Episode 35: An Elf’s Gift Must Be Extraordinary (1)
If I may make a rather indulgent observation out of the blue.
The buzz surrounding the newly released *The Genius Mage of the Slums*, Volume 3, fell slightly short of the fervor generated by the first and second volumes in the same series.
“You really are full of yourself.
If the readers who worked so hard to buy your books heard that, wouldn’t they be terribly disappointed in you?
Don’t you feel sorry to them?”
“No, listen to me. That’s not what I mean.”
I hastily shook my head and waved my hands at Lena, who was firing back at me as if dumbfounded by my statement.
I’m not crazy enough to dare impertinently blame the readers.
I’m literally analyzing the current situation objectively!
Rather, wouldn’t it be more problematic for an author *not* to analyze the readers’ reactions?
“So of course, I’m not complaining that this new volume is unpopular or that sales have dropped.
The popularity and sales themselves are at a similar level to before.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“That the scope of the buzz is more limited than usual, perhaps?
To put it more precisely, the range of influence this new volume’s content exerts is concentrated on a specific readership.”
The reactions to *The Genius Mage of the Slums*, Volume 3, could be largely divided into two categories.
Among them, the general readership, which made up the vast majority, was enjoying this new volume as entertainingly as ever.
*Did you see how those seniors shut their mouths tight after seeing Tian’s magic skills?*
*Kah—truly, I found it so refreshing!*
*And how he risked his life to protect even those detestable seniors?*
*A true genius ought to have the magnanimity not to care about such trivial grudges, indeed.*
*I got goosebumps when he didn’t give up even in a life-threatening moment and instead gained enlightenment to break through the wall!*
*To think he’d overcome the crisis like that.*
In short, they were showering in the catharsis and dopamine provided by the protagonist Tian, and they were extremely satisfied.
However, even though the reactions were positive, it wasn’t the kind of direction that could cause social change like my previous works.
Mitigating barriers between social classes.
Slum reform.
The Academy’s meteoric rise.
There were none of those social changes like, *If I have money for drinks, I might as well play another board game.*
In other words, they simply enjoyed it as pure entertainment.
“But conversely, that also means the fervor among the remaining specific readership that received concentrated influence is hotter than usual.”
“Ah! Oppa, are you talking about the students going crazy at the Academy right now?”
“Exactly.”
As expected, being a current Academy student, she catches on quickly.
Since *The Genius Mage of the Slums*, Volume 3, was essentially an extension of the Academy genre, the readership most affected and immersed in it was inevitably the current Academy students.
“When non-Academy people read this new volume, they might find it entertaining but hardly feel the passion to actually put anything into action.”
On the other hand, for current Academy students?
*Bring us all the missions! You don’t have any?! If you don’t, make some and bring them!!!*
*Why do you not give me practical missions? Are you looking down on me?!*
*The Academy must respect me—I am a prodigy who has never fallen out of the top ranks during my three years here...*
*If you don’t give us missions quickly, the Academy is really going to collapse!!*
*You can’t give dangerous practical missions to students?*
*Haha... Professor, what are you even saying right now?*
*Going on missions to temper what we’ve learned in actual combat is just common sense, isn’t it?*
They were brimming with the will and fervor to do so.
What had captivated the students enough to run wild like this was precisely the practical mission system.
This virtual system, added for the inevitable external advancement that defines the Academy genre, had apparently struck the sensibilities and romanticism of Academy students dead on.
Well, they were at a young age when their blood should be boiling, and if they were actually learning magic and swordsmanship, it was only natural for confidence to swell, wanting to prove themselves in actual combat.
As a result, the students demanded practical missions like in the book, and in extreme cases, even refused to attend classes and began protesting at the Academy.
*Sign! The Academy!*
*Urgh... The Academy shall provide missions for practical experience to its students...*
*Good.*
*No, but this really isn’t good for you students! Why are you trying to voluntarily take on work?*
*Because that’s the romance...!*
In the end, the Academy couldn’t overcome the students’ fervor and, like the previous Academy renovation, decided to newly add the practical mission system this time as well.
