Novel Under the Moon's Halo

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by HyperiousTheSun, Sep 11, 2021.

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  1. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 17 - NEEDS
    After that incident with Sir Frederick, I started to practice in my goddess form with him, as I didn’t want to accidentally hurt someone else again. I needed to understand my abilities. That is of course, after he took a week’s break, because he was so sore.

    When I told my friends that I had accidentally injured Sir Frederick, they acted as if they had long expected it. Confused I asked them why they thought I would injure someone in training. However, I was left stunned when they started to list out my record of injuries,I have inflicted during training. To them, it was only a matter of time that something like this would happen.

    So, now not only do I have to get to know my abilities better. But I also had to stay in control as most of the time when I injure someone, it is because I fall into this trance. First, I have a virtually indestructible form, now I have a killer mode. If I wasn’t careful, I may accidentally do something I would regret for the rest of my life. That itself being eternal.

    However, no sooner had I started practising my abilities with Sir Frederick, the academy was having its first-trimester break that would last for two weeks. Most students would be returning to their homes for the break, this was the same for the instructors and professors.

    While I live in the capital that the academy was, since I had started attending the academy, I had only gone home and visited my family once. So, I was also going back home for the break. The same was true for my friends.

    On the last day when Professor Ian was dismissing us for the last time this trimester, he made sure we didn’t get into any trouble. Considering how his punishments were often long and excruciatingly boring and with how he always finds out if you’ve done something wrong, we all listened like good children.

    At the villa, my friends and I were packing a few things up to take with us, but we left the majority here because we would be back in a few weeks anyway. Anna was the first to finish up, so she was also the first to leave, followed by Catrina, Hilda, Lyn, Chandra, Dorothy, and Louise. Louise and I were the last to leave because we had been requested by some of the instructors to help lock the armoury to our training ground.

    I had waited for Louise to leave, before going myself, as Erika was going around the villa checking if all the fires had been put out. Different to how we came to the academy by carriage, Erika and I hopped onto a horse each and rode back to the palaces.

    I had only just found out recently when Erika discovered a thief who had broken into the villa, but Erika was not a normal royal maid. She was a highly skilled combat maid that was also a knight. While she wasn’t in any knight order, she was still very capable. This was the reason why I didn’t have a royal knight following me around. I had also thought it was because I didn’t need one but apparently, I already had a knight with me.

    When I jokingly called Her Dame Erika, she stopped me as she felt that it was weird for me to call her that as I had called her by name my whole life. I respected her opinion and stopped calling her that. As a knight, Erika would still be a noble when either of her siblings takes over her family title, while it wasn’t a hereditary title and a low-rank one as well it would still make her fit to attend exclusive noble events, where she could continue to guard me.

    Returning to the palace the first thing I did was not to put my things away at the lily palace but to the main palace specifically to find Ingrid.

    After greeting Claude and Ingrid, I started asking Ingrid how much I had in funds that she was managing for me. Hearing the number, I was disappointed as I wanted to start an organisation that would help orphans and young children in poor families following through with my promise with Sir Frederick. I had only a thousand gold coins while this may sound a lot it was not enough to feed all the orphans and young children in poor families for more than a few months. If I was going to help them only to stop a few months later, I might as well not give them hope to start with.

    However, I quickly recovered when Ingrid clarified that this was only a portion of my funds as she had opted to invest in and buy out various successful start-ups and enterprises that were making money and using their profits to invest in more business. Virtually all the jewellery and luxury shops that nobles and wealthy merchants often visited were under my name. They now brought in a combined total of six hundred gold a week. Ingrid had been doing more than a good job with managing my funds as I was only receiving ten gold a month which I had rarely ever touched.

    She explained that this business took a long time to get up and running but they were lucrative when they started operating. She even publicly advertised that these businesses were under my ownership. Without my knowledge, I was apparently a very popular business owner as my name was synonymous with quality.

    As she had been doing an excellent job, I asked that she continued to help to manage my funds before I had the time or found someone else to do it. I also asked her to set aside six hundred gold each month so that I could start saving to fund the organisation I was planning.

    I didn’t know where to start with creating this organisation, but I didn’t want to bother Ingrid as she was already helping to manage the funds. Unsure of what to do after receiving a hundred gold from Ingrid, I returned to Lily palace to put away my things and to continue pondering on the matter.

    Still unsure of what to do I turned to Erika and ask her what I could do.

    “You can always head to the poorer districts and ask them what they need. Often the orphanages would also be located in those areas as they have the cheapest land.”

    Going with Erika’s idea I headed to the poorest district that Erika knew of. There I didn’t find as many people around as I had expected. Erika explained that they were most likely working as Ingrid had started programs that created jobs for the poor and illiterate. While the houses here were not of the best quality it could be seen that they weren’t in a state of disrepair. The children while a bit skinny were also far from being starved.

    Going up to a group of children that were playing I had a talk with the girl that seemed to be the oldest that was the same age as me and was looking after her siblings.

    “Hello, no need to be nervous. I just want to ask some questions is that okay with you? After you finish, I’ll even give you some a silver coin.”

    Being tempted by the silver coin she quickly nodded her head. While a silver coin wasn’t a lot to me, as some who grew up in luxury, Erika had explained that it was a lot for the girl in front of me. For many commoners who worked for the whole day only to get fifty copper coins. It was enough to feed the family for the day but not enough to start saving. This was why families often had both parents and older children that were older than sixteen workings.

    “My name is Ayra what is your name?”

    “My name is Alisa.”

    “Nice to meet you Alisa, are those your siblings playing over there?”

    “Yes, they are my younger siblings but some of them are my neighbours’ children. They give me a copper a day to look after them why they go to work. While it’s not much I can save it up. If I look after ten children after ten days, I will have a hundred copper coins making a silver coin.”

    The girl in front of me had a strong grasp of numbers as she could easily do multiplication. While many people could count change, they needed to physically have it in front of them to do so. As many commoners were too poor to hire tutors and there were no schools around here, they remained illiterate and having low numeracy abilities.

    After that, I continued to ask her many questions. I learnt that this place was, in fact, the poorest location in the capital but because of Ingrid’s efforts into social welfare programs working as cleaners and labourers since she became queen, the district became much better. As a bonus, the roads in and around the capital were amongst the best on the continent.

    Originally, many of the houses here would often collapse injuring people. They would also go without food for a few days, now they could have two meals a day one in the morning and one in the evening and save up to repair their homes. It seemed like my original plan of food handouts would not work.

    Handing over the silver coin I owed her, Alisa happily thanked me for the coin. I wanted to go to the orphanage, but I had no idea how to get there so I asked Alisa. She offered to take me there, bringing her group of children along with her we approved at the local orphanage that was ten minutes away by foot.

    Giving her another silver coin as a reward Alisa cheerfully left with her group of children headed back where they came from.

    Entering the orphanage, I found a group of children playing and chasing each other. Asking one of them to bring me to the person in charge, they brought me to a middle-aged lady that was in her forties.

    Having mistaken that I was here to complain about something she quickly apologised without hearing me out. I quickly stopped her and introduced myself as the daughter of a noble family wanting to do some charity in the name of the newly ascended goddess of youth, patron of children. I wasn’t exactly telling a lie when I introduced myself. As a member of the royal family, I was technically still a noble and I was trying to do charity in my own name so no lies there.

    Finally, understanding what was going on she dismissed the children and brought us to a small parlour. The woman introduced herself as Hazel and was one of the three caretakers of the orphanage. Through her, I understood that Ingrid had completely supported all orphanages around the capital. She had completely taken on her role as queen and sort to better the lives of the poor.

    I just wish she had told me about this earlier. That way I wouldn’t have made this trip in vain. Though if she had told me I wouldn’t have experienced how the people in the lowest stratum of Kar were doing. What these people need wasn’t handouts but support and opportunity to better their lives.

    Having finally understood that different situations called for different measures I asked what the orphanage and the young children needed the most in these locations. I found out that monetarily they were fine but what they lacked was education. While some of the children could count none of them could read or write. This was the same for most of the adults. Without education many of them wouldn’t be able to find better-paid jobs like those at trading companies, even working as a labourer it minimum was demonstrating proficiency in numeracy skills.

    On the way back to the palace I thought of all the things I had learnt today. I had arrived here with the misconception that people here could not survive here without help but left understanding that all they needed was support and opportunities.
     
  2. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 18 – EDUCATION
    Having understood what was needed, I started to think of the best way for me to support them. If I went with how earth progressed, education and industrialisation went hand in hand, but I don’t think, I want to turn this beautiful and unpolluted world of Arcadia into the mess that was earth. If I could, I wanted to find another way around it.

    However, with my new understanding of the situation, I realised that I needed more time and a better understanding of this country. While I had learnt some things about managing a country under my governess that was all theory. I had no idea what specialties Kar had all I knew was Kar produced the most agricultural products for export on the whole continent. We also sold many pelts from wild magical beasts and animals. None of those would benefit much from education as they already had established bases.

