Chapter 8
Most people worship the goddess, but.
Wherever people live, there are always contrarians, and some even held a monster-worshiping faith that could be considered not merely heresy, but an act of blasphemy.
People who wanted to completely tear down the boundary between the demon realm and reality, and live in a world alongside monsters.
Of course, they were thoroughly persecuted by the Goddess Church, so they had no choice but to operate in the shadows.
“Is everything ready?”
“At this point, no one will suspect a thing.”
The city they had recently set their sights on was the border town of Antaron.
Since it was one of the cities fairly close to the demon realm, if they could bring it down, they could not only expand their influence, but also take one step closer to their goal.
But because of the magical barrier, attacks from outside the city would have little effect.
They had no choice but to set off large-scale black magic inside the city itself.
“Hmm, I see.”
Casting black magic required a lot of preparations and a steep price.
The black mage carefully inspected the items his subordinates had prepared.
At first glance, it was just an ordinary statue of the goddess.
But inside, they had stuffed it full of ingredients for black magic.
The plan was simple.
Smuggle it into the city.
Destroy the statue and take out the ingredients inside.
“Who in the world would suspect that something was hidden inside a statue of the goddess? Unless they were out of their mind, there’s no way. I’m certain of it. Our grand undertaking will succeed within the next week.”
At the subordinate’s boastful assurance, the black mage also nodded.
.
.
.
“Hmm, the seam here looks suspicious. I think I hear something rattling inside too. Ten in all? Let’s crack one open.”
“……예? 아니, 여신상인데──”
“Cooperate quietly. We’ll compensate you. Who knows? This might be the Trojan Horse.”
Unfortunately.
The black mage did not love literature. Quite the opposite—he despised it.
That was why he couldn’t understand what the guard captain was talking about.
The Trojan Horse? What’s that?
No, wait, are they seriously going to check?
The black mage’s face gradually went pale, but...
Before anyone could stop him, the guard captain picked up one of the goddess statues and smashed it straight onto the floor.
Crash! Crash-clang!
Along with a clear, bright shattering sound.
“Gasp.”
“I-it was real?”
“I thought the captain had finally lost it…….”
Staring at the beast’s heart, monster hide, human fingernails, and all sorts of ingredients hidden inside the statue, the guards were all flabbergasted.
Having confirmed that his intuition was right, the guard captain took charge of the situation with a self-assured voice.
“Arrest those bastards at once! They’re black mages! Smash the rest of the Trojan horses—no, the goddess statues—and check what’s inside!”
* * *
In fact…….
There were far more stories that could be based on Greek and Roman mythology.
The Odyssey, the voyage of the Argo, Prometheus, Oedipus, Antigone, Ajax, Electra, Medea, Persephone…….
Even if I grabbed each of the twelve Olympian gods one by one and published them as separate themes, I could easily get enough material for a full volume.
And in a way, that would have been the easier path too.
On a new stage.
Because a new challenge is always difficult.
So I had spent a lot of time agonizing over it, but...
[You have reached the limit for obtaining perks from the theme ‘(Mythology) Greek and Roman Mythology.’]
[If you write a new work using the theme ‘(Mythology) Greek and Roman Mythology,’ you can no longer acquire skills.]
[Using a wider variety of themes will unlock the perk acquisition limit.]
The status window put the final nail in the coffin of that dilemma.
I was a little disappointed that I still hadn’t obtained appealing skills like Zeus’s virility, Hades’s Death Note, or Dionysus’s PPAP, but what’s past is past.
And.
Stories from the age of myth alone…… I didn’t think I’d be satisfied anymore.
There are so many more things I want to write.
I wanted to turn even more history into stories.
I wanted to unfold the stories that remained only in my head, in the academic books lined on my shelves, and in Historiée’s database.
There were also plenty of fascinating stories from Eastern history that could give a fantasy setting a heavy Eastern flavor.
In other words, I’d finished the tutorial.
Besides, I’d even shaken off the saintess who looked like she’d smack my head with a cross and tell me to repent the moment I crossed the line…….
……?
I could’ve sworn I just saw silver-white hair like Roselyn’s in the crowd.
Must have been my imagination.
* * *
“……Is rent really that expensive?”
“If you don’t have money, get out.”
“No, I do. Here it is.”
Damn.
I should’ve just milked Greek mythology, cashed in on the perks, and gotten some head pats instead, skill or no skill.
The rent in the capital region
was brutal in both the modern world and this other world.
Since I had the lab to lean on, I looked for a room that was as small, as old, and as cheap as possible, but even so, it was five times the price of the cheap inn I’d stayed at before.
Well…….
I had saved up some money, after all.
It would be enough to hold out for a while.
