Time pa.s.sed and Alicia and her group made it to the Frozen Forest. After the incident in Eternal Snow Village, the rest of the journey went without any issues. That was until they reached the mouth of the Frozen Forest where not only did the temperature drop drastically to the point that everyone needed to use magic to keep their bodies warm. The height of the snow on the ground also rose greatly. It was so high in fact that Alicia actually needed to be piggybacked by Blake in order to even progress any further since the snow literally went up to just above her waist. For Alicia, although this was embarra.s.sing she actually was quite happy about this situation since it gave her a reason to be able to hug Blake. As they walked, Starla, Rose, and Annelia were both snickering while they walked. "Young Miss looks very happy to be so close to Sir Blake."
"She does, she does. Look at the grin on her face as she snuggles up close to him." Starla pointed out.
"It"s only a matter of time before they get married from the looks of it." Annelia also added her observation.
"Oh, that time has already pa.s.sed since they have already promised to marry when they get older!" Starla quickly corrected Annelia.
"What really!? Now I feel a bit ashamed to be this old already with no suitors... I wonder when I will find my true love." Annelia suddenly felt very depressed finding out that Alicia who was 4 years her junior was already engaged to such a handsome and dependable man like Blake.
Annelia"s words. .h.i.t home not only for Starla and Rose but also for Sue and Bridget. Who now all felt that they might be lacking in the feminine department. All four suddenly let out a simultaneous sigh. "After this test let"s do our best to find ourselves a suitor!" Starla suddenly spoke up after a moment of silence.
But her words did not garner much enthusiasm since if it was that easy to get a man to notice you it would have happened a long time ago. Alicia and Blake, who were walking up front were oblivious of the girls who were taking up the rear"s plight.
Night quickly fell causing the already cold temperatures to drop even more. Everyone had to work quickly to make a makes.h.i.+ft shelter using earth magic. Blake, Sue, and Bridget could not help with this. So it was left up to the four girls to create the shelter. Rose and Starla went off to find firewood. While Annelia and Alicia worked on building the shelter. Luckily Annelia forte in magic was earth magic. She used this to a great extent while fighting.
Not only could it be used to s.h.i.+eld incoming attacks it can also be used as a way to throw her opponents off balance to create openings while she is fighting. With Alicia who was basically an all rounder when it came to magic, they quickly made a large hut made of earth that could easily fit seven people. Sue and Bridget suggested that Blake should make his own hut but Alicia refused their suggestion saying if there was ever an incident where we were under attack having a separate hut would waste valuable seconds. As such Blake was allowed to stay with the girls.
Now although Alicia had s.p.a.ce, she was not allowed to use it for anything except bathroom use only. Sue and Bridget also had their own s.p.a.ce as well. Blake and the girls used Alicia"s. Of course, Annelia had to swear an oath that she would never divulge any information about Alicia and those around her which included Frey who Annelia fell in love with.
Once everything was settled Sue took out a large map of the Frozen Forest and laid it out onto the floor by the fire for the girls to look at. "Now that you have made it to the Frozen Forest and set up camp. I will explain to you your main goal. See this ring here?" Sue pointed to a section of the map with a large ring shape to it. "This is the inner frost zone. In this place, there is a plant called the Frost Flower. Frost Flowers are used in making elixirs of various kinds for healing. Your main goal while surviving for the next two months is to make it to this location. Get a Frost Flower and keep it safe until you reach the capital."
Alicia immediately picked on the words "keep it safe". "Sue what do you mean by keeping it safe?"
"This you will find out in due time. Remember this is training, that means you will need to face many dangers along the way. Blake, Bridget, and I are here to make sure you do not die or help handle special cases. So if you lose your Frost Flower or fail to obtain one, we will not help you. It would just mean you failed your training mission and you will gain demerits." Sue gave everyone a serious look. She was not trying to scare them but she wanted them to understand that this was a training mission for a reason and that there will be gains and losses if you succeed or fail.
Alicia was starting to understand a few things. During this training mission while in the Frozen Forest, the Frost Flower will most likely draw the attention of the demonic beasts within the forest. While outside the Frozen Forest there will more than likely be people who want to covet the flower since it was worth a great deal of money and is hard to obtain. This meant that very few squads would actually finish the mission, that is if they have the same mission as they did. Which more than likely they did not. She could only guess that her father was the one who came up with this hard test in order to make it more difficult for her without thinking about the ones in her squad.
***
If you are not reading this at [W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l .c.o.m.], then the content you"re reading is stolen! Please support the author at [w.w.w.w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l.c.o.m./.b.o.o.k./.14.8.1.3.6.1.6.5.0.6.7.7.8.9.0.5./.P.h.a.n.t.a.s.i.a.%.3.A.-.T.h.e.-.P.r.i.n.c.e.s.s.-.K.n.i.g.h.t.]remove periods for address since some sites monitor warnings like this.