Atzi wanted to go to the meeting with V - which was very soon - so she wouldn't be suspected of stealing the book. That made Regent asking questions inconvenient. But she also couldn't let him onto the fact she knew who he was. So she just decided to treat him like anyone else. "Um... how about tomorrow morning?"

  She couldn't see Regent's face move, but she felt him paying a lot of attention to her, anyway. It made her nervous.

  Finally, he spoke. "Your eyes widened and pupils dilated in such a manner as to indicate you already know me. Yet, we have never met. Curious."

  "Ahaha, really? Wow, that's... that's wild. Um..." Wait, I've got it. "It's... you look a lot like my dad does. This isn't a family thing, is it? I know mom's really pissed off at me still, but she can get over it eventually, right?"

  He nodded slightly. "As it so happens, I am related to your father, his cousin. Though this is not the matter for which I am here for. You recovered an item that could be quite dangerous, in the wrong hands. I would like to know more about where and how you found it."

  Atzi clicked her claws together nervously. "Isn't it just fine that it's back? Terra's happy, isn't she?"

  "This is a matter of the Empire's security," Regent said plainly.

  How do I slink away from this? "I'm pretty sure if I explain it, I'll die, and I really don't want to die! I just wanted the gold and to borrow the sage for a little bit!"

  "I am with Sostrian Counterintelligence. We will protect you." He turned around, gloved claws behind his back. "Follow me."

  Atzi reluctantly trudged towards him. "Is this the kind of protection where you lock me up?"

  "You are currently our number one suspect for the theft of the book. If you are unable to answer our questions sufficiently, we would need to have you temporarily detained for this reason."

  "... So, what, if I hand the book over to Terra then I get locked up as a reward for it? There's no winning with this!" Atzi's tail drooped. "Fine, you know what? If you're so stubborn about 'empire security', here's something actually important to worry about. The city's fucked. We've got five days left. How's that sound?"

  Regent stopped, turning back towards her. "You are aware of a conspiracy to harm the city?"

  "I'm 'aware' that it totally succeeds. More than the city, too, whole empire." Atzi moved closer to him. "You know what, you're good at telling if people are lying, yeah? Maybe you'll be the first person to actually take me at face value on this. Terra believes me when I show some evidence but honestly she's just along for the ride after I give her the book back."

  For his part, Regent merely listened, gaze fixed on her.

  "I've lived this day... five times? Six? The dead start rising and they don't stop. Ever. Malus blows up the city to try and stop them - doesn't even slow them down." Atzi thumped her tail. "And I finally, finally have an idea what causes it" - she hissed - "so either help me out with it or leave me alone."

  Regent seemed to be dissecting her as she spoke, measuring every word. Though, with his face so frozen, it was impossible for her to tell what he was really thinking.

  "Should be building a golden statue of me for this, not interrogating me," Atzi mumbled.

  "You will need to tell me more for me to be able to assist. Follow me so we may discuss in a more secure location." He turned around again.

  Atzi sighed. "Fine, guess I'm screwed with V either way."

  "You are working with V?" Regent asked.

  "You know 'em?" Atzi asked. "How come they're not wanted, anyway? And super rich now?"

  "Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to share our records."

  You're in charge! You can do what you want! "Yeah you are. C'mon."

  "No," he said. Regent led her a few blocks down the street, to the same single-story building made of stone as before.

  "Tell me and I'll say who took the book. I bet you wanna know, right?" Atzi asked as Regent opened the door.

  He didn't reply, stepping in. Atzi followed him as they made their way to the office door, exactly where she remembered it.

  Before he took out the key, Atzi had an idea. "Okay, I can give a little proof I'm repeating days. Inside this place is-" she described the room as best she could remember.

  Regent's only response was to open the office door and say, "Inside, please."

  Atzi sighed and entered into the small, dimly lit office.

  Once they were seated at his desk, Regent pulled out some blank paper, a quill, and ink. He pushed them all towards Atzi and stated, "Write down everything you know and have experienced as part of time repeating. Leave nothing out."

