> Under the rule of the King, the Socenian Army invaded and annexed sixteen tributaries, marched Southward to Ibazan capital Dadriad, and seized the Cercelian portside city Porudo. Their well-equipped army of Lightforged Crusaders became the most feared troop in all of the Continent, not only for their elitism, but also for their scathing brutality. The Porudo massacre was the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians in the last hundred years. A company of Socenian knights slaughtered most of the people—women, children, and elders. More than a thousand people were murdered in the massacre, including young girls and women who were mutilated before being killed.

>

> [...] It is the duty of Three Kingdoms Coalition to stop this hysterical bloodlust at all cost.

Excerpt from "The Call for Unity against the tyranny of Socen"

Melodi Baggardo

"You shouldn't be here." The voice echoes around the training field, creaking like the hinges of a rusty iron gate. I shudder for a second at the thought that I might be in trouble before realizing whose voice it is.

I turn back and see a woman who might pass as in her 20s even though she's almost half that age. Her skin a strong, russet brown with a warm undertone, her hair a black, fizzy blow out, and her body a walking mass of abs and lean. Swirling bodies of air braid around her body, forming visible undulated patterns behind her back.

"How are my favorite rule breakers doin'?" Placing her hands on her hips, she says with a smirk, switching from her serious voice to an innocent high-pitched one in an instant.

I drop my bow and run towards the person, yelling, "Tammy!"

Tammy outstretches her hand for a hug. We cradle for a while before letting go.

"I've missed you," I say in a voice that came out way coddlier than I would've liked.

She smiles. "We've been a tad busy with our own things, aye? I've been working on this new level for Tier 4 Officer promotion, and it involves strawberries! Bet you'll like it. And you, well, how's the plowing going?"

"Don't even ask." I pout. "Father said he would let Missy pulling the carruca, but when I got to the field, I saw no horse. So I was the horse." Eugene starts snickering, so I throw a punch at his general direction.

"That's harsh. Even pretty boy Eugene gets away, and the boy breaks the rules all the time."

"He's always been harsher to me." I scrunch my nose.

"You're a Baggardo. You have the surname of the royalty, aye? It comes with the package."

I say nothing and only give her what I think is a smile. I don't get why Father is rougher towards me than others. It almost feels like I'm lacking behind, so he has to give me an extra push.

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"So, sneaked in to practice again?" Tamara says. "You could've just asked, you know. I won't ever say no to my favorite girl." She eyes Eugene. "And oh, it seems like you finally convinced the boy to spar with you."

"Actually, she only asked me an hour earlier." Eugene replies for a distance.

"Really?" Tamara gives me a quizzical look. "You told me you were going to ask him a fortnight ago!"

"I was! I just. . . forgot about it."

"Did you really?" Tamara smirked.

"Yes. I forgot." In reality, I didn't know how to tell Eugene I wanted to fight alongside him when I shamed his work ethics all the time. "Why are you here, Tam? Shouldn't you be having dinner by the fireside?"

"It's literally my job to be here, y'know."

Tamara Nnake is the Groundskeeper of the infrastructure here as well as a Tier 2 Officer like Leviathan, which means that she's only a level below Captain Azra. Her cheery and loquacious attitude doesn't match the inner power in her tone, at all, and it definitely doesn't match the raging tornadoes she can conjure as a Storm Bringer.

"Good evening, Miss Venerable Officer. What brings you here to this sacred land?" Eugene places his hand on his chest and mimics a bow. He always do these sorts of grand gestures around Tamara. I think he has a crush on the Groundskeeper, but judging from the way he always acts, he might as well has a crush on a tree that's shaped like woman buttocks.

"Quit talking like a Socenian royalty, Eugene. You know you ain't one." Tamara raises her voice but keeps the relaxed tone.

"Doesn't mean I can't be one." He winks, or at least attempts to. "Maybe the there are a few spinsters in the Royal Family with a good taste in men and a peculiar fondness for secluded forests who'll explore these woods and eventually fallen into the hand of a, uh, forest dragon. Then I'll be the hero and snatch her from the hands of the monster."

"What's with you and your weird obsession with princesses?" I say.

"Wow, wow, wow." He clutches his chest. "It's not an obsession. It's a way of life. There's nothing wrong for a skilled young man like me to aspire to become a hero."

"You guys are such kids whenever you're together." Hands folded before her chest, Tamara snorts.

"I'm not a kid. He is!" I point to Eugene at the same time he points to me and yell, "I'm not a kid. She is!"

"Yeah, yeah. How many tests do you have left?"

"Three," says Eugene.

"Let's render the third one, then."

Tamara walks to the side of the field, climbs up an umpire chair a head higher than us, and puts on a special goggle that makes Soul Dust looks semi-transparent. I run the machine, and the terrain before us changes again. It looks like a military barrack nestling inside of a wide ravine. However, inside the barrack stands four very high posts, two in the middle and two near the mountainsides. Two ropes dangle from the top of these posts down to about a meter from the ground, swinging from side to side with incredible speed even though there's no wind.

"Take this stick." I take two glowing stick, keep the red one and throw the blue one to Eugene. "So the goal is that both of us need to do fifteen push-ups, fifteen sit-ups, then sprint to the posts to the side. Then we have to climb up those posts and wait to catch the ropes as it goes up near where we are. We then swing from one side to another and try to make our sticks touch in the air without falling."

"Sounds like a lot of work for nothing. A stamina torture fest, basically," Eugene groans.

Sitting with her ankle on her knee, Tamara calls out. "Do you wanna know how you can pass this level super easily?"

"Duh. Tell us!" Eugene turns to the Groundskeeper.

"You still have to do the push-ups and sit-ups, but once you get to the posts on the side, climb up the posts until you get to the big creaks."

I look at the ropes swinging and asks. "But that place is way lower than where the rope is going to swing when it reaches the posts on the sides."

"Doesn't matter. If you climb to exactly that and hold your hand out, the rope will fly towards you as if you're a magnet. And then you can actually control the speed of the rope too. So timing when your sticks are gonna touch is much easier."

"So it's a glitch?" I ponder.

"Yup," Tamara smiles triumphantly, as if she's actually proud of finding the said glitch.

"Isn't that exploiting the system? It's not supposed to work like that."

"Since it's the system's fault, nobody can say nothing. You're gonna pass," She replies. "There should always be an easy way out of everything. If there isn't, you're toasted."

"Well. I'm not gonna say no to the idea." Eugene shrugs.

This is actually one of the hardest third test. I don't want to practice for eighteen years just to fail before I even get to the combat exams.

Maybe I can cheat. It's not even cheating. Tamara said it's the system's fault.

"If I happen to have to go through this test, you're not gonna tell Father about this?" I ask Tamara.

"Oh, I won't know. I won't be the umpire."

"Then who will?"

"The General, of course. It's his daughter's exam."

I shudder. Father can't see me cheat. I will make him proud. I have to.

I turn to Eugene and glare at him. "If you stop where the creak is when you climb up that post, I'll kill you."

"Wow." His eyes widen. "Why so serious, Miss Stuck-Up? It's just a practice test."

"Stop talking and start doing push-ups." I clench the stick in my hand.