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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 01
‘Is this… real?’
The first customer to visit my shop after opening was Napoleon?
It was so absurd that I couldn’t accept it as reality.
And for good reason Napoleon wasn’t just anyone.
He was a historical figure from centuries ago, someone you’d only see in textbooks.
A man who should have been buried in his grave hundreds of times over.
Yet, here he was, alive and well, drinking water right in front of me.
Believing this was real felt more ridiculous than doubting it.
‘It has to be fake… right?’
Though, for a fake, he looked eerily identical to the portraits of Napoleon.
Still, there had to be people in the world who resembled him.
It’s not like I had ever seen Napoleon in person.
But even if I wrote this off as a mere coincidence, there was something I couldn’t ignore.
◆ Transcendents’ Connector
—Napoleon Bonaparte
‘An awakening message?’
Ever since I met this man, these system-like messages had been appearing before my eyes.
More than anything, there was one irrefutable reason I had to accept this as reality.
“…No way.”
Outside my general store.
"Neighhh!"
"Extra, extra! Breaking news!"
What stretched before me was 18th-century France.
Ding!
—Assist Napoleon and lead the Siege of Toulon to victory!
***
"Are you a royalist, or do you support the revolution?"
Napoleon was the hero who led the French Revolution to victory.
Though he later crowned himself Emperor, right now, he was still part of the revolutionary army.
"I support the revolution."
"Good."
After confirming my allegiance, Napoleon’s expression eased.
"You seem to be a soldier."
"I'm nothing more than a low-ranking officer."
My conversation with Napoleon revealed a lot.
This was before he rose to prominence through war.
In other words, this was when Napoleon was still an unknown officer.
That raised a question.
—Assist Napoleon and lead the Siege of Toulon to victory!
‘How am I supposed to help with that?’
The Siege of Toulon was a battle between the French revolutionary forces and the royalists over the port city of Toulon.
And it was also the stage where the hero, Napoleon, made his grand debut.
At just 24 years old, the nameless officer Napoleon would reclaim Toulon and make a name for himself.
A feat that would propel him from a low-ranking officer to the rank of general.
‘That’s an absolutely ridiculous promotion.’
A 24-year-old low-ranking officer getting promoted to a two-star general in one leap?
Even if someone wrote it into a novel, they’d be criticized for bad storytelling.
But this wasn’t fiction, it actually happened.
Because Napoleon was a genius of war.
And now, the system was telling me to assist that Napoleon.
At the Siege of Toulon, the very beginning of his legendary rise.
‘But how?’
I was just an E-rank appraiser who knew nothing about war, let alone tactics.
No matter how I looked at it, this wasn’t something I had any business interfering with.
And yet, I had no choice.
Unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life stuck in 18th-century Europe.
‘…Damn it.’
As overwhelming as it was, the first step was assessing the situation.
"Napoleon, what’s the current status of Toulon?"
"If you're asking about the battle, I wouldn’t know the details. I haven’t been deployed."
"?"
What was he saying?
I tilted my head in confusion.
The Napoleon I knew had joined the Siege of Toulon as an artillery commander and played a decisive role in the battle.
That achievement was what had propelled him from a mere junior officer to the rank of general.
"You're not taking part in the battle?"
"How could I? I’m nothing more than a supply officer."
Napoleon let out a bitter chuckle, as if lamenting his circumstances.
‘So this is what a failed timeline means?’
Something had gone terribly wrong.
***
Instead of leading artillery in the Siege of Toulon, Napoleon was stuck as a lowly supply officer.
History was veering off course.
‘Why didn’t he become an artillery commander?’
Somewhere along the way, something had been distorted.
I needed to figure out what.
‘The key to Napoleon’s rise as an artillery commander…’
Handling relics naturally made me well-versed in the biographies of historical figures.
And I knew exactly what had led Napoleon to that position.
‘It was the pamphlet.’
Born into a minor noble family, Napoleon had spent his early years being looked down upon.
Desperate for a path to success, he constantly sought opportunities to rise through the ranks.
Then, one day, he encountered a group of royalist merchants.
Engaging them in a heated debate, he later compiled their arguments into a pamphlet.
