Chapter_6_Dawn

In an endless meadow wrapped in silence, the wind blew gently. The soft babbling of a brook echoed in the distance, and the sight of flowers swaying in the wind spread before her eyes.

While gazing at that beautiful scene, Irina harbored an uneasy feeling somewhere within. This was a dream she had seen many times. However, today something was different.

A small stream that appeared between the grass and flowers. Disproportionately to it, a hollow abyss of deep water opened its mouth. And from that water’s depths, she could see a woman in white clothes slowly sinking. The sight of her hair swaying underwater was vividly reflected, and something cold ran through Irina’s chest.

“—Who are you…?”

The moment she asked, the grass and flowers began to burst into flames. The endless meadow was instantly engulfed in fire, and a bizarre scene spread before her eyes. Amid the roaring of the flames, black smoke rose violently, the smell of burning vegetation—no, not just that, this was the smell of burning living things. The dark water depths still showed the same dark, hollow depths, but now it opened wide, looking like something even more terrifying. She had to escape! Irina desperately tried to move her body, but it moved only sluggishly. The dark red flames that had swallowed the vegetation were approaching Irina.

“Schwarz Noir”

As she heard those words, her vision crumbled and the dream was severed.

When Irina awoke, she was lying among cold rubble. The light of dawn filtered down from above, and the surroundings had been reduced to ruins. She felt a dull pain in her left arm.

“My lady! You’re awake!”

Sylvia’s voice echoed by her ear. She had been desperately tending to Irina.

“Still alive… I see.” Irina said in an exhausted voice. “What’s the condition of my left arm?”

“The damage is severe, but it’s alright. It will take time, but it can be repaired. Just please don’t overexert yourself.” Sylvia spoke gently, though her voice contained a hint of urgency.

“I see… Thank you, Sylvia.”

Standing up with her support, Irina gasped at the sight before her eyes.
The once-magnificent mansion had now been reduced to a mountain of rubble. Morning light filtered through gaps in collapsed walls, faintly illuminating broken pillars and toppled furnishings. The orange and golden light of dawn spread as if sliding through the gaps in the debris, and particles of light shimmered each time dust rose into the air.

Somewhere, rubble made a small collapsing sound. A decayed door swayed in the wind, making creaking noises ring out.
That silence squeezed her chest all the more tightly.

“I couldn’t protect it, could I? Even the books from that library were stolen…” Irina lowered her eyes and nearly fell to her knees, but Sylvia placed a hand on her shoulder.

“My lady, the books may have been taken, but at least thanks to your instructions, many of the butlers and maids survived.”

Irina’s heart beat loudly. That’s right—last night her head had been full of protecting the mansion and library. Even though she had sent the butlers and other maids away early, hadn’t she failed to show sufficient care—such thoughts slowly swelled in the depths of her chest.
As if nails were being slowly driven into her heart, the beating that echoed with thump, thump, attacked with accompanying pain.

“Everyone… are they safe?”

In her trembling voice as she asked this, Irina’s eyes mixed anxiety and regret.

“Yes, I received word from the butler earlier. Many are safe. However, he said there are a few who cannot be found.”

At Sylvia’s words, Irina felt both heart-wrenching sadness and relief simultaneously. With such an attack, indeed not everyone could be safe. Even so, the fact that most of the butlers and maids were unharmed brought slight salvation.

“Sylvia, tell the butlers to return to their homes or hometowns as they are. If they come here, those red-uniformed groups might attack again.”

While it was certain their aim had been the books in that library, since they couldn’t know anything more, she couldn’t expose them to danger.

Irina and Sylvia searched the collapsed mansion again to look for those who couldn’t be found and confirm the mansion’s condition. Sylvia urged Irina to rest for a while, but Irina herself couldn’t bring herself to such a state of mind.

Illuminated by the beautiful dawn, the corridors were desolate with collapsed pillars and rubble, a faint burnt smell drifting about. As they proceeded through, Irina and her companion found the forms of motionless maids, one by one. Among them was mixed the maid who had exchanged words with Irina in the hall the morning before last. Deep sadness pressed mercilessly into Irina’s chest as her legs froze at the tragic sight.

Eventually, Irina and Sylvia carried out the bodies from the rubble with trembling hands. Irina supported as carefully as possible with one arm, and Sylvia helped. After covering them with torn cloth and gathering them in one place, they made what grave markers they could on the spot and quietly completed the burial. Even the usually calm Sylvia occasionally let out sobbing sounds, desperately holding back tears. The two could only weave slight joined hands in prayer and hoarse voices, but still offered prayers with certain feelings込me. It might never be rewarded—even so, as if to leave only mourning hearts here.

