The world was made of temptations. The land, the trees, the animals, and even the very air spoke sweet words. To simply listen was one thing, but to succumb would lead to her doom, and Christine knew this well. All she had to do was listen but ignore the temptations. But simple didn't mean easy.

Christine sat on the floor of the empty room in the lotus position. Her eyes were closed and her chest rose and fell in a regular rhythm as she controlled her breathing. From time to time, her brow would twitch and her breathing would become erratic, but she would return to equilibrium a moment later.

The room in which Christine meditated was small and void of furniture. There were no windows, plunging the room into total darkness. The silence and darkness combined made the room similar to a lightless void, something that would have sent most people mad if they stayed inside for a long time. Christine meditated for hours in the dark room for days at a time.

Breathe in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.

Christine regulated her breathing and kept her mind clear. The key to meditation wasn't tuning out the environment, but rather the opposite. One was to become constantly aware of their surroundings and oneself, to keep their minds on the present. Christine focused on her steady breathing, on the soft mat she sat on, on the cold air of the room.

From time to time, Christine's mind would wander to the past or wonder about what the future held, but she quickly banished the thoughts whenever they appeared. They always distracted her from her meditation, but instead of becoming angry about it, Christine simply acknowledged them before bringing her focus back.

For most people, meditation was a boring affair, filled with nothing but steady breathing and becoming ‘one with the world.’ But for Christine, it was a heavenly respite she looked forward to every day, for the only thing that waited for her outside the dark room was—

The door to the room cracked open silently and a sliver of light spilled into the room. Her eyes opened and took in the sliver of orange light and she immediately felt the urges. A bright light. Where did it come from? It is orange, so does it come from the sun? But it could also come from a torch. No, the sun is not orange but white, it is only because of the atmosphere that it looks orange. So does the light come from a torch, then? Wait, no. The sun may be white but it is orange when viewed from the planet. So is the light from the sun or a torch? Or from a magic lantern? I need to know I need to know I need to know—

“Christine?”

The First Princess gasped as she returned to the present. Her pupils constricted as her eyes adjusted to the bright light. “Randal? What time is it?”

The door fully opened, letting more light spill into the dark room. The doorway revealed a young handsome man garbed in expensive clothing, his face twisted in worry. Christine could see her bedroom behind him, along with the large windows that displayed a nice view of the city outside Rose Castle. The orange light had been coming from the windows, which meant it was already late in the afternoon. Christine breathed a sigh of relief as her curiosity was sated.

“Evening is already approaching. Mother and Father are worried,” Randal replied, his voice strained.

“Oh,” Christine muttered. She had entered her meditation room right after she ate breakfast. She had felt her stomach rumble earlier, but she thought it was because lunchtime was approaching. She didn't realize it was already long past lunchtime.

“Come on, let's get you cleaned up,” Randal said as he helped Christine up. “Mother and Father are waiting for us in the private dining room. They want you to join us for dinner.”

“I thought they were busy today?” Christine asked as she let her brother help her get dressed. She wore the green dress her brother randomly retrieved from her wardrobe. It was a riding dress with a long skirt, worn when a woman rode a horse during winter to keep her legs warm. It was inappropriate for dinner, but Christine couldn't care less.

“They were, but something has come up. Mother wants your help,” Randal said hesitantly.

Christine froze. There was only one thing the Queen would probably need from her: her powerful mind. She didn't even need to use her Authority to get the gist of things. “Mother wants me to use my Authority.”

Randal winced and nodded. “Yeah.”

Christine sighed. She felt her temper flare a bit at the thought of being used by her mother for her power, but she immediately discarded the thought. She had told her parents months ago that she needed to limit her use of her Authority or else she'll end up like the Gardener. Her parents understood and quickly agreed, and since then, she hadn't used her power even once. Her parents respected her decision.

As much as she tried to stay disappointed, Christine looked forward to using her Authority again. Keeping her urges in check had been hell. For the first few weeks, Christine had been unable to sleep for more than a few hours. There were times when her will broke and she activated her Authority just to sate her urges. But Lady Kethra found out about her plight and taught her to meditate. At first, the practice had no effect whatsoever and Christine still suffered from the same urges. But Lady Kethra told her that the purpose of meditation wasn't to weaken the urges but to help her accept and ignore them.

