Chapter: 108
As soon as Princess Is left the reception room, Isollet entered the room.
She stared at the door for a moment before sitting down across from me, resting her chin on her hand.
“Looks like I’m a bit late?”
“Uh?”
“I wanted to be the first one here… Well, it can’t be helped.”
Is this first-come, first-served thing really that important to Princess Is and Isollet?
Isollet clicked her tongue, as if a bit disappointed, and pulled out a letter envelope from her pocket, handing it to me. She then simply said as if it was no big deal.
“Fan letter.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“Did Princess Is give you one, too?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmmm… But you know, Homeros, your very first fan is me, right? I’ve been a fan since we were kids… No, even way before that.”
“Pff, that’s true.”
“We were both so young back then… Isn’t it amazing when you think about it now?”
“Uh?”
Suddenly, Isollet gave me a playful smile.
That smile felt strangely familiar. With her chin resting gently on her hand, she looked up at me with a cheeky smile that was…
Incredibly familiar.
“It’s funny to think that there are people who fall in love with such a bumbling person like me.”
“……”
“Right, senpai?”
“……”
In that moment.
I wasn’t quite sure what emotion I was feeling. Maybe I was so shocked that my mind went blank, or perhaps I was so terrified that goosebumps covered me.
It felt as if all my memories were flying away from the utter confusion.
How my expression looked at that moment must have made Isollet feel flustered, leading her to chuckle awkwardly.
“…Pff, I’m just kidding. I saw something really impressive in a novel and decided to try imitating it.”
“……”
“Did it feel a bit real?”
“……”
“Hey, you’re not too startled, are you? How should I deal with you being so naive?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
“…Honestly, I sometimes had dreams. Probably, um, not long after we parted ways as kids. Back then, I fell asleep every night reading the fairy tales you wrote for me… They were strange dreams. So strange that as soon as I woke up from them, I’d completely forget…”
“……”
“But that moment just when I’d wake up from the dream, I remember vividly. I think on those days I’d wake up saying, ‘I had the same dream again.’”
“Haa…”
Finally, I let out a deep sigh filled with too many emotions and had no choice but to hold my throbbing head.
“After I died…”
“Uh?”
“After I died… what happened to you, my junior?”
…
After that, I can’t quite recall our exact conversation.
All I remember is that my mind turned blank, and I kept repeating questions endlessly.
According to Isollet’s ‘dream’, after my death, my junior organized, edited, and published all the works I translated. And through a ‘Translator’s Note’, they left a message in all those translations saying they were “the translations left by the senior I respected before they died.”
That managed to stir quite a buzz in the online community, and thanks to that, the translated works I did also sold pretty well, leading to the expansion of the publishing house. They even started acquiring rights for foreign bestsellers for translation instead of just relying on public domain works.
And…
Though my junior became the chief editor of the publishing house, they immediately resigned after organizing all the works I translated.
That was where Isollet’s dream ended.
“……”
“Ed…?”
I couldn’t look her in the eyes, just quietly closed my own as I reflected on what she said.
As the world turned darker, my thoughts became clearer.
“……”
“Uh…?”
What did she think when organizing my works after I died?
I still didn’t know.
Understanding a person’s heart can be incredibly difficult, and no matter how much I tried to speculate on my own, I could only sink deeper into a labyrinth.
I can’t understand people.
“……”
“You… right now…”
I felt half the inspiration I got from literature was absent when it came to people.
Not even half the love I have for literature can compare with how I love people.
Not even half the sorrow literature has consoled me with can compare to how I mourn for people.
“……”
“Are you crying…? Huh…?”
So, the remark that I was “crying” must surely be an utterly absurd lie from Isollet.
The handkerchief she handed to me…
The messiness and shine caused by moisture…
Neither of them could possibly be tears.
“……”
When I didn’t accept the handkerchief, Isollet took it upon herself to gently wipe away my tears. She didn’t say anything for a long time. In the quiet reception room, the sound of the handkerchief brushing against my eyes seemed to be the loudest thing.
Her fingertips brushed against my cheek along with the handkerchief.
It felt soft. I wasn’t sure which was softer, the handkerchief or Isollet’s fingertips.
After receiving comfort in silence for a while…
I finally managed to mumble a few things with many trial and errors.
“…Thank you, Isollet.”
“It’s my pleasure, Ed.”
…
After Isollet, a few more fan letters and some guests came to visit me.
Among the guests was the chief magician from the Magic Tower.
“I had a dream about ties from previous lives…? Hmm… That’s interesting…. I really don’t think it’s impossible…”
“Is that so?”
“The principle of twin communication in the Blue Tower is quite similar… They share similarities… So twins can engage in telepathic magic by sharing memories or intentions…”
“Hmm.”
“In a different context… In the Red Tower, if you can interact with the ‘same subject,’ it is said to possess magical equivalence… There were even ancient rites that utilized this… So… it might be possible for you to establish relationships with similar interactions and obtain equivalence based on you… Using that to extract someone’s memories could potentially work…”
“Is that so?”
“Actually, I’m not sure…”
“Really?”
“It could just be a wild dream… it could just be a brain’s illusion created by combining memories… Your basic principles are that… Ultimately, human minds are imperfect, and they can mistake one thing for another, right? The reason dreams have meaning is that they aren’t reality…”
“……”
“Ha ha… Still, it was an interesting story… If you have any questions, feel free to come find me…”
As always, with a languid voice and eyes sparkling like a panda thanks to dark circles.
