Witch?!

Alice failed to make it to the Underground Market as planned—she had been called away to help.

Last night, Tris had entered the Underground Market to purchase materials. After being discovered, he fled all the way to Lower Iron Cross Street. The Mandated Punishers searched the street and found Tris's temporary residence, but the trail ended there.

"So why me? Don't the Mandated Punishers have anyone who can track people?" Alice Kingsley, who did not want to work, complained indignantly.

"Machinery Hivemind has a senior Mystery Pryer. I even suspect he has already advanced to Sequence 8. But when it comes to divination, perhaps you have the advantage. And that dream of yours..."

Dunn explained, but Alice felt that the main reason was still the dream she had. Perhaps after hearing about it, the Mandated Punishers thought it would be better to let her take a stroll around the scene?

Alice reluctantly followed Dunn to Lower Iron Cross Street. After handing things over with the Mandated Punishers' team, she entered Tris's temporary residence alone.

This temporary residence looked utterly unremarkable—in other words, no personal belongings of any kind could be found. Then again, if there had been any, the Mandated Punishers would probably have taken them already.

Alice wandered around the room once and found nothing. She decided to perform a Dream Divination just to go through the motions.

"Anyway, it won't really produce a result... What should I write?"

Alice rubbed her chin. After writing down "the method Tris used to leave this place," she repeated it several times, made sure she remembered it, and began the Dream Divination.

Her consciousness plunged into the dream. A slender figure in a long dark-black dress flickered in the dream for an instant, then shattered and vanished as though the signal were poor... Huh?!

Alice's eyes widened. She took out a bronze-colored coin, silently recited "Tris has become Trissy" seven times, then gently tossed it upward and watched it spin as it fell.

It landed on the King's head.

Expressionless, Alice wrote down "Trissy's current location" and tried to enter a Dream Divination—then she was ruthlessly kicked out.

"Someone interfered with the divination? Then why wasn't there any interference before... Was it because they only noticed just now?" Alice blinked her eyes in confusion and decided to perform one last divination.

She wrote "the reason Tris became Trissy" on the paper, then sank into the dream.

Alice saw a "book" pass from a woman's hands into a man's. The "book" had an ancient, mottled bronze cover, with a strange star-shaped lock hanging beside it. Written upon that bronze cover was—Witch.

"..." Alice was so shocked that she didn't know what expression to make. She could only pack up her things as calmly as she could and walk downstairs absentmindedly.

"Don't worry if there was no result. I only called you here to try our luck anyway." Dunn had clearly misunderstood Alice's expression.

Alice sighed weakly and shook her head. She did not respond to Dunn, only turning to the Mandated Punishers. "I couldn't divine her location... The divination was interfered with."

The Mandated Punishers showed looks of understanding. These People of Wrath clearly had not yet noticed the difference between "she" and "he."

"But perhaps you need a new Wanted Poster," Alice added expressionlessly. "Trissy has already become a Witch."

"?" The Mandated Punishers were full of question marks.

Seeing their expressions, Alice was immensely satisfied. The wounded soul she had suffered upstairs finally felt healed. "I need to prepare a ritual to draw a portrait of Trissy... Captain, did you bring the materials?"

"I..." Dunn was interrupted.

Having finally sorted through the mess in their minds, the Mandated Punishers could not help but speak first. "No, wait, what do you mean by Witch?"

"The Sequence 7 potion of the Assassin Pathway is called Witch," Alice sighed helplessly and answered patiently. "Tris drank the Witch Potion and became the Witch Trissy... Do you understand now that I put it that way?"

"So that means he's a woman now?" The Mandated Punishers all revealed expressions of disbelief and incomprehension.

"She." Alice corrected their wording, though it did not change anything.

After confirming that they had not misheard, the Mandated Punishers wore expressions that looked full of words they could not say. The calmest person there was probably Dunn—though who knew whether he was truly calm or simply did not know what expression to make.

After drawing Trissy's portrait, Alice returned to Blackthorn Security Company and listlessly greeted Leonard.

"...What's wrong with you this time?" Leonard stared at Alice in surprise. After all, he had already seen her like this several times over the past few days.

"Ha ha." Alice forced out a stiff smile. "Do you know what comes after Assassin and Instigator?"

"...What is it?" Leonard suddenly had a Bad Premonition.

"Witch." Alice returned to her expressionless state and confirmed his premonition.

"Huh?" As expected, Leonard also wore the expression of a pig brain overloaded. "Then, if a man drinks the potion..."

"Then he becomes a Witch." Alice gave him the answer.

"...Let me sort this out." Leonard looked utterly confused. "I remember you went to help find Tris..."

"Yes." Alice looked at him encouragingly, signaling with her eyes for him to continue.

"He was an Instigator before..." Leonard continued under Alice's gaze, but his speaking speed gradually slowed. He always felt that Alice's encouraging gaze harbored ill intent.

"Yes." Alice looked at him approvingly, signaling with her eyes for him to hurry up and say it.

"So, Tris is now...?" Leonard opened his mouth but still could not voice the possibility that seemed utterly absurd to him.

"Once the Mandated Punishers finish copying the new Wanted Poster and send it over, you'll be able to see what the Witch Trissy looks like." Alice shattered his final delusion.

"..." Leonard also left as though he had lost his soul, leaving only Alice in the hall.

What? You asked what Alice was staying here for? Well... she was going to tell every person she met who was willing to listen the story of Tris the Instigator and Trissy the Witch.

Thus, for the entire day, everyone who left the hall of Blackthorn Security Company wore the same dazed, soulless expression—except Captain Dunn, who looked as calm as ever.

Well, it counted as good news too. The Church's Sequence records had gained another entry...

Once I start writing papers, typing out chapters suddenly feels especially fun...