Her urges always tried to wear down her willpower, and before learning meditation, Christine's willpower would eventually fail and she would succumb to temptation. But nowadays, her willpower would become fresh after every meditation session, keeping the urges at bay.

“Did Mother tell you why she needs my power?” Christine asked as Randal escorted her down brightly-lit halls and past exotic galleries.

“It's best if you heard from her directly,” Randal said evasively.

It must be really bad then, Christine thought. Her parents put great importance on the kingdom's well-being, but she was sure they valued their children more. The Queen wouldn't ask for her to use her Authority if the situation wasn't so dire.

As they made their way to the private dining room for the Royal Family, Christine would constantly feel her urges, but she would banish them from her mind. Months of doing it as well as being fresh out of meditation made it almost easy, although she still had to be careful. Even a rock would break from drops of water given enough time.

Christine and Randal finally arrived at the dining room entrance, where two Royal Guards stood at attention. They were dressed in heavy armor that bore the crest of the Royal Family and were armed to the teeth. They held a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. A sword was sheathed by their waist and Christine could spot several smaller knives sheathed in various parts of their bodies. All of their equipment was enchanted.

With a single nod from Randal, the Royal Guards quickly let them in with a salute. Inside, the King and Queen of Ocrana were already waiting, seated at a table filled with all sorts of exotic food. The royal couple's faces were set in frowns but immediately lit up upon their children's arrival.

“Christine, I'm glad you could join us,” Queen Nesta said with a wry smile. “I was sure you were going to lock yourself in that meditation chamber of yours the whole day again if I hadn't sent your brother for you.”

“It only happened that one time,” Christine grumbled as she took her seat.

“Cut our daughter some slack, dear, you know what she's going through,” King Milos chided lightly before turning to Christine. “How goes you're meditations? Did your urges finally calm down?”

“They're still there, but I could easily ignore them most of the time,” Christine replied as she started piling her plate with food herself. The family dinner was private and there were no servants to serve them.

“I'm glad your situation has improved, but I regret to say that we need your power, Christine,” Milos said with a regretful expression.

“Randal already told me that, although I still don't know why,” Christine said with her mouth full. The Queen frowned at her table manners, but Christine just gave a sweet smile.

“We could talk about this topic later, dear. Give Christine some time to eat first,” Nesta chided.

Christine had a foreboding feeling about what her parents wanted to talk about, but instead of worrying too much, she addressed her empty stomach's complaints and started shoveling food in her mouth like a glutton. This elicited chuckles from her brother and father and a sigh from Nesta.

Christine appreciated the peace and silence as they ate. Private moments like these with her family where no nobles watched them like hawks were precious. Life as a princess wasn't as happy as it was made to be, at least in her opinion. Every day was a hectic chore of attending parties and balls, socializing with other nobles' children, and wearing uncomfortable dresses. To be fair, she no longer bothered too much about preserving her image and chose to act as she pleased, which included eating to her heart's desire at parties and being brutally honest with the other nobles, heedless of their fragile egos. It brought her mother a good amount of headaches, but she did try to maintain the bare minimum of decorum, although she and the Queen may have different levels of standards.

When Christine was finally done with her food, the Queen turned to her and began speaking. “Before we begin discussing the issue at hand, let me ask if you're fine with using your power again. Although your Authority will be a big help in solving our problem, I do not want to risk you turning into… something else.”

“It's going to be fine, Mother. As long as I don't overuse my Authority, I'll stay the same,” Christine replied, although she had no idea as to what extent would be considered ‘overuse’ when it came to utilizing her power. “Besides, if you're asking for my assistance, that could only mean that the situation must be really bad.”

The King and Queen exchanged knowing glances. Milos spoke. “I'm afraid you are right, daughter. If you're sure about your decision to help us with our problem, then let's get right to the heart of the matter: the Kingdom of Edria is invading us.”

Christine was glad she was done eating or else she'd be choking right now. “We're being attacked?!”

“Calm down, Christine, there's nothing to worry about,” Nesta said. “Yet.”

“Sorry, I phrased it badly,” Milos said. “What I mean to say is that Edria is about to attack us.”

