“Hiya!”

The night critters were interrupted by the sound of clashing steel, the forest was quiet, it was a perfect opportunity to hone one’s senses for danger. Leona was being taught by both the knight and the assassin at the same time as she held her own against the two opponents. In a rather open clearing with damp grass, while the food cooked in a makeshift campfire, the princess held her longsword close to her chest with both hands as she carefully watched both Krieg and Phoebe as they tried to circle around to her blind spot. Leona was smart enough to know not to let an enemy away from her sight for long and instead decided to go for the obvious approach.

Her arms tensed as her feet quickly took off in the assassin’s direction, knowing Krieg would follow closely behind her, she decided to feint a swing at Phoebe and suddenly change direction towards the knight for a horizontal slash, but the elf saw it coming and instead of backing away, she dashed in with her sheathed dagger and parry Leona’s blade to the side.

Before the princess could muster enough concentration to cast a spell, the sheathed dagger was already against her throat. Leona chuckled before letting go of the weapon on her right hand.

“I give up.”

Phoebe backed away before putting the dagger back in her belt. She cleaned some sweat off her eyebrow and proceeded to take off the cloth mask. Her deep blue eyes really contrasted with the short jet black hair, she was much different from the usual blonde elves Leona knew.

She approached the princess with a half smug face.

“That was really bold of you. To feint a swing and go for the other attacker, but remember the opponent in front of you has much less space to close up to you than the one behind.”

Leona stood up before picking up the longsword and sheathing it in the scabbard affixed to her makeshift cloth belt. She had streaks of sweat coming down from her brow and her breath left a weak trail of steam each time she exhaled, the prolonged expedition helped her improve her stamina somewhat as she didn’t feel too exhausted. However she could feel a constant burning sensation in the soles of her feet and once she sat down, she proceeded to remove the cloth wrapped around the right one.

“Yeowch…”

The sole of her foot was riddled with sizable blisters, some bursted and left sticky stains from the inside of the cloth. As soon as she saw parts of her right foot in the flesh, she could feel her foot start to throb as the sensation started to spread to her legs, until she clenched her teeth in pain. The elf noticed her self inspection and decided to approach.

“Ooh… that looks bad.”

Phoebe kneeled beside her while reaching out with her hand extended towards the princess’ exposed right foot.

“Let me heal it.”

“Please do.”

With a simple incantation she had healed the exposed flesh back to what it was, though Leona could still feel the throbbing in her muscles. After healing both feet, she could manage to stand up on the damp grass without fear of an infection, it was but a simple solution to a lasting problem, if the princess was to walk without fearing her soles turning into chunks of flesh she needed a way to protect her feet rather than wearing cloth wrapped around them. Knowing that their journey would be extended to at least until they reach the east country, she had to do something to at least make it easier for her to travel.

“Princess, since we have time I’ll make something to ease the pain on your foot.”

She reached for her satchel, removing a lengthy tightly packed cord tied in a loop from it as she sat on the roots of a tree to stay above the damp grass, slowly, the elf started to weave the cord tightly around a semi circumference. Leona approached her and was watching intensively for each step Phoebe took to make whatever she was working on.

“Leona. Need some water?”

Krieg’s voice came from behind her, she turned around and he offered a waterskin, he was still in full armor with his greatsword sheathed hanging by the left shoulder as usual.

“The training did leave me quite thirsty, thank you.”

She grabbed the recipient by the neck and took a few gulps before handing it back to him. Meanwhile he glanced down seeing she was bare feet on the damp grass. He offered to carry her, but she shook her head slightly before answering.

“I’m fine Krieg, thank you. I’ll sit here to keep my feet out of the ground.”

She sat beside Phoebe and lifted both her legs, tucking them closely against her chest. Some water dripped from her toes before she dried them while massaging her feet with each hand.

“Very well, I’ll go prepare the fire then.”

Krieg gave a short bow before taking his leave. Leona couldn’t help but smile while he walked away. The sense of dread that had been plaguing her mind had subsided a little, even with everything she went through in the last couple of days, she hadn't lost hope. Memories of both her parents are what kept her from going insane. Sorrow, fear, those were still very much present but at least she had an objective and she was set in seeing it through.

‘Lastraeous, you have given me knowledge of this world, but I won’t play your game… the fate of the world can only be decided by the people.”

