How To Live As A Writer In A Fantasy World-Chapter 423: Interception (1)

While briefly explaining the world’s history of Earth to Rina, I ended up having various conversations, which led me to learn many different facts.

Since the topic was what it was, most of the stories were about famines, but interestingly, while potatoes were continuously cultivated, there were no beans.

Potatoes in this world are also known for their tough life force. So, to prepare for famine, they are consistently grown.

At first, the taste was bland with no sweetness at all, and because the sprouts were toxic, they were avoided.

However, after continuous improvement, potatoes were born that were no different from those in their past life.

This part I knew, but the fact that they didn’t grow beans was a bit surprising.

To be exact, they didn’t even know beans existed.

‘Beans did come from Asia on Earth, though…’

But when I visited Helium last time, there were beans.

It seems that, having been involuntarily isolated until then, they had no knowledge of beans.

Even if beans had come from somewhere else, they probably wouldn’t have believed it.

After all, the demons themselves cultivate the crops, and they likely would’ve found a reason to distrust them, claiming there was something evil about it.

Especially since Helium is a country with a very diverse culinary culture, including strange dishes.

Given their harsh environment, they must have had to eat whatever they could, so it’s understandable.

‘I never imagined they would even roast cockroaches.’

Anyway, I hinted that until alchemy advanced and nitrogen fertilizer appeared, they should use beans to maintain soil fertility.

Rina listened carefully, then seemed to think of something and asked me a question.

“Is Cecily coming here soon?”

“Probably. Well… No, never mind.”

I almost blurted out the word “purge.”

Because of the connection between the countries, Rina and Cecily are both powerful figures in their respective nations.

Just because we’re personally close, we shouldn’t let emotions influence national matters.

It’s not that I don’t trust them, but there are things you can and cannot do emotionally.

“I heard the work I’m handling is almost done, so she should be here soon. She’ll arrive in three days at the latest.”

“Really? Then it’s better to speak directly with Cecily about this. There must be something other than beans to restore the soil fertility.

Is that okay?”

“I don’t mind… Are you okay with it?”

“It’s talking to the Prophet, so of course, it’s fine.”

I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. It sounded like a joke, but it wasn’t really a joke at all.

The nobles who are keeping an eye on the royal family might look at it suspiciously, but the people would believe in it.

In fact, they’ve gained various knowledge through me, and among them are preparations for famine, so it’s like an unspoken prophecy.

“…Do as you wish. Anyway, I’ll be staying at the mansion, so we can leave it to the maid who came from the royal family.”

“Thanks.”

“Ah, by the way, is there no guest room next to the bedroom?”

“Are you serious? Who do you think I am, a real pervert? And I’m a princess, a princess! I maintain some dignity…”

“Even if you maintain your dignity, everyone has their own preferences, Your Highness.”

Then, I quietly sipped my tea while watching Rina fan herself, having lost her words.

Whenever I see her, so graceful and dignified, losing control like that, I feel an inexplicable pleasure.

She usually acts with a mask on, but when she’s around me, that mask comes off, so maybe that’s why.

Even Mari, who used to not get along with her, is now spending her time teasing Rina.

Anyway, I stopped teasing her for now and called the maid to ask her to guide us to the guest room.

I needed to organize the knowledge I had gained and, most importantly, some very welcome people had arrived at our mansion.

“Wow. Isaac, have you gotten bigger since I last saw you? Is it because you’re from our family?”

“How have you been?”

My dear older brother and sister, Dave and Nicole, had returned to the mansion after a long break.

The last time they came for a vacation was during last year’s Zenon Festival, so it had been a long time since I’d seen their faces.

I would have liked to visit them, but last year I was too focused on my studies, and more recently, after revealing my identity, I just didn’t have the time.

“Brother! Sister! Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“Of course not. We’re not the kind of people who get hurt easily.”

“Hahaha, Isaac is still the same.”

I warmly welcomed them with a hug. As everyone knows, they work at the border.

Thanks to our father’s great efforts, things had gotten better recently, but it was almost like they had been sent on a deployment, so just having them return safely was enough.

Honestly, I had forgotten about it because I had been so busy.

I figured they would be fine, since father trained them hard, and they would come back in one piece.

But seeing them now made me realize how foolish that thought was. Nicole even broke one of her arms during training.

“If I had known, I would have sent a letter… I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. Honestly, it might have been better that you didn’t send one.”

“I agree. If you had sent a letter… Ugh. I can’t even imagine.”

Dave shook his head, as if it was too terrible to think about.

When I looked at him curiously, Nicole smiled and explained.

“The Zenon Chronicles are very popular in our knight order. Many of the members try to imitate the techniques from the Zenon Chronicles.

I think you get what I mean, right?”

“Uh… Yeah, I think I get it.”

“Good. So, how are Father and Mother?”