“Why? Did we provoke them or something?” Christine asked with a hint of panic. Never in her previous life had she experienced any armed conflict. What she knew about war was learned from textbooks and the internet, all of which talked of the atrocities that came with it. And now, she was going to experience it for real.

“You already know the answer to that question, daughter,” Nesta said. “Remember your history lessons.”

Christine felt dumb as she tried to recall the necessary knowledge about the situation. With her Authority inactive, she no longer had the ability to instantaneously scan through her mind like a search engine and come up with an answer in nanoseconds. Fortunately, her Authority seemed to have some passive benefits even when inactive since her mind could easily recall the knowledge without having to rely on her eidetic memory.

According to what her tutor had taught her as well as the history books she read from the library, Edria and Ocrana were once a single massive nation almost a hundred years ago, joined under a single banner. Due to conflicting ideals as well as tyranny from the current king at the time, the nation split into two separate kingdoms, with Edria being the ‘true’ kingdom while Ocrana was the ‘rebel’ kingdom. Since then, tensions between the two kingdoms were always high, although all-out war was rare. Full-blown wars only happened twice throughout the years, but only after months of failed negotiations and lasting only a few years. After all, war was expensive and hurt both sides.

“Did Edria try to talk with us, at least?” Christine asked.

“No, there have been no peace talks with our neighbor for the past decade since their previous king died and was replaced with his younger brother,” Milos replied. “The current king of Edria doesn't seem too eager to open negotiations with us either. We only know they're planning to attack us because of your mother's spy network on the other side. They've reported large numbers of soldiers on the border, and more are coming.”

“And you want me to help in this war?” Christine asked as realization dawned on her face. Wars were always fought with soldiers, but a smart person would know that they could only be won either with overwhelming power or a sharp mind. And Ocrana happens to have the sharpest mind in the entire continent, probably the entire world.

Christine could imagine what her Authority could do in a situation like war. Her power didn't only make her mind good at raw calculations, it also gave her the ability to compute future possibilities based on data and observations. Given enough information, she could predict every move the opponents would make and choose the best decision every time. It would be just like the chess games she played with other people: easy and predictable. Instead, she'll be playing not with wooden pieces on a board, but with the lives of thousands on a real battlefield.

Christine swallowed nervously. “You want me to lead our armies.” It wasn't a question but a statement.

“Yes,” Milos said with grave finality. “I know you are young, Christine, but you have already displayed high levels of maturity. I know you're just hiding it behind a veneer of innocence. I'm not going to sugarcoat my request. I want you to lead us to victory and destroy those who would threaten our home.”

Christine wanted to refuse. She wanted to tell her father that her veneer of innocence wasn't a veneer at all, it was the real deal. She was just a child. Even if she was an adult reincarnated as a child, she had already figured out long ago that her young body influenced her mind. Despite her previous life experiences, she was just a child, and she was afraid.

But her intellect also allowed her to know what would happen if she refused. Thousands of Ocranian lives would perish as they defended their homes, all while their princess stayed safe in her castle while eating cake. No, it cannot happen.

Christine felt terrified for what her decision would put her through, but it was final. She would lead her nation to victory. Thousands of people will die from the war, but Christine just had to make sure that most of them belonged to the other side. “I accept your request, Father. I will lead our armies against Edria and defend our homeland from our enemies.”

None of her family looked happy when she gave her answer.

●●●

The following day, Christine found herself walking around the military encampment of the Ocranian Royal Army, located just outside the capital's walls. She was escorted by more than ten Royal Guards arranged in a defensive formation around her, their eyes vigilant as they scanned their surroundings for threats.

Walking on her left was Morgan, Chief of Rose Castle's guards, and on her right was General Nilus Pashar, the highest-ranking General in Ocrana as well as the old man that she always played chess with.

“It's a great honor to tour you around our military camp, Your Highness,” Pashar said happily as he guided her through the organized camp. “If I may be so bold to ask, may I know the reason for your visit? I never thought Your Highness to be interested in military affairs.”

