Chapter 42: The God of Hentai

"...Also, at the end you only described Kaoru’s state. What about the other two supporting characters? Do you need to write a bit about them? Will they have many scenes later on? Is there a need for that?"

Suzuki Misaki offered a series of opinions on the book, mainly about detail revisions and the overall approach.

After listening, Kitahara Chiki shook his head:

"Their scenes aren’t many. No need to write about them... The atmosphere and scene at the time weren’t suitable for too much description.

Um... Misaki-nee, may I ask — how do you seem so professional about ’erotica novels’? Could it be... you also write this stuff?"

"Uh... a hobby. Just a hobby. I haven’t really written much. Kitahara-kun, let’s get back to business. Do you have any objections to what I just said?"

A flicker of embarrassment crossed Suzuki Misaki’s face, quickly glossed over.

But Kitahara sharply caught it. At this moment, he was absolutely certain — damn, this woman definitely writes smut too. Confirmed!

As expected — not only did novel authors like to dabble in side gigs, editors were the same!

Kitahara really wanted to dig out her pen name and see what she actually wrote!

No wonder the system said her marriage was unstable. Working so busily every day, then coming home to do a side gig — no time to handle married life. Of course it wouldn’t be stable!

"Hehe, no objections. Absolutely none. I trust Misaki-nee’s professional standards."

Kitahara said with a chuckle.

A beautiful editor willing to help him revise his text — he was grateful beyond words. How could he nitpick?

This kind of thing didn’t matter anyway. It was just smut. He wasn’t like some extreme authors who treated their works like their own children, more important than life itself.

For Kitahara, as long as it could be published, they could change whatever they wanted. Never mind revising less than a third of the content — he wouldn’t object to revising the whole thing.

The premise being: don’t make him do it himself. Like Suzuki Misaki — someone else helping him revise.

"That’s settled then. I’ll finish revising it for you in the next couple of days. Come by and take a look then. If there are no problems, I’ll submit it for review. ’Erotica novels’ get approved very quickly. If things go smoothly, it should be published and on the market next week."

Japan’s publishing industry was very developed, ranking among the top globally. Especially in the current nineties, per capita book consumption was the highest in the world.

This created extremely high efficiency in the industry. A book only needed a few short days from final draft to release.

Especially for the light novel Kitahara wrote — the content wasn’t much to begin with, just a thin booklet. And it didn’t need nationwide distribution; initially it only needed trial sales at major Tokyo bookstores.

This kind of thing could hit the market in as little as two or three days. If there was no need to wait in line for printing, it was almost as fast as a newspaper.

So success or failure for this kind of writing could be known very quickly.

Hearing Suzuki Misaki say this, a smile appeared on Kitahara’s face. He was genuinely happy. This was the first time in two lifetimes that something he wrote would be published as a physical book for sale!

Such a sense of accomplishment!

He wondered how many people would spend money to buy it.

But soon he thought of a problem:

"Misaki-nee, the cover of this book absolutely must have a good artist draw it for me. Everything depends on the cover to attract buyers!"

Hearing this, Suzuki Misaki smiled:

"Don’t worry, Kitahara-kun. We value that even more than you do. After all, if it sells well, I get performance credit, and our publishing house profits too.

I’ll arrange a good artist to design it for you. For the cover, let’s use the dark lake scene — three beautiful girls in the center, surrounded by a bunch of green, short goblins. How’s that?"

"...Good."

"Then that’s settled. Misaki-nee, I’ll head back first. Remember to notify me when you’re making the cover. No need to notify me after revising the content — there’s no need. For the pen name, just use ’Hikawa Tsunasaka.’ No need to think further."

"Hikawa Tsunasaka? Why such a strange pen name?"

...

"Shueisha" was a major publisher, and "erotica novels" weren’t prohibited publications here.

So with editor Suzuki Misaki’s approval, the publication of Kitahara’s book was basically settled.

Therefore, Kitahara’s mood was exceptionally cheerful.

Being able to publish was enough. How much it would ultimately sell, how much in royalties he’d earn — he didn’t care. With the system around, he wasn’t short on that money.

What he cared about was that sense of accomplishment, that satisfaction.

This was something he achieved by his own ability, not relying on the system.

If it sold explosively later and an anime company took notice, bought the rights, and made an animation — that would be even more perfect...

The weather today was good, not too hot. He’d only stayed at the publisher for less than an hour. It was still early, so in a happy mood, Kitahara decided to walk home.

It was only two tram stops away anyway. Walking wouldn’t take too much time.

It would also give him a chance to see if he could run into a goddess like Sakai Izumi on the road, and to think about his next plans.

Next, Kitahara still needed to keep writing. As for what to write, he needed to study that carefully.

Currently there were three directions to choose from.

First, continue writing the second volume of Primitive Desire. He already had a preliminary outline for the second volume’s content. It would be easy to write — probably only a week to finish.

And in his mind, he was even considering the content for the third volume, the thirtieth volume. If things went smoothly, he planned to make Primitive Desire into a series.

Presumably, if it really succeeded, it would be quite explosive — not just in the "erotica world," but in the entire Japanese novel scene.

The second direction was to write The Sky of Fate.

This book was also easy to write, because it was entirely borrowed. No need to rack his brain for plot — just needed to write it down with some literary flair.

And this story was perfect, tested by the market, with a certain influence and fame. Appearing about ten years earlier than the normal timeline, the Japanese public would surely love and support it.

Additionally, Kitahara also planned to make The Sky of Fate into a series.

All content would reference famous hentai anime, with some innovative changes to the plot, and the scenes could be written even more excellently.

This way, fundamentally, by his own strength alone, he would raise the standard of "erotica novels," using these two series to forge the pen name "Hikawa Tsunasaka" into the god of erotica.

This was a vague idea Kitahara had recently developed.

This idea was mainly based on his hobbies and twisted tastes. It really didn’t help much in other aspects.

Money — he didn’t need it. Fame — this thing required a pen name, couldn’t be done openly.

He was now considering whether to carry it out.

Because he still had a third choice of direction, which was also the path he had just decided to continue on.

That was the pure path of literary creation.

It had to be said, this path was very hard. As mentioned before, many people had walked into dead ends on this path, driving themselves to death — just like the original owner.

But he still had to walk it.

Because he needed this identity.

In Japan, being an author was a highly respected and beloved profession. Due to copyright protection, the income from this profession was considerable.

If you truly had talent and were diligent enough, you really could make big money.

Just like Murakami Haruki — writing one Norwegian Wood, selling millions or tens of millions of copies, earning hundreds of millions in royalties.

That wasn’t even the most important thing. What mattered was the social status he gained from it. A great literary figure like that — who would dare slight or neglect him?

If it were Kitahara — say he took a fancy to someone — which woman would dare not date him?

Of course, Kitahara admitted he didn’t have Murakami’s level of ability or outstanding talent.

But it didn’t matter — he had a system cheat!

"System bro, among your special rewards, is there anything that improves literary cultivation, helping me become a great literary master?"

"Ding. Yes, host. However, it cannot be directly targeted for selection. It must be drawn from within a large range of ’literary skills.’"