How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 1

What would it feel like if my life turned completely upside down overnight?

That was exactly my situation right now.

After wrapping up a long three-month overseas operation, I had returned, taken a rest in my room, and opened my eyes—only to be greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling.

On top of that, I had become a completely different person overnight.

The lord of Johnson Territory, located in the central-north of the Revella Peninsula—Iron Johnson.

That was who I was now.

‘Transmigrated… is it?’

But there was no context for transmigration.

Sure, these days novel trends often had characters experiencing transmigration or reincarnation for no reason at all, but even then, there had to be some plausibility.

For someone like me, who hadn’t touched a game or web novel for three whole months due to work, this couldn’t have been more out of the blue.

And before I could even fully grasp what was happening, I was dragged straight into the lord’s council chamber.

‘Isn’t this treatment a bit too rough?’

Anyone could tell this was strange.

I—Iron Johnson, the lord of Johnson Territory—had only been unconscious a few hours ago.

A lord was supposed to be the ruler here, and yet the moment he woke up, they dragged him into a meeting as if they had been waiting?

‘Does that mean the situation is that urgent?’

Though I was still bewildered, I decided to at least listen to what was being said.

Including myself, there were only four people gathered here.

The sharp-eyed young man was Peter, the master of the alchemy workshop.

The large, muscular man was Rudick, the knight commander.

Lastly, the white-haired old man was Harold, the butler and steward.

As far as I could recall, this was the entirety of the lordship’s leadership.

It seemed Johnson Territory was quite a small domain.

“We couldn’t uncover the mastermind. The assassin took his own life before we could extract anything.”

“Who stands to gain from the lord’s death? I don’t understand.”

“Isn’t it obvious? Who else would do such a thing but that woman?”

The very first agenda brought up was nothing less than an assassination attempt on the lord.

The knights had successfully captured the assassin, but it seemed they failed to identify the one behind it.

‘So I was unconscious because of the assassination attempt.’

Apparently, someone had been targeting the original owner of this body.

I felt as if I had woken up only to be saddled with a troublesome problem.

“Let’s set that aside for now. The next issue?”

But the next agenda was even more troubling.

“The financial state of the territory is critical.”

It was the grim news that Johnson Territory’s finances were on the brink of collapse.

“What exactly is the situation?”

“Almost all reserves are depleted. Our food stockpile will last roughly four months at best.”

“Hm.”

Only four months’ worth of food, and it was just the beginning of spring.

At this rate, it would be impossible to hold out until autumn.

“Ha, all thanks to that damned woman.”

“Indeed, pushing for mine development was reckless.”

“Isn’t her disappearance the bigger issue? Because of that, my lord…”

“We should have judged more carefully.”

Listening to the knight commander and the alchemy master’s laments, fragments of old memories resurfaced.

The one most responsible for the financial collapse of the territory was me—or rather, the lord Iron.

Johnson Territory didn’t have very favorable conditions for farming.

Always desperate to find a new source of income—

‘Because you needed money to buy food.’

Iron’s wife, whom he had married not too long ago, had suggested developing a mine.

Swayed by the idea, Iron staked the fate of the territory on the venture.

‘The result was a complete failure. The ex-wife vanished, and chaos ensued.’

The worst part was that Iron, being something of a hopeless romantic, stopped eating and abandoned all lordly duties.

On the very day the assassination attempt occurred, it was said he had been drinking.

‘Ah… so they dragged me into this meeting because they were afraid I’d slack off again like before?’

No matter how I looked at it, the situation was quite dire.

“Isn’t there any countermeasure?”

“If we sell potions, we could manage to scrape by.”

“That won’t do. Once winter comes, monsters will swarm. How are we supposed to fight without potions?”

“I agree. The knights will suffer cumulative losses.”

“Then does anyone have another suggestion?”

“……”

So the only means of raising funds was selling potions, but if they did that, they wouldn’t survive the winter.

