A thief and his victim.

Two men who should never have been on friendly terms were now calmly talking face-to-face.

"Come on, don't get so worked up. Theft's only a minor offense anyway. You know they'll parole you after just a few months of pretending to work hard."

"Easy for you to say when it isn't your problem."

"What's so hard about it? Even the dogs in London know being a servant at the countess's estate is a cushy job."

"The work's easy enough. But the moment you do anything wrong, it's discipline, rehabilitation, lectures, and..."

"Anyway, keep your head down for now. I'll split it fifty-fifty with you when you get out."

"Damn it, half isn't enough, no matter how I look at it."

"Hey, cut me some slack. I was about to go bankrupt. I need half to pay off what I owe the Magus Guild."

"Damn it. And I call a bastard like you my friend."

"Don't be so disappointed. The countess paid so generously for that junk that even half will be more than enough for your trouble."

"Ha. Long live the countess, then."

"Exactly. All thanks to the mercy of Countess Rose."

Their praise for House Seaserpent's deep pockets and compassion was brief. Max and the vendor argued over how they would divide and spend the compensation once his sentence was over, then finally parted with cheerful smiles.

"..."

But they had no idea that far beyond their field of vision, a blue-haired woman had heard every word.

Beside Rose stood a young man who had likewise heard the entire conversation with his superhuman hearing. Limon spoke calmly.

"What will you do, Countess Rose? If you want to go grab those bastards and give them a beating, I can wait as long as you need."

"Are you telling me to arrest and punish them immediately?"

"Shouldn't you? They had the nerve to swindle you."

That short conversation was enough to make the situation clear: the theft had been staged, and Max and the vendor had been after compensation from House Seaserpent.

Now that she knew the truth, Rose had every right to punish them. Yet she shook her head.

"... No, it's all right."

"You're just going to let them off?"

"I will impose an appropriate punishment for fraud. But I have no intention of exacting personal retribution."

Apparently finding that answer quite unexpected, Limon narrowed his eyes at her.

"I thought your clan placed a lot of importance on honor. You're just going to forgive an insult like this?"

"Of course honor is important."

The Blue Dragon Clan was just and merciful, but there were three things it would never tolerate. One was an insult to its honor.

What if the other members learned that someone had swindled and mocked not merely one of their knights, but Rose herself? They would fly into a rage and punish those two men, if only to defend their beloved princess's honor.

Yet Rose, the wronged party herself, spoke with bitterness rather than anger on her face.

"But honor is something we may enjoy only after fulfilling our duties. So I have no right to blame them."

"No right? Why not?"

"Because it was our clan that caused them to be driven into a corner desperate enough to do this."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"Look at this city."

Rose slowly turned her head. Looking over streets filled with magical skills and items everywhere—from magical lamps to flying carpets and pedestrians walking monsters—she continued quietly.

"Our agreement with the Magus Guild made London more prosperous, but it also brought just as many adverse effects."

Countless magic-type players. Magic items overflowing throughout the city. Citizens who had grown accustomed to it all.

On the surface, London looked like a city of wonders where everyone could benefit from magical skills.

But just as magic always demanded a price, every change brought adverse effects. London was no exception.

The countless people who had lost their jobs when cars disappeared were one immediate example. As a relief measure, the Magus Guild had granted them the right to sell its magic items.

But mass production had created a supply far exceeding demand. As a result, many who became dealers instead found themselves buried in debt.

That was not all. Status-based discrimination had quietly emerged as magic-type players grew more influential, along with a distorted system that left most citizens no choice but to depend on the Magus Guild economically and technologically.

Over the past several decades, London had undergone more changes than any other city. Those unable to adapt had been left behind and reduced to poverty.

A city with two faces, its glittering scenery concealing layer upon layer of harm.

That was London's hidden reality.

"... In short, House Seaserpent failed to stop London from ending up like this, so those fellows became poor and turned to crime. That makes the original fault yours?"