Now I could escape the miserable life of eating only one hard loaf a day and live the life of a great writer, feasting on lavish meals.
.
.
.
“……Is this really the price of bread?”
“If you don’t like it, get lost! Who do you think you are, coming here with that cursed black hair of yours?”
Tsk.
The murderous cost of living applied just as brutally to food as it did to rent.
Does that star up there know my heart, my dream…….
When I’m in pain, I sing a sad song…….
Humming a verse of a song stained with the scent of my hometown, I bought an armful of the cheapest hard bread and returned to my lodging.
『Welcome back, user.』
“Yeah.”
As I listened to Historiée’s clear voice, I shoved the bread into the refrigerator and
started opening the newspapers I’d bought and reading them.
Things like the international situation, signs of conflict breaking out in the border regions, and a large-scale monster outbreak soon expected in the demon realm…….
I set aside the dark stories of this other world for a moment,
Know yourself and know your enemy, and in a hundred battles you’ll never be in danger.
Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.
To properly prepare for newspaper serialization, I naturally needed to analyze the other competing works.
In industry terms, input.
Honestly…….
My writing was still a little closer to a documentary than to a novel.
At least it was mythology, which was lucky. But if I wanted to turn historical stories into something truly engaging, my current skill was admittedly still a little lacking.
If I were to point out the parts that had actually drawn criticism.
- The setting is interesting, but it’s boring and overly pretentious.
- Too many characters are thrown in at once, making it dizzying.
- Was this basically forcing people to read the previous work? The shared universe was good, but it was a bit much for a beginner writer.
- Weak buildup, too fast a pace. The narrative barrels forward without room to breathe, but its foundation is flimsy.
Every single one of them…….
They all hit me right in the gut.
I admit it.
I had no choice but to admit it.
When I wrote The Iliad, at least I focused on the main characters and cut what I could without hesitation, but there were still too many.
“Then let’s take a look at the literary level of this other world.”
『Do you need something analyzed? If so, I’ll help you.』
“Hmm…….”
Historiée’s offer didn’t seem bad either.
The general opinion up until just before I came here was that an AI’s review was actually meaningless, but it could still help with structural analysis.
After neatly feeding the newspapers through the scanner and into the database, I started reading them one by one.
Rustle, flutter.
“…….”
Since it was a serialized novel, it was hard to grasp the exact overall flow and plot, but...
I read them, then read them again, and analyzed them.
“Pretty fun……?”
For example, the novel I’m looking at right now.
Just in the case of The Villainess’s End, the way it kept readers in its grip was pure art.
On top of that.
Just like web novel comments, reactions to last week’s installment were printed alongside the ‘previously on’ summary.
[Anonymous Reader: Leni…… I can’t trust you anymore…….]
[Elisha: Is the protagonist really trying? At this point, I almost feel sorry for the other male leads.]
…
…
[Esjjang: Writer, put out two chapters a day! Are you crazy!]
[Anonymous Reader: Just have some hot and steamy ■■ once and make up already!]
[(●'◡'●): Heathen, huh? This kind of development might be a little dangerous, you know? Anyway, what a horrible personality Leni really hasㅠㅠㅠㅠ Will Leni be happy? It’s a happy ending, right? It is a happy ending, right?]
There was no bigger superstar for driving both fans and haters crazy.
Besides that,
if you looked at the novels taking up a spot in the newspaper, most of them had decent prose.
But.
The scope of the stories was narrow.
Especially the protagonists—most of them were nobles.
It wasn’t until hero stories that you’d occasionally get a hero from commoner stock.
Then.
“Okay, analysis complete.”
I can win.
Here.
was a battlefield where I could definitely win.
Of course, as always, I had to write not with the sense of writing a ‘historical’ novel, but with the sense of writing a history ‘novel.’
Since the amount I could fit onto the page each day was limited, I needed to take a strategy closer to that of web novels.
『That’s right. Kim Yul, you can definitely do well. I’ll share my analysis results with you. First, an analysis from a genre perspective──』
Listening to Historiée’s opinion, I started coming up with the subject matter.
Of course…….
While reading other novels, a subject that felt like ‘this is it’ suddenly came to mind.
Rather than starting from a completely original worldbuilding premise,
it could also have some connection with the novels I’d already written, and it could suit the literary tastes of this other world.
A protagonist from a fallen noble family, far removed from power.
A man who was threatened with a purge by those in power, but ultimately entered politics and kept rising through the ranks.
A man who won a great victory in a decisive showdown with his fated rival and eventually rose to a status rivaling the emperor’s, only to be betrayed by someone he trusted and meet a tragic end.
Veni, Vidi, Vici.
Julius Caesar.
His life, his history,
would be enough to captivate people.