    What I needed was a new form of industry. The best place to obtain information was in the royal library that was behind the main palace. So, I went there with Erika to find out about the situation not just in Kar but the other countries bordering it as well.

    The Head librarian to the library was an old lady, who's family for generations, had maintained the books and kept the most up to date information on Kar and the countries around it. Understanding what I wanted the old lady and her granddaughter brought me all the data they had on specialties and the likes on Kar and neighbouring countries as well as every other country on the continent.

    Helping me to look through the data were Erika and the head librarian’s granddaughter, who also was a librarian here. We found that while Kar was a middle size country, it had as many soldiers as large countries like the empire that was on the other side of the continent. Our soldiers were also the most well trained. Our academy was also the best educational institution in the region leading many nobles from other countries to send their children here for further education. Our understanding of runes was also better than most other countries in the region.

    Looking at the summarised data, there was a trend. The education provided by Kar was of a higher quality than that of other countries. If I would find a way to turn our education into a commodity that could be applied to all fields, we could turn the whole culture of Kar around. The academy would also have to change its system slightly. It was a good system, but it was too unstructured. I would need to change it from an academy that specialised in certain fields of study to a genuine University. The fields of study would include all the things that the academy currently taught but would also including commerce and accounting, medicine, history and anthropology, engineering and magical sciences, and any other fields that could emerge.

    The younger librarian thought my ideas were wonderful with such a diverse range of topics we would be able to attract people from many other countries to study here. She was highly optimistic about my plans but felt that it would take time to implement.

    She also believed that it was better for the academy to stay as it was but change into a military academy that specialised in training officers and soldiers. While moving everyone else to the new university built around four main academies. The first academy would deal with everything regarding magical sciences, engineering, medicine, and natural sciences. The second would deal with all the arts such as literacy, scholarly pursuits, history, and anthropology. The third would deal with commerce, accounting and proper management of land targeted at nobles and officials. The fourth would be a school of education that taught our citizens literacy and numeracy skills, but also low levels of the sciences. Not only would this but the fourth school would also oversee the training of new teachers that would spread education around the kingdom of Kar.

    Listening to the young librarian think up all this that essentially was what a university on earth was like I grab her hands and practically dragged her to the main palace.

    “Camilla, that’s exactly what I had envisioned. Do you mind explaining it all again to Claude.”

    Once Claude heard our idea, he believed that it had merit and would consider it if I could prove that it was better to train newly recruited soldiers at the academy. The generals present also liked the idea and agreed with Claude’s arrangement.

    I was to start the program immediately. Recruits from around the country were gathered outside the capital waiting to be transferred and to start their training. He told me that I had until the end of the year to produce results, or he would simply ignore this idea.



    Bringing the generals with me I headed to the academy to start the process.

    Three weeks later the academy had built multiple barracks that could fit up to three thousand recruits and the military instructors from the nine armies had also arrived at the academy. They were to train the recruits in the basics such as how to handle their weapons. A month later they would join with the officer candidates in the knight course and have simulated battles that we had in the large-scale warfare club. This was the bare bone condensed version of how the military academy would operate in the future.

    Standing on the stage, I was addressing the students of the academy of the changes to the knight that would be introduced. Many were surprised at the sudden change many had also received news of the changes ahead of time. The knight students that were affected by this sudden change were acceptive of it as they could have the opportunity of being an officer before they officially became a knight.

    In addition to our morning training, the students in the knight course now received officer training on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

    A month later the fifty students of my class were all assigned a group of fifty recruits each that they would command for the rest of the year. They were to practice marching in formation, changing into different tactical formations and conducting training missions such as capture the flag, guarding a base and open-field combat.

    It would take a while before they can march in formation, and change into different tactical formations much less complete training missions. I estimated that it would take another month before they could march in formation. Two months before they could efficiently change into tactical formations used by the Kar armies. Before finally after three months, they would be ready to try out training missions.

    Looking at the disorderly group in front I felt that my guess wouldn’t be too far from the truth. Forget getting them to march in formation I needed to get them in formation first. Luckily for all knight course students, we had a few experienced instructors that were with us to help. I decided it was counterproductive working in such large groups, so I broke them up into five groups as we had four instructors and including myself that would be five ‘instructors.’

    Over the next few days, we taught them to stand in formation while holding their weapons. The weapons used by the recruits were limited to spears now as they were the easiest to take up. It was a slow process even with their previous month of training with the spear, it was hard for them to move in sync with everyone else. I could understand now why some countries on earth took up military drums, it kept everyone in sync.

    Nonetheless, the month of hard intensive training paid off the recruits were able to march orderly in their groups, by keeping the rhythm in their heads. They could march straight, and they could also turn instantly when the order was given. They were also able to change from a standing position to a battle-ready position with their spears pointing forward.

    The generals that had come today to inspect the progress were greatly pleased by the development of the recuits so far. They believed that it was indeed better to have recruits working and training together in smaller groups like this than sending them off into large training camps where it would take three months to even get them to be able to march properly.

    They informed me that they will be supportive of this new military academy even if the results are not as significant at the end of this year. However, I was sure of myself and believed that I would be able to bring results and I knew exactly how to do it. I had already been testing it out during large-scale warfare club and in the knight courses with students that were willing to help me out.

    What I had been trying out was simple, instead of having military formations that consisted of only one type of weapon for each battle group, I had used the same way of segregating the troops from my first large-scale warfare in test to see which was most efficient. My method had turned out to be a great success as they were more easily able to adapt to new situations as they had a scout in the form of light infantry capable of moving around the battlefield easily, a tank in the form of heavy infantry with their heavy armour and large shields their duty was to protect the ranged fighters. Ranged fighters were archers but carried a short sword as their secondary weapon. Each squad would have at least one of each light, heavy and ranged fighter in their group.

    The Kingdom of Kar had used this sort of tactic before, but they were limited to the elites of the elites in the order of the silver wolf.

    Having made up my mind about implementing such battle reforms, I decisively started to enact it on my group of recruits, stopping the conventional training that was given to normal soldiers and recruits. The smaller and faster recruits were made light infantry and given short spears and smaller and lighter shields as well as a short sword. The larger and stronger recruits were made heavy infantry carried medium length pikes and carried a large shield, while the last group the ranged soldiers were the archers. The archers were the ones with the best eyesight and hand-eye coordination. While they mainly trained with the bow, they were expected to be able to guard themselves for a minimum of five blows from a light infantry member using a sword of their own.

    The next time the generals came around they were expecting that I had trained my recruits to the standard of being able to quickly switch formations while marching. They were heavily disappointed. However, I didn’t correct any of them as I had intended to surprise them next month when we started doing training missions.

    The reason why I did show them the recruits now was that they simply weren’t ready yet, but they would soon be ready. I had personally demonstrated with my friends how a group should act when encountering different situations. We taught them to think for themselves during battle. When they were under fire from the enemy the heavy infantry was to shield the archer while they returned fire and reloaded. The light infantry was to use their smaller shield to shield themselves while searching for ways to escape. What I was training was no longer a group of soldiers that only knew how to stand in formation when ordered to or soldiers that just blindly charged when ordered to. They were soldiers that were battle-ready and alert. They were the perfect example of an elite special force unit that could fight battles normal soldiers couldn’t hope to even survive in. Not only would they survive those battles they would win them too against all odds.

    The only thing they were missing now was to be able to integrate themselves into larger battle units. Their current groups were the smallest consisted of five members making up a squad. The next smallest group would be two squads merging to form a patrol. Going up another size would make a platoon that was made up of five patrols. Platoons are currently our largest formation as I only had fifty recruits.

    However, in my vision, five platoons would come together to form a company. Four companies coming together would form a battalion comprised of one thousand soldiers. Three battalions would make up a brigade. With five brigades coming together to form a division. Finally, we would have multiple divisions coming together to form an army.

    This was the army I had envisioned.
     
  3. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 19 – REST
    It was currently two days before the scheduled monthly inspection for the recruits. I had spent six out of seven days a week, working with each group in a slightly different way, trying to find the optimum way to train them.

    While I believed that the way I was training them was already revolutionary. There was still always space for improvement, complacency is the bane of progression. There was no way, I could start letting it all slide before, I even have this all up and running.

    Nonetheless, I was also giving myself and the recruits time to rest in between. It was one thing to train and work hard, it was another to over exhaust yourself. Today was also the last day of training for the week, and tomorrow would be the rest day. Finally, after it would be the monthly inspection.

    This time’s inspection would be much more important than all the previous ones. For the first time they would demonstrate their abilities in the event of an actual battle or mission. Not only this, but also because I had invited my brother Claude, the King of Kar to also come and observe the progress of these recruits.