"Essentially, yes."

"You're responsible for public safety in London, not poor relief, aren't you?"

"It is a question of moral duty, not official responsibility."

As a knight and a noble, protecting and caring for the weak was a duty she naturally owed. Watching her say this with such an earnest expression, Limon twisted his lips slightly.

As though he had heard a joke—or found something distasteful—he regarded her with a cynical smile bordering on a sneer, then spoke abruptly.

"Hey, Countess. Doesn't living like that wear you out?"

"I merely do what I must."

Rose's firm reply implied there was no reason to tire simply from fulfilling the duties she ought to fulfill. But rather than agree, Limon's smile grew colder.

"I don't know. Your face looks awfully worn-out for someone saying that... Even an employee at a certain sweatshop company I know well didn't look as bad as you."

"That's simply because I haven't slept well for a few days."

"You haven't slept well? Why?"

"..."

"What's that resentful look for?"

"It's nothing."

For a moment, Limon wondered why Rose was looking at him as though he were a shameless scoundrel brazenly playing innocent despite being the cause of everything. Then he chuckled.

"As long as you're not tired, that's fine. I was going to offer a little encouragement if you were."

"What sort of encouragement?"

"Let's see. You can't be short of anything material... so perhaps a pat on the head?"

"I appreciate the thought..."

"Oh, right. Since you haven't been sleeping well lately, I could play you something like a lullaby to help you sleep soundly."

"..."

"Well, you wouldn't need anything like that, of course. Right?"

She wasn't tired, and she had said she appreciated the thought, so he would leave his encouragement at that. Murmuring this jokingly as he ambled away, Limon failed to notice Rose reaching toward him for some reason, her lips moving before her shoulders finally slumped.

It was just as Limon and Rose resumed their patrol disguised as sightseeing.

DONG

"Hmm... Is it that time already?"

As Limon nodded at the bell every Londoner knew—a sound like a thousand cannons striking a castle wall—Rose spoke calmly.

"If you wish to go sightseeing again this evening, I will guide you."

"Why?"

"If you are dissatisfied with me, I can assign another knight to guide you."

"No, that's not what I meant. Why are you talking as though I'm going to finish my daytime sightseeing here and go back?"

"Because you'll be practicing the violin with Miss Julia this afternoon...?"

Rose stopped midway through her unthinking reply. Limon had tilted his head at a jaunty angle, and the mischievous smile on his lips and meaningful look in his eyes had suddenly brought a thought to mind.

DONG

"Surely you don't mean to wander London during the Misty hours?"

"I've finally come to the City of Magic. It would be a shame not to experience London's greatest attraction."

"But that's...!"

Rose was aghast. Sightseeing in London during the Misty hours? Any Londoner—no, anyone who had visited London even once—would call that madness.

"Well, if you don't feel like it, go back, Countess. I'll look around on my own."

But Limon was perfectly unconcerned. His entire bearing seemed to declare that he would continue sightseeing whether she followed him or not.

After regarding him with a complicated look, Rose finally spoke with a sigh.

"... Please be sure not to stray from my side. There is no telling what may happen in London during the Misty hours."

"I'll try my best."

DONG

Shortly after Limon gave his halfhearted reply with a mischievous smile, the thirteenth toll rang out. Fog deeper and denser than the sea swallowed all of London, including Limon and Rose.

* * *

With every breath, damp moisture seeped into the body. With every step, the thick fog rippled like waves. Though the fog was so dense and dim that one could barely see an inch ahead, the outlines of the surroundings were strangely clear.

This was unquestionably dry land, yet it felt like walking through the depths of the sea. The dissonance was so intense and uncanny that an ordinary person would have been terrified by that alone. That unsettling sensation was a major reason the Misty hours were feared in London.

Yet at this very moment, Limon strolled through the fog with utter composure. As though he truly were sightseeing, he even listened to a helpful guide explain London's historic attraction.

