Eliza woke up with a start sometime later, having fallen asleep at some point.

She looked around in confusion at her different surroundings before the memories came back to her; The encounter with Gary and the pain. Involuntarily, Her body began to tremble, and she clenched the blanket with her shaking hands. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Before long, she managed to calm herself down.

"You're awake," Leah said, drawing Eliza's attention.

Opening her eyes, Eliza looked to see Leah still seated on her bed with a smile on her face. In her hands, she still held the thing she had been working on before and seemed not to have made any progress on it.

Eliza looked around the empty tent; it was just her and Leah.

"They went to lunch; I was about to wake you up," Leah said.

"I see," Eliza said as she pulled herself out of bed. Standing up, she found that her muscles had gone stiff. She began to stretch.

"You should go and get changed; the sooner, the better. The guards get angry if we're late." Leah said, continuing to weave the thing in her hands. Her fingers moved nimbly and without pause.

"No need to wait for me; I can find my own way," Eliza said, finishing her stretch. She reached down and opened the small chest.

"Nuh-uh, if I did that, they would get angry at us if you didn't show up. More importantly, I get to talk to you!" She said, flashing Eliza a bright smile.

"Why would you want to talk to me? As you've learned, I'm from the Silverian Empire." Eliza said as she pulled out a set of clothing, was it just her, or were the clothes smaller than when they had been given to her?

"Why would I care?" Leah responded when she looked up and saw Eliza's confusion.

"Ah, those looked too big for you, so I modified them." A hint of pride was in Leah's voice, "did I make you angry?" Leah asked, worry in her voice when Eliza didn't respond.

Eliza could only look at the clothes flabbergasted; this was beyond a mere modification. "H-How?" Was all Eliza could utter.

Leah giggled, pleased by Eliza's reaction, "Don't worry about it and go get changed; I wanna see how well they fit." Leah's said enthusiastically.

Still in disbelief, Eliza took the modified uniform and made her way toward the cordoned-off area at the back of the tent. On closer examination, she realized the barrier wasn't a natural part of the tent, meaning that the rest of the group had to have gotten it from somewhere.

Before Eliza walked into the cordoned-off area, she peeked back to see Leah still patiently weaving at her bed. At Eliza's glance, Leah smiled and urged her on by shooing her away. Eliza sighed and went in.

Eliza stepped in, and for the first time in weeks, she was alone. For a moment, she stood there enjoying the moment of privacy.

It didn't take long for Eliza to change clothes. Being able to move her arms and legs unhindered was a perk she had taken for granted. Now free of the ropes and chains, she almost felt free.

She caught sight of the mark on her hand. Almost.

Eliza finished putting the uniform on and was surprised at how well it fit. She ran her fingers through her tangled mess of black hair, working out the knots as she came across them absentmindedly. It was unnerving that Leah was able to modify the clothes to Eliza's size when she had no way of knowing it beforehand.

"You almost done?" Leah asked, breaking Eliza out of her thoughts.

Eliza took a deep breath and enjoyed the last moment of privacy as much as she could. Then she left, continuing to unknot her hair as she made her way out from behind the barrier.

Upon seeing her, Leah clapped her hands in joy, a sparkle of delight shining in her red eyes, "I knew my estimates weren't off; how do they feel?"

Wondering where the grass Leah had been weaving went, Eliza looked around. It didn't take long for her to find a small grass doll sitting on Leah's bed.

Shaking her head slightly in disbelief, Eliza said, "They fit fine, thank you."

"Great! Are you ready to go?" Leah asked, jumping up from her bed.

"Yes," Eliza responded as she ran her fingers through her hair one last time, not encountering any more knots. "Lead the way."

Leah led the way out of the tent, a bounce in her step. Eliza followed behind, easily keeping up with Leah's pace. They walked past rows and rows of white tents that were about the same size as their own tent. Their seams were red in color, and most were empty.

