The Fan Signing Event
Today was the day of the fan signing event. To my immense honor, not only was I holding a signing session, but they were also releasing a limited combined edition pack alongside it. I was genuinely curious how many people would show up. After all, no matter how many fans you have, actually getting them to attend a signing in person is a completely different matter. If nobody came, it would be utterly humiliating.
“My lady, have you heard the rumor?”
Just as I was about to leave, Marie suddenly came looking for me. What rumor could this be? Whatever it was, it was bound to be annoying.
“What rumor?”
“Well, they say Prince Schwald summoned knights to his palace and tried to assault them!”
What the hell was that nonsense? Schwald summoned knights to his palace and tried to assault them? Well, even if he never did anything like that in the original story, given the current situation, it wasn’t entirely impossible. Still, how could something like that spread so openly?
“Female knights? Wow, he’s really gone all the way now.”
Yeah, I always knew that bastard would end up like this someday.
“No! Not female knights—male ones. Just like in the novel.”
“Ah, I see.”
It wasn’t exactly an “I see” moment, but the words slipped out before I could stop myself. What? For real? Not female knights, but male ones? Of course trying to force himself on female knights was bad enough, but attempting to assault male knights? It was probably an exaggeration. The situation had simply created an image that people latched onto. Still, it fell within my predicted range. I hadn’t expected it to explode this quickly, but once rumors spread that Schwald was gay, the royal family wouldn’t be able to ignore it any longer. Even setting aside the matter of Milene’s condemnation, he had tarnished the dignity of the royal house.
Tsk. Well, it wasn’t any of my business. I’d just stay out of it. Even if that guy really had turned gay, what did it matter to me? He was just an idiot being an idiot. Unlike him, I had grown enough to hold my own fan signing event.
The problem was Yuria. She followed me around like a steel wall under the pretext of being my bodyguard, which could be dangerous. At first I thought that way, but—
“Yuria, I have some business to take care of outside today. With Ritz here, and since the capital’s security is decent with plenty of knights around, could you just watch the house for me?”
“Protecting your safety is my top priority. Hmm… would my accompanying you cause you trouble?”
Yeah. It would be a bit troublesome. Actually, very troublesome. In multiple ways. Ainhart was connected to her, and I had to prevent my little sister’s secret from being exposed. Right?
“I have a private life too, you know. Besides, protecting the house is more important. All my work materials are there.”
“Understood.”
Unexpectedly, Yuria turned out to be someone you could actually reason with. She had probably been thoroughly instructed by Ainhart to serve me as well as possible. Moreover, this was the capital, and the king had personally asked Ainhart to protect me. She might have been given some leeway. If the time came when it no longer mattered if I was found out, I could always tell her everything. For now, the fan signing was the urgent matter, so I headed to the location Jerry had told me about.
“Hahaha. Welcome, Author-nim.”
Yugo and Jerry came out to greet me. The president himself was overseeing this? I really must have become a big-name author now.
“The venue for a fan signing is quite large, isn’t it?”
It was an incredibly spacious area. To be more precise, it was the same space where Milene had been condemned. Of all places… In the original story, this was the location of Milene’s downfall, yet now it had transformed into the site of her greatest triumph. That was something worth praising. Or had Yugo and Jerry planned this on purpose? No, there was still something subtly off about that theory.
“Hehe, we had to do at least this much. After all, you’re our Author K. We determined this level of preparation was necessary.”
“Well, thank you for saying so. By the way, I noticed quite a crowd on my way here. Is something happening nearby?”
I had arrived earlier than expected, but there were already a lot of people milling about. Surely they couldn’t all be here for my fan signing. No way. Had my novels really drawn this many people? Given the current development, it was possible, but I had to see it to believe it.
“Hahaha. You’re too modest, Author-nim. That kind of humility can become a disease, you know. All those people gathered over there are your precious readers.”
I could have sworn he just said “suckers” a second ago.
“I think you just called them suckers…”
“You must have misheard. Anyway, today’s fan signing will greatly elevate your reputation.”
Elevate my reputation, huh? Now that was music to my ears. The more fame I gained as an author, the thicker the defensive wall would become for the commoner writer K, separate from Milene Roen. While Milene herself becoming a Roen was fine, on the surface the person known as “K” was a commoner. The commoner author K had already been marked by the Holpert family, and even if they left Milene alone, if K’s novels interfered with Holpert, they might try to eliminate me somehow. But if my fame grew? The Holpert family’s young lady had long been identified as connected to these novels. The more my reputation rose, the more the citizens would criticize Holpert while praising me. If I used that, Holpert wouldn’t be able to touch me. Besides, it was dangerous outside the capital. I had never gone outside the capital in my playthroughs. And I had Decaron, that monstrous master of mine. Most importantly, there was money.
“I hope that’s the case. After all, this is my livelihood.”
“I understood you were officially adopted into the Roen family. Isn’t that enough?”
If being a Roen was enough, I would have quit long ago. The whole reason I started writing was to make money. If I had plenty of money, I would have just become a rich NEET lounging around.
