“It’s getting easier, but not enough… I wonder why this kid is so hard to connect with. But remember, you are en route already. Keep trying.”

  “Are you ready, Illia?!” An annoyed Elen woke me up from remembering my last dream, making me hurry with my new equipment. New equipment, I add, I had heavily died and modified to look better with my outfit.

  We were a day after the experiment day. One day after I went through the whole collection of useless artifacts and got everything that seemed decent enough to use. And also, a day after Elen reported my plan to her father and got permission for us to try it out. Or at least, to see how much I could do before getting an actual plan.

  Would’ve liked to talk with him directly, but from what I heard, he already had border skirmishes and threats to handle. Both of which would be very easy to solve if I ended up being some super strong fighter. Something that wouldn’t happen, but I could dream, and even then, seeing how much I can do would be a good indication of how tricky I'll need to be to pull this off.

  And on that lane, I got hold of whoever I could from who I know and decided to have them try and teach me how to fight, with exception to Cal who locked himself in a room after our session of magical experimentation to write a book about it or something.

  Back to me, the plan got us to the royal guard fort, a miniature castle at the back of the royal gardens. It is connected to the outer wall, acting like a back gate, and has the royal guard's quarters in it, but more than that, it's secluded and easy to isolate now that everyone is mobilizing. Also, it's the closest place with a proper training field and training tools, although I won't be using the latter much.

  The building itself isn’t anything special, though. Stone walls in a rectangular shape and a huge open ground in the middle that acted as training grounds and was surrounded by the armory, the stables, and some other support facilities. One of them being a sandy area in the middle of the ground and surrounded by a stony boundary with glowing runes to shield the audience, but this one seems to be the only piece of magic in the whole area.

  Who captained this place was much more impressive, anyway. The gargantuan old man known as Neil Languire, the royal captain, the person organizing my tryout, and someone who demanded to organize my training when Elen talked with her father. A two meters tall guy, covered in muscles and plate armor, but with a dandy-like face and a well-groomed, and quite big, blonde mustache. I could very well see him taking tea, even if his size made the situation a little weird.

  He looked very impressive and very strong, which was a contrast with me.

  My armor wasn’t much more than a random assortment of multi-colored plates and leather sets. More than that, neither of them had the same style or seemed part of a set. I made them look awesome still, of course, but it was more of a princess knight awesome than a real fighter. Even the tiara in my head, the one from Elen’s personal collection, ended up looking more beautiful than cool.

  "Ready, kid?" The big knight asked after seeing me nod to Elen. “We don’t have forever.”

  “As much as I could manage…” I answered while rushing ahead and trying to organize my head. “But it will work.”

  From top to bottom, I had: Elen's tiara that I didn't know what could do, a leather cuirass that was exceptionally good at keeping the wearer warm, a thick metallic chainmail with the ability to create simple barriers, a white gauntlet that could shine, and a pair of greaves that got heavier while making the other pieces of equipment lighter.

  None of them were very powerful on their own, even the barrier one was weak compared to real barriers, but with my silver magic, they could be quite something. Just the two most useless-looking ones, the heating-up cuirass, and the make-things-lighter greaves, could very well be S-rank in my hands.

  As long as I had the mana for it.

  They weren’t very protective, though. Even the chainmail wasn’t as strong as steel, much less enchanted steel, even if the weight was close to the same. I had to add some items to the set to make it viable, but it was very small protection for almost too much weight.

  I ended up looking like a mix of princess knight and evil general in the end, though, which was fun since I had two princesses close by. Two princesses that didn’t look the part at all right now…

  It was a bit surprising to find Valiria, Elen’s twin sister, here, but that was only until I noticed that the royal guard are pretty much her forces. Just like Elen has a group of assassin maids, she has a group of mage knights to keep the balance or something.

  Either way, since she was around and already knew about the situation, she decided to help with the tryouts. And with that, I got to know the much more regal version of Elen, who, for obvious reasons, looked pretty much the same.

