Not Enough Time

While the Lieutenant was making countermeasures and figuring out the law of the mysterious cultivator, Sarah was waltzing around her room in a panic as she realised she was the one being tracked.

'Fuck, he's catching on!' Sarah thought nail-bitingly as she walked around her large tent naked. With Laurier under the bedsheets looking at her with bewildered eyes.

"What happened Sarah? You seem to be panicking a lot right after I came. Are you ok? Is it my fault?" Laurier asked with an innocent expression like a kitten looking at his mother in worry.

For some reason, it cheered Sarah up after seeing that expression of worry. And even a tinge of guilt. Why was this catboy so goddamn adorable!

With a loving expression, she sat beside Laurier and affectionately placed her hand on his cheek.

"Of course, it's not you. But you see, I might be in trouble soon if I'm not careful," she said with a wry smile at the end.

You see, Sarah had called out Laurier when she had time, to finally give him his 'reward' after all this time and hard work he had done for her.

The man had disfigured the Lieutenant's tires, spied on the soldiers to give her information, listened to her commands whenever she gave any, and most surprisingly he actually cared about her well-being and mood.

He was like a pet. Doing everything he was told, and not asking much in return, except for affection and love. And the best part? It wasn't even in a romantic sense! It was purely how an owner would treat her pet.

Even though the man was a Feline Demi-human, the catboy very much acted like a dogboy when it came to listening to Sarah's desires and whims. It was endearing. And it also left her sometimes wondering if Laurier was born like this, or if he was trained like this by his 'Manager' whom he sometimes called 'Mistress' in private time with her.

But besides her curiosity for this mysterious 'Manager', this couldn't preoccupy what her current circumstances had taken to her attention.

In fact, she was worried about her pet which she was starting to really like.

Because of her orders, Laurier was now being tracked down by the Lieutenant, who hated Beastial Demi-humans with a passion and iron hatred.

And this all started because she had sent Laurier out on a mission to delay the departure of the Lieutenant by a few days, if not weeks. But because of that, he was now being tracked. And it was all because she had enlisted his help.

But she couldn't be faulted. She couldn't have possibly predicted that the Lieutenant's abilities would entail bringing lifeless objects to life and communicating with them. And all of that, just to figure out who slashed his tires, or more accurately, chopped his tires.

There was no way she could've known any of that.

But nonetheless, she still faulted herself. Even if it was pure coincidence and bad luck.

Maybe she could've done more, maybe she should've expected that the Lieutenant would eventually find her out. Maybe she should've used a different plan other than damaging the Lieutenant's carriages to prevent him from leaving the Kron camp.

Maybe she could've done something right instead of wrong.

But alas, she did everything she could've done with the limited amount of information she had. She hid her identity every time she went out for new prey. Changed her face and body so that nobody could've recognised her, even if they took the time to fine-comb their analysis of her features and personality to figure her out.

She changed her face, her voice, her dress, her personality, and her location! But she was still somehow suspected.

The man still came up to her face and asked questions regarding her antics in the camp. Asking about a mysterious Cultivator or some weird sightings even though he was asking it all in disguise.

A disguise could be as good as the person playing it. Sure it would've fooled anyone else, but not Sarah. She was already a world-class actor when it came to disguises and hiding identities. There was no way for the Lieutenant to hide who he was behind that mask and dirty clothes.

It was like asking a professional spy if they could recognise another spy if they were standing before them.

Only a spy of a higher level would be able to unearth the identity of another spy before them.

But the Lieutenant wasn't even a spy. No, the man was just a Lieutenant. And Sarah could easily spot a novice if she saw one. Her years of espionage of gangs in Morrowl made sure of that.

She was a master at the art that the Lieutenant was only decently competent at. There was no way he would fool her with a shoddy disguise of common clothes and a mask. The man didn't even change his voice for Viana's sake!

It would be absurd if Sarah didn't know who that man was after all those hints and giveaways.

But that only scared her further...

'He's already started to suspect something is wrong with the camp. Now, I know that sex and love wouldn't be this common without me, but how did that still tip him off?' She thought with agitation as she completely ignored the worrying Laurier by her side rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her racing mind down.

No matter what, she first needed to figure out what went wrong with her plans. Where was the wrench? What was the instigator?

'Did the man have some type of senses related to laws?' Sarah suddenly thought in an enlightening moment.

'Wait a moment? I can already feel the Essence around me as a newbie cultivator, in fact, I can even see it! So what makes me think that that man wouldn't have a sensing technique? What makes me think that he didn't get tipped off just because of the influence of my law?' She thought for a moment before she realised another conclusion.

With wide eyes, Sarah looked in shock as she thought a frightening possibility. One she should've accounted for.

'Wait...'

'System, quickly bring up everyone affected by Corruption.'

[Loading Data...]

[This is the list of everyone affected by 'Corruption']

[Corrupted Individuals:

Emma: 20% Corruption

Anthony: 80% Corruption

Michael: 30% Corruption ]

'He sensed me cause of the Corruption... It has to be. Especially because of Anthony's numbers. His Corruption is too high not to be noticed. Wait? That should all depend on if Corruption actually has any effects on his tracking senses?'

'System, can Corruption be detectable by outside forces?' Sarah suddenly asked, hoping for the answer to be a 'no'.

[Unknown. The host would have to find out if that is the case.]

But unfortunately, life wasn't so kind as to give her a straight answer.

Sarah sighed, 'Guess I should've tried to hide it better.'

Now that she had reached this point in her deductions, she started planning her next outing.

'I have to seduce that kid called Phil next. He was meant to be an easy target. But I still need a lot of time to seduce him. Time I don't have anymore ever since the Lieutenant started to get on my case...'

'System, show me the sidequest related to my latest Quest,' Sarah asked in her mind.

[Currently Active Sidequest:

Seduce the Three Hated Targets: 2/3 Targets have been Seduced.]

'I need to focus on that Phil right now. I don't have time for anything else,' She thought as she swiped her arm left and got rid of the notifications.

"Is something the matter, Sarah? Is your arm stiff?" Laurier asked when he saw Sarah suddenly jerking her arm in the air.

With a smile and sweet voice, she answered first, "Nothing Laurier. But I may need some time alone. Can you help me with that?"

"U-um... sure. I'll quickly wear my clothes and go outside..." Laurier said slightly disappointed. Only for him to earn a pat on the head and a giggle from Sarah.

"Go, boy. I need some things to do. And I can't do them with me constantly having to take care of you," She said as she pushed Laurier out of her tent.

Sooner or later, Laurier left Sarah's tent with a smile, and with that, Sarah went into contemplation into ways she could make Phil fall in love with her.

'Okay, calm down Sarah. Let's get the facts right,' She thought with a sigh as she went to a book near her and started writing down some facts she already knew from Anthony about Phil.

'He is naive. Hasn't ever been with a woman. Has a relatively agreeable personality. Is shy and nervous around women. Mmm...' At that point, Sarah tapped her lip in thought as she furrowed her brows.

'The solution should be me being something of a mother figure. My new disguise should be something like a blond woman with shining qualities. Like a holy mother. That should help me get my foot through the door. A mother figure should give comfort to anyone if they saw one. So this should be the base of my personality.'

'The motherly personality should be kind and caring. I'm going to have to manufacture a few events to bring the two of us closer. Emma shall help me a lot, and so could Anthony. Even without the Corruption, I can still make him do whatever I want when I want. Because he has already promised his life to me.'

Clap!

"Alrighty then!" Sarah stated with a jump and light joy.

'I have the plan set up. Now I just need to execute it.'

'Let's be positive, and get everything in motion!'