WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ How to Become a Star Writer ◈
Episode 4: Don't Be Consumed by the Setting (3)
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What? Could a guard captain's salary really pay for a house like this?
“Father... are we rich?”
No, why wasn't such an important fact in the setting book?
Besides, the guide I saw clearly said, “dirt poor.”
Solzhenitsyn asked, looking puzzled.
“What are you talking about? Of course we're not rich.”
Just then, people approached from the garden of the grand estate.
“You're late, Solzhenitsyn.”
A girl with beautifully braided platinum-blonde hair falling to her shoulders was walking toward us with a maid in attendance.
The platinum-blonde girl, who looked about fifteen or sixteen, was obviously high nobility at a glance.
“My apologies, my lady.”
She was simply walking toward us, yet elegance seemed to overflow from her. And judging by how respectfully Father treated her...
[Some Stars want to examine the girl's face closely!]
Damn it, fine.
I pretended not to care as I glanced at the girl.
...Wow.
From a distance, she had merely looked like a little doll, but up close, she was incredible.
She didn't just look like a doll. I'd believe she really was one... Is that enough for you?
[A small number of Stars, satisfied, have paid 100 Dust.]
Making money was easy.
All right, then. Let's see who this beautiful girl was.
[Character Information]
Character: Eris von Lutein
Age: 17
Role: Supporting Character (Lady of Lutein)
Total Combat Power: ????? (Cannot be viewed because story progress is insufficient.)
Potential: High
Description: The only daughter of Marquis Lutein's family. She is currently suffering from a serious illness of unknown cause. (Your Imagination cannot yet view this person's entire past.)
Just as I thought. She wasn't merely a beautiful girl. She was a frail, sickly beautiful girl.
She seemed exactly like someone's preferred heroine type... It couldn't be my unconscious, could it?
Still, something was suspicious.
Why couldn't I see her combat power? I couldn't view it because the story hadn't progressed enough?
“Your son seems to be back.”
“Yes. I'm sorry, my lady.”
Perhaps sensing my gaze, Eris looked at me.
“What's your name?”
“Lance Pilgrim.”
Before I could answer, Father spoke for me. Eris's expression hardened.
“I was asking him.”
What a rude little brat.
“Yes. I'm Lance Pilgrim.”
“Pilgrim. That's a strange name. Was Solzhenitsyn's last name always that?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Hmm.”
She seemed to have sized me up in that brief moment, because a subtle smile rested on Eris's lips.
“Can you protect me with a body like that?”
What kind of sudden development was this?
Father gave Eris a slight bow, then patted my shoulder with his huge hand.
“Don't worry. I'll train him well.”
* * *
A little later, I was inside the Pilgrim Residence within the Lutein mansion.
At first, I thought, Damn it, am I renting a room here too? But the living conditions were far better than expected.
It was a spacious four-bedroom place with a living room, dining room, and kitchen. Since this wasn't traditional fantasy and the setting itself was a genre mashup, it even had flush toilets and showers.
Maybe it would be easier to settle down here.
And there was no rent, either.
“Father.”
“What is it?”
“Don't tell me the Pilgrim family has served as the Lutein family's guard knights for generations, or some setting like that.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“Then that's a relief.”
Even though I had read the setting book, there were too many details I didn't know.
Relationships between characters and events weren't all displayed in [Character Information], and there was no telling when or how my unconscious might change the story. This wasn't even a battle against myself...
“We aren't employees, Lance.”
“Then what are we?”
“I'm sorry, but I can't tell you the details.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“When you told me to become the strongest guard in Armennia, did you mean I should protect that young lady?”
“Yes. I told you that before, yet you're asking the same thing again. Did you hurt your head?”
Damn it. I had no idea where this story was going.
So, for some reason, Father was also working here as a private guard, and it seemed I was supposed to help him.
“Father, may I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“How strong are you compared to everyone else on the continent?”
Solzhenitsyn's eyes widened at the question.
Well, the old Lance would never have asked something like that, even if he came back from the dead.
“Lance. Did something really happen to you?”
“Let's just say I hurt my head and got smarter. Anyway, I know you're no ordinary guard captain.”
I had only thought about it logically.
Even on Nightmare difficulty, there was no way an ordinary guard captain could have the description “once stained the continent with blood,” right?
After working his lips for a long time, Father finally revealed the truth.
“...The top ten on the continent would be impossible, but I should at least be among the top fifty. Though I can't be certain.”
The top fifty on the continent.
