Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue
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[Inheriting the Novel Chapter 1]
Prologue
My father was a madman.
Or more precisely, he suddenly went mad one day.
It happened about ten years ago, when Father had his horse-riding accident.
He lay bedridden for a long while and only opened his eyes after a full month had passed.
But the father who awoke was no longer the one I knew.
I still remember it clearly.
The way he asked where this place was, who he was, and what year it was.
And a few days later, he said with a look of utter despair:
"It's all over now."
It would be years before I understood what those words meant.
* * *
"Sir Clay Banheart! Are you inside?"
I was in the middle of taking off my sweat-soaked clothes when I heard the voice from outside the tent. I hurriedly straightened myself up and lifted the tent flap.
Outside stood a supply officer clutching a white envelope.
"Come on in."
"No need for that. ...Listen without being too shocked."
The strange look on his face made me uneasy.
What could it be that he's hesitating like this?
"Count Banheart has passed away."
"...Pardon?"
I couldn't immediately grasp what the supply officer was saying.
Only after some time passed did I manage to open my mouth and ask:
"Is it true? That Father has passed... Is that really true?"
"Yes. I just received word along with this letter."
He patted my shoulder and handed me the single sheet of paper.
I stood there blankly, holding the letter, for what felt like ages.
When I came to my senses, I was alone in the tent.
"...Father."
I looked down at the half-crumpled letter and checked the sender and recipient.
Surprisingly, it was from Father—to me.
'I never expected Father to write me a letter.'
Father was a man I both loved and hated.
He was the very reason the once-prosperous Banheart family had fallen into ruin.
After the accident, he acted like a completely different person, engaging in all sorts of bizarre behaviors—like trying to buy worthless land or hoarding items no one else wanted.
But none of those antics ever paid off.
No family or merchant would lend money to a man rumored to be insane, and our already-ruined house had no funds left to buy land or goods anyway.
Father refused to accept his failures, but the family was beyond saving.
In the end, he shut himself away in his room.
That left it to me to somehow revive the family—for the few retainers who still remained with House Banheart, if nothing else.
'And this war was supposed to be that chance.'
The war between the Kingdom of Talua, sharing our border, and the Kingdom of Kainzel.
This sudden conflict was the perfect opportunity to restore our fallen house.
I hated leaving Father, who had become little more than a shut-in, but I had no choice. If I let this moment slip, who knew when another chance would come.
'Why leave a letter at the very end?'
After Father changed, we had never once had a proper conversation.
Yet here he was, writing me a letter right before his death.
'Did he perhaps regain his sanity in his final moments?'
I carefully tore open the envelope and read the first line.
Where one might expect a casual greeting.
But what was written there was anything but.
「I am the author and possessor of this novel.」
I furrowed my brow and reread the first line several times.
The handwriting was unmistakably Father's.
But what kind of nonsense was this?
"Author and possessor?"
It was no words from a sane mind.
I barely resisted the urge to toss the letter straight into the trash.
No matter what, this was Father's final words to me.
"Hmm...?"
Yet the more I read, the more I found myself drawn into the letter's contents.
To sum it up:
This world was a novel, and Father was its author.
One day, he had suddenly possessed the body of a man called Count Karn Banheart and lived as him ever since.
For reference, the possession happened ten years ago.
Right when Father fell from his horse during a ride and lay unconscious for a long time.
'...His personality did change around then.'
Come to think of it, some of the things Father had tried back then had turned into miraculous successes when others followed through.
What everyone else dismissed as Father's ravings had worked perfectly for them.
They gained immense wealth and power, their names spreading across the kingdom.
If only things had gone as Father planned back then, it would have been House Banheart reaping those rewards.
The thought still made my stomach churn.
'If Father had known what was going to happen in advance...'
It even made his actions back then make sense.
「The man I possessed was Karn Banheart, patriarch of House Banheart and the life-saver of the protagonist.」
Life-saver of the protagonist?
That seemed to be Father's role in this world.
After lamenting his plight, the letter went on exclusively about the 'protagonist.'
How important he was to this world, and what he had to do.
But then:
「The protagonist is dead.」
That single sentence rendered it all meaningless.
「Count Karn Banheart's role was to rescue a boy dying in an alley named Fabian and take him in as a family servant.」
Fabian.
That appeared to be the protagonist's name.
The problem was, while Father lay unconscious from his fall, Fabian had died.
"...Hold on."
Did that mean there was no protagonist in this world?
No, no. This was just Father's delusion.
Still, something nagged at me.
'He always muttered that it was all over...'
Now I finally understood what he meant. Father had realized the protagonist was dead.
There were only a few lines left in the letter.
With growing unease, I read on.
「I am dying now. It pains me to close my eyes without seeing the end of this novel turned failure because its protagonist died. A world without its protagonist will steadily march toward destruction. Because this world is reality, not a novel.」
And that was the end of the letter.
Even dismissing it as the ravings of a mad father, a chill fear welled up in my chest.
Father's actions all these years.
The things he had said.
They fit together too neatly to be mere delusions.
I reread the letter and, just in case, checked the back of the page. There was one more line, written alongside my name: Clay Banheart.
「Clay, you treated a man like me as your father to the end. Even when I was called a madman. Even when I saw you as mere characters in a novel and never once properly responded.」
It was as if I could hear Father's calm voice in my ears.
「I couldn't give you a father's love, but as your creator who brought you into being, I want to give you a gift. From now on, this novel is yours. You are the only one who can fix it.」
I stared at those words, entranced.
「Clay, from now on, you are the author of this novel.」
Right then, the final line struck my mind like thunder.
I couldn't make sense of the inexplicable phenomenon.
"Urk?!"
My head spun, my vision darkened, and all strength drained from my body.
What was happening? I shook my head, but strange things began appearing before my eyes.
[Role in story: 'Ghostwriter' added.]
[Ability: 'Setting Check' added.]
[Ability: 'Setting Addition' added.]
[Ability: 'Synopsis' added.]
Was I hallucinating?
I couldn't comprehend the words floating in midair or what trick this was.
And I had no time to figure it out.
My breath caught, and my vision gradually faded to black.
'No, Father.
What did you do to this letter?'
With that, I blacked out completely.