“Your alchemy skills are some of the strongest I have ever seen, surpassing Valerius,” I said to Cleopatra. She blushed at that, looking down before her dark brown eyes met mine. “What if we make some coffee-enhanced potions to keep me, Umbra, and the others awake if our plan takes too long?”

Her dark brown eyes smiled as she looked at me, holding my hand as we rested against Umbra. “That could work,” she said. “I could experiment with some ingredients and methods. But we will need several things I don’t have: coffee, along with alchemical tools and ingredients.”

“There is one place that will have everything you need. Valerius has a shop in Rome. We’ve made our potions there before. He works primarily in Domitian’s Palace but has his apprentices run the shop. We could break in, take them out, and make the potions. The only thing we would need to find beforehand would be coffee beans.”

Can you just buy them? Umbra said.

I shook my head. “Getting inside of Rome undetected will be hard enough with Caesar’s spies. He has an expansive network of spies who never turn off their invisibility blessing, remaining eternally in the shadows. If we walk around the streets too long, it’ll be over for us. Plus, it will be good to keep a large amount on hand to enhance whatever coffee potion we make. We cannot risk falling asleep, even for a fraction of a second.”

“Should we travel to the east for more coffee then?” Cleopatra said.

“That’ll take too long, even with Umbra’s draconic flying. There is, however, a large stash sitting beneath Villa Fortunata.”

I thought your villa was destroyed by Caligula’s siege, Umbra said.

“It was. But, thanks to the System’s quirk in allowing the Middle East to flourish with coffee earlier in history, I bought hordes of it before the siege. It’s kept in the basement. That will be far easier than sneaking in Caesar’s palace to acquire the other horde I created.”

You have a serious addiction, Maximus.

“Perhaps. But we should be going now. I fear Caesar’s spies will be upon us soon in the hideout if we don’t leave.”

Sure enough, as we remounted Umbra and he took to the skies, I activated my Historical Insight to see through the next few hours, along with seeing what would have been had we stayed. If we would have taken off two hours later, my throat would have been suddenly slit from a Pluto-blessed. Such was the reach of Caesar.

To keep from this depressing reality, I kept my eyes on the futures. Thankfully, I would prove to be correct about the coffee beans still kept beneath the ashes, but we would need to hurry once we landed. Caesar was wise to keep more of his spies lurking nearby. They were almost impossible to predict, but they would be on us in less than a minute in most cases. It was actually a jumpscare the first thousand times I simultaneously experienced being knifed as we excavated the ruins. Never a pleasant experience, sudden death.

I relayed this information to Cleopatra and Umbra in the clouds. “It’ll be useless fighting all of them. Umbra, I’ll need you to dig as fast as you can where I tell you to. Cleopatra, please stay on his back as he digs. I’ll defend us. Once we break through, Umbra, snatch the barrels I point at with your claws.”

Am I right to assume there will be sugar cubes in these barrels? he said.

I sighed. I had only bought so much sugar thanks to his strange obsession with sweets, along with female horses and alcohol. “Yes, you can have them.”

Excellent.

Cleopatra wrapped her hands around my waist as we flew, nestling her head into my neck from behind me. I placed one hand on her soft leg, comforting her. Feeling her again reminded me of how much I had missed her, in every way. I closed my eyes in pain at the knowledge of her impending death. It would be unwise to think about that now. To fear the inevitable.

The ruins of Villa Fortunata soon came into view thanks to Umbra’s heightened speed. It was still an absolute mess thanks to the siege. The vineyards were all but gone, nothing left but thick layers of ash and sparse vegetation beneath struggling to rise. Giant footprints from Cacus and Caca were sprinkled throughout the desecrated fields, giving me flashbacks to that long night. Siege ladders, rusted weapons, and dented shields were everywhere, especially in the several ditches surrounding the shattered perimeter wall.

The home itself was a sorry sight. The skeletal remains that were the stone walls were blackened from the fire I had set off and the lightning battle between the two armies’ Jupiter-blessed. There was hardly any roof left thanks to the siege, most of it collapsed in a heap. The once beautiful courtyard where I had married Cleopatra after the gladiator tournament was also just a pile of scorched stones and marble, with some weeds growing between to reclaim the land.

It was a future plan of mine to restore it one day as co emperor with Caesar after we colonized America and began restoring Rome’s much depleted treasury. I had planned for it to be a private getaway for Cleopatra and I. Fate, unfortunately, did not care.

“Dig as fast as possible,” I said seconds before Umbra landed over the blackened rubble where the cellar would be beneath. “Love, swing your gladius here in thirty seconds. Everyone ready?”

Ready, Umbra said.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Cleopatra breathed. “Ready.”

I slid carefully to the ruins, landing on fully healed legs. It was amazing how effective the System’s healing of injuries were, save for the crippling wounds like amputations and shattered bones. Spear in hand, I waited patiently for the first assassin to arrive as Umbra began to dig. Ash and debris exploded around me as he set to work like a giant dog, kicking all of it behind his massive dragon legs.

