When Luke turned seven, he wrote down the words of Lord Deus, and his father was astonished, asking, “Child, why have you written this?” Luke replied, “Is this not the word of Lord Deus? It is the gospel that must be widely known!” His father, however, could not comprehend the words.
—
I’ve possessed the body of Luke Pulsreino, the third son of Duke Leopar.
He has two older sisters: the first, Seiren Pulsreino, and the second, Meiru Pulsreino.
Both are my beloved characters who played a role in [Deus Ex Machina].
In contrast, this Luke Pulsreino is a background character who doesn’t appear in [Deus Ex Machina].
The story mentions that Seiren and Meiru lost a sick younger brother during their childhood.
They must be talking about this Luke Pulsreino.
And I heard that before I opened my eyes, this body was bedridden for a week, seriously ill.
The original Luke would have already passed away by then.
So, I must have possessed the body of someone who was already dead.
Thinking about it like that, I could ease the guilt towards the original Luke. I must not have just wiped him out and taken over for no reason.
However, I have my weaknesses too.
Fortunately, I didn’t have any incurable diseases or other illnesses.
But in terms of swordsmanship and magic, this body had no talent whatsoever—it was just weak.
No matter how hard I tried, I was stuck in this fragile body that couldn’t become strong normally.
Because of this, my goal of training hard since childhood to embark on adventures with the main characters of [Deus Ex Machina] shattered into pieces.
There was no way I could handle the rough adventures of [Deus Ex Machina] with this pathetic body.
Well, for now, I’m trying to find a way to get to the Academy.
“…Get lost, trash. Don’t dirty my eyes first thing in the morning.”
Anyway, the person in front of me is my second sister, Meiru Pulsreino.
She looks at me with utter disdain.
“Hello, Meiru sister.”
“Who’s stopping you from saying hello? Get lost before I lose my patience.”
“…Uh-huh. See you next time, sister.”
As she reached for the sword tied at her waist, I hurriedly left and returned to my room.
Our relationship wasn’t that bad originally.
In fact, it was rather good.
I knew what she liked, so I could easily win her over, and she was a kind-hearted sister who cared for her adorable younger brother.
But the catalyst that caused our relationship to deteriorate was that book I wrote.
[Something Everyone Living on the Continent Should Read].
Because of that book I wrote and spread across the continent.
I never imagined my beloved sister would get so engrossed in that book that she’d become a zealot.
“What? Lies?”
Knowing the true nature of that book, I told her it was false, but she didn’t listen.
“No way! …Could it be that my brother is a devil who mocks the gods?”
Instead, she clung to the book and pushed me away.
“I’m ashamed of the past when I once thought of you as my precious little brother. Until I knew Lord Deus, every day was a dream.”
Our relationship has since turned into its current state.
To think my sister, who adored me when I was young, has become this way.
…Though I can’t tell her that I wrote the book, what a mess.
If only I hadn’t written that book…
—
When I first learned about my body and realized I had no talent, I was filled with despair.
What good is it to enter the world of [Deus Ex Machina]?
I can’t even enjoy adventures with my beloved companions.
So I pondered.
What can I do with nothing but the title of the third son of the Northern Duke?
Potions? Opportunities? Hidden pieces?
At this point, I knew the locations of hidden pieces that no one else did.
Most hidden pieces show up in the main story anyway.
The problem was, I couldn’t go to them because I was powerless.
The forces of the Northern Dukedom would not move for me.
Not only did I lack the authority to command them, but they wouldn’t follow someone as weak as me. Sure, they were all kindhearted and saw me as a cute noble lord to protect.
Plus, my family probably wouldn’t believe me either. The me who spent my whole life in this castle knows about opportunities? It’s absurd.
So, the solution I found was money.
If I gathered a ton of money, I could hire mercenaries and buy potions to my heart’s content.
Then I asked: What ways do I have to make money?
I didn’t have any specialized profession back on Earth.
I didn’t major in any engineering nor held any degrees.
There’s no way someone like me could implement the exquisite skills of modern Earth’s culinary arts, farming, metallurgy, or anything else.
