How to Live as a Martial Arts Writer in a Fantasy World

9 – 09. Look forward to more good novels.

09.

There are some peculiar features in the noble system of the Tiranto Empire.

Nobles endowed with a middle name are so-called “Purebloods,” referring to those born as nobility. Those without a middle name are classified as lower nobles, serving at the disposal of the so-called upper nobility.

It was the same for Stella von Evans, of the lower nobility Evans family.

She started as a knight-servant, following a formally sworn knight, then became an apprentice knight. Once a certain level of martial prowess was acquired, they receive knighthood formally and become a lower noble.

The Evans family also rose from commoners to lower nobility this way.

Stella was the most skilled swordsman in the Evans family and was a leader who passed the test to become a knight serving the princess.

Naturally, she could show nothing but a drastic reaction.

Because if anything happened to the princess, the blame would naturally fall on the Evans family.

“Allen Edgar von Muller! What on earth are you doing to the princess..!!”

That’s why Stella had to show strong resistance, even if the opponent is the son of the Muller Duke, classified as the top-ranked noble among the nobility.

At Stella’s remark, Felicia’s gaze was directed at her.

“Stella?”

“Princess! What happened to you…!”

“No way.”

As soon as Stella moved her blocking arm, Allen quickly slipped out of the place. It was a terrifyingly swift exit, giving Stella no chance to follow.

Her eyes wide open in disbelief, Stella stared dumbly at the spot where he had disappeared.

“Princess, what is the situation…”

“I was trying to stop him from doing that. Tsk, what a shame.”

“Princess…?”

At Stella’s call, Felicia responded while straightening her slightly crumpled clothes.

“I was just having a chat about the past with Allen.”

“I don’t understand what’s good about a weak man who has discarded his sword and chosen a pen.”

At Stella’s words, Felicia smiled sweetly.

“There’s no specific reason why someone likes someone else, Stella.”

“… I misspoke. I apologize.”

“Oh dear, Stella. You may have many virtues, but your rigid personality is a problem. What’s our next class?”

“The basic magic course of the Magic Department is…”

“On.”

“Phew…”

Allen, sprawled out on the bench under the deep tree shadow, took a deep sigh.

“I really feel like I’ve chosen wrongly.”

How did it end up like this?

‘No wonder the protagonists in authorial works hide their names.’

The problem is that Allen himself can’t do it because of a promise with his father, Duke Muller.

The first period went by without much argument, maybe because Professor Quiros, who taught it, highly valued Schuren’s theorem. But, it was uncertain how the next class would be.

“…I should go to the library.”

Since he entered the academy, it was a matter of course to build up new knowledge.

More importantly, a fantasy world that is different from the world where Allen lived.

Definitely the knowledge that one should learn is different. Magic and magic engineering, and the common sense of the world where magic and aura coexist, are somewhat divergent from the common sense of the Earth that Allen remembers.

The most important thing is that information about Kun-Ryung is needed.

“Nice wind.”

Students with free second period schedules caught his eye here and there, but no one approached Allen, who was alone.

Unevenly dark blue-black hair and dark blue eyes for an imperial.

According to what he heard, Allen’s mother was of Kun-Ryung mixed blood as well, and so there were many objections when she married his father.

‘Come to think of it, my Mom was an Eastern noblewoman.’

The eastern part of the empire borders with Kun-Ryung’s territory, so it receives a significant influence from there, and it’s known as the most exotic place in the empire.

It seems to be famedfor offering a unique scenery and is popular as a tourist destination.

The field trip of Bertha Imperial Academy tends to go to the Eastern part of the empire, as it’s almost like a rule.

With his hand in his pocket, Allen walked towards the library, splitting the wind.

“Huge, isn’t it?”

Allen had only heard about it, but he found the scale to be excessively vast.

Higher than his height, tens, hundreds of bookshelves lined up, and even the ceiling, decorated in a mosque style, was filled with books.

Allen was struck by a strange question.

“But how don’t those books fall down…?”

Assuming that some kind of invisible magic was preventing books from falling out of the shelves, Allen moved further into the library.

Perhaps due to it being early in the morning, there were few people in the library.

At most, there was a librarian adorned with glasses and a shawl on her shoulders.

‘Just one person?’

Despite the library’s vast size, the fact that there was only one librarian was noteworthy.

Moreover, this librarian was wearing an academy uniform.

‘That badge… is she in the same grade as me?’

She noticed the Roman numeral I hung on the shawl covering the librarian’s shoulder.

The same type as the badge on the left chest of the uniform Allan was wearing. In other words, this librarian was one of Allan’s classmates.