The chief magician confidently stated.
“Because I’m the chief, you know…”
“Oh, yes…”
…
After the tumultuous times passed.
Eventually, normalcy returned, just like always.
To start off talking about literature, “Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World” gave birth to a new genre in the Empire known as “light novels”. While similar to the heroic fantasy genre’s pulp fiction, this new genre flows lighter and focuses on character development.
It seems there have also been spin-offs such as “Surviving as a Chef in Another World” and “Surviving as a Board Game Creator in Another World”.
A few other changes took place, the most significant being the widespread ‘writing culture’. Thanks to the Homeros Foundation’s continuous support for writers, now over 30% of the Empire’s citizens reportedly have a published book under their name.
Part of my aim to create a ‘publishing-centered society’ has been somewhat fulfilled.
Additionally, the existing child welfare foundation transferred its rights to the royal family and was restructured at an institutional level to provide universal welfare for children. Because of that, I set a record stating that I “donated a fortune worth half the Empire’s value,” a record that will likely hold for centuries.
After all, the Homeros Foundation still holds oversight rights over the child welfare foundation, and the existing personnel have also been handed over, so most of the foundation remains under my control.
Moreover…
The existing Imperial Academy was separated from the “Homeros Literary Academy”, creating a massive building solely for literary education.
This literary academy, styled like a library, has been filled with all the literature from my past lives. So, I’m talking about thousands of works from my previous life. I even included “Translator’s Notes” explaining the history and background of each work.
Using those works as teaching materials for literature, the competition rate for the Homeros Literary Academy constantly broke historical records.
With the Empire’s finest talents coming from the literary academy, naturally, mainstream culture and literature have intertwined to a point where they’re inseparable. Even after hundreds of years, literature will likely still hold its place in mainstream culture.
Thus…
Most of the things I longed for have been accomplished.
Traditionally, at this point, I would have said, “I’ve achieved everything I needed to and have no regrets in dying,” while smiling, but… unfortunately, I achieved all these things at too young an age.
Therefore, this story ends like this.
“Son. So when are you planning to get married?”
“Uh?”
“Aren’t you at the age where you should start worrying about marriage?”
“…I’ll think about it slowly.”
“I think marrying your cousin isn’t a bad idea. Of course, many hesitate nowadays for various reasons… but it used to be quite common.”
“Uh?”
“Oh, Ed, I actually like that Princess Is. She’s so bold…”
“Uh?”
[Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World – The End]
######
[Final Note]
“Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World” is complete!
It’s been long or short, but this story has come to an end. Even though this is the final note, it seems like there’s still some afterword or side stories I’d need to write (If I end here, the readers probably won’t let me off the hook).
As I mentioned a few chapters back, this novel was born from inspiration drawn from the novel “Otherworldly Game Developer”.
If I were to summarize “Otherworldly Game Developer” briefly—it’s a simple concept of [making money by plagiarizing classics like Tetris and other games in another world]. After reading that novel, I pondered how this concept of ‘cultural victory in another world’ could be applied to ‘literature,’ which led to the birth of “Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World.”
“The classics have value to read, even as time flows and eras change,” was the theme of this novel. It’s my belief as well.
Of course, separate from the value of literature, the commercial success of literature is determined by the social context of the time. There are novels like “The Great Gatsby” that received no appreciation during the author’s lifetime, and conversely, some novels become immediate hits upon publication.
Thus, a historical background that could allow the ‘novel to succeed’ was necessary.
After much contemplation, I ultimately concluded that utilizing actual historical backgrounds would feel the most convincing. It was an era when “chivalric literature with only the names of the characters changed” was popular—i.e., the “Renaissance.” This indicates that there were people who loved “chivalric literature,” meaning that “Don Quixote” must have been destined to succeed.
Don Quixote is considered the ‘last knightly literature,’ after all.
Anyone who loves chivalric literature cannot possibly hate Don Quixote…
Most of the episodes in this novel begin from this ‘motive.’
Many things were drawn from actual history, characters from novels that were the subject of episodes, themes of those works or events, and anecdotes about the authors of those works—elements from these all served as inspiration. These motives were all adapted to fit the theme of the respective episodes.
Beyond the obvious, many hidden works have contributed to the motives, making it one of the fun elements of reading this novel to find such ‘motives’ (Occasionally, it makes me happy when titles of the borrowed works appear in the comments. Most aren’t novels but also famous non-fiction works, columns, and essays).
While writing this novel and reading readers’ comments, I felt so many people still love literature.
I could finish this novel entirely thanks to you readers.
As long as there are people like you who enjoy literature, I believe literature will never be forgotten and will thrive forever.
If I had one wish, it would be for you all to write your own pieces.
There are no limits in literature. There are no set formats or required certifications. Like web novels, its form may evolve to fit new environments, or it may lead to trends in writing aimed to comfort modern individuals weary of life, like several bestsellers in bookstores.
You can be an author too. Just clicking the ‘new novel registration’ button on Nobelpia makes anyone a writer.
I support your literature!
A word from the author (Author’s Note): Starting next week, a side story will be serialized. Probably. This is the final registered episode.
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