Other than the stares Eliza got from the other prisoners, and the walk was almost peaceful. Naturally, that meant that it wouldn't last.

"Sooo," Leah drawled, and Eliza felt her heart sink. "Tell me a bit about yourself," Leah said, looking up at Eliza.

"Why? "Eliza questioned warily, meeting her gaze.

"You're cool; why else?" Leah innocently said.

Eliza snorted and laughed to herself.

"What?" Leah asked, a bit shocked by Eliza's reaction.

"Am I supposed to believe that?" Eliza scoffed, looking away, and words flooded out of her mouth before she could stop them, "You know I come from the Silverian Empire, and I've learned what people believe about me because of that. Sorry, but saying I'm cool is hardly enough to get me to open up."

Almost as soon as she had said it, Eliza felt relief as a burden rose off her chest that she hadn't even known was there. However, the relief was short-lived as Eliza's eyes met Lea's shocked wide eyes.

Leah went silent, and Eliza felt a bit of guilt for lashing out at Lea, who, so far, had been nothing but kind. What Eliza hated the most was that despite that kindness, rather, because of it, she couldn't trust Leah.

Leah went silent before responding, "I'm sorry."

"What?" Eliza was thrown off. She expected Leah to lash back, get defensive, or something like that. But to apologize? That was completely out of her expectations.

"People always tell me I'm too nosy; I didn't mean to pry. I'm sorry," Leah said sadly.

Words eluded Eliza as she stared at Leah's downcast expression. She felt another pang of guilt.

"But," She said, perking up and looking intently at Eliza, "No one is mean in our group, well, Demitrus pushes it sometimes with his pranks…" she began to trail off before catching herself and wildly waving her hands in front of her. "but that's not the point, we won't treat you like that, I promise."

Eliza scrutinized Leah's face, which bore no look of deception.

"So… can we be friends?" She asked, nervously beginning to fiddle with her hands.

Slowly, Eliza sighed, She wanted to, but Caldren's betrayal was still fresh in her memory.

"We'll see." She finally conceded.

Leah's face immediately lit up and, dashing forward, latched onto Eliza's wrist, "No takebacks!" she said, happily pulling Eliza forward. They passed the last of the tents and started up the hill towards the eating area.

"H-Hey, I didn't agree to anything yet," Eliza said, struggling to keep up with Leah's pace.

"But you're giving the group and me a chance, and that's all we need," Leah said, turning to look at Eliza with her bright smile.

Eliza didn't know how to deal with Leah. She was bright, cheerful, and seemed not to be dissuaded by anything, just like Dyren- Eliza violently shook her head, trying to dispel the thoughts, but it was too late.

A wave of guilt washed over Eliza, and she forcefully swallowed the lump that raised in her throat. She quickly blinked away the tears that had started forming in her eyes. To calm herself, she focused on her surroundings.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

They crested the hill and entered into the eating area.

Eliza and Leah weaved through the multitude of people that went about eating lunch. A surprising number of elves and orcs could be seen interspaced throughout the prisoners, with the occasional Kobold and dwarf.

Finally, they came to a large tent with a couple of guards managing a table at the entrance. From that table extended a line of prisoners. At the back of the line, Eliza saw Leo and Demitrus. It didn't take long for them to reach the line and Leah let go of Eliza's wrist once they got there.

"Well would you look at that, our sleeping princess is awake." Demitrus looked back at Eliza and casually remarked.

Eliza froze and looked at Demitrus in surprise, "Princess? Where did you get something as idiotic as that?" Eliza demanded, glaring at him.

Demitrus chuckled, "What do you think? You've been here for barely three hours, and you already almost assaulted the commander of the outpost. You're practically a celebrity, so naturally, you should have some form of title to commemorate.

"By the same logic, since you're so funny, you must be a clown." Eliza retaliated with a slight edge to her voice.

"Please, don't think so little of me; I'm the entire circus at least," he responded unfazed as he reached the front of the line and picked up a small wooden bowl.

