The Capital's Situation
The capital of Glacia Kingdom was, at this time, in the midst of a full-blown novel craze. Originally, novels in Glacia had been a privilege reserved exclusively for intellectuals and nobles. The books were simply too expensive for commoners to afford, and the general consensus was that there was no reason for them to bother reading such things anyway. But as literature gradually spread more widely, the public began to learn about novels. Portmus Publishing introduced groundbreaking printing methods that drastically lowered costs, making books accessible to commoners for the first time.
Of course, romance novels quickly came to dominate the market. Other genres struggled to find success. Before the romance boom, heavy, serious stories—like royal court tales or heroic epics—had been popular. But those days were gone. The reason was simple: with romance leading the charge, the main customer base had shifted to women. Men were left with two choices—either compromise and read romance, or stick to outdated older novels. And who in their right mind would force themselves to read romance?
That was exactly when My Hero Party Has No Defeat appeared.
Portmus, the undisputed titan of the publishing world, had never released anything that wouldn't turn a profit. So when this powerhouse suddenly put out a book from an entirely different genre, curiosity was inevitable. The first edition went straight to the royal palace, which gave it perfect publicity in a market already saturated with romance. From the palace, the hero novel spread like wildfire among the commoners of the capital.
"Hey, did you hear? Portmus just released a new book."
"Oh, you mean My Hero Party Has No Defeat?"
"Yeah. It's insanely good."
"Right? Way better than those novels that are just nonstop love talk."
"Exactly. That stuff's for women anyway."
Milene's novel, which had spread throughout the capital, received surprisingly strong reviews. It had kicked romance off its throne and claimed the spot for itself. Naturally, most female readers still preferred romance due to personal taste, but even some of them became fans of the new series. While men were drawn in by the hero's job and the concept of saving the world, female readers fell for the protagonist's charm.
"It's not exactly a romance, but... isn't the hero so cool?"
"If a hero like that came to rescue me, I'd give him my liver and kidneys without hesitation."
"True. Stories about a hero saving an ordinary commoner girl are way more appealing than the same old prince-and-princess tales."
It was nothing short of a revolution in the literary world. Contrary to Milene's expectations, her novel—starting from the royal palace and slowly spreading outward—was creating quite a stir.
First, my novel made its way into the royal palace. The title was My Hero Party Has No Defeat, Volume 1. To be honest, I'd just lifted the title from something I'd heard before, but it seemed to have quite an effect. The king apparently found my book rather entertaining.
"Truly remarkable. Extremely entertaining. The immersion is no joke."
The king didn't hold back on his praise, and the palace staff began buying copies from bookstores in the capital. Since everyone knew the king enjoyed literary pursuits, quite a few courtiers followed his lead out of genuine interest. Considering that most of the palace staff came from noble backgrounds, it was only natural. Some, however, were apparently reading to escape the reality created by that worthless Sophia.
At first glance, it might sound ridiculous, but the Glacia royal palace was filled with elites. Having to witness Sophia's incompetence every day must have been utterly miserable for them. Just how many idiotic things had that woman done to end up like this?
Anyway, setting aside the evaluation of Sophia, it seemed the palace staff's reviews were quite favorable as well.
"Wow, this is on another level compared to the romance stuff the girls read. It's substantial but still easy to get through."
"I usually fall asleep while reading, but this one is incredible."
"I've thought before that it'd be nice to be a hero, but this completely twists that whole idea."
In the end, it became a bestseller officially recognized by the royal palace. Naturally, bookstores weren't about to miss such perfect marketing material. Every shop slapped on a "Royally Endorsed Bestseller" sticker. In Glacia's novel market, where romance had firmly taken root, a hero had managed to squeeze his way in.
When I heard the news from Jerry in real time, I was still completely dazed.
"Author K! This is truly a massive hit!"
"You don't have to shout it quite so loudly. I can hear you just fine."
My ears were going to fall off at this rate.
