Alice woke up around dawn and got up. It was time to show what an impressive guard she would make. Unfortunately she didn't have any fighting training, but she did have good eyesight and could stay alert for an extended period of time. "There you are!"

Surprised Alice spun around to the door to see Bern frowning at her. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you got me into for disappearing on my watch?"

Oops. "Uh ... sorry. I didn't mean to just disappear. I was looking around and then saw-"

"Spare me the details. I don't care. The commander wants to see you." Without waiting for a reply he turned around and walked out of the door. Alice sighed. She really wasn't trying to make people angry, it just happened. She'd have to make it up to him somehow if he would give her the chance.

Commander Aston was in the same room as yesterday and when he saw her he rolled up the map he had been staring at, stood up and beckoned her to follow him out of the command building and towards the armory. The door was thick and heavy, and unlike for the other buildings the windows were all boarded up with wooden planks reinforced with iron. He put a key in the door, held it there for a bit until the door clicked, then opened it. They went inside a room full of all kinds of weapons. There were normal ones like swords and spears but also whips and reinforced fans. Commander Aston waited at the door and asked her to pick one.

Alice looked around and tried to think fast. She should be giving the impression of picking her favorite weapon, not trying one out for the first time. A knife or a dagger would be the safest. Those are relatively easy to use, just stab the pointy end into your opponent. Also she had used knives before like everyone else, just not for stabbing people. Unless you count stabbing that pig-fox or whatever it was, but that was mostly the spirit's doing. She'd have to rely on it again.

A sword on the other hand had momentum and would require training to use correctly. Maybe insane talent would do too, but she didn't have that. Still, swinging a sword couldn't be that difficult. She didn't even consider exotic weapons since she didn't want to hurt herself. She needed it to be impressive though. Waving a knife around just wasn't. Then she saw it.

It was a sword similar to what Lady Veis used, except lacking the glow, and she just had to have it. It was long for a sword, standing in a corner, its handle reaching to her chest. The blade was triangular with a sharp tip and wide near the long handle with a fancy bat-like guard. She could already imagine herself flying through the air and swinging it, a whirlwind of bladed death to anyone who'd oppose her. Alice reached for the sword.

"Are you sure?" Aston asked, clearly doubting her, and in answer she grabbed the sword. It was heavy. It was fine while the floor carried most of its weight and she just pulled it from the corner, but lifting it up took a lot of effort and dragging it on the floor would probably cause the commander to yell at her for ruining the sword and the floor.

Alice looked up. "I'm still weakened from my illness. And I need to train."

Aston nodded. "I'll take that into account. Follow me." He turned to the exit while Alice used both hands to flip the sword upwards, only to accidentally put a chink in the ceiling. She lowered the sword onto her shoulder. She could do this. But not by herself.

*Come to me* she thought at the spirit, hoping it would somehow get the message despite not being in her body. *I need your help.* The floor wavered and she could feel the strange sensation of the spirit flowing through her body and settling in the walled pocket in her belly, then followed the commander with the sword painfully pressing into her shoulder. She pretended not to notice. Once outside they went past the buildings to the training grounds. There were people walking around on the way, some giving a short nod to the commander, most of them ignored them both. They ended up in a sand arena with seats around it that had a few people hanging out. A girl with a bearded snake-like beast draped around her shoulders stood out to her. She was sitting facing a guy with his own very similar beast. They looked up at them as they entered the plaza. The commander drew his sword startling some of the onlookers.

He turned to Alice with a serious expression. "Alright. I'm an attacker. Defend yourself." He lazily swung his sword toward her and Alice still had to hurry to get her own big sword in front of her in time. The commander's sword clinked against hers and despite holding it with both hands the impact pushed it to the side, making it difficult for her to balance. She took a few steps back and focused. With the weight of the blade it almost made more sense to just position herself around it instead of the other way around. It also felt more like a club than a sword. Aston had attacked from her right. The next slash would come from the left, probably. It was a test after all which limited his options. Her sword was longer than his. A simple swipe from the right would hit him while his sword was too short to hit her and too out of position to block. He would be forced to step back to dodge and take her seriously which was slightly impressive. In her mind she could almost see the curved path, downward into a horizontal slash that would kill or at least severely injure him if it hit. Her sword came down and to the side, but it was too heavy for her and the length made it act like a lever against her hands. The sword impacted the ground between them, making a bit of sand fly to the side. Commander Aston had not moved, neither to attack nor to dodge.

Stolen novel; please report.

