Charlotte liked the air at dawn.

The earlier the dawn, when people had not yet woken up, the better.

When she breathed in, she could feel the cool air that had settled coldly in the middle of the night, and all the noise of people tangled up, shouting, fighting, crying, and laughing had subsided beneath the pavement, leaving only silence – this was the moment when she could be most relaxed.

But this dawn was a little different.

Charlotte, who woke up from a light sleep while it was still dark outside, checked the clock on the wall and then lit the lamp.

Smelling the damp scent of the flame sucking up the oil, she changed her clothes, tied her long hair up almost to the crown of her head, put on a silk hat mainly worn by men, and went outside.

She could see sparkling lights floating in the dark blue air.

One of them landed on Charlotte’s hat with a tap, and soon a small giggling sound was heard.

“Picky Charlotte, Magician Charlotte. Where are you going so early?”

Charlotte waved her hand over her head as if annoyed. It looked like she was shooing away a flying insect.

“Don’t talk to me, annoying fairies.”

Then a few clusters of light flew like bullets right in front of Charlotte’s nose, as if angered.

When Charlotte glared, she could see very tiny human-like creatures with arms and legs among the clusters of light.

But they couldn’t be seen as human, as their shiny skin gleamed like freshly polished glass and came in various colors.

The light sparkled every time their wings attached to their backs fluttered.

“Bad Charlotte. If you say bad things, we’ll punish you.”

“We’ll play tricks on your herbs.”

“We’ll spill ink on your dress.”

The angry fairies each said a word in an annoyed voice.

Charlotte once again made a gesture as if shooing away flying insects and walked steadily down the quiet dawn street.

“Sure, sure. Play tricks on my herbs and spill ink on my dress. Why don’t you just set fire to my shop while you’re at it?”

At this, the fairies let out small screams, then started giggling amongst themselves again.

They hovered around Charlotte’s head for a moment, then flew off somewhere like a swarm of fireflies.

Reaching the square, Charlotte saw the towering clock tower and the fountain decorating its base.

The mechanical devices around the fountain would only start working when touched by sunlight, so water wasn’t spurting out now.

But clear water had pooled below, and a few fish were swimming lazily.

The clock tower was so tall it seemed to pierce the sky.

Large gears and complex machinery were proudly displayed, majestic even in the darkness.

This clock tower, said to have been completed over 10 years by the palace engineers before the revolutionary period, survived even when the revolutionary army smashed all relics of the old monarchy without remnant.

This was because the clock tower was a great pride and symbol of the Kingdom of Roynocke.

With a clicking sound, as the gears moved, the hand thicker and larger than a window moved.

Charlotte stood still, looking up at the clock tower, then after looking around once, went to the right of the fountain.

When she placed her palm on the smooth black wall of the clock tower, a concave space appeared with a tight sound as if a latch was being forcibly opened.

Charlotte squeezed her body into the space and pushed hard.

With a creaking sound, the door opened. The interior of the tower was dark, but lamps here and there illuminated the view.

“It’s Berrett.”

She spoke towards the darkness. Her voice echoed up and up, as if being wrapped around the clockwork mechanism.

“Come inside.”

A low, deep voice was heard from the pitch-black darkness.

However, it didn’t sound like a human voice. It was a strange sound mixed with machine noise.

It sounded so eerie that an ordinary person would have been scared and run away, but Charlotte walked towards where the sound was coming from without any concern.

There were two people with their faces covered by black veils. One was sitting in a chair, and the other was standing.

In front of the mouth of the person sitting in the chair was something like a portable amplifier with a round muzzle.

It was a voice modulator, the cause of the strange voice.

“It seems like it’s been a long time since we’ve met.”

As the person sitting in the chair opened their mouth, a voice mixed with crackling noise flowed out again.

As the voice passing through the modulator changed everything except the intonation, Charlotte couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.

It was also difficult to gauge how old they were, but she politely bent her knee and bowed.

“It’s the first time since I greeted you a month ago.”

“A month… It feels like it’s been longer than that. Well, have you had any harvest?”