Eliza felt an urge to punch him, but she held herself back. As annoying as he was, it wasn't worth her ending up on the floor in pain.

"You promised to watch what you say; what are you doing?' Leah said angrily.

"To be precise, I said 'We'll see' in no way did I promise anything," Demitrus said, and Leah's face flushed red.

"It's the first day, Demitrus. Could you maybe try not being… you? At least until we're on the mission?" Leo said.

"Sorry, Leo, Leah, but that's just not my style." Demitrus remarked brightly, "What is life without a little humor?" He countered, giving them a lopsided grin.

"Humour? Is it humorous to you to give people a nickname they don't want? What if it's insulting to them?" Eliza said indignantly.

"Well, Princess is hardly the worst thing I could've called you," Demitrus said as he received his food and turned around. He then leaned forward until his face was right in front of her, a small grin on his face, "and if you find that insulting, maybe you shouldn't make it so easy then, Princess." He chuckled, and he walked away. Leo sighed,

"Don't take him seriously. It's like he's made it his life's calling just to mess with people; he's really a good guy once you get to know him." Leo said before he walked away to go join Demitrus.

Miffed, Eliza stepped forward and picked up a wooden bowl and spoon. The guard behind the table took one look at her and then at her uniform before saying, "Bowl."

Eliza showed him, and he dished out a serving of slop that didn't even fill half of the bowl. It was even less than the already little amount she got.

"Is this all? How is this supposed to get me through the rest of the day?" She demanded.

"That's all you're going to get." The guard simply remarked before calling out for the next person. Eliza glared at the man whose only defining characteristic was his sharp and crooked nose.

When Eliza didn't move, he looked down at her, "Next prisoner." he said a little more forcefully.

Eliza felt her arm begin the tingle and, reluctantly, stepped away, looking at the meager portion of food she had received. She hated this. She hated all of them.

Upset and discouraged, she waited for Leah to get her food. Leah soon joined and started leading her in the direction Demitrus and Leo had gone.

"Don't let Demitrus get to you. He gives everyone a nickname the first time he meets them. He may be a lot, but he's a better person than you would think." Leah attempted to console Eliza.

"Whatever," Eliza said, following behind. She felt an intense longing to go home. To go back to a time when her parents were alive, and she had a home. But she couldn't; that place didn't exist for her anymore.

They saw Demitrus and Leo sitting at an open campfire ahead, and they crossed the rest of the distance in silence, and Eliza sat down on the log across from Demitrus.

"Are you alright, Eliza?" Leah asked, worried about how silent Eliza had been.

"I'm fine," Eliza responded and sunk her spoon in the slop,

She peeked into the bowls of the others as she ate and was surprised to see that they had gotten the same amount as her. Confused, she looked at a nearby group to see that they all had at least double the portion that their group had gotten.

"It's because we're in the squad of the Condemned," Demitrus said, and Eliza turned to look at him.

"What does that mean?" Eliza asked.

"I assume Gary told you about the chance prisoners have to receive and pardon and regain citizenship if they accomplish enough deeds for the kingdom? Demitrus responded before taking a bite.

"Yes. what about it?" Eliza had a sinking feeling in her gut.

"Simply put, our squad is what you get when they get a bunch of people who they don't want to succeed. We get nothing but the essentials, and we're placed on the frontlines in any battle," he said casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Eliza looked down at her meager serving, and things made a little more sense.

"Why not just kill us?" she asked. Her stomach grumbled, and she took a bite of her mush; it was as tasteless as it looked, and she felt just as hungry as before. Disgruntled, She stabbed her spoon into the mush and took another bite.

"In short, Because we're not enough of a threat for the people who put us in here to immediately execute us. but we pissed them off enough that they want us to suffer before we die." Leo said, his eyes were still blank and unfocused, which unnerved Eliza.

"Why does it seem like that doesn't bug you guys?" Eliza asked.

