LMRF 06

Episode 06

Ruins

Deep night.

Having tucked the Wand card into the clothes hanging over the chair back, Lumian lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
How much time passed? In a hazy, blurry state, he seemed to face that gray mist once more.
And at that moment, Lumian shivered violently and awoke within the dream.
He could feel his consciousness returning clearly, his rationality being restored.
The dream thick with gray mist was still ongoing.

Unconsciously looking around, Lumian could see the familiar desk, chair, bookshelf, wardrobe, and bed.
This was his bedroom. Only, it was shrouded in a pale gray mist.
A lucid dream? Am I having a lucid dream?
Lumian’s pupils dilated instantly.

A lucid dream was one in which one maintained clear thinking and memory. Experiencing lucid dreams was extremely rare; one usually needed special training to have a higher chance of achieving them.
Previously, to uncover the secret of Lumian’s gray mist dreams and eliminate their potential danger, Aurore had employed various methods to induce lucid dreaming. But she had never succeeded.
Yet now, for some reason, Lumian had suddenly regained consciousness within the dream.

After the brief shock subsided and his rationality returned, Lumian thought of one possibility.
Is it because of the Wand 7 card?
That woman said it. That the card might help uncover the secret of my dreams.
So its role is to allow me to directly explore this gray-mist-shrouded area through lucid dreaming?
Compared to the impressions I had before, the gray mist now seems much thinner…

Quickly thinking, Lumian twisted his body, approached the chair placed diagonally, placed both hands on the desk against the wall, and leaned his head out the window to look.
What entered his vision was not a familiar scene.
This dream did not reflect the Cordu village where he lived.

Beneath the thin, sparse pale gray mist, the most eye-catching feature was a towering mountain peak. Composed solely of bronze-colored rock and reddish-brown mud, that mountain peak stretched 20 to 30 meters high toward the sky.
Surrounding that mountain peak, buildings stood as if encircling it. However, they were collapsed or charred black, making their original forms unrecognizable.
From Lumian’s position, they looked like a ring of destroyed, not-so-straight imperial tombs arranged in a ring.
Meanwhile, everywhere there were sunken pits and stone fragments, with not even a single blade of weed to be seen.
The mist circling high in the sky was thick and white, preventing Lumian from even knowing if the sun was up there. Strangely dim, this place seemed like a night where only starlight existed.

Seriously observing his surroundings, Lumian muttered softly,

“Is this the dream’s landscape?”

Was this the true form of the dream that had tormented him for so long?

Losing himself briefly, Lumian began to consider a more practical problem.
Where is the dream’s secret hidden?
That mountain peak? Or one of the collapsed buildings?

Instead of immediately leaving the bedroom to enter that area and explore the dream, Lumian stayed put, carefully examining every corner he could confirm from his current position.
Just then, he detected a figure flashing past within the ruins of the buildings encircling the mountain peak.
His room was only on the second floor, so the elevation wasn’t sufficient. Moreover, although the gray mist was thin, it still asserted a presence not easily ignored. For a while, Lumian couldn’t be sure if what he saw was an illusion or not.

A moment later, he slowly let out a sigh and muttered to himself,
Don’t act rashly, be patient. Don’t act rashly, be patient. Looks like this dream really hides quite a few secrets. Blindly exploring a dream that doesn’t even seem fully mine would be prone to danger. Right, I’ll go find that woman tomorrow morning. See if the situation allows for more detailed questions, then decide what to do.

With these thoughts, Lumian withdrew his gaze and prepared to leave this dream and fall asleep peacefully.
But in his awakened state, he didn’t know how to truly awaken from this dream.
Several attempts at self-suggestion all failed. Lumian tried to mimic the state when he lay on the bed, blurring his consciousness to fall asleep.

How much time passed? Without realizing it, Lumian abruptly sat up and could see pale golden sunlight filtering through the curtains into the room.
Finally awake…
So, if you fall asleep within the dream, you can return to a hazy, blurry state. That’s the way to escape the lucid dream.

Lumian sighed in relief and muttered to himself.

Just then, knock knock knock, a sound of knocking on the door.

“Aurore?”

Lumian’s heart sank with worry about a bad turn of events.

“It’s me.”

Aurore’s voice drifted into the room. Lumian got off the bed, quickly approached the door, and pulled the handle.
Aurore stood outside. Wearing a white silk nightgown, her long blonde hair was draped down her back.

“How was it?”

She seemed almost certain Lumian had just woken up.
Lumian told her what had happened without hiding anything from Aurore.
Aurore nodded as if lost in thought.

“So that card has the effect of allowing you to have lucid dreams…”

Then she asked,

“What do you plan to do next?”

Lumian answered with an “Hmm.”

“First, eat something, then go find that woman. To see if I can get more information, figure out her true intentions.”
“Alright.”

Aurore did not object and added,

“I’ll also write letters to inquire about the dream you described. See what they might mean.”

Seeing Lumian’s suddenly tense expression, she smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make some things up appropriately and won’t reveal everything at once. I’m the one who taught you to proceed step by step, remember? Hmm, when talking to that woman, don’t force things, maintain a friendly demeanor. Not because I’m afraid of her, but because making one more friend is better than making one more enemy.”
“Understood.”

Lumian replied solemnly.

✧ ✧ ✧

Cordu Village, the old tavern.

Approaching the bar table, Lumian said to Maurice Bene, the tavern owner and bartender,

“Which room upstairs is that outsider woman staying in?”

