'This is Jomoya Chris's notebook?'
Chen Qi's previously nonchalant attitude changed in an instant. After all, he was now Jomoya Chris.
"Why?"
"Why am I a Muggle, unable to have an Awakening of Magic Power!"
"Damn that Temya Magic Academy! They actually want to talk me into dropping out."
The very first entry of the diary immediately invigorated Chen Qi.
It seemed this diary was his window into a world he had never even heard of before.
'Muggle... Magic Power... Temya Magic Academy...'
Chen Qi mentally highlighted the key points, committing them to memory.
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"My first-generation ancestor followed the great Pirate King. Countless small kingdoms trembled beneath our family's crest."
"My seventh-generation ancestor completed the conquest of continent [073], his deeds immortalized in the annals of human history."
"That detestable thirteenth-generation ancestor lost our family's Magic inheritance."
"But even so, the Chris family flourished for hundreds of years!"
"So why is it that when it comes to my generation, I can't even have an Awakening of Magic Power?"
"I refuse to accept this! I won't stand for it!"
"I will not resign myself to fate..."
Jomoya had used the standard human script designated by the [World Government], so Chen Qi had no trouble reading it.
He easily read the indignation and resentment between the lines, and even found himself empathizing, feeling a slight Resonance.
'So, I'm not the only one dissatisfied with my fate,' he thought.
······
The next few entries were mostly Jomoya venting his frustrations.
Then, one day three months later, the tone of the diary changed.
"Hahaha! It's not a dead end after all!"
"Today, I learned a secret from the [Dark World]."
"A powerful Demon, at the cost of a small kingdom, has set up a [King's Game]."
"According to my sources, anyone who becomes a player can obtain Extraordinary Power. And if you kill the King and end the game, you can claim a share of the Demon's power."
"This is my chance—Jomoya's chance—to defy fate! The glory of my family will surely be restored by my hands."
Jomoya's words had completely shed their previous resentment and depression, now filled with wishful thinking and optimism.
It was also from this entry that Chen Qi learned the origin of the [King's Game].
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'A Demon created the [King's Game]?'
Chen Qi felt this world was becoming more and more like a fantasy novel. A Demon—a legendary evil being that supposedly feeds on human Souls and commits every unspeakable act—had actually appeared.
The small kingdom offered up as the price must have been the Lanyu Kingdom.
What puzzled Chen Qi, however, was that the Lanyu Kingdom wasn't isolated. It wasn't cut off from the rest of the World at all.
The people weren't living in misery; in fact, among small nations, the Lanyu Kingdom could be considered one of the happiest.
'So what, exactly, was the "price"?'
What baffled Chen Qi even more was the Demon's motive. 'Is this guy just some kind of troll who gets his kicks from chaos?'
A story about a Hero fighting a Demon just seemed so absurd in the real world. (What a dumb Demon.)
Instinctively, Chen Qi was skeptical of this second-hand story from Jomoya.
But that didn't stop him from reading on. It was always better to know more.
······
"Hmph. A bunch of frogs in a well. They're all just obstacles in my path."
"They actually said I was being duped! They said things like 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' and 'if it sounds too good to be true, it's a trap.' They even wanted to report me to the academy! With friends like these, who needs enemies?"
"Since that's how it is, they can't blame me for what I do next."
After that entry, Jomoya's diary went silent for half a year. Something major must have happened.
······
"Hahaha! I knew my decision was the right one!"
"So what if I'm wanted by the Magic Academy? I'm the only one left in the Chris family anyway. I sold off all our assets and exchanged them for a single [Source Ore]."
"After coming to the Lanyu Kingdom, I learned an incredible secret!"
"Humans... are truly terrifying!"
Reading this, Chen Qi frowned. When he was "tossing the place" earlier, he hadn't found any ore.
As for the "secret," that Jomoya fellow hadn't written it down at all.
'Of course,' Chen Qi thought. 'What kind of normal person writes all their secrets in a diary?'
Chen Qi checked the date on the entry: February, 17644.
That was also when the Chris Trading Company was founded.
It seemed Jomoya had made thorough preparations.
······
'Huh? That's strange.'
Chen Qi kept flipping through the diary, only to find the script in the following entries had changed. He couldn't understand a single word.
After flipping through a dozen more pages, a different, unfamiliar handwriting suddenly appeared, leaving a note in the standard script.
[Damn it! I fucking hate studying more than anything in my life!]
[Jomoya Chris, you totally deserved to die. I actually went and studied my ass off, and you still nearly got me killed.]
This "gentleman" who hated studying had also specifically circled a passage in Jomoya's diary.
Obviously, that was the "big trap" he was talking about.
Unfortunately, Chen Qi couldn't understand a word of that particular entry!
Still, Chen Qi had a pretty good guess as to the identity of this "gentleman."
The rest of the diary continued in this "coded" format, right up until the very last page of Jomoya's entries.
It was a blood-stained entry. In the final moments of his life, Jomoya had switched back to the standard script.
"I am filled with such hate! It turns out the hand I was dealt was the Card of Certain Death all along!"
"But I refuse to accept it! There has to be a chance to turn things around!"
"I, Jomoya Chris, swear that even in death, I will kill that person! The honor of the Chris family will not be sullied!"
"To the player who inherits this Card: I hope you will keep the game character 'Jomoya Chris.' As payment, you can have the knowledge I brought from the Temya Magic Academy—it's the key to your survival. As for the Chris Group, consider it a gift."
"If you want to live, you'd better study hard! Hahaha!"
—Jomoya Chris, June 7th, 17648
Jomoya Chris had died five months ago.
······
'Card of Certain Death?'
Chen Qi's heart clenched. It seemed his "new life," while certainly exciting, might not last very long.
But banking on his "two Wishes," he didn't fall into complete despair.
On this blood-stained last testament, that "gentleman" who hated studying had appeared again.
"[Jomoya Chris], I'll grant your request. Thanks for throwing in the Chris Group. Being rich is awesome."
"As repayment, I was going to bury your corpse a little deeper, but I'm a tramp and hadn't had a full meal in days, so I had to make some... hasty arrangements."
(P.S. I've inherited your identity now. I'm so happy I was planning to dig you up and cremate you again, but it looks like a dog beat me to it.)
Reading this, Chen Qi felt a deep sense of sympathy for Jomoya. If he wasn't mistaken, that dog must have been a very well-fed one.
Chen Qi casually flipped the page. He thought that was the end, but there was "another surprise."
[I am Ireland Zoff. I was once a tramp, but fate has granted me a new life.]
[So from now on, it's my turn to write in this diary!]