble coming from behind the cloth covering its mouth. "Oh yeah, right," with a grunt, Mikey pushed a dresser towards the goblin before climbing up on it and freeing him.

The goblin dropped down to the floor, finally free from his constraints, panic evident in his eyes. "Xir, Ze princess, she is Takenz," the goblin said with a distressed tone. "Alcohol? It's too early for that." Mikey replied, dismissing the goblin. Looking up towards the message, Mikey started pondering. "Hm, 'haha, I kidnapped your princess,' so that means she WAS taken, hmm, but by whom?" Mikey started racking his brain for answers. From beside him, the goblin jumped up and down, panicked.

"Iz A wizard, Flyz on zee winds of Curzed magic!" "What use is wind insurance right now? We're kind of in an economic crisis." Mikey said, shaking his head. From beside him, the goblin kept on waving his arms before pointing towards a window. "Ah, of course," Mikey looked towards the open window. "we need to close this; the wind might blow away key evidence. Good job, uh…" Mikey looked towards the goblin. "What's your name?"

"Zean-Znickle Fromage ze Third, heir of Zee Mire," the goblin said proudly. "Nickel? Your parents sure didn't like you, huh? "It is Zean Znickle, zou ignoramus," Nickel said, annoyed. Mikey turned away from the goblin, heading towards the window while drowning out the cries of protest. Approaching the window, Mikey went to close it when he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

"Hm?" A bread crumb lay on the ground outside. "Aha, a clue." Mikey picked up the piece of bread before turning towards Nickel. "Nickel, do you know what happened here?" begrudgingly Nickel replied. "Ze wizard uzed curze magic tez," "Ah, I understand now," Mikey said. The goblin gained a happy look. "It must've been a wizard," the goblin nodded his head quickly. "And that's why you can't speak English, because he put a spell on you!"

The smile dropped from Nickel's face. Turning towards the mirror, he twisted his finger on the side of his head, the universal crazy gesture. "AH, YOUR GENIUS. Come with me, Nickel; we need to tell the king about this", Before being able to receive an answer, Mikey picked the goblin up and ran out the door. 

_____________________________________________________________

"And then in the middle of the night, the wizard riding on a red crystal let down a piece of bread on a fishing line, which he then used to lure out the princess to the balcony before capturing her!" Mikey finished, the King standing in front of him with an unreadable expression.

"That… makes… PERFECT SENSE. Why didn't I think of that? With the prices of bread these days, of course my daughter would be lured out by the delicious smell of a loaf." Mikey merely nodded at the praise. "Well, now that we know it's a wizard, do you have any ideas now?" Mikey asked, the king happily nodding in response. "Well, if it's an evil wizard like you assumed, then it doesn't really narrow it down, but if it has to do with kidnapping princesses," the king's voice slowly faded as he entered a side closet

"Then THIS," the king said with a heavy grunt, as if he was picking something extremely too large for no good reason. "Is exactly what you're looking for," A loud thud could be heard against the floor. Mikey and Nickel looked down at an absolutely massive book titled.

- Evil wizards who kidnapped the princess before and would do it "again—hold on, give me a second," the king stated while heading back into the closet, returning with 3 more books the same size before long. 

- No longer evil wizards who kidnapped princesses

- wizards who dont have a problem with princesses getting kidnapped -

- Top wizards who haven't kidnapped a princess yet but probably will

The king stretched his back as he set the last one down. "Here are all the latest wizard kidnapping books; you can probably find the exact situation in one of them. Good luck!" The king smiled before walking away, holding his back. In a faint voice you could hear the king say, "Ah, my back," before hearing a door shut.

"By the Ancients," Mikey held his head, already feeling the incoming headache. "How is this considered "narrowing it down"?" Mikey looked at the 4 books, deciding to crack one open just to see. 

"Wizard Blarage, Announced as an evil wizard after turning a shop into stone after the owner charged him double for a muffin, protest on his release still ongoing." Mikey shook his head at the entry, "Talk about overreacting." Before long, Mikey's eyes widened in shock. The full book page contained around 30 wizard entries. "You're telling me there are 300 MORE PAGES?" From beside him, Nickel looked at the page number before shaking his head.

Flipping back to the beginning, he pointed again, "Chapter 1, pages 1-300." Mikey's soul almost left then and there. "Alright, Nickel, if we're going to do it, we need to be efficient with it. You take 2 books, and I'll take two. Deal?" Without waiting for an answer, Mickey opened a book and started reading.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Wizard, Evil Wizard Man, no confirmed princess kidnappings, but if you have no clue who kidnapped your princess, I'd assume it's him." Mikey pointed at the entry, his eyes drowsy. "Nickel," he yelled over his shoulder, devoid of emotion. Nickel, the goblin in question, looked over. "It has to be him, an evil wizard named Evil Wizard Man?" Mikey forgot to add the addition of the note being signed "Evil Wizard Man."

"And not to mention," Mikey continued on, "look at him." Mikey pointed to a picture of a short guy wearing a grey cloak, his hood pulled over his head, showing glowing yellow eyes. A red stripe in the middle of his cloak going to the ground. "He definitely did it." Nickel shook his head before pointing. Mikey began reading out loud.

"Wizard, Really Evil Wizard Man, has kidnapped a princess and says he would do it again if given the chance." His photo shows a man in a snow-white polar bear pelt standing over a blue castle. A prominent white beard and glowing orange eyes staring back at you.

"Hm, yeah, he definitely looks very evil. But what about this guy?" Mikey pointed to an entry: "Wizard, Super Evil Wizard Man, kidnaps princess from other wizards and then takes the credit; also uses magic to get free bread." Nickel nodded at that entry, "Zis, Wizardz iz vezy evilz." Mikey shook his head. "No, using magic to steal bread is not okay. What is wrong with you?"

The goblin merely shook his head before pointing to a final entry. "Wizard, Creepy Wizard Man, hasn't kidnapped any princess, no known crimes, just kind of creepy, 10/10 would def kidnap one, I think." The photo showed a person hunched over a moss flower bed, a green and brown pelt covering their back, with glowing green eyes and 2 antlers upon their head. 

Mikey stared.

"You see it too?" Mikey looked over towards Nickel. "He's very evil-looking," the goblin said, nodding up and down.

"Guess we found our first lead."