  "Really nothing?" Atzi took them to her side of the desk. "It's not all pretty."

  "Anything could be essential."

  Atzi thought about it for a moment, dipping the quill in ink. I might as well tell him everything. Well, almost everything.

  Atzi left out the first few loops entirely, along with the stuff about the heist. She instead wrote that, the first time around, things went badly with an ex and she fled to Pomaria. Then she related everything accurately from there, besides not mentioning the goddess. By this point, she had filled several pages. She wrote that the next time around, she tried getting help from the university, hiding out there, to see what happened. An attempt ruined by the undead. Then another try, figuring out where the book was, with him and Terra going together. Then she added the events in Cthy, though she left out anything she considered too personal.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Atzi finished the report, bored and with a sore wrist. She pushed it back over the desk. Regent read it. It took him several minutes.

  Atzi gave a nervous grin. Surely he bought it.

  Regent tapped a page. "There are several inconsistencies in your report. This 'first time' wasn't really your first, you had experiences before then. And your 'ex', if I am assessing this correctly, should instead be a criminal associate with no romantic relationship to you, though perhaps you pine for one. This would explain the inconsistency of how you found the book, as if my deductions are accurate, it should have been with V, who exposed its location to you. Are my assumptions correct?"

  Atzi sat there feeling like an idiot. Finally, she strained out, "...Yes."

  "Thank you for your honesty." He took out extra paper and started writing amendments to her report. "Tell me more of this first experience you had."

  "... Look, I know you're not gonna get it, but this was my big break, you know? I've been living in the slums for years, and I get the chance to make hundreds of gold? So yeah, I signed up on the job. And it went alright, at first. Got the blood off the bank manager, Cory even seemed real impressed with me, we steal the book off V and barely make it out alive and..." She looked down. "She pushed me off the wall. That was the end of the first time."

  "I see. A repeat theft attempt, curious." He looked up from the page. "This does not fit the pattern of behavior I have established for V."

  "I figured they just wanna prove it wasn't their fault it went wrong."

  He shook his head. "While V is petty and cruel, they do not take unneeded risks. If my assumptions are correct… there should be something more important to V than the money that they are trying to steal from the bank."

  "So do you think V was gonna kill us all when it's done?" Atzi asked. "Or, is, I guess. It's not even happened yet."

  "It's possible. The exact plan isn't something I have information on, as this is the first I've heard about it, but it's entirely possible you were meant to act as temporary allies until V acquired their desired object or objects, at which point you would be eliminated or left for authorities."

  "Great..." Atzi groaned. "I just wanted one time where things go well. If the city doesn't get destroyed then I can go back to my normal life." She rested her face into her claws. "If I save the whole empire can I get a big reward? Can I get a mansion?"

  "Is that truly what you are after?"

  "Yeah? I wanna live the good life. Who doesn't?"

  "You seem to have put in great effort and pain to save the city and empire." Regent's voice had the first real emotion Atzi had ever heard from him. Pride. "I do not believe you are doing it for a reward, or at least not merely so. Do you care for this place? Its people?"

  "Look, all that do-gooder stuff is for suckers." Atzi waved a claw, trying to dismiss her discomfort over his accusation. "There's people I like, sure, but I'm sick of having to do the same few days over and over again, and I'm sick of getting killed." She tapped the table. "I didn't really think about a reward, but I definitely deserve one, right? If I save the whole empire, you guys really owe me. Gimme V's mansion. You're gonna arrest them anyway."

  Regent placed a pouch of money on the table with a 'clink'. "The reward for retrieving the book. And should your information prove to be vital to the defense of Sostra, I shall see you given the highest honors and appropriate compensation."

  "Yes!" Atzi laughed to herself. I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna win! I'm escaping this awful trap and nothing but the good life awaits! She took the money. "We have to get that book in Cthy. That's... that's gotta be the source of all this. But don't let Terra touch it! Or any mage, I think. It definitely fucks with their head. That earth reader seemed to know what it is, I bet it's something they had locked up and it got broken out and stolen."

