It was a strange dream.
A scene painted in blood. A raven that plowed through the decaying land as it gnawed away at a hanging corpse with its beak. This place, where even sound died, was reminiscent of a scorched section of hell.
Meanwhile, a man was shedding tears.
The filth that flowed out of the corpse soiled his hands. Still, he didn’t stop. An ashen world where there was no sound and only the mushy touch resonated.
The twilight had already set; the world lost its glimmer, turning into a gray color. Then the man woke up. In a short period of time, less than a few minutes, he seemed to have aged several years.
He looked up at the grim sky impassively. After a while, he staggered towards me.
His face was impossible to recognise, as it was shrouded in impenetrable darkness. Only a spark of an emotion burning like a raging flame could be seen in his pupils.
Resentment, Rage, and Regret.
The man stood firm,
The moment he passed me by,
The first sound in the world was born.
“Delphirem.”
A feeble sound. But in my ears, who had been accustomed to the long silence, it was a voice that struck like a thunderbolt.
My gaze turned to the side, startled by the sudden noise. There they stood, blazing golden eyes.
He was talking with his teeth clenched.
It was around this time that I woke up gasping for breath.
My heart fluttered like a fish on a cutting board, my eyelids twitched open.
As I woke up heavily panting I started to become breathless, even the pillows were drenched in cold sweat. Waking up from a nightmare was always such an unpleasant sensation.
He took a deep breath and washed his dried-up face, and soon his labored breathing eased. It was a vivid dream. So it was even more unpleasant.
And ‘Delphirem’, yes. It was Delphirem.
I slowly recalled the contents of the nightmare as if as if I was deboning a fish, and after a while I let out a laugh.
It was a name that only appeared in orthodoxy’s myth of creation. The first traitor of mankind, the source of all sins. The ‘Lord of Demons’.
Was I scared by Professor Levi-Strauss’ mythology lecture?
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I smiled bitterly and quickly brushed off the aftershock of my dream. Then, while avoiding the damp sheets, I raised my torso.
A quiet and dark room that was neither big nor small. It had become a familiar landscape by now, as I had already been living there for three years. It was the dormitory where the nobles who entered the academy resided.
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If my family’s prestige had been greater, I could have used a spacious and luxurious room, but unfortunately, I was only the second son of a countryside Viscounty.
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In other words, just paying the expensive academy tuition was something that had to be taken seriously. I couldn’t afford to stay in a more expensive dormitory.
After sitting idly for a while, my head started to hurt. It was because I had too much to drink last night.
It felt like a heavy rock was pressing on my brain. An unpleasant thirst welled up, and I fumbled and looked at the table near my bed.
Light and heat returned to the room after a ticking sound. The mana lights installed in the dormitory weren’t expensive, but nonetheless, they were still able to illuminate my surroundings.
I paused for a moment to drink water by picking up the canteen placed on top of the table.
It was a strange sense of discomfort. Nothing had changed, but it still felt like something was different. As I tilted my head, I soon found the cause.
The calendar date was different. There should still be three more days left in the month of the Lute, but it showed that we were already in the month of the Bow. Looks like I was pretty drunk last night.
As I was about to reflect on the faint memories I had of last night, my movements stopped for a second time. As I was shaking my head, an unfamiliar object at the corner of my eye caught my attention.
It was a letter from an aristocrat who possessed both culture and knowledge, an elegant handwriting on a luxurious paper. So I had to fall into an even more sense of obscurity.
Did anyone write me a letter? Also, even if that were the case, I don’t remember receiving a letter.
My hand naturally picked up the letter. The words ‘Ian Percus’ written on the first line told me that the addressee of this missive wasn’t wrong.
Still, there was only one way to get to the bottom of this mystery…
Soon my eyes began to quickly read the neat handwriting.
—-
To my beloved Ian Percus,
I wonder, Is there anyone who doesn’t like spring?
I heard this in the capital city of Arancourt a while ago. You were a mature gentleman dressed in stylish clothes. Your eloquence and calm demeanour left an impression on me.
Now that I think about it, I suppose you must have used to work for an aristocratic family.
You said that you wandered aimlessly last winter, but your smile was as warm as the spring sunshine. It must have been because winter was over.
Every time we do, we think of what we’ve accomplished. To protect the world and to become heroes.
I thought it was a vain story from a fairy tale I read as a child, and sometimes I still think it’s all a dream that our names were engraved on the pages of that book.
It’s all thanks to you. No, it’s just as you said. It may be thanks to all of us.
I got used to life in Arancourt. I was worried about what would happen when I crossed the desert where sand was all one could see, but in the end, this place is also somewhere people live.
The sun is warm, and the sea glitters under its reflection. Did you hear the old saying, ‘If you look through the eyes of a fairy, you can see hidden treasures’? That was it.
And writing a letter to you has also become an important part of my day.
At first, I felt a little puzzled by your suggestion to send a letter at least once a month. Hey, it’s Ian, right? You, who always smiled without saying a word, still wanted to fight the solitude that arises within you when your loved one goes far away, so my heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.
But, as always, the excitement seemed to be only on my part. I send a letter every two days, but I get a reply once a week.
Of course, I know working at the archipelago can be rough. I am not a woman so callous as to not understand how heavy the burden you bear. Because I watched over you right by your side.
I saw your pain, sorrow, and even suffering.