The first assassin would be successful shooting an arrow at me from the left. There was no way I could survive him without seeing into the future. A Chrono Loop was worth it. In my future-saturated brain, I saw the success of throwing my pilum at just about every direction I could think of. Of the millions of variations I could make and hitting nothing, my spear finally impaled the assassin’s chest as he sat perched on the blackened perimeter wall. The man gasped in pain and became visible as he fell behind the wall, dying once he hit the ground.

Strength (+10): lvl 25 (20/260)

Glory (+30): 5,550

Level: 55 (130/570)

The tearing of flesh sounded behind me, followed by a gurgling sound. As expected, Cleopatra eliminated her own visible assassin who had snuck up on Umbra’s back to kill her. I nodded to her, resuming my focus to the eerily silent fields.

More arrows pierced the air around us. I wouldn’t be able to summon my spear back.

“Sword!” I called to Cleopatra, who tossed the Praetorian gladius down to me. The blade ignited as soon as I touched it.

Item: Praetorian Flameblade (Epic)

* Description: This exquisite gladius, forged for the elite Praetorian Guard, has a blade etched with intricate flames along its edges. The hilt is wrapped in blackened leather, and the pommel is adorned with the emblem of the Roman eagle. The blade can ignite at will, casting an eerie glow and dealing devastating fiery strikes.

* Damage: 35

* Durability: 450/475

* Weight: 3.5 kg

* Special Effect: Can be lit on fire at will, adding 10% fire damage for 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

* Worth: 30,000 Denarii

Seeing the blade on fire would keep the assassins at bay. If I did not, an unwelcome number of invisible assassins would overwhelm me, each of them taking turns stabbing me. For now, they would keep to a ranged attack.

Umbra was twenty seconds from retrieving the coffee barrels. But if I didn’t retrieve my spear, we would be at a massive disadvantage for the coming battles.

“Umbra, cover her with your tail!” I said, taking off to a dead sprint to the perimeter wall. My steps were perfect as I ran, effortlessly avoiding arrows by a hairsbreadth as they shot past me. From my prophetic knowledge, I knew Cleopatra would be safe because their focus would be on me. However, if I didn’t run fast enough, they would overwhelm me when I retrieved my spear.

Come on! I thought, pushing my burning legs faster. I had significant muscle thanks to Bulla Felix’s training and my Evasion skill, which increased my running speed by ten percent. I would never have been able to make it without it.

Two invisible arrows came at me from the front. I only knew this because they took me out in so many futures, dropping me instantly. The future rewinded to where I swiped them with my sword with perfect accuracy, using the flat side of my burning blade. Burning wood exploded in front of me, forcing my eyes closed for a second.

Arrow free, I reached the broken wall where the giants had destroyed it. My leap over the wall’s rubble was pathetic compared to its previous power under Jupiter’s blessing, but it worked. The robed assassin lay face up, dead with my spear in his chest. As more arrows rained down on me, I extinguished the flaming gladius and plucked the Achilles’s Spear from him.

Time to go, I thought, scrambling up the sloped, ruin wall to reach the parapet above.

Umbra roared with triumph, raising himself and Cleopatra instantly to the sky. Dozens of arrows stuck out of his tail like toothpicks. Two barrels were in his claws as he flew away. There was no time to have a proper mounting as I made it to the top of the walkway.

“Swoop down low enough!” I shouted as Umbra flew to me.

Just before he passed me by, I dropped, swiveled, and rammed my spear into the air behind me. Another dying gasp came from a Pluto-blessed who turned visible before me.

Strength (+10): lvl 25 (30/260)

Glory (+30): 5,580

Level: 55 (160/570)

I ducked out of the way as an invisible sword sung through the air and cleaved the Pluto-blessed in the neck. As much as I wanted to finish him off, the futures showed potentially dozens of more Pluto-blessed who could overwhelm me just because of my vulnerability and inevitable Chrono Loop.

I took a running start and leaped off of the charred parapet onto Umbra’s back just as he passed by.

You really do have an addiction, Max, Umbra said, the clouds whipping past us. There were too many coffee barrels down there to be considered normal.

“They were a special request during our raids,” I said, pulling myself up in front of Cleopatra who thankfully was unharmed.

“What next?” Cleopatra said, her face scrunched with worry.

“Well, we’re not going to have a quiet visit to Valerius’s shop,” I said, stretching my Historical Insight further. Our little raid on my Villa Fortunata would have all of Rome alert. They would catch me the moment I tried to go in through the gates. What they would do to me was not a pleasant sight. “You may not like this Umbra, but we’re going to have to do some more property damage.”

Umbra’s scaled back shivered with excitement.

“I take it we will have to make the potions elsewhere?” Cleopatra said behind me.

I nodded. “And sorry to disappoint, but you won’t like where we will have to set up camp to do so. It’s the only place Caesar won’t know where to look.”