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Chapter 114: Test Of Strength Part Two

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

That night after Edith fell asleep, Alicia stayed up a bit longer. She wanted to try to figure out why she couldn't cast magic. But no matter what she tried she was not able to. Alicia could only give a long sigh as she turned her attention to the matters at hand. From what she has figured out so far, the Empire invaded her kingdom and planned to annex in their crusade to take over the world. King Dorian, Edith's and Dianna's father ordered his army to resist the invasion, to the very last man, even sending out his own children to fight in this bloody battle. Edith and Dianna went from a pampered life inside the castle to a living hell drenched in blood. If it was not for the fact that these two sisters used to sneak off and train with the kingdoms knights they would have died a long time ago.

Now Alicia would have found this test easy if it meant just surviving on her own but now she had Edith to take care of as well. This was no easy task since they were in different squads and deployed on opposite ends of the battlefield. In any case, Alicia figured that in this test it revolved around both sisters. Alicia let out another long sigh… "Who would have thought being a knight also meant dealing with situations like this as well." Alicia now fully understood what war was like and she was sure she would see many more horrific scenes in the future.

After a little while longer of contemplating, Alicia finally decided on a game plan. She would have to wait until morning time when the battle would resume to begin preparing. Now that everything was planned out Alicia laid her aching body down and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning the bugle call was heard throughout the camp signaling for everyone to get ready. Alicia opened her sleepy eyes to see that the sun had yet to rise. She figured she had slept no more than a few hours. Her whole body was still exhausted but she knew her enemies were no different than her. She gritted her teeth as yesterday's wounds were now throbbing with pain as she got up. Edith who was next to her was no different. Some of her wounds even reopened causing her clothes to be stained with blood.

"Edith, pass me some cloth. I will wrap your wounds." Alicia did not want Edith going out to battle with her wounds in this condition. But they had no other choice so she could only try to stop Edith's bleeding by tightly wrapping some cloth around her wounds.

"Thank you!" Edith said as she smiled.

The ground under Alicia's foot was soft and moist. The dark clouds overhead threatened to release a downpour at any moment. Alicia slightly smiled seeing this. This kind of weather was perfect for the plan she had come up with. She had to get herself set up before the call for retreat rang out. Only then could she execute her plan.

The day's battle was just as fierce as it was the day before. Alicia was once again covered in many sword wounds. But with her adrenaline rushing, she felt no pain whatsoever. She continued crossing swords with the enemy as she searched for the right enemy to use in her plan. The day had almost completely passed and Alicia was starting to get nervous because she had yet to find anyone with the same stature as hers. Right as the sun was setting her eyes laid on an Empire soldier who was about the same height as her. Alicia quickly dispatched the enemy in front of her and charged at the soldier in her sights. She quickly weaved in and out of the battles going on around her. When she was only a few meters away, Alicia readied her sword and swung it towards the Empire soldier's neck.

Of course, things were not that simple. The Empire soldier was not going to just sit there and offer up their neck to Alicia's sword. Their swords crossed causing a loud clanging sound. Alicia wanted to quickly end this battle so she went all out. The speed of her sword increased double what she had been using, causing the Empire soldier to be stunned, creating a hole in their defense. Alicia did not miss this chance and quickly struck out with her sword stabbing the Empire soldier in the neck.

Once the Empire soldier fell Alicia grabbed the body and dragged it behind some tall rocks not too far away. With the downpour of rain and all the battles going on. No one noticed when Alicia disappeared from the battlefield. Behind the rocks, Alicia began stripping the armor off the Empire soldier. But her work stopped after she had only removed the helmet. The Empire soldier was actually a young girl around her age! Alicia looked at that face that was frozen with a look of disbelief and fear and felt regret. Tears rolled down from her eyes. She really wondered just how many young girls she had killed now during this battle. Taking the lives of someone so young who was just following orders really did not sit right with her. But she also knew that it was either them or her. Because she was also someone who was just following orders like them.

"Get it together Alicia! Remember the third virtue, No Mercy! She is an enemy." Alicia gave herself a small pep talk as she went back to work removing the armor from the young girl. Once she was done she quickly changed out of her armor and put the Empire soldier's armor on. Out of respect for this young girl instead of leaving her there with nothing on, Alicia took the armor she had just taken off and put it on the girl. Before turning to leave to find a better hiding spot, Alicia looked at the young girl she had killed one more time and said under her breath: "When this is all over, I promise to come back and give you a proper burial..."