“My mother said that it is imperative for one in my station to properly know and meet the people who would give their lives to defend our kingdom,” Christine replied smoothly. In truth, she had visited the camp to assess the kingdom's military strength herself. Fighting a war without knowing one's troops was the height of stupidity, and although Christine could simply request the information regarding their military strength without having to leave the castle, seeing the real thing with one's eyes was different from reading words and numbers on paper.

“Indeed it is,” the General replied with a satisfied smile. “And I assume Your Highness would also like to learn more about how we operate things around here?”

“Yes, and please just call me princess, or Christine would be fine,” Christine said. Being called ‘Your Highness’ all the time was starting to get old.

“As you wish, princess,” the old man replied with amusement before beginning his lecture. “Since you want to learn more about how we run the army, it is first important to know what an army is. May I hear your thoughts about it?”

“An army is a collection of soldiers united under a single banner and whose purpose is to fight in wars, usually between nations,” Christine answered immediately.

“Your definition is correct, princess, but let me expand on it more,” Pashar said. “Armies are indeed united under one banner, but that is not enough to keep them together. No, they must be united under a single purpose that every member agrees on. That purpose could be anything: the desire to serve the country, to prove their loyalty to a lord, to raid and pillage the enemies, or even to enact indiscriminate slaughter. As long as the soldiers have a unifying purpose, whether it be moral or immoral, then they will remain an army. Most leaders forget this simple but crucial fact, and when that happens, what you have is not an army but a gathering of men that would abandon their duties at the first sign of trouble.”

Christine nodded in agreement. Among the books she read from the castle's library were those that discussed the science of war, and all of them emphasized the importance of unity within an army. “Then what is the purpose of your army, General Pashar?”

The old man gave her a proud smile. “To protect our homeland. A simple and commonly-used purpose amongst armies, but I assure you, every soldier in this camp believes in that purpose and would willingly give their lives for it.”

Christine and Morgan nodded in satisfaction. She did not doubt the old General's claims. Throughout their walk, every soldier they passed by saluted crisply, and she saw in their eyes the deep respect and determination they had. These soldiers would not abandon Ocrana in her time of need.

Pashar continued giving tidbits of information to Christine as they walked toward the camp's training grounds. He taught her the importance of morale and how it could effectively double the capability of an army if it was high enough. He also taught her about logistics and how it served as the lifeblood of an army on the move. An army without food and necessities was a dead army.

Christine listened aptly to the old man's words despite already knowing all of these things from the books in the library. The books she had read contained much knowledge, but a General's anecdotes and experiences were equally valuable, especially from one who was widely regarded as the smartest man in the kingdom.

When they finally arrived at the camp's training grounds, they were greeted with the noise of raw shouting and clashing steel. Christine saw soldiers sparring with each other, archers shooting arrows at distant targets, and drillmasters shouting at recruits. The place was a bit chaotic, but when they spotted the princess' entourage, they quickly ceased what they were doing and saluted.

“At ease,” the General announced with a loud voice. The soldiers returned to their tasks, although they constantly sent curious glances at the group.

“This is the training grounds of our camp where we turn our recruits into future defenders of the kingdom,” Pashar proudly said. “This field is just a small part of the training grounds. Come, princess, let me show you where we conduct our military exercises.”

The General had an excited look on his face, although Christine couldn't feel the same enthusiasm. Although her sole purpose in visiting the military camp was to assess the kingdom's military strength, a childish part inside her didn't find observing a military exercise exciting. Watching a bunch of sweaty men running around the fields didn't sound stimulating, although Morgan beside her didn't seem to have the same thoughts. The man looked excited.

“It's obvious you haven't seen an exercise from our army yet, eh, kiddo?” Morgan asked her with a large grin, much to Christine's chagrin. Was her boredom that obvious on her face? “Dontcha worry, I'm sure you'll like it once you've seen it.”

The General agreed with Morgan's words, although he looked a bit disproving with how familiar the man was acting around the princess.

Pashar led them to a large pavilion located on a high elevation that overlooked a field. The Royal Guards secured the area first before allowing the First Princess to enter. They proceeded to station themselves around the pavilion and kept their wary gazes on the surrounding area for any threats.

Christine entered the pavilion with Morgan and Pashar at her side, and her gaze immediately moved to the large group of soldiers organized in a tight formation in the middle of the field. All of them were looking at their pavilion, waiting for something.

