Chapter 1 : Napoleon (1)

“Is this real?”

The first customer to visit after opening my shop is Napoleon?

It was so unbelievable that I had a hard time accepting it.

And for good reason—who was Napoleon?

A historical figure from hundreds of years ago, only seen in textbooks.

A man who should have been buried in his coffin hundreds of times over.

Yet, this legendary figure from history was sitting in front of me, drinking water.

Believing it would be the strange part.

“A fake… right?”

But if he was a fake, he looked too much like Napoleon’s portrait.

Of course, there could be someone who just happened to resemble him.

It’s not like I had ever seen Napoleon in real life.

But that alone wasn’t enough to explain my current situation.

◆ Connectors of the Transcendents

• Napoleon Bonaparte

“An awakening message?”

Ever since meeting this man, an awakening message had been appearing before my eyes.

But more than that, there was a decisive reason I had no choice but to believe this reality.

“My god…”

Outside the shop.

“Hee-hee-ing!”

“Extra! Extra!”

What lay before me was modern Europe.

The scenery of 18th-century France.

Ding!

• Assist Napoleon in winning the Siege of Toulon!

“Are you a royalist, or do you support the revolution?”

Napoleon was the hero who led the French Revolution to victory.

Although he later declared himself emperor, the Napoleon before me was still part of the revolutionary army.

“I support the revolution.”

“Good.”

Napoleon’s expression softened after verifying my stance.

“You must be a soldier.”

“I’m just a low-ranking officer.”

My conversation with Napoleon revealed many things.

This was before Napoleon became a war hero.

In other words, he was still an unknown officer.

That raised a question.

• Assist Napoleon in winning the Siege of Toulon!

“What exactly am I supposed to help with?”

The Siege of Toulon was a battle between the revolutionary army and French royalists over the port city of Toulon.

It was also Napoleon’s debut stage as a military genius.

At just 24 years old, this unknown officer would reclaim Toulon and make a name for himself.

He would rise from a low-ranking officer to the rank of brigadier general.

“A ridiculously fast promotion.”

A mere 24-year-old junior officer becoming a two-star general overnight?

Even in a novel, it would be criticized for being unrealistic, yet this event actually happened.

All because of Napoleon, the genius of war.

And now, the status window was telling me to help that same Napoleon.

To assist him in his legendary beginning—the Siege of Toulon.

“But how?”

I didn’t know the first thing about war, let alone tactics.

And yet, an E-rank appraiser like me was supposed to help Napoleon?

No matter how I thought about it, this was way beyond my capabilities.

But I had no choice.

Unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life in 18th-century Europe.

“Damn it…”

I felt lost, but first, I needed to assess the situation.

“Napoleon, what is the situation in Toulon?”

“If you mean the battle at Toulon, I am not involved, so I don’t know the details.”

“???”

What was he saying?

I tilted my head in confusion.

The Napoleon I knew had participated in the siege as an artillery commander and played a crucial role.

That was how he rose from an unknown officer to the rank of general.

“Are you not participating in the battle?”

“I am merely a supply officer. How could I possibly join the fight in Toulon?”

Napoleon let out a bitter smile as if lamenting his position.

“So this is what a ‘failed timeline’ means?”

Something was going wrong.

The Napoleon who should have been an artillery commander at Toulon was instead stuck as a low-ranking supply officer.

History was veering off course.

“Why didn’t Napoleon become an artillery commander?”

Somewhere, something had twisted.

I needed to find out what.

“The key to Napoleon becoming an artillery commander…”

Handling artifacts naturally made me familiar with the life stories of historical figures.

I knew what led Napoleon to his position.

“The pamphlet.”

Napoleon, who had been ignored due to his lowly noble status, was desperate for success.

One day, he encountered a group of merchants supporting the royalists.

Engaging in fierce debates with them, he compiled his arguments into a pamphlet.

[Le Souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire)]

A pamphlet that justified the revolution by arguing that, in any debate between royalists and republicans, the republicans would always win.