Demitrus raised an eyebrow, "Should it? I, for one, am confident in my survivability."

"Except that you've yet to beat me in a fight." Leo pointed out from his seat.

"Don't want to hear that from the guy who hasn't landed a hit yet." Demitrus countered with a playful smile on his face.

"One day, you can't keep running forever," Leo responded with his own smile.

"What do they want us to do today? Have they told you yet?" Leah cut in.

The group's mood darkened a bit, and Leo spoke, "The outpost in control of the waterworks fell yesterday. The Demons are swarming that section of the city, and they've already taken the Central Mana crystal that lit up that part of the city. They want us to be one of the few squads to go in to retake it."

"What's so important about the waterworks?" Eliza asked.

"It's a defensible location next to the mine that goes down to the Demon realm. It also controls the river that runs under the mountain, and if that overflows, it makes it difficult for the camp to get supplies." Demitrus said, finishing off the last of his food.

"Why are they getting a few teams and not sending all of us to retake it then? Eliza asked.

"Ah, I got this one," Leah said, jumping into the conversation. She rocked back and forth on her log while looking up into the sky, "Grimhold is a huge city underground inside the mountain, and Demons have been wandering its streets for like a century now; some of the Demons have gotten really big and dangerous." She concluded as if that explained everything.

"Most of the Demons we'll fight will be at most second-tier Demons, which, since they're coordinated, is enough of a problem itself. But if a big enough battle occurs, The tier three Demons wandering around the place will come running; I don't think I need to tell you how catastrophic that would be." Leo explained.

"With that in mind, seeing as we've all finished eating, I propose that we promptly head to the training field. It would be good for the Princess to understand our abilities before we head in." Demitrus said, packing up his stuff.

Everyone nodded their assent and stood up. They dumped their bowls at a table manned by some overworked prisoners who were unfortunate enough to be put on dish duty and left.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eliza stood with the others at a large open field. The ground consisted of dry, yellow grass that had been trampled under the boots of many.

Across the field, a row of training dummies stood waiting for an opponent. Between the group and the dummies, a few groups of people sparred against each other or against other groups. As Eliza watched, A particularly large orc hefted another into the air and then promptly slammed it into the ground. The one still standing let out a triumphant roar moments before getting swarmed by several other combatants.

Eliza looked to her left to see a variety of wooden training weapons arrayed in weapon racks that the rest of the group was already walking towards.

Eliza followed behind them.

All the basic weapons, such as swords, spears, polearms, bows, arrows, and on were easily findable. Eliza walked the length of the weapons racks looking for the specific type of weapon she was used to from back home. But it looked like they didn't have them. She sighed in disappointment and picked up a wooden bo-staff. It would have to do for now.

She turned around to see the rest of the group waiting for her.

"Ready?" Leo asked, a regular short sword held in his right hand.

Eliza nodded; he turned and led the groups towards an unoccupied portion of the field. Before she could follow, Eliza caught sight of Caldren entering the field. He entered at the heel of a huge Orc with a black Dragon tattoo curling up his left arm. Caldren met her gaze and smiled at her. He then continued to follow the Orc.

It was obvious that he was up to something; Eliza pushed it back to her mind and went to follow the group. She would deal with Caldren later.

Once the group was sufficiently far enough away from everyone else, they stood in a circle near each other, then Leo spoke.

"Everyone introduce a bit about yourselves and what your role is, and we'll get started.

"I do scouting and reconnaissance; I can also hold my own in a fight. Living as a gutter rat helped me learn how to get around without being seen." Demitrus said, casually tossing his own sword in the air and easily catching it when it came down.

"And a show-off, it seems," Eliza remarked.

He grinned, "Par for the course."

Too excited to wait, Leah jumped in, "Leo and I come from a temple of Elwyn; I was in training to be a priest, but that didn't work out, so now I'm here! I'm not particularly good at fighting, so I mainly just carry the supplies.