My knowledge of Earth’s technology barely skims the surface!
In the end, I also failed to reproduce Earth’s technology here.
How pathetic modern humans are.
After several trials and errors, I arrived at the method of ‘being a writer’.
Yeah.
Thinking about it, this world is similar to Earth’s medieval times.
It’s not as rich in entertainment as Earth.
Plus, there are no great literary masterpieces from Earth here.
What if I write a novel in this world?
What if I combine various masterpieces from Earth and spread my novel?
My novel could become immensely popular in this world!
Alright then.
Let’s give it a shot.
With that resolve, I diligently conceived interesting stories from Earth and created a fantasy novel filled with plagiarism.
Though it’s a work that plagiarizes the masterpieces of Earth, no one here would recognize it.
Once I finished the novel, I dashed to my father to show it to him.
I was looking forward to the shocked reaction of a person from another world.
But my father didn’t seem to care much.
Right.
He’s a bit older and has achieved a certain level of success, so that makes sense.
I was a little disappointed, but I still held onto hope and showed it to the maids and knights inside the house.
Maybe they’d like it?
But yet again, my expectations were shattered.
No one liked my novel.
They just thought of it as a cute little trick from the young lord and faked their reactions.
Is my writing bad?
That can’t be right. I’ve replicated the sentences of those great authors!
Their sentences can’t be bad, so why isn’t it popular?
After pondering for a while, I realized.
Ah.
The content of my book is completely different from the books these people read.
Even the most interesting book wouldn’t spark interest if it was entirely different from the books they’ve read.
For them, my novel must be an incredibly unique story.
It would be challenging for first-timers to find it entertaining.
I completely misjudged the situation.
I should have written a book similar to what this world’s people have been reading, but more advanced.
With this realization, I researched what kinds of books people in the world of [Deus Ex Machina] read.
And I reached a conclusion: the Bible.
That is, a book about religion.
In a fantasy world resembling Earth’s medieval times, there are countless religions competing for power, but since gods are actively involved in this world, people seem very interested in the divine.
Perhaps that’s why everyone enjoys reading books about gods.
Yes, this is it.
Let’s write about gods.
Back on Earth, I used to attend church as a child with friends.
I’ve read scriptures in Sunday school, so how about I take some of that content and blend it with information from this world and create something?
Hmm… what kind of god should I write about?
Writing just a story about the Bible seems a bit off, given this world’s differences. It might be better to mix in stories relevant to this world.
Ah!
Right!
The forgotten god who bestowed powers upon the protagonist in the main story of [Deus Ex Machina].
Deus.
Let’s write about Deus.
A god who saved and sacrificed for this world during the mythological era.
Although not extinct, a god forgotten by all.
By chance, the protagonist finds her ruins and gains the power of Deus.
Well… it’s a real god, but since no one remembers him, and he’s in a half-asleep state, it shouldn’t be a problem to write about Deus, right?
So I wrote the book about Deus.
That became [Something Everyone Living on the Continent Should Read].
Eager, I ran to my father with the book.
But then, his expression darkened sharply.
“This book… where did it come from?”
“I wrote it!”
“Did someone tell you what to write?”
“No! It’s all my original thoughts!”
At that time, I thought my father’s serious look meant my writing was exceptional and felt overjoyed.
“…I see,” he said.
Looking back, I don’t believe that was the case.
My father likely foresaw the tremors my book would cause across the continent just by glancing at it.
“First off, this book must not be shown to anyone.”
“Pardon? I was hoping to sell it…”
“What? Selling your book?”
“Yes! I found something I want to buy, but my allowance isn’t enough… Plus, if the book sells well, it could help our estate!”
“Hmmm… I understand. I’ll think about it. For now, don’t mention this book to anyone. I’ll hold onto it.”
The next day, my father took my book and left our estate for somewhere else.
And weeks later, I finally received my father’s permission to speak of it.
—
“Who would’ve thought my son was chosen by the gods… I can’t afford to be idle now.”
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