Chapter 422 - Is this what manga is like? (Bella’s POV) (Patreon)

As soon as I finished reading the letter, the first thing I did was… become confused about what the letter was supposed to mean. I genuinely had no idea what a “manga” was, and Elma hadn’t made it clear in the letter what exactly it was.

‘But it must be something important.’ The letter said that Luan wanted to meet me tomorrow…

“What is that? You have such a big smile on your face. Are you this happy because you’re going to meet your beloved Luan?” my mother said, clearly teasing me. I clicked my tongue and said,

“Don’t say unnecessary things. Luan is a very important friend and an author I greatly admire, that’s all.”

“Sure, sure. But I wouldn’t mind having him as my son-in-law. I support it.”

“Mother!”

My mother ran out of the room and slammed the door behind her. I felt my face grow hot and started thinking about unnecessary things. I then lightly slapped my own cheeks to get all those unnecessary thoughts out of my mind.

Huff~~

After letting out a long sigh and calming myself down, I said, “Alright, let’s choose my outfit for tomorrow. I need to dress really well since it’s been a long time since I last met him.”

####

When the next day arrived, I grabbed my bag with my artwork and the tools I normally used for drawing and left my house. I walked through the city while humming, ignoring the looks people were giving me.

I’m way too happy to care about what other people think!

A short while later, I arrived in front of the bookstore. It was packed as usual. More and more people were leaving the bookstore with copies of Re: Zero and Luan’s other works. ‘It’s still selling so well…’

That must be why my income has increased. Recently, the money I receive every month reached millions of Valis. It’s crazy. It’s an amount of money I never thought I would ever receive.

As soon as I stepped inside the bookstore, an employee approached me.

“This way. He’s waiting for you.”

“Ah, right.”

I was surprised, since this had never happened before. I was led to a room different from the one I was used to. It was a room on the second floor of the building. ‘I’m starting to get a little nervous.’

Fortunately, as soon as I entered the room, Luan was there.

He was sitting at a table, holding a pencil in his hand and drawing something on a piece of paper.

The woman who had brought me here slowly closed the door, and I didn’t know what to do. ‘Should I call out to him? But he looks so focused.’

I continued watching him for a few seconds before slowly approaching.

Luan was drawing squares… Yes, squares…

He was extremely focused and thoughtful.

Then, he spoke. “Are you going to stay quiet?”

“Ah, I’m sorry!” I jumped backward. “I didn’t want to bother you, so…”

“It’s alright.” Luan turned toward me and smiled. “Grab a chair and sit beside me. I want to show you something.”

“Ah, sure.”

I sat beside Luan as he asked. He then showed me the paper. “What I’m doing here is called manga. It’s a little more difficult than I expected, but I’m actually getting pretty good at it.”

“Manga…”

What is that? What is he talking about?

“You’re very confused, aren’t you? Well, let me explain it a little better.”

Luan then began explaining what manga. Simply put, it was a way of telling a story, but this time through drawings. I had seen things like this before, but this was different from anything I had ever seen.

“Do you understand?” Luan asked.

“Yes… You draw, add the dialogue, and tell a story…”

“Put that way, it sounds easy, but watch.”

Luan continued drawing. Unlike before, he did it much faster this time. But despite doing everything so quickly, the quality of the drawings was incredible. He drew a scene from Re: Zero, specifically the scene where Subaru is killed by Rem near the beginning of the story.

He created a short sequence, depicting everything that happened in that scene in detail.

The artwork was brutal and incredibly detailed.

Then, he took another sheet of paper and drew a scene showing a dialogue between Subaru and Emilia. In one panel, there was Subaru’s face with a speech bubble; in another, there was only Emilia; and in a larger panel, the entire room was shown.

I gradually began to understand.

“And by doing it this way, you can adapt an entire story into a manga. Or we can also create something completely original.”

“A story entirely in this format? Is that possible?”

“Of course it is. And I have some good ideas.”

“You called me here to ask for my help, is that it?”

“Yes, because I like your art. I simply don’t have time to keep drawing, so I want your help with the artwork.”

“That is…”

“Don’t worry. We can meet every week. I’ll help you.”

“I’m in!” I said without thinking.

Luan then smiled and said, “Great. I knew I could count on you. Here.” Luan took some papers out of his magical storage and placed them on the table. “This is the script for the manga I want to create. It’s much simpler, with lots of dialogue.”

I picked up the script and started looking through it.

Despite him saying it was simpler, there were many details about the setting and everything else.

“I even divided it into chapters to make things easier. Do the first chapter and bring it to me next week. I’ll evaluate it and tell you if anything needs to be changed.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

“Alright, that’s all. I need to go now. You can use this room to work whenever you want. Elma gave you permission.”

“Huh? You’re leaving already? I haven’t seen you in so long, and you’re going to leave me here all by myself!?”

“Huh?” Luan looked confused.

“Ah, um…”

“Hmmmm, how about we go out for lunch together?” Luan asked.

As soon as I heard his question, a huge smile appeared on my face.

‘That’s it! That’s what I wanted!’

I’m going to take this opportunity to get closer to him!