Theora stared at her quest description, feeling extraordinarily tired and empty. How had she managed to manoeuvre herself into this position?

Together with Dema, she sat at a table outside a café, hidden under parasols in the gleaming sun, after a day full of questioning people in town, none of whom had any clue about what they needed to know.

“What are we gonna do if we find nothing?” Dema asked and then plopped a spoonful of marble cake into her mouth.

Just as Theora was about to answer, a young woman interrupted the both of them after she’d slowly walked up to the table.

“E-excuse me,” she mumbled, eyes to the ground. She looked terrible. Tired, exhausted. She was wearing a waitress uniform, apparently belonging to the staff of the café.

“Yeah?” Dema asked. “Why, ain’t you a little cutie! Come sit down with us?”

“N-no!” the girl answered, looking up finally. She had deep bags under her eyes. “It’s just… My shift’s ending in a moment, and… Earlier — a while ago — I heard you talk about him. And, I was trying to… to get myself to come here. Because I think I know where he is.”

“He?” Dema asked. “Who you talking about?”

She swallowed. “The Devil of Truth.”

Those words were like balm on Theora’s aching soul.

Finally.

She glanced at her quest details.

Time remaining: 7 hours.

This was cutting it way too close even for Theora’s tastes. Though, as Dema had said a few weeks prior, she certainly only had herself to blame. Of course, there was no way she’d actually miss the deadline; she’d rather tear a hole into the fabric of reality than have the Devil of Truth go rampant after the System had gone through all the effort of summoning her here.

Because, at least speaking for side quests, they really never were in vain. Usually, those were quests that actually required her. She would slack a lot, trying to stretch the deadline as far as possible, but in the end, she would accept and shoulder her responsibilities. And the consequences.

Although in this case, she really wasn’t sure how she could have approached it any differently. Had she spent less time asleep and wallowing, she would have been here earlier, in theory. It was an easy thing to say.

And yet, the sleep was something her mind had demanded of her with such urgency that she wasn’t sure whether she would have been able to remain collected and capable if she hadn’t given in. Immediately after meeting Dema, her pressure had caused her to lash out against the System, endangering people in the process. This was something she didn’t want to repeat under any circumstances.

So, if sleep was the only coping mechanism she was allowed, she’d take it. She’d sleep a hundred years if it meant shielding the world from another one of her childish fits.

As a saving grace, she could at least grant that during those very last few months, she’d been mostly awake. The closer the deadline came, the more she forced herself to be clear-minded. 

But nothing could be changed at this point anyway. She simply had to find and dispatch the Devil of Truth within seven hours, without relying on any means that were improper. Callarand was a large region, so there was a limit to how much of it could be combed through within a few hours.

Luckily, now, they had found their very first lead.

The girl was probably somewhere in her twenties. Extremely long black hair fell down her back. She wore a very thick pair of glasses, and had a constant air of feeling lost about her.

“Oh my, tell us!” Dema agreed. “We’re gonna kill him. She needs those juicy quest rewards.”

“I really don’t,” Theora murmured.

The girl jumped her eyes between the two of them in slight confusion.

“Anyway, what’s your name? I’m Dema, and this clueless beauty right here is Little Rabbit.”

The girl gulped, and took a short breath. “Really? You’re going to end him? You are here for that?”

“Yes,” Theora confirmed, and as she did, a wave of relief washed over that person’s face.

“That’s good. That’s good, yes. I’m Hannah.”

“Why, you’re so skittish. Were you worried about that so much?” Dema asked.

Hannah took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes by shoving her fingers under her glasses. “I know he’s going to be set free soon. Not exactly when, but… I’m on edge, and nobody I know cares. They say to trust in the System.”

“In this particular case, you have no need to be frightened,” Theora assured her. “We are here to end him, and will do so tonight. Any information you can give us would help, so please, let us know what you can.”

“Y-yes. I only know what my grandmother told me. She wasn’t alive when it all went down, but the hero responsible… I mean, the hero who ended the incident came back a few decades later to check on his work. Like, when she was young. And they talked a lot.”

“Dang, he survived?” Dema raised her brows. “I thought he woulda gotten pummelled. Like, that he only managed to delay the inevitable by sacrificing himself or something. The Devil of Truth ain’t exactly easy to deal with. That boy must have been really strong.”

“I… I’m not sure,” Hannah said. “I think he died a long time ago, from old age. I don’t think he fought the Devil.”

“Oh? What did he do, then?”

“He had the [Sealer] Class. He imprisoned him in a cage.” 

Dema shook her head with a hint of contempt. “Damn those guys.”

Theora hummed in thought. “Still, imprisoning the Devil of Truth for a hundred years would require a very strong [Sealer]. Is the deadline of the quest the remaining time on that seal? Does it last exactly a hundred years?” She leaned back in her chair, looking up at the yellow parasol and the glare of the sun hidden behind it. “The Devil of Truth seems too strong to be fought by a single hero… Sending more would have required more time, so maybe the System was in a hurry.”

“So?” asked Dema.

“So, my guess is, the seal used by the hero freezes time. Stops time for a hundred years. That way, it can’t be fought from the inside, with the drawback that it won’t harm what’s in it.”

“Oh my, she’s got it all figured out already,” Dema grinned.

“Not all. I’m only guessing. Also, I’ve seen it used a few times before. The System sent me on the quest right back then when it happened. So, it knew that eventually, someone would arrive who could dispatch the Devil of Truth. Harming him wasn’t necessary.” 

To Theora, this seemed like the most plausible course of action for the System to take. One hundred years was probably the most that hero had to offer. Regardless, it was an enormous amount of time.

“Anyway, we still need to find where the seal is located.” Theora glanced back at the girl with a questioning gaze.

“I… think I know where it is,” the girl murmured, and her gaze turned a little darker. “You’re going there to finish the job no matter what, right?”

“That’s the intention,” Theora confirmed.

“I understand. Please, be careful. That being cannot be allowed to leave its seal. I still have nightmares today, and my grandmother barely told me anything. You’ll… Know what I mean when you get there, I think.” Hannah pressed her lips together in a worried expression. “If what she told me is true… Please, don’t underestimate him. I realise you think you are strong, but…” She trailed off, and swallowed. “And whatever he says, don’t listen to him, okay? You can’t let him live, no matter what.”

“Why, that’s ominous,” Dema hummed. “But, don’t worry! The guy’s not gonna get away. Should be a tad weaker than I am, and Theora is a little stronger than me. Two on one. You can sleep safely tonight, I promise!”

Hannah nodded, and took a deep breath. “Alright. Then, do you have a map?”