"What's that horn up there? Is it some kind of special item?"
In the surging crowd, Lita followed her sister's instructions, carefully keeping her distance from everyone else as she pointed at the lighthouse overhead.
"Probably not. Valentin may be highly respected, but he's still an ordinary person. If it were a Supernatural Item, they probably wouldn't let him touch it."
Veil shook her head beside Lita, looking at the enormous horn atop the lighthouse.
"What about the people next to him?"
"The people beside him... They're probably all prominent figures from Dunis, too, but I don't know much about them. What's wrong?"
Noticing that her little sister wasn't as cheerful as she'd expected, Veil asked in confusion.
"I don't know. I just suddenly feel a little uneasy."
Lita lowered her head and muttered.
"Is it because of that guy?"
Veil didn't sound surprised.
If that charlatan really was Lu Ming from the Ring Archipelago, then it was easy to imagine how much his words had affected her little sister.
"Don't worry. I don't think there's much chance of anything happening, but even if something does go wrong, we've made special preparations, haven't we?"
She reached out and patted her sister's mask.
"Don't worry. There are an absurd number of people here, but if something does happen, I'm confident I can get you out safely."
"...Okay!"
Lita didn't say anything more and continued looking up.
Count Valentin, dressed in his finest, was already white-haired from head to toe. He stepped forward and waved to everyone.
Even so, it was clear that a man as venerable as he was didn't dare waste the crowd's time.
The revelers gathered together were obviously not interested in things like the festival's historical origins or symbolic meaning. Even the slightest delay brought a wave of