000

It is a common belief that children who read books diligently are smart children. In reality, the top-ranked student in my class is indeed an avid reader. When I visited her house, there were two large bookcases in the living room filled with books in foreign languages. I'm sure her parents are also smart—scientists. Then, I was invited to her room. There were also many books there.

Very different from my room which only has school books. Even our living room doesn't display books, but rather my father's robot toy collection. When I asked my father why the cabinet in the living room was filled with toys instead of books, he answered, "Books are bought to be read, not displayed."

Not accepting his reasoning, I retorted, "Toys are also bought to be played with, not to be displayed!" because my father always gets angry when I try to take his toys.

Indeed, whenever my father buys a new toy, he also buys me one. It would be nice if he asked first before buying, but the reality is he doesn't! My father always buys me toys from the same franchise as his toys. However, the toys given to me aren't robots, but character figures from the anime he usually watches on his laptop.

I don't understand what the point of all these things is. These dolls can't even move their joints. There's no way I can play house with dolls that are always posed flying. In the end, these dolls also just become display pieces.

By my first year as a junior high school student, I started to be fed up with character figures. I said to my father, "If you want to buy me something, buy something I can read!" I hoped my father would start to realize that at my age, I don't play with dolls anymore.

Although the last ranks weren't announced, having spent six years in elementary school with the same students, at least I could estimate what rank I was in class. Not the lowest, but clearly among the bottom ten.

I still held the belief that by reading a lot, at least I could get into the top ten in class. It seemed that textbooks from school weren't enough to make me smart. Indeed, it could be because I didn't study enough or perhaps my brain capacity wasn't adequate for more complex thinking. However, I had experienced a refreshing sensation when learning something new from reading books. Especially when that new knowledge wasn't known by my classmates, including the first-ranked student.

For example, my classmates didn't understand how to follow the assembly instructions for robots. I, who sometimes helped assemble toys with my father, felt like a big shot. When I saw my friends making mistakes, I scolded them. It felt so satisfying. Especially when scolding the top-ranked girl. It was as if the frustration of six years poured out at that moment.

Hehehe... it's quite funny when I think about it.

Now I'm at the end of junior high school. My father really granted my request. For these three years, books have flooded my room uncontrollably. There are so many that my wardrobe no longer contains clothes.

I always yearned for intelligence. More precisely, I wanted to be smart so that people would respect me. I wanted to feel that same sensation again of being a skilled robot assembly technician. That's why I read whatever books my father gave me.

Even though they're all comics.

At first, I thought the reason my father gave me comics right after I said I wanted something to read was so I'd get used to reading. Starting with picture books, I thought. However, it seems my father mistakenly thought I liked comics.

I can't deny that all the comics he gave me are good. In fact, I never expected to have such a strong desire to read the continuation that I bought them with my own money. Worse yet, I bought the novel adaptation.

My father is truly a bad influence.

I still can't believe what I've done. The book I'm currently holding, which I bought with a week's worth of leftover lunch money, turns out to be a novel. How deep have I fallen down the rabbit hole?

However, seriously, this series is very good. The comic series from this novel has neat writing even though it carries a mainstream theme. The visualization in the comic is consistent and doesn't waste panels. Every panel has small details that always make me suspect they will affect the plot.

I read the embossed title on the cover, "Whispers of the Enchantress".

It's a novel that tells the story of a village girl named Gloria who moves to the empire's capital after receiving a scholarship to a magic academy. At the magic academy, she meets handsome and talented young nobles, each with unique personalities and complicated backgrounds that slowly reveal the empire's secrets.

I've already read the comic up to the latest volume. However, because the next volume releases next month, I bought the first volume of the novel to fill the time while feeling nostalgic. This first volume should cover the story arc of the academy's acceptance of commoners with Gloria as their representative.

I jump onto the bed and open the first page. The smell of a new book is truly incomparable!

Excluding textbooks, I have no experience reading books that are all text. Usually I fall asleep after reading one page. However, because I have expectations for the content of this novel, I'm sure that will help me stay awake turning page after page.

At least, that's what I thought.