In a world where Supernatural Phenomena existed, where the land was sealed off by a boundless ocean, and where the guardians of city-states fought endlessly against anomalies, how did ordinary people survive?
Duncan still knew too little about this city-state, but at least in the places he had seen, ordinary people still lived in an orderly and stable environment—
They worked, studied, and rested. They ran shops and traded goods. On their days off, they went out to cinemas and restaurants, parks and harbors. They visited museums and chatted idly with neighbors after dinner—they lived lives that were not especially exciting, but usually peaceful.
The steam-powered bus stopped and started along the way, sometimes pulling up at stations and sometimes at the roadside. Passengers boarded at any time and left at any time. The silent driver occasionally exchanged a few words with the conductor, but spent most of his time focused on driving. The young conductor, meanwhile, kept glancing up at the roof—she still seemed concerned about that pigeon.
Duncan sat in his seat, curiously observing everything around him, watching these lives that belonged to ordinary people.
Other than needing to understand the anomalies and phenomena that existed in this world and follow that knowledge as a kind of "safety code," the lives of these ordinary people did not seem all that different from what he had seen on Earth.
As the bus neared the Crossroads District, it stopped once more. This time, it was at a station, where many passengers boarded.
Duncan curiously watched the scenery beyond the platform—the chimneys standing in the distance and the crisscrossing steam pipes above the buildings—but then he suddenly felt an unusual heat rising near his chest.
The heat came from the Sun Badge hidden close against his body!
Duncan, who had been