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Chapter 116: Test Of Strength Part Four

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Alicia followed Ro throughout the camp, taking in everything he pointed out. The main points of interest were all close to Alicia's tent. Alicia was slightly happy about this because the prisoners' camp was also quite close. She knew for now that Edith would be somewhat safe for the night. She had to make sure she took care of everything and escape with Edith and the other girls before the first bugle call. But to be absolutely sure about this she would have to visit the prison camp first.

A few hours later Alicia sat at the entrance to her tent. The sounds of people sleeping could be heard all around. Alicia silently opened her tent and looked around to make sure none of the night patrols were around. Once she was certain the coast was clear, she crept out of her tent and slowly made her way over to where the prison was for the girls. She wanted to stake out how many guards were actually present at night time. But when she got there, there was no guard in sight. This alone caused Alicia to feel unease. She quickly made her way towards the door to the small building where the prisoners were held.

"Get off me! What do you think you are doing!" A muffled voice yelled out. It was not loud enough to alert those sleeping in their tents but if you stood outside the building it could be heard as clear as day.

"Hehe… you will be sold off to be a sex slave anyway why not get a little practice in beforehand. Come play with this brother here. I have not had a woman in a few years but I am sure I can still make you scream!" A low rough voice said as the sounds of clothes started to shuffle.

Alicia was really getting sick of these types of men. Alicia drew her sword and slowly opened the door. When she looked inside with the dim light she could see a bunch of females stripped of their clothes all lined up against the wall with their arms and legs chained up. Alicia saw one of the females was pinned against the floor with a gag in her mouth doing her best to struggle against the man who was on top of her. Seeing who the girl on the floor was caused Alicia's eyes to turn red. With no hesitation, she charged forward with her sword while the man was trying to undo his pants.

"Who..." The man only got to utter one word before his head flew through the air.

Alicia quickly kicked the headless body off the girl on the floor and looked at the tear ridden face of her sister. Tears welled up into Alicia's eyes as she sobbingly spoke. "It will be okay… I will get you out of here."

Alicia's voice floated into Edith's ears which caused more tears to flow from Edith's eyes. She had really thought she was done for. Her, a princess of the Dorian Kingdom was to be used as a toy to some noble of the Empire. She had all but resigned herself to this fate when she heard she would be auctioned off. She had planned to kill herself the first chance she got. But she was bound and gagged so she couldn't even bite off her own tongue. But now with the image of the person in front of her with a voice, she knew all too well. A hope for survival was ignited within her. She might have a chance to actually escape this fate!

*Clang!* *Clang!*

Alicia quickly cut through the chains allowing Edith free use of her arms and legs. She did not have time for a family reunion so she could only toss out a quick order to Edith.

"Edith, strip the guard of his clothes and put them on." Alicia then turned to the other girls who all had a look of hope in their eyes. "I will be back as soon as I can. We need to stop this war now because even if we do escape here and now. We will all be sent back to the battlefield. There will be a chance that you will be caught once again and end up in the same situation. Only next time I will not be here… I need you all to stay strong. Once I create a big enough distraction I will send you all on your way. "

After finishing her words, Alicia hid the guard's body and quietly exited the prisoner camp with Edith. They did not go too far when Alicia pulled Edith into a bunch of thick brush. "Hide here, do not move from this place until you hear a commotion. Only then do you run as far away from this camp as you can."

"What about you?" Edith's eyes were wide. She did not want to leave her little sister here. What if she was caught!? Would she not end up in the prisoner camp just to be auctioned off like she was?

"Do not worry I will be fine… I can not talk anymore. Just listen to my words when there is a loud enough commotion going on, escape with everything you have! I will see you at the base camp on the Dorian side." Alicia gave the tear ridden Edith a quick hug before leaving the thick brush and heading towards the supply area. She took one last look at the brush to check if her sister was hidden well. Once she saw that everything was okay. She disappeared into the darkness.

After she left another figure stepped out of the darkness. They looked at the thick brush where Edith was hiding then at the darkness that Alicia disappeared. A smile appeared on their face as they turned to walk towards the command tents. "Seems Brother Kell and I are one and the same. We both want to stop the Empire from achieving their goals. It's a little early but in order to help Brother Kell out, I will bring forward my plans a little bit and teach these Empire bastards what it means to mess with other nations!"

Chapter 117: Test Of Strength Part Five

Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Alicia made her way to the supply area that was mainly a bunch of tents and carts all lined up surrounded by a large fence. Upon arrival, she saw two guards sitting outside the fence playing cards and smoking what seemed to be tobacco of some kind.

