The next several hours was a blur of activity. The city was put in lockdown. The Lord declared martial law. The remaining Guard regiments went into every establishment of ill repute, stirring the city's underworld, taking ass, names, and leads, then pinning the blame on the smugglers as they left.

I tried to find him but I had no tracks to follow. Alice also tried searching. She regretted not placing a tracking spell on Sleepy.

On the second day of searches, civil unrest rose sharply as the army started entering houses to search.

Mid-afternoon of the third day, we found a tunnel that went underneath the walls, opening under a hollowed-out tree trunk. It should be impossible because the underground was the Dungeon's domain. The tunnel support beams were enchanted to stop detection.

But out in the wilderness, it was my time to shine. I ran, chasing the smuggler's tracks. Alice flew behind me.

> For tracking the smugglers, you gained 100 Experience points.

They took a wagon at one point. While a group of people running down the road wasn't a rare sight and covered more ground, it wasn't inconspicuous.

*

*

On the second day following the tracks, we were closer to our quarry.

"You should hurry ahead. You can fly way faster than my sprint speed." I told Alice.

"No. I won't manage to tell the right wagon from the wrong and it would piss off the Merchant Guild because I'm going to wreck all of them. Anyone who fancies luxury items should stay in the Merchant's Guild good graces."

We kept our fast jog. I had to balance my SP consumption to save some energy for the fight against the smugglers.

"George, there's something I want you to know."

Alice was in a bad mood since I left the courthouse jail. It didn’t show signs of improving.

"I'm all ears," I replied.

"I haven't gained a single level in two centuries."

Wow, that was awful. Also, rather impossible. People would earn a trickle of experience by doing stuff their class was meant to do. Unless…

"You are stuck at your racial level cap?" I shouted louder than I wished. What was the level cap for elves, again?

Every species had a level cap. You couldn't level up above that until you completed a ridiculously difficult and time-consuming quest. You couldn't fail the quest. The only way to keep anyone from doing the quest and eventually evolving their species was to not even try.

"Yes, I am. My evolution quest is to raze a hundred sapient settlements classified as town or higher and kill ten million sapient creatures, in a single year. I think you can understand why I didn't do it. Instead, I have been raising and dropping Sub-Classes for two centuries."

One could drop a Sub-Class and train a new one from the ground up. You lost all the benefits from the Sub-Class except for a single Perk and the Skill. And even then, the Skill lost a rank and couldn't be improved anymore. It was an option rarely taken. She was the first one who admitted doing it regularly. Alice should have a ton of Skills and Perks from here and there.

"What the Hell? Why would the System give you such a ridiculous —" wait. "Is it because of your main Class?!? What is it?"

It was extremely rude to ask. I was so shocked by the candid revelation that I asked it anyway.

"Archmage of Cataclysm. Legendary. I wasn't a good person in my first handful of centuries."

Handful. Right. Humans evolve at level three hundred. Elves had to wait until level five hundred. Bloody hell.

I stopped to stare at her. A shiver ran up my spine. I knew Alice was an ancient monster but putting a number where only interrogation marks existed previously made it all feel more real.

"How?" Was all I could ask.

"Being immortal and leading a life of violence," she said unabashed. "Centuries of nonstop violence in the Labyrinth."

I didn't think she was exaggerating on the "nonstop" part.

Wait. "If you are this strong, then why did you behave like that when Clotilde appeared?"

"Clotilde is a bad matchup for me. His level is way lower than mine. But it was the fastest way to get him to go away. Not to mention fighting in a Dungeon that small would be catastrophic. I could break the Core from anywhere inside of it."

She sighed and continued. "I cannot walk that path anymore. No way I am committing mass genocide, lay that many lives as a sacrifice upon the altar of power. So, I retired. Took a quiet Guild branch and lived happily ever after."

She didn't sound happy. Alice had her expression soften.

"Keep moving. We need to catch the smugglers and they have almost three days of head start."

We did. The tracks were around two days old but I had no problem chasing them.

"Stop!" Alice shouted. "I sense powerful magic ahead!"

A ball of light shot up and zipped away. Alice gave chase, leaving me alone.

