Chapter 1

Possession

A cancerous pile of dogshit.

That was my honest impression after reading the final volume of <​The Princess of Fernia>, a novel my older sister had recommended because I was bored.

The genre was romance fantasy.

True to romance fantasy, the characters were driven mad by love and acted in unbearably frustrating ways.

A Demon King suddenly appeared.

The world was destroyed.

And then it abruptly ended with a bad ending.

It was such a trash-tier novel that even using it as toilet paper would be a waste.

Why on earth did my sister think this was fun...?

I simply couldn't understand it.

“My sister is never going to make it as a novelist.”

To earn my college tuition and living expenses, I had to go to my part-time job early tomorrow morning.

For the first time in a while, I went to bed early.

And the next day.

When I opened my eyes, I had been transported into the world of <​The Princess of Fernia>.

_____________

A world that was doomed to perish anyway.

If I'd been transported into a noble, I could have squandered my fortune, enjoyed myself to the fullest, and died without regrets.

The kid I had been transported into was Carniel.

Far below average.

I had become the third son of a family so dysfunctional that calling them criminals wouldn't have been strange.

I lived hand to mouth at the very bottom, like a gutter rat.

“My son. Never forget that your hands must always be faster than your eyes.”

I treated theft like basic education and did all sorts of things just to survive.

As usual, I stole milk and bread.

Because my little sister's hands were slow, the shopkeeper caught us, and the guards chased after us.

I ran like crazy.

Panting for breath, I rounded a corner.

And crashed straight into an old woman.

“Don't touch my little sister! I made her do it.”

“You're nothing but lowborn trash, yet you don't want to see your little sister get beaten? How amusing!”

The guards slapped me across the face.

“People like you belong in the mines, digging ore until you die!”

They grabbed my little sister and me by the ears and yanked as though they meant to tear them off.

“Stop.”

The shabbily dressed old woman raised a hand toward the guards.

At once, the hand holding me let go.

The guards bowed their heads without saying a single word.

Only then did I realize it.

The old woman in front of me was no ordinary person.

“Little one. What's your name?”

“...Carniel.”

“You possess a talent that any mage would covet.”

“...I'm sorry, but I don't believe in cults.”

“Hoho. Talent isn't enough to describe it. I would say it's closer to a blessing.”

The old woman's name was Mahodelne.

She was the master of the Magic Tower.

From that day onward, my life changed completely.

Because I entered the Magic Tower, a place I had thought would have nothing whatsoever to do with me.

______________

Life in the Magic Tower was not easy.

“The essence of mana is everything that constitutes the world...”

I had to study magic every day.

“Today's examination subject is paralysis magic.”

There was an exam every week.

Since this was a romance fantasy world, I had expected a sweet life in the Magic Tower.

The kind of cliched romance where I'd eat and study while hanging out with pretty girls, only for love to blossom.

Reality was nothing like that.

Magic required you to solve every problem on your own to an almost cruel degree.

Just because someone taught you their know-how didn't mean your skills would instantly improve.

You had to try things yourself, fail, and discover magic of your own.

So naturally.

There were no such things as study groups for learning magic.

At least, that was what I believed for quite a long time.

‘They were secretly giggling among themselves and playing at romance...?’

Later, I found out there were a few small groups.

Well.

They weren't groups that some unknown commoner like me could join anyway.

They were basically social gatherings where royalty and nobles used studying magic as an excuse to get together and socialize.

‘Living my life just digging into magic doesn't sound too bad.’

It was difficult at first, but I gradually grew accustomed to life in the Magic Tower.

Perhaps it was because I'd always harbored fantasies and dreams about fantasy worlds and magic.

The process of learning magic was incredibly fun.

More than anything, the life I had lived as Carniel had been the absolute bottom.

Compared to that, life in the Magic Tower was practically heaven.

As long as I studied, they provided food and drink.

They even provided clothes and a place to sleep.

Just being able to live without worrying about starving to death was the greatest welfare imaginable.

“Why can't you do this?”

Just as the Great Sage Mahodelne had said, it seemed I truly was blessed by magic.

