Alice felt like the case of this Empire was a lost cause. She had been tying people around flagpoles to warn them, but other than fear they seem to fail to realize that they are being hunted. The people were listless with eyes constantly staring at the ends of the world. Their feet were wet with mud. Hands calloused by the work given to them by a broken Empire holding on to their delusions of power.

She had enough extracted memories to understand that this Empire tried to expand beyond their borders. Then they met up with Lord of a Kingdom run by humanoids with the same features as the devils she knew, and they faced the wrath of this Devil. It was only when the Empire was burning that the other nations halted their ruinous ideas of expansion.

“The Darkened One,” she muttered. “A being that has been corrupted by a ruinous power who lead his people to war against nations. He would have won if it wasn’t for the heroes that were born out of the work of the wise woman known as Ashia of the Alf Lands. A woman who should have the same power as that of a War Maiden guiding her power to help the heroes save the world. She’s the key to all of this.”

Alice could not allow herself to see only one side of the battle. For every action, there must have been a reason as to why they had done such a cruel system. No, can she even call it as a cruel system? The state of the Empire, if improved, could change the environment greatly. All Alice could see was the poor people of the Empire that had been hit with war. She had only made things better for this city she was in. She hung a few criminals and massacred an entire clan of murderers because she could. She had free the enslaved only for them to parade on the streets begging for alms, which she expected.

She traveled her gaze on the street before moving from the scene. She walked a stone-paved road with a scent of wash stone. She sauntered past beggars and observed the crowds gathering on the side. A little girl begged with a cloth wrapped around her eyes along with her disease-stricken mother. A priest who worships the light prayed salvation for those who wanted to be saved, a hat near his feet, filled with coins from the masses.

The river was muddy. Below were filled with burned wood and rocks that she assumed to have come from the buildings. She crossed another ruined street filled with blocks of building lined together in one straight line. She had imagined that this sight would have been grand back in the days. But this city was lost to the war and was on its knees. She ambled to a plaza where a firing squad with bolt-action rifles pointed their weapons at the prisoners. Their rifles fired and the people facing the wall fell together. She squinted at the sight of those rifles. The people here wore differently than the last world she was in. It was a civilized world that had abandoned their spears and swords for firearms.

Alice wore a frock coat and had her hands on her pockets as she walks the city. People had assumed she was some middle-class person just by the sword she wielded. It was the only sword she had carried out of the original world. She turned her attention to the place that she was looking for. She entered a hideout of those who would exploit their own in such times. They stared at Alice with lusty eyes staring at her neck. She changed her posture and with a stance she disappeared.

There was a flash of blur that ended up with their bodies loosening in the opposite direction. One of the riflemen stared blankly as his body falls on the ground. Alice stayed her sword, the blood on it steaming. Sword marks scarred the ground they stood and the only one left was the cages of those who were imprisoned by these people. She sidled near the cages and flashes her sword to slice up the cages.

“What are you?” asked one of the women.

“Someone who is here to help. I will carve a path for you. Do you know any place where you can be free?”

“None,” said another woman. “We have nowhere to go, Milady.”

“I see,” said Alice. “I can guide you to the nearest safest city. I’ve heard that refugees are trying to cross to the republic. By my honor, I will protect you all.”

“Are you alone, Milady?”

“Yes, but I assure you that my might can allow passage. By my honor, I will make sure that you will be able to leave this troubled land.”

Then Alice saw what she was fighting for. If there was a proper word for it then it was happiness. Seeing them bloom like flowers as hope appears before them made her heart light. This was the reason she fought for so long. Alice had been addicted to the smiles that blossoms when sprinkled by hope. She nodded at them with a smile that somehow made those who looked at her smile. The gloom on their faces vanished and what was left were folks willing to follow her.

Alice poured power from her back and grabbed them through this invisible power. When the invisible power picked them up their eyes widened but without the fear. Alice focused her powers and pulled from the source where her power was. Suddenly, she was outside the walls where she had transported the mark she left behind. The people blinked at the sudden change in the environment, their eyes looking at Alice as if she was their savior.

“Ah, how could I forget?” she could recall the days where she roamed the land as a witch. The days where she was just a witch living in a hovel inside the woods helping those who are in need when they are lost. This was her calling and yet she wonders how could she always forget?