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Chapter 82: Hellish Training All Around

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Seeing the heavy weights on the floor caused Alicia's face to pale. But she still strolled forward and reluctantly picked them up and put them on. She knew Berlin was doing this out of her own good. Plus she knew she needed to undergo this kind of training now more than anything. After fighting with a devil she knew she was far too weak right now.

While Alicia was putting on her new set of weights Starla came walking into the main entrance in her armor lightly yawning. When she saw Berlin she gave a slight bow before walking over to Alicia.

The night before, after Alicia had gone to rest, Berlin had called for her to have a talk. The only reason Starla knew who Berlin actually was, was due to him coming to their house one time in this disguise. And this was only because her father was the military advisor to the king. There were literally only a handful of people who knew of this disguise that the king used to walk about town. Most of the higher ranked nobles only knew Berlin as the leader of the court magicians and had no idea that Berlin was actually their king. This allowed the king to see which nobles were loyal and those who seemed to have other plans. In this way, the king has gotten rid of many corrupt nobles and court officials. That was because Berlin was seen as the strongest person within the kingdom.

With such ill thoughts of wanting to gain more power by trying to bribe Berlin, these nobles would find themselves in prison the very next day. But even after so many years these nobles and officials seem to never learn and still try to find ways to bring Berlin to their side.

This brings us back to Starla who had almost died from nervousness when she met with Berlin and had to swear an oath to never reveal his true identity and to continue to treat Alicia the same as usual. This did not mean she knew of Alicia's status. Berlin did not tell her just in case Starla had a slip of tongue.

When Starla reached Alicia's side and saw the sweat that was dripping down her face Starla was a bit confused but before she could ask what was wrong she soon found her answer. "Little Miss Wymane, since you said you want to undergo the same training Alicia has undertaken then this set of weights if for you. Once you put them on. Take a run around the capital with Alicia."

*Bang!*

Another set of weights hit the floor breaking a few more floor tiles. Starla looked at the weights and then looked at Alicia and understood what was going on. Starla suddenly realized she might have just stepped through the gates of hell when she woke up this morning. Of course, not everyone was aware of what suffering the two young girls were about to undertake as Frey yelled out: "Hey! Hey! Grandpa what about me!?" She pumped her fist in the air at Berlin causing Berlin to smile brightly.

"Oh does my little Frey want to train too?" Berlin asked gently.

"Yeah! I want to be strong like Mother!" Frey declared proudly as she started to flex her little arms.

"Alright, alright, then here you go. Put this little set on and you will fly around your grandpa while your mother goes out for a run." Berlin waved his hand and a small set of armor appeared and floated over to Frey. Frey happily put them on and even though they did not weigh even one percent of her own body weight Frey still acted as if they were the heaviest things in the world as she tried to mimic Alicia's reactions. This scene caused those who saw it to smile and laugh.

"Okay, the two of you will do three laps from here to the adventurers guild. You can not use magic while doing this. Once you are done you will then fight a set of practice dummies for three hours. Then you..." Berlin continued to go down the list of the training schedule he had made up causing the two girls' faces to turn paler and paler. Alicia and Starla were both wondering who was more of a devil, the one they met at the village, or the man standing in front of them now.

Alicia and Starla were not the only unlucky ones to have to undergo this training. Rose and Claire were also forced to undergo the hellish training as well. On the first trip to the Adventurer's Guild Alicia had decided they should turn in their mission since they had not done so when they first returned to the capital.

Walking into the guild all eyes were on the four females as they were all drenched in sweat. The floorboards of the guild creaked with each step they took. The spot that they stood visually bowed under the weight of their bodies. Quite a few people stared in shock wondering what was actually going on. Alicia ignored the crowd's whispers and stares as she slowly made her way to the mission completion window.

A young woman around nineteen to twenty years old stood behind the counter smiling as she saw Alicia walk up. "Good morning! Are you here to turn in a mission?"

"Yes." Alicia nodded as she took out her Guild card and passed it to the young woman. Rose and Starla did the same.

"Let's see here…" The young woman's eyes went wide after reading the guild cards. "Excuse me but the Guild Master wanted to speak with the three of you about this mission. Do you have time?" The young woman asked.

"Yes, we do." Alicia answered. She figured this would be a good chance to rest instead of having to quickly return to running their laps.

"Then please go wait in the private meeting room on the right. I will go tell the Guild Master that you are here." The young woman pointed to a door to the right of her window. Alicia nodded her head and along with everyone else headed towards the meeting room.

