Noir often pondered the true meaning of nobility.
“Noir, you must become a noble worthy of the Leonhart name.”
These words were a constant refrain from her father.
‘What even is a noble?’
‘What does it mean to be noble?’
She yearned to read fairy tales, not this tedious mathematics textbook.
She longed to suck on a piece of candy, rather than the pebbles that inevitably found their way into her mouth while tumbling in the training grounds.
Instead of dizzying magic circles, she wished to draw pictures in a notebook.
These were the fundamental desires of any child.
Yet, they were desires deemed unbecoming of a noble.
Whenever Noir displayed such ignoble inclinations, her father would bring a switch down upon her thigh.
-Crack.
With a single strike, her skin broke.
‘I hate nobles.’
‘Nobles always cause me pain.’
-Crack.
After a second strike, her wound bled anew.
Her father’s eyes, always demanding nobility, only served to choke the life out of her.
-Crack.
A third strike chipped away at her spirit.
Occasionally, however, there were moments when being a noble seemed good.
Each time she exhibited noble qualities, her father would embrace her, and in his arms, she found happiness.
When she simply obeyed her father, the gaze he bestowed upon her would often become her sole source of hope.
‘Ah, I see.’
‘I simply have to become a noble…’
-Crack.
And with that fourth strike, her spirit was finally broken.
‘Nobility.’
‘What truly is a noble?’
‘It’s not being allowed to read fairy tales.’
‘It’s not being allowed to suck on candy.’
‘It’s not being allowed to draw.’
‘It’s everything I never want to be.’
‘And yet, it is what I must become.’
On the day her spirit shattered.
Noir ceased to question the concept of nobility.
She simply became a horse, galloping forward at her father’s command, towards the path of nobility.
Her father, she knew, would not stop the switch until the horse collapsed from exhaustion.
****
Her father was dead.
Noir, in defiant denial, could not believe the news of his passing.
Or rather, she refused to believe it.
Just as a wild, runaway horse ignores the shouts of people, she, too, covered her ears, refusing to heed their words.
‘It can’t be.’
‘It’s impossible.’
‘It couldn’t be…’
For what, then, had she been running all this time?
What was this nobility that had only ever left her feeling so utterly empty?
“Father….Father…!”
Only upon seeing his lifeless body, carried into the mansion, did Noir finally grasp the stark reality.
Like a runaway horse, having lost its driver, crashing headfirst into the ground, Noir, too, collapsed onto the floor.
Just as a horse whose legs have buckled can no longer walk, Noir, her spirit already broken, could no longer put faith in the word ‘nobility’.
****
‘I must become a noble.’
‘Must I become a noble?’
‘I must follow my father’s will.’
‘But Father is no longer by my side?’
‘What am I…?’
‘What am I supposed to be?’
‘What am I supposed to do?’
‘Father, please tell me.’
‘Please, tell me where I should go.’
‘Please…’
****
A month had passed since Noir’s father died.
She drifted aimlessly.
Having lost the signpost of ‘nobility,’ she found herself utterly lost in a vast plain.
The person who had forced the facade of nobility upon her was gone.
Yet, so too was the one who had shown her the way.
Now, she simply repeated the mundane routines of her days, utterly unaware of what she truly desired.
****
It was by chance.
Pure coincidence that the door to the maids’ lounge was ajar, and a strikingly colorful book caught Noir’s eye as she walked down the corridor.
Unlike the stiff, unadorned covers of the countless textbooks she usually read, this one was exceptionally vibrant.
Just as a butterfly is drawn to a brilliant flower, Noir’s feet were drawn to that dazzling cover.
With trembling hands, she reached for the book resting on the table and examined its title.
[The Sword Noble Family’s Magic Genius Reverses Time. Volume 1]
‘A sword noble family?’
‘Is it a story about a family of swordsmen?’
‘But a magic genius?’
‘They can reverse time?’
‘I’m curious.’
‘I’m incredibly curious about the story.’
After confirming no one was around, Noir tucked the book into her clothes and fled to her room.
This was an act the ‘old’ Noir, constrained by the demands of nobility, would never have dared.
Yet, for the ‘new’ Noir, who now questioned nobility, it was entirely possible.
****
“Th-this is…!”
The book Noir had brought was a popular novel sold in the common market.
It was merely an imitation of a hit novel, brimming with sensational elements purely to ride a fleeting trend.
It was nothing more than that.
It was the kind of novel her father would undoubtedly have deemed “low-brow” and tossed into the fireplace.
But for Noir, who was encountering such a story for the very first time in her life, this novel was nothing short of a revolution.
The plot of the novel was straightforward.