Then I heard a familiar howl. I ran, desperate to find Sleepy. Half a kilometer ahead, I saw a scene of carnage. A dozen or so people and one giant Ocypus beetle were cut in half, lying around a wooden wagon. The blood was fresh and the smell of viscera and feces was overwhelming. I didn't care.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Sleepy!" I shouted, heedless of the danger. Whatever killed everyone might be around but I only had eyes for the little chimera.

Sleepy howled from underneath a tarp. I pulled it off and found the little guy still inside his pet carrier, among a collection of mismatched and worn crates and barrels.

I unlocked the latch. Sleepy leaped out of it straight into my arms. I hugged him. He licked me.

"I'm sorry for being such a crappy master," I said.

Sleepy didn't seem to care. It was simply happy to see me and maybe a bit hungry. I fed it all the jerky I had. Sleepy inhaled the jerky, barely chewing it.

When I looked inside the pet carrier, I noticed a paper envelope. I had to take it. It was a fancy and expensive paper, smooth and thin. I opened the envelope and saw a five by three card inside.

I took it out and read. The calligraphy was neat and round with flourishes, very feminine. "You owe me one, George – L.F. P.S.: 1. Don't tell Alice. She will become paranoid. 2. This note will self-destruct ten seconds after you opened the envelope. Better toss it to your left."

I did. The card spun in the air, then caught on fire before it reached the immense puddle of blood. The fire consumed the card, leaving only fait ashes as proof it one day existed.

The wind picked up speed and the ashes vanished.

L.F. I didn't need a hundred points of Intelligence to figure out these were the initials for the infamous Lilliane Fade, my father's murderer.

The Time Witch. Allegedly, nobody could surprise her and she was always ten, twenty steps ahead. Hindsight being 20/20, people shouldn't have attacked.

Did I owe her a favor? Was she the one who killed the smugglers? I owed her nothing.

I took Sleepy in my arms and walked away, leaving bloody footprints on the road.

*

*

I made camp and cooked some mixed rice for dinner. Moist rice, sausage bits, finely diced, some herbs for seasoning, ground cheese, and milk cream. It was a dish for the first days on the road since the cream would go bad sooner. I was almost done when Alice returned.

Sleepy barked. The elf landed with a smile. "I see you were reunited. Congratulations on a rescue well done!"

I let my head hang. Should I tell Alice? I had to.

"I didn't rescue Sleepy. The one who did was gone before I reached the wagon but they left a note. I quote, 'You owe me one, George – L.F. P.S.: 1. Don't tell Alice. She will become paranoid. 2. This note will self-destruct ten seconds after you opened the envelope. Better toss it to your left'."

"L.F.?" She asked, already distressed. I nodded. Alice went livid. "That fucking bitch!"

Her outburst confirmed a suspicion and the note predictions. It was Liliane Fade and I shouldn't have told Alice about her. The elf was beet red angry now.

I removed the pot from the fire and used a grabby handle to tilt it on its side to scoop the mixed rice into the bowls. I would eat from the pan but I knew Alice didn't like me earing from the pan.

"What should I do? Avoid her?"

"Ha!" Alice let out a rueful laugh. "If Liliane Fade wants to meet you, she will. The woman can see present, past, and future. What you should do is to treat her well when she decides to enter your life."

Why did they send my father to die, then? Was it the fake intelligence disseminated by the demons? It was hard to tell and I didn't want to ask. Alice was already in a terrible mood and she did so much for me already.

Sleepy wanted to eat my mixed rice and almost tipped my bowl. I gave him a correction. The little monster sulked but obeyed.

I tried to bond. Nothing happened.

"You shouldn't worry too much. She won't kill you or demand anything outrageous. Liliane is not someone who lets the people she wants dead know it."

"How will I recognize her?"

"Red hair like uncontrolled fire. A purple wide-brimmed hat full of decorations and dangling tassels. The hat is a Heirloom. Don't need to warn you of the dangers."

"Heirloom?"

