Chapter 30
Let's admit what needs admitting.
It's true I benefited a lot from the newspaper's aggressively pushed propaganda that Liu Bei was an elf.
A work's success isn't determined solely by the author's skill with words.
Even in the modern era I lived through, works would occasionally burst out with overwhelming skill, devour everything, and even conquer the world.
Aside from those beyond-beyond masterpieces, results vary wildly depending on what kind of promotion you get on the platform.
I once had the grand dream of conquering the market with an alternate-history novel too, so I feel that very keenly.
Please, a manager pick! Or at least a push notification!
Hwaaa! Why does someone else get the main banner and I don't!
Compared to back then, now I'm flying like I'm strapped with wings and a three-stage booster rocket.
But.
So now Liu Bei should boldly put forward his noble bloodline and be acclaimed as the next emperor! Then that should be enough even from Yuan Shao's point of view, shouldn't it?
To be honest.
I don't really like the big-eared one.
Wasn't he that once-in-a-lifetime sociopath who, moving almost like a kin-slayer, swept through Jingzhou and Bashu like a plague and eventually swallowed them up as his own territory?
And yet…….
Liu Bei kept to the final line.
Cao Cao also couldn't cross the line because of the lunchbox scandal.
That legitimacy and right to rule are both coming from a single imperial house was something this elf would naturally never understand.
And.
My head shape is nice and round.
You might think that's sudden nonsense, but having a nice head shape means I was such a wildly stubborn kid that I never lay on the floor throwing tantrums and was always in my mother's arms.
In other words, my occiput sticks out more than those other flatheads.
To put it in Romance of the Three Kingdoms terms.
A rebel's face.
"So what, the World Tree is withering and you're saying we should grow that peach World Tree over there properly and use it as the second World Tree?"
Ah, I don't know.
Just ram it.
"W-what do you mean by that?"
Our elf lady had the same look as Mr. Schicklgruber after being shot by the righteous young man Adolf.
"As a rule, losing legitimacy means death, and...!"
About ten minutes later.
I delivered a long speech comparing an imperial house to a World Tree and explaining how it affects the novel's overall structure and characterization.
That's right.
A speech.
Of course, I did feel a bit uneasy about relying on a skill in part rather than crushing her purely with logic.
Honestly, even if I'd fought without the skill, couldn't you call it a fight I would still win?
And the elf sitting across from me was...
"What the elf...!"
My elf-unfriendly insult to the World Tree ended up painting Liu Bei's ears the same shade as Guan Yu's face.
Though I did feel a little guilty watching her flail around in her meager writing bag, unable to find words to rebut me even if she wanted to.
Someone had to do it.
Given that she brought a long piece of feedback with her, she had surely tried this kind of pressure tactic on other writers besides me.
Of course, some of our elf lady's criticisms were undeniably correct, but fundamentally, a work should prioritize the creator's intent.
...Though there are occasionally apostates who reflect intentions like NTR drift and the like, but whatever.
"I'll prove it by results."
I pulled out my trump card and swung it wide.
* * *
"So the expert on misery drift went and picked a verbal fight like that? How are you planning to clean up the mess afterward?"
After listening to Kim Yul's complaints, Historie offered a very calm and precise remark.
"Misery drift? Humans are ephemeral by nature."
"Kim Yul. I sense the shadow of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in you."
"......"
Watching Kim Yul's face twist slightly, Historie smiled in victory and held out her index and middle fingers.
At that provocative gesture,
"......Tonight's dinner is soup and bread."
"Sonna!"
Kim Yul responded forcefully with a cooking embargo.
Historie, born a tin can and with her cooking skill at level 0, only then massaged Kim Yul's shoulders to soothe him.
.
.
.
As they shared the risotto Kim Yul had made while his mood had eased a little,
"So, did the writing go anywhere?"
"I've completed a masterpiece for the ages."
Historie proclaimed proudly, shamelessly showing off her chest fat.
Her words rang out like a declaration.
"Really? Let's see."
As if she'd been waiting for Kim Yul's reaction, Historie placed the preprinted pages into his hand.
Like a single painting, like a scene from a fairy tale.
The content, nothing more than the prologue to her century-defining masterpiece that would open a new horizon and adorn a page of history, filled Kim Yul's ears for a long while.
And.
Kim Yul's next words were no mere critique.
They were an intuition, an insight that pierced straight to the core.
"A beautifully woven collection of world literature."
Today, Historie came to understand the feeling known as "sulking" much more deeply.
* * *
A month later.
"Kuhh... As frustrating as it is, I have to admit it...! I underestimated author Kim Yul far too much...!"
Chloe ground her teeth, but Kim Yul's work was still going strong.
The notable point was that the work's popularity had somehow reversed.
Which was only natural.
Even if his personal martial strength fell short of the Peach Brothers'.
Cao Cao not only used Dong Commandery as his base to crush every bandit he could find, but also established a proper foothold in Yan Province and kept growing.
Meanwhile, Liu Bei still hadn't built his own power and was hanging around under Gongsun Zan, basically starring in a youthful swashbuckling adventure.
Given that many of Kim Yul's readers preferred political drama anyway, it wasn't strange for the world of reversed popularity to come around again.
