In truth, even powers that were all called precognition worked in vastly different ways depending on the supernatural force behind them.

Magic glimpsed the fate of the world.

Skills listened to the foresight held by the stars.

Psionics read the future through the senses.

Each therefore had its strengths and weaknesses: magic was vague but comprehensive, skills were limited but convenient, and psionics were subjective but direct.

Of the three, psionic precognition was actually the least versatile. Its sensory nature made it useful in combat or for avoiding danger, but made learning about other people's futures or obtaining information difficult.

There was just one reason the White Dragon Princess had always been called the greatest prophet of her era despite that: her precognition was powerful enough to transcend even those limitations.

And at this very moment, Ainsha was bringing all of her precognition to bear to read the futures connected to the Violin of Deepest Black.

Fo■. An old ■ wearing ■■■■, a ■■ girl, an ornate ■■, a fi■■, ■, ■■, ■■ stained with ■, a ■■ wearing a mask■...

'... This is a mess.'

Ainsha was astonished, though her face remained expressionless, by the countless fragments of the future that appeared and vanished in an instant. She had used precognition her entire life, but she had never seen the future like this before.

This was different from Limon's case, too. She could not read his future because he cut it away, whereas the futures connected to this violin were too dark to see clearly. It was like peering at a video in the dark, with patches of the image blacked out with ink.

'As I thought, this is no ordinary magical artifact. It is abnormal even by the standards of divine relics.'

As the foremost prophet, with experience of countless divine relics, Ainsha could sense it.

This violin was strange.

It was unquestionably a magical artifact, yet something other than its magical aura was obstructing her precognition, preventing her from reading the future.

RRRRR.

The vibrations caused by her psionics clashing with the violin's aura shook the air, and a bead of sweat rolled down her expressionless cheek. Forcing her way through the power obscuring her precognition to look into the future was consuming an immense amount of mental energy.

But Ainsha did not give up. Instead, she drew out even more psionic power and concentrated on reading the fragmented future.

And so, the instant the aura's fluctuations reached their peak and a few clear pieces emerged among the pitch-black fragments of the future, Ainsha slumped forward.

TAP.

"Why are you pushing yourself so hard? If you can't do it, you can't do it."

"I am not pushing myself too hard. I merely worked hard enough to make my head spin a little and sweat profusely, in order to do something I can do."

"... That's what pushing yourself too hard means, you foolish princess."

Limon, who had reached out to catch her head before it hit the dining table, clicked his tongue softly. One look at her sweat-drenched face told him how hard she had pushed herself to read the violin's future.

To Limon, who had regarded gathering information through precognition as something that would be nice if it worked, this effort was genuinely unexpected. So were the words Ainsha uttered in her blunt manner.

"At any rate, I found out."

"Found out what?"

Ainsha slowly raised her head. With her chin resting in the hand Limon had used to catch her, she lifted only her eyes to look at him and spoke, her face expressionless.

"Where Lee must go to find the Seven Arcs."

"... You saw where the other Seven Arcs are?"

"I did not see that much. But I saw a future in which Lee was tracking the Seven Arcs there."

"Hmm. I see."

Limon nodded. He would not be searching blindly for the Seven Arcs in some irrelevant place for no reason. In other words, this was likely something he would do after obtaining another clue about them.

Even if it was going to happen anyway, knowing the location of that search in advance offered a significant advantage.

"So where is it?"

"Somewhere with a lot of fog."

"You think I can tell from that?"

"There are also many towers. And many European-style buildings."

"Hmm, somewhere in Europe? That does narrow it down a little—"

'Wait. A place in Europe with lots of towers and buildings, and fog as well?'

Limon frowned despite himself. That might have described plenty of places in the past, but most of Europe had been devastated by the Demon God War, leaving few places intact. Paris in particular, where the Demon God had descended, had been reduced to ashes and remained nothing but ruins to this day.

There were therefore few cities that could be said to have many towers and buildings, and if fog was added to the mix, one place came to mind before all others. As Limon wondered if it could really be there, Ainsha delivered the decisive blow.

"There is also a palace and a large museum."

"You should have said that first, you foolish princess."

At this point, it would be difficult to mistake it for anywhere else. Should he be pleased that the risk of wandering around the wrong place had diminished, or lament that the Seven Arcs were in that particular place? Unable to find an answer to his complicated feelings, Limon sighed.

But Ainsha paid no attention. She merely gazed at him through half-lidded eyes, then spoke abruptly.

"I also saw a woman."

"What woman?"

"A woman with dark red curls. Large breasts. But she looked very close to Lee."

"..."

"I also saw familiar hair. A very vivid blue. Somehow, this one is close to you as well."

"..."

"It is all right. I am generous. I can tolerate a lover or two. But you must marry me first. Do not forget."

"Would you please not say things like that, even as a joke?"

Limon lowered Ainsha's chin, which he had been supporting with one hand. Then, clutching his forehead, he pondered what on earth he could do to change the future in which he went to that damned City of Magic.

* * *

"London, just as expected."

"..."

"Why are you making that face?"

"I was just thinking that prophecies make you feel like shit whether they're right or wrong."

He had only just come out after agonizing over the future Ainsha had seen. Watching Limon sigh as the name of the City of Magic came up again so soon, Li Qingyu smiled wryly.

