Short, Light, Free - Chapter 1: The Knowing

The year 1847

Derek Carter never asked for a System, an apocalypse, or the pressure of being humanity’s so-called “last hope.”He was just trying to survive the daily struggles of being an orphan in Paleview City—dodging bullies, scraping together meals, and lying his way into school. Life was already hard enough.Then, one day, a blue screen pops into his vision:[Warning: The world is doomed. Try not to die.]Yeah, great. Just what he needed—cryptic doomsday messages and no instruction manual.Now, monsters are creeping into the city, reality is unraveling, and Damien’s “legendary” starting stats are barely above zero. The System promises him power, but there's just one tiny problem—he’s never won a fight in his life.Armed with sarcasm, questionable decision-making skills, and the sheer refusal to die, Damien is about to embark on the worst (and possibly last) adventure of his life. Because if the world really is ending… he’s at least going to make it someone else’s problem first.After all, heroes are overrated—survivors get to tell the story.

【The first emperor of the Alabasta Empire, Ryan Rowan】Life

685 – crossing;

690 – Eat the Shasha fruit and develop the fruit ability based on the [Desert Emperor] Azir;

695 – Meets close friend Neferutari;

715 – Establishment of the Alabasta Empire;

719 – Rowan died in battle, on the eve of the establishment of the World Government;

720 – the establishment of the world government;

A blank hundred years begin.

…

Eight hundred years later.

Haiyuan Calendar 1507——

Due to the aftermath of the battle of Crocodile, who was the shasha fruit power user at the time, Rowan, who was sleeping, woke up.

…

On that day, one million imperial soldiers stood in Marin Van Doo, and the huge desert disc locked the Holy Land Mary Joa!

Rowan declared to the world:

Your emperor is back!

- Description from novelbuddy

Waking up from a nightmare several hours before dawn, Belle fetched a drink of water.

She paused in front of her kitchen’s window when she noticed a lit lantern in front of her mansion’s garden. Her butler stood there, shovel in hand. This was no hour to be gardening.

Curious, she made her way outside, but when she had gotten close enough to see a large and hollow pit next to her eternally-stoic and polite butler, she saw him pick up a rotten body.

A DEAD BODY!

Her eyes widened fearfully when she saw her handsome butler drop the rotting body into the fresh hole. She asked in horror, ”What are you doing?!“

Surprised to see his young miss awake at this hour, he stared at her with the same expression he had been keeping up for all these years. He had made sure she was asleep before coming here.

“Gardening.”

“And the body?!”she looked at him in disbelief.

“Fertilizer,” he answered her before picking up the shovel that was on the ground. Belle was now certain something had possessed her butler. Who gardened dead bodies?!

She then heard him ask her, “Want to help me in planting it, Miss Adams?” he gave her a sweet smile.

Note: If you enjoy a book of comedy with light-hearted romance and a gothic background. This book is for you~