"I saw that bastard Oscar in high spirits since he got to guard the girls' tonite." One of the guards suddenly spoke up as he slammed his cards on the table.

"I would be too if I got to guard them. Everyone knows when you guard the girls, you get to have some fun with a few of them. As long as you did not kill any of them, it's fine to play with them as you please." The other guard replied. As he took the coins on the table and moved them to the pile in front of him.

"Still that lucky bastard! It's like the fifth time this month! Just how is he always winning the draw?" The first guard complained.

"You will get your chance just wait. You could also just buy one at the auction as well." Alicia, hearing the men talking felt disgusted. She crept up out of the darkness quietly and smoothly stabbed the first guard in the neck causing blood to spray out over the second guard. But before the second guard could even yell out Alicia's foot smashed into his mouth causing the guard to fall from his seat and on to the ground. With a bloody mouth he wanted to quickly get up off the ground and fight but before he could do a thing, the sword that Alicia just stole from his dead comrade pierced through his eye and out the top of his head. Three quick attacks, all in succession was all it took to take these two guards out.

With no time to waste Alicia went into the supply area. She quickly found a large barrel of wine and used that to soak the other supplies. She went tent to tent, cart to cart pouring the wine on everything. After which she made her way back to the entrance and covered the two guards in wine as well before breaking the entire barrel open. She then reached up and took the torch that was hanging overhead and dropped it into the wine.

Instantly the wine lit up and the fire spread quickly. Anything that had been drenched in wine turned into an inferno. Seeing her handy work destroying all the supplies she quickly vanished back into the darkness before anyone came. This time she was going back towards the tents where the soldiers were sleeping. When the soldiers all ran out of their tents to rush towards the fire Alicia ducked in and out of each tent to find clothing for the girls who were still locked up in the prison.

She could not have the girls running around naked when trying to escape. Only after she had a few sets of clothes on hand did she make her way back to the prison. With the fires in the supply area causing such a ruckus none of the soldiers had time to take notice of what was happening in the prison.

At the same time in another location of the camp. Another figure was moving about in the command tents. Ro had the same idea as Alicia and had gathered many jugs of wine over the course of a few days. He was now pouring this wine over all the documents and maps that were inside the command tent. Once he was done he tossed a torch in lighting the whole tent ablaze. After he was done he raced towards the prison. He figured that Alicia would be there by this time trying to free the prisoners.

The whole camp was in an uproar. Two sides of the camp were set ablaze and the fire was not going out with water. Alicia made her way to the thick brush that she had left her sister in and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Edith was gone. But as she was just about to exit the thick brush a hand came up from behind her and pulled her back. Alicia immediately swung her sword around only to find it colliding with another sword.

"Brother Kell it's me!" Ro quickly said. A drop of sweat dripped from his chin.

"What are you doing here? If you're trying to stop me then forget it. I will kill anyone who tries to stop me! Even if it's you!" Alicia said coldly.

"No! Why would I stop you, who do you think lit up the command tents! It will be easier for the two of us to help the girls escape and get out of here." Ro slowly lowered his sword. Alicia did the same.

"Why are you willing to help?" Alicia asked.

"Because these Empire bastards destroyed my homeland, r*ped my mother and sister in front of me! I want nothing more than to kill all these bastards! Ahh! We do not have time for this. Let's move." Ro quickly explained before jumping out of the thick brush.

Alicia was shocked to find out that such a thing happened to Ro. She had many questions but she swallowed them down because she knew that Ro was right. They had to move. One false step now would mean the end of everything. Alicia did not want to waste the efforts that both Ro and her made to make this opening for them all to escape. With clothes in hand, she quickly hurried after Ro.

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Standing at the side watching the scenes in front of her, Princess Catherine was in tears. Since the beginning, she had been watching Alicia's struggle from the start. She had nothing left in her stomach after witnessing such scenes over and over. She could not understand how her new little sister was able to deal with such situations so calmly. As someone who grew up under the protection of the castle, she had never even seen a pig get slaughtered, never mind a human. But here her little sister was taking life after life. All because if she didn't she would be the one who would end up dead. A strange light flashed through Princess Catherine's eyes as a strong determination welled up inside her. "From now on I will need to protect this little sister from that demon father of ours!"

"AAAAHHHHHCCCCCHHHHOOOOOOO!!!" King Augustus suddenly sneezed violently. Rubbing his nose and looking around he mumbled to himself. "Who's cursing me?"