"Lady Eli, may I have a bit of your time?" The prince approached me first thing in the morning.

"Sure. May I help you, Prince Ludwin?"

" Here is the reply from my father about what we talked about the other day. Sorry that we could only do this much." He tried his best not to look down, given his royal status, but his eyes shifted away from me as if feeling guilty.

"That was quicker than I expected," I said. When I opened the letter, I read the list of supplies the royals could provide and how they would send it together with the recently returned royal guard.

"Please excuse me for a moment," I asked permission to pick flowers from Prince Ludwin. I needed to talk to R25B. The supply given out was less than half of what my father had requested.

"Sorry, but my father said if your father could hold the frontline for two more weeks, we could give you more."

"Alright. Thank you, Prince Ludwin. If you will excuse me." I went away to the toilet at once and wore my earclip.

"R25B, I have the reply from Prince Ludwin. Could you give it to my father?"

"Yes. That would be 5 Gold."

"What?"

"Sorry, kiddo. But business is business. Besides, you can afford it, right?"

"Fine! It was just talking to R663. Why does it cost so much money!?"

"Your county is currently jammed. The phone's wind magic couldn't get in. So, Narwhal has to get outside, then come in again as a trader."

"Really? Will he be safe?"

"His chance of survival is high. The road isn't blockaded, so he could make a run for it. Handler3 said the road was quite safe as long as you didn't stick out like a sore thumb on it. He also noted several pockets of ambushers. But your father diligently wiped them every day, so the road is safe. As long as no big convoy was there, R663 could come and go as he pleases."

"Alright. Thank you. Will the supplies be enough for the next attack? Will my family be safe? Have you prepared an escape route?"

"I don't think your father will want to leave County Shadowstep even if it costs him his life."

"But the supplies aren't enough! Do you think we could buy more?"

"Well, buying would be a no. 500 points would only net you 10 guns and 300 ammo. It would barely make a dent. I would suggest embezzling guns from others. Just like what John Sark does."

"Eh? How can we do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe ask the prince. According to the info I received, we need more ammunition, building supplies, and gun parts. Maybe you could swap them out?"

"I have no idea what he needed. Everything looked important." I looked at the list Father gave me. It basically consisted of building supplies, cannonballs, bullets, gun parts, cannon parts, and feystones. He could probably do away with feystones because he still had mages, but I wasn't sure. Feystones could be made into exploding devices, such as modern mines or grenades. In that case, feystones were as important as ammunition.

"Well, is this all of the message? Your points will be reduced from 620 to 615."

"Ask my father if he could withstand the assault."

"Okay."

"And also, the prince said he would send the royal guards to guard the supplies," I reported. "They will set off tomorrow."

"Hmm? The incompetent Royal Guard? That's not good then." R25B frowned. I couldn't actually see him frown, but his tone was negative.

"The incompetent? Didn't my father kick them out because of a lack of guns?"

"But his county has arrows and bows. But they couldn't use them. Hence, I said they were incompetent. Moreover, Handler3 also noted their bad, condescending attitude."

"I see. But they were just going to deliver goods, right?"

"I think I have to ask you to accompany them. Knowing them, they wouldn't be able to do anything if ambushed."

"What about my school?"

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Your school or your county?"

"Urg!! My education might be in danger because of this. I wonder if Alicia could help me."

"R661 will also help you. But you have to ask the prince to let you in on the escort."

"No need. The prince would be suspicious if I brought some random beautiful boy."

I returned from my talk with R25B and found out that the morning lesson was over. During lunch, I walked up to Prince Ludwin.

"Prince Ludwin, if I may be so bold, could you permit me to accompany the supply task with the royal guards?"

"What? Are you out of your mind? It is dangerous!" Prince Ludwin half screamed, together with his royal guards. His royal guards looked at me agape at my crazy idea, but one of them smirked.

"There must have been a reason, right? Why did my father send reapers specifically to me so I could ask you for the supplies."

"Relax! Lady Eli. The royal guard is the most elite of soldiers. Your supplies will reach there in time."

"Prince Ludwin, if I may interject, I think Lady Eli was doubting our royal guards' loyalty." Gladeus, one of Prince Ludwin's guards, smirked while looking at me.

"What?"

"Well, she might have some bias against the royal guard due to the incident several months ago. But that doesn't excuse her decision now. Besides, what can she do if the supply is ambushed?" Thor, the other guard, commented.

"I only wanted to make sure the supplies arrived on schedule."

"You think the royal guard will lose if ambushed? Besides, if they do, what can you do?" Thor was irritated. His father was in the military department, so he was not so happy when I derided military prowess.

