MTLNOVEL Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Broken Engagement
It was the path heading towards the room of Alencia, the second daughter of the Vampiars Duchy and my implicitly engaged fiancée.
“Isn't that Sir Elwin over there?”
“It is. The Young Lord of Frontier.”
“Is he going to Lady Alencia's room?”
“Tsk tsk. He'll get scolded again. The man has no spirit.”
“Shh. He might hear you.”
At the surrounding voices,
my head drooped.
‘Why did she call for me? Could it be...’
The two letters that came to mind made my chest feel tight.
My ancestor, the first Viscount Frontier, was an 8th Circle Earth Mage.
Perhaps because of that, the descendants of Frontier were born with talent in Earth Magic.
I thought I would have talent too.
Other people thought so too.
My implicitly engaged fiancée, Alencia, as well.
‘But why am I...’
Step. Step.
Step. Step.
Had the path to Alencia's room always been this long?
Even though I walked for a long time, I couldn't arrive.
The longer the walking time stretched,
the more negative thoughts filled my mind.
You don't suit the nobility.
You lack the charisma of a noble.
You don't know how to handle people.
You can't deceive people.
...
You're too passive.
These were words I had heard countless times.
Those words became a flood, piercing my heart.
As the thoughts continued,
the two letters I might hear today became even clearer.
“Did you hear the news? They say Sir Gibson Frontier learned 1st Circle Earth Magic.”
My younger brother, Gibson Frontier.
Unlike me, that child had talent in Earth Magic.
“Really? Then what happens to Sir Elwin?”
“Well, obviously...”
“Stripped of the Young Lord title?”
It was news I heard yesterday too.
That information had already spread to the maids.
If so, one had to assume everyone in the Vampiars Duchy knew.
‘Could it really be today.’
Knock knock.
“It's Elwin.”
“Come in.”
Alencia was alone in the room.
I stood before her like a criminal.
Whenever I was with her, I always shrank.
My self-esteem lowered.
Alencia looked at me with a stiff expression.
A cold appearance devoid of any emotion.
‘Since when was it? That she stopped smiling.’
I recalled the day I first met Alencia, 4 years ago.
The cute little lady of the Duchy.
She smiled well back then.
No, it seemed like she was always smiling.
Such smiles diminished over time.
Along with that, her personality grew colder too.
“Elwin.”
“Yes, Lady Alencia.”
“You know what I have to say today, right?”
“...”
I bit my lip hard.
I felt like a puppy just before being abandoned by its owner.
“Our relationship. Let's end it here.”
“...Is this a broken engagement?”
I brought up the two words that had been tormenting me first.
Because I couldn't bear it otherwise.
“That's right. It's a broken engagement.”
“...”
My legs lost strength at Alencia's decisive answer.
For a moment, my body staggered.
I barely regained balance and turned my body away.
Because I didn't want her to see my current expression.
Slowly, I opened the door.
I hoped she would call me back even now.
That she'd say what she just said was a joke, and smile like before.
‘That kind of thing wouldn't happen.’
The breaking of my engagement with Alencia was a predetermined sequence.
Every situation flowed towards the broken engagement.
As if the whole world desired our separation.
Yet, why am I like this?
Why can't I just open the door and leave?
What exactly am I hoping for?
“Elwin.”
From behind me,
Alencia's beautiful voice was heard.
Barely managing my expression, I turned around.
“Please speak, Lady Alencia.”
Please say it was a joke.
Say there's no problem with our relationship.
Tell me you like me even though I'm lacking.
“Leave as soon as possible.”
“...Understood.”
***
The next day.
Elwin departed from the Vampiars estate.
Five guards and one horse.
It was too modest a procession for the Young Lord of a Viscounty.
Beside Alencia, who was looking out the window,
a maid approached.
It was her personal maid, Mari.
“Lady Alencia, are you feeling uncomfortable?”
“Me?”
“Didn't you like Sir Elwin at first?”
Alencia slightly shook her head.
She recalled the day she first met Elwin.
Her father had declared he would pass the ducal title to one of his three daughters.
From then on, she sought forces to aid her.
The force she found like that was the Frontier Viscounty.
The Vampiars Duchy had four vassal families.
One Viscounty. Three Baronies.
She acted before her eldest sister, Benia,
and was able to get engaged to the eldest son of the Frontier Viscount.
“I didn't like him. I was just a little thrilled. Because I thought I had taken one step closer... closer to the ducal title.”
That the choice back then was a mistake.
