"White Night Walk!"
At last, Mochizuki Toru wrote down the first line on the blank document. That was… the new title he had settled on after mulling it over for a long time.
Before this, he hadn't even bothered to create a new folder. Now he at least had a title, which could barely be considered a form of "effort."
After thinking it through, Mochizuki picked up his phone, snapped a photo of the title, and sent it over.
[Mochizuki Toru: I've got an idea now, I've already started writing, so stop disturbing my inspiration.]
[Mochizuki Toru: I'll definitely finish it in a month or two.]
After all, once he decided what to write, even if he only did ten thousand characters a day, he could finish a book in a few dozen days.
He had slacked off for a few months already. It was about time he buckled down a little.
"Suspect X's Devotion" was a masterpiece he had read in his previous life from the Japanese author Higashino Keigo.
Higashino Keigo was an extremely prolific writer, churning out roughly two novels a year. Even the works that had been translated into Chinese already numbered in the dozens.
Because of that, the quality of his books was often mocked as uneven by mystery fans, who would enthusiastically share which titles were the hits and which were the duds.
And among Higashino's long career of writing, the two works with the highest popularity, influence, and reputation were definitely…
"Suspect X's Devotion" and "White Night Walk"!
Since he had already "plucked" the former, there was no way he was going to let the latter go.
"White Night Walk" was also a mystery novel, with about twice the word count of "Suspect X's Devotion." Its cover price would naturally be much higher too.
That was why Mochizuki Toru chose to open with "Suspect X's Devotion": low price, sell more copies, the perfect book to rush to a million in sales and clear the quest.
Now that he had succeeded with it and made a name for himself, if he wrote another story in the same genre, the publisher would definitely be willing to give him top-tier royalties.
The two novels could also direct traffic to each other and push his cumulative sales even higher.
After all… his primary profession as an author still had follow-up missions.
Right in front of Mochizuki Toru, a system panel suddenly appeared.
[Primary Profession · Author · Quest Panel]
[1. Total sales of all works reach one million copies]
[Quest Reward: Unlock second profession]
[2. Total sales of all works reach five million copies]
[Quest Reward: Gain one random skill]
[3… Locked]
This was his Author quest panel, and the latest quest was brutally simple.
Random Skill +1!
Mochizuki Toru already possessed four skills:[Memory Enhancement], [Inspiration Creation], [Training & Cultivation], and [Blessing of the Three Goddesses].
He was quite curious what the next skill would be.
Hopefully it would be more useful than the weird and seemingly not-that-practical [Blessing of the Three Goddesses].
He had chosen to start with mystery novels precisely because of the sales requirements in his quests.
In Japan, the highest status undoubtedly belonged to traditional literature, such as "Snow Country," "No Longer Human," and "Rashomon."
The problem was that traditional literature needed the passage of time to ferment and had the potential to be passed down for a hundred years.
When a writer had no fame or influence, getting truly noticed by the general public in that field would easily take years.
Traditional literature might have the highest "status," but in terms of short-term sales, it was hard to beat mystery titles like "Suspect X's Devotion" and "White Night Walk."
That was why, after planning for so long, Mochizuki Toru chose these two books as his starting point.
He could transition to other genres later.
[Editor: Nice!!!]
[Editor: Then once you're done writing, we'll talk about the new contract. I'll definitely fight for the best royalty split for you.]
The editor reacted instantly, replying with obvious delight.
That made Mochizuki pause for a moment, then he smiled faintly.
Compared to "normal" authors, he really was rather special.
For other writers, writing was their only job.
But Mochizuki Toru had managed to breeze through the notoriously difficult Central Trainer exam in just a few months.
Not only that, while ordinary trainers might need years to raise even a single GI champion horse girl, his stable already had Agnes Tachyon and the newly debuted, widely watched Frankel.
What was more, both of these horse girls had the very real possibility of sharing between them a double-digit number of GI wins. They were absolute talent monsters.
How could the publisher and editor not be anxious?