‘There’s no doubt the territory is in shambles.’

The only silver lining was that, thanks to past lords, the residents still trusted Iron.

But for someone like me, a complete stranger, to suddenly become the object of that trust—it only felt burdensome.

“Alright, understood. We’ll discuss this again later.”

“But, my lord, the situation is—”

“There’s nothing we can solve immediately anyway, is there?”

“…Very well, my lord.”

“Got it, brother.”

“Then let me know at the workshop if a decision is made.”

And so, the meeting ended.

I needed time to sort out my thoughts too.

‘This clearly isn’t the world I came from.’

Even the unfamiliar name “Revella Peninsula” stood out.

Not to mention the sudden appearance of words like “territory.”

If not for the remnants of Iron’s memories, I truly would have been at a loss.

“If I really have to live here until I die… then being a lord isn’t something I can simply abandon.”

Assuming I would be stuck living here, I began checking the books lined up on the shelves one by one.

‘The Great Cataclysm? A meteor fell on the royal capital, wiping out the royals and high-ranking nobles.

Monsters spilled out of dimensional rifts?’

So this was essentially a monster-apocalypse in another world.

The Great Cataclysm had lasted for decades, collapsing the old feudal order.

As a result, the authority of lords had grown even stronger than before.

‘The power of knights here exceeds human limits. Thankfully, this territory has many skilled knights.’

That was Johnson Territory’s sole advantage.

Since it was poor farmland and constantly raided by monsters in winter, its people had plenty of opportunities for real combat.

Thanks to that, the territory now possessed many valiant knights.

“The problem is, I’m the one who has to clean up the mess my predecessor left behind.”

It wasn’t that I felt obligated to repay the people’s trust as their lord.

It was simply that I needed to adapt more comfortably to this world.

Just as that thought began giving me a headache—

“Hmm?”

A red light flickered at the edge of my vision.

Startled, I looked down and saw light seeping out from the desk drawer.

Clatter.

Inside was a heavily worn notebook.

“Iron’s… diary?”

Memories surfaced.

Writing in a diary had been Iron’s long-time hobby.

Even when drunk, he would scribble in it, so much was his obsession.

“I could’ve sworn it was glowing.”

I touched the worn notebook, but it was nothing more than an ordinary black diary.

It seemed I had hallucinated in the midst of this absurd situation.

“For now, let’s deal with the territory’s problems first.”

I decided to set aside such minor matters.

---

Iron’s memories, the books lining the study shelves.

After looking into various things, I reached the conclusion that restoring the territory through conventional means was impossible.

“There really is no way out. The only option left is to borrow and repay, after all.”

Once I made up my mind, I immediately put it into action.

First stop—the knights’ training ground.

‘Iron, the master of Johnson Territory, was also a powerful knight.’

I needed to possess combat power equal to Iron’s if I wanted my next plans to flow smoothly.

“A sparring match, my lord?”

“Yes, prepare right away.”

“But, my lord…”

“That’s right. I’ve been… off lately, haven’t I? But now that I’ve come to my senses, I need to loosen up my body first.”

“Understood.”

I called one of the top-ranking knights of the territory and demanded a sparring session.

Despite the sudden request, the knight immediately drew his weapon.

It was a natural reaction, since Iron had often requested spars in the past.

“Haa!”

Clang!

The knights of Johnson Territory generally wielded heavy weapons like greatswords or massive maces.

It was because their enemies were usually mid- to large-sized monsters.

Lord Iron was no exception.

His beloved weapon was a massive greatsword.

“Here I come!”

“Urgh!!”

I lightened my body with aura, then sharply closed in.

Swinging a heavy weapon naturally created openings, and I targeted that flaw.

The knight, struck through his armor, went tumbling across the ground.

The power known as “aura,” which I had only ever read about in novels, coursed violently through my body.

‘Not bad at all.’

Given my line of work, I was quite used to facing human opponents.

