Lady of the Night

Lumian was also stunned by the carriage drawn by "devils" and the reaction of the undead. For a moment, he forgot to struggle, pushed by the invisible giant hand for another dozen seconds before finally coming to a halt. Even as the carriage drew further away, his eagle-sharp vision allowed him to clearly see the woman riding in it. Her long brown hair was gathered high in an elegant updo, and her brown eyes were beautiful and bright. Her pale eyebrows were somewhat sparse. Dressed in a fresh green gown, she wore a crown of woven flowers atop her head, exuding an air of nobility and majesty. *Madame Pualis!* Lumian's immediate thought was that the lady on the carriage was the administrator's wife, the parish padre's mistress. Yet taking a closer look, he felt a distinct difference between them. It was not just a vast gulf in bearing, but subtle differences in their features as well: The lady on the carriage possessed softer, more mature facial contours. If Lumian had to make a comparison, he would have called her an older sister of Madame Pualis by seven or eight years, born of the same parents. At that moment, the lady sat poised in the open carriage pulled by "devils." Flanked by countless undead and death knights, she sped toward the distant mountain forests, like someone conducting some wondrous procession. Aurore looked away, sprinting toward Lumian as she called out, "Take the chance to get out of here!" Snapping back to his senses, Lumian waited until his sister caught up, then broke into a wide stride, thudding toward the nearest edge of the wilderness. Before long, both of them felt a sensation like passing through an illusionary curtain or a thick sheet of water. The scenery before their eyes shifted in tandem. The wilderness dissolved like foam, replaced at once by clear river waters, fresh grass along both banks, and verdant trees. To Lumian and Aurore, the scene was intimately familiar—so familiar they needed no time to recognize it: They were back on the outskirts of Cordu Village! This was where Ava Lizzie often herded geese! *Back again...* Lumian felt neither disappointment nor surprise. Instead, he looked around with an attitude of *as expected*. Aurore caught her breath and said, "Whether Madame Pualis did this intentionally or made a blunder, we can't go back to the village now. "Let's keep heading for Dariège!" Lumian immediately suggested, "Then let's go to the nearest pasture. There's a treacherous trail there leading down the mountain. With our abilities, we definitely won't have any trouble." "All right." Aurore wheeled around and bolted forward. Having frequently borrowed Madame Pualis's pony to ride, she was no stranger to the highland pastures around Cordu Village. Seeing this, Lumian kept pace right alongside his sister. He felt both fortunate and terrified regarding their recent encounter. He had never imagined Madame Pualis would be so formidable, able to command the allegiance of so many undead, "devils," and death knights. Of course, that might not have been Madame Pualis. As they ran, Aurore's pace gradually slowed. Her breathing grew heavier, the rasp in her throat more pronounced. "What's wrong?" Lumian still had plenty of stamina. This was one of the enhancements brought by "Hunter." Aurore came to a dead stop, panting heavily. "Too exhausted... Casting those spells earlier drained a huge amount of my energy." Without hesitation, Lumian said, "Then I'll carry you. I'm not tired yet." With the situation dire and time running short, Aurore did not stand on ceremony. She nodded, walked behind the crouching Lumian, and leaned onto his back. Lumian first took off the brooch on his chest and returned it to his sister. Then he straightened up and dashed forward, his footsteps pounding the dirt. "Is that... a magical item?" he still had enough breath to ask. Aurore was taken aback, then let out a soft chuckle. "Seems you've learned quite a bit. "It is indeed a magical item. I call it the 'Brooch of Integrity.' It can generate sacred sunlight or help ignite materials to assist me in casting a secret art against spirit-type creatures. But wearing it too long induces a state of fanaticism, and while wearing it, you lose certain inclinations. You know, sometimes immoral methods work better in combat, and this brooch suppresses that." Aurore paused, then asked in a somber tone, "Where did you get your Beyonder characteristic?" Lumian answered between ragged breaths as he ran, "Didn't... that card of Wands... let me stay clear-headed... in my dream?" "What card of Wands?" Aurore looked thoroughly puzzled. *Right, that happened in the previous loop...* Lumian reorganized his explanation: "Back at the... Old Tavern... I met a mysterious lady. She gave me... a card of Wands. "Relying on that card, I became lucid in the dream... and entered a strange space. "There, I ran into some monsters... and obtained the 'Hunter' Beyonder characteristic." "'Hunter,' huh..." Aurore was very familiar with this common Intis sequence. Murmuring to herself, she suddenly chuckled softly, who knew what coming to her mind. *What is she laughing at...?