Bailonz Street 13

“Liam, shouldn’t you be helping over there?”

“I suppose just ordering others around isn’t right?”

Liam conscientiously answered and handed Lawrence to me. Lawrence hesitated briefly before tightly wrapping his arms around my neck. The child’s weight settled heavily against me. I’d naively thought he’d be light, but he was quite substantial. I patted Lawrence’s back.

“Lawrence, shall we watch what uncle is doing?”

“Mm-hmm.”

We walked along the bridge. It was fine up to where we were, but beyond that it was broken, with the river clearly visible below. Liam sighed and dusted off his hands. Then he began to move slowly with his arms spread wide.

The cold night air around us moved slowly. Do you know that sensation when the air moves without wind? It was exactly like that. The air gradually gathered around Liam.

Snap! The crisp sound of static electricity that I hadn’t heard in a very long time.

With his eyes closed and head slightly tilted back, Liam muttered something softly.

Rumble…

“What’s that sound?”

Lawrence whispered to me nervously, flinching.

I wasn’t sure either. Where this sound was coming from. I could see the river water swirling rapidly, but showing this to Lawrence might make him faint from shock.

That’s when it started. Huge structures began emerging one by one from the river water. They attached themselves to the broken bridge. First supporting in arch formations, then bricks piling up repeatedly, and finally gas lamps rising one after another to find their positions.

Flicker. Flicker. The lights slowly began to come on.

Lawrence exclaimed excitedly.

“Did you see? A bridge appeared!”

“That uncle may have a bad personality, but he’s quite skilled.”

“…Jane. I can hear you.”

When I giggled, Lawrence gradually started laughing too.

A bridge appeared with no trace of having been destroyed. Bridges rose up from various places and merged together to regain their original form. That is, all the bridges across the Thames.

“Did you do all that yourself?”

I asked in surprise.

Wouldn’t Liam collapse from pushing himself so hard? Magical power isn’t infinite. Even if it’s held like water in a container, if you draw too much…

“Mm. I’m also using some of the Black King’s power that I captured. Right now.”

What does that mean? As I blinked my eyes repeatedly, Liam gave a bitter smile.

“His sacrifices, I mean. As the altars were destroyed, the power he had accumulated was dispersing into the air. I’m catching that and redirecting it to London’s restoration.”

The truth in my head muttered.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

‘Is he insane?’

I agreed.

It was like trying to turn fog into water by capturing it. Even with heavy morning fog, how easy is it to make even one cup of water? Yet Liam was skillfully gathering that fog to make not just a cup of water… but a fountain.

Now sunken ships began rising from the distant London harbor. Watching this, I could only say one thing.

“You’re really…”

“Smart and talented, right?”

“…crazy.”

Liam giggled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

Citizens who had taken shelter began emerging one by one at the sound of buildings being restored. They gaped at the sight of mysterious people restoring London with single gestures.

This was London after the Industrial Revolution, where superstition had almost disappeared. Yet how could ordinary people erect collapsed buildings with such small movements?

“D-Demons?”

The Greenwich person who was suddenly mistaken for a demon jumped up saying “No, we’re not!” More people began coming out onto the streets.

“My shop is back.”

“Our house too.”

“Even the roads are back…”

Bent lamp posts straightened, and shattered carriages regained their original form. Though horses that had fled or died couldn’t be restored… that should be alright.

“What about the memories?”

I asked. Liam, half-leaning against me, answered.

“I authorized erasure. First, we’ll make people think those who died were due to natural disasters or disease…”

“Mm.”

“The restoration will be complete by tonight, so they won’t notice anything strange.”

It was truly… an impressive and monstrous response.

Everything damaged returns. And memories of the monsters seen today disappear. Though the dead can’t be brought back, people won’t remember what caused those deaths if their perceptions are twisted.

Ordinary people can’t resist magic, and without realizing it, they’ll slowly forget these horrible memories of 1871. Very unluckily, some might remain in memory and appear in dreams, but it’s not strange for monsters to appear a little in nightmares.

‘An imaginative writer might turn this into a story.’