“Let me introduce the 10th Company of the Heavy Infantry Division of the Ocranian Royal Army,” Pashar proudly proclaimed once they all took their prepared seats. “The Heavy Infantry is part of our elite soldiers in the army, fully equipped with heavy armor and trained to fight in the frontlines.”

“They're famous for being the toughest bastards in the army!” Morgan exclaimed excitedly beside Christine.

“Sir Morgan speaks true,” Pashar confirmed. “Capable of carrying dozens of kilograms worth of weight in armor and weapons, the heavy infantry are trained for extreme endurance, as fighting in the frontlines usually means that they are the first and last to leave the battlefield.”

Christine's earlier boredom disappeared after listening to the General's explanations. It was replaced by immense curiosity brought about by her urges. For a moment, Christine hesitated. She had already told her parents that she would use her Authority to defend their kingdom, which meant she was now allowed to use her power whenever she wished as long as she kept it to a minimum. But she couldn't help but fear using her power. She was not sure whether she'll be able to overcome the temptations of her Authority when the time came for her to stop using it.

No sense working myself over it, Christine told herself. She'd have to use her Authority at some point in time, no use in delaying it. She'll just have to put trust in the self-control that she developed over months of meditation.

With a deep breath, she allowed her Authority to come alive again after a long time of keeping it inactive. It felt liberating.

The moment she activated her Authority, the world opened itself to her once more. A deluge of information immediately flooded her mind, but instead of being overwhelmed, Christine welcomed it wholeheartedly. No secret would be able to hide from her senses and even the most obscure truth would eventually reveal itself to her.

Using her power again gave Christine a feeling of finally stretching a muscle that had long been unused. It came with a temptation to never turn it off again, but she ignored it and brought her focus back to the situation. She had activated her Authority to better analyze the true capabilities of Ocrana's army by observing the military exercise. This would give her enough data to formulate viable action plans regarding how every soldier in the army could be utilized to their full potential.

Christine took one glance at the company of soldiers in the field and a flurry of information about them immediately appeared in her mind.

There are 200 total combatants in the field.

196 heavy infantry soldiers, two mages, a captain, and his lieutenant.

Each soldier is equipped with steel plate armor, shields, and pikes.

Each mage is wearing colored robes with elemental symbols: one red and one brown. Probability that they use fire and earth magic respectively is 89.56%.

The captain and his lieutenant are equipped with enchanted weapons featuring runes.

The runes could only be utilized by people who can manipulate mana. Probability that the captain and lieutenant are augmenters is at 98.76%.

“General Pashar, you said that this is the Heavy Infantry Division. Why are there mages in the company?” Christine asked.

“Ah, that is because heavy infantry are extremely vulnerable to enemy mages,” Pashar explained. “Any normal soldier in the army is vulnerable to enemy mages, but heavy infantry are the most vulnerable, especially with their tight formations. Their defenses are effective against blades and arrows, but useless against most offensive magic. The best way to survive a blast of magic is to dodge it, but wearing heavy armor makes dodging impossible. The purpose of the mages within the ranks is to counter the enemy mages and keep their attention away from the vulnerable soldiers.”

Christine nodded in understanding. According to the books she had read about battle tactics, war mages utilized spells that ravaged a large area, which meant soldiers in tight formations were prime targets. A looser formation would have been a good counter against area-of-effect spells, but that would make it easier for the enemy to slip between their ranks and break their formation.

“I see that the commanding officers are augmenters as well,” Christine commented.

“You could tell that they're augmenters?”

“Yes. The equipment they use contains runes that could only be utilized by those who could control mana,” Christine replied, eliciting an impressed expression on the General's face. “In any case, I think it's time to start the exercise, General.”

Pashar nodded and faced the army in the field. He raised an open palm and after a few seconds, closed it into a fist. The captain of the company in the field saw the gesture and saluted. A horn resounded throughout the field, signaling the start of the exercise.

The noise of grinding wheels suddenly echoed throughout the field, and Christine immediately pinpointed the source to a rectangular section of flat ground two hundred meters in front of the waiting company of soldiers. She noticed the rectangular section of ground to be devoid of any grass, unlike the rest of the training field. She realized why when one side of the rectangular section started descending into the ground, turning into a ramp that led to an underground cave.

