Chapter 38

## Chapter 38

**9. Henry Etta (2)**

Although it is a fact that MZ web novel readers these days don't know well.

A very long time ago... that is, the web novel titles during the Mythological Era are said to have taken a very different aspect from modern times.

So for example, web novel titles were 3 letters or 4 letters like ancient four-character idioms.

Or if not that, they say the majority were five letters like some some Sculptor that remained as a legend in this industry.

Naturally, it is said that modern readers show this kind of reaction when they hear such folktales.

‘Eh... Lie.... There's no way that's true...?’

‘Web novel titles were originally... not sentence-type...?’

‘Then how on earth did ancestors figure out what the content of the work was...? Is that even possible...?’

It was so.

In the past, during the era when books were published in volume units, authors didn't really need to pay much attention to naming the work.

Because the types of books published every month weren't that many, so if the writing skill was good, they could chew up everything.

Actually, didn't the majority of works that Martial Arts Old Farts recite fluently saying 'Sit down there. I'll tell you an awesome story from now on' also come out during this period!

However, before we knew it, the world changed and a kind of Spring and Autumn Warring States period where anyone could serialize a novel opened.

As a result, a situation occurred where the total amount of works pouring out every month far exceeded human perception like the King of Heroes' treasury.

No matter how awesome of a work one writes, since there are so many competing works around, it's a situation where one could be eaten up by an extra in a single cut if things go wrong.

Eventually, to draw the readers' aggro even a little more, there was a turbulent backstory that the titles of works ended up changing to sentence types.

And this situation was also the same for the Empire's novelists serializing in newspapers.

They too were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠existences who had to survive in the extreme battle royale called the newspaper serialization section.

Therefore, to them, the act of drawing aggro with the title was not an option but a necessity.

Should I say it's the same principle that a deck without Urara and Maxx "C" degrades to a mere pile of cards.

Then one day.

Someone who seemed to sneer head-on at the desperate efforts of authors trying to draw aggro somehow appeared.

「Henry Etta」.

A new work showing the ambition to solely use a four-letter title when everyone else uses sentence-type titles like 「I Was Banished from the Hero Party, Got SSS-Rank Ability and Started My Bloody Revenge!」.

Towards this work showing an appearance almost going against the times, the majority of authors threw ridicule.

“Hah, do you think other authors are stupid to use sentence-type titles?”

“Besides, they say that guy started serializing the novel blindly without any promotion or viral marketing in advance?”

“You really intend to compete with just writing skill alone in this field...? Stupid fool. There's no way that's possible...!”

In addition to that, that wasn't the only point that made them dumbfounded about the work called 「Henry Etta」.

“...England? Where on earth is this country located?”

“Car? Surely this isn't that thing appearing in the recently trending Earth-made game right?”

“Surely this isn't... a novel set on Earth? Even though the protagonist is a boy using magic?”

Surprisingly, even though the work called 「Henry Etta」 was being serialized in the Empire, the setting within the work was not set as the Empire.

The setting of that work was none other than Earth.

As if that wasn't enough, it succeeded in making the majority of authors and mages go crazy by even bringing in the setting that the majority of mages living on Earth hide their identities.

“Set the background within the work as Earth? Don't tell me this bastard is a traitor...? Or else just a guy with no backbone who only follows the latest trends?”

“A mage hides magic...? Ridiculous! Why on earth learn magic if you're going to hide the magic you learned with effort?”

Traditionally, a novel gains life as readers read the text and empathize with it.

Looking at it in that sense, it was set on Earth, which the majority of readers don't even know well - although they acquired related knowledge through games or movies - and.

The novel called 「Henry Etta」, which brought in a setting completely opposite to the reality of the Empire that mages strictly hide their magic, was no different from heresy among heretics.

“Pfft! Seeing him do ambitious actions I thought he was a guy with something, but I guess it was a useless misunderstanding.”

“Was he just a trivial guy writing along with the trend because Earth-made culture is trending. Probably in about a month, his existence itself will be annihilated.”

I expected how amazing of a guy he was, but it was only this much.

How boring.

If he was a small fry of only this level, it's not even worth paying attention to-

Like that, the novelists turned off their interest in the work called 「Henry Etta」.

And the following Monday.

“...?”

“...What is this? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This?”

Looking at the weekly ranking updated once a week, the novelists unintentionally rubbed their two eyes *seuk-seuk*.

To think the novel called 「Henry Etta」... became 3rd in the ranking in just one week after starting serialization?

Really?

“...Surely manipulation? Does this make sense?”

“Hey, aren't the novel rankings of Empire Daily all revealed in real-time? But how do you manipulate this?”

“Obviously it's something like beginner's luck. Originally, readers tend to have curiosity when it's a new work and check it out at least once, right?”

