"Dear Mother, Greetings.
"...I have obtained a professorship at Ramifa University, where I will be teaching the history of literature from the Silent Era to earlier. I have already met my colleagues in the department; some of them were my former professors, and they are all very easy to get along with.
"...
I hope you take care of yourself." "
Cilles Noel sat at his desk, eyes downcast, a quill pen in hand, scribbling on a draft of a letter he would send to his mother.
After a moment, he added a few less-than-honest lines: 'My professorial salary is enough for me to live on in Ramifa,' 'My current landlady, Mrs. Finn, is a very easy person to get along with, but I will move into the faculty housing provided by the university after the semester starts.'
The letter's contents were finally finalized, and Cilles breathed a slight sigh of relief, glancing subconsciously at the pocket watch beside him. It was late at night. The sound of rain pattered against the dirty, blurry windowpane.
Cilles stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the hazy night and flickering lights.
The past day had been chaotic for him.
At this time yesterday, he had become Cilles Noel, a research scholar who had just graduated from Ramifa University this year—conceptually similar to a researcher on Earth." Born. His major was literary history.
Before becoming Ciles Noel, his name was He Jiayin, a well-known novelist on Earth.
During a trip with friends, he was involved in an accident and died unexpectedly. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a planet called "Fischer," as a strange and young man.
Ciles stared at the blurry face reflected in the windowpane.
He had black hair and black eyes, slightly pale skin, and a slender, tall figure. He couldn't make out his features, but this morning while washing up, Ciles noticed in the mirror that this body was handsome, with deep-set eyes and a profound, composed air.
But he was still young. According to this body's memories, he was only twenty-four years old.
He had acquired most of the original owner's memories, including his past experiences and all his knowledge. This allowed him to successfully pass the recruitment exam at Ramifa University this afternoon. But…
A flicker of emotion crossed Ciles's calm face. He frowned slightly, his thoughts returning to the recruitment event that day.
Despite its apparent seriousness—from the written test to the interview—he was the only person present, and the professors who interviewed him came and went in a hurry, as if it were merely a formality.
The colleagues from the Faculty of Arts he met later were also very friendly and approachable.
…But how could a recent graduate, a twenty-four-year-old, rise to become a full professor at the most prestigious university in Ramifa City?
It sounded unbelievable.
From the original owner's memories, he had simply graduated according to the expected procedure, submitted his resume as instructed by his teachers, and everything seemed to fall into place smoothly, leading to his successful acquisition of the position.
The original owner had been a student at Ramifa University. During Ciles's interview, he encountered several former professors. Judging from their behavior, there seemed to be nothing suspicious about the matter.
However, Ciles harbored deep suspicions.
He cautiously added "why he was able to become a professor" to his future investigation plans.
And his investigation plans were far from over.
For example, the geographical location of Ramifa City, the future life arrangements, and this world.
Last night, after he became Celes and received Celes's memories, he was surprised to realize that this world was very similar to the background setting of the tabletop role-playing game he was playing with his friends before his death.
The same Ramifa City, the same apostates who defected and caused panic in the city, and even, he could find a few slightly familiar figures in the original owner's memories, who looked exactly like the character cards in the tabletop role-playing game.
And then there was…
Celes turned around and glanced at an object on his desk next to the ink bottle.
It was a dodecahedron die.
Tabletop role-playing games are a type of tabletop role-playing game, similar to the murder mystery games popular among young people on Earth. But a major part of the fun of tabletop role-playing games is the randomness brought by the dice rolls.
In tabletop role-playing games, players usually have a character card as the game character they use. The character card has three basic attributes, including physique, spirituality, and willpower, as well as various skills, including reconnaissance, psychology, mythological knowledge, and so on.
During the game, the game moderator is responsible for explaining the game's setting and story progression to the players, as well as rolling dice to inform them of the results and their impact on the subsequent story.
For example, if a character card has a detection attribute of 25, and the dice roll a 20 (less than 25), the detection is considered successful, and the player can detect useful information.
However, if the dice roll a 30 (greater than 25), the detection fails, and the player cannot discover any clues. Even if clues are right in front of them, they will be ignored.
This uncertainty in the results greatly affects the player's progress. Some unlucky players might die without discovering any information during a single tabletop role-playing session.
Cyrus, in his previous life, was the moderator of this game. His friends were the players, and the script was found online.
At that time, they didn't use real dice but instead used random numbers from an electronic device.
However, when he arrived in this world, he unexpectedly found a real die beside him.
It was a perfectly black dodecahedron with golden edges, about three centimeters in length, width, and height. The numbers on each face were constantly changing, from 0 to 100, without ever stopping.
Due to his innate caution, after becoming aware of the die's existence, Celes had never used it, nor made any throwing or tossing motions.
In the past day, Celes hadn't heard any gurgling sound from the die.
Everything seemed peaceful.
But he knew clearly that the die's presence beside him was likely related to his transmigration. But why had he transmigrated? Why had he come to this world? Where had the original body gone?
Dead? But in his memories, the original body had simply fallen asleep, and when he woke up, he was He Jiayin.
He felt this was unusual, that some secret must be hidden behind it.
At that moment, Celes suddenly thought of something.
The role-playing game he played had a host called the "Secret Keeper." The one who kept the secret.
Celes took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then slowly exhaled. He thought, at least no one with supernatural powers would suddenly jump out and tell him he was arrested because he had usurped someone else's place.
Fisher's world had real gods, so he also suspected the existence of so-called "supernatural powers." He was a novelist in his past life.
Therefore, until he uncovered the truth, Celes would keep his identity as a visitor from another world a secret and strive to survive in this world different from Earth.
On this basis, he would try to find a way back to Earth. Even if it might cost him countless hours and energy, he was ultimately a stranger.
