This Novel is not my Novel

About three hours after leaving the Ducal Castle, I had to get out of the carriage. It wasn’t because of a sudden accident or anything. It was simply because you can’t enter a Gate while in a carriage. For the record, this Gate is short for "Warp Gate" and serves merely as a means of transportation. It’s different from the gates that commonly appear in hunter stories. However, that doesn’t mean that the latter type of gate doesn’t exist in this world. Something similar, though not exactly the same, exists under the name "Demon Realm." And the group of individuals who would be called "hunters" in the modern fantasy genre were collectively called "Einherjar," with each individual also being an "Einherjar." That’s why the title of the novel I possessed is 《I Alone am the SSS-grade Einherjar》.

'Come to think of it, the author of this novel really seems to like Norse mythology, huh?'

Einherjar. This is a word that refers to the warriors in Norse mythology. In the myths, they fought bravely in battle, died, and were led to Valhalla by the Valkyries to prepare for Ragnarök. The name of the Academy I’m heading to now is also "Valhalla."

And that’s not all. The author of this novel’s pen name is "senna," which, if written in Korean pronunciation, is "Senna." In Old Norse, it means "dispute" or "heated debate." It can also mean "a duel fought with the tongue instead of a sword" or "a game of insulting the opponent as if singing," which modern audiences might recognize as similar to a "diss rap battle." Among these, the poem called "Lokasenna" is famous, and it’s about Loki insulting the gods, so if you’re curious, you can look it up yourself.

By the way, given the original author’s love for Norse mythology, this explanation has become somewhat lengthy. Therefore, I’ll describe the differences between the Demon Realms in this novel and the gates in typical hunter stories later. Since the Demon Realms will begin appearing in earnest starting from the First Year Graduation Ceremony anyway.

For now, I’ll briefly mention that a Demon Realm was created only once before, when the protagonist’s parents died, and then move on. If I keep listing settings that aren’t immediately necessary, the story won’t progress. By the time it becomes relevant, everyone will have forgotten, forcing me to explain it again, which would waste characters[N1].

In that sense, I’ll skip the entire process of passing through the Gate and arriving at the Academy by hired carriage. I’ll also skip the process of wandering around while trying to find the dormitory building and secretly checking a cheat sheet-like map.

'It was such a relief that there were almost no students walking around campus since it’s a week before the semester starts.'

Some of you may have noticed from the sentence above, but for those who haven’t, I’ll clarify. I have no intention of using the amnesia setting at the Academy. Because noble society in fantasy novels operates under the law of the jungle, where you get devoured the moment you’re looked down upon.

Even without that, once my Familiar is born, many people will talk behind my back and look down on this body I’ve possessed. If I add the seasoning of amnesia to that, I’ll become even more delicious prey.

'Besides, I plan to fill my schedule this semester with combat-related lectures. But if I say I have amnesia, how will everyone react? They’ll obviously mock me, asking if I’m avoiding theory lectures because I have nothing in my head, right?'

And most importantly, if I say to the Original Protagonist, "So I bullied you, huh? I lost my memory so I can’t recall it, but anyway, I’m sorry," will the grudge really disappear? It’s doubtful he would forgive me even if I apologized properly, so that approach seems unlikely to work.

As it happened, Hárðr also wanted to hide his youngest son’s condition and the reason for it. Before I even said I wouldn’t reveal the fact that I’d lost my memory (?) to the outside, he handed over documents investigating the possessed body’s relationships and a directory of names, ordering me to handle it myself.

Of course, he didn’t come and tell me in person, but conveyed his intentions through Yohrn.

'It feels somewhat wrong to be following Hárðr’s orders... but if I think of it as our interests aligning, I suppose it’s not so bad?'

The dormitory room I arrived at was already furnished with the possessed body’s belongings. These were things Karb had used last semester and left behind when he returned home.

Did he do it calculating that if the family came to collect his belongings, his death would inevitably be revealed? Or did he judge that Hárðr would take measures to ensure he didn’t die? Whatever the reason, it was convenient for me.

Although I had to wipe away the dust that had settled from being left unattended for two months, there was almost no need to organize the luggage. Thanks to that, the luggage I brought was also light enough to be carried with one hand.

"I’ll clean later... For now, I should head to the library first."

As I mentioned earlier, Valhalla Academy is still on vacation. And yet, instead of studying to the very last minute in the Duchy Territory, I arrived here a full week early. It’s not that I ran away because I was tired of learning this and that. I have my own purpose.

The first purpose is to familiarize myself with the layout of the Academy before the semester starts. I’ve roughly memorized the locations of the lecture rooms and other facilities by looking at the map, but walking around in person will feel different. You can think of it as an extension of acting like "Karvaldr who hasn’t lost his memories."

The second purpose lies in the place I’m heading to right now, the library.

The original novel described this possessed body’s eyes as having a stain from the color partially fading. Still, this sky-blue part is a color in its own right.

'Maybe he just hasn’t bloomed his talent yet, and this possessed body might have a different ability instead of the Poison Ability he lacks.'

If, as I suspect, this possessed body was intended to join the protagonist’s group, the possibilities were abundant. A character who had gone astray and committed evil deeds due to a tragic past, then changes their heart—it’s a classic, beyond cliché, for them to awaken latent abilities during spiritual growth.

