Chapter 10

"Hey, Ver. Look, look."

"What's this?"

"I published a book!"

"Huh? When did you do that?"

Suddenly, Iina showed me a beautifully bound book.

Apparently, it was a story she had written herself.

I had no idea she had been working on publishing a book.

"But, can you just publish a book that easily?"

In my mind, writers are a select few.

I don't know if that's really true, though.

"Recently, the bookstore I often visit has its main store in the capital and also handles publishing. While visiting the store, I was told, 'If you're interested, I can look at your manuscript.' So, I wrote a manuscript and submitted it, and it was accepted."

"Wow, that's impressive."

The manuscript was accepted. Come to think of it, in my previous life, when I was in high school, there was a guy who aspired to be a manga artist and was submitting manuscripts to various publishers.

He eventually gave up on becoming a manga artist and became a regular salaryman.

I thought back then that it was tough to make a living in the world of creative writing.

I never imagined that my wife would debut as a writer so easily.

"Let's see... What's it about?"

I immediately started reading, and it turned out to be a love story between people of different social standings.

A nobleman's son and a commoner's daughter.

The story is about these two overcoming various obstacles and finally being together.

Of course, in reality... especially in this world... it's almost impossible, but Iina's writing is so good that I couldn't help but root for them.

Iina herself doesn't think this is a true story.

She immerses herself in the beauty of such stories during her free time.

This is the essence of reading.

"How's the sales, Iina?"

At this point, Louise joined the conversation.

She glanced at the book Iina had written... Louise isn't good with text, so it's understandable... and started asking questions.

"It's doing quite well, and they're already planning a reprint."

"Great job, Iina!"

"That's impressive."

Books in this world are more of a luxury item, and the printing technology isn't as advanced as in modern Japan, so they are quite expensive.

Very few people can make a living solely as writers, and there are educational differences based on social status, so wealthy people often write books as a hobby.

Since the number of books published isn't high, and people without money often buy used books, a reprint is quite rare.

"Are you becoming a famous writer, Iina?"

"They asked me to write the next one, but I can't just write books all the time, and it's not that easy to write, so I think it's really impressive to be a full-time writer."

Indeed, Iina is busy with child-rearing, running a spear dojo, and other work related to the Baumaster border baron family, and she occasionally goes on adventures.

It's not easy for her to find more time to write books.

"Then, maybe I'll try writing one too? That bookstore always accepts manuscripts, right?"

"They say they do, but it's also known for being hard to get accepted. If a book doesn't sell, it results in a loss, so they are quite strict about evaluating manuscripts."

"True, but I think I'll be fine."

"Think you'll be fine..."

"(She's so confident without any real basis, just like Louise...)"

Iina succeeded by reading many books and doing research, but Louise, who falls asleep easily while reading, would find it difficult to do such analysis.

By the way, I had a classmate in college who aspired to be a writer.

He always talked about his future as a successful writer, but I never saw any of his manuscripts.

When I asked the aspiring manga artist, he said that there are always a certain number of people who are convinced they will succeed without writing anything.

Louise seems to be one of those people, and I'm sure Iina thinks so too.

"I'm going to start writing right away! I'll become a best-selling author too!"

With that, Louise ran back to her room.

Probably to start writing a story.

"Will she be okay? Louise?"

"Ver, Louise has always been like this. She starts new things but gets bored quickly. Except for martial arts."

In other words, she's easily bored.

She gives up on everything after a few days.

"I think she'll forget about writing a story in a week."

"Indeed, I have that feeling too."

Writing a whole book is quite a task.

I'll wait without expecting much to see if Louise can actually write a story.

"Ta-da! It's finished!"

"Huh? You really wrote it?"

"This is unexpected."

"Hey, Ver and Iina, that's rude. I did write a story, and it's a moving masterpiece. You'll be moved to tears by its quality."

One month later, Iina and I had forgotten about Louise's attempt to write a story, but when she presented us with a manuscript, we were shocked to realize she had actually written a whole book.

We thought she would get bored immediately.

"What's the story about?"

"Well, it's about a famous martial artist's daughter who tries to succeed her father."

To convince those who oppose a woman inheriting a martial arts school, the girl goes on a journey and defeats famous martial arts masters.

The story is similar to something that could have been serialized in a boys' magazine a few decades ago.

"(Louise is more flexible in her thinking than I thought...)"

Maybe because she doesn't read much, she isn't influenced by existing works like Iina, who tends to improve on existing stories.

"Read it right away."

"Sure."

This type of story is rare in this world, so it might have a chance.

I started reading Louise's manuscript.

"The handwriting is messy..."

"Can't you just read it? Ver, you can't talk."

"I won't deny it, but..."

That's true, but the important thing is the content of the story.

I started reading the manuscript again.

"Ver, what do you think?"

"..."

"Isn't it interesting?"

"..."

"What's wrong, Ver?"

"Iina, please."

"..."

"Huh? This?"

At first, I started reading the manuscript, but I quickly realized it was a problematic piece and handed it to Iina for her opinion.

Iina also thought it was "no good" and gave me a look that agreed with my assessment.

"Is it a masterpiece?"

No, it's more like a collection of individuality.

It's a story that's hard to describe.

"(The story itself is quite simple.)"

"(Yes.)"

Since Louise had never written a story before, the plot was very simple.

The story is about a young girl who leaves her family dojo and battles various martial artists with different abilities and techniques at different dojos on her journey, similar to a serialized manga in a boys' magazine.

That's fine, but since Louise has no experience writing long stories, the battle descriptions were a mess.

"(No, 'Ugh! My shoulder!' isn't right.)"

"(Yes, it's terrible.)"

"(It's okay to name special moves, but having the enemy character explain the move while using it is strange, isn't it?)"

"(The protagonist does the same.)"

Since Louise can't write descriptive text, she makes the characters say everything during battles, so 90% of the story is dialogue.

"(It's okay to have a tragic backstory about defeating a master to learn a technique, but why does the protagonist have to tell it all in dialogue?)"

In a real one-on-one battle, no one would talk that much.

"(It's okay to say, 'You dodged my punch!' at the beginning, but saying it every time the protagonist dodges an attack is strange, isn't it?)"

The story isn't bad, but unfortunately, the writing is very poor.

If a professional writer saw it, they would be very angry.

What would the people at the bookstore think if they received this manuscript?

"What do you think, Ver and Iina?"

"Not bad."

"The story is good."

The story is good.

But with this writing, the readers...

"Then, I'll submit it!"

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"We'll revise it!"

If the bookstore people saw this manuscript, they would faint.

To prevent that, Iina and I decided to revise the 90% dialogue manuscript.

It's a lot of work, but since Louise actually wrote the manuscript, we have to help her revise it...

"'The Training Journey of Female Martial Artist Lily.' It's selling incredibly well."

"That's great."

"It's even selling to people who never read books before, and it's already on its sixth reprint."

"Really?"

"I only had one reprint..."

The story Louise wrote... or rather, the plot she came up with... was revised by Iina and me and published by the bookstore.

The sales are very good, and it's said that no book in history has been reprinted this many times.

Even in used bookstores, no one is willing to part with their copies, and people are buying new books at high prices.

Iina, who revised the manuscript, must have many thoughts.

She had a complex expression.

I can understand her feelings.

"So, we need the manuscript for the second volume from Rose... as soon as possible..."

"Ah, the manuscript..."

Of course, the bookstore wants to publish the second volume, but the problem is Rose... Louise's pen name. She suddenly started using it, and we don't know the origin.