Since then it had been about six months since Ophelia joined the imperial army, in that time she was given more uniforms and supplies. Thanks to the sword given to her by Lionell, Ophelia finally had a sturdy weapon to work with. It was tiring to hear Spencer complain about every time she snapped one of those twigs they called swords that were standard issue. Most mornings when the general had time, the two of them ran through drills. Always starting out the morning with an early morning run around the camp together. Because of that, Ophelia became surprisingly close with the old alpha man.

"Looking good kid." Lionell smacked Ophelia's back as she was catching her breath, while she had no problems running fast. Stamina was something she lacked greatly in, she usually tried to do things quickly and then spend plenty of time recovering. But Lionel seemed like he could go all day if he had to.

"I'm not passed out this time." Ophelia chuckled wiping sweat from her chin. "Yeah, I won't have to carry your sorry ass this time either!" Lionel laughed tossing her a cantine of water. Ophelia quickly began to drink feeling relief as her body cooled down. In the chilly early morning, steam rose off of both of their bodies.

"This isn't like the training taught to the others." Ophelia gasped out as she pulled her mouth from the cantine. "Well, I didn't learn swordplay the traditional way kid." Lionel laughed, "Unlike Barnabas, I didn't get no fancy tutors telling me how to do things!" Lionel explained, Barnabas was the name of General Spade, Spencer Spade's father and the Duke of the Spade territory. "You were a mercenary right?" Ophelia remarked pointing the cantine at Lionel, "Looks like you actually do listen to me, kid." Lionel laughed. "You talk enough so eventually, I would." Ophelia deadpanned causing Lionel to cackle in response.

"Yup, I was a mercenary! Had to be, pops got sick and someone had to provide for the family!" Lionel took a swig of his water, he let out a satisfied sigh pulling away and wiping his mouth. His grey hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, he chuckled to himself looking like he enjoyed training with Ophelia. "Now come on kid! We got two more laps!" Lionel announced before taking off. Ophelia groaned and followed after him.

Despite the new items, skills, and relationships in Ophelia's life, she did keep one tie to her old village. Her axe, made of iron wrapped with a smooth leather handle, she had used as a woodsman. The old but sturdy axe held quite a lot of sentimental value to her. Though, apparently, her axe had been some sort of old battle axe that she had been using to chop down trees with.

The army's blacksmith went on a twenty-minute rant about some old battle in which the axe had been used. He could tell based on the strange markings that were on the sides of the head of the axe. Or so he told Ophelia with a blue face as he ranted breathlessly. Once he caught his breath, the blacksmith then he wept at the sight of how it had been abused by the clueless Ophelia. The alpha woman personally thought she had taken care of the axe quite well, and if Lionel's words were to be believed. It wouldn't work so well chopping down trees if the axe didn't feel like it was being taken care of.

Using that logic to soothe whatever guilt the blacksmith managed to rise in her, Ophelia shrugged off the weeping beta man. "Okay?" She didn't know how else to respond, she wasn't going to hand him the axe because it was a part of some battle. It was hers, she found it fair and square. "Can I have a wet stone?" Ophelia asked dully, the blacksmith could only sob as he handed one over to her. Ophelia couldn't shake feeling like she was mugging the poor man. Because of feeling uncomfortable she sort of awkwardly walked away as the blacksmith cried.

In her time since joining Ophelia found out a little bit more about what they were attempting to accomplish as an army. The Spade territory was just below Clover, which was the Imperial army's current target to take over. However, a kingdom next door, Snowfel had been slowly moving in on Spade territory trying to shrink the land of the Spade Dukedom.

In order to get the Spade Dukedom's assistance, the army agreed to drive out Snowfel forces as they moved up further towards their target. Because they were moving north, the air was slowly becoming colder as they approached the tall mountain range that lead into the Dukedom of Clover.

Ophelia who was a recent addition to the army needed a winter coat, however, the army's tailor did not have enough fabric to accommodate Ophelia's size. So he made do with making her winter coat out of the canvas of one of the extra tents. You wouldn't be able to tell much looking at it, proving just how skilled the tailor and his assistants truly were. The coat was fashioned in a similar style to everyone else's the only difference was, Ophelia's coat was beige matching the tents of the army. It made her sick out in a sea of red coats.

But even though hers was made from a tent and different, Ophelia didn't mind the water-treated canvas proved far more useful in keeping rain and snow off of her. While the other's jackets were eventually weighed down by water over time. It slid off of Ophelia keeping her arm even in the middle of a blizzard.