She only realized it after 4 years had passed.
Elwin was not someone helpful to her.
He lacked the ability to help with the succession of the ducal title.
“Could I have misunderstood?”
“You misunderstood.”
Alencia turned her gaze from the window.
And sat down at her desk.
She mustn't be swayed by emotions.
She must only look forward.
That was the path she had to take.
***
A dense forest.
We moved along the path cut through it.
‘How did it come to this’
I was born on Earth.
Elementary, middle, high school.
Like any other Korean, I spent my childhood just studying.
And I entered the economics department of a top-tier university in Seoul.
I completed my military service,
and finished university too.
Utilizing my major, I wanted to get a job at a bank or securities firm.
Or even a large corporation was fine.
However.
‘Sorry for being a liberal arts major’ wasn't just an internet meme.
Real society was like that.
There were few positions available for liberal arts graduates.
The few good jobs were taken by liberal arts students from the very top universities.
It didn't reach down to me.
Wasting several years like that, I got a job at a small-to-medium enterprise.
It was a field completely unrelated to my major.
Still, I worked hard.
And I died at a young age.
“Why did it turn out like this?”
Transmigration into another world, something I'd only seen in comics.
When I first came here, I was happy.
Life in the Republic of Korea with no future.
That other world was better than that.
Besides, wasn't I a noble?
The eldest son of a Viscount, no less.
It didn't matter even if the Viscounty was on Monster Island.
Monsters get stronger because of Magi? That was fine too.
Thanks to that, we could sell monster byproducts expensively.
90% of the island is monster territory? That was actually good.
The 90% of land occupied by monsters. Because we could expand there.
Can't farm because of Magi? This wasn't quite okay.
Still, since we could trade with the mainland, it was somehow bearable.
After grasping the situation of the Frontier Viscounty,
and understanding Monster Island,
I got engaged to Alencia.
I thought this was good too.
Because marrying a Duke's daughter would allow access to more capital.
I thought if my modern knowledge and the Duchy's power combined, we could grow rapidly.
However…
It didn't go according to plan.
I lived over 20 years on Earth.
Yet, even dealing with the young Alencia was overwhelming.
There's a word, Igo-kkaeng.
It means a high schooler who goes to another world and wreaks havoc.
Even a high schooler can do it, so what couldn't I, who graduated university and had some work experience, do?
That's what I thought.
“Ha...”
A deep sigh escaped.
Here, modern people were like greenhouse plants.
I was clumsier in human relationships than them,
and lacked in scheming and execution.
I couldn't be as cruel as them,
nor did I know how to manipulate and handle people.
Seeing me like that, Alencia was disappointed.
She said I didn't suit the nobility.
She called me passive.
“Maybe those words are right.”
The people here. At least the nobles,
learn how to handle people from a young age.
They study how to dominate people.
Me? During that time, I only studied, attending school and academies.
Korean, Math, English.
With such knowledge, I couldn't counter noble schemes.
At least, the noble infighting that occurred in the Vampiars Duchy
was not something I was good at.
“Is it actually a relief?”
Having escaped that place.
“Speaking of which… can I never complete that thing until I die?”
I looked at the notification that had been floating there since the moment I arrived in this other world.
[Mission]
Tutorial (In Progress)
The system ability said to be given when coming to another world.
I had obtained that ability too.
The problem… is that it's been 'In Progress' for 6 years.
I did all sorts of things to complete it.
Killed monsters,
built friendships with people,
learned swordsmanship,
and learned magic too.
I did everything that could be called a so-called quest.
Yet, it's still 'In Progress'.
“Just making a person's heart restless for no reason.”
.
.
The center of the Frontier Viscounty.
We arrived at South Castle.
The moment I arrived at the Frontier estate,
I saw many people lined up at the entrance.
There were knights, and mages too.
I also saw administrative officials and other vassals.
And in the center stood my stepmother, Brilda, with a stern expression.
‘This is...'
Someone said.
There's no paradise in the place you flee to.
This situation fit perfectly.
It was a situation I had experienced many times in the Vampiars Duchy.
‘A show of force.’
Bringing along the vassals who follow her
to show the opponent.
I am this strong.
My faction is this large.
Like an animal raising its fur to puff up its body.
Like a bird spreading its wings to make itself look bigger.
Brilda was doing that.
To show me.
“Elwin, have you arrived.”
I dismounted from my horse.
I knelt on one knee before Brilda.
“I have returned, Mother.”