After finishing setting up the "Honjou-dou" stall with the staff, the clock struck ten, and the venue broadcast announced the opening.
Like soldiers charging enemy lines, the crowd surged into the venue from the entrance like a tidal wave.
As a stall run by a famous shounen manga artist, unsurprisingly, a long queue quickly ford in front of Nia's shop.
"One copy of the new release, please."
"Sure, five hundred yen."
"I want two copies!"
"That's one thousand yen total."
(So, what are you going to do next? Boy, Biri-chan.)
While ringing up custors, Nia used her peripheral vision to glance at Itsuka Shido's stall next door.
(Oh... oh...)
Nia felt a tiny bit of surprise in her heart.
The reason wasn't anything special. She simply saw Yatogami Tohka, Yoshino, Itsuka Kotori, and Izayoi Miku wearing bunny girl cosplays, soliciting custors outside the stall.
A honey trap. A very simple, yet highly effective tactic. Looking at it from another angle, if Nia were greeted by such cute girls, even if the quality of the doujinshi at that stall was terrible, she wouldn't be able to resist taking a curious look.
(Moreover... they also have shills.)
Although the line in front of Circle "Ratatoskr" wasn't as long as Nia's, it still had a considerable number. However, it was quite inflated. Nia could tell from their attitudes that many of the custors were probably acquaintances of their circle mbers.
"Still, to gather this many people even so. It's quite impressive."
Nia whispered a word of praise. she wasn't averse to such underhanded thods. Rather, if Itsuka Shido didn't have the drive to win using any ans necessary, beating her in sales would be pure fantasy.
However, underhanded thods are underhanded thods in the end. After only ten minutes, the lines on both sides began to change.
The queue for "Ratatoskr" was gradually decreasing, while "Honjou-dou" kept growing, currently extending to the other side of the aisle.
"What a sha, boy."
Nia looked at Shido with a pitying expression.
"Cute girls and a ton of shills. Plus various rchandise and talk value. While these are indeed effective ans to attract attention, they're temporary at best. Although beautifully drawn doujinshi are aningless if they don't sell, what attendees ultimately want are interesting doujinshi."
Even with a gap of several years, compared to newcors whose content is unknown, the track record Nia had accumulated possessed an absolute attraction for custors.
This gap couldn't be bridged overnight.
However, towards Nia's remarks, Itsuka Shido showed no signs of wavering.
"Don't be so hasty, the outco hasn't been decided yet."
"Oh? Do you still have a trump card you haven't played?"
Nia raised an eyebrow in surprise. To this, Shido smiled bitterly.
"Well, although we did prepare for this kind of situation. More importantly, everyone in our circle believes that our work is the most interesting in the world."
"My, although I love this kind of developnt, reality is different from the 2D world, boy."
"You'll naturally find out when the ti cos."
Seeing Shido's mysteriously confident attitude, Nia couldn't help but feel confused.
Where exactly did his confidence co from?
By noon, two continuous hours of checking out custors left Nia feeling sowhat exhausted.
After asking the staff to cover for her for a bit, Nia took out the staff bento provided and began enjoying her lunch in the backstage area.
"Hm?"
Quite by chance, Nia saw an event attendee casually flipping through the manga sold at Itsuka Shido's stall.
(Ah... What an incredibly bored expression.)
Nia remarked inwardly. The attendee's attitude while reading the manga was entirely one of "better than nothing to kill ti". He wasn't imrsed in it, nor was he reading carefully. He just skimd through each page before turning it.
(...I feel subtly annoyed now.)
Nia pursed her lips in displeasure.
There are many reasons to criticize a work: bad pacing, cliché thes, illogical plots, deteriorating art style, ssed up character values, etc. If the vibe doesn't match, then the reader's attitude is understandable.
Although she understood this perfectly well, as a manga artist, she obviously didn't like seeing the fruits of hard work treated so coldly by readers.
(Eh?)
However, just as Nia was feeling secretly frustrated, the reader suddenly showed a very surprised expression upon reaching the last page of the manga.
Imdiately after, the person took out his phone and started typing sothing referencing the book. Then he put the book down and stared intently at his phone, setting aside his half-eaten lunch.
(What happened?)
Nia felt a wave of confusion.
Half an hour passed. Just as the lunch break was about to end, the reader suddenly looked up, picked up the manga again, and compared it with his phone.
Shock, amazent, excitent, admiration—an attitude completely opposite to just now, strongly arousing Nia's curiosity.
But in the end, the reader looked at his phone with an astounded expression, and with a look that was hard to tell if it was distressed or impatient, rapidly typed on the keyboard.
(What on earth did he see on his phone?)
