Chapter 43: Hayami Rina’s Sense of Security is Overflowing

Another reward that couldn’t be directly selected. Kitahara felt somewhat resentful:

"So how many things are in this ’literary skill’ category? Is it easy to draw?" he asked the system.

Kitahara wanted to know how many kinds of rewards were in this range, and what the odds were of drawing a particular one.

"Replying to host: Literature is a broad and diverse artistic field, containing multiple styles and forms. It includes music, fine arts, literature, photography, painting, dance, performance, drama, and over a hundred other categories.

For the host to draw a specific one, it depends entirely on luck."

Then it’s hopeless!

It seemed this wasn’t something he could get in the short term. For now, he could only rely on himself.

Hearing it included over a hundred categories, Kitahara was directly dumbfounded. He almost wanted to give up.

But giving up was impossible. Setting literature aside for now, he was actually quite eyeing that "music" reward.

If he could draw that, become a musician, wouldn’t it be easy to connect with Sakai Izumi?

As fellow musicians, it should be easy to make contact and discuss and exchange ideas, right?

But that was equally hard to draw!

Kitahara mused inwardly. It seemed he still needed to speed up his progress with Hayami Rina, quickly raise her affection, and get it to full as soon as possible.

That way, through her alone, he could get four special reward chances.

Keep one point to continue raising the happiness index.

The remaining three points should always draw something useful!

...

On the way, he casually bought a bouquet of flowers for Hayami Rina at a flower shop, and Kitahara returned home.

Hayami Rina was indeed very excited to receive the flowers, her eyes sparkling with happiness, her smile sweet.

She didn’t disappoint Kitahara’s gesture.

Unfortunately, there was no affection increase — only a few thousand yen in cashback.

"Kitahara-kun, why did you buy me flowers too? What a surprise."

Hayami Rina held the vivid red roses in her hands, a shy and charming smile rippling across her face, as lovely as peach blossoms blooming in spring.

She hadn’t received flowers in many years. She’d forgotten when the last time was.

Her late husband wasn’t a romantic person. He’d only occasionally given her flowers a few times while they were dating. After marriage, there were no such little surprises.

She’d thought Kitahara Chiki had never dated and wouldn’t understand these things.

Unexpectedly, he wasn’t as dull as he looked. He actually understood the pleasures of life quite well!

"On my way back, I saw a flower shop by the road and bought a bouquet for Rina-nee. Roses symbolize love, representing my affection for you. Rina-nee, do you like them?" Kitahara said deeply.

"Mm, I like them. Kitahara-kun, I love you too!"

Hayami Rina was deeply moved. She stepped forward and embraced Kitahara to express her feelings.

No woman could resist flowers and sweet words.

Especially when coming from someone as outstanding as Kitahara.

"Oh right, Kitahara-kun, what did the publisher say about your new book? Did it pass?"

"Of course it passed. Can’t you tell from my mood?" Kitahara said with a smile.

"Sugoi! Kitahara-kun is so amazing — passed on the first try! So when will it be published and sold? Your royalties are settled based on sales, right? For a book like this, how much royalty can you roughly get?"

Hayami Rina asked curiously.

Now that she and Kitahara Chiki were so close, asking about these things was fine.

She genuinely wanted to know Kitahara’s specific income. It concerned whether her future life could be stable.

This wasn’t a matter of morality or character — it was only human nature.

Kitahara pondered for a moment, then replied:

"This book is expected to hit the market next week. As for royalties, I estimate I’ll earn a few million, at most ten million yen or so!

After all, it’s a light novel. It only took me a short week to finish. Can’t ask for too much..."

"Sugoi, that much? Kitahara-kun, you can earn that much money? In just one week you can earn several million or ten million yen?"

Hayami Rina’s feelings at this moment were extremely complex. Besides shock, there was pleasant surprise, disbelief, and some complicated emotions.

She thought of how she had worked so hard before, earning only a hundred thousand yen a month, while Kitahara Chiki could earn in one week what took her years of part-time work.

It was so unfair.

But soon she felt a tremendous sense of security.

Unfair or not, there were plenty of unfair things in this world anyway.

Kitahara-kun being able to earn money was a good thing. The more he earned, the more stable her and Aya’s life would be.

So authors could earn this much?

At this moment, her sense of security exploded!

She still didn’t know Kitahara was bragging!

That’s right — Kitahara had deliberately exaggerated his income. Even if this book sold extremely well, he estimated he wouldn’t earn more than a million.

Light novels were low-end publications to begin with, generally selling for only a few hundred yen each. The royalty that reached his hands was probably only a few dozen yen per copy.

How could he possibly earn several million or ten million from this thing?

How many copies would he have to sell?

How many people liked goblins anyway?

Kitahara only wanted to exaggerate his income to prove his ability was formidable, so that Hayami Rina wouldn’t be stingy when spending money in the future and hold back his earning. It would also save him the trouble of arguing when buying her things.

"Hehe. Rina-nee, now you know my financial capability, right? So from now on, don’t save money for me. Just spend with confidence. I can afford it.

Your and little Aya-chan’s life — I can fully guarantee it.

Come to think of it, I’m planning to make this book into a series, so future income will be continuous and very stable. If I sell the adaptation rights and such, there’ll be another large additional income!"

Kitahara Chiki continued to brag.

Hayami Rina, however, was overjoyed listening, happily throwing herself into Kitahara’s arms:

"Kitahara-kun, you’re amazing! I never imagined your income was so astonishing. You make me admire you so much!"

"Ding. Hayami Rina’s favorability +1."

Holy crap, what’s going on?

Giving flowers didn’t increase affection, doing that didn’t increase it either, but hearing him brag actually increased it.

Rina-nee was way too realistic, wasn’t she?