—his head hit the ground.

The low thud echoed in Alice’s ears, bouncing around her empty skull. She gazed soulessly at the head. His vacant eyes stared lifelessly ahead and his mouth was gaping wide in a grotesque image. He would never see anything again.

Funny. I’m not feeling much. It didn’t surprise her all that much though. Alice was numb. Her body was numb, she felt numb inside, and she didn’t know what else to do.

A warm sensation ran down her arm and startled her back to reality. Alice glanced to the side, noting there was more red than flesh showing. That’s probably not good.

“A-Alice!” The voice sounded like it came from a thousand miles underwater but when Alice looked towards the noise, she discovered a girl running for her. She cocked her head, giggling at the crack noise it made. The girl stuttered to a stop, staring at Alice with unabashed concern.

“Are you…okay…” she trailed off. Alice furrowed her forehead. Why didn’t she finish? A little pout formed on her lips. She wanted to know how it ended!

She felt the urge to scratch her head but when she went to do so, her arm didn’t listen to her. She frowned. Even weirder.

“Alice…can you hear me?” The girl approached her cautiously, a hand out like she was anxious Alice was going to bite her.

Alice snickered. Silly girl! She would never hurt her! After all, the only people she hated were—

Huh. She didn’t remember. Well, she didn’t remember a lot of things right now. Alice was certain this was just a passing phase. What was it called? Ah, maybe this was a natural part of growing up.

Regardless, gazing at the decapitated head filled her with a maelstrom of intense feelings—emotions she didn’t particularly enjoy, so she swiftly swept him into the Hate category.

Heavy footsteps caught her attention and Alice whirled around. Big mistake. She didn’t think it was a taxing physical movement but for whatever reason, the world teetered upside down. Her balance lost, Alice slipped on a pebble and tumbled haphazardly to the ground.

A “gah!” slipped through her lips. The sound of footsteps intensified and before Alice could even begin hitting the ground, firm arms wrapped around her armpits and pulled her to her feet.

“Weeeee,” Alice murmured, cracking open her eyes when the tension on her upper arms increased. The full scope of her vision was instantly covered with someone’s bearded face. She flinched at the murderous expression he wore, shutting her eyes close again. Nope! Not dealing with this!

Unfortunately, he didn’t happen to be a mirage. He gripped her arms tighter and shook her back and forth. Alice struggled to fight back the urge to throw up as her stomach churned. Her brain felt like it was jostling around inside her skull, did he have to shake so damn hard!?

“B-Blanche! Stop! She’s injured!” the same girl from prior intervened. Alice attempted to give her a weary smile as thanks but it may have come off as wrong, because she didn’t think recoiling was the proper response. Then again, it wasn’t like Alice could feel her face either.

B-Blanche (the name rang a bell, though she didn’t think that was how you pronounced it) grunted. “Obviously. You, girl. What happened to her?”

Rude. She has a name, you know. I just need to remember what it is. Alice thought faintly. She narrowed her eyes, surveying beardo’s face and ignoring the way he tilted back. “Hmmm, you’re very familiar, you know that?”

He shook his head and released her, turning to the other girl. Alice grumbled, rubbing her sore arms. It was kind of rude to ignore someone like that, but at least he wasn’t hurting her. A droopy smile spread across her face and she snapped her fingers in realization. “Aha! So that’s how you smile!”

Even in the midst of her exhilaration, Alice didn’t miss how the girl sidled closer to B-Blanche and whispered, “She was f-fighting a noble.”

He grimaced. “Why the fuck was she doing something so foolish?”

The girl lowered her gaze. “I…she was helping me.”

His face hardened. “Baron is still following through with that? I told him from the beginning it was foolhardy, and look where it’s gotten him!”

The girl raised her hands. “H-he didn’t have a c-choice! He did the best he could!”

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B-Blanche scoffed. “And you don’t make it any better, sniveling in the dirt like a coward. Have at least some modicum of self-preservation instead of aiding in the destruction of your tribe.”

The girl flinched with each word until her body was trembling. Something roared to life in Alice’s chest at the sight, a protective power telling her to defend the girl. “Hey, don’t be sooooo mean. Why don’t we—“

//Congratulations for taking the first step in balancing the world! For the decapitation of the [Paladin], you have gained Skill and Level Points!

