Chapter 13
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 13: Even a Gentle Golden Retriever Gets Angry
Before 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 saw the light of the world, naturally, there were texts for entertainment.
However, the evaluation of the literary world toward such entertainment novels was… needless to say, not very good.
Writings written inevitably for livelihood or at the request of a noble.
Writings written separately under a pen name instead of a real name because one couldn't carry their face around out of embarrassment if it became known they wrote entertainment novels.
It meant entertainment novels were nothing more than a launchpad for writing real texts.
But look at the situation now.
Something considered nothing more than a launchpad was gaining tremendous popularity and influencing people.
If one was an author, they couldn't help but feel complex emotions, including jealousy and cognitive dissonance.
So they couldn't ignore the ‘success of an entertainment novel’ that they would have snorted at and ignored in the past.
Because it was succeeding too much to ignore.
To the extent of feeling an instinctive sense of crisis.
To speak very simply and directly, their pride was scratched.
‘Such writing… is more popular than the novel I wrote?’
Especially, the reality is that among stylists who claim to do literature and art, it is rarer to find someone who hasn't put down their pride for a moment and written an entertainment novel due to financial hardships.
Because not every artist in the world is in a blessed environment where they meet a good patron and can focus solely on their work.
Nor is everyone born to wealthy parents and able to do art with family support.
Until they are recognized and succeed, everyone writes and sells at least one entertainment novel under a pseudonym; that’s the reality.
If not, where would all those many romance novels or heroic tales that existed before have come from?
They exist because there are authors who wrote them while changing their writing style pretending not to be themselves.
But even while suffering from financial hardships, there is a temperament to try to extract eloquent sentences even in entertainment novels meant to be fun, unable to give up that unique battle of pride.
Naturally, such people are bound to be shunned by the public, and there are quite a few who challenged entertainment novels looking down on them, only to taste bitterness.
In the eyes of such people, the currently successful 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 is bound to twist their guts.
No matter how much they think, the text I wrote is greater, so why does that trash sell?
‘That popularity, that box office success, that support should have all been mine!’
With such thoughts, they slander 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 while grinding their teeth.
Whether the author is a noble or sponsored by a Royal, burning jealousy can’t be helped.
But since it’s ugly to criticize openly, they beat around the bush,
“「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 expresses ‘Love’ only in a way that is too distorted. Considering how heart-fluttering and fresh an emotion love is, I am concerned that readers who read 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 might develop a distorted view of love.”
“In my opinion, it is hard to view 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 as a romance novel. Is it because Author Homer does not have a fiancé yet── excuse me. Is it because she is still a young lady and does not know love? I view 「The Promise of the Spring Breeze」 as a romance novel closer to true love than 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」.”
“Everyone, is political marriage bad and only romantic marriage beautiful and good? 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 is misleading the political marriages of the noble class. Isn't this all a disaster caused by an author who doesn't even know what love is writing something like a romance novel without experience?”
They criticized it wearing the mask of critique in this way.
Such reviews poured out every other day, as much as the work's popularity.
Naturally, favorable public opinion was strong too, but they say one muddy fish muddies the water.
As voices slandering 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 flowed out day by day, even those who didn't think much at first started to be influenced, saying “Huh? Is that so?” Public opinion devaluing 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」, saying it seemed to have too vulgar content after hearing it, began to stir. From the perspective of a fanatic fan of 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 and Author Homer, this wasn't good.
“Those who can only blabber on their own high horse dare to…!”
Above all, Princess Lydia, who could be called Fanatic Fan No. 1, was extremely angry.
She looked ready to arrest everyone who wrote badly about 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 right now and interrogate them asking how great are you then.
Seeing such a Princess, Rosalyn dissuaded her with a tired expression, saying she empathized but to please maintain her dignity.
“Princess, you know they will run wilder the more you suppress them in that way.”
There is a saying to prohibit something if you want to spread it widely.
It is human instinct's perverse psychology to want to push if told to pull and close if told to open.
The government forces people not to badmouth 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」? From that day, even those who didn't badmouth 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 will start badmouthing it saying right on.
Princess Lydia knows that much too.
She knows, but,
“Still, it’s frustrating!”
Princess Lydia hated Noel receiving condemnation masked as criticism so much that tears welled up.
She hated the critics who insulted her.
What if Noel gets greatly heartbroken and quits writing because of this?
“It is clear those fellows are personally attacking Lady Noel aiming for exactly that!”
Actually, looking at the ratio alone, favorable voices were about 60.
The remaining 30 were harsh condemnation, and the remaining 10 were legitimate criticism.
Considering there is no content in the world that everyone likes without a single exception… having 60% favorable public opinion alone is amazing.
Even if that was lip service minding the higher-ups, it meant more than half were saying good things.
Even though it was a work that was bound to be controversial.