If you lined up the strongest people on the continent, Father would definitely be among them.
As far as I knew, there were around fifty Swordmasters in this setting. At this point, shouldn't the novel be called 『The Greatest-Ever Swordmaster Guard』?
“I knew it. Then let me ask again. Why is someone as strong as you working as a mere private guard for a marquis?”
Someone in the top fifty on the continent didn't need to be bound as a noble's subordinate. A person like that was practically an army on their own.
Considering how every nation was desperate to recruit Swordmasters, it would not have been strange for someone as strong as Father to be scouted as the commander of a weak nation's royal knights, or as a high-ranking noble.
“When I was young, I owed Marquis Lutein a debt. To repay it, I made a small promise.”
“What promise?”
“I promised to protect the Lady of Lutein until she turned seventeen.”
“Is something wrong with her?”
Father shook his head.
“I don't know for certain either. I won't tell you to protect the young lady. This is my debt, after all. But while you stay with the Lutein family, remain by her side. I'm not asking much. If anything dangerous happens, simply tell me. Can you do that?”
When a father pleaded with me like that, I couldn't exactly refuse.
“Okay.”
* * *
Once, while writing a novel, I wrote a sentence like this.
“And then, as if it were a lie, a week passed.”
Now that I was inside a novel, I understood just how incredible that sentence was.
Fuck, no week passed “as if it were a lie.”
Even while readers read that one sentence “as if it were a lie,” the protagonists were living through every day with everything they had.
Just like I was now.
“One! One! One!”
As I repeated horizontal and vertical slashes ten thousand times a day, my body was gradually turning to mush.
Now that I had become a protagonist, I understood why there were so many overpowered protagonists who gained strength so easily.
Maybe more authors than expected had entered their own novels, and because they hated training like I did, they had showered their protagonists with fortunate encounters.
“Good work. Your posture has improved a little.”
“Thank you.”
Father, and I was getting fairly used to calling him that now, checked my swordsmanship after every day's work.
He looked a little dissatisfied with my progress, but... what could he do? I was his kid.
To be honest, my condition was rather serious.
[With your potential, you cannot learn this swordsmanship skill.]
No matter how much I swung my sword for an entire week, there was no sign of me learning a skill.
[Lance Pilgrim]
Potential: Lowest
It was all because of that damned Potential.
It seemed Potential was fixed when a character was created, and there was no way to change it.
That meant my only hope was the Imagination skill, but there was still a limit to the skills it could create.
[Your Imagination is insufficient to create this skill.]
Should I go outside and buy a swordsmanship manual or something?
That was when my eyes met Eris's. The Lady of Lutein had been reading on the terrace.
‘Weakling.’
I hadn't heard it directly. I had guessed from Eris's mouth.
That little brat glared at me whenever we met. It seemed my existence offended her.
“Do you have a problem with me?”
“What an insolent way to speak. Is that how Solzhenitsyn taught you?”
This little brat was already taking shots at my father.
“Your ladyship's gaze is even more insolent.”
“Do you think you're a mind reader? To think you can read someone's feelings just by looking into their eyes.”
Normally, there was no way the son of a mere private guard could speak to a marquis's daughter like this.
But I was the son of the strongest guard in the world, and after looking into it, Marquis Lutein wasn't really in a position to push Father around either.
Therefore, it was entirely consistent with plausibility for me to talk back to this rude little girl.
[A small number of Stars question your forced logic.]
[50 Dust has been deducted.]
Damn it. So they weren't fooled after all.
...
Wait a second.
What was that little brat reading right now?
“...What are you doing?!”
Eris cried out when I suddenly snatched the book away.
The nearby servants looked our way. But I didn't have the time to care about their stares.
“Where did you get this book?”
At the urgency in my voice, Eris's eyes widened.
“You know that book?”
“...I do.”
Eris looked suspicious.
“Don't lie. There's no way you know such a refined book.”
Since she clearly didn't believe me, I briefly mentioned the book's contents.
“H-How... There's only one copy of this book even in the central region of the continent...”
Eris's eyes filled with confusion.
[A small number of Stars' eyes light up at the prospect of romance!]
Don't be ridiculous.
What romance could there be with a sixteen-year-old?
More importantly, holy shit.
This world really was impossible to understand.
“Lance, tell me. How do you know about that book?”
“Because I know the author.”
“...Really?”
Of course I did.
There was probably no one in the world who knew the author of this book better than I did.
『Orc Philosopher』
Because it was the first fantasy novel I had ever written.
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