"Before Lilliane Fade, the Time Witch, there was Sophia Fade, the Freedom Witch. As you can see, they have a surname. All the Fade Witches have a connection to the supernatural. Sophia was Royalty for a while before she was deposed and fell from grace. I met her way before she changed Classes and became a Witch. Lovely girl. An introvert. But I said too much. Thanks for the food, kid. Go to sleep. I will keep watch all night."

*

*

Alice wove several protective wards around George. She knew only two individuals who could slip past those wards and harm George without her knowledge in the world, and neither of them was close. If they were and wanted to harm George, nothing she did would save him, anyway.

She then flew a couple kilometers away. There, she found a clearing with a cozy cottage on top of a hillock. A woman sat on a rocking chair, nursing a steaming mug of tea.

"Aunt," the red-haired woman said as she stood up to greet the elf.

"Don't call me that," Alice snapped as the elf's eyes lingered down to the woman's belly. "You lost that right centuries ago."

The Witch sighed. "Fair enough."

"What do you want with George, Lilliane?" Alice demanded.

"Would it ease your mind if I said I have no intent of harming him?"

Alice groaned as her face went pink and her ears, red. "Just by getting near him you are already hurting him!"

"I rescued his pet." Lilliane Fade said with a lilt in her voice.

Alice wasn't moved. "We would've found and rescued the creature ourselves!"

"No, you wouldn't. Trust me, in all futures where I didn't intervene, Sleepy died. The person who paid for this whole operation gave the kidnappers orders to kill Sleepy the moment trouble arose. That's why I had to use mom's Speedrunner Scythe to kill them."

Alice stopped to think. Lilliane didn't lie about her talent. In fact, if she hadn't this devil may care attitude and trampled over so many important people without a single regard for life, property, honor, or dignity, she wouldn't be one of the most wanted people in the world.

"I would still be one of the most wanted people in the world," Lilliane said as if she could read Alice's thoughts.

"Are you looking at a possible future where I told you what I was thinking?" Alice asked. Lilliane nodded with a smug smile. "Your talents evolved."

"I picked another divination-related Sub-Class at level four hundred and sixty," Lilliane explained and made a bursting movement with her hands. "Synergy!"

Alice shook her head. "Do you promise me you won't hurt George?"

"No. I won't promise but I can tell you this. In most of the futures I see, we cooperate."

That wasn't a better alternative. Alice wanted Lilliane to have nothing to do with George.

"You aren't the one who will kill me, Alice."

"I thought Seers couldn't see the day of their death."

"We cannot even tell which day among the few ones we cannot absolutely see into is the one we die. But I can see a future in which you receive news of my death and either grieve or cheer. It’s nowhere near don't worry. Not even I can tell how far in the future it is. It's too muddled."

Lilliane could tell events a few seconds ahead in time with pinpoint precision. But as the event moved further away into the future, the cloudier it became as competing possibilities blurred together. Yet, she needed a ridiculous Intelligence score to pull it off. A lesser person would go insane seeing what Lilliane Fade saw.

"Try to leave George alone."

"If things go my way, we will only meet twice in his lifetime. A long lifetime."

"When don’t they go your way?" Alice asked.

"More often than you'd believe. I often take a minor setback to catapult a major win in the future."

Alice gave up. She cut her losses and took what reassurance the Time Witch gave her. "Is it true the Demon King set the Guild into a collision course with you?"

Lilliane nodded. "Clotilde didn't lie."

"You could've—"

The Witch dropped her nonchalant attitude. "You Guild brickheads wouldn't have believed me anyway. The futures in which things didn't happen as they did is one in which my daughter..." Her hands covered her belly. "Go, Aunt Alice. I will have my way even if I have to get that rotten fruit in the sky to come down here. Skip owes me a few favors and is about to owe even more. I'm just asking you to stay out of my way. Nobody in this world or among the stars above will threaten my daughter."

Alice shrugged. She knew when she was defeated. In the end, if she wasn't willing to cause a cataclysm, there was little the elf could do except threaten to cause a cataclysm. The Guild Master recast her flight spell and rose up, vanishing into the night sky.

Lilliane Fade watched that and a thousand possible futures at once. She rubbed her bulging stomach once more. Only one thing mattered now.