He shook his head. "That was about what I expected. Give that to me before you hurt yourself." Alice glared at him, but her shoulder hurt, along with her hands. That move definitely did not look impressive, but it would have if she had had enough strength. In her anger she considered lashing out at him, but there was no point. It was unreasonable to expect to somehow pull off impressive swordsmanship without any training whatsoever or that he wouldn't notice. And it wasn't his fault. She sighed and passed him the sword. The commander nodded. "Report to Rose."

Alice glanced at the people seated to watch, but they had moved on to their own conversations. Right, she wasn't worth watching.

"Yes, commander" she pressed out and turned towards the staff building.

"You should have helped me" she muttered at her spirit on the way. *Only knowledge. Body weak.* Frustrated, Alice kept walking. Being weak sucked. But she wouldn't give up. Bodies could be trained. They had training areas here for the recruits, surely they wouldn't mind her using the facilities while they were empty. And maybe in a month or so she'd be able to do a proper strike with that sword. Since she started from pathetic she could show impressive growth at least. Positive thinking.

Trying to push her frustration away she knocked on the door of the staff building marked with a stylized crop. *Farmer Alice, reporting for duty* she thought bitterly. The door opened and an older woman with an apron answered. Judging by the size of her ... everything, she seemed to have eaten too much food for too long. "Hello dear, what can I do for you?" At least she seemed friendly.

"Uh... are you Rose?" The commander hadn't given her a rank, so she didn't know how to address her properly and from what Alice could tell she was just a regular woman.

"Yes, that's me!" She smiled warmly and Alice felt a little bad for thinking her fat. "And who would you be?"

"I'm Alice. Commander Aston told me to report to you. I'm supposed to help you. He didn't say with what." Rose looked her up and down, not missing the bitterness in her voice. Would people ever get tired of judging her by her looks?

"Is that so? No need for that military talk here. Well, come in. I'll show you around." Rose showed her storage rooms with food, cleaning equipment and, to her dismay, a kitchen.

She assigned Alice as kitchen staff and even gave her her own room. It was medium sized with 2 beds, closets, desks and chairs each, but since she was by herself it was more than enough. She was looking through the empty drawers when she heard the commander yell an unnaturally loud "Form up!"

Soon Rose knocked on her door and immediately opened it without waiting for an answer. "Sorry dear, but that applies to us too." Alice nodded and followed Rose outside, standing on the quickly filling central road. She got a quick glance at the forming groups of staff, recruits and soldiers. There were a lot more people in each group than she had thought, rivaling the population of Kriston in number. She wondered where they were all housed since it didn't look like they'd fit in the houses she had seen, especially considering that most rooms were used for storage.

Commander Aston stood in front of the groups without moving at all. It was unsettling, as if he was merely a statue. Once the last stragglers assembled she could see and hear his barely contained anger.

"A few minutes ago smearings were discovered in the women's barracks. I want to know who did it."

His gaze swept over them and Alice wondered if it was related to Sanel's escapades from the night before. She contemplated if she should say something this time. Would she be blamed for not speaking up earlier?

"If you come forward now I will refrain from harsh punishment. If I find out later I will expulse you from the academy, permanently."

A sudden pressure built on her, threatening to crush her and she couldn't have raised her hand anymore even if she wanted to. It was similar to what Lady Veis had done, but not exactly the same. The commander never had that effect on her before, but now either his anger got the best of him or it was on purpose. She felt her spirit push back against the effect which helped a lot. Judging by Rose's desperate gasps for breath she wasn't as lucky.

Suddenly the pressure stopped and Rose fell to her knees along with the rest of the staff. Alice quickly helped her up, mostly to not stand out as the only one in the staff group not on the ground. The military group seemed unaffected and even the recruits seemed fine. Commander Aston was not done though.

"Where is Sanel? If I catch that little-"

"Sir. Sanel is on a scouting mission" one of the guards spoke up. Commander Aston stared at him and Alice felt some of the pressure again even though it was solely focused on the soldier group now. She was glad she hadn't spoken up because spirit or not, that stare could kill, at least mortals like her. There was an awkward pause where she wasn't sure what the commander would do. Finally the pressure subsided again. "Have him report to me as soon as he arrives. Dismissed." Aston turned around and stomped off to his command building. The soldiers quietly went back to guard the walls while the recruits and staff started whispering to each other, most having no idea what just happened.

From the pieces of conversations she overheard, the hallway of the women's quarters had been painted with portraits of Sanel, some with him as a king and some of them nudes with rather crude embellishments. A part of her was embarrassed and another wanted to see the paintings. Alice flushed and followed Rose back to the staff building where she got new clothes, a light green uniform with the same rice flower as the building and the rest of the staff uniforms. She couldn't help but smile at what the silly man had done. Considering how everything else was going she really could use some shenanigans as long as they were not directed at her.