chapter - 24

The illustrations for *Alice in Wonderland* were created by Lucia Barton, who also illustrated *The Little Prince*.

Originally, she was just a girl who loved drawing, but now she had become a professional illustrator making quite a name for herself.

“If it's a novel by Homer, I must be the illustrator! Please, let me do it!”

Of course, she rushed over and drew wonderful illustrations as soon as she heard that it was a fairy tale I had written.

As a result, the plagiarized *Alice in Wonderland* became a near-perfect work.

Perhaps, as a "plagiarized" work, *Alice* might have the highest level of completeness among all the novels I had plagiarized so far.

*[Alice in Wonderland]*

Thus, *Alice in Wonderland* was officially published.

Homer's second fairy tale. There were doubts that it wouldn't match the quality of his previous works due to the element of co-writing with a disciple.

“Alice in Wonderland is a masterpiece!”

“Is Homer... truly a god?”

Such doubts soon vanished.

*Alice in Wonderland* was the most fantastical fairy tale.

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*Alice in Wonderland* is a fairy tale about dreams.

No, it was a dream itself.

Like a dream flowing without order, Alice falls, grows, shrinks, crosses spaces, and meets strange people. Everything is chaotic, and the only thing that exists is intuition. In the world of dreams, rationality does not work, but everything flows naturally beyond rationality.

Just like a well-crafted pun.

If *The Little Prince* was a fairy tale for adults, *Alice in Wonderland* was a fairy tale that adults could not understand.

The world of dreams is ultimately the pure and energetic world of a child.

“Wow! This is truly... the fairy tale of a great writer...?”

“It's so fun.... Even though it's a fairy tale...?”

And, because it was incomprehensible, it was also an interesting fairy tale.

Unexpected events that take breaths at will, unique and exaggerated characters, and the language play that makes up the sentences.

It was a delightful joke in itself.

A joke that makes you tap your forehead with excitement every time you understand a context and laugh out loud at every sentence.

The funniest fairy tale. A story full of wit and humor.

The most touched by this fairy tale were those in the field of "art." Especially, critics who loved to comment on others' works raised their voices first.

“*Alice in Wonderland* is pure art!”

“Homer, who opened a new horizon of fantasy with *Don Quixote*, completed fantasy with *Alice in Wonderland*.”

Critics preferred works with room for interpretation.

*Alice in Wonderland* was a fairy tale overflowing with interpretative possibilities.

The fact that it borrowed the genius sense of "Rolls Carmel" to compensate for slightly lacking writing skills was also significant. As a result, *Alice in Wonderland* was evaluated by critics as a work second only to *Don Quixote*.

“If I could express the inspiration from *Alice in Wonderland* through music...!”

“It feels like my dream has been dissected and displayed in writing...”

Artists from other fields such as music, painting, and magical performance also fell in love with the strange fairy tale *Alice in Wonderland*.

*Alice in Wonderland* was a dream itself.

And dreams were the source of inspiration.

Anyone in the cultural and artistic world could not help but feel great inspiration from this fairy tale. *Alice in Wonderland* soon became a dominant trend in the art world.

Many artists depicted Alice through their art and described the strange land.

“Oh, nanny. Isn't wearing this apron dress at my age a bit childish?”

“What do you mean~. Who else could look as good in a blue apron dress as you, Miss Liddell? You're still young, so when else will you wear such clothes?”

In social circles, it became a trend among young women to wear blue apron dresses symbolizing Alice.

Because it didn't suit them once they got a little older, such apron dresses became essential attire for girls making their debut in society.

“Homer is truly a god! But who is this Rolls Carmel listed as a co-author?”

“I heard Rolls Carmel is Homer's disciple. They say most of the sentences and dialogues in *Alice in Wonderland* were written by this Rolls Carmel.”

“Even his disciples are outstanding...”

“He must be an excellent educator too!”

And so.

Rolls Carmel successfully debuted as a writer and as Homer’s disciple.

Wealthy patrons lined up to support the new writer, Rolls Carmel.

