A week later, Aibo brought his latest work to Levy's house.
"Naruto... ninja? Did you write this yourself, Aibo?"
Levy picked up the notebook titled Naruto—The Legendary Tale of Eastern Wizards, her face full of astonishment.
"That's right. It's a little experiment. Could you sisters see whether it can be submitted to a newspaper?"
"Little Aibo is that amazing!? I was wondering what you'd been hiding away and scribbling by yourself lately. You were actually writing a novel? Let me see!"
Cana was just as shocked. She huddled together with Levy and began reading.
"I wrote a fantasy story about the mysterious eastern continent. Of course, I don't know much about the East, so it's all fictional. I've only written ten chapters so far. Do you think anyone would like it?"
"Don't worry, your big sisters will give it a serious review!"
At first, Levy and Cana were still giggling as they read, but the further they got, the more serious they became. In the end, the room fell silent except for the sound of turning pages.
Half an hour later, Levy and Cana suddenly sat up and squeezed Aibo between them from either side.
"What happened next!? I want to read the rest! Did Naruto and Sasuke pass Kakashi-sensei's test!?"
"It's super interesting, isn't it!? Could you actually be a genius, little brother!?"
Once Levy started, she could barely stop.
"Aibo, your setting is so interesting! Hundreds of years ago, the eastern magical world was ravaged by endless war. Wizard guilds organized around clans fought one another, causing countless deaths and injuries. Later, two powerful Saint Wizards joined hands and ended the chaotic age.
"To erase the influence wizards had on ordinary people, the Saint Wizards decided to abandon the title of wizard, become shadows, and call themselves ninja, hiding behind the scenes. Every country was left with only one guild—ah, no, it was called a ninja village. The ninja villages would centrally assign all commissions..."
"Wow! It's unbelievable that these are the wild ideas of a six-year-old child!"
"Is that all you care about, Levy? I just want to know what happens next! Little Aibo, hurry up and spoil it for me!"
Seeing their reactions, Aibo felt reassured. It seemed people in this world were quite receptive to new things after all. His effort in adapting it had not gone to waste.
Come to think of it, he had gained quite a lot over the past week.
[Word Magic LV1, 987/10000]
This week, Aibo had focused on mastering Word Magic without using any Inspiration Points. However, LV1 Word Magic did not have any offensive power.
LV1 Word Magic allowed Aibo to infuse words with magic power while writing, making the words he wrote appear physically. Other than that, it had no effects.
But that did not mean it was useless. On the contrary, this magic was incredibly useful.
After acquiring [Word Magic LV1], Aibo's overall understanding of magic had improved considerably. He could clearly feel that he was gaining experience faster when learning other magic!
Previously, Aibo could gain less than 300 experience in Fire Magic after studying for a day. Now, with the same amount of time, he could gain nearly 500.
His Fire Magic progress had already reached [Fire Magic LV0, 888/1000]. He would master it very soon.
Word Magic was basically an "EXP gain up↑" buff for himself. That effect alone was more useful than learning a dozen spells.
On top of that, Aibo had also studied Solid Script Magic with Levy, and something interesting had happened.
The skills on his system panel had appeared side by side:
[Word Magic LV1, 987/10000], [Solid Script Magic LV0, 36/1000]
Solid Script Magic appeared after Word Magic instead of on a separate line.
Maybe it was because the two kinds of magic were similar? Aibo had not figured it out yet.
And the experience bar for Solid Script Magic was difficult to raise, much harder than ordinary magic.
But grinding Word Magic experience was extremely easy. He only needed to infuse his writing with magic power while working on his novel.
In just a few days, he had gained nearly a thousand experience. If he worked hard, he could probably reach LV2 in two or three weeks.
His earlier guess had indeed been correct. He could practice magic while making money at the same time.
This exciting discovery had even given Aibo nearly a thousand Inspiration Points.
This feeling of stepping on his own feet to soar into the sky was simply incredible.
Now, as long as he confirmed that the book he had copied could make money, Aibo could more or less take it easy for the rest of his life.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves. Do you think this draft needs any improvements? If I submit it, can I get paid for it?"
Cana gave him a thumbs-up.
"Absolutely no problem! I'm already a fan of your book, Aibo! Do you have more manuscript chapters!?"
"I also think it's very well written! Little brother, your writing style and wording are a little simple, but the charm of the story itself is enough to cover those shortcomings.
"Emmmm, I can give you some suggestions on the wording and grammar in certain places, but I think it would be completely fine to submit it as it is."
Levy was right. Aibo had only learned this world's language not long ago. Although the common language here was very similar to English, there were still plenty of differences.
The sentence structures he used while writing were definitely the simplest and easiest to understand. Besides, it was a novel adapted from a manga. As for prose quality... well, elementary school level. It suited his character setting.
"Then where do you think I should submit it?"
"Sorcerer Weekly Sorara?"
"The Fiore Kingdom Daily would be better. Sorcerer Weekly's audience is only wizards."
"All right, Levy is right."
After thinking for a moment, Levy added,
"Oh, and it would be best to have your guild master handle this matter."
"Why?"
"President Makarov is one of the Ten Wizard Saints. He holds a high position in this country, so if he handles it, he should be able to secure more benefits for you, Aibo."
"Submitting to a newspaper now is only for serialization. You'll definitely publish it as a book later. If you don't negotiate properly, the newspaper might publish it themselves. That would be a huge loss."
"Wow, Levy, you know so much!"
"Hehe, my family runs a bookstore, so I've heard plenty of scandals involving newspapers like that."
Aibo nodded. He was just a little kid right now. If he went to negotiate with a newspaper himself, there would definitely be heaps of trouble. It would be better to ask his dear guild master for help.
"Hehe, why not use this chance to join our guild, Levy? The master will definitely agree!"
"Huh? Th-that wouldn't be appropriate, would it? I haven't even mastered Solid Script Magic yet..."
"What are you scared of! I couldn't even use magic back then. I just mooched food and drinks at the guild every day. The master thought I had plenty of magic power, so he let me join directly."
Though I only stayed at the guild because of that bastard father.
Aibo looked at Cana a few more times, then guiltily shifted his gaze away.
Perhaps because he had told Cana that, during the days he traveled with Gildarts, that guy had slept with different older women in nearly every village and town...
Combined with Cana believing that Aibo was also one of Gildarts's "illegitimate sons," abandoned at the guild and left uncared for...
Gildarts's reputation had suffered badly in Cana's eyes, and his standing as a father had fallen considerably.
But... it was not exactly damage to his reputation, was it? Aibo had not lied, and Cana had imagined many things on her own without verifying anything. He could not even correct her if he wanted to.
Emmmm, anyway, it was all Gildarts's fault!
Afterward, the three of them returned to Fairy Tail with the manuscript.
Levy joined the guild without any trouble.
President Makarov could not stop praising Aibo's work and patted his chest as he promised to find a newspaper and help him.
Soon enough, Naruto's novel serialization would probably appear in this world's newspapers.
Aibo's feelings were a little complicated, though joy outweighed everything else. After all, this counted as the product of his own labor no matter what. Fanfiction did not count as plagiarizing the original work.
He was a little curious about what kind of impact a work like this would have in another world.
The thought of future wizards opening their mouths and shouting something like "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" was inexplicably funny.
[Inspiration Points +233]
This was... delightful.
Before you continue