The novel’s serialization went very smoothly.
Thanks to the guild master’s help in making the introductions, the newspaper offered a rate of 3,000J per thousand words.
Aibo had no idea whether that price was cheap or expensive, but apparently it was somewhat above average for manuscript fees.
Each installment ran about three thousand words, which worked out to an average of 10,000J a day, or roughly 300,000 a month.
To the people in the guild, that kind of money was only a few jobs’ worth.
Looked at that way, mages really did have strong earning power.
Ordinary people had a hard time making money.
Fortunately, this was only the beginning.
Once the novel was published as a standalone volume, he should be able to make the big money.
But speaking of Naruto, it really would be best to have a manga version.
It was one of the few manga he’d actually finished reading, and making one would also serve as a memento of the past life he could never return to.
With that in mind, Aibo sought out Lidas, the guild member skilled in painting magic.
“Big Brother Lidas, have you read the novel serialized in Kingdom Daily lately?”
Lidas was nineteen that year.
He dressed very properly every day, always in a suit and formal hat, and had an extremely gentle personality, completely out of place among the guild’s pack of violent apes.
Lidas normally liked to sit in a corner of the guild and draw.
He was one of the few men Aibo had to approach on his own initiative—the resident introvert in a guild where everyone was an extrovert.
“Oh, it’s little Aibo. The novel in the newspaper? I haven’t really noticed it.”
“Oh, oh, then take a look.”
Aibo shoved the manuscript straight into Lidas’s hands.
This type of introvert generally had no idea how to refuse; a little pushiness was all it took.
Lidas took the manuscript and scratched his head awkwardly.
He had originally planned to draw, but…
he still accepted it and began reading.
“Hmm? Aibo, did you learn my smoke magic?”
Wakaba, who had nothing better to do, came over to tease the kid.
Wakaba was a young man with a long, curled pompadour, like some flashy young delinquent, but he was quite warmhearted.
He had taught Aibo smoke magic for a day, and he and Macao, who liked using fire magic, were a pair of obnoxious friends who were always needling each other.
“Nope. I’ve been busy learning other magic.”
Aibo brushed him off with a grin.
The truth was that he thought smoke magic was useless—its damage was low and it was all flash—so he didn’t really want to learn it.
“Damn it, Macao’s fire magic is worthless. I put it out easily every time. Don’t you go learning from him.”
Yesterday, Aibo had used fire magic in the guild, and Macao had excitedly clamored to teach him purple flames, then kept showing off in front of Wakaba.
Who knew what these bored adults were even competing over?
“I’m not planning to learn fire magic right now. I’m interested in Big Brother Lidas’s painting magic.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
Aibo shook his head.
He intended to specialize in word magic over the coming days, but he needed to maintain the persona of someone who loved learning all kinds of magic.
Who knew?
Maybe someday some fool would come right to his door and teach him a new magic.
“Aibo, this novel is really good.”
By then, Lidas had finished the manuscript, and his expression was delighted:
“Is it serialized in Kingdom Daily? Looks like I’ll have to buy an extra newspaper from now on.”
“What is it? Let me see.”
Aibo handed the manuscript to Wakaba and said to Lidas:
“Do you like it, Big Brother Lidas? Would you be interested in adapting this novel into a manga? We can collaborate and make big money together.”
“A manga? Wait, collaborate? Did you write this novel, Aibo?”
Lidas was so shocked that his glasses nearly flew off his face.
“That’s right.”
“All right, I’ll believe it for now. But then again, how do you draw a manga? Like one of those picture-book volumes?”
“It’s a little different… How about you teach me painting magic first? So, are you willing to collaborate and make money?”
Lidas scratched his head in distress:
“Make money… I certainly don’t mind. I do love drawing, but I don’t really want to turn it into a job…”
“In principle, I won’t hound you for deadlines. I’ll only handle the novel part. I understand not wanting to turn something you love into a pursuit of profit.”
“All right then, let me teach you—”
“Tch, brat, are you sure it’s fine to waste your own talent like this?”
An unfriendly voice rang out, and Aibo felt someone rest an arm on his head.
“I heard you learned Gildarts’s magic? Not bad. But right now you should be focusing on improving your magic power, not wasting time learning magic with no future. You get what I mean?”
“Hey! Laxus! That’s going too far!”
Wakaba put down the manuscript and scolded him with a click of his tongue.
Aibo also knew who had come up behind him.
Laxus was fifteen years old and the grandson of Guild Master Makarov.
He could use a very powerful lightning magic and was the strongest of the younger generation.
But he was sensitive beneath the surface, liked to act cool, and was a tsundere too.
His father, Ivan, was an S-class mage, but he was full of bad schemes and one of the few bad seeds in the guild.
Aibo had judged that neither father nor son was easy to get close to, and they had never had much contact.
He had not expected to be approached today.
“What? Did I say something wrong? Your magic really is weak~”
“What do you say, brat? Quit mixing with these good-for-nothings. How about I teach you lightning magic?”
See?
Persona really mattered.
Wasn’t someone here to hand him a new skill?
Aibo turned his head, pretended not to understand, and gave him a sweet smile:
“Thank you, Big Brother Laxus~ But I’m learning painting magic right now. Once I’ve learned Big Brother Lidas’s magic, I’ll come find you.”
Laxus: ?
Laxus had been about to curse, but when he saw that Aibo was only a six-year-old little brat, he let it go and even found the whole thing somewhat boring.
“Tch. I’m leaving.”
Only after Laxus had walked far away did Wakaba angrily slap the table and take a drag on his cigarette:
“That brat Laxus gets more arrogant by the day. Aibo, don’t you ever learn from him.”
“Haha, it’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t argue. If Aibo wants to learn painting magic, he still has to learn to draw first. We’ll have to take it one step at a time.”
“It’s fine, Big Brother Lidas. You just teach me. As for whether I can learn it, I’ll figure that out myself.”
Lidas: ?
Aibo had no intention of wasting time learning to draw.
If he had a cheat and didn’t use it, wouldn’t that make his transmigration pointless?
As long as a skill appeared on the system, he could instantly add points to it!
“O…kay. Actually, painting magic is a combination of word magic and modeling magic. It has another name, [Word Modeling Magic]. It’s modeling magic that grants the painting itself special properties. The difference is that to materialize a painting with painting magic, you need to pour magic power into the entire painting ‘instantly’ and ‘simultaneously.’ I can’t do that, so I always draw on my skin and channel magic through my body. That means I can only materialize very small objects…”
As Lidas spoke, he used a brush to draw a lifelike little pink bird on his palm.
Once he finished, the little bird flew out of his palm and landed on Aibo’s hand.
“Chirp chirp~”
Whether in sight, sound, or feel, it was no different from a real bird.
Then the little bird flew onto a sheet of paper.
The magic was dispelled, and it became a picture of a little bird.
Looking at his own drawing, Lidas wore a very gentle smile:
“Amazing, isn’t it? This is why I love this magic.”
“Yes, it’s a beautiful magic.”
Aibo nodded, but from the corner of his eye he glanced at his own system panel.
[Modeling Magic LV0, 333/1000], [Painting Magic LV0, 1/1000]
Painting Magic had appeared after the Modeling Magic line as well.
The two were side by side, not separated by a line break.
Aibo looked at his stockpile.
[Inspiration Value: 5481]
Mm.
Add points!