But.
"Kim Yul, how about skipping the description altogether?"
"......This, too, is part of history......"
Right now, Kim Yul was in serious conflict.
Up until now, while writing, whenever history hit a loose patch he had neatly covered it by jumping over time with things like "one year later."
In fact, he'd already glossed over the events after the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition disbanded that way.
But there are historical events in this world that can't just be skipped over carelessly.
With the Xuzhou Great Filial Piety event looming before him, Kim Yul fell into anguish.
What is the Xuzhou Great Filial Piety?
It was the incident in which Cao Cao, after hearing that his father Cao Song had died near Xuzhou, went completely berserk, ignored all his subordinates' advice, raised troops, and invaded.
According to the historical records, not only his father Cao Song but also his younger brother Cao De and nearly the entire Cao clan were wiped out in one go, so how could he possibly contain that rage?
The problem was that he didn't vent that rage on the culprit, but instead slaughtered the nearby civilians as though he meant to exterminate them all, killing them, burying them, throwing them into the river, and utterly laying waste to everything.
They say so many people were swept away that even the Si River couldn't keep water flowing, so the Mangtakjo lineup really was rock-solid through and through.
What's more, Kim Yul planned to give Cao Wei a strong dose of hatred by using a setting often employed in fiction—"Zhuge Liang is a refugee from Xuzhou!"
If the Great Filial Piety isn't depicted, Cao Cao's character dies.
If the Great Filial Piety isn't depicted, Liu Bei's section becomes vague.
"But if I depict it, Cao Cao will become a total piece of garbage."
"Wouldn't people think it's living up to its title...? No, filial piety, filial piety."
"If you show filial piety once for your mother and once for your father, you'll burn down the whole country."
"You really are a tin can, all right—naturally good at throwing family insults."
"I'm only stating objective facts."
Stone and tin can clashed fiercely in a battle of words, but no conclusion came easily.
.
.
.
In the end.
Kim Yul ended up completing both versions.
One version lavishly unfolded blazing filial piety and dyed the river blood-red.
And another version that compressed the acts of filial piety into just a few natural-sounding lines, fighting a desperate battle against "not faithful to the historical record" and compromising as much as possible.
Right after that.
He asked everyone who could reasonably be called an acquaintance for their opinion.
"Hmm... I like both! But the first one seems to have more volume, so I like it more!"
Esthea=Zilong of Shangshan, who had by then given up on the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, cast her vote for blazing filial piety because it had more characters.
"So what happened to Diao Chan? Did she escape with Lü Bu? She's been way too short on screen time lately... will you write a separate Diao Chan side story?"
Roseline, who seemed like she would be faithful to human affection, abstained, focusing more on the Diao Chan who had appeared a few times and then vanished in Liu Bei's part than on Cao Cao's little misdeeds.
"Hmm. If a man named Cao Cao cherished his parents that much, wouldn't it be more impactful to just go all out and massacre everyone? It's a fictional work anyway, isn't it?"
Perhaps because her virtue pouch was so thin, Chloe openly revealed her elf-like mindset and cast a vote for the Great Filial Piety.
Thus.
Two votes for the Great Filial Piety.
One abstention.
Kim Yul was also overflowing with a sense of historical mission and inwardly leaning toward unleashing the Great Filial Piety in raw form, but...
Tchzz── Ssshrrk──!
"......Absolutely not this version. Kill me first."
The only editor who retained a human heart and conscience.
Gilford alone stood in the way of that tyrannical path.
Instead of over-souling Hector and bringing him in,
he accepted the penalty of not being able to use the dice for a month if he changed his mind, and at the last moment rolled Caesar's die.
And then.
"......"
Seeing the number engraved on the die, he decided this time to humbly respect the editor's judgment.
.
.
.
In the end.
Kim Yul perfectly succeeded in grabbing the lifeline lowered to him at the last moment.
"Even if the pretext is avenging your father's death, isn't this a little excessive...?"
"Cao Cao really is a villain, that's for sure!"
"Filling a river with corpses... that's probably just a figurative expression for how many people were swept up by the war. War really is frightening."
"Now I finally understand why the author contrasted Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Their opposing natures really do show when it comes to how they treat people."
"Cruel... horrible..."
The day the Xuzhou Great Filial Piety appeared in print.
Recalling the question he'd asked the die at the end—"Should I listen to the editor?"—Kim Yul...
tightly gripped Gilford's hand and offered his thanks.
For as bonds can cloud judgment, they can also steer a mistaken choice back onto the right path.
Having a good editor could also be called a kind of fortuitous encounter.
* * *
But.
Human relationships are not always formed by fate alone; quite often, they are formed by unintended bad blood, too.
"Ready?"
"It should be finished soon."
So far there had been many twists and turns, but precisely because of that, Duke Bertus had grown even more careful in laying out his grand plan.
Right now, he stood below one and above ten thousand.
But...
If this matter ended successfully, it would elevate him within a few years at most to such a noble position that no one could look down on him.
Most variables were already under his control.
If anything remained...
"There's a villa on the outskirts that's available."
"Yes."
"Do you remember the writer I invited last time?"
"I do."
"See that he is treated with the utmost courtesy. Until this is over."