Feast of Bliss

Lorenzo led Eve into the mad revelry. Everything became clear before them: the long passage stretched straight toward the deepest part, but like a spiderweb, it branched into dozens of smaller paths as they went farther in. At every junction, people lay sprawled with dazed eyes, seemingly lost in a beautiful dream they could never wake from.

"What is this...?"

Eve could barely breathe. Words failed her.

"The Feast of Bliss."

Lorenzo answered in a flat voice. The feverish atmosphere did nothing to stir him, as if his blood ran cold. His gaze fell on the people sprawled across the ground, passionately embracing one another, all lost in their shared dream.

And this was only the outskirts. No one knew how many more people were lost in bliss beneath the vast Underground Palace.

But Lorenzo didn't care. He led Eve onward, stepping past one twisted, writhing body after another.

"What are those people doing?"

"Dreaming. This is their way of escaping."

As he walked, Lorenzo kept Eve close and explained.

"Have you heard of the hallucinogen running rampant in the Outer District? That's what they're injecting. Just a little lets them escape reality for a long time. It's also one of Sabo's ball's attractions. People in the Lower District usually call these gatherings the Feast of Bliss. To them, it's like going to heaven together."

His gaze turned cold. Lorenzo had never liked this kind of escape.

"But it only lasts a little while. Every dream eventually ends. They fall hard from that beautiful heaven and wake up in the filthy Lower District, crying their eyes out."

Eve froze. The world had shown her only one corner of its cruelty, yet she already felt crushed by it.

"W-why would they do this?"

It was as if she were asking why they didn't work harder, or learn to love life.

This was the age of steam technology. With a roar, steam engines drove the world's technology forward. But the blessings of that progress did not reach everyone—not even in Inverwig's Old Dunling.

All of Old Dunling was trapped in a grotesque, diseased state. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and Zeppelins never descended. The world's most advanced technology was nurtured in this industrial cradle, and everything seemed to be moving toward a brighter future.

But the price was just as terrible. Exhaust-choked air filled the lungs of every Inverwig citizen. To keep the furnaces burning, the forests of old had long since been razed, leaving only wasteland yet to be developed.

The cutting edge of technology always served the military first. That was how Inverwig emerged victorious from the century-long Glorious War. The spoils of war and its exclusive military technology fueled its rapid rise. As development twisted out of shape, the Midgard Serpent came to cover almost all of Inverwig's territory. Its silent flood of steel could easily crush any nation that refused to submit.

But the deepest shadows always lay beneath the brightest daylight.

The public infrastructure, still in its infancy, could barely meet the needs of the nobility and some of the population. The Mechanical Institute could send war machines weighing hundreds of tons into the sky, but it couldn't bring electric light to every darkened home. After production was freed from its limits, countless people lost their jobs. Driven out by their own country like stray dogs, they eked out a living in damp sewers, until desperation drove them mad.

"Old Dunling is one great pyramid. Its layers of class press down one on top of another, until the powerless are left to bear the weight at its base."

Lorenzo spoke without a trace of compassion.

"Machines don't need wages or rest, but people do. So they're discarded, left with nowhere to go but here."

Eve said nothing. As a member of the nobility, she had nothing to say.

After a long journey, her senses had been battered again and again by the disorienting sights and sounds. At last, when they stepped into the actual ballroom, Eve finally let out a breath of relief.

The moment they entered, all the guests had arrived. The doors behind them slowly closed, and music began to rise. Men and women swayed and danced across the floor. It was as if the doors had shut out the whole world, sealing away its feverish warmth.

Countless crystals hung from the enormous chandelier, reflecting the lights and making the domed ceiling shine as brightly as day.

The hall was far larger than it had seemed from the passage. Tier upon tier of steps rose like the arena of ancient Rome. It was impossibly grand. Eve had never imagined a place like this could exist in the impoverished Lower District. It was as if all the district's wealth had gathered here to build this magnificent place.

"Can you dance?"

Lorenzo took Eve's hand and bowed. Without waiting for her answer, he led her into a graceful dance across the floor.

"I'm not very good."

Eve said so, but it was already too late. They were in motion, weaving through the dancers.

On the raised stage, the band played with abandon, and the music stirred everyone's emotions.

"As a noblewoman, you should learn more. Maybe you'll meet your future husband at a ball, after all."

Lorenzo moved with unbelievable skill. Eve was like a puppet in his hands, swaying and dancing as he guided her.

"Then how do you know how to dance? Does a detective have to learn?"

"You know how it is. Most affairs get caught after the ball ends."

Lorenzo's voice sounded a little dry. It wasn't much fun to keep bringing up his own embarrassing past.

Eve gave him a mischievous smile, and without realizing it, she began to relax. If she forgot how she'd gotten here and why, this was no different from an ordinary ball.

"Keep an eye on your surroundings. We need to find Sabo."

He spun Eve around. She was much lighter than he'd expected, and her long skirt flared with the turn like a blooming lotus.

"You don't know what he looks like?"

"I'm a detective. How could I have met him? We'll have to find him before this is over."

Lorenzo kept talking to Eve, but his gaze swept constantly across the room.

"He's a Viking, and he's tall. He should stand out, shouldn't he?"

Eve offered her suggestion, but Lorenzo shook his head.

"He won't be on the dance floor. He owns this place, and this is only the prelude. There's no reason for the host to show up so early."

His gaze roamed across the lavish hall. Without his mask, Lorenzo would have looked like a petty thief come to steal something.

"This is his kingdom, and the king should sit above everyone, watching over his subjects. No matter what happens, he'll be able to see it first."

In Lorenzo's hands, the girl's slender waist bent like a willow branch. They swayed and spun, weaving through the crowd to the music.

"Just like those Zeppelins. They're always above the clouds. Whatever the people on the ground do, they can see it all."

At last, Lorenzo's gaze settled on the raised platform. He whispered in Eve's ear.

"I think I've found him."

It was a raised platform, where the more distinguished guests had already taken their seats. They talked among themselves, tasted fine wine and food, and discussed things they didn't want others to know.

"You think he's among those people?"

Eve spotted the platform during a turn and asked in a low voice.

"No. Higher up."

Lorenzo's gaze remained fixed above the platform, on a wall of exquisite stained glass.

Though they were underground, the wall was covered in painted glass depicting what looked like myths from a church. But this was below ground, where sacred light could never shine down and illuminate the scene.

"This is underground, and the stained glass is so out of place. There must be a room behind it. He's behind that glass, quietly watching us."

"So what do we do? Shoot at it?" Eve was all too eager.

"Then we'd both die here today. This is underground, and you've seen how complicated the passages are. The only exit we know is the one we came through. It's a defensible position. Anyone with a flintlock blocking it could hold off a hundred people. Even an army would struggle to break through."

Just like Leonidas holding the pass at Thermopylae. No matter how many enemies came, the narrow terrain would even the odds.

"Then what do we do?"

"Wait."

Lorenzo looked utterly confident.

"An opportunity will come."