"Many people misunderstand this, but the Great Barrier of London was not actually created during the Demon God War."

"Really?"

"Yes. According to the records, it was originally created during the Silver Age by three Great Witches known as the Ladies of the Lake, to stand against the Demon King."

Rose thought how ironic it was. Until a little while ago, she had been running about rescuing people and maintaining public safety, unable even to guide him properly. Now she was serving as a perfect guide without a single problem.

In a sense, that was only natural. Both rescue work and maintaining public safety required people, and no lunatic would wander London during the Misty hours.

... Except herself and this young man.

"As the long years passed and the Ladies of the Lake all died or vanished, this great barrier disappeared as well, and London's fog dispersed."

"Until the witches of the twenty-seven magical lineages revived the Great Barrier of London, you mean?"

"That's correct. And because it originates from that barrier, all manner of things occur in the fog that spreads during the Misty hours."

Though she felt strange at having suddenly become a lunatic herself, Rose continued her diligent explanation. Watching a shadow slowly approach from beyond the thick fog, she added quietly,

"Like that, for instance."

It glided forward. At first glance, it was merely an ordinary, unremarkable human shadow of the kind anyone might cast.

But Limon immediately recognized what made it unusual. It was not merely that this shadow alone appeared exceptionally clear within the hazy fog. It lacked the most important thing: a physical body to cast it.

"... A ghost of London."

"Yes, that is what people call them."

There was nothing but fog in the empty air, yet a human-shaped shadow stood out clearly, as though an invisible person were there. The sight was terror itself. The way that shadow moved along the street like a real person provoked an instinctive chill.

"It may look rather unsettling, but it won't harm you directly, so please don't be frightened."

"I know."

Limon nodded, then murmured again as though it mattered greatly.

"I know very well."

"...?"

Rose looked puzzled. It was not merely because Limon had failed to flinch at a ghost of London, which normally sent people into a panic.

Was it bitterness? Longing? Sorrow?

His expression held what seemed to be a mixture of all three, yet also something unlike any of them, and it captured her attention.

But Rose soon had no choice but to look away from his face. Behind the human shadow approaching them, another shadow was slowly rising.

'Two ghosts of London?'

Rose was a little surprised. Even during the Misty hours, ghosts of London were not easy to encounter. Seeing two or more together was rarer still.

That was why her eyes widened when a third shadow rose behind the first two.

But that was only the beginning. More and more shadows slid into view.

"...!"

From three to ten, to a hundred, to several hundred. They rose from the ground, emerged through walls, and came out of alleyways.

Surrounded by countless shadows appearing everywhere, Rose found herself encircled before she knew it. She could only stare in astonishment.

'What in the world...?'

She had lived in London all her life, and as the Blue Dragon Princess, there was hardly anything about the city she did not know. Yet even Rose had never heard of anything so bizarre as this many shadows appearing during the Misty hours.

So great was her bewilderment that she unconsciously gripped her sword.

Yet Limon, the very person she meant to protect, continued walking without hesitation. As though he could not see the countless ghosts of London at all, he headed straight into the surging tide of shadows.

"Wait...!"

Startled by his unexpected action, Rose hastily reached out to catch him. But her hand stopped midway. No—she had no choice but to stop.

For she had seen it. The moment Limon took a step, the countless shadows filling the street all retreated three paces to either side, opening a path for him.

Like Moses, who was said to have borrowed the Fairy Queen's power to open a path through the sea in the distant past, Limon calmly entered the passage the shadows had cleared. Rose could only stare at him in astonishment.

"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

Limon looked back at her calmly, as though nothing had happened, urging her to follow. But she did not move. She merely tightened her grip on her sword and asked quietly,

"... Who are you?"

Rose stared straight at Limon, her blue eyes deep and still as a lake. Looking at the shadows parted to either side of him—or, more precisely, at the attitude they displayed toward him—she asked again.

"Just who are you, that the ghosts of London pay you such respect?"