Whatever magic I learned, I mastered it immediately.

Any spell I learned once quickly became my own.

The word failure had absolutely nothing to do with me.

Whenever I took an exam, whether written or practical, I always took first place.

“Carniel, your understanding of magic astonishes me every time I see it.”

“To think you understood it faster than I did after I've researched it for decades...”

“Carniel, the method you just used could overturn existing magical theory from the ground up!”

The attitudes of the professors who had looked down on me for being from the streets also gradually changed as time passed.

And eventually, I.

Graduated at the top of my class as the youngest ever.

Graduated at the top of my class in the shortest time ever.

I set dozens of records as the first in the history of the Magic Tower.

The little boy who once stole milk and bread on the streets had become a mage who left an unprecedented record in the history of the Magic Tower.

____________

Mahodelne offered me a position as a professor at the Magic Tower.

I refused the offer.

“What a shame... Is there perhaps another reason?”

“You probably wouldn't believe me even if I told you.”

I, who had originally been nothing more than an unknown nobody, had surpassed Marina, who was supposed to become the greatest mage on the continent in the original story, and taken her place.

Perhaps the course of the world had been distorted because of me.

Ardel von Fernia, the first princess of the Kingdom of Fernia.

I had to meet the heroine of <​The Princess of Fernia>.

I needed to check her current situation and everything she had experienced thus far.

Only then could I calculate exactly when the Demon King from the original story would appear.

Carniel, born on the streets.

There was one modifier attached to my name that could never be erased.

However.

One blessed by magic, the likes of whom might appear only once every several thousand years.

An unprecedented genius who shattered every record in the Magic Tower.

The strongest mage on the Solios Continent.

All sorts of titles buried the label of being from the streets.

Among the nobles of the Kingdom of Fernia, there were almost none who didn't know my name.

No, there wasn't a single one.

I didn't even need to approach anyone first. People flocked to me on their own even if I simply stood still.

“Lord Carniel, do you think my daughter might also have a talent for magic?”

“If we could only forge a connection with Lord Carniel, it would be the greatest honor for our family.”

“If the continent's greatest mage could offer even a single piece of advice, it would be an enormous help.”

Building connections with the nobles was easier than I had expected.

Before long, I was invited to a banquet attended only by royalty and nobles.

Ardel, the heroine, was also at the banquet hall.

I intended to approach the heroine first.

But there was no need for me to do that.

Perhaps because of my title as the continent's greatest mage, Ardel approached me first.

“To think I'd get to meet the person behind all those mysterious rumors in person... It's fascinating.”

As we talked, I naturally confirmed the path her life had taken so far.

Aside from the episodes involving Marina, it was exactly the same as the original story.

Ardel was exactly twenty years old now.

Exactly three years younger than me.

There were roughly five years left until the Demon King appeared.

There was plenty of time to prepare.

Without realizing it, I let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing that, Ardel tilted her head and chuckled.

“Carniel. You were just grilling me about my life, so why are you suddenly sighing? You're a lot stranger than I thought.”

“Am I?”

“I thought all mages were stuffy and only talked about boring things, but you're a little different. You have a strange charm.”

“You're pretty too, just like a heroine should be.”

“...Heroine?”

“Your cheeks look red right now.”

“...I-I don't know! Instead of just standing around, how about we dance?”

Ardel held out her hand and asked me to dance.

It was difficult to refuse.

There was no reason to refuse either.

That night, Ardel and I spent a sweet time together, like a midsummer night's dream.

‘What should I have done back then?’

Looking back now, when Ardel asked me to dance, I should have rejected her on the spot.

If I had, many people might not have lost their lives.

Well.

It's already in the past.

I don't particularly regret it.

I was never much of a philanthropist to begin with.

______________

Five years passed surprisingly quickly.

I created a prophecy spell that didn't actually exist, pretended to use it, and prophesied that the Demon King would appear in five years.

“D-Demon King...?”

Perhaps because the words came from me, the strongest mage on the continent, the kingdoms of the Solios Continent prepared for war against the Demon King despite their doubts.