Chapter 115: Test Of Strength Part Three

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Before leaving Alicia also took some brush to cover the body of the young girl so it was not as visible. She hoped that she could be back in two days' time to bury the girl as she had promised. She just did not have the time right now with how she had to take care of the situation at hand. Alicia's plan was quite simple. She was taking on the trojan horse approach. But instead of a wooden figure as the trojan horse, she was using herself, by disguising herself as an Empire soldier. She planned to infiltrate the Empires camp and take them out from the inside.

Alicia quickly found herself a place to hide as she waited for the bugle call. After another two hours, the bugle call finally came. Alicia came out of her hiding spot with her sword staggering by her side acting as if she was injured. A young man in an Empire soldier uniform came running over calling out to Alicia. "Are you okay?"

Somewhat startled by suddenly being called out to, Alicia turned her head while quickly swinging her sword.

*Clang!*

"Woah! Careful! You could have taken my head off with that. The enemy has already pulled back. We are also retreating for the night." The young man had a bead of sweat drip down his back. If he was any slower he would have just lost his head!

Alicia came back to her senses and looked at the young man. "Sorry about that! You suddenly came up behind me so I thought..."

"It's fine, it's fine. After such a tough battle I would have done the same if someone snuck up on me like that." The young man scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, let's go. We need to hurry."

Alicia nodded her head and followed after the young man. A sly smile formed on her face that quickly disappeared. They traveled for an hour when they saw a long line of women chained up being dragged in the same direction as the camp. Alicia frowned seeing this because she knew these women were all from her country! Her eyes scanned the group until they paused on a certain figure. Alicia, grit her teeth and thanked the fact that she had decided to execute her plan on this day. Because the person she saw within that group was her sister Edith!

"Where do they take the prisoners?" Alicia asked the young man who was a few steps ahead of her.

"Ah… Them? I feel somewhat bad for them tomorrow night they will be offered up to the highest bidder to warm their beds. If they refuse they will die. Sometimes even some pretty boys will be tossed into the mix for those who have a special taste. Tonight they will be fed well and given a good cleaning. But tomorrow their fate is left up to whoever buys them." The young man replied.

"They auction them off?" Alicia let out a small sigh of relief because this will not happen until the next night.

"Yeah. It's to keep the morale of the men up. But most of the time the Empires nobles will end up buying most of them. Let's just say you do not want to end up in the hands of a noble. They have what's called very unique tendencies. It's better to end up with a soldier who will actually care for your well being. If you're looking for a wife then I would suggest saving a bit of silver. You will need at least one hundred to buy one of them." The young man answered as he gave Alicia a wink.

A sudden realization came to Alicia at this time. The young man in front of her actually thought she was a guy! Although Alicia was a bit angered by this she still felt that things were better this way.

"This must be your first deployment?" the young man asked.

"Ahh? Yes, it is… I just arrived this morning. I don't even know the camp all that well. Can Big Brother show me around if you have time?" Alicia was hoping she could get an escort to show her around the camp. It would make things easier if someone who was familiar with it showed her where everything was!

"Sure why not! Since you call me Big Brother, how could I say no!" The young man smiled. As he continued: "My name's Ro, what's yours?"

Alicia smiled and answered: "Kell..."

"Good to meet you, Kell! From now on we are brothers!" Ro patted Alicia's back and let out a laugh.

Alicia felt a little guilty about lying but she had no choice. She now had a second priority and that was saving her sister. If she could when she was finally discovered she would hope Ro would not become her enemy. Although in actual fact they were already enemies. She did not like betraying people. But in this case, she had no choice. She had to in order to pass her test. But this was also a good lesson for her. Not everything goes the way you wish it would. This test of strength was also testing her character. How she would act. If she was strong enough to follow through with her actions. Strength came in many forms, it was not always about how much power one had. It was also based on a person's character and determination.

Thinking of how bad this test was compared to the first. Alicia's brow furrowed when she thought about the third test that had yet to come. The test of no mercy. Alicia made her way into the camp. She followed behind Ro until they met with an officer who set Alicia up with accommodations. Ro then brought her to her tent. Luckily the tents were single person tents. This made it so Alicia would be able to move around a lot easier. After a quick wipe down with a rag and some water, Alicia donned her armor once again and met up with Ro.

"Ready?" Ro asked.

"Yep! Thanks for this. I will be sure to remember each and every area..."