In my room, there was an illusion of me preparing for the civil service exam -- sitting in front of the desk and studying. Meanwhile, under the setting red sun, I was standing atop the temple spire wearing a half black and half white mask. Emotions from second grade in middle school were surging.

It was currently close to 8 p.m., and the time I was supposed to visit Count Druval was 2 a.m. In several dozen minutes, the sun would set completely shrouding the capital in utter darkness with the exception of several buildings. Street lights installed on every road brightened up the roads. However, I felt sorry that the lights did not reach the inside of the buildings.

The sun eventually went down and the street lights lit up. I jumped down from the temple spire; my body merged with the darkness and disappeared.

-o-

The White Deer Knights in charge of capital security were all standing guard at Count Druval's mansion. Normally, the knights should have gone home and left the night watchman in charge around this time. Unfortunately, everyone was still on their guard duty due to a mysterious man who called himself Lupin.

"What kind of situation is this? We can't...