Whether it was because the reader's facial expressions were too rich or what, Nia felt her heart begin to itch with curiosity.
Afternoon, the second half of the competition.
"This is..."
Nia widened her eyes in surprise.
Although initially, judging from the length of the queue, Nia still held the advantage. But as ti went by, the flow of the crowd began to change.
At first, it was only a few people, but custors who weren't solicited by Tohka and the others, nor were they shills, but genuinely wanted to buy the book, started appearing at Itsuka Shido's stall.
Following that, as if recomnded by the custors who had just bought the book, another batch of custors appeared in front of their stall.
(Phones again...)
Reacting almost exactly the sa as the person she saw at noon, Nia observed that without exception, the custors who bought the manga took out their phones and started reading sothing upon turning to the last page.
The repeated scene constantly played out at Circle "Ratatoskr", and it multiplied rapidly. One passed it to ten, ten passed it to a hundred. Like a snowball rolling, in just forty minutes, an exaggerated long queue no less than Nia's ford in front of the originally empty stall.
Even people in Nia's queue seed to be drawn to the suddenly surging line next door.
(What exactly happened?)
The scene before her was beyond Nia's comprehension, finally compelling her to take out her phone and search for the keyword "Ratatoskr".
Then, she discovered that the entire SNS forum had exploded with discussions about "Ratatoskr".
[Holy crap, are newbies all this hardcore nowadays?]
[The last page completely changed the whole story ww.]
[PV fraud. Wait, should I say main text fraud?]
[After scanning that website once, you can't get back in, and you can't even take screenshots. The author of this circle has way too much personality!]
[Ah... mixed feelings, I completely bought it with the mindset of reading a brainless harem.]
[Before and after reading the webpage, this manga is practically not the sa book. The author is aweso!]
[But the ending is too much of a cliffhanger, does this an they'll release a sequel at the next convention?]
[Hype! Hype!]
[What's with this explosive amount of comnts? A newbie expressing curiosity.]
[Selling novels at a manga convention, this circle Ratatoskr is so creative.]
[Above guy, no spoilers.]
"...What's going on?"
After reading the online comnts, Nia felt even more confused.
Because she had been imprisoned by DEM for a long ti, Nia wasn't very familiar with the currently popular social networking apps, only knowing them on a superficial level.
"Even though I've heard information spreads fast on the internet nowadays, for this to happen after just one afternoon is way too...!"
Nia muttered to herself, thoroughly perplexed. Suddenly, she seed to understand sothing. Placing her hands under the counter table, she subtly summoned her Angel.
"As expected, it's Biri-chan."
Tracing the tistamps of the comnts upwards, Nia quickly discovered that Rasiel couldn't identify any of the thousands of user accounts that initally sparked this explosive public opinion.
In this world, there are only two people who can evadie the detection of the omniscient Angel, and the only person who would do this kind of thing is Ryougi Yutsuki.
"Internet paid army... Biri-chan, you're too ruthless."
The corner of Nia's mouth twitched slightly.
Pretending not to be interested in victory or defeat on the surface, but secretly orchestrating such a massive move behind the scenes, Nia couldn't help but marvel at the other party's insidious cunning.
However, just as Nia said earlier, no matter how much promotion you do, no matter how many underhanded thods you use, if the story itself isn't interesting enough, it's impossible to achieve this kind of effect.
Just like the readers' reactions she saw earlier, the manga sold by Ratatoskr must definitely possess so 'divine twist' capable of riding this wave.
"—Gulp."
Thinking of this, Nia secretly swallowed.
Right inside the drawer of her desk was a copy of the manga drawn by Shido and the others.
It's a custom for circle participants in adjacent areas to exchange their works. This was exactly what Nia received from Shido and the others before the doors opened.
(This is bad... I kinda want to read it now...)
After much hesitation, Nia withdrew her hand from the drawer. After all, she had already agreed to decide whether to read it based on the outco of the competition. If she opened it now, it would equal admitting defeat.
Sneaking a glance at Shido's direction, unfortunately, Nia's eyes t Shido's. The other party was currently sporting a smug smile.
"How about that, you never know who will win until the very end, right."
"...Tch, look at that gloating face."
Frowning in dissatisfaction, a surge of stubbornness arose in her heart.
"Just you wait, very soon my side will—"
Just then, the voice of the next custor appearing before her cut Nia's words short.
It was a woman in her twenties, wearing very thick glasses, whose otaku aura was equal to if not greater than Nia's.
"Long ti no see, Honjou-sensei. I heard Sensei was participating as a circle for the first ti in a while, so I ca."
"Ta-Takajo-sensei..."
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