  "Before I can mobilize resources to deal with this matter, I will need to verify several parts of your story. You may return to your inn for now. Do not leave the city until you have my permission."

  Atzi groaned again. Hopefully Terra understands. "You'll stop me from getting stabbed in the night at least, right?"

  "Yes."

  "I'll hold you to it. If I die in the night I'm never trusting you with this stuff again."

  "Understandable."

  Atzi paused, not expecting the response. "Well... alright. I'll head back" - she yawned - "and sleep."

  It was almost morning by the time she returned, the report writing and conversation having taken up most of the night. She didn't see anyone at the counter when she stumbled in, so she just headed upstairs and crawled into bed.

  She dreamed of being stabbed in her sleep. By Regent.

  -

  Atzi awoke in bed. Meaning she was not, in fact, killed in her sleep.

  There was a knock at her door.

  "Yeah?"

  "Lunch is ready."

  "Oh. Cool, I'll be right down."

  She crawled out of bed and threw her clothes on, and wandered down to eat.

  "You seem happier today," Hemm noted. She served Atzi eggs and flies.

  Atzi ate it up and spoke between bites. "Things might be working out for me after all."

  "Oh? How so?"

  "If everything goes well, I'm gonna be a hero." She grinned like an idiot, a fly between her teeth. "With a huge reward for it."

  "That's nice, Atzi. Would you like anything to drink?" Hemm clearly didn't believe her, but wasn't being mean about it.

  "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true... gimme uh... what's the most expensive drink you've got? There's that wine in the cellar?"

  "Atzi, all the wine is in the cellar. That's why it's called a wine cellar."

  "... Oh. Right. Okay, the fanciest stuff then." Atzi took out some gold pieces. "I need to stay put in the inn until someone comes to talk to me. So we can hang out, and maybe by the end you might even believe me."

  "That's" - Hemm stared at the money with her one big eye, a nervous expression crossing her face - "a lot of money, Atzi. Where'd you get it?"

  "I knew where the sage's spellbook was hidden away." Atzi grinned. "One hundred gold reward for finding it."

  Hemm was silent. She just went down to get the wine. When she came back up, she asked, "You're telling the truth, aren't you?" She held a fancy looking bottle that read 'Golden Rice'.

  "Yeah. It's uh, I know it's not easy to believe. It's crazy, isn't it? That's the worst part." She remembered getting eaten alive. "Second worst part. The second worst part is trying to tell people and they look at me like I'm insane. Even when I try and get proof!" She leaned forward. "You know, the paranoid ones are actually the best, cause they know that I shouldn't know half the things I do and it really, really freaks them out. Enough that they actually listen. You're too sensible so I sound like an idiot. Isn't that messed up? You're actually good with people, so you don't think it-"

  An extremely loud, high-pitched scream came from outside.

  Atzi whipped around. She couldn't recall anything like that before. "That's... new." She jumped out of her seat and slinked over to the door.

  Hemm followed after her.

  Peering out, she saw nothing that looked like the source of the scream, but several people were looking up the street. Atzi walked in the direction of their gazes. She passed a few blocks, still hearing a commotion - Atzi wondered who's scream could even carry that far - and soon found a large crowd of people standing in the middle of the street. They were all gathered in a circle around something, but the group was too thick for her to be able to see what they were looking at.

  Atzi decided to squeeze her way in. It was freaking her out that she didn't know what was happening. Which meant her actions had caused it, somehow.

  She saw a robed figure with a mask covering their face. It was the same fanciful fox mask that Atzi had seen the counterintelligence agent wearing during the previous loop. They were holding someone - arms behind their back in manacles - to the ground, struggling to keep them in place.

  "Let me go!" the woman on the ground screamed. She shifted. A flash of pink hair.

  "Oh shit," Atzi said, recognizing her.

  The restrained woman was Alana.