Some supporters even tried to contact other disciples of the Literature Academy in advance. *Alice in Wonderland* influenced various social sectors to that extent.

“Congratulations on becoming a great writer in advance, Rolls Carmel.”

“Is it okay for me to receive such high praise...? Actually, the entire story was created by Homer...”

“But it was Rolls Carmel who completed that story with wonderful sentences. You should be confident.”

“Heheh...”

I intended to fan the flames of this trend.

The *Alice* series didn’t end with *Alice in Wonderland*.

“Rather, let’s talk about the next work.”

“N-N-Next?!”

“We need to write Alice's next story.”

“Next story...?”

I pulled out a bunch of manuscripts from my bag, just like last time.

On the first page of the manuscript, the title was written in elegant script.

*[Through the Looking-Glass]*

“Let’s write about Alice’s new dream.”

“Y-Y-Yes, yes, yes!”

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*Through the Looking-Glass*.

The sequel to the *Alice* series was a fairy tale filled with paradoxes and puzzles, just like *Alice in Wonderland*.

The difference was that, unlike *Alice in Wonderland*, which had no particular direction, *Through the Looking-Glass* had a forward-moving direction.

“Promotion... Haren Kingdom-style chess, huh...?”

“Oh, doesn’t the Empire have such board games?”

“The Empire does have chess, but... there's no promotion in the Empire’s chess...”

*Alice in Wonderland* was a world inspired by "cards," while *Through the Looking-Glass* was a world inspired by "chess."

In the world beyond the mirror, Alice reaches the end of the chessboard and becomes a queen.

That’s the chess promotion.

However, the chess in this world had slightly different rules. There was no promotion and the sub-rules were more varied.

“Oh, but there are many who enjoy Haren Kingdom-style chess... Since it's hard to perfectly adhere to the rules of a board game anyway, I think it will be fine!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, yes! Also, the story of a girl becoming a queen is very nice! Hehe...”

“Can you do it as well as last time?”

“Of course! It might take a bit more time, but... having done it once, I can do it even better!”

Rolls Carmel said this and started focusing on writing again.

It seemed a lot of paper and pens would be needed again.

“Ah, especially pay attention to ‘Jabberwocky’.”

“Of course!”

Jabberwocky.

The nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll is considered a masterpiece, even regarded as the best poem in English literature. It’s composed of perfect puns and neologisms, making it impossible to understand, yet it stimulates poetic imagination.

Naturally, the *Jabberwocky* I translated into this world’s language was not such a great poem.

I could only hope Rolls Carmel would turn my silly poem into something splendid.

‘There's no need to worry too much. The *Alice* series itself is a great masterpiece. Even if it’s a bit lacking, just that will help literature progress.’

The *Alice* series.

*Alice in Wonderland* and *Through the Looking-Glass* are symbols in themselves.

Symbols of fantasy, dreams, and strangeness.

If Carl Jung organized the symbols of dreams, Lewis Carroll created the symbols of dreams. All art pursuing dreamy and fantastical inspiration owed a debt to Lewis Carroll.

Thus, the *Alice* series was recreated countless times.

In the most famous movie version, *Alice in Wonderland* and *Through the Looking-Glass* were mixed into one work. In fact, in second creations, the two works were often not distinguished.

For example, characters like the "Red Queen," "Jabberwocky," and "Humpty Dumpty" all appear in *Through the Looking-Glass*.

But in my previous life, many people simply thought they appeared in *Alice in Wonderland*.

“In this world, people will think so even more. Since I published them consecutively without any time gap...”

And so.

Not long after *Alice in Wonderland* was published.

*Through the Looking-Glass* was published.

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“Homer must be from the Haren Kingdom!”

“People who have seen Homer testify that he has exotic looks. He must be a mixed-race from the Haren Kingdom.”

“In the Haren Kingdom, it is common for royals who have fallen out of succession to abandon their names and change their identities, so perhaps...?”

“Gasp.”

Strange rumors began to circulate in the Empire.