"I see. It was to ensure no embezzlement occurred, huh?" Prince Ludwin said.

"Hm? Prince Ludwin?" Thor asked.

"There were signs of embezzlement of our military supplies to County Shadowstep."

"Well, how much?" Thor asked.

"Huh? You knew? What do you mean, how much? Any amount of embezzlement would warrant capital punishment!" Gladeus retorted. "We must have those supplies and suppliers audited immediately!"

"Gladeus, my father is in military affairs, and when I looked at his accountant book, there was always some kind of corruption. As long as it is not too big, the superiors are going to turn a blind eye to them. Investigating them would take more resources after all." Thor shrugged. I facepalmed at the morals and behavior of this country. Are we going to be okay? No wonder rebellions happened left and right in several years in the webnovels.

"My apologies, Prince Ludwin."

"No, thank you for your honesty. It is not my place to punish you or your father. But I will not let this situation slide so easily. We will re-order our nobles and cast away those corrupt officials." Ludwin clenched his fist upon hearing Thor's honest remark. While I saluted his endeavor, I don't think it would be that easy to govern them. Just look at Baron Kharn. If he was the standard noble in the central, then Prince Ludwin would have a bloody path ahead of him to clean them up.

"So, Prince Ludwin, may I go?"

"No! Prince Ludwin, let me be the one to go. Lady Eli is not part of the military!" Alicia was outraged. I looked at her, astonished. Alicia, why pick now of all times to act crazy.

"Well…"

"Of course not, Prince Ludwin. While Alicia is a warrant officer, she was a commoner."

"What if you are attacked?" Alicia exclaimed with worry.

"I can defend myself! You know it."

"No. At least, let me join you."

"Alicia…"

"Hm… Well, if you want to go." Ludwin frowned. "I will make arrangements."

"Thank you, Prince Ludwin."

"You are welcome. I know you must have been so worried about your county. My father said it was a trait of a good leader to care for your citizens. I will meet you at the royal barracks tomorrow."

The prince then left with his entourage. I had a few people asking me for details, and Alicia indulged them for the rest of the day. Together, we created some kind of propaganda about what had befallen County Shadowstep—how we should help each other, how the northern frontier needed assistance, etc. While many knights were encouraged and gave us their cheers, some of them (mostly merchants) doubted our words.

Morning came, and I shed my school uniform in lieu of my traveling clothes. As I opened my chest, I recoated my throwing knives with paralysis poison, then I put them inside my vest, all sheathed. After checking my reaper card and my cartographer tool attached to it, I rendezvous with Alicia in the front yard. She too, was dressed in traveling clothes. Seeing her bust protrude out of the vest made me angry. She looked like a novice mage you see in games, while I looked like her archer younger sister.

"Are you ready, Lady Eli?"

"Yes. Let's go."

We hired two horses for the trip (Alicia was the one who hired them). We could technically buy these horses; I had talked to Alicia about it, but we needed a stable boy for it. When I mentioned Leon (R661 in disguise), she wondered if we actually needed it as students. By the way, there was a horseriding class in the academy. I passed it with flying colors, as magic could be used, but it was very awkward in the beginning. My skill, Fearless, stopped me from panicking due to the fear of heights, but I couldn't help my hands going stiff.

After a slower start, I used my magic on the horse to show him an illusion of where he should go. First, a simple illusion showing some kind of unique shiny things, making the horse walk towards it. Then a floating grass, causing the horse to trot to wherever I wanted (I gave it a real carrot for its hard work). The last one was a scary illusion that made him gallop away from it. With illusions, I no longer needed to learn about riding crop, leg cues using stirrups, or even reins. I only needed to focus on my body and balance it on the horse.

This cheating method was then copied by the prince, who came in second. Nana, who whimpered and believed she would be placed dead last, looked at my method and used illusions to train the horse, securing third place in the class. Our instructor mentioned that our riding skills were nowhere close to knights engaged in battle, but he passed us anyway since it was enough to run away to save our lives. Safira, on the other hand, could barely climb to the top of the horse by the time we were done with the lesson. She needed to learn it the hard way. Maybe I could make magic devices so she could control the horses more easily. I could picture reins with five buttons on it: walk, trot, sprint, left, and right?

As my horse trotted to the barracks, the prince was there—not in his royal garments or school uniform, but in his traveling clothes. His guards were also present in similar attire.

"Greetings, Lady Elidranthia."

"Greetings, Prince Ludwin. You dressed fairly modest today."

"Well, I am joining you on your campaign to Shadowstep County!" The prince declared.

...

"What?" Alicia and I stared at him in disbelief.