A child named Aiz, born as the youngest son of the prestigious Paradon sword family, was ostracized within the household due to his inferior swordsmanship talent.
Aiz, who had lived a lifetime of solitude, eventually discovered his innate magical talent and used it to turn back time, changing everything.
Noir herself realized the novel was preposterous.
The mentions of a prestigious family were utter nonsense; magic that could reverse time simply didn’t exist.
[“Have I…. have I come to the past!?”]
[“Yes, I know. This is the Paradon way. But I will change Paradon.”]
[“Ha, haha… Yes… I am now the head of Paradon…!”]
And yet,
it was incredibly entertaining.
‘Is this… a book?’
‘What on earth have I been reading all this time?’
Ultimately, Noir stayed up all night, devouring the borrowed book from cover to cover.
Deep dark circles shadowed her eyes.
Blood trickled from her nose, yet it had been an immensely satisfying night.
The following morning.
Lucius and the other household staff, upon seeing her face, offered words of concern, but Noir barely registered them.
What she truly needed now was not comfort, but the entertainment novels sold in the common market.
****
[The Blind Swordsman in a Romance Fantasy Gained Fraudulent Skills.]
[Reincarnated as the Scapegoat in a Novel, I Will Do My Best to Survive.]
[Let’s See How Those Bastards Live Without Me.]
[I Became a Mage Obsessed Over by Nobles.]
‘It’s fun.’
‘It’s fun.’
‘So much fun…!’
‘It’s too…too much fun…!’
‘My hands can’t stop turning the pages!’
‘So this is what a novel is…!’
‘Ah, I’ve been living for this moment, for this very instant!’
From that day forward, Noir secretly ventured into the common market to purchase entertainment novels, which she devoured late into the night.
She secretly discarded the textbooks on her shelves that she deemed useless.
And replaced them with novels.
Noir consumed at least five novels a day.
Whenever she found a spare moment, she would pull out a hidden novel from her bookshelf and read.
It was nothing short of a miracle that she managed to maintain her usual daily routine at all.
“Hehe, hehehe….”
‘This is truly, truly wonderful…!’
****
A week before the Golden Emperor Festival, the grand celebration of the metropolis Preas.
“Ahhh~ I really want to fight~”
“Please don’t speak so loudly, Seven.”
Dante and Maria had arrived in Preas in advance to assess the city’s situation.
“By the way, it’s been a while since I’ve seen your bare face.”
“Seven, you really should keep your face covered.”
We weren’t wearing masks now because we were simply scouting Preas before the operation.
Wearing masks would only draw unnecessary attention, and since Dante already knew my face, there was no particular reason for me to wear one.
As for Dante, he never wore a mask to begin with.
“Nevertheless, I’m disappointed.”
“About what?”
“I came here expecting a lot from the Golden Emperor Festival, but I don’t sense the aura of any truly strong individuals.”
An undefeated gladiator, by chance, met a young boy and swore loyalty to him, becoming his knight.
The boy, overcoming hardships with his knight, became the emperor of the empire, and he bestowed the title of duke upon the knight who had been with him since childhood.
This was the origin of the Preas family.
The Golden Emperor Festival was a celebration held to commemorate the meeting of the gladiator and the boy.
People from across the nation gathered in the arena, competing in a variety of categories, from martial arts and magic to art, cooking, and singing.
Because of this background, Preas was adopted as the setting for the PVP Arena, which unlocked in the game Destiny after clearing stage 3-12.
Though ostensibly a PVP event, in reality, it was merely a contest of who had better luck and who had spent more money, making it quite dreadful.
“Naturally. The Golden Emperor Festival is a competition for young people just starting their journey. True masters don’t bother coming to the Golden Emperor Festival.”
The Golden Emperor Festival spanned three days.
Not only were the formidable individuals capable of satisfying Dante not idle enough to spare three days, but the Golden Emperor Festival also carried the meaning of a celebration for new encounters, much like when the first emperor met the gladiator.
Naturally, the participants were budding talents, eager to showcase their skills and elevate their reputations.
Those who already possessed sufficient skill and renown had no particular reason to participate.
Later, the Emperor and the head of the Leonhart family, finding this regrettable, would establish the Grand Arena, a competition exclusively for the strongest, but that was a story for a much later time.
For reference, the Grand Arena, often referred to as ‘G.A.’, was a quarterly PVP event in the actual game, serving as a battlefield for ‘whales’ (TL Note: A term for players who spend a significant amount of money in a game.).
The saying that anyone below rank 1000 in the Grand Arena, or ‘G.A.’, should “shut their mouths” was a recurring topic that ignited the game’s community forums every quarter.