“Father is currently busy with work, and Mother is…”

I dropped everything and took them back to the mansion. They looked so good in their uniforms that they looked even more impressive.

Also, I wasn’t sure if it was from the intense training they had undergone or if they had grown, but both of them seemed to have gotten a little taller.

Since I’m still growing, I could tell they had actually grown.

“Hey, it seems like there are more people in the mansion now?”

“Yeah.”

It was probably because they hadn’t been home in almost a year, but they were amazed at the changes in the mansion’s interior.

There were definitely more people walking around than before, and even knights had been stationed here.

I explained everything to them, telling them what had changed while we walked around. And I had one question for them.

“I don’t know, but didn’t you send a letter to Father or Mother? At least a letter to check in?”

“We didn’t have time. Whenever the training or mission was over, we just passed out from exhaustion. Recently, we’ve even started working with the barbarian tribes.”

Dave, with his complaints, nodded, and Nicole did the same.

They are both strong enough that they wouldn’t lose to any top-tier knights in terms of stamina, but judging by how they looked, it was clear they had been through a lot.

Especially soldiers, whose training and missions often don’t follow a set schedule, so today, I was deeply grateful they had returned in one piece.

Afterward, they returned to their rooms to rest after their long journey, and soon after, all of our family gathered in one room.

Naturally, the room we gathered in was the empty drawing room.

“Dad. Dad. Who are this older brother and sister?”

“They’re Dad’s brother and sister. You can call them uncle and aunt.”

“Uncle? Aunt?”

Along with Ariel, Clark was also present. By the way, Clark was wearing thick armor and a helmet with a face guard.

Thanks to that, he had been able to keep his identity hidden, but now that he had taken off the helmet, his true form was revealed.

And in addition, he was holding a cigar, which completed the look.

Even when wearing the helmet, he had been smoking regularly.

“…Hey. We didn’t time travel or anything, right?”

“Uh… Maybe we’ve come to a different world?”

Since we hadn’t mentioned it in any letters, Dave and Nicole couldn’t hide their confusion.

Just the presence of Ariel (an angel) was enough to confuse them, so the fact that a skeleton was joining our family gathering was completely unexpected.

These kinds of things couldn’t be mentioned in letters, as the Navy knights are known to thoroughly check them.

So only today, after carefully explaining everything, could we talk openly, and since we had already agreed on the details, it didn’t take long.

“Sigh… I’m not dreaming, right? Hey, Nicole. Just slap my face once.”

“You slap me first. I can’t believe this either.”

Even though I explained everything to them, they still didn’t seem to believe it easily.

In the end, after slapping each other once, they finally believed it.

I was amazed that, whether it was from body enhancement or just because of their naturally tough durability, there wasn’t even a mark left after I hit them with my fist.

“Isaac.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re really… impressive in many ways. Now you’re even…”

“Sometimes I feel like Isaac is from another world.”

Nicole was speechless, probably out of disbelief, while Dave had pinpointed the core issue quite accurately.

Although it was likely a joke, it couldn’t help but make my heart skip a beat.

Anyway, once everything had been settled, we could finally dive into the main conversation.

Ariel, who had been sitting on my lap, had somehow climbed onto Clark’s head, and Clark, puffing away at his cigar, just crossed his arms.

It was such a captivating sight that, while trying to talk, I kept glancing over, but luckily, I didn’t get distracted too much.

“So the barbarian tribes have resumed their activities?”

When Dave and Nicole shared the news, Father’s eyes widened in surprise, and both Mother and I reacted the same way.

Then Dave, with a serious face, added some more details.

“Yes. But it’s not full-scale activity yet. According to scouts, the moderates and the hardliners have split.”

“The moderates obviously want to talk with us, and the hardliners, as you know…”

Nicole trailed off, but I could immediately tell what she meant. The hardliners were exactly what they sounded like.

Father narrowed his eyes and nodded.

Seeing him clasp his hands together, it was clear he was deep in thought.

After all, he had personally experienced the barbarian’s cruelty, so it was only natural for him to be deeply troubled.

“…Perhaps we should have eradicated them completely.”

“If that had happened, only the hardliners would be left, with no moderates.

Moreover, while the Navy Order has become much stronger, the barbarian tribes have weakened.

So it’ll be much better than when you were in charge.”

Nicole comforted Father with those words, but they didn’t seem to help him at all.

“The strength doesn’t matter. Their main tactic wasn’t direct assault, but ‘fire warfare.'”

“Fire warfare?”

“Yeah. They used ‘black water’ for fire attacks. After infiltrating bases, they would spray the black water and set fires.

It’s very hard to put out with regular water, so they had to cover it with sand or dirt.”

“…Black water?”

I murmured to myself after hearing Father’s explanation. It sounded very similar to the ‘oil’ I knew from Earth.

