Chapter 57: Identification

Bronya took a deep breath, the turmoil in her heart roiling like a storm-tossed sea.

The revelations about her own background, the gnawing doubts about her mother’s orders, and the startling accusations about the future of all Belobog—they all crashed against one another.

She looked from Dan Heng to Seele, who was so agitated he seemed ready to vibrate out of his skin, and finally to Oleg, who had just calmly offered a path forward.

“Svarog…” she repeated in a low voice, closing her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, the uncertainty within them had been forged into something new.

“If…

if it is truly as you say,” she began, her voice steady.

“The Eternal Freeze, the Rift, the depletion of Geomarrow…

if the source of all this suffering is truly this Stellaron…”

She paused, the weight of the words settling upon her.

“Then, resolving this is no longer a mere investigation for you outsiders.”

Her gaze hardened.

“It is a disaster that Belobog…

that all of us, must face and end.”

Each word was spoken with clarity and force.

“I, Bronya Rand, as the acting Supreme Guardian and commander of the Silvermane Guards…

as a protector of this city, cannot stand idly by.”

She took a single, decisive step forward.

“I will go with you.”

The declaration left everyone in the tavern momentarily stunned.

Seele’s lips parted, the retort, ‘Who needs you?’ forming on his tongue.

But Aunt Oleg’s hand on his shoulder pressed down just enough, and he swallowed the words.

Aunt Oleg looked at Bronya and gave a slow, appraising nod.

“Very well.

With the commander personally accompanying you, it will at least save a great deal of unnecessary trouble.

Svarog’s domain…

is not a place one can simply barge into.”

“Whoa, really?

That’s awesome!”

Hearing that Bronya was coming along, March 7th’s eyes immediately lit up.

He shoved all his previous tension to the back of his mind and excitedly tugged at the sleeve of the Bronya standing next to him—Caelus in disguise.

“Bronya!

I didn’t expect us to find a lead so soon!

C’mon, let’s go find that Svarog guy!

The sooner the better, right?”

“What’s the rush?” Aunt Oleg interjected, her tone unhurried.

“Svarog is right where he always is; he isn’t going anywhere.”

Her gaze swept over Dan Heng, March 7th, and Caelus, finally pausing on the real Bronya’s somewhat frail figure.

“You’ve just come down from the Overworld and been through quite an ordeal.

Look at all of you—especially this young lady.

Your complexion suggests you can’t handle much more strain.”

She gave them a knowing look.

“Don’t you understand?

A proper rest now will make the work ahead that much easier.”

“But…” March 7th started to argue, but then he glanced around.

The light in the tavern remained dim, the few old Geomarrow lamps on the walls casting a constant, unwavering glow.

Outside the window, the alleys were pitch-black, utterly unchanged.

“But…

it’s not that late, is it?” he asked, scratching his head.

He was completely unaccustomed to the Underworld’s lack of a day-night cycle.

“Outside…

nothing seems to have changed at all.”

Caelus, who had been standing quietly to the side, also tilted his head and peered out the window at the eternal darkness.

“Does it…

never get dark here?”

A trace of weary helplessness, born from long habit, crossed Aunt Oleg’s face.

“Silly child.

We’re hundreds of meters underground.

Where would we see a sun or moon?

How could it get dark?”

She tapped her temple.

“We rely on this, and the feeling in our bones.”

“The Geomarrow-powered lights adjust their brightness on a fixed schedule to simulate day and night, but experience is what truly matters.

That…

and the clocks that have grown inside our bodies after enduring all these years.”

“At this hour,” she continued, “it’s just when most of the night-shift miners are preparing to clock out, and the day-shift crews haven’t fully woken up yet.

It’s one of the quietest times of the day.

It’s time to rest.”

Bronya listened in silence.

As a ruler from the Overworld, the “experience” and “internal clocks” Oleg spoke of were concepts she had never truly known.

It added a layer of concrete, lived-in reality to the heavy weight of suffering she had witnessed, making it feel all the more visceral.

“Auntie is right,” Seele spoke up, his voice calmer than before.

“The journey to the Mechanical Settlement isn’t a short one.

We’ll have to pass through some complex terrain at the edge of the mining areas and handle old tunnels.

Traveling at night is too risky.

You all need to get some proper rest.”

Aunt Oleg nodded and turned to Seele.

“Take them to the Goethe Hotel.

He should still have a few clean guest rooms.

Just tell him I sent you.

The price will be the old rate.”

As she spoke, she looked back at Dan Heng and the others.

“You’ll stay there tonight.

Get a good night’s sleep.”

“Thank you for the arrangements,” Dan Heng said, thanking her on behalf of the team.

Seele said no more, simply gesturing for everyone to follow before turning and walking out of the tavern.

March 7th, his initial excitement having cooled slightly, began whispering with Caelus, speculating on what a robot named Svarog might look like.

Dan Heng maintained a step’s distance from Seele, his eyes scanning their surroundings as he silently memorized the route.

The Geomarrow lamps in the alley flickered, casting long, dancing shadows.

Bronya followed at the very end of the line, her gaze falling uncontrollably on the back of the other Bronya walking just ahead.

The wind gently lifted the girl’s gray hair, revealing a profile that was identical to her own.

Even the small, barely noticeable mole near her ear was in the exact same position.

She wanted to speak several times, but the words died on her lips.

What could she even ask?

‘Do you really have amnesia?’ ‘Who do you think I am to you?’ The questions were both abrupt and meaningless; they would only startle her.

Her mind, grasping for an answer, snagged on the memory of a dusty medical text she had once read.

The pages had described an instrument that could confirm blood relations through gene sequence comparison.

At the time, she had dismissed it as dry, theoretical knowledge.

But now, it was like a beam of light cutting through the fog in her heart.

‘If…

if I could find such an instrument, would all these questions finally be answered?’

Who was she, really?

Was she related to her by blood?

Did those blurry, fragmented childhood memories have something to do with her?

But the Underworld was so impoverished, so dilapidated, that even basic food and clothing were a struggle.

Would they possess such sophisticated medical equipment?

Bronya’s brow furrowed slightly.

Then, she remembered the doctor she had met earlier—Natasha.

The healer who ran a clinic in the Underworld, dedicated to saving lives.

‘Since she can maintain a clinic, perhaps she has access to related medical resources?’

Even if there wasn’t a ready-made instrument, with Natasha’s knowledge…

maybe she would know where to find one.

Or perhaps there was an alternative method of testing.

Once the thought took root, it spread like wildfire.

She watched as the other Bronya occasionally turned back to laugh and chat with March 7th.

Seeing the pure, untroubled blankness in the depths of her eyes, the urgency in Bronya’s own heart grew sharper.

“Seele,” Bronya called out, stopping in her tracks.

He looked back at her, his brow furrowing out of habit.

“You take them to the hotel and get them settled in first.

I…

I still have some matters to attend to.”

But as Seele took in the rare, troubled look on her face—the complex expression of some newfound determination—the question on the tip of his tongue was swallowed back.

He just gave a cold, clipped “Mm,” in acknowledgment.

He then led Dan Heng and the others further ahead.

Bronya watched as the other Bronya’s figure turned into another alley with the group.

Only when she was completely out of sight did she take a deep breath of the dust-laden air of the Underworld.

She turned around and began walking quickly back the way she came.

She was going to Natasha’s clinic.

She had to ask.

[Elysian’s Note:

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