Chapter 71
Cao Rui, who had been given almost no weight in the work, ascended the throne after the death of Cao Pi, Cao Cao's son.
Since regime-change periods are always chaotic, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition struck precisely at that opening and pushed into Wei.
It had been a refreshing, exhilarating turn of events after so long.
Watching Zhuge Liang's earnest punch, after five years of rebuilding the forces that had burned to ashes at Yiling, send Wei reeling.
Readers cheered.
If it had only been a simple “he fought and won” development, it wouldn't have gotten this kind of response.
The great general of Shu who inherited Liu Bei's will.
The protagonist of the last surviving SSR card alongside Zhuge Liang.
Changshan's Zhao Yun.
Now an old veteran, he personally stepped onto the front line.
That alone was a moving sight for readers who had steadily followed Two Heroes.
- Zhao Yun is aiming for Chang'an...! Send the main force to stop him at once!
Because of the Zhao Yun-loving instinct etched into the Cao clan's genes, the main army shifted entirely toward Zhao Yun's front.
- Just as expected. Begin the advance.
Zhuge Liang's main force exploited the opening and moved west, quickly receiving the surrender of nearby territories.
It was a development that could easily have been criticized for lacking plausibility.
“The writer really knows warfare.”
“They said the nation's strength is several times greater, but avoiding a head-on clash and gradually expanding influence is tactically sound.”
There had been a few somewhat so-called “magical” developments, like at Changban Slope.
But the strength of Two Heroes had always lain in making large-scale war feel convincing.
Readers nodded, munched on popcorn, and let their eyes sparkle.
They read with fascination as the blade of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition grazed Wei's throat.
Of course, there were a few slightly ambiguous points. “I tried to pass on all I learned in my life to a wise man, but I couldn't find a worthy talent. Now that I've found Baekyak, it's as good as fulfilled.”
The suddenly introduced new character, Jiang Wei.
Usually, characters introduced like this tended to upset the existing power balance, and in harem stories a new heroine could instantly sweep away all the spotlight and earn the resentment of existing heroine fans.
Jiang Wei was exactly that sort.
Not only had a young guy suddenly shown up, with no prior mention or foreshadowing, and landed a counterpunch on the great Chancellor Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang recognizing his talent, becoming obsessed with him, and eventually taking him under his wing, was the direction of the story.
“They're not running out of material, are they?”
“A successor is already Ma Su, though....”
“Hmm, so this was the point where a rival for Ma Su was needed?”
Jiang Wei's position was truly awkward.
So far, the supporting characters with the most weight in the work aside from Zhuge Liang had been just five people.
Adou, tossed to the bottom of the R-rank.
R-rank Second Emperor Liu Shan.
The protagonist of the trash card that made users sigh every time they opened a card pack, and was now being phased out even from the Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang decks.
Aside from the “just-do-it-for-me” type who had no choice but to stay tied to Zhuge Liang because he was the second emperor.
Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Ma Su, and Wang Ping, basically.
In particular, Ma Su had, ever since Zhuge Liang truly took power and from the Southern Barbarian Suppression arc onward, steadily played the role of his prized pupil and built up a mentor-mentee relationship.
Although he was occasionally described as having a somewhat self-righteous streak, every time that happened Zhuge Liang would scold him, “You little rascal.”
He also did a fine job of providing comic relief in an otherwise serious atmosphere, so he was very popular.
If this had been the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that would have been impossible.
Ma Su's rising appraisal was also influenced by Kim Yul's adaptation.
Because Kim Yul had gone to such lengths to portray Liu Bei's final moments as tragic and moving, the dying admonition, “Do not place Ma Su in an important position,” had been omitted.
Of course, there was also fear that readers would criticize Zhuge Liang for continuing to trust Ma Su despite Liu Bei's words.
But that wasn't the readers' concern.
“Well, they probably just want to sell new cards.”
“I do hope they don't go too far with it.”
“Still, they're right: until recently, there really weren't enough people handling combat. At best it was Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, and both of them aren't exactly young anymore.”
Among the core readers, there was only a faint undercurrent of grudging acceptance and suspicion.
Most were too busy happily gobbling up the novel like Estia, so you could say good is good.
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The plot flowed on and on.
Wei, too, launched a full-scale counterattack.
As commander Cao Zhen suffered battle after battle.
Cao Rui drew out his card: Sima Yi, the protagonist of an ill-fated work that had been cut off mid-serialization.
At the end of the Black Ox Fan Sima Yi swung, leading the vanguard was.
Zhang He, a name readers were already familiar with, and in Heroes Assemble he was an SSR, Tier-0, absurdly overpowered, must-have unit.
