Chapter 43: Alice Makes A Visit, Logan’s Family

A girl with hair like spun starlight, pale gold and woven into two long tails that swayed against her shoulders with every small movement, lounged across a couch wide enough to seat six people by herself.

Her eyes were a deep violet, the kind that seemed to hold tiny points of light of their own no matter the angle anyone looked at them from. She’d traded the armor and the bow for something soft and simple, curled up with one leg tucked under her, staring out through a wall of glass that made up the entire far side of the room.

The glass looked out over open water, waves catching the last of the afternoon light somewhere far below the cliff her family’s home had been built into. The whole room seemed to float above the sea rather than simply overlook it.

But she had a pout on her face. ’I can’t find him.’

She picked up her phone off the cushion beside her and pressed it to her ear without bothering to sit up properly.

"Mom, Dad! Help!"

The screen in front of her lit up a moment later, and two shapes resolved out of the light hovering above it.

Her mother’s hair was the same pale gold as Alice’s own, though pinned up formally instead of left loose, her eyes a cool grey-blue that missed nothing.

Her father stood a step behind, dark-haired and broad-shouldered, the same deep violet eyes as Alice’s own catching the light even through the hologram, arms crossed in a way that looked more amused than annoyed.

"What is it this time?" Her mother’s voice carried an edge of practiced patience.

"I want to find a person, but I can’t find him!" Alice sat up properly now, phone still pressed close. "I think he gave me a fake name."

Her mother’s eyebrows lifted slightly. "Find a person? Rare for you to take such an interest."

Alice grinned, the sulk from a moment ago gone entirely. "If I can befriend him, I want to match-make our future matches in duo mode. If we’re together, we’d be invincible."

"He defeated me in the match."

Her father whistled. "So you went and had your first match without telling us? And you lost? That’s interesting."

"It seems he left an impression on you." Her mother raised an eyebrow.

But Alice’s grin faded again just as fast. "But I can’t find him. Sigh. The name’s fake, but his face definitely isn’t, so I need your help with it. Tell your Andrivida to find where he lives for me, please! I’ve got his face clear in my head."

Andrivida was her mother’s own summon, Mythic-rank Tier-9.

Her father let out a short laugh. "Andrivida? You sure are hasty."

Her mother just sighed, the kind of sigh that had clearly been practiced over years of exactly this sort of request.

"Fine, you silly girl. I’m sending her there."

The hologram flickered out, and Alice let herself flop back against the couch cushions, phone still clutched to her chest.

’Leon Flanke.’ She said the name out loud once, testing it the same way she had the first time she’d heard it. ’Whoever you really are, I’m going to find you.’

---

Andrivida didn’t look like a Tier-9 Mythic. She looked like a woman stepped out of an old painting, ruby hair falling in a straight sheet to her waist, skin with a faint metallic sheen that only showed itself when the light caught her wrong.

```

[ Xainite Android Genoxia ]

Rank: Mythic

Tier: 9

```

She didn’t need much from Alice beyond a name and a face held clearly in mind.

"Hold still." Andrivida’s eyes went blank white for a moment, no pupil, no iris, just light. "This will only take a second from your side. Longer from mine."

Something pulled at the inside of Alice’s skull, gentle but insistent, and for a moment she felt her own memory of Logan’s face lift free of her and hang suspended somewhere she couldn’t quite see.

Andrivida held the image a moment longer, then let her focus drift outward, into every database running on every server connected to anything electric across the entire world.

```

[ Electric Nexus - Talent Activated ]

Scanning...

```

Some places were protected, either a powerful talent or a power belonging to another Mythic. She didn’t touch those.

But it took her less than four seconds to find a match. An academy enrollment photo, a boy with the same face Alice had handed her, filed under a name that had nothing to do with Leon Flanke.

```

[ Match Found: Logan Wolf ]

[ Enrolled: Academy Records Located ]

[ Residential Address Located ]

```

"Logan," Alice said it out loud, testing the real name the same way she’d tested the fake one. "Logan Wolf. Nice name."

...

The address led her to a part of the city that didn’t look anything like where she’d grown up. Narrow streets. Buildings packed close together, paint peeling off most of them in long strips.

The apartment building where Logan lived itself had seen better decades, a crack running up one whole corner of the exterior wall that nobody had ever bothered patching.

Evening light slanted low through the gaps between buildings by the time Alice found the right door, third floor, paint chipped around a number that had lost half its shine years ago.

She knocked. Andrivida stood a step behind her, arms full of a cake box and a bag of fruit that had cost more than most of the street probably saw in a week.

The door opened on a woman who looked tired in the specific way that came from years of it rather than one bad night, kind eyes set into a face that had clearly smiled a lot once and didn’t have quite as much energy for it these days.