It’s known to be created from organic matter, and it was one of the most important resources on Earth.

I wondered if this world had oil too, but even on Earth, no one really knew how oil was created.

There’s a saying that the bodies of dinosaurs turned into oil, but think about the Middle East.

During the time of dinosaurs, that region was underwater.

Even so, in this world, there must have been creatures far more dangerous than dinosaurs.

Right now, there are even dragons, giant flying lizards, so how much more terrifying could dinosaurs have been?

‘But they use oil for fire warfare?’

They use oil, which comes from deep within the earth?

Even on Earth, before anyone knew how to use it, records show it was used for lamps or mercury warfare.

But that was just from oil that came up to the surface, not dug from the ground.

That’s why we have drilling operations.

“Father, is black water common in the border regions?”

“If you dig a little deeper into the ground, black water is quite common. In fact, the area where the barbarians live has more black water than drinkable water.”

“They invade the Empire so often because of that water. There’s so little water that life can barely survive, and they can’t even grow crops.”

Father was followed by Nicole, who added more details.

A place with more oil than water?

This wasn’t the Middle East, but it seemed like it could happen here.

‘Actually, the Middle East did have oil, didn’t it?’

It was possible after all. It’s just that they didn’t have the technology to use it properly.

Energy? How would they even use it? They didn’t have the technology to use that energy yet.

From the barbarians’ perspective, they’d prioritize finding food to survive over using oil.

‘The importance of it here would be much less than on Earth, too.’

On Earth, without oil, much of global civilization would come to a halt. But here, there’s ‘mana’ as an energy source.

Elves and demons use it like breathing. Unless mechanical civilization develops, what’s called ‘black water’ here won’t really matter.

While a serious conversation was taking place, my mind wandered off.

I was considering whether to write something about oil for the Second World War in my upcoming work.

Knock knock—

[This is Adelia. I have something to show you, so I apologize for the interruption.]

Just as I was lost in thought, I heard someone call my name. It was Adelia, knocking on the parlor door.

Naturally, the conversation among my family members came to a halt, and all eyes turned toward me.

Curious about what the news might be, I stood up and headed toward the door.

In the meantime, Clark, likely out of caution, put his helmet back on.

Creeeak—

As I opened the door, I saw Adelia standing there with a newspaper in hand.

Oh, today’s the day the newspaper comes out.

I’d completely forgotten in the excitement of picking up Dave and Nicole this morning.

“What’s going on, sis?”

“I think you should read this…”

Adelia carefully handed me the newspaper. For a moment, my curiosity grew, and I quickly glanced at the paper she gave me.

[The reason for the drought after 20 years is that Hirt was enraged by Jin’s death!]

[Readers worldwide wept over Jin’s death. Hirt saw this and became furious…]

Could this be…? I blinked, then turned my head slowly to look at Adelia.

She gave me a wry smile, as if unsure herself.

“Well… it seems like we need to go to the temple…”

“…”

“Should I prepare…?”

“Sigh…”

It seems that when a god’s presence is clear, things like this can happen. Thanks to this, I learned something new.

‘Please, don’t tell me this is real.’

If it’s true, I’ll cry.

This would truly be something that would force me to save Jin, even if it means suffering through it.

★★★

As Isaac was getting ready to head to the temple, Leona, who had been living with Lucia in the capital, had finished preparing for her move to the Michelle estate.

All that was left was to move, and Isaac had already paid for everything in advance.

So, she was planning to travel without any worries, but…

“…Mother. What’s going on here?”

“Who knows…”

Leona was left speechless at the sight before her. Had the Emperor passed away, or had some other great person died?

Before Leona and Lucia, a long funeral procession was unfolding.

It was a funeral procession in the capital, with everyone wearing black funeral attire, including the guards around them.

Who could have died to cause such a long procession?

“Should we leave now? We could join them…”

“Um…”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

Since moving was a priority, they quickly walked forward, but naturally, they couldn’t help but wonder who had died.

Leona grabbed someone passing by and asked.

“…Jin? The Jin from the Zenon Chronicles?”

“Yeah. The author… No, wait, no. Jin was killed by Zenon. That’s why this is happening.”

“…”

“I’d join if I could, but I don’t have the time.”

Leona struggled to keep up with reality. Was this really happening because a character from a work of fiction had died?

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Could it be some human cultural event she didn’t know about? Leona blinked and then asked her mother.

“Mother, is this part of human culture?”

“No. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Hmm…”

In a daze, Leona continued toward the Michelle estate.

[Ugh…]

[I should have made Jin happy… Why…]

[I shouldn’t have killed him… I shouldn’t have killed him…]

The voices from the center of the procession reached her sharp ears, and she found herself in even greater confusion.

‘…Is this really what’s happening?’

It seemed like an actual funeral, so all she could do was scratch her head.