【Le Souper de Beaucaire — The Supper at Beaucaire.】
A pamphlet that justified the revolution, stating that when royalists and republicans clashed in debate, the republicans would always prevail.
It was this pamphlet that caught the attention of the revolutionary leadership and earned Napoleon his promotion to artillery commander in Toulon.
Ironically, after crowning himself Emperor, Napoleon had gone to great lengths to erase every trace of it, turning it into one of the most heavily censored documents of his reign.
The very pamphlet that had propelled him to power was one he later sought to destroy.
That was how significant it was to him.
But now…
"A pamphlet? What are you talking about?"
Napoleon looked completely clueless.
"You never debated in Beaucaire?"
"I did stay in Beaucaire, but I never had a debate there."
‘So that’s what went wrong.’
At last, I understood where history had gone off track.
In this world, Napoleon had never engaged in that debate in Beaucaire.
As a result, the pamphlet was never written.
And because the pamphlet didn’t exist, Napoleon never became an artillery commander.
A simple pamphlet had caused a massive butterfly effect.
But now that I knew the cause, the solution was simple.
"Napoleon, how about we go out for dinner?"
"Dinner?"
"Yes, it's almost evening, after all."
All I had to do was create the pamphlet.
The Supper at Beaucaire.
***
‘So I actually made it here.’
I looked around in awe.
A street lined with Rococo-style buildings.
Carriages drawn by horses rattled down the cobbled roads, while gentlemen in suits and ladies in voluminous skirts strolled past.
Pre-Victorian era.
This was 18th-century France.
It felt like stepping onto the set of a historical film, filling me with an odd sense of nostalgia.
"If we’re to have a meal, wouldn’t a restaurant be more appropriate?"
"A coffeehouse would be better for a light meal and conversation, wouldn’t it?"
Instead of a restaurant, I had brought Napoleon to a coffeehouse.
Of course, I wasn’t here just to eat.
My goal was to turn Napoleon into the hero of the revolution.
And the first step toward that was to recreate The Supper at Beaucaire.
I had to set the stage for Napoleon to engage in a heated debate with the royalists.
‘And there’s no better place to find political zealots than a coffeehouse.’
France, a nation so deeply entwined with café culture that it was often called the "Café Kingdom".
And the origins of those cafés?
The coffeehouses.
But in this era, coffeehouses weren’t just places that served coffee.
They were gathering hubs where philosophers, writers, and politicians from all walks of life came together to exchange knowledge and ideas.
A space where anyone could participate in discussions, making coffee houses symbols of equality and republicanism.
And where there was freedom, there was chaos.
Artists, philosophers, and political fanatics arguing in a never-ending whirlwind of debates.
Finding a royalist supporter in a place like this was easy.
‘Bingo.’
I barely stepped inside before spotting a particularly noisy table.
— "The National Convention? What nonsense! A country without a monarch? I’ve never heard of such a thing!"
A burly man with a thick, unkempt beard was loudly proclaiming his stance.
A textbook example of a royalist citizen opposed to the French Revolution.
"What do you think, Napoleon?"
"About what?"
"That man’s argument."
Napoleon, idly stirring his mocha coffee, gave a cold smile.
"I have firsthand experience of how a weak king is worse than no king at all."
He was referring to Louis XVI.
A ruler whose incompetence had led France to economic ruin, leaving its streets filled with starving citizens who couldn’t even afford bread.
"The only path forward for France is to end this civil war as soon as possible and stabilize the republic."
Napoleon spoke in a calm yet firm voice, clearly stating his belief.
His words carried across the room, reaching the ears of the royalist man at the next table.
The man stood up, approached Napoleon, and asked,
"Did you just say that we must stabilize the republic?"
"I did. The current civil war is nothing more than a rebellion."
With that, Napoleon launched into a passionate debate with the royalist.
Voices rose, ideologies clashed.
A scene as common as any in a coffeehouse.
But for some, such moments could become life-changing experiences.
And that very night.
"I wrote down the debate from earlier."
Napoleon had completed a piece of writing.
「The Supper at Beaucaire.」
The pamphlet that would be recorded in history.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
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