Chapter - 1

This world is garbage.

I'm not talking about the lack of modern conveniences, civilization, or hygiene. In fact, this world has advanced magic civilization and a basic understanding of hygiene. There are even convenient cleaning spells that are far superior to anything in the real world.

So what's the problem?

It's boring.

There are some forms of entertainment, like monster circuses and magic shows, but they can only provide temporary amusement. What this world lacks is more static, indoor hobbies...like good literature.

As someone who took pride in their reading habits in their past life, I thought a few good works of literature would be enough.

But this world couldn't even provide that.

Instead, it was filled with bizarre erotica and formulaic chivalric romances that seemed to be churned out by some factory. And if you tried to find something more unconventional, you were met with incomprehensible puzzles or poetry.

I was suffering from a severe case of novel fatigue. It had been too long since I had read anything enjoyable. Even the chivalric romances, which had been somewhat entertaining at first, had become nauseatingly predictable.

I was born into a noble family and had a comfortable childhood, but as the saying goes, man does not live by bread alone. A reader's soul withers without anything to read.

And all I had were countless chivalric romances, each one more cliche than the last. If this world had copyright laws, they all would have been pulled from the shelves.

I could have written one myself, if I wanted to. The plots were so predictable that I could have churned one out in no time.

But what would be the point? It would just be another cliche added to the pile.

As I sat in my armchair, mulling over my existential boredom, a thought occurred to me.

If this world only had cliche chivalric romances, then I would just have to expand the genre. I would have to create something new.

Of course, I didn't have any 'creativity' to speak of...

But I did have something else.

I had hundreds of masterpieces in my head that didn't exist in this world.

What if I 'plagiarized' those works and released them here?

This would be the ultimate modern-person cheat.

I was the only one in this world who knew of Earth's literature.

Originally, I wouldn't have been able to perfectly recreate every work, even with my perfect memory. But most of the novels I remembered were just general plots.

However, I could make it work. After all, this era was obsessed with chivalric romances.

And I knew of a great work that was released during the height of the chivalric romance craze.

Don Quixote.

Don Quixote was a novel that criticized chivalric romances. It followed the basic plot structure of a chivalric romance, but with a twist: the protagonist was a delusional madman, and the people around him saw his actions as ridiculous.

Unlike traditional chivalric romances, which glorified noble and honorable knights, Don Quixote portrayed its protagonist as absurd and pompous.

But in order to write this novel, I needed to have a deep understanding of chivalric romances. That was why I had ordered my servant to buy all the famous chivalric romances in the capital. He didn't seem to understand why, but that was beside the point.

My servant opened his mouth carefully, as if sensing my thoughts.

"This time, you bought so many common novels that the madam was a little angry. Your allowance might be cut off for a few months."

"So what? I've already read all the books worth reading. What's the point of an allowance if there's nothing to buy?"

"...I see."

All my money went towards buying books. Other than bookmarks and bookshelves, I had no other expenses. Books were relatively expensive, but not to the point of being unaffordable. Thanks to magic engineering and printing technology, they were about as expensive as paperbacks in modern-day Korea.

"And I can make a lot of money by selling books too."

"Are you planning on becoming a publisher as well as a reader?"

"You'll see when it's done."

"I look forward to it."

Despite his words, my servant didn't seem too hopeful. And I couldn't blame him. After all, reading and writing were two different things, and just because I had read a lot of chivalric romances didn't mean I could write a good one.

In fact, I expected my work to be just as cliche as the ones I criticized.

But still...

"Well, it'll be fun. It'll be fun, at least."

There was a constant demand for formulaic novels. Even I, who criticized chivalric romances, had read my fair share of them. In a way, you could say that I loved chivalric romances so much that I felt the need to criticize them.

And this theme of Don Quixote was similar.

At first glance, it seemed like a criticism of the emptiness of chivalric romances, but it was also a novel filled with affection for the genre. If you had the time to list 100 faults of chivalric romances, it meant that you had a deep appreciation for them.

So Don Quixote couldn't just be a novel that criticized chivalric romances.

Instead, it needed to showcase the charm of chivalric romances in a way that no other novel had done before. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza needed to complement each other, just like how fantasy and reality complemented each other.

Don Quixote needed to be a novel that completed the genre of chivalric romances.

"Hm, I should read until my eyes give out..."

I had a lot of books to read.

I had read a lot of books already.

But now, I needed to read all those chivalric romances until I could recite them from memory.

Only then could Don Quixote burn all those books to the ground.

One day, a novel began to gain popularity in the capital.

Don Quixote.

It received positive reviews from critics who had previously been harsh towards chivalric romances, and soon it became a bestseller among chivalric romance fans.

As its fame grew, it became a household name in the capital.

The novel was so popular that it caused an increase in applications to the Academy's Department of Chivalry. Many people dreamed of becoming knights like the 'mad' Don Quixote.

And the people who were most influenced by this novel were, of course, the wealthy and educated nobles.

Even those who had previously dismissed chivalric romances as lowbrow and shallow sang the praises of Don Quixote.

In social circles, it became fashionable to wear paper helmets and dress up as wandering knights.

There were even some who went so far as to become true 'madmen'.

One such person was an old count known as 'Ironblood'. He suddenly decided to become a wandering knight, causing his estate's administration to grind to a halt and forcing his son to take over in his absence.

Truly, this one novel had changed the very atmosphere of society.

And the author of that novel, Ed, sat in his room, staring at the pirated copies of Don Quixote that had sprung up.

"Damn it."

[The Knight Don Quixote de la Mancha]

[The Knight Who Mistook a Windmill for a Dragon]

He had blatantly plagiarized Don Quixote, and yet these pirated copies were being sold openly.