Although Ainsha had chased her out on the grounds that she could not concentrate, Limon had already told her about the prophecy.

"Please don't be too disappointed. At least we now know what will prompt you to go to London, Sword Lord."

"Yes, that's something, at least. Just knowing our lead is there means we won't have to search blindly."

Limon nodded. The reason Li Qingyu had brought up London again now was that she had confirmed that Claire, who had flown to Europe, had reached London after passing through several countries.

A Liberation Brigade officer going to London of all places was suspicious enough. With Ainsha's vision added to that, there was nothing left to deliberate over. Whether to catch the Liberation Brigade or to find the Seven Arcs, going to London was essential.

That was why the question making Limon frown now was no longer whether or not to go to London.

"... The problem is how to get there, and what to do once I'm there."

"Hmm, I suppose it is."

"What do you think, Princess? If I say I want to go there, will they give me permission?"

"Well... To be honest, if you visit under your true identity, Sword Lord, they are unlikely to grant you entry willingly."

Li Qingyu smiled wryly. Whatever anyone might say, he was a Sword Master. Though he had fallen from his former standing, he was a human weapon once called an absolute being.

Besides, it had only been a few months since he had put on a "show" by single-handedly turning the Blue House upside down. Any ordinary nation would naturally be reluctant to admit him. In most countries, the power of the Seven Dragons Society could still force the issue somehow, but the British Empire was an exception.

"The British Empire is within the Blue Dragon Clan's sphere of influence, after all."

"It's hardly just the British Empire. It's harder to find anywhere in Europe beyond the Blue Dragon Clan's reach."

"Apart from places like the Free Cities League, you mean?"

"They're practically not considered part of Europe anymore. And the place I need to go is the very heart of the Blue Dragon Clan's homeland."

Limon clicked his tongue. The Seven Dragons Society controlled all the world's wealth, but the influence each clan wielded in its homeland defied imagination. There, their power matched or even surpassed that of the ten great guilds, the dominant forces of this age.

In other words, without the Blue Dragon Clan's permission, even setting foot in London was impossible.

"Shall we explain the circumstances to the Blue Dragon Clan and ask for their cooperation?"

"Forget it. This is the Blue Dragon Clan we're talking about. They won't cooperate willingly with us. It'll only make things more troublesome."

"True. It is the Blue Dragon Clan, after all."

Li Qingyu readily accepted that.

"Then I suppose you have no choice but to enter the country in secret."

"Yes. It'll make operating openly a little difficult, but I can manage that somehow."

Limon folded his arms. He would have to pursue the Liberation Brigade and search for the Seven Arcs in London while avoiding the Blue Dragon Clan's eyes. Others might wave a white flag and surrender before even beginning, but obstacles of this degree were familiar to him.

Knowing that, Li Qingyu was not worried about him. She merely felt regret.

"I only wish I could go with you."

"Don't overextend yourself. You have a clan to take responsibility for, don't you?"

"That is what I find regrettable. If only we had finished dealing with the aftermath of the Liberation Brigade's attack, I could have found some way to accompany you."

Li Qingyu let out a soft sigh. It had barely been a few weeks since they had dealt with the Liberation Brigade's ghost. The Black Dragon Clan's domestic subsidiaries had yet to recover from the effects of the attack, and she had that much more work to do.

Setting all of it aside to travel to the British Empire would be difficult in many respects. These were the consequences of turning her back on the council of elders, who should have been sharing her workload.

"What about Ainsha? Did she say she would return home as planned?"

"Well, she has plenty to deal with, too. She said she'd finish as quickly as possible and come back, but she won't manage that within a few days."

"No, I suppose not."

Ainsha was equally busy. Though she had used her authority as princess to bury the matter, Tata and members of her clan had rebelled, leaving many people injured.

Moreover, she had abruptly proposed deals involving shares in Leviathan and Tiamat, so her workload could hardly be called lighter than Li Qingyu's. The reason Tata was not here now was that she was devoting herself to handling the aftermath in the Holy Alliance.

That, at least, was some consolation to Li Qingyu.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Sword Lord... but I am still a little worried about you going alone."

"Don't worry. I don't intend to go alone."

Limon chuckled. In terms of fighting power, he was more than enough on his own, but the crux of this task was tracking and investigation. It required manpower. Fortunately, Limon now had ample resources to mobilize for that purpose.

"Oh, and Princess. Let me ask you something."

"What is it?"

"That scrap metal you said you were researching before. Can I take it with me this time?"

"By scrap metal, do you mean what we found among that ghost's remains?"

"Yes. I think I'll need it to find the Seven Arcs."

"I understand what you mean... but it truly is nothing but scrap metal now. It won't be much help to you."

"Don't worry about that."

Limon spoke decisively. Then he voiced the reason he had wanted to avoid London if at all possible—and, at the same time, another reason he absolutely had to go.

"London isn't called the City of Magic for nothing."

In this age, when the Sword Masters who had led the Age of Heroes had been relegated to the sidelines of history, and the Seven Dragons Society that had ruled the Bronze Age had become a corporation, it was the city that preserved the legacy of the Silver Age intact—the most mystical city in the world.

Recalling his memories of London, Limon could only sigh.