Chapter 1 The Antique Bookstore

Chapter 1 The Antique Bookstore

"Dear Mother, I hope this letter finds you well.

"...I have secured a professorship at Lamifa University, teaching the literary history of the Silent Era and before. I've met my colleagues in the department; some were once my own professors, and they are all very pleasant to work with.

"...

"...I hope you take care of yourself."

Celes Noel sat at his desk, eyes downcast, holding a quill pen as he wrote the contents of a letter to his mother on a sheet of paper.

After a moment, he added a few less-than-honest lines such as "The salary from the professorship is sufficient for me to live in Lamifa City" and "My current landlady, Mrs. Finn, is a very nice person, but after the semester starts, I will move into the faculty dormitory provided by the university."

With the letter's content finalized, Celes let out a slight sigh of relief and instinctively glanced at the pocket watch beside his hand. It was already late at night. The sound of rain pattering against the dirty, foggy window glass could be heard outside.

Celes stood up and walked to the window, gazing out at the hazy night and the flickering lights.

The past day had been chaotic for him.

At this time yesterday, he became Celes Noel, a researcher who had just graduated from Lamifa University—conceptually similar to a graduate student on Earth. His field of study was literary history.

Before becoming Celes Noel, his name was He Jiayin, a renowned novelist on Earth.

While out with friends, he met with an accident and died unexpectedly. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on the planet Fisher, as a young man he did not recognize.

Celes looked at the blurry reflection in the window glass.

He had black hair and black eyes, his skin slightly pale, and a slender, tall frame. Although it was hard to discern his features clearly, during his morning routine, Celes noticed that this body was handsome, with deep-set eyes and a composed demeanor.

But still young. According to the memories of this body, he was only twenty-four years old.

He had gained most of the original body's memories, including its past experiences and all its knowledge, which allowed him to successfully pass the recruitment exam at Lamifa University that afternoon. However...

Celes' calm expression suddenly shifted. He slightly furrowed his brow, his thoughts returning to today's recruitment process.

Although it seemed serious, from the written test to the interview, he was the only candidate throughout the entire process, and the professors who interviewed him came and went quickly, as if it were merely a formality.

Some of the colleagues he met later in the Literature and History Department were also very friendly and warm.

...But a newly graduated, twenty-four-year-old student suddenly becoming a full professor at the most prestigious university in Lamifa City?

It sounded unbelievable.

According to the original body's memories, he had simply followed the usual path, submitting his resume as advised by his mentors, and everything seemed to fall into place, leading to his successful acquisition of the position.

The original body had been a student at Lamifa University. During Celes' interview, he encountered several of his former professors, and their behavior suggested nothing unusual about the situation.

But Celes remained skeptical.

He cautiously added "Why was I able to become a professor?" to his list of future investigations.

And there were many other things he needed to investigate.

For example, the geography of Lamifa City, his future living arrangements, and this world.

Last night, when he became Celes and received Celes' memories, he was surprised to realize that this world closely resembled the setting of a tabletop role-playing game he had been playing with friends before his death.

The same Lamifa City, the same heretics causing panic in the city, and even familiar faces from the game's character cards appeared in the original body's memories.

And then there was...

Celes turned around and glanced at an object next to his inkwell on the desk.

It was a dodecahedron die.

Tabletop role-playing games, similar to the popular murder mystery games among young people on Earth, derive much of their fun from the randomness brought by dice rolls.

In these games, players typically use character cards representing their game characters. These cards have three basic attributes: Constitution, Spirituality, and Willpower, as well as various skills like Investigation, Psychology, Mythology Knowledge, and more.

During gameplay, the game master narrates the story and setting to the players and rolls the dice to determine the outcome of actions and their impact on the story.

For example, if a character card has an Investigation attribute of 25, and the dice roll is 20 (less than 25), the action is considered successful, allowing the player to discover useful information.

If the dice roll is 30 (greater than 25), the investigation fails, and the player cannot find any clues, even if they are right in front of them.

This uncertainty greatly affects the progress of the game. Some unlucky players might fail to gather any information and end up dead without understanding what happened.

When Celes played tabletop games, he was the game master, and his friends were the players, using scripts found online.

They didn't use real dice but relied on electronic random number generators.

However, when he arrived in this world, he discovered a real die beside him.

It was a pitch-black dodecahedron with golden edges, approximately three centimeters in length, width, and height. Each face constantly changed numbers, ranging from 0 to 100, never stopping.

Out of his cautious nature, Celes had never used or rolled this die since realizing its existence.

Throughout the past day, he had not heard any sounds of the die rolling.

Everything seemed peaceful.

But he knew that the appearance of this die likely had something to do with his arrival in this world. Why did he cross over? Why did he come here? Where did the original body go?

Dead? But according to the memories he gained, the original body simply went to sleep and woke up as He Jiayin.

He felt that there must be some hidden secret behind this.

At that moment, Celes suddenly thought of something.

In the tabletop role-playing game he played, the host was known as the Keeper of Secrets, someone who guarded secrets.

Celes took a gentle breath, held it for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. At least no one with extraordinary powers had suddenly appeared to arrest him for usurping his place.

In Fisher, where real deities existed, he also suspected the presence of "extraordinary powers." In his previous life, he had been a novelist.

Therefore, until he uncovered the truth, Celes would keep the secret that he was from another world and strive to survive in this world different from Earth.

On this basis, he would try to find a way back to Earth. Even if it consumed countless hours and energy, he was, after all, a stranger in this land.

