“W-why are you doing this?”

“Mom… mom…”

A mother hugged her child as people in opera masks surrounded them. The yellow light of the fire dancing over the city—lighting up the night of Glorenstein as people all over the city screamed, ran, and killed—cast its glow on them, making the attackers seem larger than they were.

“It has to be done…”

“For the people of this world.”

“You are a sacrifice for revolution. You should be proud.”

The people in opera masks took a step ahead and raised their weapons. Their clubs and muskets aimed at the woman and her child.

Right then, magical circles formed over the masked shadows.

“Blooming Flower Garden.”

Richard Benett swirled his wand and the magic circles on the ground gleamed a black glow. The shadows cast by the houses and the masked men on the streets rose from the ground.

Hands of shadows clutched at their legs, then their faces and mouths, coiling around their entire body one after another and holding them down in place.

“Gwah!”

“M-mage! It’s a mage—”

The attackers in Opera masks were all captured by the rising shadows. Richard slowly stepped out of the alleys.

The attackers were gagged by the hands of shadows. Richard sighed and looked around.

How many did this make? He had already subdued tens of them. With the knights around, the situation should not have spiraled into anything worse.

But the flames dancing over Glorenstein had not subsided.

“Are you alright?” Richard helped the woman stand up.

“T-thank you. Thank you…”

“This isn’t over yet.” Richard waved his short wand in the air and another magical circle formed over his palm. The same spell he had used earlier to track others activated as a butterfly formed in his hands. “Follow this butterfly, it will guide you to the Glorenstein Academy on a safe path. You have to go now.”

The woman hugged her child and nodded. The butterfly flapped its wings and set off, and the woman promptly followed.

“Damn it… Just what is going on?” Richard cursed his luck. The attackers he had captured would be taken in by the city guards soon, he had to move to the next place before more people got hurt.

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Right on time, a butterfly of mana dashed toward him, tied to a string that led elsewhere.

He had been using his spell to find people in need.

Richard’s mind was filled with worries. About his fiancee who was to come here tomorrow, about the state of things, his friend, this city, but all he could do right now was to fight and save as many people as he could.

Richard dashed through the city. Signs of destruction were all around him. Corpses littered the streets, strangely enough, most of them were of the masked criminals.

The knights had no choice but to take down all these people. Occasionally, Richard ran into the corpse of a civilian and winced. It was a nightmare, one that the city would not forget.

The butterfly led Richard toward a large empty street in the north of the city, away from the academy. As its wings slowed down, Richard’s eyes widened.

A familiar back. A familiar person was standing with her back to him. In front of her, a shop was on fire.

The boutique that he had frequented, and the person for whom Richard had started looking around the city.

“Mrs. Frock?” Richard muttered. “Mrs. Frock! You’re safe! We must get out of here, I’ll guide you to the academy—”

An ominous feeling stopped Richard in his tracks.

His words were stuck in his throat. Slowly, he looked around and noticed more people standing in the alleys.

Familiar people. The staff members of the boutique. All of them remained hidden in the shadows and glared at him, hiding their presence the best they could.

Richard gulped and gripped his wand.

“Mrs. Frock…?” He muttered, ignoring the others. He acted as if he hadn’t noticed them at all.

“You have been running around town and stopping people…” Mrs. Frock’s voice echoed in the empty street. Slowly, the middle-aged lady turned around, her sharp eyes piercing straight into Richard. “Why are you subduing them… Vice-Principal?”

A chuckle left Richard.

Would a victim of such chaos ever say words like these? No. No one in their right mind would ever try to rationalize it.

Richard’s grip on his wand tightened.

“Mrs. Frock… do you have something to do with all this?”

Richard’s gaze fell to her hands as Mrs. Frock turned around. She held an Opera mask, a green one.

Similar to what he had seen. Richard’s mind fluttered back to the play he had seen, right after in the posters…

[Costumes: Mrs. Frock]

The costumes were made in her boutique… under her supervision…

“Why is it? I even shared sweets with you?” A madder red tint filled Mrs. Frock’s eyes as she glared at Richard. She brought her hands to her lips and chewed her nails. “Why are you getting in my way?! Do you not want to see my son!?”

Richard gulped.

There was no denying it anymore.

“You’re… part of this chaos…”

“Part?” Mrs. Frock chuckled. Crunch crunch her teeth went as her nails fell to the ground. “You fool. I caused this. All so I could bring my son back to this world… my dear child whom the empire killed ruthlessly…”

Tears dripped from her eyes. She laughed at one moment and cried at another. She tore through her nails and started chomping on her skin now.

A cold wind blew in the streets.

“Since you got in my way, you should help bring him back.” Mrs. Frock nodded to herself, her eyes were fixed on Richard but she was not ‘looking’ at him. “Right… you will be good nutrition. You are strong, right? Yes, we’ll use you. Right…”

Mrs. Frock flicked her wrist.

“Kill him.”

Her cold words were like the knell of a bell

“HAH!”

Screams rang out from all the corners as the members of the boutique jumped out of the shadows.

At the same time, Richard slammed his wand down.

“[Blossom Prison!]”

Magic circles had already formed in the shadows. All of them activated at once as the shadows extended and grabbed the staff of the boutique in place, tying them down to the ground.

Finally, as they tried to pull themselves out in the light, Richard saw them all.

Some had wings, some green skin, others had the heads of wolves, and others the claws of ogres.

All the members of the boutique were chimeras.

Without knowing it, Richard had stepped into a fight with the biggest enemy.