They had to be terrified that Mochizuki would completely switch careers and abandon writing.
Now, Mochizuki had given them hope again. He hadn't chosen to give up; he had merely "pigeoned" them for a while.
[Mochizuki Toru: Alright, then see you in two months.]
Mochizuki closed his phone, lifted his head, and his handsome, black-haired face immediately took on a slightly strange expression.
Because the activity room door was wide open.
Agnes Tachyon was squatting at the entrance, quite happily pinching the thighs of two young horse girls, examining their muscles.
And those two horse girls were both extremely familiar faces to Mochizuki Toru.
They were Vodka and Daiwa Scarlet, members of the main cast in the anime, and both were genius girls who would someday stand at the level of "Horse Queen."
Over the past few months, Mochizuki had occasionally seen Agnes Tachyon and Daiwa Scarlet talking, and Tachyon had even given her some good, side-effect-free potions.
Vodka, on the other hand, shouldn't have much to do with Agnes Tachyon at all.
So why were they appearing here together?
"Yo, your muscles are pretty good," Agnes Tachyon commented with a grin.
"In next year's Triple Crown, the two of you will definitely make some noise."
The chestnut-haired girl in the white lab coat straightened up, retracted her hands, and spoke her praise with a smile.
"Thank you for the compliment, Tachyon-senpai."
Daiwa Scarlet gave her usual greeting to her senior, then hugged the book in her arms and curiously looked toward the handsome young man sitting at the desk.
So that's the author of "Suspect X's Devotion" and the trainer in charge of Frankel and Tachyon-senpai?
Vodka, after scratching her cheek, also shifted her gaze in Mochizuki's direction.
The two of them seemed to unconsciously quicken their breaths a little, as if they could smell some kind of enchanting fragrance lingering in this activity room.
…
A moment later, Daiwa Scarlet was the first to walk up to Mochizuki Toru. Her expression still carried the shock from having just finished the book.
The aftershocks of that impact had yet to fully subside.
"Mochizuki-sensei, your 'Suspect X's Devotion' was amazing," she said earnestly.
"This is the first time I've ever been able to read an entire book in one go!"
"Could I get your autograph, Mochizuki-sensei?"
The elegant red-haired girl held out the book with hopeful eyes.
Mochizuki Toru smiled gently and took it.
With practiced ease, he flipped it open and signed his name on the title page.
He had been signing several books a day lately; over the past few months, he had signed for more than a hundred foals and staff members.
"Thank you, Mochizuki-sensei."
"I'll be looking forward to your next work!"
After reclaiming her personally signed copy, Daiwa Scarlet bowed slightly in thanks, then stepped back to make room.
Vodka, who had clearly been prepared for this, took one step forward. This girl with the single black ponytail, who always pursued cool victories, fixed her eyes on him.
"Frankel… she's your trainee, right, Mochizuki-trainer?"
"Can I ask when her next race will be?"
For some reason, the more Vodka spoke, the redder her face and even the tips of her ears became, whether from excitement, anticipation, or a hint of embarrassment.
"And… could I arrange a training match with her?"
The one who reacted first to those words was actually the girl standing beside her, Daiwa Scarlet.
Daiwa Scarlet: ???
All this time, she and Vodka had considered each other their best rival, their destined opponent.
Most of their training races had been one-on-one duels between the two of them.
And now Vodka wanted to challenge Frankel to a training match more than she wanted to race her?
Daiwa Scarlet stood there in a daze. In the eyes of Mochizuki Toru, who loved to watch drama, her expression looked exactly like Lü Bu discovering that Dong Zhuo had fallen for Diao Chan.
(What a pair of star-crossed lovers~)
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N/T: Hi everyone, I'm Zuru, an inexperienced translator and non-native English speaker, so if you notice any mistakes in the text, please let me know in the comments so I can fix them. By the way, I have a Patreon. There isn't much there yet, but it would really help me if you could consider joining.
[email protected]/ZuruZ