Chapter 2: Night of Artillery Fire

That day, Irina’s mind was dominated by the events in the library that early morning. That strange dream, and the old book she had found. There, an incomplete string of characters reading “Seve**” was inscribed, along with a scroll bearing the words “Schwarz Noir” and that chest-tightening sensation. Was it merely an old record, or did it conceal some unknowable meaning? Unable to organize her thoughts at all, Irina headed to the breakfast table in a distracted state. However, she was so absent-minded that the butler and Silvia had to call out to her repeatedly before she could finally begin eating.

In the end, Irina continued thinking about that old library and book, that scroll, and her own dream until nearly evening. She knew that if she was so troubled, she should simply return to that library. Yet the silence of that library, its coldness, the depth of darkness where no sunlight reached - these made her think she might discover something even more catastrophic. This thought made it difficult for Irina to turn her feet toward that library.

“My lady, perhaps you should retire for the evening.”

Irina looked up with a start, returning to herself. Only now did she realize she had been shut in her room since breakfast, wandering through a labyrinth of thought.

Surely Silvia, worried about Irina missing lunch, had brought this to her. On the adjacent desk sat untouched bread and coffee, now completely cold, emanating a lonely melancholy. Prompted by Silvia’s voice, when Irina looked around, she saw that night had fallen without her noticing. The room wrapped in twilight colors seemed not like her usual chamber but rather a hollow darkness, like an entrance leading to some distant realm of shadow.

“Yes… thank you, Silvia. Tomorrow I’ll investigate the library once more.”

Leaving those words behind, Irina threw herself onto the bed. She knew these words were meant for herself. To that library - even if she were to find something catastrophic, she was questioning her own resolve to head to that library. Yet somewhere in her heart, anxiety still lingered. For a while, Irina wavered between anxiety and determination, but perhaps she was indeed exhausted - the time until sleep took her was short, and Irina’s consciousness was quickly swallowed by darkness.

An endless meadow. There she stood. A single small stream, flowers blooming in profusion, grass growing thick, covering the stream as if to hide it. Though so clear and beautiful, the silence and sound of the gentle breeze somehow evoked loneliness and sadness, and something even darker. She approaches the stream. Before her appears a dark hollow unsuited to such a small stream. Dark, dark water depths. Surely there is no bottom. The end of despair that continues forever. And on the water’s surface was a woman in pure white. She sinks, slowly but surely. I reach out my hand, but my body moves only sluggishly as if entangled in liquid. Again, too late, she sinks.

Then suddenly, the eyes of the woman in white opened.

“Wake… wake up! Wake up! Irina!”

A thunderous roar and vibration pulled Irina’s consciousness back to reality. When she awakened, what reached her ears were explosions and the sound of shattering glass. Leaping from her bed and looking out the window, she saw a Storm-class aerial warship that had been moored at the lakeside approaching the mansion while bombarding it. The sky was dyed with flames, and emergency alarms echoed throughout the mansion.

“My lady!”

It was Silvia who burst through the door. Clear panic showed on her face.

“We’re under attack! The mansion is being assaulted!”

Irina reflexively grabbed her clothes and ran through the corridors guided by Silvia.

“What about the mansion’s defense shields?!”

She confirmed the situation with Silvia while running through the hallways.

“We activated them immediately after the first few shells. However, the old optical shields will have difficulty holding off that new ship’s Amalgam Cannons for long.”

“That’s one of our nation’s ships, isn’t it? Why are they attacking us!?”

Irina questioned in rapid succession. She needed to grasp as much information as quickly as possible. They were being attacked by allies. That meant the situation must be extremely complex. She needed information.

“We don’t know - there’s been no communication from that ship. The butler is sending an emergency transmission to central command, but the capital is 13 runes away (1 rune = 1 light-month). Even by subspace communication, a response will take 24 hours.”

Silvia spoke apologetically despite her panic. The butler and maids had activated the mansion’s defense shields, trying somehow to buy time. However, the situation was clearly disadvantageous. This mansion’s defense system was from ages past, when the border was about 22 vaans (1 vaan = 2.3km) from here, a relic from when this mansion served as a fortress. It was somewhat inadequate to counter the firepower of a new Storm-class aerial warship.

Even as Irina rushed to assess the situation, the defense shields covering the mansion’s airspace spread shockwaves repeatedly, burning red. Light projectiles from the Amalgam Cannons fired from the enemy ship struck the shields violently with heavy bass tones. Each time, the shields produced lightning-like cracks, unstable light leaking from their surface.

