Magazine

Night fell.

After dealing with a neighbor who had come to borrow the oven, Lumian went upstairs and entered the room that served as a study.

In Cordou Village, many poor households had neither an oven nor a large stove. When they needed to bake bread or smoke meat, they could only borrow someone else's and use it there.

Aurora had always been open-minded and generous about this. Anyone could borrow theirs, provided they paid for the fuel or brought their own coal, wood, or the like.

By now, she had changed into her white silk nightdress and curled up in an easy chair. In the bright light of the battery-powered desk lamp, she was absorbed in the book in her hands.

Lumian did not disturb her. He casually pulled a thin volume from the bookshelf and sat down in a chair in the corner.

Veil of Mystery... What kind of magazine is this? Lumian glanced at the cover, which was covered in strange symbols, and puzzlement stirred within him.

He quickly leafed through it, growing more shocked with every page.

The magazine discussed the forms in which human souls existed, how all things possessed spirits, and how to communicate with different spirits through secret methods to obtain different kinds of help...

Although he was far from devout, although he merely followed the crowd into the church of the Eternal Blazing Sun to offer a few prayers and occasionally attend Mass, two words flashed irrepressibly through Lumian's mind:

Blasphemy!

Taboo!

As Aurora was a Warlock who would surely be seized by the Inquisition and burned to death if exposed, having such books at home was perfectly normal. Yet Lumian could clearly see a government publication permit printed in the magazine!

Could something like this really be published openly?

Wasn't publication censorship supposed to be strict?

Or is this a forged permit... Lumian raised his head, looked at Aurora, and asked, "Is this a banned magazine?"

Aurora pulled her gaze from her book and glanced toward her younger brother. "It used to be," she said casually. "It was underground literature. Then, somehow, it passed the censors and was officially published. Even the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun did nothing about it. They just tacitly allowed it."

"Literature?" Lumian did not quite understand his sister's choice of words.

"Of course it's literature. You didn't take it seriously, did you?" Aurora laughed. "If what it said were true, do you think it could still be published? If you follow those methods, all you'll achieve is mental exhaustion and frayed nerves. Nothing more. Hmm... Occasionally, there's something genuine, but without the corresponding ritual language, any attempt is a waste of effort."

That was the assessment of a professional Warlock.

"All right..." Lumian could not hide his disappointment. "I just thought it was strange that this could actually be published."

Aurora puffed out her cheeks, as though giving the matter serious thought.

"I'm not sure why either. Perhaps, over the past few years, there have been more and more supernatural-uh, phenomena involving supernatural factors in various places. They can't conceal all of them, and that's given rise to certain trends in thought. The government might want everyone to understand a little, so it's relaxed its control over similar books. In Trier, the three more popular magazines are Spiritism, Lotus, and Esoterica. I have them all on my bookshelf. If you're interested, you can look them up. They'll help make the stories you invent at the tavern sound more convincing."

"Mm." Lumian was indeed very interested.

At the same time, he once again marveled inwardly:

Aurora's book collection really is rich and varied!

It was thanks to these books and Aurora's occasional explanations that he, a young man who had missed out on schooling, could gain a sufficient understanding of the world, continent, and country he lived in.

This world had two continents, one northern and one southern, separated by the Berserk Sea, where hurricanes raged and navigation was difficult. As for the legendary eastern and western continents, no one had reached them yet, and no one could be certain whether they existed.

The Republic of Intis, where Lumian and Aurora lived, lay in the central part of the Northern Continent. It bordered the Sea of Fog to the west and the Feysac Empire to the north. To the east, the Kingdom of Loen lay across the Hornacis Mountains. Along its southern border, the neighboring countries were, in order, the Kingdom of Feynapotter, Lenburg, and Massy.

Between the Kingdom of Feynapotter and the Kingdom of Loen were smaller countries such as Segal. Together with Lenburg and Massy, these were known as the south-central nations. They all shared a belief in the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

The Southern Continent had been reduced to colonies of the northern nations. Whether the Balam Empire, the Kingdom of Pass, the Kingdom of Hagati, or any other country, all had lost most of their autonomy. Of course, waves of resistance against colonial rule had never ceased.

Besides the Berserk Sea between the northern and southern continents and the Sea of Fog west of the Republic of Intis, there were the Sonia Sea east of the Kingdom of Loen, the North Sea north of the Feysac Empire, and the Polar Sea south of the Southern Continent. Together, they were known as the Five Seas.

Among the northern nations, the Kingdom of Loen had the greatest overall strength, followed by the Republic of Intis. The Feysac Empire, which had lost the last war, had fallen to fourth place, while the Kingdom of Feynapotter had risen to third. Of the south-central nations, Lenburg was the strongest.

Compared with the villagers of Cordu, who knew only of the Republic of Intis, the Kingdom of Feynapotter, and Lenburg, Lumian could practically be called a geographer.

Of course, they only knew something about those two foreign countries because the shepherds of Cordou Village needed to move their flocks to nearby Feynapotter and Lenburg. Villagers in the northern Dalege Region, by contrast, could name only their surrounding villages, towns, and cities, along with major cities in their own country such as Trier and Susie.