Chapter 83: Ray Sullan

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

It was not long before an older man around fifty years old walked into the meeting room. He had a slight limp in his left leg as he walked and two scars over his left eye that seemed to be permanently closed. "Sorry for the wait ladies. This old injury of mine has been acting up the past few days. My name is Ray Sullan, the guild master here. Which one of you is Alicia?"

Alicia stood up and said: "My name is Alicia..."

"Mmm good. That old bastard really knows how to pick a disciple. I looked over your guild test results and I have to say little girl for your age you can outclass many of those old men out there. Hell even in my prime I do not think I would be able to be your match. Haha! Listen to me ramble. Let me get to the point. The mission you ladies took on before was originally and F rank correct?" Ray asked.

"Yes sir. It was an F rank mission to stop earth wolves from attacking Brown Village." Alicia replied. She had found this man who looked scary at first to be rather easy going and friendly.

"Alright so first let me explain a few things here that are not told to anyone when taking the guild test. When you accept a mission, in this case, an F rank mission. There are sometimes variables that will raise the rank of a mission during the course of the mission. In this case, you girls only needed to stop the earth wolves from attacking the village. But unfortunately, you ended up stumbling upon an ever greater threat and if I am correct, Alicia you even fought head to head with a devil yes?" Ray really could not see how such a young lady could fight against a devil. Such a small little girl but yet held so much power.

"Yes, that is correct. But in the end, I still ended up needing to be saved by someone." Alicia clenched her fist together. She really wished she was stronger.

"Whether you had to be saved or not does not matter. What matters is that you were able to keep the casualties to a bare minimum by your self sacrifice. On this I thank you. My sister was among the residents of Brown Village. Thanks to you she is still alive." Ray said as he lowered his head to Alicia. He was truly grateful towards Alicia for the courage she showed in luring the devil away from the people of Brown Village. His sister was the last remaining relative he had alive. Thanks to Alicia he now only needed to send a housewarming gift instead of needing to hold a funeral.

"Mr. Sullan, my goal in life is to become a knight. Someone the people can look up to. Someone the people can trust to help them in their time of need. What I did was only natural. If it was not me, then it might have been Starla or even someone else. So there is no need to thank me. I was only doing what a knight should do." Alicia said seriously. She put her life on the line so that she could save the rest. Luckily this time panned out in her favor otherwise even if she did lure the devil away, if she had died, the devil would have gone back and killed everyone else. Thinking of this made Alicia realize that such actions will be for not if she does not have the ability to stay alive herself.

"Just Ray is fine. I have to say, young lady, I like that attitude of yours. But I have one question that has been bothering me since I entered the room. Why are you all sweating so much?" Ray had noticed that since he entered the room the four girls seemed to have been sweating quite a bit. But now it was to the point that their hair was almost drenched in sweat.

Alicia laughed dryly as she said: "Master Berlin has put us on a strict training routine and right now we are wearing full body weights…."

"That old bastard is still doing that hellish training? No wonder! I bet right now as you sit here those weights feel like they are getting heavier and heavier right?" Ray asked. His expression was a little grim as if he was remembering a traumatic experience.

"Now that you mention it… They do seem to be getting heavier." Alicia would not have noticed if no one said anything but Ray was right the weights did seem to be getting heavier with each passing minute.

"Quickly all four of you stand up and start jogging in place. The weights will slowly lighten back to their original weight. That old bastard is still playing these damn tricks! Those weights are created in a way that if the wearer is not constantly moving they will start to get heavier and heavier very slowly. Just remembering my days' training as a guard sends shivers down my spine. At least I did not try to enter knighthood. I think I would have died from the training before I even got the chance to become a knight." Ray shook his head and looked at Alicia and the other girls with an expression of pity. He gave up a small prayer for the girls for having to undergo training under that freak!

"I will need to have a little talk with, Master when I get back..." Alicia muttered under her breath. Starla, Rose, and Claire who were standing next to her all heard her and nodded their heads in agreement.

It was actually an easily misunderstood sight to behold if someone were to walk into the room at this time. With four young girls all jogging in place with sweat drenched hair and with Ray sitting comfortably in a chair watching them. They would think he was some kind of demon who made young girls run in place until they were in such a horrible state.

"Okay since things have turned out like this I will not keep you girls, too much longer. I wanted to meet you all about your guild ranks..."