Chapter 2: Give us your word(2)

When Luke was seven years old, he wrote down the words of the Lord Deus. When his father saw it, he was greatly astonished and said, “Child, why have you written such things?” And the boy Luke said to him, “Do you not know that these are the words of the Lord Deus, the good news that must be proclaimed throughout the world?” But his father did not understand what he was saying.

—

The character I possess, Luke Persleyno, is the third son of Archduke Leopar. He has two older sisters, the eldest, Siren Persleyno, and the second, Meiru Persleyno. Both were playable characters in [Deus Ex Machina] and were characters that I loved. On the other hand, this Luke Persleyno that I am in was an extra who did not appear in [Deus Ex Machina].

Perhaps this Luke Persleyno… From what I heard, before I opened my eyes, this body had been sick for a week and was in danger of dying. The original Luke would have already died at that point. And I must have possessed the body of a Luke who was already dead. Thinking about it like that…

However, I also had the problem of being weak. Fortunately, I didn’t have an incurable disease or any other illness. However, neither in swordsmanship nor magic, this body was weak and had no talent whatsoever. It was a weak body that could never become normally strong no matter how hard I tried. Because of this, my goal of training hard since childhood and building up my strength to go on an adventure with the main characters of [Deus Ex Machina] was shattered. There’s no way a body like this… Well, for now, I’m trying to find a way to go to the Academy.

“…Get out, trash. Don’t dirty my eyes in the morning.”

Anyway, the sister in front of me right now is Luke’s second older sister, Meiru Persleyno.

“Hey, Meiru-noona.”

“It’s not a good morning because of you. Get lost before I lose my patience.”

“…Alright. See you later, noona.”

Seeing her hand move toward the sword at her waist, I hurriedly left and returned to my room.

Our relationship wasn’t always this bad.
No, it was actually quite good.
I knew what she liked, so it was easy to win her favor, and she had a kind personality that cherished her cute little brother.

But the reason our relationship soured was because of that book I wrote.

[Something Everyone Living on the Continent Must Read]

The book I wrote and spread across the continent.

Who would’ve thought my beloved sister would become so obsessed with that book, turning into a fanatic?

“What? It’s a lie?”

Since I knew the truth about that book, I told her it was false, but she didn’t listen.

“Nonsense! …To think my own brother was a demon who blasphemes against God!”

Instead, she cherished the book and pushed me away.

“To think I once considered you my precious brother—what a fool I was before I knew Lord Deus. Every day before that was a dream.”

That’s how our relationship ended up like this.
To think the sister who used to adore me when I was young would become like this.

…But I can’t exactly tell her I wrote that book, can I?

If only I hadn’t written that book.

—

When I was a child and realized this body had no talent, I was devastated.
What’s the point of coming to the world of [Deus Ex Machina]?
I couldn’t even adventure with the characters I loved.

So I thought hard.
What could I, with nothing but the title of the third son of the Northern Archduke, do?

Elixirs? Fortuitous encounters? Hidden pieces?
I knew the locations of hidden pieces that no one else in this world knew about at this point.
Most hidden pieces appeared in the main story, after all.
The problem was that, being powerless, I had no way to reach those places.

I couldn’t command the Northern Archduke’s forces.
Not only did I lack the authority, but the rugged soldiers of the North wouldn’t follow a powerless kid like me. Of course, they found me cute and were good people, but to them, I was just a cute young master to protect.
And my family wouldn’t believe me either. Me, who spent my whole life in this castle, knowing about fortuitous encounters? That’s absurd.

So the solution I found was money.
If I could earn a ton of money, I could hire mercenaries and buy elixirs to my heart’s content.

But how could I make money?
I didn’t have any specialized profession on Earth.
I didn’t major in engineering.
I didn’t have any degrees.
There was no way I could replicate Earth’s advanced technologies like gourmet cuisine, advanced agriculture, metallurgy, or anything else.
The knowledge I had about Earth’s technology was superficial at best.

In the end, I failed to recreate Earth’s technology here.
To think a modern person could be this useless.

After many trials and errors, I arrived at the idea of becoming a “writer.”

Yes.
Now that I think about it, this world is similar to Earth’s medieval times.
There isn’t as much entertainment as there was on Earth.
And the countless classic novels from Earth don’t exist here.

What if I wrote a novel in this world?
What if I wrote a novel blending Earth’s classic masterpieces and spread it around?
Wouldn’t my novel become wildly popular in this world?

Alright.
Let’s do it.

With that resolve, I diligently recalled entertaining novels from Earth, plagiarizing and blending them to create a fantasy novel.

It was a work that plagiarized all of Earth’s masterpieces, but no one in this world would recognize that.
After completing the novel, I ran to my father to show it to him, expecting a shocked reaction from someone in another world.

But my father wasn’t very interested.
Well, he’s older and somewhat successful, so that makes sense.

A bit disappointed but still hopeful, I showed it to the maids and knights in the household, hoping they’d like it.

But my expectations were shattered again.
No one liked my novel.
They just thought it was cute that the young master was playing around, giving me fake reactions.

Is my writing that bad?
No way. I copied the sentences of Earth’s great authors exactly.
Their writing couldn’t possibly be bad. So why isn’t it popular?

After much thought, I realized something.
The content of my book was completely different from the books people here were used to reading.
No matter how interesting a book is, if it’s completely different from what they’re used to, they won’t find it entertaining.
To them, my novel must have seemed like a bizarrely unique style.
It would be hard for first-time readers to enjoy it.

I had completely miscalculated.
I should’ve written a book similar to what people here were used to reading but more advanced.

Having found the answer, I studied the books that people in this [Deus Ex Machina] world read.
And I came to a conclusion: scripture.
Books about religion.

This fantasy world, similar to Earth’s medieval times, wasn’t dominated by a single religion like medieval Europe with Christianity. Instead, many religions coexisted, but because gods directly influenced this world, people were very interested in them.
Maybe that’s why everyone enjoyed reading books about God.

Yes. This is it. God.
Let’s write a book about God.

When I was a child on Earth, I used to go to church with my friends.
I’d read the Bible a bit in Sunday school.
Let’s take the contents of the Bible… Hmm…

Even if we say God, which God should I write about?
I feel like just… Ah! Yes, that’s right.
The forgotten god who gave the protagonist power in the main story of [Deus Ex Machina].
Let’s write about Deus.
A god who saved this world and sacrificed himself in the mythical era.
A forgotten god who did not disappear.
By chance, the protagonist finds her relics and gains Deus’s power.

Well… Although he is a real god, he is a god in a state of slumber that no one remembers, so it wouldn’t be a problem to write about Deus, right?

So I wrote a book about Deus.
That is [Something Everyone Living on the Continent Must Read].

I ran to my father with this.
Then, my father’s face suddenly darkened.

“This book. Where did you get it?”
“I wrote it!”
“Did someone tell you to write it down?”
“No! It’s all my own idea!”

At the time, I was excited because I thought my father was showing that I wrote the book so well.

“…Hmm. Is that so?”

Thinking back now, my father probably…

“First of all, don’t show this book to anyone.”
“Huh? I was going to sell this book…”
“What? You’re selling this book?”
“Yes! I have something I want to buy, but my allowance isn’t enough…”
“And if the book sells well, it will help with the estate’s affairs too!”
“Hmm… Okay. I’ll think about it. For now, don’t tell anyone about this book. I’ll keep this book.”

The next day, my father left our estate with my book and went somewhere else.
A few weeks later, I was able to get my father’s permission when he returned.

“I never thought my son would be chosen by God… This is not the time to be doing this.”