"My goodness, who could have predicted that His Majesty would become such a powerful patron? It's truly remarkable."
"Hmm."
"It looks like it's selling even faster than expected. It will probably far exceed the initial projection of 100,000 copies. We may need to discuss additional royalty payments. The president seems to be considering that as well."
"Now that you mention it, the previous contract was an advance royalty agreement, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
After all, we'd only projected around 100,000 copies. If it sold faster than expected, it made sense that a new contract would follow soon. Wait a minute. Honestly, this reaction seemed a bit excessive, but if even Hugo—the president of Portmus—acknowledged it, there must be merit to the idea. Did that mean I'd be receiving more royalties? There was also the matter of clearing inventory. I'd picked up some knowledge about these things, so I understood the basics. Since it was essentially a large corporation, they probably wouldn't try to cheat me on royalties.
"It would be nice if it does well."
"Author K, you can afford to be a little more confident. Being this humble can actually become a problem, you know."
If he thought so, I was grateful, but wasn't this man visiting my house a bit too frequently? His job at the publishing house must already be hectic, yet he kept coming to see me in person.
"Wouldn't it be better if I visited the publishing house instead? I feel like I'm causing you too much trouble by making you come here every time."
"Not at all. You're currently the new leading figure in the entire novel industry, Author K. This much is no inconvenience whatsoever."
Even with all this flattery, there wasn't much I could do in return. All I could do was write well.
"Ah, if it really does sell more than expected, would it be possible to receive royalties based on the number of copies printed?"
"That would be something to discuss separately with the president. I'll pass the message along. By the way, shouldn't you take some time to rest, Author K?"
"Rest?"
"Yes. You've already been through imprisonment, which must have been exhausting, yet you somehow managed to write at such an incredible pace. There's still quite a bit of time left until the deadline, isn't there?"
Well, there was indeed still plenty of time. Somehow I'd ended up writing everything anyway. This body's high specs made it unavoidable, it seemed.
"It would be good to finish everything in advance and then rest thoroughly until the deadline."
"Goodness, so you intend to maintain that speed after all."
"If I don't write when the feeling strikes, it just feels uncomfortable."
More precisely, since I had no idea how my future would unfold, I needed to prepare this much groundwork in advance.
"Ahem. Well, since you're living as a commoner, there must be some inconveniences..."
"No, not particularly."
"The weather is nice these days. It might be good to go outside once in a while."
Ah, so this was it. The feeling of a parent telling their shut-in child to please go outside for once? Of course I needed to go out, but given the current circumstances, it felt like I should be extra careful with my safety.
"Oh, you're right. I hadn't thought of that. By the way, what would be good to do once I'm outside?"
"Um, well. Girls your age usually enjoy shopping, don't they? We gave you quite a substantial advance royalty this time."
That was true. Not long after publication, I'd received a very large advance. The number had quite a few zeros. It was almost unsettling—enough to make me wonder if my work was really worth that much, and worry about what would happen if I couldn't keep writing.
"Shopping... I've never really considered it."
"Haha. That's how you get used to living as a commoner. If you need someone like a maid, you could hire a housekeeper or even purchase a slave."
"A slave?"
Come to think of it, slavery did exist here.
"Yes. While there is some controversy surrounding it, slaves are often used as laborers. Ah, I'm just throwing the idea out there. The slave market is in the capital's slums, so it would be rather awkward for a young lady to go there alone."
"Slaves, huh. Slaves..."
Now that I thought about it, that woman Sophia had gained a lot of favor by liberating slaves. It was probably something she'd done later, after her punishment, when she was trying to win over public sentiment to become crown princess in earnest. So this was around that time. Even if it hadn't happened yet, she was probably already thinking about it. Especially since the situation was worse for her than in the original story.
"Speaking of which, have you heard the news?"
"What news?"
"About that woman named Sophia. Apparently she's receiving queen training."
