Chapter 46: The Academy Martial Arts Tournament (1)
The newspaper serialization I had ambitiously launched, even dragging Melissa into it, got off to an exceptionally smooth start.
“Kehehehet! Author Wei! Author Timid Young Lady! Please, take a look at these survey sheets!
Ever since the two of you began serializing in our paper, our newspaper sales have doubled!
And that was after they had already gone up once when we started serializing comics!”
As could be seen from the way Rex, the publishing guild master, laughed so hard his mouth nearly split open and practically leapt about in frenzy.
We had managed to catch both rabbits at once: people’s attention and popularity.
And because of that, both Melissa’s goal and mine were accomplished at the same time.
“Come to think of it, I hear other newspapers are introducing comics and novels in serialization, similar to ours.
If by any chance you find that displeasing, our guild will immediately step in and…”
“Now, now. Why would you do that when everyone’s doing well?
I told you to just leave them be.
If they come with questions or requests for help, cooperate appropriately so long as it doesn’t put us at a loss.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Always keep in mind that right now, rather than monopolizing it, we need to grow the market itself.”
By introducing the system of newspaper serialization and showing that one could succeed as an author in this way as well.
I had achieved my goal of drawing out the talented aspiring authors who had been hiding until now, through a priming effect.
“Congratulations, Miss Melissa.
I hear that recently, more people have started looking for board games again?
Have people in your family begun playing with you too?”
“Ah… yes. That’s right. Everyone plays with me.
They all kindly and considerately play with me… yes…”
“…? But why do you look so exhausted?”
“There are complicated circumstances…”
Though rather than looking as happy as I had expected, she seemed, on the contrary, somewhat uneasy.
Melissa had also achieved her goal of raising interest in board games.
It could truly be called a win-win. Killing two birds with one stone.
“It was highly effective that the two of you serialized together.
I finally understood exactly what Author Wei meant when he said competition turns into money.”
“Haha. I suppose no one wants to lose when it comes to something they like.”
The reason we were able to succeed like this was, of course, the quality of the works, but the effect of competition had ultimately been decisive.
If I had serialized alone, we probably wouldn’t have seen such a dramatic effect.
By showing that another author besides myself was doing it too, we were also able to plant the image that this was a path anyone could challenge.
“It’s a bit much for me to say in detail, but we even receive occasional requests asking us to take down the other novel entirely.
I have been refusing them, of course, but even fairly distinguished people have brought it up, so it truly is fascinating.”
“What? It’s to that extent?”
“Not only that, but among those who have become a bit too immersed.
They say people have formed something like game clubs and are holding matches against each other.
They decide on their main games and compete, and the winning side confiscates the opposing game, apparently.”
“…That’s a scale I really didn’t expect.”
Uhh… because the competition got juuuust a little overheated.
There was a minor mishap where it went beyond competition between novels and spread into battles between games.
Thanks to that, Melissa was taken aback by the fervor and shrank back under the pressure, but.
“Let’s just say it was a necessary sacrifice. Mm-hmm.”
I decided to think of it as mental training for Melissa and let it pass.
If you can’t avoid it, you have no choice but to enjoy it, right?
“Since Melissa seems to have a weak mentality as an author anyway, wouldn’t it be fine to train her a little through this?”
What if she snaps with a crack?
It’s fine. Judging from what I’ve observed so far, this much looks like something she can endure well enough.
Since she has a decent sense of responsibility in her own way, once she starts a serialization, I can trust her with it.
In fact, she had never missed an installment so far.
“Oho. This time it’s an episode where the protagonist who chose the merchant class gets to shine.”
With such thoughts in mind, I looked at this installment of [Real Life], written by Melissa.
This time, unlike the other protagonists who had chosen combat classes so far, the protagonist who had been unable to do anything because he had chosen merchant as his class.
Was finally getting an episode where he could shine.
Rather than a simple combat event, an event appeared where they had to obtain specific items.
And the depiction of him smoothly resolving things with the merchant class’s unique eloquence and negotiation skills, while the other protagonists watched with their mouths hanging open in astonishment, was quite delightful.
“Melissa’s catharsis is pretty tasty too, huh? As expected, it was worth deliberately blocking spoilers.”
One of the reasons I recruited Melissa was that I wanted to read her work as a reader.
So even though I could see it in advance, I was deliberately blocking spoilers and buying the newspaper myself to read it.
That chewy feeling of waiting for each installment was making me nostalgic for my previous life while also adding to the fun of anticipation.
However.
“Ugh, but keeping up with a real-time serialization really is rough.
It’s been a while since I got hit by cliffhanger demonic arts myself, so it hurts a bit.”
Waiting may add flavor, but it also brings thirst with it.
