If it’s only that, the door’s already ajar; Lucimia isn’t afraid of time sped up.

You can speed up at will; she’ll seed Frost traps early, then flip a Reversion, and snatch him like plucking a peach.

If it’s Time Halt, she’d have a headache; one pause, then a spell, no way to dodge in that glass-still world.

Her Reversion isn’t a death Reversion; die once and the candle’s out for good.

She also found something: though this time ability ranks above Blessing and below Authority Power, in some ways it takes precedence even over Authority Power, a fine blade cutting through silk.

Take Reversion for example: when Yuna rewound, Lucimia’s Devouring could only erase Reversion’s effect on her memory, not nullify Reversion itself.

Right, she couldn’t nullify Reversion; otherwise Elyssus could’ve tricked Lucimia’s own Reversion and made it useless.

That means she can’t use the Devouring Authority to make a Time Stasis Bearer’s power fail.

But in theory she could still hinder it.

She just didn’t know how.

Maybe it shortens their pause.

Or the body locks while the mind stays clear, seeing what they do in the stillness.

Another thing: by the rules of the Temporal Authority, you have to kill the other and gain their ability.

Lucimia didn’t want to kill an innocent.

The boy stole and robbed, but he’d never hurt anyone.

Prison under the law for a decade felt fairer.

Maybe she could try the Devouring Authority and take only his ability.

Her mastery had risen; she could devour a marked target, not the whole person.

At that thought, her face dimmed like a clouded moon.

She remembered Yuna.

If she’d mastered the Devouring Authority back then, Yuna wouldn’t have died.

Yet without devouring Yuna, her Authority Power might never have fully awakened.

And Yuna broke the rules.

Shadows from that might yet fall.

...Yuna.

Lucimia closed her eyes.

Her right hand curled on empty air, like grasping a thread.

I’ll find a way to save you...

What?! Save who? Are you finally going to help me deal with the plague here?

Desty burst from the bath with only a towel, water streaming like rain, and startled Lucimia.

No! Go finish your bath! Lucimia snapped, her cheeks hot like steam.

Desty pouted and ducked back in, like a fish slipping under.

Honestly, why jump out to scare people?

Had she already learned the customs here?

Should Lucimia try it too?

...

By the time both girls had washed and sat leaning on the bed, it was near noon, light like warm milk.

Lucimia folded her slender legs on the mattress.

Her pale feet swung like little pendulums.

She looked at Desty and said, solemn:

I’m heading out to do my thing.

What about you?

I... I want to investigate the plague here, and help if I can!

Desty clenched a fist, resolve bright as a torch.

Investigate? Help? Forget the investigation for a second.

How will you help?

And listen.

The merchant ship leaves in four days... no, maybe three.

If you miss it, you might be stuck here.

But... I have to check whether this plague ties to a Dark Deity or an Evil Entity.

Desty hesitated, duty tugging like a tight chord.

If the ship left, she might stay for good.

Yet she was a Purification Knight.

Sigh...

Lucimia let out a breath like wind off cold water.

From the last Reversion, she could say it with certainty.

The plague was tied to a Dark Deity.

It had to be the Plague God.

If it is tied to a Dark Deity, then what? Lucimia asked.

Then... I’ll stay and help them!

Idiot...

Lucimia held back the urge to bean her with a pillow.

After you confirm it, why not leave with me and tell the Church?

Let the Church send people.

Don’t they always want to... expand?

This plague’s the perfect pretext.

And the Church still doesn’t know how the Bannubi Empire fights an Evil Entity.

That’s intel too.

I...

Desty felt the logic land like rain on dust, but leaving now tasted like guilt.

It felt like... desertion.

She wavered, a needle swinging without north.

Fine.

I’ve said my piece.

You can take four days to investigate.

After that, stay or go with me, your choice.

I won’t manage you.

Lucimia dropped the idea of changing Desty’s mind.

She drew a gold coin from her Storage Ring and handed it over.

Here.

Go buy a new sword.

At least Desty would have a thin shell of safety, Lucimia thought, the way a crab hides in a borrowed shell.

She’d done all she could for this stubborn redhead.

She hopped off the bed, pulled on her boots, tapped her toe to test the fit, threw on her coat, and stepped out the door.

She had to find the Time Ability User.

She also had to find the ship’s captain and ask if he’d take her.

She could pay.

If he refused, she’d use the Disguise Power, turn into a cat, and slip aboard.

One way or another, she’d be on that ship.

Mm.

Elyssus, your Authority Power is wonderfully handy.

Why not disguise first?

Courtesy before force.

She wasn’t a real villain.

She didn’t want to fare-dodge by choice.

Which first?

...The captain.

I’ll also ask him when that blond boy usually steals.

Yeah, that.

Goal set like a compass, Lucimia left the inn.

She passed through the lively market, a river of voices.

She crossed the square with its pool and turned left for the port.

Along the way, almost everyone smoked those fragrant sticks, or drank water fizzing with tablets, bubbles like tiny stars.

Whether they smoked or drank, bliss washed over them, and they sighed, as if brushing a dream with their fingertips.

Lucimia frowned.

She wrapped herself in water magic like a clear cloak, then hid it with an Invisibility Spell, to block secondhand smoke.

One thing puzzled her.

Anjelo was wanted for preaching that humans should rely on themselves, not gods.

So why did the people of Jaha Town also rely on themselves instead of a Dark Deity?

They didn’t look devout.

They used smoke and tablets to handle the plague like tools on a workbench.

So why did Anjelo have to hide?

She couldn’t untie that knot, so she let it go.

At the port, she saw the huge merchant ship and breathed out a soft wow.

Whoa. Big.

From afar, it seemed ordinary.

Up close, it loomed like a mountain.

From the prow, she had to tiptoe to barely see the stern.

The high hull blocked the sun, laying a great shadow on the ground.

Lucimia looked around and had no idea where to find the captain.

She stopped a friendly-looking passerby at random.

Hi. Do you know where the captain is?

The captain?

A woman answered.

He seems to stay on the ship, says he fears catching the sickness.

But I saw him at a town restaurant not long ago, dining with a group of merchants.