Chapter 3
< Chapter 3: Don Quixote >
As the sales of “Don Quixote” soared, so did the scale of the pirated versions plagiarizing it.
It had reached a point where the imitators were not just copying the plot of “Don Quixote,” but were even writing bizarre stories calling them “Don Quixote Part Two,” starring Don Quixote himself.
The market was flooded with copies that showed even less respect for the original work than reincarnation hate stories.
Ultimately, I had no choice but to cancel the plan to release “Don Quixote Part Two” to the market. If left unchecked, Don Quixote’s name would be tarnished as if splashed with mud.
I visited the publishing house with the manuscript for “Don Quixote Part Two.”
It was ‘Kindersley,’ a small publishing house that had published “Don Quixote Part One.” Thanks to the success of “Don Quixote,” the descriptor ‘small’ no longer fit its expanded scale.
“Mr. Author!”
“Ah, yes. Mr. President. The scale of the publishing house has grown quite a bit, hasn’t it?”
“All thanks to you, sir! Please, don’t stand out here─come inside.”
Thanks to a prior notice of my visit, the president had come out to meet me.
Dorling Kindersley.
She was a young businesswoman who had inherited and managed the Kindersley publishing house. She was also a quite discerning editor.
She had also overseen the proofreading of “Don Quixote Part One,” which I had written based on the ‘original.’
As she ushered me into the reception room, she closed the door and immediately lit up with excitement, reminiscent of something my brother Eric would say.
“Don Quixote is a god! This work… no, it’s a literary masterpiece that deserves a place in history!”
After all, it was a plagiarism of a historically famous literary work.
“Sir, we’ve even received fan letters from the borderlands! Oh, and don’t worry, all the fan letters addressed to you are safely stored in our magical vault—it’s the top model, and we only have one!”
“Shouldn’t such a vault be used to store unpublished manuscripts or valuables…?”
“The affection of fans towards Mr. Homer is the most precious treasure!”
She made a valid point, but why was the editor, not even the author, saying this?
Was it normal for an editor to be so immersed in a work they were managing? Well, it was “Don Quixote,” so it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
A masterpiece has the power to immerse people by its very nature.
“Yes, well. Please give me the fan letters. It seems I have something to store in that vault after all.”
“…What?”
“Did you think I came here out of boredom? You deposit all the royalties directly into my account.”
“No, could it be─.”
I pulled out a thick paper envelope from my coat and handed it to Dorling.
Dorling took the envelope with trembling hands.
“Is, is this─ the thing I think it is…?”
“It’s the manuscript for ‘Don Quixote Part Two.'”
Dorling gasped dramatically.
“…Mr. President?”
Dorling had collapsed powerlessly while clutching the manuscript, apparently overwhelmed by shock. Even as she fainted, her face was smiling.
“Mr. President, please wake up. Ms. Dorling.”
“Ah! Oh, I must have been dreaming. Goodness, I dreamt that the manuscript for ‘Don Quixote Part Two’ was already out…”
“It’s not a dream.”
I pointed at the paper envelope in Dorling’s arms.
At that, Dorling finally grasped the situation and screamed with joy.
“Ahhh!”
“Uh.”
Do people in this world have a passive skill to scream when surprised?
No, that was the case in the original world too. Figures.
“Heavens… Is this really containing the manuscript for ‘Don Quixote Part Two’?”
“Yes. Please ensure it doesn’t leak before it’s officially published.”
“Of course! I’ll lock all the employees in the company building until it’s published, so they can eat, sleep, and breathe it!”
“That’s really not necessary…”
My voice grew faint, unintentionally crushed by her enthusiasm.
A president planning to confine all the employees in the company because of a manuscript seemed rather terrifying.
“The employees would be satisfied to be confined if it meant getting to read this manuscript a day sooner!”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Hehe… Do you want to bet?”
“…I have a feeling I’d lose, so I’ll pass.”
“Hehehe.”
Dorling spun around joyously, staring at the envelope with the manuscript, looking utterly in love.