Christine was confused as to what was happening. She thought the exercise would involve having the soldiers march in formation or something, but this was out of her expectations.

“Here it goes,” Morgan whispered excitedly beside her.

The noise of grinding wheels ceased as the ramp finally finished descending. The captain of the company shouted a command and the ranks of heavy infantry raised their shields, all of them facing the cave in front. For a moment, silence pervaded the field.

Ah, Christine finally realized as a low rumbling noise started permeating the area. This is no ordinary military exercise. This is a live demonstration.

The rumbling noise grew louder and louder, and Christine was sure that if they were nearer to the battlefield, she would have started feeling the ground shake as well.

The source of the rumbling noise finally revealed itself as large creatures emerged from the cave and ascended the ramp. They were four-legged beasts with thick fur and short horns that adorned their head. They were huge, their shoulders the same height as a human's, and every step they took shook the earth beneath them. The creatures looked like bisons, and Christine immediately recognized them as syrons.

But there was something wrong with the bison-like beasts that were charging towards the ranks of soldiers with angry snorts. For one, syrons were supposed to be gentle creatures that were commonly used as beasts of burden. But the syrons charging across the field looked feral, saliva dripping from their mouths.

“What's wrong with the syrons?” Christine asked the General.

“It is commonly known that syrons are gentle beings, but that was only possible after years of selective breeding and domestication,” Pashar explained. “Most syrons today are docile because of it, but from time to time, a syron is born with the aggressive behavior of their original ancestors, making them useless as beasts of burden. Those are usually culled while young, but the army buys most of them for training purposes, as you can see now.”

Christine thought using feral syrons was too extreme as a training method. Each of those beasts easily weighed more than a ton, and even though their running speed wasn't that fast, they still charged at the speed of a sprinting person. The momentum of each beast was huge, and there were dozens of them charging toward the heavy infantry. The resulting force would obliterate the frontlines.

The captain shouted a command and the soldiers braced for impact. They bent their bodies forward and planted their feet firmly on the ground. Their shields were planted on the ground as well for stability, forming a rigid shield wall, and their pikes were pointed straight at the approaching stampede. None of the men wavered at the sight of an oncoming stampede.

Christine calculated several possibilities of how the situation would turn out and immediately concluded that unless the mages conducted an opening salvo on the horde of syrons, the heavy infantry would easily crumble under thousands of kilograms of weight, heavy armor or not.

True to her prediction, the two mages behind the ranks of soldiers began channeling their mana. When the horde was a hundred meters from the frontlines, the mages released their spells. The fire mage released a single bright orb of fire that shot upwards in the air, following a curved trajectory in the air like a mortar shell. When the orb was about to fall on the center of the horde, it exploded into dozens of smaller fireballs that rained on the feral beasts below, setting most of them on fire. The beasts howled in pain, some thrashing wildly and blocking the other syrons' paths. They were mercilessly trampled into the ground.

The fire mage's spell slowed the syrons' charge, but not by much. The momentum of the entire horde was still too great for the heavy infantry to handle. The earth mage went next.

The earth mage slammed the butt of his staff into the ground, and the mana that was accumulating in the staff's brown crystal traveled to the ground in a great pulse. Seconds later, stone spikes rose from the ground right in front of the first rank of soldiers, inclined at a 45-degree angle and facing towards the oncoming horde.

Feral they may be, but the syrons still recognized the threats of the spikes. The ones in front tried to stop their charge, but those behind them didn't see the spikes and continued onwards, pushing those in front. When the horde finally collided with the stone spikes, there were dozens of sickening crunches as the syrons impaled themselves on the spikes. Blood splattered and gushed as the first line of syrons died, but those at the back continued their rush, heedless of their comrades' deaths. Syrons continued impaling themselves on the stone spikes until the spikes finally broke, allowing them to reach the first line of soldiers.

The momentum of the charge was still huge, but it was finally manageable enough for the heavy infantry. When the syrons collided with the first rank, the shield wall easily held. The syrons tried to break the ranks, but the soldiers held firmly. When it was apparent that the beasts were unable to breach the shield wall, the next phase of the exercise began.

