We arrived at Fort Turion ter that evening, and it truly was like one of those small medieval castles from my memory gained a life of its own. It even had a moat! My mind was already at work, and I started thinking of ways to use the environment to our advantage. Turning to Lucia, I asked her,

  "Can you use water magic?"

  At this, she shook her head and answered, "I can only use fire, lightning, and wind magic." Water would have been perfect, but I could still work with what she had. This is perfect, actually! I thought to myself as my lips twisted into a devious grin.

  "What crazy scheme are you cooking up now, Daphne?" Phildina asked me with a curious look. She was starting to develop a knack for reading me, which was annoying but kind of nice at the same time.

  "Salt," I answered with a smile.

  "Huh?"

  "We're going to need a lot of salt!" I said, barely containing my excitement.

  "Why?" Phildina asked with a puzzled look on her face.

  "You'll see," I said while puffing out my ft chest proudly.

  "Tell me!" She protested, and that was when I happened to notice Kathryn staring at the moat as if hypnotized by it. I found this to be quite odd, but just then, two Dragon Riders approached us. They were probably high-ranked officers or commanders, from the way they carried themselves, so we all greeted them respectfully.

  "Show us your letter," one of them ordered, and Kimmel handed it over to him. Once it was clear that we were sent here, they flew us over the moat into the Fort.

  The inside was... not as impressive as the outside. It reminded me more of the first inn I stayed at. It was slightly better but still had the same feel to it.

  "Ugh, it reeks in here," Phildina, our resident princess, was quick on the uptake. Alcohol and body odor. How nostalgic! We could be looking at anywhere between 100 to 250 soldiers, all cramped up inside this miserable Fort, so the smell was even worse than the inn.

  We wandered around the Fort until we stumbled upon a rge room where soldiers were setting up tents, and getting ready to sleep. I looked at Kimmel, almost asking him with my eyes, Did you bring anything like that? Before he could even speak up, Phildina brought out a mini-sized tent and started whispering what was probably an incantation of some kind.

  "Woah!" The magic item transformed before our eyes into a king-sized tent, drawing the attention of pretty much every soldier in the room. Uh-oh, Phildina, what have you done?

  "Daphne, let's sleep together tonight!" It was a tempting invitation, but I had some other pns that night.

  "Y'all can go inside. I want to ask these guys a few questions."

  "Should I come with you?" Kimmel asked.

  "Yes, please. I want you to come with me," I answered, not particurly because I was scared but because I felt they would listen to Kimmel, who was a Padin. As Lucia was about to go in, I grabbed her hand and said, "Once I come back, we'll talk." She wordlessly nodded and went inside, leaving Kimmel and me standing outside.

  "Shall we?" He asked in a gentlemanly tone.

  "Yes, let's..." I answered while snickering.

  "What's so funny?" He asked as we made our way to a nearby squad.

  "You just reminded me of someone," I answered with a nostalgic smile. At that moment, he reminded me of a hero I read about in a light novel. The poor guy. He was always so gentlemanly, yet he never had any luck with women, I thought to myself while holding back my ughter.

  "What do you want?" a Mercenary, who seemed to be the head of his squad, asked us gruffly. His rough hair, bulky frame, and nasty scar across his face were intimidating, but I needed some information to work with.

  "Do you have any idea of when the Empire will attack?" I tentatively asked.

  "And why should I tell a brat like you?" He spat as he sized me up with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

  "Because she can save our hides with that information," Kimmel spoke on my behalf. "Don't let her appearance fool you. She's easily one of the best tacticians in the Kingdom!" Gosh, stop fttering me! You're making me blush! The Mercenary looked at Kimmel and did a double take. Scratching his rough hair, he wore a confused look as he asked,

  "You're no ordinary knight, are you?"

  "I'm a Padin," Kimmel answered, and the Mercenary's eyes widened at this. Not only him but pretty much everyone in his squad had the same reaction. Were promoted csses that rare? I wondered, but he seemed to have made up his mind.

  "Then, I just might take your word for it," He said. "We don't know the exact time, but our fliers spotted a battalion approaching not too far away." A battalion?! That could be anywhere from 300 - 1000 soldiers! I'll have to ask the fliers for more information, I thought to myself as he continued,

  "'At their current pace, it'll probably take them two days to get here.' is what they said." Two days, huh? I could work with that. I needed to set some things up, but first, I had to settle on a css for Lucia and me. So, we thanked the squad and made our way back to the tent. I hope she'll listen to me this time, was all I could think of as we entered the tent.