“...ouch.”

 

Shun sat up on the bed and winced. The right side of his face was still throbbing with pain, although it had begun to subside. 

 

“Looks like you’re awake, sir.” 

 

A nurse in her early twenties came into the spacious ward through the open doorway. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Um, fine, I think?” He looked around at his surroundings. “This place is…”

 

“The infirmary in the Church.” She approached him and observed the bruise on his cheek. “Mm…give it time and it will heal on its own. You’re lucky your nose wasn’t broken, sir.” 

 

“I see…thanks for taking care of me.”

 

“No problem, it’s our mission as nuns to follow Goddess Irelena’s teachings and help whoever we can help.” 

 

Goddess Irelena? I guess that should be the name of that useless girl… 

 

She smiled, but let out a sigh at the end. “Though, you should probably avoid coming here too often during this time.”

 

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

 

“You haven’t heard yet? The Saint has just announced the manifestation of the Great Pestilence in a small town outside the city. It’s expected to arrive here soon, so everyone is being cautious. It won’t do you any good to stay here longer than need be.”

 

Manifestation of the what? Wait, this is supposed to be the Late Middle Ages… 

 

“SHE WENT AHEAD AND STARTED THE BLACK DEATH HERE?!!”

 

“Sir?! Sir, please calm down, what’s gotten into you suddenly?”

 

 Shun grabbed onto the nurse’s arms. “Lady, I highly recommend that you pack up and run away from the Kingdom. Run as far as you can. I’ll definitely be right behind you.”

 

“Erm, sorry…? I’m a nun, I can’t just abandon the people here?”

 

S-so selfless! And stupid! 

 

“I commend your bravery. You shall be remembered.” Shun jumped out of the bed and ran out of the infirmary. Holy f*ck, is that Goddess out of her mind?? There’s nothing fantastical about this world!

 

***

 

The guards at the main gate to the city stopped Shun in his tracks. 

 

“We need to see your identification papers, as well as an approval permit from the ministry…”

 

“Arghh! F*ck you all!!”

 

Defeated, Shun walked along the main street aimlessly. His footsteps echoed eerily on the empty cobblestones. 

 

Guess everyone is staying home, huh. I didn’t come here to go through something worse than coronavirus, dam*it… 

 

A weathered copper sign hanging from the corner of a building caught his attention. Words he had never seen before were written on the plate.

 

Ðæt Bóclanggestréon? 

 

“A bookstore?” Shun mumbled. 

 

Oh, so whatever I think will be translated to the native language if I say it out loud. That’s convenient…   

 

A poster on the window stated that the shop specialized in the buying and selling of second-hand books, manuscripts and other antiques. Somewhat curious, he held the rusty metal handle and pulled the door open slowly. 

 

The soft mellifluous twinkling of a bell overhead filled his ears. The shop owner, a lovely elderly woman in her seventies, greeted him with a welcoming smile before returning her gaze to the newspaper in her wrinkled hands. 

 

Shun stepped inside, closing the door behind him. 

 

The air inside the bookstore had a mustiness about it which hinted at the age of the books that lined the shelves from floor to ceiling. 

 

“Hello, uh…do you sell any history books?”

 

“History? All the way to the back.” Her gaze remained on the newspaper. 

 

“T-thanks.” 

 

Shun walked down the narrow, dark aisle until he reached the last shelf. Huh, there’s only a single book? It does look like a history book though, so I guess this is it. 

 

The ancient-looking tome was so thick he had to use both hands to carry it to the front. “H-how much is this?” 

 

“Free.” 

 

“Um…free?” 

 

She flipped over a page of her newspaper. “It’s a gift to you from Goddess Irelena.”

 

This history book thicker than all of my college textbooks combined…is a gift from that woman? I suddenly don’t want it anymore. 

 

“Oh, I see. Uh, thanks for giving me the book. I’ll return it later.”

 

***

 

Shun sighed and sat down on his bed back at the military barracks. The lone candle in his hand barely illuminated the page, so he struggled to make out the cursive words. 

 

“The Ancients were the original humans who wielded magic unparalleled in the universe, rumoured to even surpass that of higher beings. 

 

In a realm where they were totally undefeated, no one foresaw that the Ancients’ superiority would crumble into dust in a mere span of three days.”

 

Huh, isn’t this a fairytale instead?

 

Raising an eyebrow, he decided to continue reading. 

 

“Three hundred years ago, the Ones who slayed the Ancients suddenly descended upon their world. Razing mighty civilisations to the ground with the ease of stepping upon an ant, they became known as the faeries—the harbingers of fate.

 

Because they were immune to magic, the Ancients who solely relied on it were totally at their mercy. The surviving Ancients fled to the very edge of the world where they discovered the last habitable continent still untouched by the faeries. 

 

To prevent the over-reliance of magic, the Ancients placed an unconditional curse on their descendants—from their moment of birth, their magic would be forever sealed.”

 

Shun closed the ancient tome momentarily and rubbed his forehead. 

 

Why the f*ck would that girl think of such a convoluted backstory for a battle royale game?  

 

“Thus, the new human race was born. 

 

In the centuries that followed the deaths of the Ancients, their children faithfully honoured their command and readied for the faeries’ final crusade. All countries allied together in a vow to wipe humanity's proclaimed enemy from the face of the earth and reclaim their lost glory. 

 

However, the faeries never appeared again. As if the raw devastation that they heralded, their merciless slaughter, their existence—all of that were merely a fever dream. 

 

More than two hundred years of preparing for a war that never came eventually exhausted the new humans. 

 

An anti-war movement, campaigned by heretics known as the Pacifists, began to take root in the continent. They began to spread the belief that the faeries never existed in the first place, that the war was merely self-destruction brought about by the Ancients. 

 

Countries have tried to quell the uprisings, but most were unsuccessful. Many governments have been toppled and overthrown by the Pacifists to date. At the time of writing, only the Kingdom of Arcadia, Principality of Elysium and Duchy of Erewhon still retain their sovereignty. Refer to page 420 for the current map of the continent. 

 

Published and edited by your amazing Goddess Irelena~”

 

Shun calmly stood up, grabbed the book, and threw it onto the floor with all his strength. 

 

“What is this clusterf*ck of a world?!!”

 

Message from Goddess - Yay, my name is finally revealed! Our FL will be revealed next chapter, please look forward to it~

Author: Irelena-sama, you said you were going to do some worldbuilding, but this is just a fancy way of dumping info! 

Goddess: I wrote a 1000+ page book in 5 seconds, while you can't even write 1000 words in five hours. Praise me~

Author: ...