(Alice POV)

With our free day sabotaged by the intervention of the witch, we followed her with our moods on the ground. We tried everything to make our last free time as enjoyable as we could like telling jokes or talking about trivial things, surprisingly the witch didn't say anything to us. She seemed to be thinking about something serious enough to ignore our little chat.

After a long trip across the academy, we reached the witch office. Seeing the office in front of us made us resign ourselves before entering, to my surprise, my mom was inside the witch office together with the masked instructor. At first, I thought they were related to the reason why the witch called us, but she didn't greet them, as she turned her sight to us after taking a seat.

"I'll cut the chase and go straight to the point. I need all of you to go with me to the Holy kingdom, you have this afternoon to get everything ready for the trip. As for maintenance and food costs, I'll cover them for free, so you don't have to worry about the money. If you have any questions then say them now, but be quick."(Fayna)

And before we knew it there was a huge bomb of information in front of us. Hearing everything at the same time left us a little overwhelmed, but if we think about it and remember what happened before it was easy to deduct why we were here... well, Fari didn't understand it yet, as she lifted her hand like a student asking a question... I forgot we were students for a moment.

"The reason for this trip is related to the princess Talia celebration?"(Fari)

"So, you know the reason already... Yes, this has everything to do with that. The Holy kingdom is organizing a festival because princess Talia will be receiving the title of Saint, they invited me and the royal family to the festival. Any other question?"(Fayna)

As I expected I was right about the reason for this trip, but being right didn't mean it was the full story. I won't believe we are traveling to the Holy kingdom for a reason so simple. After living for so long with the witch I can to some extend understand her way of thinking, she would show a serious expression every time there was a heavy and complicated circumstance.

"So, this trip is about princess Talia achieving the title of Saint, right? Unfortunately, I don't believe this journey is because of the "Family bonds" between her and Alice. Lady Arcon, what are the real reasons behind this trip?"(Rine)

"Have you forgot about the points your team needs to qualify for the tournament? At first, this trip was supposed to be an escort mission, "the students must protect the carriage of the principal during the trip" or something like that. In other words, I'm giving you a shameless opportunity to gain free points, but if you don't like it then I'll post this mission on the school board as it was originally intended. I bet that every team would gladly accept this mission."(Fayna)

When the witch heard about our doubts she began to exaggerate her actions while explaining the "reason" behind the trip. After training with her for six months her joking attitude was already known by Rine, Lapis, and Fari. So, seeing her acting like that for a long time weakened their impression of her.

Strangely, this time her joking attitude felt a little forced.

"Are these all reasons? Aren't you taking us for the sake of not being alone at the festival? or... Are you hidi-- no, let me rephrase this, Is there something dangerous related to me in the Holy Kingdom?"(Alice)

"Aren't you a little cruel for suspecting of my good intentions? I swear I'm not lying about wanting to help you."(Fayna)

As usual, her words didn't carry any trace of lies, but I knew she wasn't going to reveal the real reason, so I changed the target to my mom and the masked woman. I was expecting them to react or at least give me hint, but seeing their lack of response made me give up. 

"I understand, if you had nothing else to add then we are leaving, we need to get ready for the trip."(Alice)

Without saying anything else I turned around and dragged Fari out of the office while being followed by Rine and Lapis. Both of them grew a little suspicious by my remarks of a secret reason behind the trip but I could tell they would wait until the truth was revealed. On the other hand, Fari was still trying to understand the reason behind this trip, I'm still surprised by how slow she can be sometimes. You could say this was a part of her charm

"We need to be careful... I feel this mission will be dangerous."(Lapis)

"So, you felt that too..."(Rine)

Just as we reached the entrance of the dorms Lapis spoke with a concerned voice with Rine agreeing with her. Contrary to her silent appearance Lapis has the sharpest senses when it comes to analyzing future outcomes. Rine on the other hand was very good at analyzing people and predicting their actions or motives. So, seeing both of them agreeing about a potential threat was concerning.

"I'll bring my magical devices... Rine, you need to bring all the medicines you have in your room, you can store them in this device... Alice and Fari, you two will need to be ready at any moment and don't bring any unnecessary baggage... This feels like it's going to be a tough trip."(Lapis)

Lapis as our designated strategist was developing a plan if things go in the worst scenario. Following her orders I went to my room, packing everything that would be needed for this trip.

(Fayna Arcon POV)

After the girls left I felt uncharacteristically tired, I felt like I was living through my depression arc or something similar.

"They are gone... Are you sure you don't want to tell them that?"(Athena)

"No... They are already worried about this trip, so telling them the truth will make the current situation even worse than it is right now. Also... I don't want to expose the other secret of Alice yet, we need to be sure that the three of them can endure the truth."(Fayna)

Alice was right, I didn't tell the real reason behind this trip at all because it was related to the unknown power inside of Alice. A week ago, a spy returned on the brink of death with terrible news. During the festival, the prophets will launch an all-out attack on the Holy kingdom, their goal? The assassination of the new Saint.

I was told she was a key piece on the previous suppression of the prophets. Knowing that every prophet has a weak version of Alice's power inside of them made me curious about what was the role of prince Talia on that mission. This might mean she has a way to counter the power of Alice.

All of this was pure speculation, so I shook my head before asking Athena about Alice's current condition.

"How about your research about Alice's power? I believe you got good results."(Fayna)

"... After a lot of testing, I found interesting details of how that power works. If she kills a large number of monsters her power will increase at an unimaginable rate, but if she uses it without killing then her power will weaken. Also, every time she uses that power her memory will be wiped out, as she won't remember anything during her time using that power. But I believe you already knew about that"(Athena)

So, her results are saying that Alice gets stronger the more she kills while using that power, but weakens when she doesn't? Now that's an interesting fact, also I believe this confirms some of the theories we had. I already knew about her memory loss, but hearing a confirmation means we need to be more careful with future researches.

Now with the necessary chess pieces on the board, I need to secure the Holy kingdom as much as possible.

"Orie, I have a job for you. Go ahead with Athena to the Holy kingdom and search for any possible rat or danger inside of the capital. When I get there, I want a report about everything you found. Athena, please take Orie with you, we need to do anything to protect these children."(Fayna)

"You don't need to remind me that. Orie, take my hand."(Athena)

"Then excuse my rudeness. Master, I'll see you in the Holy kingdom."(Orie)

With a mission assigned to her, Orie took Athena's extended hand. In a flash both of them disappeared in thin air, leaving me alone with a mind full of worries. Wanting to dispel my worries I looked at the news brought by the dying man again, hoping that looking at them would make them false.

"The new leader, Huh?... He is making the prophets far more dangerous than before. The twins are going to be soon our only hope to win against them..."

This fact was fun and sad at the same time. The twins weren't adults but they already had heavy responsibilities resting on their shoulders. We need to take care of them if we want to stand a chance at the growing danger of the prophets.

But I was worried about forcing them, especially Alice, her heart is too soft to endure the cruelty of the world and her own power. But to reach her goals she is going to be tainted with it, even though I know this I couldn't help to feel fear, I don't want to lose anyone else... especially her. 

"Alice... Please... don't lose yourself ... please."(Fayna)

A silent prayer fell in my office, this was the prayer of my heart. Yet I knew praying won't change anything, I knew this from first-hand experience. With my heart full of grief I didn't notice the silent tear rolling through my cheek, a tear containing my fear of losing the Alice I always knew. One tear was enough to break me, with no one near I cried in silence...  as I always did...