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Prologue – Part 01

The underground archive reeked of an indescribable stench.

Jewel steel, suspended from the ceiling in several places, barely illuminated the room. The stone walls and floor trapped cold air, and with early winter’s chill settling in, the cold seeped into their bones.

Bookshelves were packed as tightly as possible, maximizing the space, leaving just enough room for a single person to pass between them. Each shelf was crammed to the limit with stacks of papers.

Most of these bundles consisted of parchment, papyrus, and other hard-to-identify materials. Despite the preservative properties of the jewel steel embedded in the room, the original materials—sheepskin and plant stalk fibers—had aged, mixing their scents with the ink and producing a pervasive, unpleasant odor.

“The Valbanill War plunged the continent into chaos,” the bespectacled young man said. “And the Prayer Pact discovered by the first Housman greatly contributed to breaking free from that nightmare.”

The tightly packed shelves lacked