They used national funds to gather troops and train soldiers.

They forged weapons and expanded defensive facilities.

And at last, the Demon King and the demons appeared.

From that day onward, a war that shook the entire Solios Continent began.

“All forces, retreat!”

According to the original story's setting, the demons were the creators of magic.

Even though we had prepared for the war in advance, the situation wasn't particularly favorable.

As victories and defeats repeated, the cities and villages that became battlefields were reduced to ruins.

The longer the war dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for us.

An army falls apart when its leader disappears.

That was why I proposed a small elite force to assassinate the Demon King: the Hero's Party.

“My name is Sieghart. It's an honor to meet the strongest mage on the continent.”

“I'm Carniel. It's nice to meet the hero blessed by the Goddess, and the male lead himself.”

“...Male lead?”

Sieghart, the strongest among the heroes.

A party was formed around me, the strongest mage on the continent.

And after an entire year of going through all kinds of hell, we finally succeeded in killing the Demon King.

____________

Three months had passed since the Demon King died.

The horns that symbolized demons could no longer be found anywhere on the Solios Continent.

At last, the war was over.

Peace returned to the world.

Sieghart.

We had become close, so I simply called him Sieg.

Before the victory parade was held in the Kingdom of Fernia.

Sieg approached me with a serious expression devoid of his usual playfulness.

“Can I say that I contributed the most to killing the Demon King and the demons?”

“Do whatever you want.”

To begin with, I wasn't particularly interested in anything besides magic.

And.

Perhaps because I had been in the spotlight ever since I was young.

I had grown tired of and annoyed by other people's attention and interest.

“Carniel, thank you so much! There's actually someone I want to impress. That's why.”

“I didn't ask why, and I'm not curi—”

“What exactly is your relationship with Ardel?”

“There's nothing between us.”

Sieg carefully studied my expression as though checking whether I was lying.

“Are you serious?”

“To be precise, our relationship is that Ardel comes over and talks to me first, and I answer her.”

“Carniel! You're seriously way too indifferent. How can you be that oblivious to a woman's feelings?”

“My ears hurt, so stop shouting right next to me.”

The night before we left to subjugate the Demon King, Ardel had come to my room.

“Carniel. What are we to each other?”

“Friends.”

“...I-is that so? I like you. Do you like me too?”

“Of course.”

As a friend, that is.

If you asked whether there was any possibility of our relationship developing into romance.

My answer would be, “Not at all.”

Ardel's appearance was beautiful enough to rank among the finest on the Solios Continent.

There's a saying that all a woman needs is to be young and beautiful.

However.

That isn't true.

A woman needs to be young, beautiful, and have a big heart too.

Ardel was young and beautiful.

But the size of her heart was ordinary.

So I didn't feel attracted to her as a woman at all.

“What were you suddenly thinking about? You don't remember what I said, do you?”

“What did you say? Did you just launch a confession attack on me or something? Why are your cheeks red? It's gross when a guy does that.”

“Carniel. I really like Ardel. So please help me get together with her.”

“Sure.”

“Really?”

“It'd be nice to see the male lead and heroine end up together.”

Sieg placed a hand on my shoulder and repeatedly thanked me, saying he was truly grateful.

He said he'd give me anything I needed and asked what I wanted.

I answered that the Demon King's heart would be enough.

Sieg immediately asked the other party members whether it was all right to give me the Demon King's heart.

Since I had practically killed the Demon King by myself anyway, no one had any particular objections, and they handed the Demon King's heart over to me.

“Let's go! To the Kingdom of Fernia!”

We set out for the Kingdom of Fernia in high spirits.

On the way, Sieg kept asking me for romantic advice.

What he should say to Ardel.

How he should act to make her like him.

He endlessly asked me all sorts of things.

It was obvious from Sieg's face that he was dreaming of a happy future together with Ardel.

Since I wanted my friend to be happy too, I sincerely answered all of his questions about romance.

Before long, we arrived in the Kingdom of Fernia.

A grand victory parade and banquet were held.

And that night.

Ardel became pregnant.