Only I Am A Reader
chapter-9

'It would have been much easier to do this if the entry point was chapter 6…'

As the chapter where the protagonist decided to finally leave the Orphanage and venture into the sword path, chapter 6 was basically the true start of the novel and also the last time Arthur saw the protagonist before his death.

If he were to be sent to that chapter instead of chapter 26 that he entered through, Leo was confident of destroying the cause of his death flag, regardless of the fact that he would only be 7 years old at that time.

However, he didn't have the choice to choose the entry point, it was something that his ability chose on its own. As such, Leo didn't linger on this thought for long.

'The author really liked playing the emotional growth game.'

During these 20 chapters, the author had written a total of three arcs just to show that the protagonist has changed, but it was also one of these arcs that set the death flag on the whole Orphanage.

At the start of his second arc, the protagonist, who had decided to no longer deal with everything by unsheathing his sword, was 'lucky' enough to stumble across the 'Fanged Wolves', a mercenary team of certain renown.

At first, they simply had a conflict of interest as the 'Fanged Wolves' tried to shamelessly claim the loot of a 'Sword Beast' that wasn't theirs, which quickly ended with the protagonist giving them a beating and letting them know their place.

However, the persistence of the 'Fanged Wolves' was nothing to scoff at, just because they wanted to snatch that loot back, they hired 'shadows' to stalk the protagonist in order to find a chance to steal it.

Naturally, as a former war veteran, the protagonist instantly noticed that he was being stalked, so he also gave the 'shadows' a beating till they spat out everything.

Realizing that it was none other than the shameless mercenaries that he forgave before, the protagonist suppressed his bloodlust with his will to change. Instead, he decided to take a more peaceful approach.

'It would have been better if he just massacred them all…'

Leo silently complained at this point. By taking this 'righteous' decision, the protagonist practically planted the Orphanage's death flag as deep as he could.

Using the skills he learned in the army as well as threatening the 'shadows' to work with him, the protagonist started digging down the hidden information of the 'Fanged Wolves' to reveal the mercenary group's wrongdoings, but he managed to find something much more serious than he expected.

Other than the usual shady work that most mercenaries were involved in, he discovered that the 'Fanged Wolves' kidnapped children and sold them to a mysterious organization…

Even in this fantasy world, such a thing was greatly frowned upon, and that was especially the case for someone who came from Earth like the protagonist. Moreover, as the primary target of the 'Fanged Wolves' were usually Orphanages, the protagonist felt his bloodlust rising as he thought that his 'Orphanage' might be the next target.

'It was just a step away…'

However, he still held back in the end, he wasn't qualified to 'judge' them. Instead, the protagonist decided to spread the information he had obtained.

As a result, the 'Sky-Piercing Sword Empire' where the 'Fanged Wolves' operated immediately launched an attack when they confirmed the authenticity of the information, wiping out the 'Fanged Wolves' like an insignificant bug.

'At least, he should have checked for the remnants!'

By that point, the 2nd arc had come to an end and the 3rd arc already started as the protagonist moved on, it was only when the 4th arc started that the protagonist realized that his 'righteousness' came to bite him back in the ass!

As if the author started running out of ideas, he suddenly wrote about another small mercenary group that was a hidden branch of the 'Fanged Wolves', even after stressing that they were completely wiped out earlier, making the readers complain about it at that time.

Continuing their main branch's 'legacy' of being persistent, the hidden branch of the 'Fanged Wolves' started scheming for revenge, and luckily for them, they had the perfect means to do so!

Within the pile of information that they collected regarding several Orphanages that they planned to target soon, they discovered that their enemy was also an orphan who came for an Orphanage on their list, providing them with a great opportunity.

Since they couldn't openly face the protagonist, they would instead destroy his 'home' and lure him to their trap, taking revenge for their 'fallen comrades'.

'From my current position, I can especially relate to the readers back then…'

As the 'home' of the protagonist that gave him hope and the will to change, its destruction along with the death of his siblings reset him back to his old bloody state. It wasn't until he uprooted the hidden branch along with a few of their close connections that he calmed down.

At that point, the readers who raged before raged even harder, the author claimed that it was necessary for the protagonist's character development, but the readers denied that and accused him of wanting to make the protagonist 'edgy' again.

For Leo, a reader who read whatever he could get his hands on as long as it wasn't of very poor quality, he didn't stand on a specific side back then, but as the current Arthur that was about to be used as one of the scapegoats for the 'character development' and 'emotional growth' of the protagonists, he couldn't deny being salty about it now.

If the author wanted the protagonist to show his 'edge', why didn't he do so earlier?

"Well, that's irrelevant to me anyway."

Having recalled the plotline that caused his future death, Leo ignored the negative thoughts as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, deeply contemplating the main part of his plan.

'It's doable.'

Recalling the grade of the swordsmen within the hidden branch of the 'Fanged Wolves', Leo simply nodded. Those who launched the attack that caused his and his siblings' death were at most of the third grade, it was still possible to eliminate them as long as his plan played out without any hiccups!

'Let's see if this challenge is enough for me to feel an excitement comparable to that of reading…'

Closing his eyes once again, Leo let go of himself to sleep. After all, he needed to wake up early if he wanted to implement his plan!