BZZZZT! BZZZZT!!! I realize I'm back on earth again. Yesterday was a terrible day in more ways than one. BZZZT! BZZZT! I open my eyes as the alarm clock on top of the wooden drawer buzzes. It's right on the wall in between the bunks, so someone has to get out of bed to shut it off.
One of the boys closest to the alarm looks like he's getting up to shut it off. Which allows my mind to wander back to yesterday.
As I laid in bed yesterday in Etheria, I must've dozed off with the Zodiac stone in my hand. I was torn between sleeping normally - and having a dream - or coming back to earth to spend time with my sister Emily.
I've killed Renalt because he was going to do horrible things to Emily if I let him live. And Johny Jay Edmont is just another person who I have to kill. nothing more, nothing less.
And yet, this is the first time I've felt disgust when killing anyone. Does a part of me want to save him just because he saved me? Do I still have morals somewhere in my heart? What a hypocrite I am.
"Ahh dammit!" I shout to nobody in particular as I walk to the sink in the bathroom, surprising some of the kids around me.
"Good morning, Johar." The children greet me kindly but cautiously.
"Morning guys." I smile politely.
They're weary of me because I don't act my age. Kids pick up on this stuff I guess. But even though I know this, I can't just act like a child. That'd probably just make it worse.
I take a shower after brushing my teeth. Because I've done this so many times in my past life, my body does it all automatically now without having to think about it.
And unfortunately that lets my mind think about whether or not to come up with a plan to spare Johny.
But I can't let myself go down that road. I've seen Johny fight and I will admit he's much better than I am with melee weapons -holding back against someone like that would be suicide. It could be disastrous for my other family.
I think I'll choose normal sleep next time. I'd taken for granted that I'd still be conscious when I escaped to here on Earth for the night.
◈━◈━◈━◈━◈
"Good morning Johar!" My sister Emily taps me on the shoulder as I'm waiting in the breakfast line with a tray in my hand.
"Why didn't you come get me?" She asks with a mixture of worry and annoyance. I had honestly forgotten. I'm being affected by Johny Jay Edmont more than I thought.
"Sorry Emily, I honestly forgot." was all I could say. "..." Oh , did she notice that something's wrong with me? She's looking a little concerned. I can't help but instinctively look away and smile robotically.
"Hey, no cutting in line!" One of the kids shout. "Yeah!" another one chatises her. "Lets go to the back of the line sister." Thankful for the distraction, I grab Emily's hand and lead her to the back of the line. "Ok." She follows me with little resistance.
"Hello Emily." A girl with green hair and glasses joins us at the back of the line. They're both wearing the same uniform: a white blouse with a blue vest and skirt. They're in the same grade.
"Hi Rosie." My sister waves at her.
I believe her name was Rosie Marie Freuid. She usually hangs out in the library after school hours, and is completely glued to the computers. They both share the same love for web novels and light novels.
"Did you watch the Orbi wants cornobi episode yesterday?" Rosie asks. "Yes. It was really cool when dark evader just showed up at the end." Emily chuckles "I can't wait for next week's episode."
As they chit-chat, I can't help but feel relieved that my sister has started to make friends. She's opened up rather quickly, she's a strong girl.
After eating our breakfast, we split up and go to different classrooms. My sister is older than me so she's at a higher grade.
And this is nothing to gloat about, but I'm the smartest kid in my class.
This time around maybe I'll use the black Zodiac stone to get straight A's in this life and open up my future options.
Classes ended in a flash, and honestly it was a great distraction. I never realized how strong the political messages in modern children's stories were. That's all we did in class today, just take turns reading paragraphs from a children's book aloud.
"Hey Johar, you didn't wait for me again!" Emily hugs me from behind as I was once again waiting in the dinner line. Damn, I've been more distracted than I thought. "I'm sorry sister." "Are you okay?" She worriedly asks as she gazes at me.
"Just thinking about our future." I wasn't technically lying though. "Oh. Don't worry too much about it, you have nothing to worry about with me here." She rests her chin on my head. "Hi again Emily, Johar!" Rosie walks up from behind and waves. "Hello Rosie." I give her a salesman-like smile.
After about 15 minutes or so, we finally got our dinner and sat down at an open table. NOM NOM NOM... "Hey, can I have your chicken soup?" Rosie asks me. "Sure, here you go." I push the bowl of soup towards Rose across the table. I'm not too hungry right now, a few bites is the best I can do. But Rosie really seems to love eating.