Celes closed his eyes, then went to his desk again, copied the letter he had written to his mother onto formal letter paper, folded it, put it in an envelope, and planned to mail it the next morning.
He wrote his mother's address on the envelope:
"Lamifa City, Merlin Town, Kanyo Farm."
Afterward, he put the envelope aside, carefully arranged the papers, ink, quills, notebooks, and other items on his desk, and then went to the small washroom attached to the house.
A moment later, he left the bathroom, changed into his pajamas, lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Ciles Noel changed into suitable casual clothes and placed the envelope in the inside pocket of his coat. He took his pocket watch, a small notebook, and a sharpened pencil, and carefully put the dice into his pocket.
He looked out through the blurry window and saw that the weather was still overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. However, he still took his long-handled umbrella, using it as a walking stick.
He changed into waterproof leather boots suitable for the muddy roads of the weather, took his wallet and keys, and went out.
His apartment building was at 13 Milford Street in Lamifa West.
Mrs. Finn, the landlady, owned the entire building; her husband was a wealthy businessman who was rarely home. So Mrs. Finn managed and rented out the apartments she had bought to pass the time.
Ciles' apartment was at the far east end of the second floor. There were three rooms on this floor, each about twenty or thirty square meters, each with its own bathroom. In Lamifa West, such an apartment was quite good.
Sirius met Mrs. Finn in the foyer on the first floor.
Mrs. Finn was a middle-aged woman in her forties, always wearing a long dress and an apron. Despite her considerable wealth, Mrs. Finn preferred to do everything herself and never hired a maid.
Her eyebrows were always raised high. She was a woman who was unforgiving and never said anything kind. Her husband was often away from home, and her son was very unruly; these setbacks made this woman appear aloof and mean.
Sirles greeted her, "Good morning, Mrs. Finn."
"Good morning, Mr. Noel." Mrs. Finn looked somewhat surprised, but she quickly replied, "Are you going out? Be careful then, that damned apostate is still in town. I don't know how those useless priests haven't found him yet."
"Thank you for reminding me, I will be careful," Sirles said politely. "I've found a job and plan to write to my mother. By the way, I should let you know that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll be moving out in about a week."
"Oh…" Mrs. Finn frowned. "Mr. Noel, you should have told me sooner."
Sirles said apologetically, "I only got the job yesterday. It was too late when I got back, so I didn't want to bother you."
Mrs. Finn nodded absentmindedly. "Alright, alright… uh, I understand." She seemed to want to say something, but then stopped herself and said instead, "Once I find another tenant, I'll refund part of your rent. Of course, not all of it."
Sirles nodded.
The faculty housing at Lamifa University was free. So even though he would lose some money by canceling his lease now, it was still better than continuing to live with Mrs. Finn. Besides, commuting to Lamifa University from here was quite inconvenient.
However, Mrs. Finn's attitude was too friendly. He had expected Mrs. Finn's emotions to be more intense.
Ciles's gaze swept over Mrs. Finn's face with slight unease, sensing that the woman seemed troubled by something, so he didn't pay much attention to Ciles's decision to cancel the lease. Was
it because of her husband? Her son? Or some nasty tenant?
The former novelist's mind immediately raced with
various thoughts. But he didn't show his thoughts, quickly said goodbye to Mrs. Finn, and left the apartment building. Soon after, he went to the carriage shop in the west of the city and mailed his letter.
Lamifa City didn't have a dedicated mail service; one could only look for carriages that might be heading to their destination at such carriage shops. Ciles was very lucky; there happened to be a carriage going to Merlin Town.
Merlin is a small town located east of Lamifa City, and it's where Ciles Noel was born and raised.
Noel's family now consists of only his widow and son. Ciles' father died when he was young, and his mother raised him alone. From Ciles Noel's memory, she was a strict yet loving mother.
The two relied on each other and had a harmonious relationship. Therefore, after clarifying his thoughts and securing a job, Ciles immediately wrote a letter to the original owner's mother,
even though he hadn't yet decided how to treat her.
After leaving the carriage shop, Ciles reflected on his tasks.
His main tasks for the next period were preparing lessons and moving.
With only a week until the start of Lamifa University, lesson preparation was urgent. After his interview yesterday, he learned that the previous professor of literary history's lesson plans were still in his office, and he could refer to some of them.
Ciles decided to go to Lamifa University today.
The university wasn't in the western part of the city, but in the eastern part, separated from the western part by a river. The western part of Ramifa was the first area developed and is now known as the Old City, while the eastern part is a more prosperous area.
To travel from the western to the eastern part, one can rent a carriage or board a public carriage. The latter travels along fixed tracks and stops at specific stations, making it far less convenient and faster than renting a carriage.
However, the public carriage is cheaper.
In his letter to his mother, Ciles said that his salary was more than enough to cover his living expenses, but if he wanted to investigate the truth behind his transmigration, there would certainly be more places where he would need money in the future.
Therefore, he was saving money wherever possible and also planned to find more ways to earn money.
Following the original owner's memories, he headed to a nearby public carriage stop.
The stop was located in Logan Market, southwest of Milford Street. This was the liveliest place in the western part of the city, with all sorts of shops and vendors—shoe stores, clothing stores, bakeries, butcher shops, spice shops, and so on, with occasional merchants from outside the city setting up stalls.
Ramifa City had specifically set up a public carriage stop here for the convenience of its residents.
As he rounded a corner, and Ciles could already smell the complex aromas of Logan Market, he caught a glimpse of a dimly lit shop around the corner.
At that moment, the sound of dice rolling echoed in his mind.
[You need to make a reconnaissance judgment.]
[Reconnaissance: 30/15, Success.]
[You have stumbled upon an antique bookstore. You believe you can obtain some useful information from here.]