    I Supervised the two squads navigate through some trees, trying to locate the other team first, in a training mission that simulated search and eliminate operations. These two squads had the best results out of my whole group. They weren’t the best in the sense that they had extremely skilled members that excelled in their individual classes. They were the best at thinking creatively and had excellent critical thinking abilities. They were able to look at a situation objectively and find out how the opposing team would react and go from there.

    I always enjoyed watching these two groups go against each other. You would never know what they would do next, or who would win in the end.

    One of the groups had sent a scout out and created false tracks, that led them through a long detour and ended in an ambush. They even left a shield and spear at the ambush point to distract the enemy into thinking that they were standing there unaware.

    However, even with this ambush the opposing team were not complacent and were ready for an ambush and were able to ward off their attackers.

    From here a melee started. The light infantry tried to get past the heavy infantry to get to the archers. While the heavy infantry guarded the archers. The archers took opportunistic shots at everyone. Through an intense battle eventually, the group that had performed the ambush got the win as they were able to tire their opponents using the ambush first.

    This confrontation showed that when two equally matched teams went against each other, the one that had better tactical training would win. The day after tomorrow would be the time to show that, the era for pure physical training was over. Tactical training was the way to go, even if they were not officers or elites. The new standard would be that all soldiers are trained as elites while the elites would train in unconventional warfare and the likes.

    With the match over, I had the two teams gather together to discuss how they thought they went and what they could do to improve. I also had them add what skill they needed or would like to learn.

    These reflections after each battle served as a basis for their critical thinking ability. It got them to get in a habit to reflect on how they went, and what they could do to improve. As a bonus it also served as a teaching guide for future recruits, we were always trying to improve our teaching method.

    The squad that performed the ambush went first in reflecting how they went. They noted that their use of decoys would have been more efficient if it was a full set of armour weapons and shields, as it would lower the enemy’s suspicion more. They also noted that they could have used spare armour if it was available. They identified that they could have stationed the two archers up on trees this would have limited the enemy’s choices in the attack. While also freeing up the heavy infantry giving them a chance to join in attacking the enemy archers.

    Up next for their reflection was the other squad. They had performed marvellously throughout the mission but had slipped up due to becoming tired and letting down their guard. That acknowledged this fact and proposed that situational training be more diversified and include more ambush scenarios. I agreed with this aspect as ambushes were hard to prevent and harder to guard against they needed every bit of training they could get.

    With this all down I dismissed all the recruits telling them to rest well tomorrow as the inspection was due on the day after tomorrow. I let them know that while they could train tomorrow, I encouraged them to limit it to only be during the morning as I did not want them exhausted for the demonstration, they were the stars of the show after all.

    Once all of this was out of the way I headed back to the villa to review all my course work that had piled up for the week. My friends and classmates were in a similar situation as they too had prioritised getting experience as officers by working with their recruits during weekdays.

    I speed through a portion of the coursework before it was time for dinner, and Erika called me out to eat. Having only finished a quarter of the work that needed to be done by Monday, which also happened to be the day of the inspection. I could only choose to continue working through them after dinner, as I wanted to relax tomorrow and not be bogged down with homework. Causing me to think about how pitiful, I and all students were even in a fantasy world homework still plagued our nights.

    When I woke up the next morning tired and not well-rested, I came to realise that as the goddess of the night's rest it was abnormal that I was not getting the rest that I deserved. Recently, I have tried to force my way through everything. I guess this is what it's like to be on a tight schedule with a deadline.

    I would hope that after the inspection tomorrow things would be easier, but I could see that it would only get worse if my new squadron formation strategy is well accepted. At that point, I would not just have to supervise my own recruits but also all other recruits as well. Just thinking about it made me feel tired.

    However, I shouldn’t be thinking about all those complicated things right now. Today is my rested day and I should do just that. I needed to live up to my name as the goddess of rest. As such the first thing will do this morning is to continue to sleep in.

    When lunchtime arrived, Erika who was worried about me sleeping in for so long, came to wake me up for lunch. Still feeling a little tired and sleepy I just lazily stood there while she helped me dress. Completely unaware of what she had dressed me in.

    It was only when I reached the dining room and Catrina who had started to eat first without waiting for me, choked on her food asked me.

    “What the hell are you wearing?”

    Unsure of what she meant exactly, I started to speak.

    “Normal clothes what are you on about?”

    However, the next second I regretted letting Erika do whatever she wanted. Looking down at the clothes I was wearing, I could see a lot of ribbons, frills, and laces. Rushing back to my room to look properly in the mirror, I found a cute twelve-year-old girl in Lolita fashion looking back at me. Calling out to Erika, I started to complain about my current attire and had her help me change out of it.

    I may be the goddess of youth and to a certain extent the goddess of lolis but that didn’t mean that I wanted to be dressed as one. I still had the memories of my past life. Just thinking about that cutie dress made me cringe, but apparently, Erika did not see the problem and thought that it suited me.

    When I asked her where it was from, as I don’t recall ever having it tailored. She explained to me that she saw it at a new boutique that had just opened. When she saw it, she thought it would look good on me so she brought it with her own money, hoping I would like it.

    Now knowing the full story, I felt apologetic, as I had just yelled at her, when she was just trying to be nice. I promised her that I would wear it occasionally. Nonetheless, I was still worried knowing that she has discovered Lolita fashion. Will she continue to make me wear other clothes like this. Hoping to stop the threat before it fully arises, I made sure to tell Erika that I didn’t need new clothing and that she shouldn’t waste her money on these things.

    However, still not understanding what I was hinting at, she told me that it was fine as she had a saving of four thousand gold coins. Shocked about the amount of money Erika had. I asked her if being a maid was actually a well-paid occupation, that allowed her to save up so much money. She informed me that it was because she was serving as both my personal knight and maid that pushed up her salary. Additionally, her parents regularly send her money, as they were afraid that she doesn’t have enough money to spend. However, as when she is working, she would be in a maid uniform and eat here, she didn’t need to spend money at all. So, she was able to save up a fortune that was even more than all the allowance I ever received.

    Returning to the dining room, I sat back down ignoring all the snickers I was getting from my friends, and started to have my lunch. Once they had calmed down from their laughter, I asked them what they were going to do for the day. As I still didn’t have a club, I usually spent my rest days training or visiting clubs that my friends were part of. My favourite was still the club for the weary student. Those alpacas had a fluffiness of eleven out of ten. They were completely out of this world.

    The reply I got from them were the same old story they would be headed to their clubs while Hilda and Chandra were going to study and work on their homework and Lyn would join them later.

    Unsure of what to do I, just summoned Skoll and Hat out in their large dog form so I could groom them. While I didn’t need to manually groom them every time I summon them, as they are always spotless no matter how dirty they were when I returned them to the crystal hair accessories. It was still calming and felt nice to brush their soft fur. Plus, they enjoyed it as much as I did if not more.

    Having soon finished grooming them I resummoned them into their larger form so that I could ride them. Getting onto Skoll’s back I had them circle around the academy without a destination in mind. Over the months the students at the academy had long become accustomed to seeing the two sky wolves run effortlessly through the sky and no longer stopped what they were doing and stared at them.

    Flying over the barracks of the recruits I could see that some of them were training with the knight course students most likely preparing for the inspection tomorrow. By the looks of things, they were well within the standards of the current Kar armies. That would be to say that they were progressing remarkably well but compared to the recruits that I had trained they were like children playing around.

    It reminded me of when my friends and I didn’t have proper training and were just playing around with wooden swords imitating the guards and knights from the palace. In just a few short years we had completely changed into fighters that could even outmatch most of the royal knights.

    It was all thanks to general Harlow. Speaking of general Harlow, I haven’t seen him in nearly half a year. I wonder if he’s okay helping the Zenith army repeal the monsters. The last time I heard any news from him was a few months ago from one of the generals who said he was fine. I’m going to have to ask them or Claude tomorrow about the situation.
     
  4. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 20 – MATCH
    Having had a day to rest, I was ready for this month’s inspection. I even woke up early to get myself ready to have one final meeting with my recruits before they started their mission with the other recruits. The training mission today was capture the flag, a simple mission that is often used to train both, experienced and new soldiers alike.

    The recruits under me had experience going against each other in groups of twenty-five against twenty-five. But they haven’t had the opportunity to try a mission where all fifty of the recruits in my platoon went against another platoon.

    However, I had faith in them as I did work hard for months to train these guys in adaptability. I would be disappointed if they were not able to live up to expectations. All those hours I spent drilling them in combat tactics and critical thinking.

    When I arrived at the barracks that my recruits were staying at, they were checking each other’s armour to make sure all the straps were tied correctly. This had become a habit for them as I would often check to see if they were put on properly. If they where put on incorrectly I would punish the whole group. Plus they knew the generals were coming to watch today.

