Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Chapter 103: Test Of Courage Part Two

After taking a few minutes to calm down Alicia finally felt the cold of the air sinking in. She quickly closed the window and turned around. "There was supposed to be some kind of explanation of what we are supposed to do but I have not heard anything yet..." 

While Alicia was lost in thought as she tried to figure out what was going on a knock came on the door. "Rachel! Are you not up yet!? Come out here quickly and help me clean! Otherwise, the Countess will have you kneeling out in the yard again or worse!" 

"Huh? Oh, I will be right out!" Alicia answered. Not sure what was going on. But she did understand one thing. She was a servant and it seems that she gets into trouble with this Countess person a lot. 

Alicia looked around the room and found a long grey skirt hanging on the wall. She walked over and stripped off her nightwear and put the skirt on. She also put on a pair of boots that were sitting near the door. When she was done she exited the room to see a young girl who was a little shorter than herself standing anxiously outside the door. "Rachel! Finally, you came out! Quickly or we will both be in trouble!" The young girl grabbed Alicia's hand and pulled her along heading down the hall and up a set of stairs.

When they got to the top of the stairs there was a rickety old door that led outside. Alicia had noticed that as she walked down the hall with the young girl there were many other rooms here. The young girl pushed the door open and pulled Alicia outside with her. The cold wind pierced through their clothing that was definitely not made for this kind of weather. Looking back Alicia saw that the place they had just exited from was only a small building standing above the ground. It seemed that the servant quarters were situated underground. 

Lost In thought Alicia came to when she felt something being shoved into her hands. She looked down to see an old shovel in her hands. "We have to quickly clear this snow or else the Countess will punish us both!" The young girl said as she started to shovel the snow around them. The girl shoveled out a large space before stopping to look over at Alicia. "Rachel what are you doing help me!" 

Hearing the young girl yell over to her once again Alicia finally snapped out of her daze and replied: "Ah! Yeah sorry!" Before quickly going to work. 

Alicia could tell that it was still early morning. The sun had yet to really make an entrance and only the light that peered over the horizon gave enough light to see what they were doing. The two continued to shovel the snow, clearing out a path from each entrance and connecting them to allow the other servants to go about their jobs with ease. As Alicia worked, she kept trying to figure out what her purpose was during this time. To her, it seemed as if hours had passed by but she was not sure if that was the case in the real world. She had never once received any information on what she needed to accomplish in order to pass this test. This point was really starting to bother Alicia. 

A few things that she did find out was that the girl next to her was named Beth. Beth was the same age as her in this Illusion which was fifteen. The Countess's name was Countess Eleanor Covett. It was said that the Countess was not a good human being at all. She would beat and punish servants for the littlest things. There were even a few who had lost their lives from being thrown to the dogs. Those that were whipped had to tend to their wounds at night and still wake up early the next morning to work. 

The servants under the Countess were all bought from a slave trader. Beth and Alicia were actually from the same place before their country was riddled with war. The two were good friends since childhood so they both had escaped together hoping to find work in a new land to take care of themselves. But who would have thought that as soon as they crossed the border they were kidnapped and shoved into a cage? Luckily they were both bought by the same person so that they could stay together. 

While Alicia was poking and prodding Beth was wondering if something had happened to Rachel's brain since she seemed to have "forgotten many things". Servants were only allowed one meal a day. Which they got to have at night. This was something that Alicia frowned upon since they had to spend an entire day doing manual labor. Alicia could feel her stomach growling only after working for a few hours. Having to work all day without any food was a very hard thing to do.

After a full day's worth of work, Alicia walked into her small room and closed the door. She felt exhausted all over. She walked over to the bed and sat down trying to piece together everything she learned. "If I am not wrong this scenario is meant to save these servants from their harsh life. Which would mean I need to have the courage to stand up and go against the countess. This would be a dumb move for someone with no backing or noble rank..."

--

While Alicia was pondering her purpose in her scenario the others were also having similar experiences. Standing outside the Illusion World was King Augustus, his eyes trained on to the white sphere in front of him with his hands behind his back, and next to him was the knight in light leather armor. "Your majesty this isn't normal! Every year we give some hints on how to pass the test so that they do not get confused. But this year..." 

"This year is different. These kids need to understand their surroundings and figure out the situation they are in. If they can not figure this much out on their own then we do not need them in our ranks! Becoming a knight will put one in many situations where they will have to figure out what is going on. Only by finding the clues at hand and piecing them all together will they be able to survive long into the future! " King Augustus explained.

"Well, this I can not deny... But that little girl, Alicia's tests You set the test to max difficulty! On top of that, there were three other girls who got medium difficulty!" The Knight in light leather complained. He did not understand why these girls were being tried so unfairly. He could only guess that these girls had somehow angered the king and were being punished! 

"Do not worry they will be fine! Those four girls are special." 

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