Thief

Neph froze for a moment.

The question came out of nowhere. Her mind circled around the phrase "where you stand" before she remembered that this was an ability of a demigod of the Justiciar pathway. And one of Moon City's two priests was indeed a demigod of that pathway-a Sequence 4 Imperative Mage!

...Thank goodness I didn't blurt out that I was an angel.

Relief flickered through Neph's mind. Then she simply smiled at Davy without explaining and asked, as though merely curious:

"Are you an Imperative Mage?"

"Yes." Davy nodded and followed them.

"And you?" Neph asked Nim.

"I'm a Nightwatcher." Nim gave the answer Neph already knew.

Neph nodded, but instead of reciprocating by naming her own pathway, she asked a question she had once been curious about but never had the chance to get answered:

"There's no sun or moon in the sky here, only lightning that never stops all year round. How do you keep time?"

As he led the way, Nim answered, "We have a clock, a gift from the Angel of Time. It does nothing besides tell the time."

"...?" Neph's steps faltered, her expression freezing for a moment.

Of course she knew who the Angel of Time was. If the title Son of the Creator wasn't impressive enough, the embodiment of deceit and mischief was certainly a name everyone knew.

Neph didn't feel much dislike for this unconventional antagonist. She even rather liked his characterization, but all of that depended on him staying inside a storybook. As for reality...

Nobody would want to meet him!

Her unusual reaction successfully drew their attention. Faced with Nim's and Davy's puzzled looks, Neph answered:

"I'm not on very good terms with this Angel of Time."

Nim nodded as though he understood and continued leading the way. Davy's brow furrowed deeper, but he said nothing.

They followed the spiral staircase up to ground level, where Nim led Neph into a room. Its furnishings were equally simple, but at least it had a table and chairs, as well as a nightstand beside the bed.

"You can stay here for the time being," Nim told Neph, turning toward her. "If you need anything, you can send someone to find me."

Neph acknowledged him. Seeing that she had nothing more to say for now, Nim left with Davy. Neph saw them out, closed the door, and placed the Blank Canvas on the table before sitting down in a chair and letting out a breath.

She knew that whatever anyone else thought, this High Priest, Nim, at least, had already taken her entirely for an Oracle.

Neph looked into the air. The presence of the True Creator had not appeared again since she woke up, but that didn't mean she wasn't being watched. Her fingers tapped lightly on the table as she recalled the relationship between the True Creator and Klein.

At this point, the Fool's name had yet to spread far. The True Creator had not yet noticed the new master of Sefirah Castle, and the Aurora Order had not begun searching for the Fool. Elder Lovia of the City of Silver... Never mind. She couldn't come here anyway.

Neph went through the named characters in the original story who belonged to the True Creator's faction and realized that the only ones she might have a chance to meet right now were probably Ouroboros and Stiv, the Angel of Holy Words.

The True Creator had extended a helping hand to her, but judging by the complete silence afterward, Neph suspected that it was merely an investment. If she wanted further investment, she would probably have to demonstrate her value.

...No, the True Creator hasn't even given me a platform to demonstrate my value yet.

Neph thought that she might be a subject of observation-not watched at every moment, but only drawing another glance when she did something significant. To put it more professionally, when she caused ripples in the river of fate.

So...

Praying to Klein, to the Fool, was probably feasible. The accompanying consequence was that the True Creator would very likely notice the Fool ahead of time.

Since she already knew the True Creator's true objective, Neph wasn't actually worried about Klein's safety. Nor did she think that, as a mere Sequence 9, she could influence the contest between two former pillars. Even if someone could, that should be the owner of the Blank Canvas.

...So who owns the Blank Canvas?

Neph laid her palm on it, and in an instant, the room was empty.

Back in the pure-white world, Neph looked at the Blank Canvas in her hand and extended her spirituality into it. Then words appeared on its surface.

This was the answer to Neph's query: information about Sequence 9, Ghoul.

Words that should have been unfamiliar appeared on the Blank Canvas, and Neph read through them all. At the top were the potion formula and potion name, followed by information such as the appearance of the Beyonder characteristic and the potion itself. What surprised Neph was that her intuition told her some of these entries could be "opened."

...A bit like hyperlinks.

Neph frowned. To be cautious, she didn't select the Beyonder characteristic, instead choosing one of the main ingredients-the frost-passing flower.

The Blank Canvas continued to display information, including an image, a name, places of origin, and much more, like a Baidu Encyclopedia page. Neph frowned, ignored the other entries, and extended her spirituality toward the image.

The image abruptly enlarged, then became three-dimensional. Next, an ice-blue flower giving off a faint chill floated out little by little. Neph reached out to touch it, and its entire life, from seed to blossom, unfolded before her. These were its memories.

Neph pressed the flower against the Blank Canvas. It vanished as though melting, turning back into an image. Then the Blank Canvas became blank once more.

By now, Neph could largely determine the relationship between the Blank Canvas and this space. It combined the functions of a key, an operating manual, a door, and more. Through it, Neph could exert a certain influence over this space, which also meant...

"I'm not the owner of this place..." Neph murmured, looking around. "Judging by how this works, I'm more like a thief who stole the key while the owner was away..."

This didn't make Neph feel sad. In fact, she was even relieved by the result.

-Put that way, I don't seem quite so much like someone's contingency plan for resurrection.

With another shift of Neph's thoughts, what appeared on the Blank Canvas this time were the names of Sequence 9 through Sequence 0 of this brand-new pathway.

Neph's gaze fell on the Blank Canvas. As she looked at the entry for Sequence 5, her expression grew slightly tense.

Collector of Memories, Sequence 5-

Home.

Didn't this pure-white space resemble a collection hall? Then, had she...

"Perhaps..." Neph raised her hand thoughtfully and tilted her head. "Was I once an item in this collection?"