Could that living, breathing creature before my eyes really be a magical beast? My heart was pounding far more intensely than when I’d encountered endangered species. A mythical creature that should only exist in imagination. No, encountering a being that had only existed as words on paper in novels filled me with an indescribable thrill.

The way it meticulously groomed its glossy feathers with its sharp beak was truly beautiful. After watching the Opalus in a daze for a while, I finally came to my senses. No matter how much I’d wished to see one before I died, this was a ‘magical beast’ that shouldn’t exist in reality.

“Just where is…”

“What did you say?”

I was about to ask where this place was. But the menacing looks from the warriors surrounding me made me shut my mouth.

The man gripping my hair was heavily armored in medieval-style plate armor, and those around him each had swords at their waists. They looked exactly like knights who would swear loyalty to their lord.

One of the knights watching from afar quietly drew his sword and pointed it at my slender neck. The hair on my body stood on end, knowing that the slightest movement could get me sliced.

“Haha… it’s nothing…”

I’d be offended if someone called me tactless after years of living as a slave. I kept laughing involuntarily, unable to tell if this situation was a dream or reality.

If it was a dream, it was remarkably vivid, and if it was reality… well, it absolutely couldn’t be reality.

I wanted to slap myself awake, but the sharpness of the blade against my neck felt too real to dismiss this as just a dream.

“Sir, perhaps we should lower the sword and talk calmly?”

“Just answer what you’re asked!”

“Yes, sir.”

Someone must have stolen this dignified knight’s composure. Feeling like I was losing a year of life every time they questioned my answers, I quietly nodded.

Then, the knight wearing the most elaborate armor stood beside me. Seeing how the sword-wielding knight stepped aside with a “Captain,” he must be high-ranking. The captain, his chin held as stiffly as the pheasant tail feathers in his helmet, gestured toward the field with his eyes.

“Do you know about that magical beast?”

The Opalus was still grooming its feathers in the field visible through the trees. Occasionally, when it shook its body, dead feathers would fall to the ground one by one. Ah, if I were closer, I would have tried to pocket at least one of those feathers. It was frustrating to only be able to watch, like being unable to catch falling bean powder while watching it scatter.

“It’s a Level 2 dangerous magical beast, Opalus… as far as I know.”

“Opalus…?”

“Yes, well…”

That’s what the novel’s author named it, so it must be right, right? Though I answered confidently, I trailed off due to uncertainty. However, the captain seemed to find my hesitant tone quite disrespectful. His thick eyebrows shot up like clock hands pointing to 10:10.

“How can you prove that?”

The intimidating attitude coupled with the difficult question made me even more flustered. Isn’t asking why an earthworm is called an earthworm something you graduate from by age six? I couldn’t tell if the knights’ leader was testing my reaction or genuinely curious. I awkwardly twitched my lips and glanced up at him sheepishly.

“…If you’re asking why this magical beast is called an Opalus, how should I answer…”

Despite my sincere response, it didn’t penetrate the captain’s armor-thick wall. Without moving a muscle, the captain gave a slight nod to the knight holding the sword to my neck. I didn’t need to think deeply about what that small gesture meant.

“Kill them.”

“Ah, wait a moment!”

Good grief. They say if you endure three times, you can avoid murder, but it seems this knight order’s motto is ‘one murder saves you from having to endure three times.’ When I raised both hands in prayer-like submission, the captain raised one hand. The sword that had been about to slice my carotid artery moved slightly away.

“Ha-ha… Sir Knight, I was just about to explain…”

“Oh? So now you feel like explaining?”

“It was named that way because its eyes resemble the gemstone opal.”

I remembered the origin of the name Opalus from organizing the monster encyclopedia. But would this much be enough to change the merciless captain’s mind? Before determining whether this was a dream or reality, I needed to survive first, so I recited everything I knew.

“Opalus hatches from an egg about the size of an apple tree sapling and becomes independent from its mother after one year. When it reaches adulthood, it grows to the size you see there, capable of easily cutting through tree trunks with its talons. It primarily hunts mountain game, with a curved beak tip perfect for piercing thick hide, and it’s quite picky about its food, refusing to eat even slightly spoiled meat.”

There was no point in holding back information when the blade would only come closer. My speaking pace quickened for fear of the sharp sword touching my skin again.

“So when caring for an Opalus, special attention must be…”

“Enough.”

Though I still had two lines left to say, the captain raised his hand to stop me. Despite the unpleasant metallic smell in the air, I couldn’t even furrow my brow for fear of offending him. The expressions of the men surrounding us gradually hardened. Among them, the knight holding the sword foolishly parted his lips with a “pop.”

“Captain, I don’t think they’re lying.”

“As much as I hate to admit it… you’re right.”

The suspicion toward me seemed to subside somewhat among the murmuring knights. Soon, the captain clicked his tongue briefly and lowered his hand from my mouth, and the threatening sword was withdrawn as well.