    What they didn’t know was that the generals were not the only people they had to watch out for. My brother and sister-in-law the king and queen of Kar had also come to watch. While they knew that my name was Ayra they still had no idea that I was the princess of Kar. If they knew about my status, it would make it much harder for me to train them because I would have to be mindful of my conduct.

    As a princess, I had to constantly be mindful of how others may perceive me. I had always been mindful to not acting like a wilful child when I was out in public as I didn’t want to face the fury of Ingrid. Recently, it hasn’t been possible. Most of the time in my rush, I was often bullish in my actions.

    Hopefully, Claude can give me some slack and be more lenient with this deadline, giving us some much-needed time.

    After checking to see that everyone was well-rested, I led everyone to Conflict Valley where the inspection would be held. As to keep everything objective I did not give any of the recruits’ information about the valley before coming here, as it would defeat the purpose of this inspection.

    I was trying to demonstrate that with proper training, these soldiers can function even without the command of an officer. To prove this, I was going to sit with Claude, Ingrid, and the generals. I was prepared to even have my recruits face one of the generals and their soldiers to prove the point.

    After leaving the recruits to a member of the student council that was supervising this event, like they did for the large-scale warfare club. Seeing that there were as many as two thousand of the two thousand five hundred recruits already gathered here, it was safe to say that it was soon time to start.

    Heading to the stands that the student council that set up for the officials and generals that had come to spectate. I found the stand was heavily guarded by royal knights and guards. From that, it was easy to predict that my brother was already here.

    As I walked up to the stand, a guard I had never seen before was about to stop me, but the royal knight next to him stopped him and let me through. While I did not recognise this guard it was strange for any guard of the royal family to not even recognise me as the current crown princess. It was simply unthinkable. While I was trying to think of a reason for this, I was interrupted from my thoughts by a general that had also just arrived. She was one of the few female generals that existed on this continent and one of Kars best generals, while also being its oldest. However, many people from other countries called her the witch general, as she was not a warrior but a mage, and her progressing age didn’t help. Her fire magic was known to be capable of melting stone and city walls alike.

    “I was not expecting to find you here Princess Ayra. I would have thought that you would have been down there commanding your recruits in person.” Said the general.

    “Well, I cannot tell you too much right now general Tanith, but I can tell you I have a surprise for all of you guys today.” I replied.

    “I can’t say I’m not looking forward to it then.”

    With that, I walked with general Tanith the rest of the way. Having almost reach seventy, general Tanith was still very fit and healthy and was able to walk at a fast pace. We were able to quickly reach Claude and Ingrid that were seated on the highest chair, with all the generals that were at the capital were being present.

    Next to Claude, there was an empty seat saved for me as I had already informed him, that I would come to join him. The only other seat left was the one below my seat and was reserved for general Tanith. The way that the seats were aligned was that the closer you were to royalty the higher your rank was. General Tanith had her seat directly below mine and was the closest to a member of the royal family, indicated that she was the highest-ranking general here today.

    Without having to wait very long the recruits were all ready to start with the first groups already at their home base with a knight course student acting as an officer. For today’s battle, they had not raised any fortifications and had simply left the land barren. This was so that the round would end quickly as we had twenty-five rounds today.

    All the rounds were variations of the same battle plans. The officers just had some members head off to grab the flag while others stayed to defend. There weren’t any fancy battle strategies or the likes.

    By lunchtime, nine-round had already gone by. As we would never finish if we stopped for lunch Ingrid had already informed the maids to prepare food that was convenient to eat ahead of time.

    When it was finally time for the last match which included my recruits, a few of the generals that had become bored from all the similar clashes look curiously at me. It was most likely because they had expected that I would have gone down to join my recruits for the battle. But contrary to their expectations I had just sat there next to Claude.

    Even Claude was curious as to why I had not personally gone down to command the recruits. Everyone present had heard about my track record as a commander. During my matches in the large-scale warfare club, I acted as the commander for thirteen matches. Of those thirteen matches I had obtained victory in all thirteen matches.

    Trying to act mysterious, I continued to say, ‘you will find out soon,’ every time they asked me.

    They were dissatisfied with my reply but finally realised that I wouldn’t say anything, so they decided to just watch the match.

    Some of them even thought that I had given up as my group did not even have a trained officer to lead them.

    Thinking of how wrong they all were. I let out a big goofy grin, which earned a glare from Ingrid.

    The only thing that saved me was that the match had finally started. Against all expectations from those present, my group of recruits were not disorganised and clueless as to what to do but had sent out three skirmish groups consisting of three squads. One to the left one to the centre and one to the right. Soon after they left another three squads started to head out after them but stopped halfway to the enemy base while the first groups stopped a distance away from the enemy base. While the two of the remaining four squads started to patrol around the base, leaving the last two squads to guard the flag.

    They completed all that in under ten minutes.

    While in that time amount of time the opposing side had just finished splitting up all their members into an attack group and a defence group. Having their archers as defenders and having their light and heavy infantry act as the attackers. This made sense as archers who aren’t proficient in melee combat were more suited to warding off attackers with their arrows.

    The generals that had now focused on the opposing side’s movements had unknowingly lost sight of all the recruits from my side. As I had kept an eye on them in the first place, I knew that they had broken some of the leafy tree branches and attached them to their armour and shield as a form of camouflage. While lying flat on the ground, blending into the undergrowth. Ingrid with her trained and experienced eyes from her days as an adventurer, was most likely also capable of locating my recruits.

    The opposing side sent their attack force out, completely unaware that they were being watched. Someone from the opposing side almost walked on one of my recruits, but ended up missing them, and continued walking through. Once all of them had passed by, my recruits suddenly all got up at the same time and pounced on the opposing team catching them all by surprise, they were almost wiped out instantly, save for ten recruits.

    Having seen all that from the high grounds, Claude and the generals were all shocked beyond words and moved to the edge of their seats, as they continued to watch on.

    Being outnumber and still stunned from the recent attack it was without question that the opposing side would lose. My recruits easily eliminated all the infantry members from the opposing side and moved onto their next target, the flag.

    Moving ahead of the group of four light infantry members from my side had sneaked behind the opposing side's base and once again stopped, lying flat on their stomach. Their fellow recruits stayed where they were until they were sure that the light infantry members were ready.

    Once they were all set and ready the archers started firing at the opposing side eliminating a few members before the enemy could even locate them. However, the opposing side was destined to be disappointed as their shots were unable to hit their targets as the heavy infantry recruits from my side covered their archer counterparts.

    With their fellow recruits having successfully gained all the attention, the light infantry made their move in grabbing the red flag that was guarded by only one recruit. Now that they had the enemy flag, they started their sprint back to our base, running right past the enemy and their fellow recruits. The enemy noticing that their flag had been taken gave chase, but the squad members that had stay behind to kept harassing them and slowed their response.

    The light infantry members with the flag passed it onto their fellow recruits that were waiting at the halfway mark. Trading positions, the four light infantries stopped there and caught their breath while the other squads continued the mission in carrying the flag back to the base uninterrupted. The enemy archers that had finally gotten past the squads' members that had stayed behind were once again impeded by the four-light infantry. However, by that time the flag had already been carried all the way to our base.

    With the sounds of loud beating drums that signalled the end of the match the fighting stopped.

    Claude who was sitting next to me turned my way and congratulated me.

    “I’m impressed by how well you trained your recruits, they performed excellently. Their movements and skills were a bit rough and unpolished, but they have the making of an elite force. If I was to say what put them apart from other recruits, it would be their unhesitant and quick responses to changes in the battlefield and creative tactics. I must ask, did you tell them to use these strategies and tactics in advance?”

    “No, I only taught them to think creatively in situations during their daily training. Everything they did today was planned by themselves without any intervention from me.”

    Following this, I continued to explain how I got these results from my recruits. I detailed how I had not trained them to fight in formations, but instead, smaller battles that emphasised on tactics and deception above personal combat skills.

    I also talked about the benefits of this style sighting that because each squad had members that covered areas in scouting, defence, and ranged combat their ability to respond to different situations was quicker and more applicable to large formations that separated units into their roles as light and heavy infantry, and ranged combatants.

    The generals present were still slightly sceptical of the application of such training, but Claude overruled them and had me trained one thousand of the recruits using a similar strategy while the others would continued with the traditional training method.

    Wanting this to be officially binding, Claude made a decree under his name as a king. I got down onto a half kneel waiting for Claude’s official decree.

    “As the sun of the Kar, I decree that Princess Ayra star of the kingdom is to train one thousand of this year’s recruits in any way she sees fit. Additionally, upon completing this mission she will be recognised for her achievements and reward the rank of Lieutenant colonel. She will become the commander of the first independent battalion under Queen Ingrid’s command. Do you choose to accept this mission Princess Ayra?”