Celes closed his eyes, then walked to the desk once more, transcribed the letter to the original body's mother onto formal stationery, folded it neatly, placed it in an envelope, and planned to mail it the next morning.

He wrote the mother's address on the envelope.

"Ramiath City, Merlin Town, Canyo Farm."

Afterward, he set the envelope aside and carefully organized the papers, ink, quill pen, and notebook on the desk, then went to the small washroom attached to the room.

A few moments later, he emerged from the washroom, changed into his nightclothes, lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Celes Noel put on suitable casual clothes and placed the envelope in the inner pocket of his coat. He grabbed his pocket watch, a small notebook, and a sharpened pencil, and cautiously slipped the dice into his pocket.

He glanced out the blurry window and saw that the weather was still overcast but at least not raining. Still, he took a long-handled umbrella, using it like a walking stick.

He changed into waterproof leather boots suitable for the muddy roads, took his wallet and keys, and left the apartment.

The apartment building where he lived was in Ramiath West City, 13 Milford Street.

Mrs. Fane owned the entire apartment building. Her husband, a wealthy merchant, was rarely home. So Mrs. Fane managed and rented out the apartments to pass the time.

Celes' apartment was at the eastern end of the second floor. This floor had three rooms, each about twenty to thirty square meters, each with its own washroom. In Ramiath's West City, such apartments were already quite decent.

Celes met Mrs. Fane in the lobby on the first floor.

Mrs. Fane was a middle-aged woman in her forties, always wearing a long skirt and an apron. Despite her wealth, she preferred to do things herself and never hired a maid.

Her eyebrows were always raised. She was a woman who never let go of an argument and could never say anything nice. With her husband away most of the time and a mischievous son, these frustrations made her appear aloof and bitter.

Celes greeted her, "Good morning, Mrs. Fane."

"Good morning, Mr. Noel," Mrs. Fane said, looking somewhat surprised but quickly added, "You're going out? Be careful; that damned apostate is still in the city. I don't know how those useless priests haven't found him yet."

"Thank you for your concern; I'll be careful," Celes said politely. "I found a job and plan to send a letter to my mother. By the way, I wanted to let you know that I'll probably move out in about a week."

"Oh..." Mrs. Fane frowned. "Mr. Noel, you should have told me earlier."

Celes apologized, "I only got the job yesterday. When I returned, it was too late to disturb you."

Mrs. Fane nodded absentmindedly. "Alright... uh, I understand." She seemed to want to say something else but stopped, then said, "When I find a new tenant, I'll refund part of your rent. Of course, not all of it."

Celes nodded.

The faculty dormitories at Ramiath University were free. So even though he would lose some money by moving out now, it was better than staying here with Mrs. Fane. Besides, commuting to Ramiath University from here was quite inconvenient.

However, Mrs. Fane's attitude was overly friendly. He expected her to react more strongly.

Celes' gaze swept slightly over Mrs. Fane's facial expression, sensing that something was troubling her, so she didn't pay much attention to his departure.

Was it because of her husband? Her son? Or some troublesome tenant?

The former novelist's imagination immediately ran wild.

But he did not show any of his thoughts and soon bid farewell to Mrs. Fane and left the apartment building. Soon, he arrived at the carriage station in West City and mailed his letter.

Ramiath City did not have a dedicated post office, so one had to find a carriage at the station that might be heading to the destination. Celes was lucky; a carriage was heading to Merlin Town.

Merlin Town was a small town east of Ramiath City and the birthplace and hometown of Celes Noel.

The Noel family now consisted of only a widow and an orphan. Celes' father had passed away when he was young, and his mother had raised him alone. From Celes Noel's memories, she was a strict yet loving mother.

Mother and son relied on each other, and their relationship was harmonious. Therefore, after clearing his thoughts and securing a job, Celes wrote a letter to the original body's mother.

Although he had not yet decided how to treat this mother.

After leaving the carriage station, Celes recalled what he needed to do.

His main tasks for the coming period were preparing lessons and moving.

There was still a week before Ramiath University reopened, and lesson preparation was urgent. After his interview yesterday, he learned that the previous professor's lesson plans were still in the office, which he could use as a reference.

Celes decided to visit Ramiath University today.

The university was not in West City but in East City, across the river from West City. Ramiath's West City was the earliest developed area and was now called the Old City, while East City was more prosperous.

To get from West City to East City, one could hire a private carriage or take a public carriage. The latter followed a fixed route and stopped at specific stations, far less convenient than a private carriage.

But the public carriage was cheaper.

In his letter to his mother, Celes mentioned that his salary covered his living expenses comfortably, but if he wanted to investigate the truth behind his transmigration, he would need more money in the future.

So he saved where he could and planned to find more ways to earn money.

Following the original body's memory, he headed to a nearby public carriage station.

The station was located southwest of 13 Milford Street in Logan Market. This was the busiest area in West City, with various shops and vendors—shoe stores, clothing shops, bakeries, butchers, spice shops, and occasional merchants from outside the city setting up stalls.

Ramiath City had set up a public carriage station here for the convenience of residents.

As Celes turned a corner, he could already smell the complex mix of scents from Logan Market. Then, he caught a glimpse of a dimly lit shop around the corner.

At that moment, the sound of rolling dice echoed in his mind.

"You need to make an investigation check."

"Investigation: 30/15, success."

"You accidentally discover an antique bookstore. You believe you can obtain some useful information here."