Though I hadn’t been strangled with thick rope, I was breathing heavily like someone who had just woken from a nightmare. When I patted my startled chest, I could clearly feel the heavy thumping of my heartbeat.

Somehow this felt more real than reality. Every sensation was too vivid to dismiss as a dream. Anxiety crept up from my dust-covered feet. Unaware of my strange circumstances, the captain sneered and said:

“You barely managed to save your life by squirming around like an insect. Be grateful for the Count’s generosity.”

Count? What count all of a sudden? The only person I’ve entrusted my life to in this world is the professor, something’s seriously wrong here. With my hand still on my chest, I forcibly turned my stiff neck to look at the captain. He looked down at me contemptuously and slowly shook his head.

“You were originally destined for execution.”

“…Me?”

“Ha, surely you haven’t forgotten? You spilled tea on the Count’s favorite shoes.”

“…Uh…”

“I suppose you’re in shock and something’s wrong with your mind.”

He was right about something being wrong with my mind. I felt an even greater shock than when I had saved my report draft incorrectly or mixed up reagents while assisting with research.

The Count who ordered my execution, the knights in full armor, the forest full of unfamiliar wildflowers, and the Opalus openly grooming its feathers – none of these elements matched reality.

“The Count said this: If you prove your worth until we cross Mount Montena, you’ll be allowed to live; if not, you’ll be thrown to the magical beasts as food. Though it’s outrageous that you dared to peek at the Count’s books in his study… you’re lucky. Following his orders, we’ll take you back to House Ameli.”

While I was losing focus trying to keep up with the whirlwind of events, a familiar name caught my attention. House Ameli. It stuck to my tongue in a subtly familiar way, like it wasn’t the first time I’d heard it. As I nervously picked at my fingernails, a single word suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Could that Count be… Cano Les Ameli?”

“How dare you speak the Count’s name so casually!”

“The one with a daughter who broke her arm falling from a horse and a son who’s too caught up in pleasure-seeking to come home… right?”

“This one has completely lost their mind!!”

This can’t be. I desperately hoped it was just the name of some international student I’d met somewhere. But no matter how much I searched my memories, there was no one around me called Ameli. Then there was only one owner of this familiar name – Count ‘Cano Les Ameli’ who appeared in the novel I had just been reading.

Count Ameli, who appeared as a minor character in volume one, had made my blood boil while reading because of how cruelly he treated his servants. I remember him clearly because his way of appearing kind to others while showing his true colors to the weak reminded me exactly of my thesis advisor.

“If you show such disrespect to Count Ameli one more time, I won’t forgive you.”

Wait. Is this real? Did I really enter the novel? No, Professor, this isn’t true, right? This is all a lie, right? It’s a dream, right? If I just close my eyes tightly once and open them, I’ll wake up in the research lab filled with love and hate, right? You’ll subtly shame me by asking why I’m sleeping in a place like this, right? Just tell me it’s all a surprise event – I’ll even endure if you upload my extreme reaction to the internet, just please tell me it’s a lie.

“Is this… really real?”

“No matter how much you deny it, you are Count Ameli’s servant!”

I raised my hand abruptly to organize my thoughts that were spiraling out of control. Then without hesitation, I hit my forehead. Smack! Unable to control my strength, my head snapped back. The sky, completely free of even a speck of fine dust, filled the spaces between the leaves.

I’d only seen yellowed skies recently due to dust, but seeing the peony-like fluffy clouds blooming against this blue expanse left me speechless. Thanks to my unfairly struck forehead continuing to burn, I realized this situation was reality.

“Completely mad indeed. Quickly, tie both hands!”

“Yes, Captain.”

I, a student of science, had entered a novel. That sentence carried more impact than any research result that could shock the academic world. No, maybe the knight was right and I really had gone mad.

All sorts of emotions swept over me, and tears welled up for a moment. The knight who was ruthlessly binding my wrists with thick rope mistakenly thought I was crying from pain and quietly loosened the tightly pulled rope. But his assumption was wrong. Among the tangled complex emotions, the largest share was held by love-hate.

“My thesis… my organized files…?”

My research. The effort I poured in for one year and five months to please the professor? What was the point of throwing away all my pride and rubbing my hands and feet like flint to flatter him? Of course, there were many more times when I wanted to quit, but now that I was losing everything, emptiness came first.

What would happen to all the data I’d organized on my precious external hard drive? Surely the professor wouldn’t take advantage of my disappearance to use it all for other projects. He couldn’t.

“That professor bastard… couldn’t even read the draft…”

“What is this one mumbling about?”

I had certainly whined about wanting to enter the novel and research magical beasts right up until the accident. But I didn’t know my prayers would be this effective. Why didn’t you listen when I prayed for “Please let the professor be a little kinder,” but granted this impossible fantasy?

“Don’t make any more mistakes with the chance the Count has given you.”

Throughout being dragged away with my hands bound by rope, my mind remained full of regret for the research I’d left behind.