Phantasia: The Princess Knight

A hot barren wasteland spread out in front of Alicia and the rest.  "Bleh… Mother, it's hot!" Frey who was standing on top of Alicia's shoulder wiped the sweat from her brow. 

"Yes, it is. That is one of the reasons why this is called the Barren Lands. Surprisingly enough though there are a lot of Demonic beasts here..." This was a point that Alicia did not understand. There were many groups of Demonic beasts roaming about but unlike the forests, there was really nothing else here besides a few plants that thrived in this hot dry weather.

"From what I have read the Barren Lands have many underground caves where rare floral and fauna grow. It is also a hot spot for many demonic beasts. I can only guess that there is something in the caves that give birth to the demonic beasts." Claire explained. She had read many books about the areas within the Kingdom. So she knew a lot about each area and what they held.

"Well, this mission says we need to find and kill ten fire and ice lizards and take back the glands in their throats." Starla read the mission details out loud. 

"There is no picture so how are we supposed to know what these things look like?" Rose frowned as she looked at the mission request. For some reason, she kept having this nagging feeling that she had heard something about these lizards before. 

"Wait! Are these not the lizards that people talk about as being a myth?" Claire's brow furrowed. She had heard of these lizards and from what she knew no one has actually ever seen one before. "Who took this mission?" 

Alicia's cheeks blushed as she slowly raised her hand. "Sorry, I didn't know that these lizards were some kind of myth… It was the only hunting mission for the barren lands the guild had. I now know why May looked at me weird when I handed the mission request to her."

"Young Miss it's fine. All myths of some kind of truth to it. So we might as well take a look and see if we can find anything. Master Berlin did not say we needed to complete the mission. He only said that we needed to accept one. Plus it's May's fault for not saying anything!" Rose felt a little disgruntled that May, the receptionist for accepting missions, did not say a single word about the myth. If anyone would know if the mission was most likely impossible to accomplish it would have been her! She could have said something! 

"Since I accepted it lets just see if we can find this mythical demonic beast." Alica said as she looked out over the wasteland in front of her.

"Young Miss, has Loeri still not hatched?" Claire asked. It had been about a month and a half since she had been in the space so she had not been able to check on Loeri's condition. 

"She's still inside the egg. But the egg is now about the same size as me so she might hatch soon. I can't wait to see her. It's been so long since I talked to her. " Alicia really missed Loeri. Every day Alicia would go into her space and make sure the egg was wiped nice and clean. She even changed the bedding at least twice a week. 

"I hope she hatches soon! I can't wait to see her evolved form!" Claire said happily. 

The four girls continued to chat as they slowly made their way into the Barren Lands. The first group of demonic beasts they encountered were only two star and the five that attacked were quickly taken care of.

Under the hot sun, sweat dripped from Alicia's chin. They had finally come to a high rocky plateau area. "I see a cave up ahead so we can get some shade there and maybe take a rest. Luckily we have gotten used to the extra weight gain when not moving. That and the fact that it only adds another thirty kilos on. Otherwise, this would be a very rough trip." 

"I still say he's a demon!" Starla said.

"Second that!"

"Third!"

Looking at the three girls Alicia couldn't help but laugh.  It took about ten minutes to reach the cave. Alicia looked into the cave but could not see where it ended. One could only go in about fifty meters before it was too dark to see any further. She spread out detection magic and could see that the cave dipped down further in and continued down by means of many passages. There was also a ton of demonic beasts inside as well.

"Seems the entrance is clear but further in is a shaft that leads to lower floors. And there are a lot of demonic beasts down there. So let's take an hour break and get some food in us. We can go into my space so we can cool off and wash up a bit." Alicia said before pulling out an object that looked like a small rock. 

"Young Miss's plan is very good. I made sure to stock up on lots of food before we left." Claire said as she disappeared and entered Alicia's space. During the past two months, Alicia asked Berlin to make some changes to her space to allow certain people to come and go as they needed. Communication with those inside was also now possible which was good in case of emergencies.

Alicia put the rock on the ground inside the cave next to a few other rocks before disappearing and entering her space as well. When she entered her cottage  Claire and Rose were busying themselves in the kitchen while Starla and Frey were playing some kind of game. Alicia walked into her bedroom to take a peek at Loeri to see how she was doing. 

She walked over to the large egg and picked up a cloth that laid next to it and started to rub the outside of the egg making sure it was clean. A few minutes went by when Alicia stopped her actions because she suddenly heard a cracking sound. She stepped back and a smile appeared on her face because she had not seen her friend in so long. As she waited in anticipation the shell of the egg cracked more and more until finally, a large piece shot out of the top of it. And reaching into the air was something that Alicia had never expected!

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