Allan, who had turned his gaze away from the modest-looking glasses-wearing girl who was nodding off at her desk, presumably due to the warm weather, walked between the clearly divided bookshelves.

Books that were so immense in quantity they seemed to make your head spin filled the area, threatening to engulf him.

“Incredible. I’d heard the academy’s library was large, but…”

He had asked his brother Albert about it. If the academy had a library.

The answer Albert gave Allan was, ‘There is a library, of a scale larger than what you would expect.’

He’d thought it was a joke at the time, but it clearly wasn’t.

Passing by the bookshelves, Allan glanced at the types of books.

‘Introduction to Magic, Herbalism Atlas, Swordsmanship Textbook, Records of Customs Throughout the Empire… I would believe it if they said it was a document archive rather than a library.’

And usually, such large-scale libraries have prohibited areas or lists of forbidden books.

However, he didn’t particularly want to touch those, so Allan began searching for books about Kunlun, which was his original purpose for visiting the library.

‘Imperial Eastern Culture Report’, ‘Study of Kunlun’s Culture’, ‘Ecology of Kunlun’… there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly substantial.”

He had assumed that the academy would at least have a good number of books about Kunlun, but there were not many worthwhile ones. The best he was able to scrape together were these three.

Allan took the three books and headed towards the entrance.

“Excuse me… “

“Hmm… “

Despite Allan’s approach, the glasses-wearing girl who had been dead to the world sleeping does not wake up from her deep slumber until Allan raises his voice.

Ears that resembled daggers peeked out from between strands of haphazardly woven green locks of hair.

These were elf ears, the kind he’d only read about in novels, but they were notably short.

‘A half-elf? Or rather, a quarter?’

Their size was larger than a normal human’s but shorter than a pure-blood elf’s. Therefore, they seemed more likely to belong to a half-elf.

Reading lots of books does prove helpful at times like these.

The half-elf girl with grass-like hair hurriedly reorganized herself.

“Wh-who, who, who are you…?”

“I’m here to borrow a book.”

“Ah…! I’ll pull it up for you right away. Your student ID is…”

Alan took his student ID from his pocket and pushed it forward to her.

“Checked. Are you Alan Edgar von Mueller…?”

Reading the name written on the student ID, the elf girl slightly lifted her head up and looked at Alan.

“Is it…really?”

Visibly surprised, the elf girl’s eyes widened as she scrutinized Alan’s face and student ID back and forth several times.

With a start, the elf girl rose from her chair like she was kicking the desk, her green pupils sparkling brightly.

“Alan Edgar von Mueller! The author of The Shuren Chronicle! I heard you were enrolling this year!”

“Ah, yes….”

“Nice to meet you!! I am Diabella Bellstara!”

Considering her sudden enthusiasm, he got an impression that she is the type who doesn’t show interest unless it’s something she finds intriguing.

While Alan himself was of the same kind, the gap in Diabella’s level of enthusiasm was quite dramatic.

“I am Alan Edgar von Mueller…”

“I enjoyed your book so much! I was amazed by how someone our age could write like that…! “

Alan gave an awkward smile as she grasped his hand, shaking it fervently.

Only one volume is out so far.

Seeing such a reaction like this, made him happy yet terrified to write the next volume. Because excessive anticipation can sometimes be more poisonous than it is stimulating for a writer.

Still, he didn’t feel too bad.

If you can’t avoid it, you should enjoy it.

“How were you able to write like that…! The intense thirst for revenge of the protagonist, and the good intentions of Shana who sacrificed herself for him, it was all very impressive. The sharp contrast of revenge, a dark human emotion, and good intent on the other side!”

“It’s not that spectacular…”

“It’s spectacular! You’re not even an adult, are you? There are rumors that you’re a once-in-a-generation genius.”

Diabella laughed and looked down.

Her eyes fell on three books piled neatly.

“Oh. You said you came to borrow a book, didn’t you? I’m sorry for taking up your time.”

“It’s alright.”

“You don’t seem to have many calluses on your hands. It seems like you haven’t been writing for long.”

Diabella seemed to have noticed something strange from just holding Alan’s hand.

Alan wasn’t particularly flustered.

“I only started writing not long ago.”

“Then you must be a real genius! If you only started writing recently!”

“I don’t think I’ve quite reached that point.”

He’s certainly not a genius.

His book is merely chock-full of fantasy transformations of non-existent concepts in martial arts novels. If something like a typewriter were invented later, there would be no hand calluses to worry about.

Diabera laughed brightly.

“Your book registration is now complete. We look forward to your great novels in the future, future bestseller!”

Alan accepted the book she handed him, unable to wipe off his awkward smile.

As he was turning away, Diabera spoke.

“Oh! Could you maybe give me an autograph?”