As you can see by looking at the people of the Austri Ducal Family, having dual abilities doesn’t mean having two different eye colors. But there is someone who gained odd eyes while acquiring a new ability. That person is none other than the protagonist of 《NaSE》 and, at this point in time, the only Awakened: "Reisir Daudabiner"[N2].

The "Awakened" I’m talking about here is the same concept as the awakened in hunter stories. When you awaken, you can see your own Status Window and Skill Window.

Reisir awakened after being caught up in the first Demon Realm that appeared in this world. By landing the final blow on the boss mob, which was in a near-death state due to his parents’ sacrifice, he obtained silver Ether as a bonus for being the "first to clear a Demon Realm."

'The Original Protagonist is an acquired case, and his two Ethers are balanced. But couldn’t there also be people born with two types of Ether who are unable to exert the power of one because its strength is weak?'

I formulated that hypothesis and, sacrificing my sleep, rummaged through the Ether-related books in the Ducal Castle library. But as you can see from where I’m headed now, I found nothing useful. My fatigue only got worse, and my dark circles deepened.

The only thing I can hope for now is the library of Valhalla Academy, nicknamed "the world’s largest treasury of knowledge."

"Well then, big bro is going out for a bit. You guard the room well~."

The Familiar, still in its egg, has no ability to guard anything. Knowing that, I still gently stroked the Familiar egg I had carefully placed on the table, spoke to it affectionately, and left the room.

The Familiar egg cannot break. Furthermore, the Familiar and its owner are connected by Ether, so location tracking is possible and it cannot be stolen. Still, since the Familiar egg wasn’t my only valuable possession, I made sure to lock the door properly before heading to my destination.

'Since I’m here, should I take a little peek at what novels are like in a novel world?'

I came all the way to the library for a reason, but a sparrow can’t just pass by a mill without stopping. When I was at the Ducal Castle, I was always being watched and my every move monitored. There were too many things to learn, and in the midst of it all, I was rummaging through Ether-related books, so I had no time to spare.

So until now, I’ve deliberately ignored the bookshelves with novels, but the situation is different now.

There’s still a lot of knowledge I need to memorize, and I need to get a grasp of the Academy’s geography. I also need to practice Karvaldr’s handwriting style.

'Still, I’ll have more free time now than after the semester starts, when I have to attend lectures, right...?'

Having persuaded myself, I headed to the section where the novels were collected as soon as I arrived at the library.

I scanned the titles, and they were all wonderful and stylish, showing the author’s contemplation. But the amount of information in the titles was lacking. The downside was that I couldn’t guess what the contents were at all.

'I know I shouldn’t compare it to web novels where the key keywords and the gist are crammed into the title, but...'

The moment I saw the titles, nothing made me feel strongly that 'This looks fun!' or aroused my curiosity.

So I took a book from the shelf at random and opened it.

To put it nicely, it was ornate and elegant. To put it bluntly, it was excessively exaggerated and caused fatigue. Heavy, long sentences filled the pages densely like stacked bricks, overwhelming my vision.

I don’t dislike books with complex sentences, but right now I want something I can read lightly to cool my head while studying. This kind of book is burdensome because it takes too long to read and requires you to understand every single sentence.

Just as I was about to turn away in disappointment after rummaging through four or five more books, a sharp gasp from somewhere stopped me in my tracks.

"Gasp...! When did so many sequels come out? There are even four new works! Uh... then is the previous work finished?"

In a place this quiet, even a small mumble can be heard clearly. Because of that, it wasn’t difficult to pinpoint where the voice came from.

In this vast library, the novel section was tucked away in a corner, and the voice came from an even deeper, more secluded area.

'Since I’ve come this far, I might as well check it out, right?'

My interest was piqued about what kind of novel could be so interesting that it would make a reader exclaim in admiration.

I don’t want to read a heavy novel that requires time and mental energy at the moment. I thought I would just check the title for now and read it later, so I slowly moved forward.

'But why are the bookshelves arranged like this? It’s so inconvenient.'

The novel section of this library had a winding, long path with a repeating "ㄹ"-shaped structure. I have no idea what the reasoning is behind this bookshelf arrangement.

From what I briefly saw earlier, the bookshelves for other fields seemed to be arranged in a single line with both sides open, allowing you to find the book you needed immediately without taking a long detour.

As I proceeded, questioning the uniquely strange structure of the novel section, I scanned the characters written on the spines and encountered something that made me doubt my eyes.

Since when were the shelves packed with books featuring special characters instead of the author’s pen name?

The titles were getting longer, and sentence-form titles were not uncommon, making it look as if I was browsing web novels from the world I used to live in.

'Wha... what is this...?'

Looking closely, I noticed quite a few titles that looked familiar. Some were exactly the same as the web novels I had read before.

Right now, I was dying to open a book and check if it was the novel I knew. But once again, someone’s muttering guided my steps.

"To borrow two volumes of the previous work and two volumes of the new work, or to just borrow the previous work for now... That is the question..."

I suppressed my bewilderment and confusion as I walked between the bookshelves that stretched out like a corridor, muffling my footsteps as much as possible.

Then, when I turned one more corner, I finally found the owner of the voice.

It might seem sudden, but I think I should reveal my third purpose for coming to the Academy a week early.

The person who appeared before my eyes was deeply connected to that purpose.

In fact, he could be called the purpose itself.

'I was planning to find the protagonist when there were few eyes around and apologize, but I never thought I’d run into him in a place like this...'

That’s right.

The muttering I had been hearing for a while now was what the protagonist of the original story, Reisir, had let out.