  Beautiful silky silvery hair, only a lot longer; an as incredible figure and fitness, but paler skin; reddish eyes, although not as sharp and with a calmer expression; and wearing a set of armor very similar to the one from when I saw her at the waystone, but without the chirping and the blood.

  The huge full plate set made in silver and decorated with blue runes and ornaments looked a little heavier than that time, though. Very noble-looking for sure, but not very princess-knight, but I said this much already. And that was ignoring the huge angular shield and arming sword, both of which also had runes in them.

  Meanwhile, Elen was the usual. Grey cape and some armor beneath it, but as she mentioned before, these looked heavier this time. Still only the breastplate and some odd pieces around, but she should be in the same weight class as me already. She had no weapons I could see still, for some reason.

  The result was two princesses that didn’t look like princesses at all, one looking like a ball of steel and the other being a rogue straight-up. And both were very ready for a real fight, which I thought was a little too much considering they were here to help test my skills.

  “I know I was rushing you, but are you sure about this, Illia?" Elen asked while staring at my set. "Your equipment seems more like something for parading than for fighting…”

  “I agree. There are too many weak points on this set, Ms. Illia.” Elen’s sister also commented. “It’s understandable that you would want to have the most artifacts possible, but I can’t even see the use of many of these. Wouldn't it be better if you wore proper armor and asked for the proper artifacts instead of the one forgotten at the armory?”

  She had a point. It would be more efficient if I had powerful artifacts to play with, but that had its own problems in my eyes. More so, doing so would mean leaning off my plan of swindling the world instead of burning it.

  “I don’t think I’d manage to wear plate, Your Highness…” I finally answered them, moving around to show how slower I already was. “Even mail is kinda too heavy...”

  “If the problem is weight, we could get you something like mine, or even something like the maid’s wear." Elen continued with a different idea. "What do you think, Eve?”

  “We have spare sets, Your Highness. Wouldn't be as effective as steel armor against weapons, but they’re the best against magic.” The dark-haired maid answered while raising a part of her clothes to show the thin chainmail woven underneath. “Would still be more than some linked bronze and leather lady Illia’s currently wearing.”

  The maid set was still the short one from the first time we met, but now that I looked closer, it wasn’t made of common cloth. It was much tougher looking and less flexible than cloth, as expected from some magic light armor, but the material was the least impressive detail. The many hidden pouches and sheaths were quite something also. Eve’s foldable spear was always in one of these, but I noticed potions, daggers, and probably even explosives there.

  “They look much better too!” The other maid, Dori was her name, shouted out while I was focused on Eve, but her happy expression soon changed when Eve started glaring. “I mean… Most wouldn’t expect armor from this, right? Looking better is a perk.”

  She was a redhead with short hair and a freckled face, but more interesting than that, with a similar body-figure than Eve. Almost made me think that whoever chose the maids had a preference for huge butts and no chest. Either way, her set was very similar to Eve’s, but her weapon was a huge axe, and somehow, I heard she specialized in healing.

  I also heard that all the maids were good at healing, although they work as assassins, but that wasn’t the weirdest part anyway.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “That is… not false. Either way, Lady Illia is quite taller than the other maids, and some other things, so we would need a while to adjust the clothes.”

  Magical material clothes, is it?! Wouldn't say I’m not interested. I read about these when I was trying to see if I could make alchemy… Which I couldn’t, by the way. It ended up being related to spells, even having their own element, so a no-go for me. That wasn’t something I could do much about right now, though.

  “You can think about this later, you all. The crazy lady here will have to duel everyone else, so I would like to be done before we lose dinner.” The shadow of the captain covered me again as he approached our little group more, now with a huge crystal in hand. “It’ll be the same as I had the boy do before, so no worries if it’s doable. Just fight us all and see how far you can get, okay? Anything less than total victory means you won’t be beating champions, though.”

  Such a waste of a good face this guy is… He’s not wrong, though. Every country has some version of a hero, and even though they were never as strong as Prourene’s summoned heroes, they are still a lot. And a lot is many times what I can take head-on.

  It was weird that the captain was under the impression I had some fight capability already, though, but that was that.