"As Leah said, I also grew up in the Temple of Elwyn. We're related if it wasn't obvious; in particular, she's my younger sister," Leo said. He held up his bare fists that looked thick and sturdy from a lot of conditioning. "I've spent a lot of time training and am quite good a close quarter combat.

"A Monk and a Priest trainee? What did you both do to end up at a place like this?" Eliza asked in shock.

"I blew up the temple," Leah said, raising her hand with a bright smile.

Leo lightly karate chopped Leah on the head, "I've told you not to happily say that. You say that in front of an inquisitor, and you'll be burned at the stake before dinner."

"She… blew up a temple?" Eliza was flabbergasted.

"Yep!" Leah said brightly.

"How?" Eliza asked, and Leo sighed.

"One night, I was playing with a bunch of the makeup and other products the priestesses used and accidentally caused a little explosion. Some things went down, and Leo lost his vision, and the temple wanted to throw us out. So I replicated it, but with more of the stuff. A lot more." Leah said with a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

Leo cut in before she could say any more, "to make a long story short, I lost my vision, and the temple abandoned us before we were ultimately sent here.

Suddenly it clicked for Eliza why his gaze was so unnerving. It's not that he was seeing through her; he wasn't seeing her at all.

"How're you gonna fight if you can't see?" Eliza asked curiously.

Leo smiled as he responded, "As I said earlier, I can feel the energy of nature and the living things around me. I can't see per say, but I can feel where most things are at in a radius around me. However, The energy in Demons is apparent, so it'll be hard for any to sneak up on us. But that's enough about us; what about you, Eliza?"

Everyone turned to look at her, and she met their expectant gazes and sighed internally. "There's nothing much to say, My father trained me from a young age, and I joined the army at the age of 9. I've managed to survive up until now."

"I've heard about the Silverian Empires' practice of having the young on the battlefield, but many people must think it extreme," Leo said

Eliza shrugged, "Demons don't really care about the difference, and there's enough popping up all over the place that people don't really think much about it. The earlier a person learns to fight, the better."

"How did you end up here if you were part of the Silverian army?" Demitrus interjected, "Surely an army as feared as that wouldn't abandon its own to the enemy."

Eliza smiled sadly, "You're right. However, it's a different matter when you're a deserter."

Demitrus raised an eyebrow, "Care to elaborate?"

Eliza shook her head, "No, not really. Can we start sparring now?" She was itching for a fight after being confined for so long.

"If you're itchin for a fight, how about you face off against me? Imperial brat." An approaching voice said.

The group turned to see a lone man approach; he was fairly well-built and held a wooden sword in his right hand. When he got close, he raised the point of the wooden sword to Eliza's throat, "Or are you too much of a coward?"

"That's a little rich, A full-grown man calling a 14-year-old girl if she doesn't fight him," Demitrus said with his usual taunting smile.

The man went red in the face, "Shut it, brat. When her empire invaded my homeland last spring, I lost everything. You know nothing of what that's like, so don't you dare lecture me." The man yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth.

Eliza looked beyond the raving madman to see Caldren in the distance with a grin on his face. It was obvious that he had done something. Eliza returned her gaze to the man.

"No, my good sir, I'm afraid It is you who doesn't have the right to lecture me," Demitrus said, A slight edge coming to his voice.

Eliza glanced back to see that he still had his smile on his face, but something about it was terrifying. Demitrus started to walk towards them but stopped when Eliza held up a hand.

"I'll handle this." She said, returning her gaze to the man.

"Do you now?" Demitrus asked.

"Yes, how do I make it so that the mark won't go off when we 'spar'" Eliza asked.

The man grinned, "Got some guts, do you? Don't worry about the mark; the moment you accept my challenge, you'll be in for the beatdown of your pathetic lifetime." He lightly jabbed to dull point of his wooden sword into Eliza's throat.

"Is that so?" Eliza said, calmly looking at the man; she gave the man a wide smile. "Very well then, I accept." And then she attacked.