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--- Lorsiss ---

May 8th, 2025

In the town of Lorsiss, Princess Piña Co Lada is currently in a tavern, together with her are Grey Co Aldo, Norma Co Igloo, and her servant Hamilton Uno Ror. The four of them are warriors of her Rose Order of Knights unit. They were forced to stop in this town because of sudden heavy rain, as It had become too dangerous for them to continue.

"Well, I hope this does not slow us down tomorrow," she said, just speaking what is on her mind. "It would suck to miss the war because of some rain."

"Do not worry Princess," Hamilton replied. "The rain is only a delay, it will only be a matter of time before we get to Italica." said to her, trying to reassure her.

"I know Hamilton, but this also means the rest of the Rose-Order of Knights will be delayed too. If we are going to ride these intruders from the other side of the Gate, we will need all of us. Every day they occupy Alnus Hill is an embarrassment for the Empire." she states.

Grey walks up and then sat across her. He then took a sip of his beer from the mug. "Do not worry Princess. The battle will come. Do not let your eagerness get the better of yourself."

She glances at Grey as she takes the mug. Grey has been in her life since she was ten. He was her first and longest mentor. He helped start the Rose-Order Knights academy and trained her in the arts of war.

"I know you want to prove yourself and your Knights to your father." Grey said before looking to his side, becoming annoyed.

"Yes…," she mumbles and then takes a drink. She quickly spits it out. "That tastes nasty."

Grey chuckles. "It is the common people drink, Princess. People down here cannot afford the luxurious drink."

She looks at her beer. "Peasant drinks. Very nasty."

She hears Norma flirting at the next table. While she knows what he is doing, she glances over out of boredom.

Norma is laughing with one of the female humanoid Cat-People, slapping his hand on her butt. "Hey kitty." He then gives a flirty meow to her.

She rolls her eyes at the sight. "That is the third tonight. Plus, the other ten from the other towns. I am shocked he doesn't have any bastards."

Gray glances towards him. "That is not professional for a Knight."

"Well, he is still our best Knight," she mumbles.

She thinks back to her training. While the Rose Knights are dominated by daughters of Noble families, there have been some men.

She beat them all like Herm Casel. That made her think that she was the best. That was before they betrayed her to suck up to her older brother Zorzal.

Then Norma came around and he berated her in a dual. This was the first time she lost in training and he said that he was not going to go easy on her because she is royalty.

That was when she figured out that she and her Knights were not being taken seriously as real Knights. That everyone was letting her win and since then, she wanted to prove herself to everyone that she is a real Knight.

Norma just waves him off, not caring about his objection. "Ahh..., it is a bit of fun. It is why I joined the Rose knights after all, all the pretty ladies." He said, winking at Pina.

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Norma laughs a little after saying that. He takes out a coin and puts it between the Cat-Woman breasts. "I am in trouble right now but later we can continue this fun."

"Ok my lord." the Cat-Woman said with a giggle.

She watches him make a fool of himself. "I just don't understand men. They fall apart at the sight of boobs. Even the most honorable and mannered of men fall apart at the sight."

"Women have a powerful effect on men, Princess." Grey said. "However, what Norma is doing is not professional."

"At least he respected me when it counted." she mumbles.

After her first duel four years ago, she offered him to join the Rose Knights. While he joined for not the noblest reasons, he never treated the female Knight as less.

Norma walks over and sits across Pina "And please, don't worry. We will crush these new enemies. Chase them back to their world and conquer the ladies."

"Norma, this is serious," she comments. "We have one chance at this. If we fail, the Rose knights will be a joke forever."

Grey jumps into the conversation. "We should focus more on the enemy then your reputation. The only thing we know about this enemy is that they defeated the invasion force."

"Also, the hundred thousand force that was defending the hill. We still haven't heard from any news from our vassals." Hamilton adds. "This is definitely an interesting time for the Empire."

"Yeah, yeah... You're acting like they haven't lost anything either. Didn't our latest scout report that the hill only lightly manned? They have to be at their limits." Norma stated as he looked at some other women.

Before anyone could comment, they would all hear a laugh coming from a nearby table. A man with a big mug is looking down at the table. "You act like victory is certain and yet you haven't faced them in battle. They have no honor and they give none."

Hear that Pina stands up, getting angry. "Watch how you speak peasant! We will defeat this enemy; the Empire will defeat them. We never lost a war, against all the races of our world."

The man just laughs. He starts to mumble nonsense

This man's attitude angers her. How can this commoner be so insulting?

"Watch your tongue," she said. "I am the Princess of the Empire! I will-."

Grey places his hand on her shoulder, to calm her down. "Soldier, I take it you were at Alnus Hill?"

She looks at Grey confused. She looks back at the crazy drunk man and notices he is wearing an Imperial uniform. That is when she realizes that this man is an Imperial Soldier who has abandoned his ranks.

The drunk soldier takes another long drink and looks over to them, clearly not caring about their status. "I was there... I am all that is left of my unit...." He said, collecting himself. "They came in the middle of the night. These monsters were in armored, moving siege engines. I don't know what they were, but they came and just slaughtered everyone around the Gate."

"I remember watching the carnage. One of our firebombs from our trebuchet hit their armored wagons and... nothing... No damage. All these others... war engines came through and their warriors came out of them, firing some kind of invisible magic, killing all of us. Our shields, our armor was worthless. We were better off naked(1)." He said, taking a long drink until his mug is empty.

At their table, it became quiet as everyone tried to understand or believe what he was saying.

Norma spoke first. "How many did you kill? How long was the battle?"

The man shakes his head, reliving the memories. "I still do not understand. The battle lasted for an hour, maybe two. Everyone was dead. I remember seeing General Ulr Dan taking his Cavalry, flaking. There were so few of the enemy. And yet we were all just wiped out"

The man continues talking, splitting between talking to himself and their table. "He and his three thousand horsemen got the closest but were slaughtered."

"And how did you end up here?" Hamilton asked him.

He just looks at her and then laughs again. He stands up, clearly drunk. "Were all going to die." And then he starts to wobble off, drunk.

She stands up angrily again. "Hey, get back here you deserter. How dare you say something like that! Norma, go get that man so he can be crucified."

Grey takes a sip from her beer and then sets his hub down hard, clearly wanting their attention. "Calm down Princess. Let him be."

She looked at him confused. "Why? He is a disgrace."

"We got everything we needed to know from him. He is no longer of any use for us. He is just a drunk sad man now. Leave him be and let us focus on tomorrow." Grey said, thinking about the new information.

She thinks about what the deserter said. She sits down and debates if what he said is true.

Her nerves are high as she sees this her big chance to become famous. While her brother Zorzal gets everything, he wishes with no effort, she has had to work and push for everything. Finally, she will get to see battle and have a name for herself.

"That man is full of it," Norma said. He looks at the three and sees how serious they look. "You don't actually believe a word he said right? He is crazy."

"Crazy yes but he is not lying," Grey said. "I have been in war; I have seen battle. Battle can do that to someone. Watching your men get killed all around you can break a soldier. Now I do not know how much of what he said is true but that is not the point. The lesson is this, we are facing an enemy that directly threatens the Empire."