  I mean, fencing and kendo should help a little with weapons and I have a bunch of intermediary belts, but they should be different from fighting for real… I think.

  I should’ve played around with HEMA, even if I would be just as average as everything else. Thinking about how many teachers gave up on me makes me depressed, though… Well, better ignore all this for now. It’s not as if my main plan is fighting my way through, so I only need a good idea of how well I could pretend. For safety and curiosity, yes?

  “Sorry about that, sir.” I stood in a very straight stance and answered in a clear tone that should please the soldier. “How will it work?”

  “Oh? So you can put some spirit in it, eh? Good. You'll need it since you're against some of the strongest fighters in the palace.” He nodded and then moved his eyes through the group that, as weird as it was, was pretty much only girls. “Choose someone, fight them, and then do it again, and again, and again, until we're done. Fight them, win or lose, fight the next and I’ll see how much you can do with some training based on it. Very simple.”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” I saluted by reflex, which in turn caused people to look at me as if I was being weird. But I remained! Backing off now would be more shameful than staying as is, so I did so without a problem. I also noticed that, by what he said, many of the strongest warriors around were either princesses or maids… Funny thing.

  Very funny how thoroughly I’ll be beaten up too, but alas.

  “Well… I’m not sure what you’re doing, but moving on. I had the training grounds cleared off and got all the training weapons I could, so go all out.” He concluded before turning to the open field surrounded by stone buildings. “I’ll leave to you the choice of who goes first. Don’t worry about getting hurt, the weapons aren’t supposed to connect and we can patch you up if they do.”

  Who should I get first, eh? Hmmm… A princess, a maid, or… Wait! Why are you taking a huge ass lance and looking at me? Do you mean that you are an option too? Yeah, it makes sense actually.

  This place has regeneration potions around, right? I’ll need them…

  Anyway, Elen and Eve scare me, but dealing with the armored princess or the knight captain sounds even worse. The other maid… she doesn’t seem like someone who can hold back. At all.

  All options are bad then… And if that’s the case, I’ll go with the one I’m more curious about first, consequences be damned.

  “Let us have a go, Elen! I’m a little interested to see you fighting.”

  “Oh? Really? You sure about that?” She asked me a little surprised but still moved towards the weapon stands. “I mean, I’m not the best at magic and all, but I’m very strong. From here, probably the strongest.”

  She was packing as many daggers and small blades as she could see, setting them around her clothes while speaking. And even though I was inclined to agree that starting with her wasn’t the best idea, she was making me curious. I really wanted to have my most important question about Elen answered: Was she a ranger or a rogue?!

  “Get ready to work, Dorothea,” Eve muttered as I moved to get a weapon of my own since the Black Saber was too real for training, and I got more worried right away. I also ignored the understanding expression of the redhead and the worry in the eyes of the other princess while at it.

  Should I pray a little? There are gods for sure here, so…

  “Are you two ready?” Captain Neil shouted out from his corner while setting the head-sized crystal on the pedestal of the arena. It made the stone circle flash in silver for a moment too and I understood that it was indeed just a barrier for the audience. “Not to hurry you, but we won’t be eating until these duels are finished. And I’ll count the time to recharge the barrier.”

  That’s mean! I get to be beaten around and then can’t even eat whenever I want?! Heck, I’ll have to put on more effort than usual in this. More effort than what I have to use even!

  “Looks like you’re ready to go, Illia…” Elen noted my expression and smiled. “I’ll be starting then.”

  So, the rogue princess rushed towards me with a single short blade in hand just like she did. Or at least, that was what I could infer from what happened right after when I managed to instinctively parry her opening strike.

  She was… too fast. I was prepared for something like this, but this is too much.

  I could see signs of magical circles here and there, but she moved too fast for me to read them. My perception could barely keep up and I was only parrying and dodging by reflex, and likely because she was holding back. It even forced me to try and open some space between us right away.

  It had some effect, but it only took a moment for Elen to be already in front of me again. Her blade only didn’t reach me right because I hurried to get a very small barrier over my left gauntlet and then block the attack. The barrier still broke on impact and I only managed to hold it due to the armored gauntlet, though. And that was just one in a flurry of blows.