“That just sort of happened. Author K wants to live freely as a commoner.”
I had actually wanted to live quietly until now, but too many incidents kept happening. Being adopted by the Roens meant I wouldn’t have to worry about money if I relied on them, but that doting uncle of mine might end up keeping me trapped there.
“Ooh, I see. A noble seeking freedom, is it? Very well. Now then, it’s about time. Are you ready?”
“Ah, I’m a little nervous.”
I placed my hand on my ample chest and took a deep breath.
“I thought you might be, so I prepared some mages. They’ll cast a spell to ease your tension.”
“That’s a relief.”
The mages Yugo had prepared were the ones in charge of printing—the same ones who had gone on strike before. Those mages reverently cast a spell to relieve my tension. And finally, it began.
Was a fan signing usually like this? It felt like they had deliberately gathered people from somewhere. Like paid audience members or something. But were these people really moved by my novels? The more I looked, the more unbelievable it seemed.
“There are seriously so many people.”
“You’re the author of both a romance story and a hero story, a beautiful woman, and the Milene condemnation incident perfectly aligns with your work. It’s only natural.”
Jerry offered a plausible theory. Ah, that made sense. The readers of the hero party story and the readers of the villainess story were different groups. This might actually be expected. In other words, the fans of both works had gathered together. And this was precisely the moment when both were at their peak.
“So that’s why the president…”
“Ahem. It’s not a bad thing, is it?”
That president really had a nose for money. He must have sensed the opportunity—to make money off me and spread the name Portmus across the world. Honestly, since I was benefiting from it this time too, it wasn’t bad. But if bromides or figures started coming out, I might actually want to die. Wouldn’t that make me the founder of otaku culture in this world? Of course, it would be President Yugo, drunk on money, coming up with the ideas. Still, I would be the model for them. For now, I needed to focus on the signing and build up my strength today.
Damn it, why were they looking at my appearance first? Especially the men. Well, I guess if I were them and heard the author was a beautiful woman, I’d want to see her face too. That’s how most guys are. If the author of the novel you’re reading turns out to be a woman—and a beauty at that—yeah, I’d want to go see her and look at her face first. It all lined up perfectly. I was in a position where success here was practically guaranteed. One thing was certain: after today’s fan signing, all the male readers would become completely loyal fans. The women too, probably. I heard that noble young ladies these days went crazy for romance novels. Right now, I could see several of them in fancy dresses looking excited. They supposedly bought multiple copies each—for their collections or whatever. Basically, it was like patronage. So I needed to win over the noble young ladies’ hearts as well.
“Yes, I’ll do my best.”
I signed on paper, on palms, and even shook hands. Hahaha. Back in Korea, I could never have dreamed of something like this.
“Huff… huff… huff.”
After some time passed, it was the turn of a pot-bellied man with glasses who looked like it was hard for him to even breathe. Was this all according to that author Pakuri’s plan? Why did a character like this exist in a fantasy world? Well, I suppose it was possible. His clothes didn’t look particularly aristocratic, but he seemed wealthy—like a merchant.
“Ooh. So you’re a fan of Author K, huh?”
I never thought I’d actually hear that speech pattern in real life. I had no idea why a character like this existed, but otakus made money. Why? Because they willingly threw their cash at everything. So I had to treat my main customer base well. Judging by how he had dressed up to come here, this was a money-spending otaku. I swallowed my instinctive disgust and even held his hand. Actually, it wasn’t just him. Everyone here was, when you thought about it, an otaku for Author K. I decided to flash my best business smile. I used to be famous for making a good impression on business partners, after all.
“Thank you, dear reader.”
“Please write it here.”
He handed me a rather large sheet of paper. It was shiny—probably coated with magic. He was likely planning to frame it and hang it on the wall.
“Um, just out of curiosity, what are you going to use something this big for?”
“‘The Hero Party’s Defeat’ is the greatest masterpiece I’ve ever read in my life. I could never have the author’s signature on cheap paper. I had to get paper coated with mana that won’t burn and shines beautifully, get the signature, and frame it.”
At that one statement from the man, the entire fan signing event fell into brief silence. The people who had come for signatures glanced down at the paper or books they had brought and let out sighs. Signing books was fine, but this otaku uncle was going so overboard it was almost suspicious. A few noble ladies and young lords sent their servants to fetch high-quality paper.
“Oh my, if you’re only getting a signature, I can let you go first.”
“No, it’s fine, my lady. Ladies first, isn’t that the saying?”
They were even yielding to each other on purpose, since missing your turn while waiting for paper would be disastrous.
“Will this be all right?”
“Ooooh, thank you! My younger siblings are fans too, so I can brag about this!”
At least he answered properly in the end. He was going to brag to his siblings with that? If siblings were both readers, that wasn’t bad at all. If it spread to the whole family, that meant steady demand. I decided to be generous and sign extra copies for his siblings on separate sheets prepared by the publisher, not the giant paper the otaku brother had brought.
“I’m gonna keep them all!”
Hey, at least give some to your siblings.