“Forward step!” With a shouted command from the captain, the first and second line of soldiers shoved their shields at the beasts and took a single step forward.

“Step!” Another shove and another step forward.

“Step!” The soldiers stabbed and pushed the syrons back.

“Step!” Boots stomped in synchronization.

“Step!”

Step by step, the heavy infantry pushed the syrons back until the momentum of the horde was completely gone. The syrons were now nothing more than a confused horde of beasts to be slaughtered.

“Pincer!” the captain shouted. At the command, the soldiers at the back of the formation split into the left and right flanks of the horde, slowly surrounding them. The syrons tried to charge at them, but the close distance didn't allow them to gather much momentum and the charge was easily stopped when the soldiers braced.

When the syrons were successfully hemmed in from the front and sides, the captain shouted another order that would end the exercise. “Begin bombardment!”

The mages, who had been calmly watching the battle after their first salvo, began channeling their mana again. This time, their spells were the more concentrated-type rather than area-of-effect. The fire mage steadily shot huge fireballs at the horde that exploded violently every ten seconds, while the earth mage sent boulders flying that crushed the syrons into a paste.

Each spell that the mages unleashed killed several syrons at once, and after a few minutes of constant barrage, the few syrons that managed to survive began running away, leaving behind the mangled carcasses of their brethren. Much to Christine's surprise, the soldiers didn't seem to have any intention of chasing after them.

“That was a wonderful display, but is it alright for feral syrons to roam the capital's outskirts?” Christine asked the smiling General.

“We have no worries on that front, princess. Hunting down and eliminating the runaway syrons is our method for training the scouts. It is their responsibility to prevent the syrons from approaching any civilian settlements.”

Christine nodded in satisfaction and, with a long hesitation and reluctance, finally deactivated her Authority. She expected a sudden spike of urges, but surprisingly, everything was calm and quiet. It seems using her Authority, no matter how short, quelled the urges.

“What do you think of their performance?” Pashar asked expectantly.

“I'll be honest, General Pashar, I expected a boring exercise where you had your soldiers march in synch, but this is way better,” Christine said in satisfaction. “It was evident that these men are well trained and extremely capable. A horde of charging syrons is far more powerful and dangerous than charging humans, yet your company decimated them. I could only imagine how it would turn out if their enemies weren't huge beasts but humans instead. Are the rest of the soldiers as good as them?”

Pashar gave a strained laugh. “I'm afraid your expectations of our kingdom's troops are far too high, princess. The company you've just witnessed is one of our elites, and they are limited in numbers. But I assure you that the rest of my army here are quite capable compared to that of other nations.”

Christine was happy with how the visit turned out. She had learned a lot about how armies were run, but more importantly, she learned how strong her kingdom's army was. Before she deactivated her Authority earlier, she had already made a conclusion based on the information she had gathered: if the rest of the soldiers were as capable as Pashar claimed they were, then their victory against Edria was certain.

Of course, there were many other factors that she needed to consider, like the strength of the enemy nation's soldiers, the involvement of the Aglarian Empire, and the actions of their Ascendant. But even considering all of those, Christine thought her kingdom had a good chance of winning. Their conditions for victory only involved successfully defending their borders from Edria, which was easier than trying to invade another country. As the defending party, Ocrana was in an extremely advantageous position since they were fighting on their own turf, not to mention the enemy didn't know Ocrana had two Ascendants.

But Christine suddenly froze as she noticed something peculiar about General Pashar's words. “You said your army was capable. I'm right in assuming our nation only has one army and you control them, yes?”

Pashar laughed in self-pity. “Ah, if only that were true, princess. On paper, I have the highest authority over military matters, but in reality, my control over our army only stretches to the soldiers here in the capital and the surrounding regions. The rest of the soldiers stationed across the other provinces of our kingdom are under the control of the local nobles, and it would be a complete lie to say that their soldiers are on the same level as mine. To make things worse, it is doubtful that the nobles would allow me to take complete control of the army in wartime and ‘hog all the achievements.’ Every one of them cherishes their military and wants to prove themselves, and they would rather rebel against the Crown rather than hand their armies to me.”

Even without her Authority, Christine quickly realized that their victory wasn't so certain after all.