Of course, I had never wielded such a brute-force greatsword before, but Iron’s experience compensated for that to a certain extent.

What worried me was handling the completely foreign energy called “aura”—yet adapting to it was easier than I expected.

“Alright, next.”

After finishing with the first knight, I called for the next challenger.

It wasn’t unusual, since Iron had often sparred against four or five knights in succession.

Once I had checked the condition of my body, the knight I had first sparred with approached and asked,

“But my lord, your combat style feels a little different.”

“Just a little. How was it?”

“Thanks to your defensive techniques, it felt much more difficult to deal with.”

“Really? I guess I was a bit reckless before.”

The knight waved his hand in denial.

“No, not reckless. That was your charm, my lord.”

“Haha, is that so? Still, after getting knocked down once, I just can’t go back to the way I was.”

“You truly did overdo it. To drink and then personally face the assassin…”

“My good man, isn’t that what a knight is? If a lord flees before an assassin, wouldn’t that be stranger?”

Iron was, how should I put it—

A brave warrior if one were being generous, but to be blunt, a simple-minded brute.

‘A charge-type knight who would grab his beloved “Unbreakable” and crush everything in his path?’

From a modern perspective, it was laughable for a lord to act that way.

But thanks to it, he was well-loved by the knights.

Still, since I was now Iron, it would be wise to avoid such suicidal swordsmanship.

“In any case, Iron’s body really is remarkable. His aura techniques seem to be particularly strong in this regard.”

To become a knight or mage, one first had to sense mana.

That alone served as a major barrier to entry into the path of a professional combatant.

“It’s fortunate Iron was exceptional in this field.”

In the past, Iron had easily mastered aura techniques, entered the knights, and even defeated squad leader-level knights.

And through experimentation, I confirmed that I too could wield aura freely, just like Iron.

“I’m not sure whether this is a blessing or a curse. Truly confusing.”

Even with such a body, survival was difficult in this world.

That was the reality of the Revella Peninsula, ravaged by the Great Cataclysm.

“Well, the important thing is that I can stand on the battlefield.

Which means it’s time to move on to the next step.”

---

Johnson Territory, on the Revella Peninsula.

Its greatest asset was a body capable of using aura.

Travel between territories was not particularly free.

Every winter came the Great Raids, and even outside of that, there were constant monster attacks.

Back at the manor, I flipped through the books again, reviewing my future plans.

Survival demanded that I do whatever was necessary.

“Phew.”

After finishing my final review, I leaned back in the chair and sighed.

A mixture of tension and inexplicable excitement welled up inside me.

“To be excited in a situation like this… have I gone mad?”

Had I lost my mind, suddenly dropped into this strange place and forced to fight monsters?

I needed stability.

“Maybe I should try writing a diary too.”

According to Iron’s memories, writing in a diary helped calm the mind.

With that thought, I opened the drawer of the worn desk.

Fwoosh—

Just like last time.

It wasn’t a hallucination.

A red glow poured out of the drawer.

The source of that bizarre red light was—

“Why is this glowing?”

This world was full of items called artifacts.

Objects not enchanted with magic, yet capable of performing magical feats.

During the time when dimensional rifts had continuously opened, such mysterious items were often discovered.

Even Iron’s beloved “Unbreakable” was an artifact obtained during that era.

“But wasn’t this just a diary?”

This notebook was nothing more than scraps of paper, not even remotely an artifact.

Yet, it clearly radiated a strange red glow.

Curious, I carefully touched it.

“Wh-what!”

Suddenly, I saw the half-collapsed outer wall in the distance.

*ROOOAR!!*

Monsters rampaged wildly within the castle walls.

Panic, regret, self-reproach.

—*No!!*

A desperate cry, heavy with all kinds of emotions, jolted me awake.

“Haah, haah…”

Gasping for breath, I opened my eyes.

“…A dream?”

The worn diary, now dim and lifeless, was held tightly in my hands.