Chapter 164

Sol trailed Lucinda around town, though her hopes to learn more about the woman were quickly dashed: any conversations Lucinda held with various parties were masked by some magical device of hers. She might have discarded Sol as a threat—and even taken an interest—but that didn’t mean she was going to let Sol eavesdrop. Or anyone, for that matter. The secretiveness only stoked Sol’s burning curiosity.

As for what her mission was, Sol had a few clues. Lucinda had mentioned looking for ‘that damn girl’. Based on where they stopped throughout the city—a variety of guilds and other common locations for wayfarers—Sol could make the informed guess that she was seeking out another wayfarer. That wasn’t too surprising, and also didn’t help much.

Maybe a friend of hers? A guildmate? Enemy? Some manner of artificer? Another professional connection? Sol hadn’t the slightest idea, only that it was a young woman. Since Lucinda purposefully kept her conversations private, she couldn’t narrow her ideas down. She did, however, note who Lucinda spoke to; she might come back and pester them later.

Though that was risky. Sol might already be lucky that Lucinda had deemed her a non-threat and wouldn’t be killing her. Messing with powerful beings could easily be deadly, or even involving with them, Sol knew, and while she had made a guess based on what she’d seen of this world that simply snooping into Lucinda’s life probably wouldn’t have resulted in a quick execution, it had been just that: a guess. She was lucky that Lucinda seemed even-tempered, that Sol still got to walk around, and even with a promise of being let go after her interest was sated.

But if Sol came back to pester these men and women for what Lucinda had been asking them? And Lucinda found out? That might make her mercy evaporate—and Sol could be in serious trouble.

So she was torn. With luck, she could learn more about Lucinda from the woman herself, without need for external investigation.

Though why did Sol care? She should only be focused on Zoey. However intriguing this new wayfarer was, she showed no indicators of being blessed by a divine—and thus, while possibly important to this world, and therefore relevant to the Famished’s invasion, not remotely on the scale of Zoey, who remained a baffling wildcard.

Sol could also slip past the sound-dampening device, probably, but that was even riskier than mundane snooping, since Lucinda might detect it.

And her original goal of pretending to be a civilian was probably forfeit. Her instinctive struggling when Lucinda had grabbed her and slammed her into that alley wall had likely given that away, since she had struggled with much greater strength than a regular human. It wasn’t a guarantee that Lucinda had noticed, especially when the power difference was so significant, but it was a possibility.

Seeing how she didn’t want to be caught lying, she should therefore pretend to be a weak or unimportant wayfarer, not a civilian. To Lucinda, there might not even be much of a difference.

Lucinda’s search didn’t seem to be fruitful. After several hours of poking around town—in which Sol noted Lucinda frequently consulting some strange tablet-like item that glowed with magic—Lucinda gave up her efforts for the day. Or maybe her tolerance ran out, and she wanted to get to that so-called ‘stress relief’ she’d mentioned earlier. She seemed to be telling the truth that the past two weeks had been irritating her; she didn’t look happy about having to scour the city for whoever her enigmatic mark was.

“That’s enough for today,” Lucinda grunted. “I’ll deal with it later. You said there was a potion store?”

Sol guided her there. She was concerned about bumping into Zoey, since it was her business, but thank Mother, that didn’t happen. Lucinda perused the wares with entertainment mixed with bafflement, purchased some from Adrienne, then departed. Sol breathed a sigh of relief that no disastrous coincidence happened. She had nearly expected it to.

“I think I’ll forgive you for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong,” Lucinda mused as she ambled casually down the street, Sol at her side. “I’m not usually a merciful woman, but something fun came from it.” Her eyes flicked down to Sol’s crotch to emphasize the point. “And there’s these potions, which I doubt I would’ve found otherwise. Seeing how I’ve always seen myself as a results-oriented woman, you’ve been forgiven.”

“I’m ... glad to hear that?” Sol said tentatively.

Lucinda turned the vials over one more time, her expression still confusedly amused, then pocketed it. “Anyway, I’m heading back to my room,” she said. “You can leave, or join me.”