Chapter 47: Side:

< Chapter 47: Side: “The Strange Adventures of Duke Kapeter.” >Don Quixote.

The first piece of literature I plagiarized in this world, and the first modern novel.

The last of the chivalric romances.

The Bible of Spain.

The most beloved novel among writers.

The first bestseller.

An eternal, everlasting steady seller as long as language exists and the culture of novels endures.

The novel that heralds the end of the Middle Ages.

Now, standing before me was Don Quixote of La Mancha, the protagonist of that novel. He wore the attire of a wandering knight, something that only existed in the Middle Ages, and donned a helmet made of paper.

“Nice to meet you. I am a man named Andy, the Duke of Kapeter.”

He introduced himself as Duke Andy of Kapeter.

A duke was a noble who owned one of the few permanent estates in the constitutional monarchy of the Empire. In the modern world—meaning this world—counts were considered nobles of the ‘court’ under the classic title system.

The history of this goes back to the era of the old emperor known as the ‘Fair King’, but the important thing was that all the rights of the nobles belonged to the Empire.

While they could own manors, which were means of production, it was impossible for them to become the secular rulers of specific territories.

“Please call me Andy.”

However, this man, Andy the Duke, was different. These dukes were secular rulers of their territories and were granted absolute rights and absolute responsibilities within the limits defined by the constitution of the Empire.

And my father, Count of Fríden, evaluated such dukes in this way:

“Duke of Kapeter, you say?”

“Indeed.”

“By the looks of your attire, it seems you’ve been on a knightly quest for quite some time. May I ask you one question?”

“Feel free to speak.”

“How do you manage your territory?”

He used to say that they were pitiful humans tied to their territories, working all day long.

It was indeed true. The Empire particularly paid close attention to the administration of ducal territories.

This was because the constitutional monarchy order of the Empire, continuing from the Fair King’s era, could easily collapse.

The noble members of the assembly were always ready to bring the dukes down to their level.

Therefore, to properly maintain a ducal territory, everything had to be handled perfectly, without a single flaw. As a result, the workload of the dukes was truly beyond imagination.

I asked my question with these doubts in mind. The Duke of Kapeter’s answer was simple.

“I left it to my son.”

“Pardon?”

“He’s a clever lad, so he’ll manage.”

“Ah… Your son must be very capable.”

“Indeed. I left a letter before I embarked on my knightly quest, so he will figure it out.”

“Oh, did you not hand over duties personally or anything…?”

“Is that really necessary?”

“…….”

Hmm. Just as his attire as a wandering knight suggested, this Duke of Kapeter was not an ordinary person. He might be more of a my-pace person than even my father.

Noticing my gaze, Duke Kapeter chuckled and continued speaking.

“The most important things are said to be invisible.”

“You’ve read ‘The Little Prince’?”

“Even while on my knightly quest, I constantly seek out books to read. Especially those by Homer.”

“Thank you.”

“So, about that. May I ask a favor?”

“Oh, yes. If it’s something I can do…”

Duke Kapeter took out a book and placed it on the desk. It was the first part of Don Quixote, an original edition now said to be worth a fortune. Although the edges were slightly worn from frequent reading, there was not a single stain on the cover or pages. The love for the work was palpable.

Handing over the book, the duke declared confidently,

“Please sign it.”

“…Pardon?”

“One of the goals I most wanted to achieve during my knightly quest was to get Homer’s signature on Don Quixote. Even if I defeated an evil dragon, it would be meaningless if I couldn’t get this.”

“Oh, yes… I’ll gladly sign it for you.”

* * *

Duke Kapeter was an incredibly fascinating person.

“During my knightly quests, I’ve seen quite a lot. I’ve been to the world tree located in the hottest place on the planet and the entrance to the underworld at the pole.”

“Oh…”

To be precise, he was a person who had a lot of interesting experiences.

After publishing Don Quixote, Duke Kapeter spent several years on his knightly quests, wandering from place to place, essentially making a ‘world tour.’

“There wouldn’t be ships going to such places. How did you get there?”

“I hitched rides from various people… and when there were no paths, I simply walked on water. I took a wrong turn and ended up on some strange paths.”

“Walking on water…?”

“A minor skill. Any knight should be able to actualize their will through actions.”

Duke Kapeter replied nonchalantly.

“I see… If it’s not too much trouble, could you share some of your stories?”

It was a valuable opportunity to obtain precious material that couldn’t be found in old travelogues or merchants’ accounts.

It could also help in writing works like ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ or ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ later on. New stories were interesting in their own right.