    Looking directly into Claude’s eyes from my kneeling position, I started my reply.

    “I, Princess Ayra, star of the kingdom, choose to take on this mission given by the Sun, King of Kar.”
     
  5. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 21 – TRIMESTER BREAK
    Claude’s decree allowed me to speed up many of my plans. It would have otherwise taken much longer. I was currently twelve turning thirteen, which meant I would have to wait for at least another three years to join any organisation.

    Now by the end of this year, I would be able to fast track my career and directly enter the military. The best part was because this was an independent battalion under Ingrid’s control, it meant that no general, or anyone higher rank than me, would be able to control this unit. The only people that could give this battalion any orders were Claude who was the head of state, Ingrid who had been given direct control of the battalion and finally, you had me who would become the commander.

    The downside to this was that this battalion was completely new. Everything would have to be put together at the time of conception. In addition, I still had not received the rank of Lieutenant colonel yet, so I had no military power or authority. This meant that I could not even prepare for the battalion. Any military unit no matter how big or small, all required supplies and support units.

    It was too late to think of these issues now. Claude and Ingrid had long gone back to the palace. I could only wait for another opportunity to get at least Ingrid’s help in obtaining supplies and support units for the battalion.

    However, now was not the time for such things as I was sleepy. In addition, I also needed to rest up for tomorrow. Tomorrow would mark the first day I would lead a group of one thousand recruits. It would also be my first step in becoming a military commander.





    The next morning, I was standing in front of the one thousand recruits that had been placed under my command. The crowd before me was by no means the largest I had ever seen, nor was it the most intimidating, but strangely enough I was more nervous standing before these sixteen-year-old recruits than when I was standing before thousands of gods. Mentally psyching myself up, I started my speech that I only had one hour to prepare.

    “Good morning recruits. I am Princess Ayra Asteri Kar.”

    With the mention of my name, the whole crowd was filled with noise. While it was no secret at all that I was attending this academy, it was not like many of the recruits realised that I was a princess. I had not been actively promoting the fact either. So, when I so publicly announced my name, it was not surprising that it caused a reaction from the crowd. Waiting for the recruits to calm down I continued.

    “Today, you will be officially placed into a new training routine under my direct supervision and command. It will be dissimilar to the training you had previously received, but, not completely foreign. You will be expected to work hard, and I will push you to work hard.

    The previous officers that oversaw your training will also be joining you in many of the training sessions, but there will also be times where you will be training without them.

    You will be placed in squads of five members. You will eat, sleep, train, and work with those members until your training is over, so I recommend you be civil with each other. The military is about discipline and mutual respect.

    While none of you have officially joined the armies of Kar, you are all still provisional members. Your conduct here will equally affect the appearance and stability of the army.

    So, I advise all the recruits here today to respect each other and to work together. An army is an army only because of its numbers.

    You are to all report to your training instructors who will organise you all into your respective squads. You are now all dismissed.”

    Watching as all these young recruits scattering into a large, disorganised mess I was worried about their prospective futures. Walking off the stage I met with my friends who had volunteered their recruits into the new training routine. Many of my classmates did, but I could only take one thousand recruits altogether. In the end, only the first twenty classmates that had volunteered got the chance to be placed under my supervision.

    Even though I had studied here in the academy for more than half a year, and I often talked with my classmates during and after classes, I could not say that I was very close with them. Thus, it had gotten to the point in which they would jump at the opportunity to work or talk with me. This was one of those occasions.

    My friends and I would try to be social when we could but, in the end, we were quite sheltered in our upbringing and did not have many common topics to talk about. It often just ended up with either we started the topic and they joined in, or we just stayed in our little friendship group.

    One such example would be right now. My friends who had been waiting for me below the stage were joined by a few of our classmate that had also volunteered their recruits. They were talking about how to encourage independent thought and whether it was a good idea, to begin with. All my friends thought it was a good idea and most of my classmates did so as well, but there were a few students that had a strong elitist mentality.

    Unsurprisingly they were all from noble supremacist families that liked to push through with their noble titles that they had inherited. Many of these nobles were on the decline as they were mainly a bunch of useless wastrels that leach off their land and people. However, there were a few that were more hard-working, and I was often wary of these people. Ingrid and Claude had also warned me on many occasions to be most wary of them.

    The reason why I had even let these few individuals with such questionable and archaic views was that I wanted to keep an eye on them. If I could make them think that I had let my guard down around them, I could learn more about this group of hedonistic nobles and help rid the kingdom of its leaches.

    However, for now, I could only wait and pretend that I was unaware of such things, acting like the sheltered princess that I was.

    Days and weeks went by before the second-trimester break arrived. This would be the first long break that the recruits had experienced. The last time we had a break the recruits had not even started their training and now they were all able to protect themselves if anything. They were still just halfway into their training it would take them a while to get up to an acceptable standard so they will continue their training when they enter one of the nine armies.

    There at the nine armies of Kar, they will gain something no amount of training can give. Experience was also something that I also lacked. In training without any stakes, I could easily perform well and even have the time to try out new things. This was not the case during wars and battles. Every second and decision matters, when you have countless lives at stake.

    Therefore, after thinking it through, when I take control of the independent battalion, I will have to slowly gain experience by leading smaller missions before being fully combat-ready and moving onto larger missions. However, knowing Claude he probably already intended for it to be like this placing the battalion under the one person that would pay attention to every detail.

    With the trimester break finally here, I could rest easy now and stop thinking about all these complex things. It is called a break because you break off from whatever you are doing. During this break, I would most likely visit the orphanage that I had visited last time. I should also ask Claude about how general Harlow was doing in Zenith. I did not remember to ask him about it last time here was here at the academy.

    Hopping onto our horse Erika and I made our trip back to the palaces, with the afternoon sun shining high above the sky.

    I did not immediately head to the main palace to find Claude this time round, but back to my Lily palace to drop off my belongings. The maids around the palace were all happy to see me finally back again and noted that I had grown taller.

    Now that they mentioned it, I had grown taller. I used to be only one hundred and fifty centimetres tall, but I was now one hundred and sixty-seven centimetres tall. While I did not notice most of the time because I liked to wear loose clothing, but my breasts were also starting to develop. I do not know whether it was because of my now balanced diet or just plain genetics at work but I was glad that they finally started to develop. In my last life, my breast was not very prominent and if you were to be direct about it you could simply call me flat. It was strange because mum had at least a D cup but mine was like my results in school, which was a solid A. It was the one regret I had in my last life.

    Now that they were properly growing, I would probably need to start wearing a bra or something like that, with how active I was I do not want to chafe them. Maybe, I can ask Erika about it, but as I turned towards her and noticed how similar she was to my last life I decided against it. It is probably better to ask Ingrid instead. I am sure she will be happy to help me.

    So, not wasting any time I head towards the main palace in search of Ingrid. Like always, I did not find Ingrid in her office or room but in Claude’s office instead. Can these two not be apart for even an hour? What will they do when Ingrid is pregnant and cannot move around as much?

    Who knew my prediction would be so spot on and a few days later, we found out that she was pregnant? But enough about that, I needed to get Ingrid alone, so I could ask her about feminine matters that Claude did not need to know about.

    Once we were alone, I learnt that there was in fact thing I could wear that could support my growing breasts. The first option she gave me was the corsets that women from noble families liked to wear, to make them seem skinny. They worked and were simple enough to wear, but they are uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. They were also impractical in the sense that they were not made for individuals that had to move around a lot. So, this option was instantly ruled out.

    The second option was made like a corset for the top part but did not have a waist binder. Basically, it was a bra of sorts. It could support your breast without making your waist uncomfortable. They could support the chest but focused more on aesthetics and shape. Ingrid told me that it was what she usually used when she was not working out.

    Which lead me to the third option which was a sports bra, and exactly what I needed. It was made using an elastic and breathable fleece from a magic beast that I found out was the same as the alpacas from the club for the weary students. Praise the almighty and powerful alpacas. Back to the sports bra, it was able to support and minimise movement, while also being breathable and wick away sweat. Ingrid had used them when she was an active adventurer.

    Once I knew what I needed I asked a maid to have a tailor come in tomorrow, to have some custom made for me. As a princess it was practically unthinkable for me to use off the shelf products, that may or may not fit me well. It was better to get a tailor in to get everything perfect on the first try.

    Once we returned to Claude’s office, I asked him about how general Harlow was doing. I found that the situation there had become much better after general Harlow’s third army arrived. They were able to drive the monsters away from populated areas and were planning on conducting a final push to eliminate the vampire lords.

    Hearing the news that general Harlow was fine, I could not have been happier. I had spent many days thinking about how he was. I was even tempted to prophesise what was to come, but thinking of mum’s warning, I stopped myself. The threat of apocalyptic events can be very convincing.
     