“Silvia! I’m transferring partial head-of-house authority to you - prepare for transfer! Activate the interceptor cannons at maximum output!”

“Understood, my lady! Communications open! Temporarily receiving head-of-house authority B2 through D4! Entering interception stance.”

Saying this, Silvia stood stock-still, frozen with her gaze directed slightly upward. She had entered defense system operation mode. Irina could faintly see strings of information and coordinates reflected in Silvia’s eyes.

Without pause, the upper portions of the mansion’s towers opened, revealing multiple interceptor cannons. The fired shells tore through the night sky, launched straight at the enemy warship. However, through the boundary between flame and gunsmoke, she could see the enemy ship had also generated shields. Though all shells hit directly, the Storm-class aerial warship’s bow emerged from the gunsmoke as if nothing had happened. As expected, there were limits to unmodified physical warheads. Irina made a bitter face and lightly bit her lip.

At that moment, another volley began from the warship. The ferocious roar tore through the night air, and a section of the shields protecting the mansion melted away before their eyes. A shell had directly hit one of the shield generators. With one of three shield generators destroyed, a third of the mansion was left completely exposed. Immediately after, the southeastern portion of the mansion was blown away with a deafening explosive roar.

“The Amalgam Reactor…”

Silvia’s voice trembled, tinged with bottomless despair. The attack had unfortunately caused a secondary explosion in the Amalgam Reactor that powered the entire mansion. Irina felt they were heading moment by moment toward the worst possible outcome.

“Silvia! Protect the breached shield section with magical barriers! Even if it’s just a stopgap, minimize the damage! Channel Ether Catalyst into the interceptor shells too! We’ll slow the enemy down even slightly!”

Irina shouted. If the enemy ship was powered by a compact fusion reactor, the Ether Catalyst interference waves would be amplified, potentially causing confusion in the enemy warship’s AI control circuits.

“But my lady! After that secondary explosion, the mansion’s remaining Amalgam Stone reserves are nearly depleted! We’ll likely exhaust them with the next barrage! There won’t be time to refuel the escape vehicles!”

“At this rate, we’ll be annihilated before we can refuel! First let’s survive, then think about escape! Fire!”

Irina shouted louder than ever before. Her desire to encourage the despairing Silvia even slightly made her voice ring out more forcefully. With Silvia’s acknowledgment, the interceptor shells were fired at the enemy warship accompanied by the distinctive wave sounds of ether.

The shells struck the enemy warship’s shields and exploded in a scatter of blue, violent shockwaves characteristic of ether. Stop! Stop! Stop! Watching the explosions, Irina shouted repeatedly in her heart.

“My lady!”

Silvia cried out. Irina understood the reason. The enemy warship had stopped. A temporary disruption must have occurred between the AI and control circuits. Though it would be but a moment, Irina felt relief that they had bought some time.

“Silvia! Contact the butler! Take all the maids and prepare for immediate evacuation!”

Irina immediately issued orders. This was a battle with no chance of victory from the start. She realized she was thinking only of how to minimize damage and escape.

Though she had never experienced proper combat before, her body and mind moved with surprising naturalness. The comportment and crisis response drilled into her as a daughter of a military house - all of it was proving useful in this very moment.

Though this was her first extreme situation, Irina observed with wry amusement in a corner of her mind how unusually calm her thoughts remained.

“Lady Irina! Evacuation preparations are complete.”

Ah, Silvia let out a small voice.

“A small craft in the mansion’s central garden!! They’ve targeted the gap where the shields were destroyed! Confirmed troops infiltrating! Transmitting visual!”

Relief was fleeting - Irina felt the blood drain from her body. The image Silvia sent was displayed before her eyes through her retinal terminal. She could see armed groups in red garb infiltrating through the destroyed central garden. Not our nation’s soldiers. So the ship had been hijacked while moored after all.

“Silvia! Activate the mansion’s security systems! Enter interception mode!”

While immediately issuing orders, Irina pondered this inexplicable enemy incursion. The enemy wasn’t just bombarding from the front but also infiltrating through the central garden. How meticulously had they planned this operation? If they only wanted to abduct the head of House Vasines, there should be simpler methods. If their goal was the mansion’s wealth, there was no point in attacks that might destroy the entire mansion. Even if destroying the mansion was their goal, there was no meaning in infiltrating. So why did they need to board after such a large-scale attack? The questions wouldn’t cease.

“Emergency security systems activated! Interception has begun, but damage rates are already increasing!”

Apparently the mansion’s internal security would only serve as a minor delay. Irina broke out in a light cold sweat predicting what armaments the enemy had brought.

