Chapter 10
A week later, Marshall arrived at Levy’s house with his latest creation.
"Naruto... Ninja?" Levy picked up the notebook, whose cover read Naruto: The Legendary Mages, and stared at it in surprise.
"Did you write this yourself, Marshall?"
"That’s right. It’s just a little experiment. Could you two read it and tell me whether it’s good enough to submit to a newspaper?"
"You wrote a novel?!" Cana was equally shocked. "So that’s what you’ve been hiding away and scribbling all week! Let me see!"
She immediately crowded beside Levy, and the two girls began reading together.
"It’s a fantasy story set in the mysterious lands of the Elemental Nation," Marshall explained. "I don’t actually know much about that region, so almost everything is fictional. I’ve only written ten Chapters so far. Do you think anyone would enjoy it?"
"Don’t worry. Your big sisters will give it a thorough review!"
Levy and Cana started out smiling and joking, but their expressions gradually grew more serious.
Before long, the room fell completely silent apart from the sound of turning pages.
Half an hour later, both girls suddenly sat upright and trapped Marshall between them.
"Where’s the rest?!" Cana demanded. "I need to know what happens next! Did Naruto and Sasuke pass Kakashi-sensei’s test?"
"This is so much fun!" Levy exclaimed. "Marshall-kun, are you some kind of genius author?"
Once she started talking, she could barely stop.
"The setting is incredible! Centuries ago, the magical world was trapped in endless war, with family-based wizard guilds fighting each other and suffering terrible losses. Then two powerful Wizard Saints joined forces to end the conflict.
To prevent Mages from continuing to harm ordinary people, they abandoned the title of Mage and chose to operate from the shadows instead. They called themselves ninja, and every country was left with only one guild—no, one hidden village—which assigned all the jobs in its territory..."
Levy looked at him in amazement.
"I can’t believe a six-year-old came up with all of this!"
"Is that all you care about?" Cana complained. "I just want to know what happens next! Marshall, give me some spoilers!"
Their reactions gave Marshall all the reassurance he needed.
It seemed the people of this world were fairly open to unfamiliar ideas after all.
The effort he had spent adapting the story had not gone to waste.
He had accomplished quite a lot during the past week as well.
[Script Magic LV1: 987/10,000]
Marshall had focused entirely on learning Script Magic and had not spent any Inspiration Points on it.
At Level One, Script Magic had no offensive power. It merely allowed him to infuse magic power into the words he wrote, making them glow and visibly manifest.
That did not mean the spell was useless. Far from it.
After acquiring Level One Script Magic, Marshall’s overall understanding of magic had improved noticeably.
He could clearly feel that he gained experience faster whenever he studied other spells.
Previously, a full day of practicing Fire Magic had earned him fewer than three hundred points. Now, the same amount of time gave him nearly five hundred.
His progress had already reached—[Fire Magic LV0: 888/1,000]
He was close to learning it properly.
Script Magic had effectively given him an "experience gained up" buff.
That benefit alone was more valuable than learning a dozen ordinary spells.
Marshall had also begun studying Solid Script under Levy, which led to an interesting change in his skill panel.
[Script Magic LV1: 987/10,000] — [Solid Script LV0: 36/1,000]
Instead of appearing on a separate line, Solid Script was displayed directly beside Script Magic.
Perhaps it was because the two forms of magic belonged to the same branch. Marshall had not figured it out yet.
Solid Script was also much harder to advance than ordinary magic.
Script Magic, on the other hand, was extremely easy to train.
All he had to do was infuse magic power into his words while writing his novel.
In only a few days, he had gained nearly a thousand experience.
If he remained diligent, he estimated that reaching Level Two would take only another two or three weeks.
His earlier idea had been completely correct. He could practice magic and earn money at the same time.
The excitement of that discovery alone had rewarded him with nearly a thousand Inspiration Points.
It felt like pulling himself into the sky by stepping on his own feet, and it was unbelievably satisfying.
Now he only needed to confirm that his shamelessly borrowed story could actually make money. Once that happened, Marshall could finally relax.
"Before you get too excited, do you think the draft needs any changes?" he asked. "And would a newspaper actually pay me if I submitted it?"
Cana raised a thumb immediately.
"It’s perfect! I’m already your biggest fan. Do you have any more Chapters?"
"I think it’s excellent too," Levy said. "Your vocabulary and writing style are simple, but the story itself is interesting enough to make up for it.
"Hmm... There are a few places where I could suggest better wording or grammar, but honestly, I think it’s already good enough to submit."
Levy was right.
Marshall had only recently learned the common language of this world.
It resembled English in many ways, but there were still plenty of differences.
Naturally, he had written using the simplest sentence structures he knew.
He was also adapting a manga into prose, so the quality of the writing itself was probably around elementary-school level.
Which, conveniently, suited his supposed age perfectly.
"Where do you think I should submit it?"
"Weekly Sorcerer?" Cana suggested.
"The Fiore Daily would be better," Levy replied. "Only Mages read Weekly Sorcerer."
"All right. Levy has a point."
After thinking for a moment, Levy added, "You should probably ask your Guild Master to negotiate on your behalf."
"Why?"
"Master Makarov is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, so he has a great deal of influence in Fiore. If he represents you, he should be able to secure much better terms."
"The newspaper would only be publishing it as a serial for now, but it’ll definitely become a proper book later. If the contract isn’t handled carefully, the newspaper might claim the publishing rights for itself. You could lose a lot of money."
"Wow, Levy, you know so much!"
"Hehe. My family owns a bookstore, so I’ve heard plenty of stories about newspapers taking advantage of writers."
Marshall nodded thoughtfully.
He was only a small child. Negotiating with a newspaper by himself would undoubtedly cause all kinds of trouble.
It would be much easier to ask his beloved Guild Master for help.
"Hehe, since we’re going to Fairy Tail anyway, why don’t you join the guild today, Levy?" Cana suggested. "Master will definitely accept you!"
"Huh? But... I haven’t learned Solid Script yet."
"So what? I couldn’t use any magic at all when I joined. I just spent every day eating and drinking at the guild. Master noticed that I had plenty of magic power and let me become a member."
[Though I only stayed there because of that bastard father of mine.]
Marshall glanced at Cana before guiltily looking away.
Perhaps it had been a mistake to tell her that, during the days he had traveled with Gildarts, the man had slept with a different woman in nearly every town and village they visited.
Combined with Cana’s belief that Marshall was another of Gildarts’s illegitimate children—one he had abandoned at the guild—her opinion of her father had suffered considerably.
Then again, Marshall had not lied.
Most of Cana’s conclusions had come entirely from her own imagination, and she never tried to confirm any of them.
Even if he wanted to correct the misunderstanding, he had no idea where to begin.
’Hmm... In the end, this is all Gildarts’s fault.’
The three of them later returned to Fairy Tail with the manuscript.
Levy joined the guild without any trouble.
Master Makarov was full of praise for Marshall’s novel and thumped his chest as he promised to contact a newspaper on his behalf.
Before long, Naruto would probably begin appearing as a serialized novel in this world’s newspapers.
Marshall had mixed feelings about that, though amusement and satisfaction easily outweighed everything else.
After all, adapting the story had still required plenty of effort on his part.
Fanfiction did not count as plagiarizing the original.
Probably.
He was also curious to see what kind of influence the story might have on this world.
The idea of future Mages shouting, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" whenever they cast a spell was strangely hilarious!
[Inspiration Points +233]
’Ah... What a wonderful feeling.’