Chapter 23: Hunt

*Knock Knock*

"Who is it this time? Come in."

The door opens with a creek.

"It's Reinhart, your grace." A cold voice answers him.

"Ah, how convenient, I was just about to call you. But, what are you here for first?"

"Funding for better dummies, the ones we have break too easily." That wasn't the real reason why she was here, but money is money (especially if it's coming out of Troye's pocket) and an excuse is an excuse.

"Very well, use how much you like, afterall, the knights need to be stronger for our hunt."

"Hunt? Why, where, against who?" Reinhart knew the answer already, of course it was against the demons. She suspected that Troye would bring up the matter to her soon, especially after the scene Amelia had caused. 

"The demons have spread out and already took down part of the animal kingdom. Birds of a feather flock together." Troye sneers.

"And we gotten reports that those monsters have gotten not only stronger but have an advisor now. But at the end of a day, beast are still beast, I doubt they'll do much against us. The tricky part is the identity of the commander. We suspected that maybe a demon developed common sense, but reports from the alive we had gotten stated that the figure was lean, built like a human, but wore a mask and cloak, blocking their appearance." Troye calmly explains, his expression showed no worry, even a bit of twisted excitement. 

"How much time left do we have before the trip?"

"No more than 2 weeks considering the fact that the information we had gotten was pretty late compared to the actual date of the attack. The area we're heading is a bit far, a few days of travel will be needed too." Troye responds.

…

Selina wakes up and does her normal, boring routine. She heads to the courtyard as per usual to get stronger. When she arrives, she sees the burly knights sitting down in front of Reinhart. 

"Ah, Lady Amelia, sit down. I have important news to convey."

Selina obediently takes a seat, curious to hear what's in store. 

Reinhart explains the demon situation with the others, information that Selina knows.

"And because of this, we're going on a mission to hunt these monsters down. We have 2 weeks; I want everyone to put in 200 percent of their effort. So that means, twice the drills, double the sparring. I will be watching all of you, I don't want to see any slackers, got it?" Although Reinhart calmly spat everything out, her eyes fierce eyes scared the northern knights who immediately got to work.

Selina almost shed a tear thinking about the suffering these guys would be going through for the next few weeks. Wait, if they were all leaving, what does that mean for her?!

"Reinhart, am I going as well?" Selina knew that there was not chance that she'd go as well, after all, Troye was going as well. Also, her skills at this rate were probably not a lot compared to the knights who'd been training for years. 

"Lady Amelia, although I decided heavily against it, his grace thought otherwise. You're coming along. He told me to convey a message to you." Reinhart coughs and clears her voice. "Half-blood, don't die before I personally kill you." 

"Well, that's nice sentiment. I am surprised that he let me go. That's pretty suspicious. Wait, do you think he'll use this as an opportunity to get rid of me?!"

"Calm down, I doubt that's the case. It would be unwise for him to get rid of you now."

"Gee, that sure makes me feel better." Selina was shocked that Troye allowed her to go. Well, she remembered that Troye seemed to have made a deal with her grandma to make her stronger, maybe this was his way of keeping his word, by just directly sending her to the wolves… 

"Lady Amelia, this is not some sort of laughing matter. I can't protect you all the time. So, I'll be personally monitoring your training."

"You'll go easy on me, right? I'm just a fragile lady, you won't train me like those knights, right?" Selina questions nervously.

Reinhart's lips curved into a sly smirk.

…

"75! 76! 77!" Selina pushes her body up and down before collapsing.

"Reinhart! I can't do anymore, please let me rest." Selina whines out of exhaustion.

"This is nothing," Reinhart said, unimpressed. "Amelia, you'll need far more stamina if you want to survive."

"That's Lady Amelia to you!" 

"You're under my authority now, I treat all my knights equally." The cold-hearted lady responds, a slight smile on her face seeing the flushed Selina. 

"But, I suppose I can give you a break. 1 minute starting from now."

"1 minute?!" This lady was certainly out to get her. Selina will remember this.

The other fighters turn to look at the pitiful lady after hearing the commotion. Selina was sprawled onto the ground, breathing heavily. If she had dog ears, they would've definitely been drooping. 

To their surprise, Reinhart crouched down, her expression softening as she gently brushed Selina's hair away from her face.

"Don't think I'll let you off easy if you do this!" Selina complains, though, she was enjoying the pampering. 

"Would you look at the time, 1 minute is up, chop chop princess."

Selina begrudgingly works out, glaring miserably at her stupid commander. She'd remember this, all right. And when the hunt began, she'd show Reinhart and maybe even Troye, that she wasn't as fragile as they thought.