The choice Zhuge Liang made in response was.
“Now, I will stand at the summit.”
Ma Su.
* * *
“Hey, Tin Can.”
“Please don't call me Tin Can.”
“Hitori-chan?”
“......Sigh. Just call me Tin Can. Why are you like this.”
“Ma Su, could we whitewash him?”
At Kim Yul's question, the core of HistoriE immediately began to overheat.
That wasn't simple whitewashing.
It was a major challenge to the narrative rhythm built up by Luo Guanzhong, and a deep question that pierced the core of the novel's future direction.
The moment he saw the dumbfounded expression on HistoriE's face, Kim Yul let out a deep sigh.
“Kim Yul, your concern is justified. But if we maintain the current popularity, a change in that kind of narration may be necessary. If it's all right, I can rewrite Ma Su's story into an asterisk-asterisk fiction arc asterisk──”
“Stop. I was being too greedy. No matter what, I can't change the essence of the story....”
After surrendering to the sight of the super-high-performance historical AI spitting out asterisks (*) aloud.
Kim Yul locked eyes with the monitor for a moment.
No matter how he thought about it....
If he threw in a Mountain-Climbing King Ma Su development, the backlash would probably be severe.
If he'd taken a strictly historical route from the start, he'd have had to swallow his tears and grudgingly preserve the record.
But by then, the Zhuge Liang arc had already become a commercial novel that had abandoned historical accuracy.
So that was why Sima Yi, who in the historical record hadn't even participated in the First Northern Expedition, had boldly joined in while brandishing a knockoff Black Ox Fan and cackling away.
“Should we go out for dinner today?”
“Those words run deep, deep....”
Watching Tin Can instantly regain her energy and sharpness, Kim Yul prepared to head out.
When your head won't turn, carbs are the best thing to put in.
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.
.
Kim Yul and HistoriE walked leisurely through the streets as the gently dim evening settled in.
Along with the tranquil dusk of the imperial capital, which, crowded as it was, still couldn't compare to Seoul.
“Want to go see the sea in about two weeks?”
“The sudden sea, huh? Hmm. The database contains a clear image, but I've never had one engraved directly into graphics, so I'm a little curious. I'm also wondering whether the smell of the sea actually exists or is just a literary expression.”
By stoking Tin Can's curiosity, he even managed to secure a business-trip lecture with a graduate student in tow.
“Damn. What am I supposed to do about Ma Su?”
“When you burned Joan of Arc, why didn't you worry about that?”
“That's a little different. I mean, you already watched the whole thing—how could you possibly drop out? Besides, it was the ending scene.”
“If Ma Su dies, Zhuge Liang isn't far behind anyway.”
“Still, there are a few chapters left before the ending, tsk.”
They kept up the earlier worry talk.
As the two of them, who had been strolling peacefully through the streets, were about to pass by a bookstore.
They came to a stop as if by agreement.
“……?”
“What is that?”
At the edge of that gaze lay a single book.
[The Great High Elf, The Biography of Liu Bei]
“That Liu Bei... could it be that Liu Bei?”
“W-Well....”
HistoriE hit Season 2 buffering, and Kim Yul, as if enchanted, grabbed her wrist and went into the bookstore.
And, as if enchanted, he opened the book and started skimming through its contents.
Poor-quality paper.
Clumsy, rough prose.
But the contents inside were clearly a parody of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
A story in which he wielded the Heroic Twin Swords to split the world apart, was skilled in magic too, and, with an impossibly charming face, captivated and ruled everyone through charisma alone without even fighting battles himself.
The only minor problem was.
“If we sued this for copyright, wouldn't it get hit with a copyright suit?”
As HistoriE, who had poked her head out from Kim Yul's shoulder, said.
There was definitely room for a copyright infringement claim.
Even in a primitive fantasy land, copyright law existed. And this work was making illegal profits off Kim Yul's IP.
But Kim Yul.
He didn't properly hear her perfectly justified objection.
“Hahaha, hahaha....”
The Three Kingdoms setting he had borrowed.
The sight of it being reworked into yet another form by an otherworlder who shared neither history nor memory with Earth, just as on the original Earth, struck his prefrontal cortex hard.
At the same time.
If he could make good use of this.
Kim Yul was thinking that not only could he expand the reach of Romance of the Three Kingdoms far more, but he could also whitewash Ma Su's story into an IF route.
“How are we supposed to do business if you read the whole book right here at the stand?”
“Ah, sorry. I'll pay for the book.”
After handing over a few silver coins in response to the bookstore owner's grumbling.
Kim Yul checked the author's name written on the very back of the book.
“Erocle...?”
Something about it felt a little familiar.