* Lumian felt baffled. Aurore asked again, "Who gave you the potion formula? That mysterious lady?" "Yeah." Lumian nodded as he ran. Aurore sighed. "My silly little brother has his own secrets now... Well, I can't verify whether what you're saying is true or not right now, so let's just leave it at that." Not wanting to disappoint his sister, Lumian quickly changed the subject: "Back there on the carriage... was that person Madame Pualis?" "She both was and wasn't," Aurore replied in contradictory terms. After deliberating for a few seconds, she said, "Since you're already a Beyonder, I'll tell you straight out. My companions—er, those pen pals of mine—mentioned something similar before. "They said that in recent years, across southern Loen, southern Intis, and the Kingdom of Feynapotter, bizarre occurrences like this have happened multiple times. A lady riding a carriage drawn by devils—well, creatures suspected of being devils—patrolling the wilderness and mountains, trailed across the hills by hordes of undead. Some Beyonders possessing the corresponding secret arts even take the opportunity to let their spirits leave their bodies, following the carriage for a time. Apparently, it grants them a marvelous experience and a degree of mystical knowledge. "One of my companions obtained the notes of such a Beyonder. The journal mentioned that the lady was called the 'Lady of the Night.' From the experience of following the carriage's procession, the journal's owner acquired a method for concocting a secret medicine that could create an invisibility potion using the corpses of infants. "According to investigations, the ladies in these incidents varied across different regions, but the events all took place in the dead of night." Lumian was taken aback. "But right now... it's broad daylight." Could the anomaly in Cordu Village have caused a change? "That's why I can't be sure," Aurore said, reflecting on it. "Perhaps sending Naroka to the 'underworld' introduced a difference. Or perhaps that wilderness is the 'underworld' itself, where the 'Ladies of the Night' patrol by day and emerge into human society by night. Given how closely that lady resembled Pualis, I'm inclined toward the former guess." Lumian knew nothing about this area of mysticism, but his intuition told him his sister was right. He ran on in silence for a stretch before finally asking, unable to help himself, "Why did you... sacrifice yourself to save me? I'd rather... you were a bit more selfish." "I am very selfish," Aurore said with a smile. "At the time, I did consider ditching you to flee on my own, then avenging you after I grew stronger. But when I thought it through, I realized that even if I handed you the 'Brooch of Integrity' and taught you how to use it, you wouldn't be able to draw away the vast majority of the undead to buy me time to escape. Only I, as a 'Sorcerer,' could pull that off. "Given the choice between both of us dying or at least you making it out alive, do I really need to state the obvious?" *Making a choice like that is nowhere as easy as you make it sound now...* Lumian could accept it rationally, but emotionally he could not. He grumbled, "We'd have been better off... dying together." "If you died too, who would avenge me? Who would resurrect me? In the world of mysticism, anything is possible!" Aurore scolded her brother. "That's why I deliberately threw in some sappy lines at the end. Only then would you remember it forever and never forget to work toward bringing me back to life." *That makes sense...* Lumian gradually came around to his sister's reasoning. After running a while longer, the nearest highland pasture came into view, and Lumian, carrying Aurore, was clearly feeling the exhaustion. Instead of stopping to rest, he summoned his remaining strength and dashed in one continuous push onto the hillside covered with verdant pasture grass. Here stood several livestock pens and shacks. The former were enclosed by stones and branches, with floors of packed earth and flattened manure, featuring a long, narrow exit at one end that allowed only one sheep through at a time. The latter resembled primitive tents: First, a low ring of stone wall was laid, leaving openings for a door and a smoke vent. Then a row of wooden grates was erected against the low wall, their lower halves buried in the dirt and their tops supporting a wooden frame, upon which rested a roof of thatched mud. This was where the shepherds lived—a harsh and grueling environment. Lumian set Aurore down and guided her along to the other side of the slope. The treacherous trail lay hidden below. Looking down at the path, which required a seven- or eight-meter leap off the cliff to reach, Aurore said to Lumian, "Though you can climb down now, let's not waste time. I'll carry you down directly by flying." "All right." Lumian wanted to see what kind of change leaving Cordu Village would trigger. Aurore gripped Lumian's arm with one hand and scattered silver dust with the other. Both of them floated into the air at once, drifting slowly down toward the base of the cliff. Mid-air, a sharp pain struck Lumian's head, as if he had been struck hard by a hammer. Aurore suffered a similar reaction. Lumian's vision rapidly went dark, and everything seemed to shatter into pieces. ... With a sharp jolt, Lumian sat up, greeted by the familiar sight of the wooden desk, chairs, bookshelf, and wardrobe. *Back to the very beginning again...?* Deep in thought, he rolled out of bed and headed down to the ground floor. Unsurprisingly, he found Aurore in her light blue gown, preparing dinner. "Aurore, what's today's date?" Lumian probed. Aurore glared at him. "Call me sister! "Did you sleep yourself stupid? Today is the twenty-ninth."