“Silvia, can you probe the enemy’s movements and objectives once more?”

Irina questioned Silvia, who had been granted temporary head-of-house authority. Silvia looked up again and searched the mansion’s information for a while, then shook her head.

“The visual systems are being destroyed. The mansion’s surveillance devices have decreased due to bombardment chaos and can’t cover all areas. However…”

Silvia started to speak then stopped, but Irina prompted her with her eyes to continue.

“Due to widespread damage this is only a trend, but from the central garden area to deeper positions - the surveillance devices and defense systems on the corridors leading to that library seem to be being destroyed in a concentrated manner.”

That library. Irina’s heart beat especially strongly. Irina didn’t understand how much value the many books in that library held. Yet even so, recalling yesterday’s events and her own dreams, she felt something like conviction.

“Could it be… the books in that library. The books themselves are the objective…?”

Irina exhaled a small sigh. She was half convinced. If she herself was the target, there would have been many other possibilities for kidnapping. Yet there was little need to steal a warship and launch such a grand attack. If that library itself was the objective, this mansion’s security and defense systems, though old, were solid. It would be difficult to break through easily even with some gathered forces. Under normal methods.

“…If those books are the objective, a frontal assault to create chaos while a separate unit seizes the target books from the library - that scenario makes sense. That library is in the mansion’s innermost depths. That’s why they needed both frontal distraction and simultaneous assault through the central garden after destroying the shields.”

As Irina’s thoughts raced, the scene from yesterday in the library suddenly crossed her mind. That’s it - when she tried to open the box containing that old scroll, something seemed to flit across her vision. It was so momentary she had dismissed it as a trick of the eyes and hadn’t thought much of it, but–

“…That’s right. At that time…”

Irina raised her head with a start. The memory of something racing through the edge of her vision. Perhaps that hadn’t been a mere illusion. If that had been a reconnaissance terminal of whoever was now attacking.

“My lady? What’s the matter?”

“Silvia, I saw something strange in that library. At first I thought it was just a hallucination, but… if that was a small reconnaissance terminal.”

“A reconnaissance terminal…!”

Silvia’s expression hardened. Considering that possibility, it was terrifying to think how much information might have been observed. That reconnaissance terminal must have been lurking for a long period. Likely with limits to single activations, it must have attached itself to the butler, maids, sometimes even Irina herself to gather information. That’s why it took so long to find the target library. Irina hadn’t visited that old library in years since her mother had shown her its location. When Irina visited that library the other day, the reconnaissance terminal’s owner must have been overjoyed. Finding the target location, they wanted to seize the library’s books as quickly as possible. They might also have feared Irina discovering something. That’s why they launched the attack today, the day after.

“No wonder. That warship seemed to be bombarding randomly but was targeting the shield generator covering the central garden connected to the library. They must have investigated the defense system positions… We’ve been quite careless.”

Irina made a bitter face while confirming the video fragments once more. Though I don’t know how much value those library books hold, I need those books to know the truth of my dreams.

“–Let’s head to the library, Silvia. That book I found yesterday - we can’t just hand it over to them. I have a premonition something ominous will happen. And it’s surely connected to the mystery of my dreams too.”

The moment she spoke those words, the light of determination lit in Irina’s eyes once more. The groups in red garb, and the enemy warship stationed at the front. All of them were now trying to steal the mystery of Irina, of House Vasines itself. Irina understood. In today’s attack, the precious mansion left by her father and mother, the butler and maids who had protected it, the wealth passed down through the family - all would be lost. There lay memories accumulated since childhood, traces of her parents, countless items inscribed with the family name’s pride - Irina’s very life was contained there. Yet even if she must let go of everything today, she absolutely had to keep that book in her hands. Just as there are things that once lost can never return, Irina couldn’t help feeling that book too held meaning so unknowably precious and irreplaceable to her.

“Understood, my lady. I’ll instruct the butler and maids to evacuate ahead of us. I will protect you with all my power.”

Saying this, Silvia gazed straight at Irina. Deep worry and anxiety dwelt in that gaze. Through their long acquaintance, Irina could read Silvia’s feelings as if they were her own. Silvia didn’t know the book’s true nature or the eerie sense of conviction Irina felt when touching it. Even so, Silvia was keenly sensing Irina’s determination and the pain that tore at her heart as she was driven forward.

Amid the roar of artillery and prevailing chaos, the two’s footsteps held no hesitation.
Within Irina’s heart as she raced toward the old library, a strong determination had sprouted - to find the final key connecting herself and House Vasines’ secrets. Now she could only believe in that and move forward.