  6. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 22 – PROPHESISED
    I know I joked about Ingrid getting pregnant, but I did not actually mean for her to get pregnant so soon. In exactly five days after I came back, I was informed by Ingrid during dinner that she was pregnant. I did not know whether I was shocked at the time, or just happy. But I do remember being happy that I was no longer the youngest around here.

    Ingrid’s sudden bomb really surprised me, but Claude had it even worse. He the father of the child only found out alongside me the aunt. If the chair he was sitting on was not solid and heavy, but one from Ikea instead, it would have tipped backwards and caused him a lot of pain.

    Nonetheless, even if I did not remember my, own reaction, I still remembered Claude’s. Just watching a grown man in his twenties shocked for words and not knowing whether he should or even could hug his barely pregnant wife was hilarious.

    I wanted to laugh at him but did not want to interrupt the comedy gold that was happening before me. He finally stopped when Ingrid informed him that she was barely a month pregnant, and it would take a lot more than a hug to injure the recently formed baby. Even then he asked for the royal doctor to come and have another look.

    When the royal doctor that was on duty, who was a young female doctor arrived, she gave Claude a scolding for making her come in during dinner and calling her here for no reason. Especially, when she was just here this morning. It was the first time I saw someone tell him off. He even had to appease the young doctor by having her join us for dinner.

    After this Claude finally, became quiet and accepted the fact that while Ingrid was pregnant, she was not as fragile as he would first believe.

    Now that a baby was on the way I started to have conversations with Claude and Ingrid about it taking my place as heir to the throne. I was in a hurry to get rid of this annoying title. But Ingrid ended the talk by saying that it was far too early for such talks.

    She also added that I would still need to take over some of her duties when she progressed further into her pregnancy. Up to here, I was still unaware of how this would affect me, but I realised that I would soon oversee many of the palace affairs. In addition to this, I would also oversee the new battalion that would soon be formed. It looked like in the coming year I would have a lot more responsibilities.

    We came down to an agreement that I would come back from the academy during weekends, to familiarise myself with the work that Ingrid oversaw. In addition, I would also take up governing classes at the academy to gain more of an understanding of politics.

    With these additional responsibilities weighing me down, I returned to the academy after the break, feeling more tired than before the break. When I told my friends of the news that laugh at me but promised to help with the supervision of the recruits and wherever else they could.

    My once simple and easy schedule became packed with additional classes and homework. I found myself waking up early every day, going from my core knight classes, to my electives on politics and governing, then onto supervising the recruits in their training. I found myself swamped with all these matters that were hardly related to one another. So, I could not even multitask and do some things at the same time.

    I would go to and from the palaces every week to gain experience by working with Ingrid. To save time, I even moved into the main place so I could get more sleep in and not have to travel to and from the Lily palace. Claude and Ingrid were happy about the move as they were able to see me more easily and frequently.

    Back at the academy, the recruits that were originally working under me had become more and more skilled as they often went against other groups trying a variety of tactics that had been introduced to them. They would often propose different suggestions that helped a lot in training the other recruits that had joined in afterwards.

    Today they were in a simulated battle where they were outnumbered five to one, on an open field, with nothing for cover. Their mission was to escape with minimal casualties. They were against five other groups from the traditional training method but going one to five was still a heavy task and burden for them. However, this was a task that I had made specifically to test and increase their survivability in unfavourable situations.

    While I had high expectations for them, I was not expecting them to come out of this task without any casualties. I just wanted them to know that the world was not a fair place, and there were times when even our best would not be able to cut it.

    However, this was not one of those times. As they were able to get out of the situation via a tortoise formation, with their spears and pikes sticking out as they broke through the enemy lines. There were no casualties this time but if there were more enemies, they would not have been so lucky. It looked like next time I would have to increase the numbers from five times to at least ten times.

    My recruits, unaware that someone was prepared to make their training even harder than it already was, were still celebrating amongst themselves for successfully, completing this task. I walked up to them and complimented them for doing an amazing job. As usual, I had them reflect on how they went.

    As time went by, they would do these reflections amongst themselves even when I was not present or had not asked to do it. This was what I had to achieve in the first place. I wanted them to realise that it was not just a post-activity task that I was making them do, but also something that could help them progress and not make the same mistake, next time around. Not only this, by talking about their experience as a large group meant that others could also benefit from their experience.

    Looking back to when these recruits first got here and comparing them to the present, it was a complete overhaul. When they first started, they were excited and proud to serve their country, but they lacked the self-confidence and pride in their ability. Now, they were confident and proud of their abilities and achievements, but they were also not overly proud as they knew that they were only humans and had limits like everyone else.

    The days and weeks continued to pass by, without any regrets I made the most of my time at the academy, studying everything I could and even taking on additional workloads as I would not have the opportunity to do so after I became a commander of a battalion.

    I had also taken over a quarter of Ingrid’s duties and responsibilities as she was now in her fifth month and halfway into her pregnancy. The duties that I had taken over mainly involved the palace defences and anything that involved travelling around. I completed an inspection around all the walls and armaments every time I returned to the palaces. I would also complete random spot checks on the royal guards and knight as Ingrid was pregnant with the future heir, palace defences became even more important.

    However, so far nothing had gone wrong. Everything was in the best condition and the guards were responsive the few times I tested them, using mock situations without telling them. The proficiency of the royal guards and knights did not stop this constant feeling that something was not right. I always felt that the palace was not safe, and it was only getting worse.

    I had once again returned to the palaces on the weekend. Still, on horseback, I circled the walls that surrounded the palaces. There was once again nothing wrong and everyone on duty was completing their task to the uttermost perfection. When I questioned the guard captains, they also informed me that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

    Satisfied, I dismounted from my horse and headed to the main palace in search of Ingrid. When I did not see her in Claude’s office like she usually was, I questioned Claude where she was. Claude informed me that she was feeling tired more often and was resting in her room.

    Having confirmed that she was sleeping in her room with my divinity it was only then that I relax. Over the months I had become accustomed to my divinity but when I was stressed or worried often, I would not remember to use it. Like in this situation today, it was entirely possible for me to have known that she was sleeping with just a thought. But I had completely forgotten that I could even do it until after I asked Claude about Ingrid’s whereabouts.

    Not wanting to wake Ingrid up, I had her maid bring me all the paperwork that Ingrid oversaw and started working on it. Gradually, I had become accustomed to the workload and no longer felt that it was a burden on my shoulders. Often when Ingrid was tired, I would volunteer in completing the rest of her tasks for her. Situations such as these became more and more prevalent as she Progressed further into her pregnancy.

    Having worked past lunchtime without stopping to have a proper meal save for some fruits, I was feeling extra hungry when dinner came around. At Claude and Ingrid’s private dining room, I found Ingrid had already arrived and had started to eat, with a variety of foods filling the table. Scenes like this were becoming more frequent as Ingrid was now eating for two people and often had cravings for different and exotic foods.

    Noticing that I had arrived she greeted me and had me join her. I found that after she got pregnant, Ingrid had the habit of stuffing people with food. It was like because she was pregnant and often hungry, she believed that other people were like her. When Claude had arrived fifteen minutes later, he found me stuffed and unable to eat anymore, while Ingrid was still eating and looked to be really enjoying herself.

    Looking carefully at Claude’s face it looked like he had also received the same treatment from Ingrid because is once slim checks were showing signs of extra meat forming there.

    That night while I was laying in bed, still feeling stuffed after some stretching and light exercises, I rolled onto my side to relieve some of the heaviness from myself. Facing the window, I looked out into the night sky observing the stars and the moon.

    It was here that I once again observed a moon halo. Feeling a sudden dread my full goddess form was activated subconsciously, before me I saw a scene that did not match my room making me believe that what I was seeing was a prophecy in the making.

    The scene before me was familiar as while it was not my room it still reflected the main palace halls. However, unlike the normal palace, there were signs of battle and blood on the floor. I heard sounds of metal clashing against metal, and pain-stricken voices screaming for help. the body I was in moved forward, towards the clashing and towards the stairs that lead to Ingrid and Claude’s room.

    At the stairways, I found Alec and Gil fighting to prevent intruders from gaining access to the top floor. However, they fought in vain as they were overpowered and push down the stairs while the intruders rushed to the top floor.

    The body I was in quickly check to see if they were okay and continued up the stairs and onto the top floor. I could hear the intruders talking about, being unable to get into Claude and Ingrid’s room as the body I was in moved closer. Hearing this made me feel relieved knowing that they could not get to Claude and Ingrid.

    However, it was short-lived as the door to their room finally gave out. Hearing Ingrid’s scream, I instantly panicked. Wanting to quickly rush to her side I tried to move the body, but I could not as the prophecy ended there.
     
  7. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 23 – WORRIED
    Having seen that horrifying prophecy, I jumped out of bed and quickly retracted my goddess form. I headed to Claude and Ingrid’s room to check in on them. Even though I knew they were safe and well and preparing to go to bed. I just had to check on them. To physically see if they were okay.