Instead of answering, Charlotte took out two small tinc bottles from the leather bag she had slung over her shoulder.

One contained the monster extracted from Baroness Lirald, and the other was what Taemi had given her.

As the person sitting in the chair nodded, the one standing beside them – clearly an attendant – received the bottles from Charlotte.

Charlotte heard a small rattling sound from inside the tinc bottles. It was the sound of the monsters, but she didn’t pay attention to it.

After all, it was impossible for them to come out unless the cork stopper was pulled out.

“One is from what was parasitic in Baroness Lirald’s body. The other is…”

“The one that tried to eat the daughter of the rich man called Grimel, right?”

Charlotte blinked her eyes but nodded without surprise.

“Yes, my lord.”

“As far as I know, you didn’t go to Grimel’s house yesterday.”

Charlotte’s chest swelled slightly as she inhaled.

Knowing that she couldn’t lie and that it would be useless, she obediently lowered her gaze.

“Yes, that’s right, my lord.”

“Then is this the merit of that crippled fellow?”

“…It’s Taemi.”

“What?”

“His name. It’s Taemi. Not ‘that crippled fellow’.”

Charlotte, who had retorted boldly, sighed a moment later and bowed her head.

“Forgive my rudeness, my lord.”

The person sitting in the chair burst into laughter.

The laughter that passed through the voice modulator sounded like rainwater falling on a rusty tin basin.

“Alright, fine. Taemi… He was the last member of your father’s team, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And also the only survivor who brought back your father’s body.”

Charlotte, who had been silent for a moment, frowned slightly and smiled faintly.

As if pushing a lump of salt into her mouth, her jaw stiffened and tingled.

“It was part of the corpse.”

“Yes, that’s right. Your father was an excellent hunter, it’s a pity what happened. If he were alive, he might have found the ‘Shadow Monster’ by now. After the last party he formed was annihilated, human monster hunters no longer dared to venture deep into the ‘Land of Exploitation’. There was no one as capable as your father.”

Charlotte began to think that she wanted to get out of this conversation.

She felt uncomfortable when facing this mysterious ‘client’ whose name she didn’t even know for a long time.

Whether it was because of their arrogant attitude, or because it reminded her of her father’s death, she couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.

“I will find it.”

“You should. After all, your father’s contract is also a contract with you… And you must have strong feelings about that monster too. However, wouldn’t it be too much for you to face that monster alone? Wouldn’t it be difficult without my help?”

Charlotte swallowed dry saliva and quietly nodded.

The ‘lord’ said,

“You may go, Charlotte. Well done. I’ll send the compensation as usual.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

She lifted her skirt slightly like an actress on stage and turned around.

Until she left the clock tower and closed the door, she felt the ‘lord’s’ piercing gaze stabbing her back like needles.

Damn it. Charlotte muttered a curse inwardly as she pushed the door closed with her back.

As she moved away from the body, the concave part was again covered by a layer of wall.

The rising sun began to shine on the top of Roynocke Palace.

The roofs resembling spires with very steep slopes glimmered faintly like flowing water.

It was a sight of the highest quality glass and silver window frames reflecting light.

It was beautiful, but Charlotte turned her gaze away without any emotion.

〈There was no one as capable as your father.〉

Charlotte’s face contorted as her lower lip trembled.

Duke Matiel of Elinak was one of the people who started their day earliest in the Kingdom of Roynocke.

He opened his eyes just before sunrise.

All preparations for the morning routine were completed before the duke woke up, and servants attended to him under the direction of Lichten, who served as the duke’s secretary and head butler.

When he sat at the table for breakfast, a relatively young apprentice servant brought newspapers and stacked them neatly next to Matiel.

He read all the newspapers published in the kingdom without missing a single one. Sometimes there were low-quality ones mixed in, but he didn’t mind.

After all, he wasn’t reading newspapers to find gossip.

“Lichten.”

Lichten, who had been standing exactly three steps away from him, approached Matiel’s side.

“You called, sir?”

“Send a letter to the president of this newspaper company.”

Matiel said as he handed the roughly folded newspaper to Lichten.