For me, who remembered life on Earth, this world was close to a fantasy itself.

Therefore, the travelogue of someone who had journeyed through this world sounded like a fantasy novel in itself. It might be a good idea to even ask him to write a travel memoir.

“Hmm, well. I don’t know where to begin. The fact that I could travel to so many places was largely thanks to this Don Quixote costume. People who had read Don Quixote knew I was on a knightly quest and gave me rides on trains, carriages, and balloons. I’ve traveled to so many places, it would take too long to explain them all.”

“You can just tell me about the ones that left the strongest impression.”

“Hmm. Alright. Then I guess I should start with the world tree… The world tree was a giant tree growing up to the sky. It was in the center of a dense jungle in a very hot place. The natives called it the ‘center of the world.’ The center of the poles, the place where the world revolves. They said it was the equator, where the sun passes overhead.”

* * *

The world tree did not have green, life-filled leaves as described in many legends. Instead, it had dull, gray leaves. The branches of the world tree extended beyond the clouds, making it always seem as if black rain was falling around the tree. It was gray rain that absorbed all light.

The ‘gray leaves’ descending from the heavens settled in the forest, blending into the soil and decomposing, becoming the nutrients that fed the forest.

“When you see a high mountain, isn’t it natural to want to climb to the top? I also climbed the world tree to see how high it grew.”

“I see. How high was it?”

“In the Empire’s unit of measurement… hmm, I’m not familiar with the new system, but it seemed to be about 30,000 kilometers.”

“…Pardon? Did you perhaps mean 30,000 meters?”

“No. It was a bit shorter than the circumference of the planet, so it must be correct.”

“You mean the height of the tree…?”

“When you climb higher than the sky, you can see the aurora, and from there, there’s no distinction between day and night. You only see the night sky filled with stars. It was not a place where you could stay for long, as it became hard to breathe, and my skin felt prickly.”

If that height was accurate, wouldn’t you die immediately rather than being able to stay for ‘a while’?

Apparently, Duke Kapeter’s physical body had transcended human limits. I had seen wizards boil tea without fire and witnessed illusionary performances that could shake one’s mind, but the existence of such ‘superhuman’ beings felt even more fantastical than magic.

“The branches there extended endlessly, splitting and branching into what seemed like billions of smaller branches. The thickest branches were larger than any tree I’ve seen from the ground, while the furthest branches were as small as the branches of an ordinary tree. The gray leaves hung abundantly there, covering the night sky.”

“I see…”

“And, I discovered that there were beings living in that tree. Creatures from legends… beings called elves.”

“Pardon?”

“They weren’t as beautiful as the legends would have you believe, though.”

* * *

Elves.

The elves were startled the moment they encountered Duke Kapeter and quickly hid inside the tree. Inside the tree, there were narrow tubes that drew water from the planet—essentially, the capillaries through which water circulated within the plant. T

he elves traveled between space and the planet through these tubes.

Upon hearing this, the first thing that came to my mind was an ‘orbital elevator.’ An astronomical elevator connecting geostationary orbit and the planet.

The world tree was an orbital elevator that extended its branches to geostationary orbit and performed photosynthesis using solar radiation, something straight out of a biopunk sci-fi novel.

The gray leaves were likely the result of evolution, allowing them to absorb the entire spectrum of light.

No, evolution was not the right term. It was impossible for such a gigantic and unique tree to be a product of ‘natural selection.’ It was something more fantastical.

A mystery of this world that I couldn’t comprehend.

“Just as humans cannot endure long at the top of the world tree, it seemed that elves couldn’t endure long on the ground either. The ancient myths of humans and elves interacting must have been false.”

“Interesting.”

“Well, that’s about all that comes to mind regarding the world tree. I’m not very eloquent, so I don’t know if I can explain it any more concretely.”

“I understand.”

“Ah, on the other hand, at the coldest pole of the planet, there was a hole that led underground. Beneath it was a huge empty space, a cavern.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Were there Nazis by any chance?”

“Hmm? What’s that?”

“Oh, nothing. Please continue.”

“Anyway, dwarves lived down there.”

Duke Kapeter’s explanation continued. I realized that this world was filled with many more mysteries than I knew.

And.

Perhaps spreading these mysteries to people might be the key to bringing out the literature of this ‘world.’

“Duke Kapeter.”

“Yes, speak.”

“Have you ever considered publishing your travel stories as a novel?”

This wasn’t something that could be captured in ‘Around the World in Eighty Days.’ While it had some similarities to ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ it was still insufficient.

A completely new story was needed.

I would need the help of ‘writers.’