    When I reach their stairway, the guards that were on duty standing by the stairway were shocked to find me heading to the top floor so late at night. When they asked me, what I was doing here so late at night. I informed him, that I was here to see Claude and Ingrid.

    Letting me through, I quickly made my way before Claude and Ingrid’s room. Gently knocking on the door, I told them that it was me, and I had something important to talk to them about.

    Replying to me with a simple coming, Claude quickly came to open the door. As the door opened, I could see that Claude who was standing by the door, as well as Ingrid who was laying in bed, were both fine. Seeing that they were fine I let out a sigh, but quickly realised that this was just the beginning, I headed inside.

    I was debating inside my head, about whether I should let them both know about the prophecy, or to just let Claude know. As Ingrid was pregnant, I did not want to stress her out, but I felt that it would be safer for them both to know.

    Observing my conflicted expression Ingrid asked me what was having me so troubled. Her gentle and expression encouraged me to tell her everything. So, I did. I told her about the future that I had foreseen. I told her that I was worried about their safety. I told her I was currently, even tempted to change the future. Even if it meant that catastrophic events would plague the world of Arcadia. I was willing to do so if it meant those that mattered to me were safe.

    When I uttered such dangerous thoughts, Ingrid quickly stopped me.

    “You cannot do that Ayra. No matter what happens, you can not change the future. To do so would be to doom Arcadia and our future anyways. It is not worth it, to risk the lives of millions of people in Kar and the countless people living on Arcadia. It is not worth it. Ayra, you have to listen to me on this.”

    Bringing her hands up to my face, making me look directly into her eyes. I could feel the warmth coming from her hands and I could feel the concern she had for me in her eyes. Still, her voice was as calm and steady as I remembered. As serene as ever before, she continued to warn and discourage me from making a mistake, one that I would surely regret.

    “Ayra, you said that all you heard me letting out a scream and then the prophecy was cut off. This means that you were unable to see what had happened. The invaders may have been neutralised and what you heard was just me screaming as I was giving birth. There are just too many things in the prophecy that we do not understand. Trust me, Ayra, everything will work out. You don’t want the baby to come into a future that is full of uncertainty and danger, right?”

    The longer she talked the more I was convincing myself that she was right. Her last words regarding the baby finally, got me. I did not want anything to happen to my family, but I also did not want anything to happen to the unborn child. As the future patron goddess of children, I was willing to sacrifice anything for their safety. If my inaction could keep them safe that was what I would do.

    Seeing how I was still distressed he decided to sleep on the couch while I sleep on the bed with Ingrid. I finally, fell asleep late into the night holding Ingrid’s hand. Feeling both comforted by her warmth and knowing that she was still with me.

    The next morning when I woke up, I was feeling slightly better, but still highly worried about Ingrid’s situation. For the whole day, wherever she went, I went. I followed her everywhere, but she did not say anything about it and allowed me to do as I pleased.

    When night came, it was not Ingrid who had been followed for the whole day that got me to leave, but Claude who had sleep on the couch the night before. Citing that I was disrupting his precious time with his wife and a few other jokes that were borderline serious.

    I know he was trying to get me to laugh, but I just could not do it. The prophecy just constantly replayed itself in my head. Even if I did not interfere with the prophecy, the least I could do was stay by her side and be there when she needed me. However, there are more than a few times during the day where I could not be with her. During night-time when she went to bed, when I was at the academy, and when I was out inspecting the defences of the palaces. During these times, I had no control over what could happen, and I could not be able to be there for her if she needed me.

    Laying in bed I continued to think about the future. The next day would be when I had to go back to the academy. During that time, I would not be able to be with her. While I knew that for the most part, Ingrid was safe and well protected, I cannot help but think about the what-ifs.

    Plagued with such thoughts I barely had any for the second night in a row. As I had classes today, I had to get up early and head back to the academy. If Erika did not come to wake me up, I would have stayed in bed.

    On the way to the academy, I noticed that there were more pedestrians out on the streets than usual. It was hard for me to move quickly through as I was afraid that I would injure some in my haste.

    I arrived in class for homeroom just in time for Professor Ian to call my name as I entered the door.

    “It is nice for you to have finally joined us Knight candidate Ayra.”

    “Sorry, I am late Professor Ian the streets were more packed than usual. It will not happen again.”

    “Well, I sure hope not this is your final week at the academy, or so I heard at least.”

    “Yes, it is Professor Ian, and I will try my best.”

    “Come on now sit down. I have a few announcements to make.”

    Sitting down in a seat with my friends, I could tell that they wanted to know why I was late. However, I signalled to them that I will tell them later before they started to listen to Professor Ian.

    What Professor Ian talking about, was relevant to me and my friends as we wanted to graduate earlier to join the independent Battalion. We had already gotten permission from the academy to fast track of course. Now, all we need to do was pass a series of exams that the academy had organised for us.

    The exams would be conducted at the academy in three days. The exam was split into two main categories, a written exam, and a series of practical exams. The written exam was the easy part as it tested whether you understood the correct conduct of a knight. It was the chivalry exam we did at the start of the year. However, the passing grade for this was ninety out of a hundred meaning we would have to get more questions right than last time around. The physical exam was spilt into horsemanship, weapon proficiency, and unarmed combat. I was ready for all the areas that would be covered in the exams, having trained hard for the past year. After it was finished IU would officially be registered as a knight.

    However, now that I would be gaining the position of a battalion commander it did not matter anymore for me, just something nice to have. For my friends at least it would be a considerable boon as they would be able to become independent and be able to join my battalion.

    With homeroom over, we all headed towards the familiar training field. In the past year no matter whether it was sunny or raining we continued to train our physical abilities here. Countless times I even trained my goddess form here with Sir Frederick. As he knew of my secret as a goddess, I had invited him to become an adviser and trainer in my new battalion will soon be given the go-ahead. He still had not given me a reply, but I was expecting it to come anytime now.

    In the beginning, Sir Frederick had seemed like an insurmountable wall for all of us in this group, but over time with his advice, we became able to have drawn out duels with him. Sometimes if we were lucky, we would even be able to win. However, it was still rare for him to slip up and give up the win.

    After a few hours of training and working out it was finally lunchtime. As I had been in a rush, I had missed out on having breakfast this morning. Leaving my friends in the dust I ran to the canteen as I felt like I would faint if I had to wait a moment longer.

    As always, the food that the canteen served was of a high standard. If only they were able to serve the food within ten minutes of ordering this place would be perfect. However, few things in this world were perfect and wait times were always long here especially when you got here late. This was the reason why I had run here. Even then I had to wait twenty minutes before my order arrived. By that time my friends had already put their order in and were quizzing me on why I was late.

    So, I told them about how I had seen a future where there were invaders in the palace and how I had heard Ingrid scream after they broke into her and Claude’s room. When I talked about my extreme views, they also agreed with Ingrid, it was just that they insulted me, while Ingrid was gentle about it. While they could be direct sometimes it was better that way.

    I guess with Ingrid because she was more mature and highly patient, she would often take her time to get things done. Whereas my friends were the opposite and could be a bit brash sometimes. Their self-confidence was often off the charts and would insult me if they felt like I deserved it.

    This was also one of those times. Now that I was away from Ingrid, and the palace it felt like I had finally, calmed down. I really was an idiot. An idiot that had just been inconveniencing Ingrid by acting like a spoilt child.

    Now that I was calm, I was able to notice details in the prophecy that I had not noticed before. It was currently, summer so the maids would be in their summer uniform which consisted of a short sleeve dress and apron. While in the prophecy, the maids were dressed in their winter uniforms with consisted of a long sleeve dress and apron. It was clear that the prophecy was at least four months away when the weather became colder, and the maids switched from their summer uniform to their winter uniform.

    Now that I had figured out at what period the attack could have happened, I felt more relieved that I had time to prepare for this incursion.
     
  8. HyperiousTheSun

    HyperiousTheSun Member

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    CHAPTER 24 – RECOMMENDATION
    With a clear mind, I headed to the recruit training fields. In these next two weeks, I was planning to focus their training on endurance training, as while they were all skilled and proficient with their weapons and mind their bodies were often what let them down, as they were unable to fight for long periods.

    So right now, I was having them running around the academy in full gear, with their armour, primary and secondary weapons and shields, the lot. I was also running behind them and whenever I saw them slowing down, I would poke them with the blunt end of my spear and threaten to use the sharp end if they did not start running faster.

    As we passed by the academy students, I kind of had a bit of satisfaction seeing the recruits being laughed at and suffering from running under the hot afternoon sun in full armour. Did this make me a sadist? I do enjoy acting as the tyrannical and villainess instructor.