Sometimes, Lumian genuinely wondered how Aurora could know so much.

Aurora had written every textbook he studied and set every practice paper he worked through. Whenever he had questions about the books he read, she could answer them all!

More importantly, she had also mastered fighting techniques from various schools.

This hardly seemed like something a woman in her twenties could accomplish. Some people lived fifty or sixty years without accumulating so much knowledge.

Could all this be a basic requirement for becoming a real Warlock? Lumian raised his head once again and looked at Aurora.

As Aurora read, she gently patted her cheek with her fingers, looking nothing like a scholar or a Warlock.

"What are you looking at?" Aurora noticed his gaze.

"You said last time that I knew enough to take the unified university entrance examination?" Lumian changed the subject.

Aurora thought for a moment. "In theory, you could get into any university, but I've never taken that entrance exam myself, so I can't be sure exactly what it covers.

"Roselle really has a lot to answer for. Ah, well, it's a good thing too..."

Naturally, the unified university entrance examination had been instituted during Emperor Roselle's rule and had continued to the present day.

Suddenly remembering something, Aurora looked at Lumian and asked with a smile, "Why didn't you go to the tavern to make up stories today?"

"It's not like I'm an actual drunk." Lumian waved the magazine in his hand. "Reading at home is a good way to entertain myself too."

And it helps me settle my mind and relax... he silently added.

Aurora nodded, looking toward Lumian's corner. "Why are you sitting so far away? Are you trying to look pitiful, weak, and helpless?

"Come over here. You need good lighting to read at night, or you'll damage your eyes."

Aurora really does say so many strange things... I understand what 'pitiful,' 'weak,' and 'helpless' each mean, but putting them together sounds so odd. It's not how people normally use them... Long accustomed to Aurora's behavior, Lumian picked up his chair and moved beside the desk.

In front of the bright desk lamp, he and Aurora sat on either side, reading quietly and exchanging a few words from time to time.

Their breathing, the rustle of turning pages, and the occasional night breeze outside the window were soothing and peaceful.

After exchanging good nights with Aurora, Lumian returned to his room.

He took off his jacket and hung it over the back of the chair as usual, making no attempt to bring the Wands card into bed.

He was afraid of arousing Aurora's suspicions. After all, his sister had said she would keep an eye on him at all times.

Lumian was just about to walk toward his bed when a sudden thought made him stop.

His eyes shifted, and he adjusted the chair, which normally stood at an angle, so that it faced the window directly.

Then he climbed into bed and extinguished the kerosene lamp on the cabinet beside it.

He fell asleep normally. After an unknown stretch of time, Lumian suddenly jolted awake.

Once again, he saw the bedroom shrouded in a faint gray fog.

Mentally prepared this time, Lumian calmly looked around and noticed something.

The chair he had deliberately straightened before bed was still standing at an angle in the dream, just as it always had.

In other words, the bedroom in the dream doesn't correspond exactly to reality. It might come from the impressions buried deepest in my subconscious... Though he did not know what this meant, Lumian felt it was a detail worth remembering.

He approached the window, braced both hands on the desk, and looked outside.

The mountain of brownish-red stones and reddish-brown earth, along with the rings of collapsed buildings surrounding it, came into view once again.

The silence here was deathly.

Time slipped swiftly by. After hesitating for a while, Lumian finally made up his mind.

Tonight, I'll do some limited, preliminary exploration!

His years as a vagrant had given him a ruthless streak.

Rather than immediately going downstairs and entering the ruins, he opened his wardrobe and began putting on more clothes.

He did this not because he felt cold, but to improve his "defensive capabilities" a little.

After putting on a padded cotton coat and trousers, then a leather jacket, Lumian moved his body around and decided he could not add any more. Another layer would noticeably hamper his agility.

That was more important.

As he adjusted to his current state, a thought suddenly flashed through Lumian's mind.

This is my dream. Shouldn't I be able to have whatever I want?

Deciding to give it a try, he began muttering:

"I want a breastplate and a pistol... I want a breastplate and a pistol..."

The room, with its faint gray fog, remained unchanged.

Looks like that won't work. This dream really is unusual... Lumian quelled his disappointment, opened the bedroom door, and stepped into the corridor.

There were no lights here. It was dim and gloomy.

Lumian opened the doors to Aurora's bedroom and the study in turn. Their furnishings differed slightly from reality but were largely the same. The biggest difference was that Aurora was absent from both scenes, which seemed frozen in gray.

The first floor was the same.

Lumian began searching for a weapon to defend himself. With his familiarity with the house, he quickly found two options.

The first was a fork nearly two meters long with a steel head. In Aurora's words, as long as the target had no ranged weapon, it was guaranteed to be useful and highly effective.

The second was a fairly sharp, iron-black hatchet.

An adult's answer is to take them all... For some reason, Lumian remembered something Aurora often said, but in the end, he did not do so.

Today, he was only making a preliminary exploration. He needed concealment and caution, something close to stealth.

Carrying such a long weapon would certainly hinder his movements and make him easy to spot.

Lumian slowly exhaled, bent down, and picked up the hatchet.

Then he straightened and walked toward the entrance, step by step through the faint gray fog.

Without a sound, he pulled open the front door.