  A right-side swing that I dodged in a hurry. One from the left that pushed my saber away. A thrust that I barely could notice coming before parrying with my gauntlet by a hair width. And then an instantaneous overhead swing that I had to roll away to not be hit.

  The attacks weren’t complex. A mix of wide and short swings with a few sudden thrusts from time to time at most, but they were too fast. More than that, they seemed to always come from a blind spot, or from nowhere.

  Her blades would vanish away and try to get me every time. I was even starting to think that she was capable of getting invisible, which I soon noticed was somewhat true. Without the makeshift armor and how I could summon small barriers, I would be very wounded already.

  Keeping up was the best I could do. And right as I got this revelation, Elen took a step back and smirked before taking a second blade from her clothes.

  “Good, good.” Elen happily nodded at my state while rushing me with her two blades. “You’re better than you give yourself credit for, you know? Few can keep up with me…”

  “Thanks, I guess… Not that I’m doing that well.”

  I wasn't talking about my fighting, by the way. Winning this was never part of the plan. What I wanted here was understanding how her magic worked. The vanishing blades and the surprise at the bath meant she was using light magic, but she was using it too fast. Bending light shouldn’t be that easy.

  Unless, of course, she was actually…

  “No, no, you doing well…” Elen interrupted my thoughts, taking another step back so she could start throwing daggers. “But let’s see how far you go, okay?!”

  “Wait, what?!”

  And before I could finish my line of thought, the battle-crazed girl threw her knives to the sky and came with another head-on assault. An assault of half-visible attacks that I could hold out for a while, but with some random skyward attacks coming with a timer.

  I would lose very fast if I kept defending like this... Which was why I wouldn’t bother to.

  “Wha…?!” Elen exclaimed as my next dodge went into her blades instead of away. It gave me a hit by the shoulder, but the training blade didn't do much, as expected, and it wasn’t enough to take me down. It still made me lose stance and trip forward, but it got me away from the falling knives and behind Elen.

  “Pleased?”

  “A lot!” She smiled even more, almost getting scary before she actually got scary. “Time to go up another notch then!”

  I would’ve loved to say “please don’t”, but I guess that’s not an option. Especially because there was already a huge magical circle opening in front of me. One that I could read this time, not that it helped at all considering what I was reading.

  “You have a few seconds to protect yourself or surrender, my lovely heroine.” Elen continued as she watched my distorting expression. “This one if my ace.”

  That’s bullshit!

  I can read most of it, so I know it’s pure bullshit. Invisibility and illusions are what you expect from this sort of magic, but... Firing lasers too?! I know it makes sense, but c’mon! A lot more unfocused than you would expect, but this is still a laser beam, dammit.

  I hope it won’t hurt too much, though, for I’m not backing up now.

  So, I hunched down and forced out my cuirass' spell to spread around while changing my saber to wind magic. Wouldn’t be more than a make-do effort, but one that should work. And a moment later, the whole area around me got filled with dust and I was bathed in a burning light beam.

  The whole area was filled with a burning smell and it was quite hot, but I only rolled away and activated my next artifact. Some small burns wouldn’t stop me, and Elen was already going for a follow-up attack, one I wouldn’t be able to dodge at all.

  Which was exactly what I wanted.

  "My turn, princess."

  Right as I said so, her attack went through my illusionary clone, breaking her posture due to the momentum and lack of impact. And then I hit her with my secret weapon, a bunch of sand, again, before she could figure out the idea at all.

  “What the hells?!” The blinded silver-haired girl shouted in her blindness while I used the chance to jump up and rush for a finishing strike.

  And then…

  And then I slipped on one of the knives dropped around and ended with my head on the ground and my butt pointed to the sky. I couldn’t even bother to get up before there was a blade at my neck after that…

  I had other duels to fight too, which would only get my streak worse. Using both my sand and illusion tricks in the first fight made them close to useless in the next ones. Not that I had much of a chance, especially against match-ups that were worse for me.

  I’ll only say that being punched into kingdom come by a maid is a very weird experience.