17 Despair

One week passed in the blink of an eye, Alice was expecting her first pot of soul treasures soon. Over the last 2 weeks, Alice had adjusted to her new body and the new environment. She even went for a walk around the streets of her palace and became overwhelmed by the attention she received from her people.

Although she felt lucky to be leading a life of a princess, she couldn't help but feel empty inside. In her heart, she might have accepted her new father as her real father but her rational mind was constantly reminding her that she was a transmigrator and didn't belong there.

Alice knew that it would take a long time to forget her past and accept her new identity. She didn't know why but Leo's salute was constantly flashing in her mind over the last 2 weeks and somehow she found an odd sense of comfort by recalling her times with him which soothed her restless mind.

Today, Alice wore a flowing red dress with lotus ribbons on her waist. Her hair was neatly combed but left untied. Also, she wore the royal crown specially designed for her. All in all, she looked like a fairy descended on a mortal world.

"Sister Clara, can you take me to the blue mountain cliff?"

Clara was a personal guardian warrior assigned to Alice to take care of her security. She was one of the best warriors on the planet carefully nurtured by king Mark.

Clara who was wearing warrior armor saluted Alice with a Royal bow and accepted the order with a smile. She saw Alice grew up from birth, for her Alice was a little sister she cherished most in the world.

"How many times have I told you to forget this stupid etiquette? You just don't listen to me." Alice felt displeased looking at Clara. Alice also treated Clara with respect and regarded her as family

Clara simply chuckled, "If I want to order others to follow the etiquette, I have to follow it in the first place."

Alice didn't care about the respect that came from being in the Royal family which she considered as shallow. She wanted to earn respect through her capability and power. She strongly believed that it was just a matter of time.

"You and your integrity! Forget it. Have you got any news from my father?" Alice asked with some expectation. She was tired of waiting and wanted to start her cultivation as soon as possible.

Clara nodded and said "According to our intelligence, the war is going smoothly with the odds of winning overwhelmingly in our favor. Your father has dispatched a parcel in your name which would be arriving here by the end of the day."

Alice's mood improved considerably, "Good I am relieved. Let's go I can't quite get over the scenery in the blue mountain. It's so beautiful. I wish father was here so that we can all go together."

Clara agreed to Alice's remark about the blue mountain. "The way things are going, your father will be returning from the war in a few months."

Alice nodded and departed with Clara in a Royal carriage to the blue mountain. But they didn't expect that a masked man was closely observing the carriage from a distance. As soon as the carriage took the route of blue mountain, he sent a letter to someone using a pigeon.

****

No matter how many times she came, she couldn't help but exclaim when she saw the stunning landscape at the blue mountain. White clouds, green trees, fresh aroma of flowers were a natural treat to the senses. Clara was enjoying the scene as well but she always kept an eye open for any danger.

Suddenly Clara sensed some abnormal moments in the mountain road. She was not afraid as the carriage was surrounded by 2 layers of security consisting of both cavalries as well as soldier warriors with a total strength of thirty. On top of that, she herself was the finest warrior on the entire planet.

"Princess Alice, finally we meet in person." A strong but confident voice came from the front.

Clara alighted from the carriage and told Alice not to leave the carriage until she was instructed.

Clara asked calmly "And who might you be?"

The person with a skull mask on his face didn't reply immediately and carefully sized up Clara "I have long heard of the achievement of lady Clara. You should be aware of the number one assassination alliance right? Today, we are here to take the princess with us. Since you are not our target, just step back and keep yourself alive, otherwise, we can't guarantee your safety."

Clara laughed mockingly " How dare you to call yourself number one when you failed countless times to assassinate our King. Now that the king is far away, you are targeting the princess? You are nothing but a bunch of shameless people. Today I will get rid of you for good."

The person with the skull mask simply scoffed and said "Now"

Suddenly the entire carriage was surrounded by hundreds of assassins. Even Clara felt a chill looking at the number. She could sense the determination of the assassination alliance to take down the princess at any cost. She also realized that their intelligence network had been compromised.