"Are you going to be at the library again?" I ask her. "Of course, why wouldn't I be? We can't get smartphones, so computers are the only way we can catch updates on online novels."
"Want to go to the library again today?" Emily clasps her hands together.
"Yeah let's." I smile at her. I'll take this opportunity to update my journal.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Hmm hmm hmm..." In the library, Emily happily hums to herself with her head resting on her palms as she reads a book she set on the table.
"Ugh....all the computers are taken." Rosie sighs as she's sitting in across from Emily, and right next to me. "It's rainy season, they don't want the kids playing outside right now." Emily speaks to Rosie with her gaze still on her book. "How about you learn to play an instrument?"
"Sorry, I'm just not interested." Rosie then digs through her backpack. "I think I'll just re-read the novels i secretly printed yesterday."
She then glances over at my diary. "Eeh? What's that?" She looks confused. The look she has on her face is usually what people make when they see my diary. After all, it's written in a language from Etheria.
"It's just a diary. But you won't be able to read it." I smile at her. "Eeh, how interesting." Rosie smiles.
"Can I see?" She then moves closer and leans her head in my direction for a better look.
"Sure." I slide the diary over, just hoping she gets bored of it and move on.
Rosie quickly skims throught the pages for a few minutes, then stops to glare at me. How odd.
"What? Is something wrong?" I ask her confused.
"This language...it's definitely from Etheria!!" She exclaims.
"!!!" What did she just say?! I could hardly believe my ears. Is she an enemy? A friend? My heart begins to pump hard.
"Etheria? Really?" Emily finally looks up at me, her curiosity piqued.
I then quickly grab my journal from Rosie's hands. "Hey what?"
"How do you know about Etheria?" I ask her quietly. "Wow you're really into it huh?" Rosie smiles as a sparkle can be seen her eyes. She then quickly digs out a ream of paper from her backpack, then presents it to me as I read the cover page.
"Extinction of Etheria...?"
"Yup, this is my favourite web novel. It's the story of a princess in a world of magic." Rosie quickly clears her throat "Ahem. She narrowly escapes after her brother assassinated their elder brother and father for the crown." Rosie then wipes a tear from her eye. "It tells a sad tale from her perspective. Nothing good ever happens to her, and all of the demi-humans go extinct in the end."
"That sounds....terrible." especially if it's being told by a person from Etheria's future.
Rosie then puts a finger on her chin "The ending was too sad, so a lot of people are writing fanfics with an alternate ending." She then smiles at me "I didn't know you were one of those people."
"Ahaha, yea..." I laugh, going with the flow. So she thinks my journal is an alternate story fanfic...
I then turn the page to read the first few paragraphs. "....this whole thing is written in the Etherian language?"
"That's the best part about it." Rosie spreads her arms into the sky. "The author published a separate novel teaching us readers about the Etherian language, it's cultures, its world, and its people. As if the author did not want his homeland to be forgotten. It feels so authentic."
She then glances at Emily "Too bad I couldn't get Emily into it."
"Maybe some day, but I don't want to learn another language just to read a light novel." Emily sighs. "It's worth it, I promise." Rosie then turns to me and smiles "Right?"
"Sure." I nod. Relieved that Rosie is just a regular girl, and not someone I have to worry about. (I swear to god I'm not into killing kids okay?! I'm just a normal guy under abnormal circumstances!)
"So....may I read what you wrote? I'm really really bored!" Rosie begs me with her eyes. "Alright, just don't tell my sister what I wrote in it ok?" I whisper as I give the journal back to Rosie.
"Fine fine, she's not interested in the web novel anyway."
"Oooh, a self insertion, I see." Rosie smiles "You're self inserting as a re-incarnated demon-kin that plagiarizes music from earth?!" She laughs. "Wow, that's very creative!"
"..." As she's flipping the pages, I wonder to myself if it's just a coincidence that a random person came up with the world of Etheria and its language?
"Damn, you wrote Viscount Johny Jay Edmont to be a good guy?" Rosie raises an eyebrow at me.
What the hell? Even Johny exists in the novel?! (That confirms it...the author is from Etheria's future!)
"And Chlorine gas? That's creative! Is it really that easy to make though?" Rosie continues to read aloud.
"Um yea." I nod. She gazes at me with doubt in her eyes. I don't blame her, she's just a little girl who probably never heard about World War 1.
"Sounds interesting. I'll have to boogle it later." She says aloud. "It's probably for the best that you don't. You might get arrested." I tease her. "Wha? Seriously?" She says with a disappointed tone in her voice. I didn't get arrested for looking up how to make chloroform but you never know.
