Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World

Since the slightly ridiculous encounter with the Tower Master of the Black Magic Tower, I had been busy working at the Homeros Foundation.

This was to actively carry out a kind of “book development project.”

It wasn’t anything so grand as the term “project” suggested, but rather, it was a task to create an “archive.”

Old books were repaired, those with few copies were replicated, books that didn’t exist were bought, and books with mold were transcribed and then discarded.

Thus, a massive library was created, where countless books could be preserved forever.

A space to preserve the books had already been prepared.

The plan to build a landmark library in every central district of the Empire had been discarded due to budget issues, but instead, a huge, modern library was built in the capital, larger than the Empire’s central library.

And that library was—.

[Homeros Central Library]

It was the Homeros Central Library.

It was the library with the largest collection of books in the contemporary world, holding over ten million volumes.

In fact, it was practically storing most of the books that existed in this world.

To gather these books, help was received from the royal family, the parliament, the church, the Harren royal family, the guild alliance, the beastman community, and many others.

“It smells so fragrant, it’s making my head spin… Is this what drug addicts feel like?”

“Hmm, really? Thanks to the purification magic, the air feels clear and easy to breathe, but I’m not sure about the smell.”

“Truly beautiful things can only be felt with the heart. The same goes for fragrance.”

I liked the smell of books, but… the absurdly intoxicating scent that was uplifting me at that moment wasn’t the moldy smell of old books or the scent of leather-bound volumes.

It was the fragrance of freshness.

It was a sweet scent created by pure, transparent oxygen that reassured me no mold would ever tarnish the books.

So, truly beautiful things could only be felt with the heart…

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Ugh, so, why did you come?”

I cleared my throat and asked Sion.

I had planned to stay here and work for a few weeks to commemorate the completion of the library, but seeing him show up suddenly, despite knowing that, it seemed there was something I needed to know.

Sion nodded and immediately got to the point.

“Lord, you have a nephew now.”

“Huh? The due date is already here?”

“Yes. It was moved up about ten days.”

“Ah.”

I never expected to become an uncle. Time really flies.

Well, considering how much the world had changed, I guess it was a little late, rather than early. I wasn’t sure.

“Did you send the gift you prepared to my brother?”

“Yes. But there’s a small issue.”

“An issue…? Did something happen to my sister-in-law’s health because of a premature birth?”

“No, nothing like that. Well, it is a bit related to the earlier birth date.”

“Mm?”

“Lady Eric, the Count’s wife, gave birth to twins.”

…

The gift I had prepared for my brother was baby items.

Rattle toys, baby shoes, baby beds, baby cushions, baby bathtubs, and other such items safe for babies under a year old. Things that didn’t exist in this world were developed by the guild alliance and the magic tower.

In the process, another source of income from patents was generated… which was used for maternity support and postnatal care through the Little Prince Foundation. At that time, many mothers were still giving birth in unsanitary environments or homes.

Anyway.

Fortunately, the gifts I had prepared would not go to waste. Since I had prepared separate gifts for a girl and a boy, I could give the twins, a boy and a girl, both of their gifts.

However, there was one gift that couldn’t be used.

“My wife suggested we order a custom twin stroller. So, thanks for the gift, but I’ll return this stroller.”

“Ah, okay. Congratulations on the baby, brother.”

It was the stroller.

The stroller I had prepared was a folding stroller made from an aluminum alloy, a very rare metal in this world, called ‘Jin.’ It wasn’t fantasy metal, but a genuine rare alloy.

I had referred to the design from my previous life to make it, but unfortunately, it was a bit too small to fit both children.

“What should I do with this stroller…”

So, the stroller made from aluminum and the finest fabric came back to me.

If you expressed it in the way adults liked to measure, the production cost of the stroller was similar to the market value of the Fríden estate.

“…Maybe I’ll auction it.”

I could melt the aluminum and sell it as raw material, but since it was made already, I hoped someone would actually use it.

After all, the stroller was meant for the child and mother.

