Sakurakoji Talent blinked rapidly. He seemed to understand why Sister Fei had said that back then.
Unfortunately, time waited for no one. The first time, it sounded like humblebragging; the second time, he had become Rinnegan.
"...Why did you answer so hesitantly?"
"Well, well, that's understandable. After all, accidents can always happen during inheritance."
Victory!
Ichiji Hoshika appeared to be smoothing things over, but she was actually wearing a victorious smile. She had finally found something in which she could surpass Sakurakoji Talent. Her little sister truly was the cutest!
"...That's true. If everyone looked like Mr. Talent, that would be the abnormal thing."
Unable to see through her own sister's despicable thoughts, Ichiji Nijika chimed in as well. Thinking of the breathtakingly peerless face beneath Sakurakoji Talent's mask, she wore a complicated expression.
If his entire family had looks on his level, how were other people supposed to live?
They might as well restart their lives. Living was truly meaningless.
"..."
Sakurakoji Talent was rather speechless at their self-directed conversation. Had Ashiri's reputation been harmed for no reason because of his momentary hesitation?
But forget it. They probably would not have a chance to meet each other anyway, so it did not matter.
Without defending her, Sakurakoji Talent merely smiled and shrugged, casually brushing the topic aside.
Image: "Cool Sister Nijika," Location: "Images/1756004797-100446961-113682220.jpg"
Volume 1: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies — Chapter 25: The Sakurakoji Family Makes Its Move
The next day, at the Sakurakoji residence.
Yashiro Ichiyo, dressed in a Maid Outfit, entered the bright and spotless living room. She walked up to Sakurakoji Talent and handed him two brand-new books.
"Young Master, the novels you asked to have produced a few days ago have been proofread and printed. These two are the standard edition and the hardcover edition respectively. Please take a look..."
"Alright, I understand."
Sakurakoji Talent set down his phone, accepted the two books, and laid them flat on the table.
Judging from their appearance alone, there was not much difference. After all, both were legitimate new books, so there would not be rough paper like in pirated copies. The distinctions could only be seen in the details.
In addition, the hardcover edition came with some extra gifts, so it was considerably more expensive.
He picked up the hardcover copy. Not only was it exquisitely made, but the cover art was also very beautiful. After casually flipping through a few pages, he showed a satisfied expression.
The fresh scent of books filled his lungs. The smooth texture of the paper was impossible to put down, and the interior illustrations perfectly suited his own tastes—because he had drawn them himself.
Seeing that he seemed quite pleased with them, Yashiro Ichiyo asked the question she had been keeping in her heart for the past few days.
"Young Master, are you interested in this field?"
"Do you want to become a popular fiction writer in the future?"
The books she had just handed Sakurakoji Talent were, astonishingly, works written by him.
A few days ago, Sakurakoji Talent had approached Okura Iyo and told him that he wanted to use his savings to buy part of a company's stock. He hoped Iyo could put him in touch with them, and Iyo readily agreed.
That company happened to be a publishing house focused on releasing popular books enjoyed by young people.
The category seemed to be called Light Novels. She did not know much about that, but one of her female friends was very fond of romance otome games, and it seemed somewhat similar.
The publisher's name... seemed to be Fumikage?
In any case, Sakurakoji Talent had used several hundred million yen to purchase part of its shares, becoming one of its minor shareholders.
At first, Yashiro Ichiyo had not been able to understand why Sakurakoji Talent wanted to do such a thing. After all, he had never been involved in this field. Was he planning to abandon the design field he had been immersed in since childhood and switch to this instead?
It was not until Sakurakoji Talent asked them to help publish a novel he had written himself that she understood. Her young master merely wanted to publish his own book.
"A little, perhaps, but I don't intend to make it my profession. I'm just playing around with it."
Yashiro Ichiyo nodded as though she understood, though she did not really care. As long as Sakurakoji Talent did not intend to make this his lifelong career, she was relieved.
After all, as the heir to the Sakurakoji Family, making this his main profession would invite ridicule. Even if he wanted to become a writer, should he not aim to create monumental works that would be remembered throughout history?
The family was not short on money. There was no need to write books that catered to the market, was there?