She closed her eyes, she always dreamed of a world without fear, without violence, a world where man and demonkind could co-exist and strive to ever greater heights, somewhere where peace would reign over petty discord of race. Though it was a very far-fetched dream that was mostly born because of her own heritage, she couldn’t let go of it, for it was the same reason why she had been born.

So many bright lives like hers with so much potential, only to be snuffed out by the flames of conflict. It filled her with purpose, it was a just cause, something worth fighting for and yet, so many people refused to answer her plea. Maybe it was because she was just a spoiled kid in their eyes, maybe the Arcadians were already tired of fighting, whatever it was, she didn’t have a clear answer. It was never a clear answer to begin with. Leona weakly sighed.

“Princess.”

Phoebe’s voice suddenly got her attention as she turned her head slightly to the side, seeing a strange arrangement of cord woven together to bind itself in a very familiar format. Upon being handed over the strange piece of footwear, Leona inspected it from all sides before asking the elf.

“How exactly do I wear this?”

“Let me help you with it.”

She took a piece of dark blue cloth from her satchel and started to wrap the princess’ left foot tightly with it. Leona raised an eyebrow as she asked.

“Isn’t this the same from before?”

“Oh not at all. That last one was a poor imitation of waraji.”

“Excuse me?”

It was the first time she heard a word that sounded so strange to her ears. Upon looking at a confused Leona, Phoebe chuckled before explaining.

“You can imagine this as a caligae, it’s made entirely of woven straw cord rather than leather.”

The sole was tightly woven together with a few other knots coming from the side to supposedly hold onto the foot. However she had no idea how to wear it so Phoebe stopped weaving to fix the Princess’ new footwear.

“Here.”

She motioned to the loop wide open and Leona slipped her left foot through it, a string was caught between her thumb and index toe before the elf finished tying the woven cord halfway to her shin. Her new footwear was quite sturdy despite the material it was made of and it fit quite comfortably.

Leona stood on her left foot to test how it felt and upon touching the wet grass she noticed how firmly it fit her.

“This is quite comfortable. How did you learn to make this?”

“I’m glad it is to your liking.”

Phoebe chuckled before working on the other side while still talking to the princess.

“The chief of my town used to help my mother a lot. Usually taking care of me and my older sister at the time, while also teaching us things that could be useful in life.”

“Chief? Then you lived in a small town then.”

“Yes, it was very secluded from the rest of the kingdom. Though I left it behind when my sister betrayed us. I looked everywhere for power, any way I could grow stronger.”

Leona sat down again while scratching the side of her face, seemingly lost in thought. Meanwhile Phoebe kept working on the other side of the straw caligae with a hint of reminiscence in each of her words.

“I never thought I’d come this far for revenge. Well… not that I managed to accomplish anything notable until now.”

“You have, you are alive and you are helping us now.”

Her voice made Phoebe stop for a moment as a weak smile curled up on her face. She knew the journey would be harsh, but at least she was having a role in the bigger picture and that made her glad to be there.

“Thank you Princess.”

The elf kept moving her hand, weaving string between strings to form Leona’s new footwear.

Krieg watched them interact from a distance while caring for the valuable steed given by the commander. It was a well kept horse, albeit a bit too gentle for war in the knight’s eyes. He petted along its long face and the horse nudged its nose against his chest affectionately while making a low pitched rumbling sound.

“Good girl. I need you to be strong for tomorrow as well, my liege needs you.”

He petted her body a few more times before heading to where Leona and Phoebe were sitting.

Krieg took his greatsword off his shoulder and placed it between his legs with the flat scabbard resting against his chest, the handle just above his helmet. He was tired. He used to fight much worse foes when the war was at its peak, it could be days, weeks, months of constant fighting, but he never backed down from it, but apparently serving the princess as a personal knight made him stop relying too much on his own strength. Although he was sure to be even stronger than ten years ago, his stamina had taken a hit and the past couple of days without proper sleep was taking a toll on his body.

‘Dammit… I need to stay awake.’

He thought, as his eyes were closing on their own. The night offered a very sweet alluring embrace and as fierce as he fought it, no man or demon could go on forever without resting. Krieg felt his eyelids heavier and heavier, until he found himself completely surrendered to the mercy of the night.