“I will definitely repay this debt…”

Along with sadness, Irina quietly voiced the words, as if carving strong determination into her heart.

For a while after that, the two scavenged for still-usable items from the mansion’s ruins. Nothing was decided about what came next, but it was certain they should move from here for now.

While searching through the rubble, Irina suddenly thought she saw something shining. Light undulated like the surface of water, persistently jumping into Irina’s eyes. Since there were various ornaments in the mansion’s rubble, it wouldn’t have been strange if something glowed a little, but that light was unusually attracting Irina’s attention.

Irina headed toward the light. Most of it was buried in rubble, with light leaking from just a small gap.

“This is…”

Slowly, Irina brushed away the rubble and dirt covering the glowing object. It was that book. The book with silver embroidery she had first found in that old library. That silver embroidery was reflecting the morning sun and emitting unusual light. Irina carefully picked up the book from the gap in the rubble. Her heartbeat grew louder, carrying various emotions. Irina carefully opened the book. After such a battle, she was anxious whether the book might crumble fragilely like this mansion, like those peaceful days until now.

“Seve…"—the words jumped into Irina’s eyes. The same as that time, just like when she first opened this book, the words “Seve…” attracted Irina as if possessing slight gravity. A deep sensation caught in the depths of her chest. As if she had heard those words in that dream, as if she knew them. However, even now she couldn’t grasp their meaning.

“As I thought, it’s not just an ordinary book. These characters… I feel they’re connected somehow to the scenes I saw in my dream.” Irina murmured while turning the pages.

“My lady, could that book be the book in question?”

Sylvia approached worriedly. Her arms were full of items that still seemed usable. Irina felt her heart soften a little at such a sight of Sylvia.

“No, this is a slightly different book. It’s a bit different from the book I wanted to protect.”

“I see…”

Sylvia’s shoulders dropped slightly, but Irina immediately continued speaking.

“But you know, this book is certainly also some clue to my dreams. The words that appear in this book, I feel those words are somehow related to my dreams.”

Saying so, Irina flipped through the silver-embroidered book and showed it to Sylvia.

“Is this some kind of ancient script? Within approximately 1 lune radius, there seems to be no language system corresponding to these characters in the Record Vaults.”

Sylvia immediately ran a maximum wide-area search on the Record Vaults with her personal terminal and responded. Rows of characters flickered in and out of view in Sylvia’s eyes.

“Yes, it was the same when I searched. These characters are probably from a civilization far away. Perhaps from lands tens of thousands of lunes distant. The Record Vaults in this country’s provinces are insufficient.”

When Irina had found this book in that old library, she had immediately realized that understanding the meaning of this difficult-to-decipher ancient language would require expert help.

“To decode this book, we have no choice but to go to the Central Vault.”

Sylvia immediately reacted to those words. “Our country’s Central Vault? It’s 13 lunes away from here. We’ll need to cross through Warp Gates. It might be a somewhat dangerous journey.”

“Even so, we need to go.” Irina said forcefully. “Unless I unravel what’s hidden in this book, I don’t think I can move forward. Besides, if I pursue the mystery of this book and my dreams, I’ll probably reach those red-uniformed ones too.”

Irina took a deep breath here and continued her next words with slight hesitation.

“Sylvia. The journey from here is for my personal purpose. It deviates from your work as the mansion’s maid… So. You don’t have to accompany me on the journey ahead.”

Before Irina could finish speaking, Sylvia said in a resolute voice, “I will accompany you. I cannot let you go alone.”

“B-but Sylvia. This is just a journey to unravel my dreams. I can’t involve you in such a thing…”

“My lady.” Sylvia stepped forward and looked straight at Irina. “I may serve as a maid, but that’s not all. You understand too, don’t you? We grew up together. I think of you as a true sister.”

Irina’s eyes wavered slightly. Though not related by blood, they had spent the same time in the same mansion and knew everything about each other. That’s why Irina, thinking of Sylvia, had tried to decide not to journey together. However, at that moment, Sylvia too had decided she would definitely stay by her side.

“…But it might be dangerous?”

“Yes, I’m prepared. But to let you go alone, such a thing… I cannot do.” Sylvia smiled slightly. “Besides, what your dreams lead to… I want to know too.”

Irina exhaled softly. Then she smiled slowly.

“…Thank you, Sylvia.”

Those were words filled not just with gratitude but with deep trust.

Thus Irina’s long journey would begin with these two.