The Bookkeeper-Chapter 66: Dream 2

Raiden stood motionless in the middle of a misty field. The dark, smoky miasma rose to his waist as spectral corpses emerged from the haze, their ghostly hands reaching to touch his body and drag him down. But he paid no mind.

His head tilted upward as he gazed westward. A full moon hung in the sky, its light mostly blocked by a towering mountain. Upon the mountain’s peak stood a smoky figure, becoming more spectral as the moonlight intensified, its gaze fixed on Raiden below.

He stood motionless for a while, head still tilted upward. But before long, he snapped from his daze and noticed the corpse beside him, its spectral hands clawing at his body, trying to drag him down. Fear crept in, and he leaped from his position as his heart began to pound.

He stood there with confusion washing over him, goosebumps surging through his body. He whipped around to face the mountain again—the figure was gone.

His mind began spiraling as he ruffled his dark hair repeatedly. He felt like he had been there before, but couldn’t remember when—and that gap in his memory started to drive him nuts. Though he had dreamt about this place before, it remained just a distant, elusive memory.

He couldn’t dwell on his thoughts for long before the corpses began to reappear beneath him. Without sparing a single thought, he broke into a run. Even though he would have preferred to kill them, his body moved on its own.

He sprinted toward the distance, but with each step, the smoky atmosphere grew thicker around him. It was as if the earth itself was made of darkness. Before he knew it, he was swallowed by the darkness, his movements growing sluggish as he lost all sense of direction.

He paused, his heart racing as he bent over his knees to pant. Suddenly, the corpses burst from the ground, seizing him as his eyes widened in shock and dragging him down into the darkness below.

He jolted upright, breathing heavily, his entire body soaked in sweat as if he had run a marathon. He clutched his head in agony while his eyes darted around in confusion. It had been a dream; a nightmare, perhaps.

He turned to his left to see Ash sleeping beside him, her face serene with a gentle smile as tendrils of smoke curled from her nostrils and darkened the sheets.

The sight sent a sharp pain shooting through Raiden’s head. "What is this unusual feeling?" he thought, suddenly overwhelmed by the need to take a shower.

He headed for the shower, but paused again, eyes scanning the ceiling. No memory. Just that eerie pressure in his chest like he was being watched.

Despite having this encounter twice, he seemed to have forgotten everything by the time he woke up, just like the previous time. This made him uneasy because the feeling was like déjà vu to him, yet aside from the residual sensation, he couldn’t grasp anything else.

Still, after pondering for a while, he shrugged it off. He stepped out of the shower and prepared to head downstairs.

The moment he stepped out of his room, ready to go, he bumped into Levi. "I was coming for you."

Raiden gave him a lazy look as he ruffled his hair.

"Aeris is on the call..." Levi said, indicating his callsign ring.

Raiden raised an eyebrow and walked past him, heading toward the living room. "What’s she saying?"

"You heard him. You can talk now, Aeris," Levi said, following Raiden.

Aeris cleared her throat, and her voice echoed through the distance so clearly that even Raiden, who was some distance away, could hear her.

"When I got to the hideout, everything seemed calm and ordinary. There were only a few drunkards—they didn’t look like assassins to me."

"Did you check their crests?" Levi asked, watching him take a seat on the couch, his mind slightly occupied by those bizarre dreams he couldn’t recall.

"Yes, they were all yellow crest bearers."

Raiden turned toward Levi. "That was your hideout, wasn’t it?"

"Yes, it was," Levi responded.

Aeris cleared her throat, but Raiden barely reacted.

"Can I speak, please?" Aeris said, irritation clear in her voice.

Raiden’s fingers tapped against the sofa rhythmically—something he hadn’t seen himself do in a long time

"I’m listening," he said, but Levi caught the twitch in his brow.

"I knew I couldn’t just return with that information—you wouldn’t be satisfied."

Raiden smirked. He hadn’t expected such a traitor like her to be this thoughtful.

"I did my research and found out that most of the strongest people had been transported to Nyx City, leaving the weaklings behind. So I’m in Nyx City now."

Raiden’s expression darkened. However, did Aeris always manage to make such reckless moves? Thinking about it, he realized that Aeris had never been qualified to be his tutor.

She lacked experience in her own field, wasn’t physically strong, and didn’t even have any real education, unlike him and Leo.

Yet somehow, she had worked her way into the palace ranks and become his tutor. But this wasn’t the time to dwell on such matters. Why were the assassins leaving Persia City?

"I just returned from their hideout, and I’m back at my inn now." She let out a sigh. "The assassins are preparing for an all-out war with the kingdom of Aurelia."

Raiden blinked. Something in those words hit him like he’d heard them before. Maybe not the words — but the feeling. That sinking sense of being dragged under.

Like a nightmare he’d already forgotten.

"All-out war?"Levi beat Raiden to the question.

"Yes. King Hannes has secretly dispatched knights along with a few Stars to the kingdom, so I think you’re next in line once they claim the Book of Silence."

Raiden smiled as he wondered how exactly Aeris had come to know about King Hannes’ movements if they were arranged in secret. But he needed to focus on the predicament at hand rather than dwell on a traitor’s incredible feat.

"Okay... I want you to keep spying on them and let us know when they send someone after us." He let out a sigh.

"Also, I want you to get me information about their strongest assassins so I know how to prepare for them."

"Okay," Aeris said and hung up.

Raiden turned to Levi, who was settling into his seat. "Is the bookkeeper of Aurelia so strong that the assassins need an all-out war?"

Levi settled back onto the sofa as he began playing with the ring on his finger. "Yes, I guess."

He looked up at Raiden. "Freya has seen her firsthand, so she might be able to give you a better answer. But when I was with the assassins, our leader was a number six, and he wasn’t even a threat to the Bookkeeper."

He smirked. "They never even considered calling him for help."

Raiden leaned back into his seat, tilting his head upward. Who wanted the books? And why? These were questions he had answers to, but he couldn’t help wondering how valuable the books must be for someone to launch an all-out war against an entire kingdom.

"I heard the gold crest bearers have an organization, so why don’t they step up in times like this and help get rid of the threat?"

Levi giggled. "Those people believe they are literal gods. As a matter of fact, there are people who could literally snap and end all this chaos, but they fight for no nation."

He shrugged. "I think some of them don’t believe in the Devourer, and some probably think they could kill him if they wanted to."

Raiden’s eyes continued to dart toward the ceiling. "Too arrogant to care, huh?"

He let out a sigh. "We must prepare ourselves, then. Perhaps this whole thing is just a cover-up to make us drop our guard so they can attack us."

The dream was gone, but something lingered. Something was wrong.

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