Although I pride myself on loving literature, I couldn’t match that level of dedication.
“It seems this is your true calling, Ms. President.”
“Do you think so? Actually, until a few months ago, I seriously considered selling the business and moving to the countryside…”
Dorling kissed the envelope and then looked at me.
“The moment I encountered your ‘Don Quixote,’ I realized I’ve been running this publishing house just to have the honor of presenting this great work to the world. Don Quixote is my bible, and you are my saint.”
“That’s quite an exaggeration…”
“Does it seem like an exaggeration?”
Dorling fiddled with a few items on her desk, then took the paper envelope and approached a bookshelf.
She pulled a book, and with the sound of a winding mechanism, a wall opened revealing a hidden safe—a contraption straight out of a gothic novel.
The safe, glowing with a blue light, looked futuristic. This must be the ‘magical vault’ the president had boasted about.
The president touched the safe and sang the password.
“To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear the unbearable sorrow, and to run where the brave dare not go—to reach the unreachable star.”
“These are the words of Don Quixote…”
The inside of the magical vault was much larger than its exterior suggested. It was filled with envelopes.
The owner stood aside, smiling as he introduced the contents of the vault.
“All these are fan letters sent to the author.”
“…That’s a lot.”
“Even now, they’re being sent from all over the world. Considering the distribution time for books… I think it might double in a week. Do you still think I’m exaggerating?”
“It’s kind of scary.”
“Do you think the author’s book is treated like the Bible?”
“No….”
I still pointed to the envelope in the owner’s hand with a hollow laugh.
This was the fervor after the release of Don Quixote Part 1.
“If Part 2 of Don Quixote is released to the market, its impact will be incomparable to when only Part 1 was available.”
Then, while the excitement of Don Quixote Part 1 has not yet subsided.
If Part 2, containing the conclusion of Don Quixote, were to be released.
“That’s really scary….”
How would it turn out?
Unable to even imagine the outcome, I just laughed.
And looking at me, Dorling Kindersley’s face flushed with excitement, the image of a woman hardly able to contain herself.
“If the author himself speaks of the work like this… Can I look forward to it? Is it okay for my heart to be pounding this much? I’m so eager to tear open this envelope and see what’s inside that my mouth is going dry….”
“Please, do that after I leave.”
“When are you planning to go? Don’t you have other things to do?”
“Ha─.”
What a pleasant way to be dismissed.
I bowed my head in greeting and left the reception room. From beyond the door of the reception room, I could hear heavy breathing piercing through the thick wooden door.
Such an unusual person indeed.
* * *
A nuclear bomb had fallen on the capital.
It was a nuclear bomb named Don Quixote Part 2.
“Give me a copy of Don Quixote Part 2!”
“Hey, no cutting in line! Oh, stop pushing!”
It was the ‘real’ Don Quixote Part 2, printed by the publisher of Don Quixote, not the counterfeit pirate versions that had been circulating on the streets.
People rushed to buy Don Quixote in droves.
Among them were servants sent by noble families and nobles themselves who had disguised themselves to step out in person. It was proof of Don Quixote’s influence that even the nobility, who typically exemplified conservatism, would go out themselves just to read the book a few hours earlier.
Soon, those who managed to purchase it successfully began to break free from the crowd, and the capital descended further into chaos.
“If the ending turns out to be a mess after all this trouble, I’ll smear the publisher’s office with dung.”
But what happened next was even more bizarre.
As people read Don Quixote, they began to giggle, and by the time they closed the book, they were sobbing.
In the capital’s squares, which would usually be noisy with people talking, only the gentle sounds of laughter and weeping from those holding the book could be heard.
At a glance, it seemed like a contagious madness was spreading through the populace.
Similar events were occurring throughout the empire.
“Let’s commemorate Don Quixote! Let’s all go mad in honor of Don Quixote, who lived madly and died sane! Let’s all dream!”
Don Quixote had poisoned the empire with a lethal dose of over-engagement.
There was no antidote.