The second floor of the old tavern, which also served as the village’s only inn, had six rooms.
Not particularly fat nor brawny, Maurice Bene had black hair and dark blue eyes like most villagers. His most distinctive feature was his nose, perpetually red from drinking.
He was also a relative of the parish priest, Guillaume Bene, though not a close one.

“Why do you ask?”

Maurice Bene asked back in a curious voice.

“Do you think a woman like that, from the big city, would fancy a country bumpkin like you?”

His face wore an expression of wanting to get to the bottom of it. He seemed to have a strong interest in irregular relationships between men and women.

“Uncle, you’re a country bumpkin bachelor too, aren’t you?”

Lumian snorted, then gave a fabricated reason.

“I found something she lost yesterday, this morning. I want to return it to her.”
“Is that so?”

Maurice Bene looked at Lumian with a disbelieving face.
With this kid, eight out of ten things he says are lies.

“Otherwise? Do you think she’d even look at me?”

Lumian pushed boldly.

“True.”

Maurice Bene was ultimately persuaded.

“She’s staying in the room near the square. The one opposite the bathroom.”

Seeing Lumian off with his eyes as he ascended the stairs, the tavern owner wiped a glass and muttered softly,

“Not entirely impossible. People do get curious to try new flavors sometimes…”

His muttering just reached Lumian’s ears.

✧ ✧ ✧

Tavern second floor. Having located the only bathroom in the dim hallway, Lumian looked at the maroon wooden door opposite it. A sign made of white paper hung on the brass doorknob.
Written on the sign in Intisian was:

「Resting. Do Not Disturb.」

Lumian lowered his head, stared at it for a few seconds, then instead of knocking directly, took two steps back and leaned against the wall.
He intended to wait here until the woman came out.
His years living as a vagrant had taught him the truth: when an opportunity appeared, he must boldly attempt it and try his utmost to seize it. He couldn’t hesitate, argue, worry about face, or be afraid, or the opportunity would fly away, and he would fall into a cycle more miserable and terrible than now. And when an opportunity hadn’t appeared, he had to be patient, endure, bear all inconveniences, and wait.

Time flowed by, but Lumian standing before the room was not the least bit anxious.
If any onlooker had been here, and if Lumian hadn’t occasionally moved his limbs, they might have mistaken him for a statue.

Soon, the maroon room door creaked open.
The woman, having changed into a dress with a pale green base and white trim, had her brown hair roughly tied up at the back.
She swept her pale blue eyes over Lumian for about a second, glanced at the paper sign on the doorknob, then asked with a smile,

“How long have you been waiting?”

She didn’t seem the least bit surprised by Lumian standing there.

Lumian took a step forward and said,

“That’s not important.”

He tried hard to maintain a gentle tone and calm demeanor.

“You have something to ask, I suppose?”

The woman’s question was rather direct.

“Here?”

Lumian glanced left and right.
The woman smiled.

“If it’s fine with you, it’s fine with me.”

Lumian had already confirmed that Raine’s group, originally staying here, were now absent. Aside from him and the woman before him, there was no one else on the tavern’s second floor.
He organized his thoughts, then spoke.

“What secret is hidden in that dream?”

The woman chuckled softly.

“The answer to that question should come from you, not me.”

After a brief pause, she continued,

“What I can tell you is that you can acquire some transcendent power there.”

Transcendent power?
Lumian’s heart stirred momentarily, but suspicion quickly followed.

“What’s the point of gaining transcendent power in a dream? It can’t affect reality.”

The woman laughed.

“In the transcendent realm, all things are possible. Perhaps it could affect reality?”

The transcendent power I’ve longed for so much appears in my life this way?

Lumian fell silent.

The woman withdrew her smile, her expression turning serious as she added,

“Let me tell you one thing. That place is full of danger. If you die there, you die completely.”

If something unexpected happens while exploring that dream, do I also die in reality?

Lumian couldn’t comprehend the statement but chose to believe it. This was partly because he now knew the gray mist dream that had tormented him for years was relatively special, and partly because he had received advice from his sister Aurore to be cautious. It was better to consider a problem more seriously and contemplate the worst-case scenario than to take it lightly or ignore it.

A few seconds later, he asked,

“If I don’t explore, what result will occur?”
“Theoretically, no result will appear. No one is forcing you to do anything.”

The woman thought for a moment and said,

“But I don’t know what changes might occur to it over time. If changes do appear, the possibility of the situation worsening is far greater than the possibility of it improving.”
“How much?”

Lumian pressed.

“90% to 10%?”
“No, 99.99% to 0.01%.”

The woman added solemnly.

“Of course, this is just my personal judgment. You don’t have to believe it.”

Lumian was instantly conflicted. Thoughts tangled one after another in his mind.
My feeling that the dream harbors danger has grown stronger lately. Leaving such a dream alone is the worst decision.
But exploring it while knowing nothing carries a high risk of unexpected problems.
Wait until Aurore gets some information from her pen pals before trying again?
In that case, Aurore would definitely not agree to me using the dream exploration opportunity to gain transcendent power.
The reason I wanted to investigate the rumors was also to gain transcendent power.
It’s too dangerous. I might really die.
Or perhaps, don’t plunge in recklessly, just conduct a preliminary investigation of the edges of the ruins appearing in the dream? Like gathering information.
Hmm, I can tell Aurore about the conversation with this woman just now. But I shouldn’t mention the possibility of gaining transcendent power.

Only after all thoughts settled did Lumian look at the woman opposite him and ask in a subdued voice,