The army had settled down today after trudging through a blizzard for two hours. Tents were hastily set up in the middle of it, Ophelia assisted as much as possible before setting up her own and taking shelter inside. The blizzard continued for another hour before settling down into a much more gentle snowfall.

Ophelia sat outside of her tent on a crate, she lit a small fire and hoped that her tent would be able to capture some of that heat. Sharpening her axe carefully on the whetstone, she tested the edge on a piece of her hair watching it split. She smiled satisfied that the edge was once again razor sharp. Outside of training lately, most of her tasks had been wood cutting lately, with the army approaching colder territory it was only natural that wood would priority.

So keeping this axe in tip-top shape was important, not only for the sentimental value it had. But because it was hard to get trees to fall so easily and cleanly with any other axe. Regardless of what it had been used before as Ophelia had no plans to use this in battle.

Speaking of which, it had been six months... Ophelia had yet to see a battle, the Imperial army had been mostly gathering up forces in small villages along the way. Other troops had been dispatched to deal with any fighting, but Spencer's troop wasn't. She had no idea how Darius and the other generals were running things, but would she even see a battle within the next year?

Ophelia ran her tongue across the teeth in her mouth. Aside from making the little commander eat his words, there wasn't really any motivation to put herself on the battlefield for Ophelia. Besides, she hadn't seen Darius in a few weeks anyway. He probably didn't even know her name anymore. Not that it mattered much anyway, Ophelia decided.

"Hey, new girl!" A voice called, Ophelia looked up from her axe, and she saw a small group of three senior soldiers approach her. Ophelia vaguely recognized their faces and was sure they had introduced themselves at one point. But she hadn't taken note of their names, they weren't important enough to do so. With a smug face filled with bravado, the leader pointed at her. "Go chop up some firewood why don't you?" He ordered, Ophelia without hesitation stood up to her full height.

The three men took steps back, Ophelia was sure she looked like a giant to them. She opened her mouth to say something but she spotted Spencer across the way. It was best not to cause trouble today, she really didn't want to hear the officer's scolding. Besides, it looked like the poor man's hair was greying each day since she had joined.

"Fucking hell, she's huge!" One of the men gawked, Ophelia's stare landed on him and he smacked his hand over his mouth as if he hadn't meant to say it. Huge would not be a word anyone would ever use to describe any of these three, Ophelia could tell. Despite her annoyance, she let out a sigh, "Alright." She replied, setting her axe on her shoulders. She was bored anyway, turning she headed for the nearby woods. As she did she heard the leader of the group proudly say, "See I told you she just listens to whatever orders you give her!"

Ophelia rolled her eyes ignoring the small group, she heard the vague sounds of the other two cheering their leader on as she moved further away. Chopping up some wood hardly seemed like work to Ophelia. Especially after everything she had been through in the last few months. So if the army wanted to give her three meals a day, warm new clothes, and a warm place to sleep all for the low price of chopping wood a few times a day? She'd chop down a whole damn forest if they wanted her to.

This sort of work was second nature to her, she had been working in the woods since she was of age. She also wasn't flimsy or weak like some of the nobles that populated the imperial army. Then again, that's what you got when you married too closely into your families all to keep 'the bloodlines pure' as some of the houses did these days.

Ophelia shook her head deciding not to think too hard about the idiocrasy of nobility. It would only serve to upset her mood even further. Silence filled up the world around her only interrupted by the sound of her footsteps and breathing. It was peaceful and tickled her ears like the sound of a pleasant bell. It was much better than listening to the false bravado that she often overheard at the camp.

Young men constantly complimenting this or that about themselves. From their station in life to their abilities in the bedroom. It had been clear to Ophelia that most of their words were very often exaggerations. Ophelia stopped for a moment taking a deep breath, she breathed in the cool air slowly releasing steam from her nose and forming a cloud. She looked up following the disappearing form of her breath focusing on the sight of the snow falling. She smiled despite the sting of the cold on her cheeks.

While yes this was much colder than Ophelia was used to, she was also wearing warmer clothes than what she was used to. Ophelia looked down at her brand-new clothes feeling happy. It had been the first time she had gotten nice clothes like this just for her. Ophelia was careful to keep them clean and take care of her uniform.

Ophelia smiled now understanding why others in the village loved to take care of their things. Having things felt nice and dressing nicely made Ophelia feel amazing. Adjusting the grip on her axe she marched to the woods pleased with how her life had developed recently. The sound deafened just a bit more as she entered the forest leaving Ophelia wrapped in a pleasant silence.