I'm still deep in thought when Rosie finally relaxes and leans back in her chair. "Uuuu....it ended in a cliff hanger..." She cries.
"Of course, I'm not finished yet."
"Are you really going to kill off Johny early? Sure he caused Pnakotica's downfall, but killing him now will probably only buy Pnakotica an extra decade at most."
"So he needs to die after all." I say to myself.
"Yeah I didn't like him either." Rosie rests her hands behind her head and looks up to the ceiling lights. She then giggles "But if he really wasn't that bad of a guy, I'd feel so guilty."
"Do you know who the author is?" I ask. If he or she really is the princess of Pnakotica from the future, then I'd like to meet her.
"The author goes by the alias of Princess Miltine Mead Frostborn. Nobody knows anything else except for an email address, but the author never responds." Rosie shrugs.
"Oh I see." I shrug as well. (Damn, demi-humans are going to be extinct in the near future?! I must prepare for war but... will anyone believe me?) I hide my clenched fists.
(I need to bring modern tech into Etheria, environmental consequences be damned!)
"Hey Rosie, do you think I can borrow this for a few days?" I motion to the ream of papers in my hand. (I should burn the story into my memory via the black Zodiac stone.)
"Sure, my heart won't be ready to re-read it again for a while."
Rosie then moves her face close to mine as she whispers "I really like how you integrated the senator's assassination into this fanfic. It fits so well that it's scary."
"....haha yea, gotta make it seem more realistic, right?" I try my best not to panic.
(Shit, maybe I should omit self-incriminating crimes from now on.....)
Pushing that thought aside, I decided that I should ask the isekai experts on advice before I act. "So Rosie, Emily, lets say that you get sent to another world and knew that a war was going to destroy your family...what would you do?" "Eh? What would I do?" Emily looks up at me. "I'd totally make guns and tanks and even nuclear weapons and destroy all the evil kingdoms!" Rosie exclaims.
"Uh...is that even possible? Think about the logistics and manpower involved." I continue. "And even if by some miracle they believed me, it'd take years to assemble researchers and manufacturing plants." I then put a hand on my head "And then I'd also have to create all the tools and equipment from scratch."
"Johar's right. It's impossible." Emily interrupts. "Why's that?" Rosie frowns.
"Etheria is roughly in the same era as the medieval era in this world right?" Rosie and I nod.
"But you know, the truth is that technology in a fantasy world like Etheria is much more primitive than even the medieval era." Emily closes her book, now more interested in engaging in our conversation. "Due to the convenience of magic, the people of Etheria have fallen behind on knowledge such as math, physics, science, and so on, wouldn't you think?"
"Most likely." I nod.
"Ugh, that makes sense." Rosie rolls her eyes. "So the reality is that Etheria is more than a thousand years behind Earth in terms of modern technology?"
"That's right." Emily claps.
(Now that I think about it, I haven't even seen a clock in that world, everyone goes by the sun dial. But they do have compasses...) I think to myself. (Yea, the task to create a modern army is much too herculean to tackle by myself. Not to mention that it'll only get tougher when the technology gets stolen by the enemy...) I decide to give up on such a ridiculous idea.
"So what would you do, sister?" I ask Emily.
"Why don't you just assassinate the people who will cause trouble?" Emily tilts her head. "Just have the dwarves make you a sniper rifle or something?" She puts a hand on her lips as she thinks. "It's much easier than trying to bring up a nation from scratch right?"
"Ah you're right sister, thanks. Now I can continue on with my fanfic." I smile. "Hehe. Glad to be of help." Emily giggles while she swings her feet back and fourth excitedly.
(Assassination is the best option) I quickly conclude to myself. I then put a hand on my head as I could feel an oncoming headache at my next thoughts (But would modern weapons even work against targets that use Zodiac stones? A shotgun slug wasn't even able to dent a magic re-inforced aluminum trash can lid...) I quickly recall being shot at by Renalt's father.
At the end of the day, we were forced out of the library and made to go to our bedrooms. I didn't get the chance to send an email to princess Miltine Mead Frostborn. I thought about sneaking into the library at night, but ultimately decided against it. There really wasn't anything urgent to talk to the author about anyway. All I needed to know was already written down in the novel before me.
I then lay down in bed, ignoring the shouts and laughter of my roommates who are playing some kind of local co-op game together. (Wait a minute. Now that I think about it... why didn't Rosie think it was weird that I knew a language from Etheria without knowing about the novel?) In the end I figured that she was just a kid, and kids always just gloss over things.