Clara immediately issued orders to form a formation and defend. Although Clara had a disadvantage in numbers, Royal family warriors couldn't be underestimated either because of their careful selection and hellish training.

Alice took out a badge created by the system for her. "I didn't expect that I would face my first battle this soon. But looking at their numbers, I don't think that I would be able to survive today. My only way is to collect souls and see if I can breakthrough."

Instead of attacking head-on, assassins took out some bottles and threw them at the Royal soldiers, and covered their noses with masks.

Clara and the soldiers were caught off guard and before they knew it, a white smoke enveloped them entirely and Royal soldiers dropped unconscious one after another unable to even open their eyes. Since Clara was inherently strong she could overcome the sleeping gas effects and with a lightning-fast moment she took the hand of Alice ran into the forest.

Some assassins tried to stop her but how could they be a match for someone like Clara. Within a matter of a few seconds, 2 heads of assassins flew away from their bodies. Alice's badge silently collected their souls.

Alice couldn't keep up with Clara's speed so, Clara had no choice but to carry Alice on her shoulder. Alice tightly held Clara and when they finally breached the smoke-filled area, Alice coughed hard from the side effects of forcefully holding her breath and, felt dizzy as some gas still managed to enter her body. Fortunately, Clara helped Alice to dissipate the after-effects by infusing some of her cultivation essence.

"Alice, we need to stall as much as possible. I have sent an emergency alert using a treasure the moment I alighted from the carriage. They will be here any moment."

Alice nodded solemnly and Clara ran as fast she could. She could only wish to have a few more legs to run even faster. But assassination alliance wouldn't let them go easily. They followed them like a pack of wolves carefully sensing their sent and direction.

If Clara was the only person, she could have long left them in dust but she was carrying Alice who had no cultivation which reduced her speed drastically and the terrain of the forest was not suitable for a sprint, she had to keep an eye open for a possible attack from a forest beast and run carefully.

Clara faced assassins now and then but every time she won the fight but her stamina was also depleting fast. Alice had collected already 30 souls and began to sense the tiredness of her companion.

[System, use the souls in exchange for an essence recovery pill or potion]

Alice had no idea whether her command would work or not but she had to try. Essence pills and potions were very rare on her planet because of the backwardness of the magic stream but they still existed as per the Royal records. She was sure that Clara didn't have them because Clara would have used them long ago otherwise.

[Congratulations host, you have exchanged 30 souls for 1 essence potion]

"Sister Clara, drink this potion immediately." Alice urged her with worry.

Clara reflexively took the bottle from Alice and drank without any hesitation. There was no time for reservation in the middle of life and death battle. Clara felt energized all over her body within a few seconds. She couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

"Alice where did you get this? I am sure that the Royal family doesn't have this kind of potion. Let alone Royal family even in the entire planet I doubt anyone can make this kind of strong essence potion."

Alice simply smiled and said "It's a secret for now. Don't worry sister, I will tell you soon. But for now, our priority is to escape."

Clara nodded seriously. But she felt a bad feeling all of a sudden. Within a few minutes, she was surrounded by more than 50 assassins from all directions. Although she recovered her energy, she didn't have confidence in defeating all of them while keeping Alice safe.

Alice also felt that their chances were slim.

"Hehe, I underestimated lady Clara but this is as far as you can go. Hand over the princess and we will leave your corpse intact." The masked man said leisurely.

Clara spat in disdain "You bunch of scum. Wait till the return of the king, he would burn your cowardly organization and scatter the ashes in the yellow river."

Masked man only smirked "By the time he returns, we would have long escaped into another country. What can he do, if he can't even find us? I know that you are stalling for time but let me tell you, I have long taken care of your backup. So stop struggling and hand over the princess at once."

Clara and Alice felt despair for the first time. Their only hope was also shattered now.