Level 11->Level 13

[Perseverance] Rank E, Level 9->[Perseverance] Rank D, Level 11

[Anarchy Flare] Rank D, Level 13->[Anarchy Flare] Rank D, Level 14

[Ray of Judgement] Rank E, Level 2

2 Skill Slots open

Progress towards next Level: 23%

Fix-The-World Quest Completion: 1%

A wave of clarity washed over Alice, shocking her mind back to reality. All too suddenly, she was aware of the agonizing pain rippling through her arm and the stench of iron filled her senses. Bile rose and she clamped her hand over her mouth; what the hell was going on!?

While she struggled to keep herself together, she heard footsteps. “Oh, looks like you came back to your senses. Hold still while I heal you.”

Alice nearly broke down sobbing in relief when Blanche murmured a couple of words and a dim light illuminated her visions. She exhaled a puff of air as the spell took hold. Almost immediately, the pain was lessening while the spell sunk into her skin and patched the flesh back together.

“It won’t replenish the blood you’ve lost, so no more fighting for a while.” Blanche ordered. Alice nodded. It wasn’t like she’d been planning on plunging into battle right after she got healed.

Her duel with the noble served as a wake up call. Alice was confident that she wielded more Manergy, and definitely had more Skills. However, he had more experience in fighting and that made all the difference.

Alice saw it now. He’d pretended like his Manergy reserves were spent, and used it all in a burst when she’d lowered her guard. She clenched her fist at the thought. If not for the System giving her a Skill and a boost of Manergy, she would have perished.

To make matters worse, she was certain this wasn’t a one time thing; if anything, every noble she faced after was probably going to have more sly tactics under their sleeves. If Alice was going to stay alive long enough to make a difference, she needed to get accustomed to fighting an opponent whose way of thinking was completely different from hers.

Even while her wound closed and blood stopped seeping out of her body, there was still an even larger source of iron. Alice tried her hardest not to look but occasionally, she glanced over to the dead body.

Her stomach dropped. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. On one hand, he would have killed her if she didn't do the deed first. And she hadn’t been in full control of herself either; the Skill had all but taken over. But could she really say that she wouldn’t have done the same in similar circumstances?

No, she couldn’t have. And that frightened her. At the end of this journey, would she be the same person?

“Um, Alice?” Lily’s voice broke through Alice’s thoughts and she lifted her gaze to meet the elf’s. The taller girl inhaled deeply. “I just wanted to say—“

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?”

Alice flinched, the bigger-than-life voice slamming into her skull with the subtlety of a rampaging monster. She moaned and rubbed the rapidly forming migraine, catching a glimpse of Baron storming towards them with an entourage.

He did not look happy.

“BLANCHE! YOU’VE FINALLY CROSSED THE LINE! YOUR APPRENTICE—“

Each word was like a spear getting driven further and further into Alice’s brain. She grit her teeth and hunkered in, determined to weather it through. Because of that, she missed the way Blanche’s eyes flitted to her prone form for a second before moving back to Baron.

“Lower your voice, Baron.” Blanche interrupted. “You’re not the only one who has problems with this situation.”

Baron fumed but he made a visible effort to lower his voice. “Fine,” he spat out. “Can you explain this?” He flicked his hand at the cooling body and acting on instinct, Alice followed his hand before averting her eyes.

“I should be asking you that. What ploy are you playing? You promised me you wouldn’t do this, yet here we are.” Blanche stated.

Alice squinted. She recalled Blanche and Lily exchanging similar words, but in her half-dead state, it hadn’t come off as anything weird. Now that she was slightly more lucid, it was ringing a ton of alarms.

“You don’t have a say in this. At the end of the day, this is my tribe and you’re not a part of it.” Baron declared.

If Blanche was bothered by the harsh words, he didn’t show it. “Fine. I’ll take my apprentice and leave.”

Alice snapped her head up and instantly regretted it when she swooned. She pushed past the pulsating headache to focus on Blanche’s bleary figure with earnest eyes, hoping to convey her feelings across. She didn’t want to leave! Call it a gut feeling, but Alice felt like there was still something she needed to do.

Though, judging from how the entourage behind Baron looked like they were seconds away from skewering her, maybe it was a good idea to leave before history repeated itself.

Alice had just resigned herself to always leaving villages in disgrace when a rod planted itself between her feet.

She scrambled backwards, surveying her surroundings in a frenzied 360 degree. Had the noble somehow survived? Were his friends taking revenge?!

Slowing down, she finally noticed Blanche’s sword was unsheathed and Baron’s entire group had their weapons ready to fight. Baron wielded a pair of cudgels larger than he was, hefting them over his shoulders with ease.

“Your apprentice isn’t going anywhere.”