As your fiancée, not being able to support my lover during such rough and harsh times was reprovable. And, I am still deeply reflecting on that.
However, protecting Arancourt, one of the three major trading ports of the Empire and a strategic point to protect the west coast of the continent, is also one of the duties of the nobles of the Empire.
Ian, you should know. The aftermath of the last war has not yet subsided.
Still, the reason I am always taking the time to write to you is that I want you to catch even a glimpse of my deep feelings for you.
I miss you especially tonight. Suddenly, the month of the bow has arrived, and the sky is now full of stars dancing all together……just like that night.
It was during the hunting festival held in the month of the bow that our relationship deepened. The memory of that day is still a dear treasure for me, who has always suffered from a sense of inferiority.
Come to think of it, that year’s hunting festival had a lot of accidents. It started when Emma of the Alchemy Faculty was found unconscious after being attacked by a mysterious beast when she went out to gather materials. I should have noticed then.
It was the same when a group of demonic beasts attacked me during the practical class of the Knight’s Division. What would have happened if we hadn’t acted quickly then? Yet nobody cared.
At first, we thought that the forest was the stage for the hunting festival, so we deliberately neglected the proliferation of beasts. It was an easy decision for a student. I heard that there was a riot in the Ministry of Education at the time.
No matter how much I think about it, I think it was Dean Delemore’s mistake to enforce that year’s hunting festival.
But from the bottom of my heart, I am grateful to the Dean. Since that day, our relationship grew even deeper.
Plus, it was the first time I ever won a hunting festival. I wondered what would happen when I encountered that demonic beast, but thanks to you, I was able to survive.
Even now, I still have doubts. How did you know that the demonic beast’s weakness was its horns?
Every time I ask a question, you just smile and say ‘I have my ways’. Even now, after 7 years it remains an unsolved mystery.
Even after defeating the beast, we were suddenly attacked, but we were the ones who somehow managed to loot the beast’s corpse. And now, I’m rather grateful for that day’s attack.
Because it was the first time I had a taste of victory. Even though I have benefited from you and your friends, the memory of that day remains as a turning point in my life.
Since that day I started to develop a deeper interest in you, so in many ways the events of that day became a precious time of my life. At that time, I didn’t even think I would ever be in love with you.
The moon is already setting. I’ll quickly finish. It was a fun night to look back on those precious memories with you.
The barren winter has passed, and a mournful spring has arrived. It’s been a long time since the last snow of winter has disappeared, but my heart, which is yearning for you, doesn’t melt even in the spring sun.
I look forward to seeing you again tonight, Ian.
No, Ian Orabeoni.
PS: Recently, I heard that a sow from the Church has visited the archipelago. I am not concerned, but I am hoping that even if she hovers around you, my Orabeoni will not betray the trust I have in you. For your information, I haven’t even eaten alone with a man since I took over at Arancourt.
Then I’ll dream of you tonight as well,
from Sepia.
The Year 571 of the Imperial Calendar, on the fifth day of the month of the Bow.
—-
After reading the letter for several minutes, I was silent for a moment.
It was a long letter. There were no expressions that went against vocabulary or etiquette, the handwriting was neat and it was clear that it was written with great care.
However, there was only one reaction that I could show after receiving a letter so full of affection.
“…What the fuck?”
As it was absurd, I chuckled and crumpled up the letter. It was just an unexplainable story from start to finish.
The ‘Hunting Event’? It was the biggest event of the academy, held during the month of the bow. However, this is an event held at the end of the month, and so far only the plans have been announced. How could you have known what happened during that day?
The name ‘Sepia’ was also strange. It seems to be referring to its namesake in the form of a ‘flower’, but unfortunately, there was no one around me with such a name or nickname.
Above all, the most puzzling thing about this letter is the date on its last line.
My eyes turned to the calendar on the table once again. The number depicting the year was written on the translucent background of the bow.
If so, this letter should have flown from the future 7 years later. That couldn’t be possibly true.
With that in mind, as I was about to dispose of the letter, suddenly there was a point that caught my eye and made my body stiffen.
It was an unread part on the back of the letter. There was a phrase scrawled in a different handwriting no matter who looked at it.
The words were filled with regret and resentment, so I had no choice but to stare blankly at the writing for a moment.
At first glance, a scene from my nightmare flashed by: the person who stared at me with blazing golden eyes.
But it was only for a moment. I soon regained consciousness and finished reading the letter, then threw it into the wastebasket a little away from the bed.
With a click, the paper ball that had once been a letter went into the trash.
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Seeing this, I gulped down the remaining water in the canteen and went to bed again. Unaware that from the moment I received that letter, my life had already been irrevocably changed.
Translator’s note:
Orabeoni:
In the 15th Century Korea was most likely the usual way of denoting or addressing a girl’s or woman’s older brother. Even now, ‘Orabeoni’ is still the formal, endearing way of addressing to an older brother by his younger sisters. Women also use this to address slightly older man whom they admire endearingly.
Oppa:
The literal translation of ‘Oppa’ is older brother, but in modern Korea many women use this to address their boyfriend or in general any slightly older man than them who they’re close to.
We could have localized it but we decided against it and stick to author’s original frame of writing as much as possible. Cause I don’t know about you guys, but imo calling your fiancée ‘Older Brother’ will be a bit a weird. So yea Orabeoni and Oppa it is then, since it’s synonymously used to address lovers.
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