The next day, the sun rose over the Lower Green Forest as usual.
Praying inwardly, Aaron Sothos pulled open the curtains. Seeing the golden morning sunlight streaming through the window, he finally let out a long breath. "Thank goodness... thank goodness it wasn't here."
Last night's dream—or rather, the scene in the world of his golden finger—had been far too horrifying.
Aaron Sothos was afraid he had actually changed the real world. If he had, he would have gotten himself killed. It would have been a textbook case of a transmigrator bringing about his own doom.
I only wanted to change the color of the sun. How did the whole world end up changing so drastically?... It seems that the scarlet sunlight contained some kind of terrifying corruption, which instantly transformed the entire world. And there was that madness that came with the power itself. Could there be something wrong with my golden finger?
Aaron Sothos opened a drawer and took out a black notebook. It was his Observer's Diary, half of whose pages were covered in densely packed block characters that only he could understand.
[Known: After making inquiries in several places, it appears that neither the knights nor the scholars in the territory have mastered any mystical powers.]
[Known: "Grandmother Green Banyan" is merely a totem of ordinary primitive nature worship and has never displayed any divine miracles.]
[Known: After secretly testing the maids and others, it seems no one else has traveled in their dreams to a clear, distinct world.]
[Conclusion: It can tentatively be determined that "Dream Vision" is my golden finger.]
[Experiments in which I set goals and reference points and then observed them continuously confirm that the dream world has basic rules governing its operation. It is not a world I imagined... The passage of time there does not match that of the real world.]
[Month of the Banyan Rooting, 15th. I accompanied Father to make an offering to "Grandmother Green Banyan." That night, I dreamed of that world again and changed the sun there, causing the whole world to undergo a violent transformation... My golden finger's power may lean toward chaos? Or perhaps it contains an element of madness??]
The hard quill dipped in ink left elegant strokes across the slightly yellowed paper, but Aaron's expression was grave.
He paused, dipped the quill again, and continued writing:
[After changing the world, I felt my consciousness grow extremely weak, as if I had returned to infancy.]
[Hypothesis: Each time I enter the dream—or, rather, each day that passes in reality—my "power" in the dream grows a little stronger. Last night, it reached some kind of "threshold"? Although the power I had accumulated vanished, perhaps a qualitative change has already taken place?]
[Things from the dream cannot be brought into this world, and the power in the dream seems unable to affect me in reality... Then what is this dream even good for? I can't even conclusively prove whether it's real or not!]
[Conclusion: A useless golden finger!]
Aaron made the final stroke, closed the notebook, and sighed.
It was truly depressing to get a useless golden finger in another world.
Although last night's display proved it might not be quite so useless, it still wasn't of much help.
He still had no way to deal with the war that was about to come.
"Even if it's just a village-head-versus-town-head-level brawl, people could still die if they're not careful."
With a hint of resignation, Aaron went to the dining room and joined his family for breakfast.
Breakfast was fairly lavish: grilled bacon and white bread, a variety of fresh fruit, and milk.
Theodore, Sonia, Colin, and Ginny were all there.
There was also a brat of around ten, with a white bandage and wooden splint strapped to his leg. He was Aaron's third younger brother, Sean Sothos.
After Aaron's birth mother died of an illness, the lord soon married his third wife. They got along fairly well.
Especially after she gave birth to Sean, Colin had gained his greatest rival and enemy.
At that moment, however, the brat Sean was cutting up his food with a knife and fork, occasionally casting Aaron a seemingly boastful glance.
What's that supposed to mean? Are you showing off that you got injured and don't have to go to war? No, you don't have to go to war at all...
Aaron rolled his eyes and sat down in his place.
Theodore ate in complete silence. The butlers and maids standing nearby didn't dare make a sound, and only the occasional faint clink of cutlery broke the silence around the table.
Finally, Aaron heard his father ask, "What do you think about this battle, Aaron?"
"Father..."
Aaron gathered his thoughts. "Morally speaking, the other side broke the sacred marriage pact, so we have ample reason to send our troops. But geographically, they control the upper reaches of the Green Forest and can travel downstream, which gives them considerable mobility..."
The vast Green Forest region was ruled by two families, the Davises and the Sothos. It was said that their ancestors had been related by blood.
But there was no doubt that, by this generation, the connection had grown exceedingly tenuous.
Now, they were on the verge of coming to blows.
Breakfast soon came to an end. Watching coldly from the sidelines, Aaron noticed that although Lady Sonia seemed perfectly composed, the occasional glances she cast at Colin were deeply revealing.
It looks like this lady probably thinks Colin was behind Sean's fall from his horse. After all, Colin is the legitimate eldest son, and Sean's greatest enemy... Hmm, I'm the least of a threat, but I can't let my guard down. Sometimes when the eldest and second eldest fight, the third gets killed.
Lost in thought, Aaron made his way to the training ground in front of the castle.
He had always exercised every day, and with war approaching, he needed to keep honing his skills.
Aaron looked at his weapon rack. Two weapons hung from the black wooden stand.
One was a slender, elongated blade with an elaborate, well-crafted guard. Light and agile, it was a rapier, the forerunner of modern fencing swords.
It was the weapon Aaron carried most often. Colin had maliciously nicknamed it "Needle," meaning it was the kind of weapon only women used.
Aaron had only smiled at that. He knew perfectly well that a penetrating wound was far more troublesome than one caused by a slash.
Whether it was internal bleeding from a pierced vital organ or infection from damaged intestines, in an age without surgery, either injury was an incurable death sentence!
Even losing an arm or a leg to a slash gave you better odds of surviving than being stabbed in a vital spot!
Beneath the rapier's elegant appearance lurked a terrifying capacity for inflicting harm.
It was especially light compared to other swords, which meant its wielder could fight for longer.
In everyday life and for self-defense in the streets, a rapier was undoubtedly the best choice—a portable weapon for one-on-one combat that could be called the finest of its kind in the West.
Aaron had naturally devoted a great deal of effort to mastering the rapier.
But now, he had no choice but to set it aside. He sighed. "This is the wrong time for it. A thrusting sword is perfect for everyday self-defense, since no one goes out wearing heavy armor, but war is different!"
The commoners in Davis Territory naturally wore no armor, but the knights were another matter!
Every one of them had received professional training, and their physiques and killing skills had reached the peak of perfection. In battle, they also wore thick suits of metal armor!
That kind of armor consisted of a whole series of parts—an undercoat, breastplate, skirt armor, helmet, gauntlets... It was basically an iron can.
A finely made suit of knight's armor could even be worth as much as a manor!
It was exactly the kind of thing that countered a thin, slender rapier!
Thinking this, Aaron picked up the other weapon: a longsword with a cross-shaped hilt.
Its blade was broad, its hilt black, and it was nearly two meters long. Only a tall man could wield it. The blade was serrated, all the better to inflict damage when hacking at armor. It was a true weapon of war!
Well, during the new book's launch period, I'll update every day at 6 a.m., two chapters at a time. Haha, don't think that's too little. I'll make up for it once the book goes on sale!
Before you continue