    After three days of acting like a sadistic instructor, it was finally, time for my knight exam. To be honest, this knight course is not necessary to become a knight. It is just that if you have gone to the academy, you are looked upon more favourably when you apply to become a knight. Whether it is the wolf knights or the royal knights both knight orders prefer candidates from the knight course. The same is true for noble families.

    Those knights that have an education at the academy are considered as better candidates as officers in the army as well, because unlike normal soldiers they are literate and can count. Two very important skills that officers will need. Especially if you want to be a high-ranking officer.

    My friends and I, as well as a few others from my class that believe they have the skills to graduate early were standing before Sir Lawson. We had all easily passed the written exam this morning. It was after all the exact exam we did at the start of the year, right down to the ordering of the questions. It looked like they use the same exam every year as well. I wonder how people still fail the written exam when it was something they were familiar with?

    Nonetheless, the first part of the practical exam was about to begin. The first practical exam we had was horsemanship. Here were to hop onto a random horse and ride it around an obstacle course, while Sir Lawson would access how we went. Maybe it is because I am a goddess, but animals are usually, highly receptive to me. Animals like horses will often know what I want without the help of the rein guiding them.

    As I was the first to go, I hopped onto the horse that Sir Lawson pointed towards. When Sir Lawson gave me the go-ahead, I started to have the horse go at a steady gallop towards the first obstacle, which happened to be a rather large log that was laid horizontally on the ground. I urged the horse to jump over it easy and continued onto the next obstacle. The next obstacle was similarly as easy as the first one and was a series of vertical logs that were placed near each other but would allow for just enough space for a horse and rider to pass through.

    The next few obstacles were the same as these and just minor variations of them. But the last one was the one that made me slightly nervous. The last obstacle was to jump over a small burning log. Horses like most animals had an instinctive fear of fire, and even smelling the smoke can cause them to be afraid.

    I had no idea whether this horse was trained to be accustomed to fire or not but even if it was not, I would try to calm it, and encourage it to do so. Hopefully, my status as a goddess was enough to calm it down and be willing to jump over the small burning log.

    When we headed towards the last obstacle, I could feel that the horse was feeling scared and afraid of the burning log. I comforted it by stroking its mane to calm it down. Once it was calm enough, we were able to jump over the burning log easily. Turning the horse around I returned to Sir Lawson and the others while praising the horse.

    Next up were my friends and they were also able to get through everything, with minor issues. Everyone else was the same save for one unlucky teenager that fell off his horse when it panicked. From his injuries, it looked like he would not be able to use his left arm for a while.

    The next practical exam was the weapons proficiency exam. Here we would be tested on how well we could perform using a variety of weapons we were not used to. Particularly, weapons that are not in the best shape. We would start off by using a chipped and uneven sword and parry five hits from Sir Lawson. Then move on to polearms doing the same thing and move onto archery. The hardest of the tests for this section of the exam.

    This was because we would be using a bow we had never picked up before. Unlike swords and polearms, it took more time to get used to a bow, particularly if that bow was not very accurate and worn out. These were the bows that we would be using today. We had ten tries to hit the target from ten-metres way.

    My first two shots missed the target completely, but as I got used to the bow and made minor adjustments, I was able to hit the target. From my fourth shot, I was able to reliably hit the target dead centre every time.

    While Anna only started reliably hitting the centre of the target from her sixth shot, she still passed and did very well. It was because Anna was not the most adept archer in our group. She was the worst at it, with Chandre being the best. Anna’s specialty was melee combat and she had excelled in that area of the practical exam.

    The last practical exam was the unarmed combat exam. We had to take off all our armour and gauntlets that we had been wearing for the previous parts of the exam. Here we would go one on one against another examinee.

    Once again, I went first and stepped into the ring. The rules for this match were simple. Body contact was allowed, and you could use any means to get your opponent out of the ring. A win could be gained if the opponent surrendered or was pushed out of the ring. Regardless of whether we won or not a pass would be given if we demonstrated proficiency in unarmed combat. In blocking, evading, and attacking.

    My opponent was another student from my class. He was fifteen years old this year and his father was a wealthy merchant. As I knew him, I subconsciously went easier on him. However, I was still able to kick him out of the ring within twenty hits. But we were both able to demonstrate our proficiency and pass.

    With all the exams out of the way, I head back to the canteen early for dinner. Having just finished an exam it was obvious that my friends and I would discuss how we went. While we all passed the exam and would be allowed to graduate early this year, we still had a lot we could improve on. Plus, we would still be students of the academy until the end of next week. Thus, we were still required to attend classes like the other students, or our exam results would be revoked. This was one of the rules I found strange and did not understand. But my friends and I complied with it anyways.

    The next day was Friday and would be the last class for the week. On Fridays, we would have one of our most important classes. That was military logistics. it was a dull class for sure, but it was the most important nonetheless. As it was an elective many students in the knight class would overlook it. However, this was a mistake, especially if they wanted to become a commander or military officer.

    After all, soldiers cannot fight on an empty stomach. Soldiers also cannot fight without weapons and armour. No matter the time, successful armies were often backed by capable logistical staff and personnel. It was in this class where we learnt knowledge the knowledge needed for an officer or commander to lead a capable logistic division.

    The thing I learnt in this class would greatly benefit me when I become a battalion commander. Especially, now that we are going to form a new battalion without logistical staff members who have worked together before, or even being experienced in the role of logistical staff.

    So, without anyone to rely on, my friends and I can only rely on ourselves, especially, now that Ingrid was pregnant. The chance that she would be able to oversee our battalion in the near future, was virtually zero. After giving birth she would also have to look after and nurse her baby if she did not want to use a wet nurse.

    In military logistics class the next day. We learnt something that would prove vital for us. We learnt that it did not just involve securing and transporting resources but also the construction, development, maintenance, and operations of facilities. Were also a vital part of military logistics. the base and camps that we will be using in the future must all be prepared by logistical personnel. If such places were not prepared and maintained properly it could spell disaster for the deployed personnel.

    Having learnt one of the most important lessons in military logistics, I felt much more confident in being able to lead this battalion even without the help of Ingrid and experienced logistical staff and personnel.

    Leaving the military logistic classroom, I headed for my classes’ training ground as I wanted to ask if Sir Frederick had made up his mind, on whether, he wanted to become an adviser in my battalion. If he was willing to join us, it would poise to be a great boon.

    The experience I lacked was not something I could make up for, with just instincts and determination. With his decades of experience on the battlefield, he would be able to advise me on many matters that I could not even hope to understand.

    When I become a commander, it will not only be just my own life that is at stake anymore. It would be a matter of at least the lives of a thousand other individuals. It was also because of this that I was going to take my time, with getting everything perfect, and not rush into things like I was used to.

    If I were to receive soldiers that were not up to my standards, I would also have to retrain them. The training itself would take up at least a year. Afterwards, they would also have to be placed in numerous field tests. Again, this would require time. By my prediction, we would take at least two years before we would even see a combat mission that involved confronting a disciplined enemy like an army.

    Arriving at the training field I found that Sir Frederick was sitting on a bench sharpening his sword with a whetstone. Every time he moved the whetstone across his sword blade a distinctive shrill could be heard.

    Seeing that I had arrived before him, he did not stop what he was doing but continued with his task. I also did not speak and interrupt him, I just sat next to him as he finished off his task. Once he was ready to talk to me, he would. During this year, I had gained a much deeper understanding of him.

    He was usually silent and preferred it that way. He had his thoughts about how things are done and did not like people challenging them. The current situation was an example of how he preferred to stay silent while sharpening his sword. If I had started to talk and ignored his wishes, he would have just stood up to leave.

    Once he had finished, he initiated the talk himself.

    “I assume you want an answer on whether or not I will join your battalion?”

    Turning his way, I nodded my head and replied with an affirmative.

    “I will tell you my answer now, I have thought about it seriously. I am currently too old to actively be on the battlefield. I have spent my whole adult life on it. Moving from one battlefield to the next. I have grown tired of it. All I want to do now is train up the next generation of knights and stay with my wife until I draw my last breath. So, Princess Ayra, I am sorry to say that I will not be joining you.”

    While I had prepared for Sir Frederick to decline my offer, I still had hope that he would join me. Hearing his reply, I could not help but feel disheartened.

    Observing how I was becoming depressed. Sir Frederick proposed an alternative.

    “While I may be too old to go on the battlefield I have nephew, who is my brother in laws’ second son. He is a bright young man in his late teens and has learnt under me all his life. I can guarantee his skills. However, he has offended someone he should not have. This has caused him to be demoted and denied the chance to ever rise in the ranks of the army again. But if he is transferred under you, he may have another chance and would be more than willing to support you to the best of his ability.”

    After hearing about Sir Fredericks proposal, it became my turn to think hard about what I would do. I finally, decided that I would meet this man before I made my decision on whether I would have him as an adviser.