“Let’s settle on the revisions for Chapter Three like this. Go back and make a new draft of the rough sketches, then send them to me.”
“As for the matter of becoming your dedicated editor… I’ll consider it, but it’s still too early to discuss that now.”
Having said that, Nangong Xiwang spoke, and Clara also stood up from the sofa.
“It’s getting late, so I’ll take my leave now.”
Originally, the premise for inviting Nangong Xiwang to be her dedicated editor was that the webcomic Magical Girl Clara would become a smash hit.
But right now, not even the first chapter has been released yet, so discussing this really is too early.
“Be careful on your way back. Go straight to the subway station, don’t wander around Blue Court.”
“I am a Hero, you know…”
Nangong Xiwang leaned against the door, watching Clara skip into the elevator.
Because she had approved her manga manuscript, Clara was in a good mood.
With her backpack slung over her shoulders, she turned back and waved at her, just like an elementary school student saying goodbye to their teacher after school.
“Goodbye, Teacher Nangong!”
Ah, she really does see me as a teacher, huh?
After spending this evening together, Nangong Xiwang’s feelings became even more complicated.
“That kid really is a bit cute.”
Especially after finding out she wasn’t that Mutant from back then…
Although that still wasn’t certain.
Nangong Xiwang fished her phone out of her pocket. The location sharing with Blue Cavalier was still on, so she took the opportunity to make a call.
She hadn’t expected to figure everything out in one night anyway. Nangong Xiwang sighed.
“Ah well, I’ll just take it one step at a time.”
“Hello?”
It was still a female voice, but it sounded tired, probably from a whole day of filming music videos and promotional work.
Nangong Xiwang closed the apartment door and turned back into the now-tidied room.
“Any results?” Blue Cavalier asked.
“None. But I can contact her anytime from now on. However, there was no action from Naitemel all night?”
It would be normal if there wasn’t. Central City was huge. The probability of criminal activity by a specific company happening nearby was just too low.
But Blue Cavalier answered:
“No, there was a major operation. The Minister of Naitemel’s Execution Department personally led a team and hijacked a World Tree Technology transport convoy in the City Center.”
“But World Tree didn’t proactively report it to the Association or issue a commission. They only relied on the escorts traveling with the convoy to fight back. It must be some kind of shady technology.”
“Hah, not many of those tech giants have clean hands. This is a case of thieves falling out.”
It was most likely some kind of prohibited technology. If it were exposed, World Tree Technology would also be in trouble.
Things like wormhole technology, or soul research, and so on.
However, Blue Cavalier didn’t continue on that topic. The Sigma Heroes’ sponsor was World Tree Technology, and he himself was even an artificial human born from World Tree Technology’s production line…
Although his current body was Moon Rabbit’s.
“Anyway, this incident was too far from you guys, so I didn’t forward the info.”
“So, there’s no other way?”
“My suggestion is to invite her to go for a walk in the City Center. Naitemel always targets the big tech corporations, and those companies are concentrated downtown. Staying in the suburbs makes it hard to advance our plan.”
“Unless… we go even further into the suburbs?”
The areas near the edge of Central City’s Gaseous Dome were all factories, farms, power plants, etc. They didn’t have much presence, but they covered a large area and were the city’s lifelines.
The giant corporations’ Blacklight Factories were also over there. Some criminal companies would attack those factory facilities to steal materials, but Naitemel wasn’t interested in technologies already in production.
“Go to the City Center? I’ll think of a way…”
How to get Clara to go to the City Center was a difficult problem.
After all, drawing manga was an indoor activity. There was simply no reason to wander around outside.
“Can’t you just invite her out to hang out? What’s your relationship with her like? If you’re friends, she probably wouldn’t refuse, right?”
Nangong Xiwang sat cross-legged on the sofa, rubbing her toes.
“She has to work during the day too. Who has time to go out and play on a weekday?”
“Then have her accompany you to work.”
“Huh?”
“Little bro, you make it sound easy. I have to go to work, you know.”
Nangong Xiwang didn’t understand, so Blue Cavalier explained:
“Take one author to observe and learn from another author’s place. How about that?”
Nangong Xiwang was stunned for a moment before she finally caught on.
This guy Blue Cavalier had already figured out her real identity?!
***
Clara returned to the dormitory, but there was no one inside.
“I’m home.”
“…Uh, Lucia went to Anya’s place to study and is staying overnight.”
Going to learn from an experienced mechanic was good. She drew her manga in a completely isolated way, after all, since she didn’t have any formal training experience.
[You don’t know any other manga artists at all?]
On this lonely night, she at least had Nyx to chat with.
Clara took her change of underwear and fleece pajamas into the bathroom, started filling the bathtub, and the automatically activated heater drove away the chill. She answered as she undressed:
“Nope. I’m self-taught, after all. These days, authors who rely purely on pen and paper aren’t popular. I can’t get into their circles, and I don’t care to mix with them either.”
Although the current Clara had a little assistant like Nyx, she couldn’t really be considered a purely hand-drawn author anymore.
“Whew~”
The squid loli rinsed off under the shower and then eagerly climbed into the bathtub, splashing around in the still-filling water. But before the water could even reach her chest, her phone suddenly rang outside the bathroom.
“Who’s calling?” Clara asked.
[It’s a Qtalk voice call from Nangong Xiwang.]
Clara thought for a moment and replied:
“She’s probably just checking if I got home safely, right? Can you connect it?”
[No problem.]
Directly connecting a voice call into her brain was something only Clara, whose central nervous system was linked to the NIX-01 Driver, could do. But she herself found it completely natural.
Inside Clara’s body, the Driver had already deeply integrated with her.
“Clara, are you back at the dorm?”
“Yeah, I’m home~”
Clara could sense that the sense of distance and guardedness Miss Nangong had shown earlier had closed again tonight.
“Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I have to go collect a manuscript. I wanted to take you to see a professional manga artist’s studio, so you can understand a professional workflow and environment. It’ll give you a reference standard for your future work.”
“Oh!!”
Wow! Talk about asking for something and having it delivered!
Visiting a professional manga artist’s studio? Such a great learning opportunity was practically a dream come true.
“I’ll go! I’ll go! I really want to go!”
Clara naturally agreed immediately.
“Good. Then let’s meet at Bamen subway station tomorrow at two PM.”
Bamen subway station… was that the author she met Miss Nangong going to collect a manuscript from last time?
Back then, Miss Nangong ended up hospitalized because of the subway attack.
“Got it, I’ll definitely be there on time!”