01 / 06
序章 工时表与龙息
Prologue: The Timesheet and Dragon Breath
The Amber Pavilion Guild’s timesheets were cheap hemp paper, but the ink was expensive, because the counter clerk Hiiragi Makoto pressed so hard when he wrote that he split a nib every three days.
No one knew he pressed that hard to pin another line beneath the grid: Oro, a twenty-minute walk, no fire started.
The ring sat on the little finger of his left hand, verdigris green, like a trinket bought on a whim. One turn of his thumb, and the golden dragon yawned in the shadow of the back alley and blotted out half the moon.
“Makoto, overtime again?” The guild master tossed him the keys. “There’s an S-rank commission tomorrow. Don’t wreck the window.”
Hiiragi Makoto nodded. In the shadow, the dragon rolled over, and the guild’s cup rack gave a soft chime.