As I rounded the corner, the weight on my back suddenly lightened.
"Mph!"
Caught off guard, I lost my balance and tumbled to the ground. Scrambling up, I looked behind me and instinctively asked,
"Rosemary, are you alri—"

My greeting stuck in my throat. No one was there.
What happened? Did she wake up and leave without a word? In the few seconds I fell?
"...Rosemary? Emily?"
Only my own breathing answered me.

Uneasily, I surveyed my surroundings. The sunlight was gentle, the ground spotlessly clean, as if freshly swept.
The screams and sounds of running were gone. Distant laughter and soothing music floated faintly in the air.
...Something's wrong. Something has happened.
Unconsciously lowering my voice, I asked again,
"Emily? Are you there?"
I stared intently at the corner, standing perfectly still for a moment. No response came.
"I-I-I'm here."
Emily's voice drifted toward the nape of my neck, its pitch unnaturally high.

I shuddered violently, whirling around, but before me remained only empty space.
Damn it... Some kind of magic? I need to go back and find Sylvia—
I calmed my racing heart, gathered chilling energy in my palm ready to counterattack, walked back around the corner, and the dance floor came into view again. The music and laughter also grew clearer.
No headless bodies strewn about. No panicked, fleeing crowds.
The dance floor, the stalls, the high platform... Everything was as neat and orderly as if the festival had never been interrupted.

Sunlight streamed down, ribbons fluttered gently. The only anomaly was that the Star God's emblem that had been carved into the stone seat of the high platform was gone, replaced by a twisted, unfamiliar black symbol.
Several well-dressed musicians with smiles on their faces stood by the stalls, leisurely playing accordions and violins. On the dance floor, many men and women who were strangers to each other held hands, faces wearing lively, cheerful expressions as they spun and leaped to the relaxed, pleasant melody.

The scene should have been peaceful, but I only felt a chill creeping from the marrow of my bones.
Sylvia wasn't here. Inside or outside the dance floor, I couldn't find her brilliant silver figure.
Where did she go? Could she also have...?
No, she's so strong; she's definitely fine! Maybe she discovered something and went elsewhere.

As I hesitated, a familiar voice came from beside me.
"Young man from the woods... is that you?"
I whirled around and saw three figures approaching.
It was Darian, accompanied by his ever-silent guard, Jackson, and... walking at the front, was none other than the current lord, Vitus Goldflame, who should have been seated on the high platform!

Unlike the people on the dance floor, these three, though their clothing was still neat, had abnormally pale faces and solemn expressions. Deep in their eyes flowed poorly concealed panic and unease.
That was the expression of people gripped by fear, one I knew well.
Seeing them, especially with the lord present, the tightly wound strings of my heart relaxed a fraction.
I stepped forward and said,
"It's me. Young Master Darian, what exactly... happened to us?"
Darian glanced at the people on the dance floor and shook his head.
"Many dead suddenly appeared near the dance floor, screams rose, blood flowed... truly terrifying."
"Therefore, I intended to first rendezvous with my father. However, in a daze, the dead and the screams vanished. Fortunately, Father, Jackson, and you are still here. Otherwise, I would certainly believe I had fallen into a dream."
A dream? Indeed a fitting and useless metaphor. Very much like Darian.

Lord Vitus Goldflame was the calmest among the three... no, among the four of us now. He had been thoughtfully surveying the surroundings since just now.
He took over the conversation, saying,
"Judging solely by the sights, this place is indeed nearly indistinguishable from the festival grounds earlier. Only... these old eyes of mine are a bit clouded. Adam, you participated in the earlier First Ears Dance. Did you see any familiar faces on the dance floor then?"
I shook my head in embarrassment.
"Apologies, Your Lordship. I was too nervous at the time; I hardly saw anyone besides my dance partner."
Lord Vitus pondered for a moment.
"Your dance partner... that Miss Sylvia, is a powerful elf. Can you currently sense her condition or location through your contract?"
"No, I cannot. Although the runes still function normally, the contract itself has become somewhat vague and unstable since a while ago."

Jackson, the guard who had been silent all along, suddenly had his eyes light up slightly.
He seemed to recognize something on the dance floor, then pointed toward a brown-haired musician on the far left and said somewhat excitedly,
"Your Lordship! I know him! That's Karl, my neighbor! We grew up together! Let me go ask him. Perhaps he knows something!"
Lord Vitus looked at the dance floor, then at Jackson, and finally nodded cautiously.
"Very well. Be extremely careful. We will go with you, but keep our distance."

Before his words fully faded, the music and the sounds of dancing ceased simultaneously.
A chill ran through me. I turned to look at the dance floor.
The dancers stopped in their tracks. The musicians' hands froze on their instruments.
Their feet were either suspended mid-air or fixed at some point in a dance step.
But their faces—dozens of faces—all turned uniformly toward us.
The smiles on their faces peeled away like cheap masks, leaving behind only blankness and silence. Only those dozens of pairs of meaningful, lifeless eyes stared directly at us.

The air suddenly grew heavy; my breath hitched. However, this hair-raising standoff lasted only a few short seconds.
As if nothing had happened, the music started again, still that cheerful folk tune.
The dancers turned their heads back, smiles reappearing on their faces, continuing their previous dance steps.

That brown-haired musician detached himself from the group and walked straight toward us with a smile. My nerves taut, I immediately gathered chilling energy in my palm, even preparing to use my fourth rune.
But he merely stopped a few steps away from us, steadied the accordion on his chest, leaned forward slightly, performed a fairly standard bow, and asked in a gentle voice,
"Your Lordship, good afternoon. Thank you for your gracious presence. You have been watching us. Is there something about our performance that doesn't meet your satisfaction?"

Lord Vitus didn't answer, only gave Jackson a meaningful look.
The latter understood, stepped forward, and asked in a low voice,
"The music is fine. We wanted to ask... have you been here all morning? Did you see the First Ears Dance earlier?"
The musician, Karl, showed a matter-of-fact smile on his face, even winking at me.
"But of course! Isn't this young gentleman the 'star of the dance' who just won the competition and took the Horn of Plenty Cup home?"

I used my entire being to observe the musician but sensed no dangerous magic or runes. His expression and movements didn't seem malicious either.
Jackson was clearly also somewhat hesitant, but he continued his questioning,
"Then, you also saw those decapitated dead, right?"
The smile vanished from the musician's face, replaced by pure bewilderment.
"Decapitated dead? Did someone die somewhere?"
Jackson didn't respond immediately. He advanced two steps, staring at the musician with an intensely oppressive, expressionless gaze. The musician, clearly frightened by his stare, hugged his accordion tighter and involuntarily retreated two steps.
Only then did Jackson slowly speak, his voice devoid of any emotion,
"I see. Thank you for your answer. Since you saw this young man, you must have also seen his dance partner, the silver-haired elf Miss Sylvia, correct?"
"Of course. Saqophigus is right here."

Saqophigus? Who is that?
Jackson frowned, clearly also perplexed by the name, and immediately retorted,
"Saqophigus? Who is that? I'm talking about the elf Sylvi—"
Jackson's words abruptly cut off.
Then, he turned and showed us a smile.
"That's right, everyone. Let's go quickly. Saqophigus is waiting for us."
With that, he dropped his sword and walked into the dance floor, joining a girl in a dance.