Sophia was getting queen education? Knowing Schwald, he'd probably forced the issue, but considering the personalities of the king and queen, they were more likely treating her with contempt and telling her to eat dirt. It was probably the latter. Right now Schwald was being heavily criticized; there was no way the royal couple would push Sophia forward against their wishes.
"Is that so?"
"But it seems she's failing miserably and getting a lot of flak for it."
Oh? This actually sounded pretty good. That Sophia, acting like the heroine she was supposed to be, had declared that slaves must be freed and was trying to cover all their costs at the slave market. But if she was currently preoccupied with queen training at the palace, would she even have time to think about the slaves? She'd only remember them when she had some breathing room. Moreover, in the original story, Sophia had asked the prince for help and emptied the national treasury to free all the slaves. With everything blocked off now, there was no way she could do that. She might try asking the Holpert family for money, but as I'd said, she probably didn't have the mental capacity for it right now.
If that was the case, I could start touching the slave issue first. Using the advance royalty I'd received to gradually free some slaves, for example.
"Hmm, it seems she's having quite a hard time."
"Yes. I've heard a lot of cursing about her among the palace staff."
Jerry spoke with a refreshed expression and laughed heartily. Why was he the one getting so worked up when I wasn't even angry?
"You seem to visit the palace quite often."
"Ah, His Majesty has been praising your work quite highly. After all, the first edition of Volume 1 went straight to the palace."
I'd already heard about that. Hmm, did the king have more interest in my writing than I'd thought? Or was he simply curious to see how far I could go? It was actually starting to worry me how well it was doing. Just how seriously did this country take hero parties, anyway?
"So that's what it was about."
"Yes. The promotional line that came out was 'A hero party book officially certified by His Majesty.'"
Oh, that was nice, but... wasn't the scale getting a bit too big?
"It feels like it's getting too big."
"Usually, the bigger you can make the plate, the better, isn't it? Haha."
"Well, that's true, but..."
The problem was that if expectations got too high, it might not live up to them. I'd written web novels before, but this felt like a gamble even for me.
"It's gradually spreading from the palace throughout the capital. It's a huge success, I tell you. Though I still can't stand that woman."
"Hmm, you really seem to dislike Sophia quite a bit, Jerry."
"How could I not? Because of her, those brainless Academy graduates keep submitting romance manuscripts that read like children's fairy tales. It makes me sick."
"Ah, I see what you mean."
Indeed, the Academy was full of idiots—just as the author had intentionally set it up. In typical romance fantasy Academy stories, side characters were made into morons to create clear moral contrasts, or to make the heroine's harem of simps seem more impressive by comparison. But it seemed that same idiot-setting was negatively affecting even Portmus Publishing in this reality. After all, the Academy was essentially an extension of the publishing industry.
"So of course she looks repulsive. She even throws tantrums, acting like she can do whatever she wants just because she has the prince's favor."
"That's quite different from the frail, weak act she always put on in front of me."
"She's nothing but a sly fox. I wish she'd just get kicked out already. The Holpert family must be blind. How could they throw out someone like you, Author K?"
Grumble, grumble. It seemed this man had personally witnessed Sophia's pathetic state at the palace. There were twists like this in areas not covered by the original story. How interesting.
In that case, I should start preparing things on my end as well.
"By the way, what is this?"
Jerry asked as he looked at the new manuscript I had prepared.
"I've been working on a rough outline and major plot points for Volume 2."
"Oh? So Volume 2 will feature the saintess's activities, I see."
"Yes. If Volume 1 was about the first hero reincarnating as a hero in the current era and gradually getting used to this time period, then starting from Volume 2, we'll be dealing with the surrounding characters in earnest."
"That makes sense. The protagonist can't carry everything alone forever. You could think of it as elevating the support positions a bit more?"
"Exactly."
Before I knew it, I was exchanging feedback with my editor Jerry about Volume 2, and the manuscript preparation was progressing smoothly. Who would've thought it would actually do this well?