One day, an anonymous ad appeared in a newspaper of the Empire.

[For sale: Baby stroller. Never used.]

It was an ad for selling second-hand baby goods. Since a ‘baby stroller’ was something only wealthy nobles typically used, the ad in the newspaper seemed rather odd.

Many people discussed the ad.

Wasn’t the content quite strange as well? Why couldn’t the stroller be used? What happened to the baby? Countless speculations and rumors spread.

Some people even contacted the newspaper to meet the seller.

But the newspaper’s response was firm.

“Unless you’re an expectant mother or a parent of a newborn in need of a stroller, we cannot allow you to meet the seller.”

Even when a noble from the parliament visited the newspaper in person, the same response was given.

By the time only rumors continued to spread, without any concrete facts.

“Uh, I would like to buy the stroller… but… I don’t have much money… could you tell me the price?”

A mother, who was interested in the stroller, sent this message.

After going through some identity verification procedures, she was invited to the location where she could purchase the stroller.

“Welcome. If you wait for a moment, ‘he’ will arrive shortly.”

“Ah, yes…”

In a small building next to the largest newly built library in the Empire.

The mother waited in a room that looked like some kind of reception or meeting room.

After a moment.

The door opened and a man appeared. He was a man who looked like a wealthy noble and bowed politely, apologizing to the mother.

“I apologize for making you wait. You must need to rest since you are not in your prime… It seems there was some misunderstanding in the communication process.”

“Oh, no! You don’t need to bow so much, sir…”

“You came for the stroller, right?”

“Yes? Yes. But, if you don’t mind, could you tell me the price?”

“I will give you the stroller as a gift. Also, the Little Prince Foundation is running a new program to support mothers. Would you be interested in receiving some assistance?”

“Excuse me?”

“We are planning to build a maternity ward in the capital. It will be close by, so you needn’t worry.”

“…Huh? Are you… who are you…?”

The mother, who seemed to have realized something, exclaimed.

The man tilted his head in confusion and answered.

“Who am I? Ah, did you come without even hearing my name? This is Sion, that guy…”

“……”

“I am Ed, from the House of Fríden. I go by the pen name Homeros.”

“Ah?”

…

I thought I would have to give Sion some emergency medical training later.

I was shocked to hear that the mother, who came to buy the stroller, had been kept waiting for hours while her identity was confirmed. How important is it for a mother to be at ease… she must have been so surprised to arrive without even hearing my name in advance.

Of course, it was also partly my fault for not setting clear guidelines beforehand.

Well.

Still, these things should be done with care, in a clean and sensible manner, right? Anyway, this was Sion’s fault.

“I apologize.”

“No, it’s a joke. Just a joke. Anyway, thanks to you, Sion, we found someone in need of a stroller, so it worked out.”

“It’s all thanks to the ad you wrote, Lord.”

“Technically, it’s called flash fiction. It’s also known as a short-short story…”

“Excuse me?”

“Such things exist.”

The phrase I posted in the newspaper [“For sale: Baby stroller. Never used.”] was a plagiarism of an old American urban legend.

To be precise, it went like this.

[“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”]

[“팝니다 : 아기 신발. 사용한 적 없음.”]

It is often known as a six-word short story by Hemingway, though it seems Hemingway is not actually related to it.

This was one of the textbook examples of flash fiction, a genre that maximizes imagination through short sentences.

“Such urban legends are also part of literature. You could say they’re modern folktales.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. By the way, I’ve been living in the library for too long lately, and I’m getting a little tired…”

“Excuse me?”

“Huh?”

“Tired…?”

“Of course.”

As a human, after spending several days living in the library and reading nothing but books, I naturally became tired.

At times like these, a change of pace was necessary.

“Speaking of which, I think I should publish a book.”

“…I will prepare it.”

To heal my weary heart with something other than reading.

Plagiarism─I mean, translation, that’s what I’ll do!

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[“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff, and after eighty days and four more, he had caught nothing.”]

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