Though they didn’t seem to understand why the students would voluntarily take on troublesome tasks.
“That’s why I fired magic at you.
Because of you, even I am going to get dragged into that inexplicably troublesome mission!
I never wanted this!”
“Ah. I thought you’d finally gone crazy, firing magic out of nowhere, but that wasn’t it?”
No wonder she was filled with rage; so that was the situation.
“Well, my apologies.
...Wait, now that I think about it, I didn’t do this on purpose either. Why should I apologize?”
“Unless you want to eat another blast of magic from me, you probably should?”
Urgh, this girl Lena.
Threatening this older brother who clearly holds higher house rank just because she can use some magic...!
“Sigh. Still, it’s a relief that there’s still time until official implementation.”
“Well, practical missions aren’t something you can just go on because you want to.”
Fortunately, a system that didn’t exist until now couldn’t be created overnight.
And since life-threatening dangerous missions like in the story obviously couldn’t be entrusted to students.
The selection of appropriate missions and the conditions for selecting students to undertake them were expected to be stringent.
So it would still take some time before the practical mission system was actually introduced and implemented.
“If they take so long preparing, maybe the students’ fervor will cool down, and they might scrap it again?”
Perhaps for this reason, Lena seemed to harbor hopes that if they dragged their feet long enough, the plan might quietly fizzle out.
“That’ll absolutely never happen? Give up and accept it.”
“What? How can you say that so definitively?”
Unfortunately, that hope could not be realized.
“The royal family is watching this matter as well.”
“What...?”
This matter was something the royal family was actively pushing forward.
Actually, it was only natural.
People might get confused because they just call it the Academy for short, but the Academy’s official name is strictly the *Royal* Academy.
Therefore, when such a significant event occurs at the Academy, reports automatically reach the royal family.
*The students want to voluntarily receive missions? Then doesn’t that mean we can use them for free?*
*We can voluntarily make use of talent that has received formal education at the Academy?*
*This obviously needs to be passed!*
And upon receiving the report, the royal family had apparently begun pushing for the introduction of practical missions with broad smiles, feeling roughly that way.
Because by the standards of this world, they could make use of verified labor that had received high-level education for free, and not even forcibly but voluntarily.
And if students produced results on missions, it would lead to increased authority for the Academy, and by extension the royal family that operated it—a brand effect they could enjoy as well.
Was there any reason not to do this?
They just needed to *click* and add one system to the Academy?
Moreover, missions weren’t limited to combat; they now had the opportunity to take away and use personnel for administration, clerical work, and development under the guise of practical experience!
It was essentially free interns and future slaves... no, they could now grasp the available talent all at once.
It was only natural for the royal family, delighted at the prospect of cherry-picking the Academy’s talent, to push this wholeheartedly.
*I say, what on earth do you want?*
*Pardon?*
*Why do you keep choosing only good things for the royal family and hitting us with them in succession, I ask you! Kahahaha!*
*There truly is no more loyal subject than you!*
If Count Lucid was openly laughing and shouting out like that, you could roughly grasp the scale of this incident’s impact, couldn’t you?
“I... I didn’t want to know this truth...!”
Lena was momentarily shocked upon realizing that Academy students were shouting *We’ll drink it up, Academy! We’ll become slaves!* of their own accord without anyone telling them to, but—
“No. I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear anything...”
In the end, unable to bear reality, she seemed to decide to just pretend she hadn’t heard anything.
Well, for Lena, who had a somewhat petty-bourgeois side, it was probably more comfortable not knowing this truth.
“R-right! When is your next work coming out, oppa?
If you write your next work, the fervor at the Academy might die down a bit.”
Lena, who had been escaping reality for a while, suddenly asked me about the schedule for my next work.
It was obviously an intentional change of subject, no matter who looked at it.
Having noticed that my younger sister’s HP was approaching zero, I didn’t tackle her and just let it go.
Besides, I had something to ask this girl anyway.
“Ah, actually there was something I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it? I’ll answer with all my heart and sincerity, so ask me anything!”
“What kind of gift from a man would a female elf like the most?”
“...?”
What.
Why are you looking at me like that?
You said I could ask you anything.