“Besides, that guy is putting a lot of Earth-related elements inside the novel right? Did you forget the fact that Earth-related culture is no different from a cheat key among cheat keys these days?”

“...Lucky guy. Thanks to that, he extended his life for about a week.”

Yeah, this is simple luck.

He was just lucky until now, sooner or later his ugly true nature will be revealed to the world!

However.

“...?”

“...???”

As if sneering at the novelists' predictions, 「Henry Etta」 ended up showing the impressive feat of slicing off the neck of the existing 1st place work in just 3 weeks since starting serialization.

The reason was extremely simple.

“Was the thing called magic... such a mysterious and dreamy something like this...?”

“To think mages were such amazing existences...? I thought shooting fire or lightning from hands was everything at best....”

“I feel like I'm reading a fairy tale book.... Should I say it feels exactly like when I witnessed the thing called magic for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the first time in my life....”

It was so.

No matter how much the Empire was a civilization based on magic, and magic was deeply rooted in their lives.

Among them, mages were extremely few, and those who actually knew how to use magic were even rarer.

Should I say it's the same principle as everyone knowing the fact that existences called graduate students exist on Earth, but it's hard to find them in reality.

Well, the protagonists in serialized novels using magic every single day made people feel vicarious satisfaction at least but.

In the majority of novels, magic was merely a weapon to quickly dispatch enemies, so people naturally couldn't help but become indifferent to magic.

However, 「Henry Etta」 was different.

In this novel, Black Flame swords endlessly burning enemies, meteorites falling consecutively twice from the sky, or scenes showing off tremendous Water Release in places without water did not appear.

If counted simply by attack power, the machine guns appearing in 「Dystopia 9999」 would be able to dispose of people much more effectively than magic.

Instead, the magic appearing inside 「Henry Etta」 was incredibly mysterious.

A street invisible to ordinary people's eyes, where only mages can enter.

A mysterious platform accessible by running one's body into a pillar.

A talking hat that figures out a person's hidden talent and tells them which Magic Tower would be good to belong to.

A feast of mysterious magics that seem like they would only appear in fairy tale books, even by the standards of the Empire where magic is taken for granted.

All these things unfold from the perspective of the protagonist Henry, who lived as an ordinary person until now and just awakened as a mage.

Henry also, being in a state of not knowing well about magic, finds everything reflected in his eyes fascinating, and that emotion is fully delivered to the readers reading the novel, leading to maximizing imagination.

Even though it doesn't film Musou every episode like other novels, or hold a desperate revenge play, a charm that captivates people's hearts existed in this novel!

Yeah.

To say it in one word, it was just fun.

Just by reading the text, I feel like I became Henry and entered the magic school?

How do you endure this?

“...It drives me crazy. Is the author of this novel a god? How on earth could they conceive such a unique and creative magical worldview?”

“That what is it, the background of this novel is Earth right? Then didn't they write the novel by personally sponsoring Cup Noodle-Zwa and hearing related stories?”

“Are you an idiot? Cup Noodle-Zwa said it on his broadcast in the past. That neither martial arts nor magic existed on Earth for a long time. In other words, everything appearing in the novel called 「Henry Etta」 is the author's pure creation?”

“Heo-eo, amazing. Then why did the author set the background as Earth, not our Empire? If they were going to write a story related to mages, wouldn't it be better to set the background as our Empire?”

“Tsk tsk, that's just a trivial thought of ordinary people. The content the author of 「Henry Etta」 truly wanted to write is a magical world mysterious beyond measure. But if you read a story where protagonists from the Empire use magic *peong-peong* in other novels, wouldn't immersion be broken?”

“I-I see. Then did the author make the choice to purposely go around the long way leaving the easy path to make us feel a dreamy feeling...?”

“I didn't even know that and cursed saying the author is trying to draw aggro with the material called Earth...! Ugh...!”

Like that, as time passed, and as the number of people reading the novel increased.

The evaluation of the work called 「Henry Etta」 started to rise vertically.

By the time it took 1st place in 'Empire Daily', excluding some novelists, it reached a point where one couldn't find anyone cursing it.

And.

“Wait. But a thought suddenly came to mind, if it's a work at the level of 「Henry Etta」, couldn't it rub shoulders with Earth's cultural works?”

“...Certainly. It's not a story without possibility. I've seen many novels until now but 「Henry Etta」 is special. Because among the novels of the Empire, I've never seen such an amazing work.”

“If a person who knows nothing sees 「Henry Etta」, it's at a level they might mistake it for an Earth work?”

“If we go to the gallery and boast about this work, the bastards from other dimensions might tremble their bodies from envy?”

“Oh-oh! That's a very good idea? Stop right there Earth culture! Kuhahaha!”

Some gallery addicts... no, Imperial citizens ended up making happy smiles at the fact that a reason to flex in the gallery had emerged.

They no longer felt envious of Earth's culture.