Now that I was personally suffering “To be continued next time…!” and cliffhanger demonic arts for the first time in a while, the pain from my previous life quickly began to revive.
This was precisely qi deviation.
A truly vicious internal injury whose only cure was the next chapter.
“On top of that, newspapers here don’t serialize daily, but once every three days.”
Which meant I had to wait a whole three times longer!
Even I, already trained in this, found it this hard to endure, so I had no idea how the people of this world were enduring it.
“Ah, is it because the people of this world can’t endure it either that protests demanding daily mass releases are happening in front of the publishing guild every day?”
According to Rex’s explanation, there were many action-oriented types so practical that the comments from my previous life would seem gentle by comparison.
The publishing guild was having quite a hard time in its own way.
Should I send them some kind of gift later?
Well, I could think about that later.
“Should I ask Melissa to give me the stockpiled chapters she’s built up in advance?”
For an instant, I thought about using the forbidden skill, “Advance Reading,” but.
“Nah. Forget it. It’d be an abuse of authority, and I’d have to wait either way.”
Since even if I read the stockpiled chapters in advance, I would end up thirsty again all the same, I decided to cleanly give up.
Instead, I got my hands on and read the novels and comics that had begun serialization in newspapers other than the publishing guild’s.
As expected, there still weren’t many works as satisfying as Melissa’s or Aria’s.
Since this was still the early stage, not long after comics and regular serialization systems had been introduced.
It seemed I would have to wait and watch a little longer before satisfying works appeared.
“Or else, open some kind of event and stimulate them so they can come out faster.”
A few ideas came to mind, but I set them aside for the moment.
Because there was something I had to do first.
Thinking that, I unfolded the invitation that had arrived from the Academy.
—We would like to invite you, Author, to the “Royal-Sponsored Academy Martial Arts Tournament” that the Academy will be holding starting this year.
We sincerely hope you will visit and grace the occasion with your presence.—
“Oh!”
Did the martial arts tournament event just drop?!
***
The Academy’s martial arts tournament.
This event, which felt completely natural with the sensibilities of my previous life but strangely alien with the sensibilities of this world.
Was, as one might expect, a brand-new event born from the influence of my novel, [The Genius Mage of the Slums].
To discuss the beginning of the incident, let us turn time back a little.
After I began newspaper serialization, I realized that I had more time left over than I had expected.
As mentioned before, newspaper serialization happened once every three days, and the length was not that great, so I had spare time.
In the meantime, I had been writing and releasing new volumes of [The Genius Mage of the Slums] little by little.
And it just so happened that I included an event related to the Academy martial arts tournament there.
After reading that content and becoming thoroughly enthralled by it, the students rose up just like they had during the external mission last time, so the martial arts tournament ended up being held in a hurry.
“Well, as expected, it seems the royal family’s instigation reached them this time too.”
Because from the royal family’s perspective, holding one exhilarating martial arts tournament brought far too many gains.
First, they could assess the students’ levels.
Using the spectacle of a martial arts tournament as an excuse, they could gather the students’ parents and open a social venue.
And by granting fame to the students who achieved good results, they could even instill pride and a sense of belonging toward the Academy and the royal family!
“You’d be a fool not to do this.”
Hm?
Who was going to pay the budget for holding the martial arts tournament, their ancestors?
“Not their ancestors, but the nobles will pay for it.”
Surely the nobles wouldn’t come strolling in empty-handed to watch a martial arts tournament where their own children would be active, would they?
They would scatter enough donations to more than fill the tournament budget.
Well, even so, I had been half in doubt about whether they would actually hold this in reality.
“Everyone’s got such good drive.”
Now then, that was roughly the course of events.
Since I had been invited anyway, I had come to the Academy intending to attend.
“An Academy martial arts tournament happening in reality?
How could I possibly resist this?”
And also because I could personally check how Lena was spending her school life, rather than just hearing her own account of it.
For all I knew, her claim that she had made friends could be a lie, and she might be living a lonely life eating meals alone in the bathroom.
“Hehe. Lord Wade, you truly cherish Lady Lena.”
“She may be a little cheeky, but she’s still my little sister.
As her older brother, I should look after her at least this much.”
Ah, since I was going anyway, I decided to go together with Aria too.
Perhaps because she had not been to a place like an Academy for hundreds of years, she was extremely curious about it.
And I would be less bored with someone beside me.
Thus, we passed through the Academy’s main gate, where the congratulatory placard I had written was still hanging.
And the moment I entered the Academy for the first time in a while, what came into view was.
“Kraaat! Over there! The points are running away!”
“Catch him! If we catch that guy, our team can rise to first place!”
“Everyone get lost! This one’s mine!”
Students steeped in madness crashing into one another, and a chaotic mess where dust flew wildly through the air.