Sakurakoji Talent saw through her concerns perfectly and inwardly shook his head at her outdated way of thinking.
What his head maid did not know was that these days, rich people went out and did all sorts of things.
Teaching, creating ACG works, drawing pornographic manga, playing music, lazing around... You could never know just how colorful someone's private life and work might be beneath their seemingly glamorous public identity!
Rebellion was the whole point!
He was only using a bit of his pocket money to help get some proper business done. Compared to them, he was practically a moral role model!
That was right. What he was doing was naturally related to his physical condition. One look at the publisher's name made it obvious who the next victim—scratch that, next target—was.
To establish initial contact with her in a reasonable manner, he had no choice but to do this.
The most convenient method would have been to transfer schools directly, but he had already chosen his school. He could not exactly attend two schools at once. He had heard of Part-time Warriors, but never Student Warriors.
Besides, there were so many characters related to the industry these days. It would be better for him to get involved directly. Maybe one day he would run into other characters too, and that would be even more profitable.
He had no intention of letting things happen naturally. Opportunities had to be fought for.
If he was not proactive, who knew when this damned constitution of his would ever be cured? Who knew how much longer he would have to suffer under this pain?
It was not that he was being overly eager. He had simply been forced into it. Anyone in his place would be even more anxious!
The reason he had purchased shares in the publishing house was simply because he did not have enough time.
If he followed the normal submission process, the review stage alone would take several months. If he encountered some blind editor with no taste, his work might even get rejected.
Could he, Sakurakoji Talent, the legitimate eldest son of the Sakurakoji Family, endure that kind of treatment?
To avoid wasting time and eliminate every unfavorable possibility, he had directly used the Sakurakoji Family's influence to give all those authors honestly submitting manuscripts and waiting for replies a tiny taste of capital's shock.
Sure enough, under his arrangements, the book breezed through every stage of publication and completed the entire process in only a few days.
Of course, that was also because he had handled basically everything himself. The publisher only needed to sign and stamp it.
There was no need to mention the writing and plot. Illustrations might have been a problem for other authors, but not for him, a part-time designer who learned drawing before he learned to write and had started holding a pen to study design at the age of three.
Did anyone really think designers could not draw? Really? Really?
Though the two fields had somewhat different focuses, their foundations were shared. He only needed to adapt a little.
Sakurakoji Talent glanced at the book cover. The first thing that entered his eyes was a long string of black kana and kanji: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Peh—how shameless! Who gave you permission to become a plagiarist?
With that family background and talent, and you still steal someone else's work? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
So what? Sakurakoji Talent smiled disdainfully. Since this world did not have it, it belonged to him!
To fulfill his long-cherished wish as soon as possible, he would use every resource available to him, whether it was money or ready-made works!
Would he really leave usable resources sitting there untouched? Did he look like that kind of idiot?
Do not say he did!
Ignoring the title, he looked toward the beautifully drawn background behind it, where the characters' poses were full of tension. He smiled in satisfaction.
When he had read the original work before, he had felt that its biggest problem was that its covers and interior black-and-white illustrations were rather mediocre.
At the very least, they were far from the style beloved by the general public.
How else were they supposed to earn money from the private collectors who bought novels for their beautiful cover and frontispiece illustrations?
Though his purpose was not to make money, the sales still had to be good if he wanted a respectable result.
Now, after further refining the original character designs himself, he could say with certainty that the book would at least not die a sudden death. If he got lucky, it might even top the bestseller charts.
"The future is bright!"
Sakurakoji Talent felt greatly comforted. He turned his gaze toward the inner courtyard. Compared to half a month ago, the flowers and greenery had grown even more verdant, announcing the coming of spring.
Image: "Changed the Cover, Commemorating It," Location: "Images/1754319628-100446961-113682229.jpg"
Volume 1: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies — Chapter 26: Humans Have Limits
Pfft!
Sakurakoji Talent dropped heavily onto the living room sofa, letting it bear his full weight. He picked up the porcelain cup of premium pre-Qingming Longjing tea on the coffee table and took two sips. Compared to black tea, he actually preferred green tea. He did not know why foreigners treasured that historically inherited fermented tea so much.