But it is a sad reality that even if there are 100 good comments, one bad comment gives a severe blow to the creator.
Princess Lydia was afraid Noel might get hurt.
It was understandable, as she was the one who made Noel, who had no intention of debuting, an author and made her publish.
Although Princess Lydia was rumored to be talented, she was still young.
She did it out of goodwill thinking everyone would surely like 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」….
The work is fun and good indeed, but the world has parts entangled with interests.
She hadn't thought as far as the fact that people would attack 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 for other reasons, whether it was fun or not.
If she had deliberated enough, she could have thought that far, but at the time, Princess Lydia was in a state of being a fangirl blinded by fan spirit rather than a talented woman.
“What shall I do, Rosalyn? If Lady Noel gets hurt by this matter, I──.”
“Princess….”
Seeing Lydia making a crying face, Rosalyn felt her heart ache.
For the Princess, and for the author she liked, she really felt like capturing and locking up all those fellows evaluating 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 negatively, but she couldn't do that.
For both the Princess and Noel, that wasn't just a poor plan, but poison.
So right now, all Rosalyn could do was,
“At times like this, how about cheering for Lady Noel so she can cheer up?”
Such cliché words were everything.
“……You’re right. That would be good. If I gather fan letters and gifts sent by other ladies who like The Bridges and deliver them, Lady Noel’s heartbreak will be healed a little too.”
Still, sometimes such obvious words are the right answer.
Princess Lydia decided to gather fan letters from noble young ladies and deliver them to Noel, as if fighting bad reviews with good reviews was the best way.
She seemed to completely think Noel must be greatly heartbroken by this matter──.
“Sister, what does ‘low quality’ mean?”
“Yeah, it means the condition is bad and the level is low.”
“Ehh?! Saying the novel Sister wrote is low quality… I don’t understand!”
“You don’t need to understand. Thoughts are different for every person. Everyone has the freedom to think as they please, right?”
“Is that so? But Sister, why are you scrapping things like this?”
“Yeah~ about that. Because watching people with an inferiority complex foaming at the mouth and blabbering is sweet itself, I intend to make it a trophy.”
“Uung…? I don’t know what you mean.”
However, Noel was actually giggling with her sister, gathering reviews cursing her, and meticulously scrapping them to even make an album.
To a web novel author who lived by writing while eating raw malicious comments as a side dish in her past life, the criticism of this world was just funny.
Compared to 5,700-character messages or "go work at a parcel hub" insults, the novelty was low and the aggro concentration was too weak.
‘The gentlefolk have a hard time because even their cursing has to be gentle.’
With exactly this mindset, she was mocking the reviews criticizing her and rather making them into trophies.
It was the steel mentality befitting a web novel author who would pin annoying malicious comments and publicly shame them.
Other fans, including Princess Lydia who was suffering inwardly without knowing this fact, were pitiable for no reason.
Noah also asked repeatedly why she was smiling and scrapping such bad words, perhaps feeling her sister’s behavior was like an eccentricity even in her young mind.
“Hmm, because you have to know how to listen to bitter words to grow and write better texts?”
Pondering what would be good to answer, Noel just made up an excuse like this.
Because it was impossible to make her sister understand that she intended to keep and enjoy watching them trembling because it was funny; the sensibility was too different.
“Wow….”
To become an author, one has to go this far.
Respect for her sister welled up in Noah’s young heart.
Whether she knew that fact or not, Noel continued scrapping by selecting the harsh reviews directed at her that she found a bit funny, but,
“Lady Noel!”
At that moment, Princess Lydia barged in.
“Please accept this! Fan letters sent by those who were moved by reading Lady Noel’s writing── no! Love letters filled with love toward the author!”
“Pardon? Princess…?”
“So Lady Noel, please do not be heartbroken and please devote yourself to writing in the future too! I believe that Lady Noel can write a love story much more heartbreaking than 「The Promise of the Spring Breeze」! Of course, you can write it!”
“Uh, that…?”
“Ah! That would be good! How about a pure love story for the next work? Let’s refute those ignorant people head-on! That Homer—Lady Noel—can sufficiently sing of beautiful love through writing!”
“P-Pardon…?”
“As expected, I knew Lady Noel would agree too. I should go into preparation right away.”
“Wai…! No, that ‘Pardon’ just now wasn't a ‘Yes’ of affirmation──! Princess?!”
Princess Lydia appeared like a storm and disappeared like a typhoon.
Stop the Goldie rampage!
By the time Noel screamed inwardly like that, it was already too late.
She intended to hold out as much as possible after 「The Bridges of Imperium Town」 and flee to the Academy… but pushed by the fans who were heated up by the critics' provocation, she ended up jumping straight into the work of proving herself.
The next work… she ended up having to write a Pure Love Story.