This pamphlet caught the attention of the revolutionary leaders and earned him the position of artillery commander at Toulon.

Later, when Napoleon became emperor, he did everything he could to erase this pamphlet from history.

It became one of the most heavily banned documents of the time.

Ironically, it was a pamphlet supporting democracy that helped create Emperor Napoleon.

That pamphlet carried immense significance for him.

But…

“A pamphlet? What are you talking about?”

Napoleon had no idea what I meant.

“Did you not engage in a debate at Beaucaire?”

“I stayed in Beaucaire, but I never participated in any debates.”

“Was it because of this?”

Only then did I realize where the button had been fastened incorrectly.

In this world, Napoleon had never engaged in the discussion at Beaucaire.

As a result, the pamphlet was never written, which in turn meant that Napoleon never became an artillery commander.

A single pamphlet had triggered a massive butterfly effect.

But now that I knew the cause, the solution was simple.

“Napoleon. Would you like to have dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“Yes, it’s almost evening.”

All I had to do was create the pamphlet.
“The Supper at Beaucaire.”

“I’ve really ended up here, haven’t I?”

I looked around in wonder.

The streets were lined with Rococo-style buildings.

Carriages drawn by horses traveled along the main roads, while gentlemen in suits and ladies in wide skirts strolled about.

Pre-Victorian era.

A scene from 18th-century France.

A strange sense of nostalgia washed over me, as if I had stepped onto a movie set.

“If we’re going to eat, wouldn’t a restaurant be a better choice?”

“For a light meal and a conversation, a coffeehouse would be just as good, wouldn’t it?”

The place I took Napoleon to wasn’t a restaurant, but a coffeehouse.

Of course, I hadn’t chosen the coffeehouse just for a meal.

My goal was clear—to turn Napoleon into the hero of the Revolutionary Army.

And the first step of that plan was to recreate “The Supper at Beaucaire.”

I needed to get Napoleon to engage in a debate with the royalists.

“There’s no better place to find political fanatics than a coffeehouse.”

France, a nation so filled with cafés that it was once called the “Kingdom of Cafés.”
And the origin of these cafés? Coffeehouses.

But in this era, coffeehouses weren’t just places to drink coffee.

They were gathering spots where philosophers, writers, and politicians—regardless of their social standing—freely exchanged knowledge and ideas.

A place where anyone could come and engage in conversation, coffeehouses became a symbol of equality and republicanism.

And with that freedom came chaos—an amalgamation of artists, philosophers, and political fanatics, all engaging in heated debates.

A chaotic, buzzing space where arguments erupted at any moment.

Finding a citizen who supported the royalists in a place like this wouldn’t be difficult.

“Bingo.”

I had barely stepped inside when I spotted a particularly noisy table.

“The National Convention? What nonsense! I’ve never heard of a country without a monarch!”

A burly man with a thick beard was loudly voicing his opinion.

A classic example of a royalist denouncing the French Revolution.

“Napoleon, what do you think?”

“About what?”

“That man’s argument.”

Napoleon, who had been stirring his mocha coffee, let out a cold smile.

“An incompetent monarch is worse than having no monarch at all. I’ve experienced that firsthand.”

He was referring to Louis XVI.
Under his rule, France’s economy had collapsed, leaving its citizens starving to death.

“Ending the civil war as soon as possible and stabilizing the Republic—that is the path France must take.”

Napoleon spoke in a calm yet firm voice.
His words reached the ears of the bearded royalist at the next table.

The man rose from his seat and approached.

“Did you just say we need to stabilize the Republic?”

“That’s right. The current civil war is nothing more than a rebellion.”

Napoleon laid out his argument, and soon a heated debate erupted between him and the royalist.

Voices were raised, ideologies clashed.
Just another ordinary day at the coffeehouse.

But for some, this was a life-changing moment.

And that very night—

“I wrote down today’s debate.”

Napoleon had completed a written piece.

“The Supper at Beaucaire.”

A pamphlet that would be recorded in history.