For a week, Shuhua woke up early just to build her strength and practice using a bow. She also started sparring with them but never won, even against Miyeon, the weakest one when it comes to it.

“Everyone, I’ve got something to tell all of you.” Soyeon called everyone as soon as she got home.

They all went to the table for a “meeting” with her.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be invading the palace on the North to get some documents. That way, we’ll be able to get more information about the other palace that were built by the conquerors. As we all know, years ago, they only had less than 500 soldiers, yet, they were able to defeat thousands of ours. There is probably something going on here that we must find out to be able to succeed. And we’ll start tomorrow, when the higher generals won’t be around.” Soyeon said.

“Alright! We’re finally doing it!” Yuqi stretches her arms.

Minnie coughs and says, “I probably should drink a lot of water starting from now so I could use my voice well tomorrow.”

“This is making me really nervous”, said Miyeon.

“I should be more nervous. I don’t have abilities to protect myself like the rest of you”, said Soojin.

Meanwhile, Shuhua kept silent, taking continuous deep breathes while looking down.

“Shuhua—” Soyeon calls her.

Shuhua suddenly failed to hear anything. Her sight also started getting blurry until she collapse. They all looked at Minnie, thinking she tested her ability on Shuhua.

“I didn’t do it!” Minnie quickly defended herself.

“She must be really scared.” Soyeon carries her to her bed.

“I think we should not bring her with us for now. She’s not yet ready”, said Soojin.

“She has to experience it because if not now, then when? This is only the starting point, Soojin. Don’t overthink. We all know how hard she worked for days for this. We have to trust our queen”, said Soyeon.

Soojin sighs and nods.

The next day, when they woke up, Shuhua was no longer on her bed.

“Do you think she escaped?” Miyeon asked.

“I don’t think so. Soojin is also not on her bed. Maybe they’re together”, said Minnie.

They went out to see if they are outside but only saw Soojin, making medicines for them in case they hurt themselves later.

“Have you seen Shuhua?” Soyeon asked.

“She said she’ll go somewhere to be fine. She must be getting herself ready for it.”

“See? Just trust her!” Soyeon smiles.

In a while, Shuhua came back with a stick.

“What is that smelly thing?” They all covered their noses.

“This is the only thing that was left when I came back to where my grandma died. I want to bury this somewhere near”, said Shuhua.

Soojin throws a shovel near Shuhua.

“Okay, dig a hole now and bury that. It’s making me want to vomit everything that I’ve eaten for breakfast”, said Soojin.

“You already ate?! I told you to wait for meeee~” Shuhua pouts sadly.

“When did they become this close?” Yuqi whispered to Soyeon.

“I’m also surprised.” Soyeon whispers back.

[THAT NIGHT]

“We’ll go with the plan. If anything goes wrong and you no longer think you can do anything alone to make it, light your firework, okay?” Soyeon asked.

They all nod.

They all went to the castle and separated as planned, except for Soojin and Shuhua who are partners.

“I don’t know what’s with Soyeon for her to make me your partner. It should have been someone stronger, not someone like me, tsk!”

“Are you complaining because you think you’ll need to protect me?” Shuhua asked.

“Didn’t you say you can’t kill?” Soojin asked.

Shuhua gets silent for a while.

“Yes.” She shortly answered.

“If you can’t, then there’s no sense with you coming with us. I just didn’t tell Soyeon about that because I promised not to. But if I just didn’t—” Soojin shakes her head in annoyance.

“I’m sorry. I really want to do it but—”

“Shh! Wear your earplugs and cover your ears! Minnie’s sending the signal!”

Shuhua did as she said and covered her ears as hard as she could.

She looked at the palace and saw some soldiers suddenly running around, killing each other.

“She can really do it.” Shuhua told herself.

“Get ready. We’re about to enter.”

Shuhua nods.

She takes a deep breath to calm herself down.

“You have to do this.” She told herself.

“Now!”

Shuhua and Soojin went to the left side while Minnie and Miyeon took the right side and Soyeon and Yuqi took the middle part to do the main mission; steal hidden documents.

Soojin fought all the enemies while protecting Shuhua who did nothing but shake in fear.

“Won’t you really help?! This is really hard for me, just so you know!” Soojin shouted.

“I-I will.” Shuhua tried to use her bow but she was so scared that she was feeling too weak to even shoot an arrow.

“What’s wrong with you, Shuhua?! Pull it!” Shuhua scolded herself.

“Ugh!” Soojin steps back, wounded.

“We have no choice.” Soojin took her firework and lit it.

[Yuqi & Soyeon]

“That’s quite a lot!” Yuqi said.

“But I’m sure the four of them are fighting more people so we need to do this quick”, said Soyeon.

Suddenly, they heard a loud burst.

“That’s Soojin’s firework! You can do this alone, right?” Soyeon asked.

“Of course!” Yuqi confidently answered.

“Just take all the documents you could. Here’s the bag. I’ll go now.” Soyeon lights a blue firework as a sign she’ll be responding to help.

“Gotta do this quick!” Yuqi runs inside.

After taking all the documents she could see, she ran out, but an unexpected person was outside, waiting for her. It was a tall man with a big body build smiling at her as if he expected to see her from there.

“Wow, looks like we’re not done yet. Okay.” Yuqi puts the bag of documents down.

“Okay, let’s finish this fast. My friends are waiting for me.” Yuqi puts her hands on the ground, making thick and hard to break plants entangle the man’s body.

She was about to take the bag but she noticed something unusual. Her plants were getting dry and brown as if it was dying. In just a few seconds, the man was able to break free.

Yuqi cracks her neck and says, “So Soyeon was right. There are also conquerors with special abilities.”

“Now try to break this!” Yuqi unleashes her strongest plants and trees to hit the man, but none of them hit him, for with one touch alone, the plants died.

“There’s no sense fighting back. Everything I touch rots!”

“If everything he touches rots then I’ll need to use my knives since steel doesn’t rot.” Yuqi told herself.

She took her knives and threw a lot at him all at once just to take his attention away so she could run away, but he ran to her, not caring about the knives hitting his body at all. He kicked her hard enough for her to roll away and hit the wall.

“I thought the higher generals would be out today.” Yuqi wipes at blood on her lips.

“Higher generals?!” He laughs out loud evilly.

“Nobody needs those weak bastards!” He said.

“Then who are you?” Yuqi asked.

He walked towards her and answered, “I’m the king of this castle! One of the conquerors the king of this land trusts the most! The fourth pillar, Tresco!”

“This isn’t what I expected at all, but I guess I should—” Yuqi took her firework.

She