Bat-like monsters, monsters with huge eyes and long tails might pop up in the media someday. Through the influence of the unconscious.

“But you know. We can’t go to every person individually, right?”

We couldn’t go door to door saying ‘Excuse me? If you don’t mind, we’d like to erase your memories!’ What if people locked their doors and barricaded themselves in?

Liam flinched as if struck at a vital point.

“A chemical method.”

“You’re not…”

“…Not in the drinking water or anything.”

“Then in the air?!”

That seemed to be correct.

“One spell to distinguish between erasure targets and non-targets by magical quantity, one fog generator that Greenwich happens to have in storage. Memory erasure spells in fog particles and drugs in case of resistance to the spells…”

Though he explained at length, the conclusion was this.

He planned to cover London with amnesia fog.

After a few days, people would inevitably have to leave their homes, and even if not, the fog would seep through windows and door cracks. Just touching this fog would make people gradually forget today’s events. Greenwich just needed to create fog large enough to cover London.

“A large-scale fog lasting several days… should be enough. It’ll make the news too. Sufficient to cover today’s events.”

It was a vicious and genius idea. He seemed to have already communicated this method to others. In the distance, fog slowly began rising. Though it looked more like smoke or clouds than fog.

Watching this, Liam shrugged and muttered.

“Maybe it’s a bit much.”

Not just a bit – way too much.

Lawrence was quiet. Wondering why he was so well-behaved, I looked down to find him already asleep in my arms. The warm comfort must have relaxed his tension.

The child’s soft, smooth cheeks and warm temperature gave me a somewhat empty feeling. Owen’s absence suddenly felt real. This child would truly become the last Cassfire.

“…You said all the other Cassfires died?”

“They died young. None of them lived past thirty-five. Owen’s grandfather lived the longest, I think. Except for those who voluntarily confined themselves to Greenwich, they all died early.”

Accidents, murders, or the chronic illness of magicians – madness. The reasons varied. But it was very strange that the causes all came from beyond the boundary.

“Even though we have many enemies and many things wanting to kill us, Jane, it’s rare for anything to try to wither away an entire bloodline like they did with the Cassfires.”

“Usually… revenge is personal, right?”

“Yes. Like with Herschel, or me.”

Owen had held out for a long time, they said.

“He was thirty-four, wasn’t it? I remember how happy he was that next year he’d break past the cursed thirty-five.”

In the end, he too followed his family’s pattern.

I stroked Lawrence sleeping in my arms and watched him for a while.

“…Let’s help Lawrence live a long life.”

Liam answered.

“We must.”

“He doesn’t need to shoulder family duties or anything, just let him live long.”

He doesn’t need to become a sage like Owen Cassfire. He doesn’t need to carry heavy burdens. Just… I want this child to live long and happily. If any story should end with ‘and they lived happily ever after,’ I hoped it would be Lawrence Cassfire’s, not mine.

Liam gently kissed my forehead.

“It’ll be fine. I’m Greenwich’s guardian after all. I’m used to protecting things.”

“Ah, how noble…”

“You can drop the flowery words…”

As Liam’s ears reddened, I smiled softly.

While we were briefly focused on our conversation, the restoration had already finished. Perhaps due to Greenwich’s many magicians busily running around London, the collapsed buildings had now found their places. Even the vanished Bailonz Street had returned.

“…The furniture probably didn’t survive.”

When I muttered this, Liam Moore said in a melancholy tone.

“Nothing to be done. We’ll have to do a major cleaning now.”

“It’s satisfying that all that clutter in your room got cleared out.”

“Jaaane.”

I almost burst out laughing but barely suppressed it for Lawrence’s sake. How could that long-drawn-out protest with his aggrieved face not look loveable? I comforted Liam as he whimpered shamelessly and snuggled into my arms.

The overflowing Thames gradually returned to its place. The wet marks on the streets would slowly dry and disappear.

After a long while of listening to my heartbeat with his eyes closed, Liam spoke.

“Shall we go now?”

I immediately understood what he meant.

It was time to attend Owen’s funeral.