Of course, since this year's tea had not yet reached the market, he was drinking last year's pre-Qingming tea.
Even so, it had been properly preserved, so it still tasted quite good.
As he inhaled the faint fragrance rising from the tea, it refreshed his mind. He felt as though his body had become several pounds lighter. Sakurakoji Talent sighed softly, enjoying the peaceful and stable moment with a relaxed expression.
This was how people were supposed to live!
During this period, he had been working at Starry, searching through various channels for potentially useful targets, planning the "coincidences" he might need, occasionally going to Hoshino Ai and Aoyama Nanami to make his presence known, and even finding time to write books and draw illustrations...
Even he felt he had been too ruthless with himself. Not even a workhorse would dare be used like this.
The next school year, he would be returning to school after many years. It had not even begun yet, but he had already worked so hard.
Thinking that this was only the beginning, and that there were still countless people and matters waiting for him in the future, Sakurakoji Talent felt a headache coming on.
At that moment, he deeply understood that a person's energy and time had limits.
If he could not increase the amount of time he had, then he could only arrange it more reasonably. It seemed the goal of becoming the world's greatest Master of Time Management could no longer be delayed.
He patted his increasingly serious face. After a short rest, he resumed flipping through the two copies of DanMachi's first volume.
Five minutes later,
"I don't think there are any problems. Have them publish it according to this version, and make it as fast as possible."
After confirming that the publication was basically error-free, Sakurakoji Talent spoke to Yashiro Ichiyo. He had entrusted all matters of contact with the publisher to her.
As this was his first published book, he had originally planned to inspect it carefully. But after reading two pages, he lost interest. Reading something he had written himself was truly boring.
The proofreading had already been handled by professional editors anyway. He had only skimmed through it. If there really were any problems later... then the editor responsible could prepare to die!
"Yes, I'll contact them immediately and have them arrange the printing and negotiations with the various bookstores as soon as possible."
Yashiro Ichiyo responded to his order with a smile before leaving.
Watching her gradually receding back, Sakurakoji Talent fell into thought... Come to think of it, his head maid was quite busy too.
Not only was she responsible for everything at the residence, but the property management for the Ten no Yashiro apartments had also been entrusted to her, though there was a dedicated property management company. She also had to help him and Ashiri deal with all kinds of trivial matters—could the true Master of Time Management actually be right by his side?
He shook his head to stay clear-minded. There were truly heroes everywhere!
Over the following week,
Sakurakoji Talent continued to display the characteristics of his title, Tokyo Wanderer, randomly appearing in some corner of Tokyo Metropolis during the day. Unfortunately, after an entire week, he still had nothing to show for it.
"What's going on? Are there really so few wild mobs? How is anyone supposed to play like this?"
Sakurakoji Talent clicked his tongue, astonished by such low efficiency.
Ever since he had encountered that pink-haired girl on the street last time, he had once again experienced what it felt like to search for a needle in a haystack. After working hard for many days, he had found absolutely nothing!
How many had he even met? Had he already cleared the whole map?
"It seems I can't keep wandering around without a goal in the future. The efficiency is too low. I'd better finish the known tasks first."
He frowned slightly and made his decision. Map-sweeping not only wasted time, but even if he encountered someone on the street, the odds of successfully striking up a conversation were not high. It would be better to focus his energy on the matters already in his hands.
At present, there were three main places where he could farm favorability: Starry, where he worked; the convenience store; and Hoshino Ai's place.
Since he went to Starry every day, he had almost farmed all the points it could provide. Without some additional way or action to earn points, it was basically at a standstill now.
As for other methods of gaining points besides daily interactions... he did not want to think about that for the time being. His instincts told him there was danger there, and a great deal of it.
Aoyama Nanami's side was roughly the same. The effects produced by occasional contact alone had nearly reached their limit.
As for Hoshino Ai, apart from visiting her work site once, he had not met her a second time. At most, they chatted occasionally on their phones.
"This won't do," Sakurakoji Talent muttered.
So far, the points provided by those three places had only advanced his main quest progress by around one percent.
Fate had told him how to solve the problem, but it had not told him that this method would be so inefficient!
Before you continue