A man appeared behind her a moment later, already halfway into a work jacket, the kind of build that came from decades of physical labor, even with a limp he was trying not to lean into too obviously.

A small girl peeked around her mother’s legs, maybe eleven years old, dark hair in two braids, watching the stranger at the door with open curiosity.

"Hi!" Alice’s whole face lit up, warm and immediate, like she’d known them for years already. "I’m a friend of Logan’s. I brought some things, hope that’s okay!"

She held up the cake box before either parent had a chance to respond, Andrivida stepping forward to offer the bag of fruit with a small, polite bow of her own.

Helen’s eyebrows went up, surprised but not unkind. "A friend of Logan’s? Oh, please, come in. We don’t get many visitors."

The apartment was small, everything in it worn soft from years of use but kept scrupulously clean, and Alice settled onto a couch that creaked under even her light weight like it was apologizing for the sound.

"So." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, grin easy and genuine. "Tell me about him. Where’d he learn to use a sword? He’s really good."

Daniel chuckled, easing himself into the chair across from her despite the jacket still half on. "Self-taught, mostly. Watched some videos, practiced in the yard behind the building until the neighbors complained. Boy’s stubborn when he wants something."

"That sounds like him." Alice laughed, and it came out easy, unforced. They talked a while longer, small things, how he’d been as a kid, what he liked to eat, whether he’d always been that stubborn.

"Can I eat this?" Logan’s sister, Vina, asked while pointing at the cake.

"Of course, cutie pie! Come here, let’s have some cake."

They talked a bit, but eventually Helen tilted her head, curious. "I’m sorry, dear, how exactly do you know Logan? You never said."

Alice’s grin widened. "I’m his girlfriend."

Helen blinked, clearly not expecting that answer, but before she could say anything back, Daniel checked the clock on the wall and started pulling the rest of his jacket on properly.

"Sorry to cut this short. Shift starts in half an hour."

"Wait." Alice was on her feet before she’d fully decided to be. "Why are you still working nights? You don’t need to do that anymore."

Daniel paused halfway into the jacket, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Your son’s a Player now," Alice said it like it explained everything, calm and smiling. "You don’t have to worry about money anymore. Not like this."

Helen’s smile turned soft and a little sad at the edges. "That’s kind of you to say. But we got a call from the academy a while back." She glanced at Daniel, who’d stopped moving entirely now. "He didn’t get a Talent. Only a Normal-rank Class."

"We know he’ll do fine, though. Even if he doesn’t win some matches, he will get strong and win. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met." Helen’s eyes went distant for a second, somewhere back in years of memory. "He hasn’t really let himself just play in a long time. Not since he was young. He’s a kind boy. Understood our situation before we even had to explain it to him, and decided he wanted to fix it himself." A small, tired smile. "It’ll just take time. So we still have to work, for now."

Something in Alice’s chest went tight and hot all at once. Her eyes were wet before she’d even fully registered it.

"The academy’s stupid." Her voice cracked a little on the word. "Don’t believe a thing they told you."

She crossed the room before either of them could react and wrapped both arms around Helen, then reached out and pulled Daniel into it too before he could step back. "Wolf family is really like wolves. You know wolves really care for each other a lot. Their pack is one tight family that always lifts each other."

"And you just gave me good news, actually." She pulled back, smiling through the wet eyes now, something fierce underneath it. "I’m getting him out of that academy. Secretly. He already graduated anyway, so it doesn’t matter what they think."

Helen and Daniel exchanged a look, clearly not following any of it, but neither of them pulled away from the hug either.

"He’s going to win his first match. I promise you that." Alice wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand, grin already climbing back into place. "He’s going to come home with more riches and treasure than either of you have ever seen in your whole lives. Your life is about to change completely."

"So for now." She clapped both hands together. "We go shopping."

Daniel blinked. "Shopping? For what?"

"A house," Alice said it like it was obvious. "You’re going to need a new one, and finding a good one takes time. But with me, it’s easy. We pick one out today, and Logan pays when he gets back."

Helen and Daniel traded another look, this one heavier, clearly torn between the impossibility of the offer and something that looked almost like hope trying to surface despite themselves.

"We couldn’t possibly-" Helen started.

"You can, and you will." Alice cut her off gently, taking both their hands in hers. "I promise you. If I’m wrong about any of this, I’ll pay for everything myself. Every bit of it. But I’m not wrong."

She glanced toward the window, where something sleek and silver had already settled onto the street below, waiting.

"Come on." She was already pulling them both toward the door, Vina trailing after with wide eyes and a grin of her own creeping onto her face. "Your evening just got a lot more interesting."

"Can we eat outside? I’m still hungry..." Vina said in a low voice.

"Vina!" Helen’s voice rose slightly.

"Come on, we will eat first." Alice grinned and looked at the parents. "I’m telling you, your life is already different. Don’t worry about anything from now on."