"Sensei, we're grateful that you accepted the job and worked hard on the artwork for Brother Monogatari , and that you finished an insert art so quickly." Saki lifted her head and looked directly at Tanaka. "My next request will be quite rude, but…"

"Allow me, Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa." Seiji spoke up. "Demon Soldier Sensei, I personally made this visit in order to request that you give up the right to draw for Brother Monogatari. "

Tanaka widened his eyes in surprise at hearing this.

"Give up…"

"Yes, please give up on this job request. And, Sensei, for the drawing that you've already completed, I shall pay you for it… No, I shall even pay for all the drawings that you should have done and didn't complete yet."

"…Why?"

"Because I would like to personally draw the artwork for this story," Seiji told him honestly.

A moment of silence fell between them.

"You want to personally draw for your own story… If you had this ability in the first place, why did you send out a job request for an artist?" Tanaka furrowed his brows.

"Because I didn't intend to do so until yesterday," Seiji explained. "This story called Brother Monogatari actually wasn't written by myself alone. I cooperated together with one other person in writing it. Yesterday, during the Winter Snow Festival, I gave that person a present of the main characters' drawing that I personally drew myself. After that person saw my drawing, she felt that I could completely be up to the task of drawing for Brother Monogatari , and expressed a wish for me to do so. I agreed, which was why I contacted Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa this morning and made my request."

"Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa told me that she had already hired an artist who was working hard on the art for my story, which would be you, Demon Soldier Sensei. She let me know that it would be very rude to have you stop in the middle."

"However, I continued to insist, and showed my own drawing to Editor Yos.h.i.+zawa, and she recognized that I had sufficient artistic talent for the task."

"Finally, I have to convince Demon Soldier Sensei to give up on this job for the final part, which is why I'm here today."

Tanaka felt indescribable emotions within himself at hearing these words.

Being able to draw for Brother Monogatari was a job that he considered quite lucky to have received, and he wanted to do his best on it… But he never expected to hear a request like this.

Asking an artist for a job but then having only one side cancel on the job was something incredibly disrespectful within the industry, and would be quite ill received if others heard about it. However, if both sides agreed to cancel the job, then there wouldn't be any problems.

Tanaka knew that he could be proactive here. He could complain, act forceful, and request even more compensation from them… but this wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted to be able to draw for Brother Monogatari ! That was because he truly liked this novel.

Of course, there was also the factor where he expected Brother Monogatari would become a bestseller, and he wanted to obtain some extra fame through this, but the main reason was still because he liked this novel.

This novel excited him and gave him so much inspiration for his own stories and art as well, helping him to recall the joy and pa.s.sion that he used to receive from drawing, which was why he wanted to do his best on this job.

After a moment of silence, Tanaka slowly spoke up.

"I like this story named Brother Monogatari , and want to be able to draw for it.

"Even if you were the one who wrote this story, and your artwork received the editor's recognition, I still haven't seen it yet, and can't be certain if your art is worthy of this story.

"Please allow me to see your artwork. If I think it's not good enough, I… I won't give up on this job."

He was extremely nervous as he said this.

Tanaka couldn't even recall the last time that he had acted so defiant.

He wasn't someone particularly brave to begin with, and after being worn out by all his successive failures and impacts received over the past few years, he had almost no courage left remaining.

However, this novel had helped him to recover some of his former pa.s.sion, and his former courage returned slightly to him as well, but it was in order to resist against the author of this very story.

'I really apologize…' Tanaka said in his mind.

Seiji looked at him for a while, before taking out the drawing that he had done himself and placing it on Tanaka's table.

"This is my drawing that I drew myself."

Tanaka looked at the drawing on the table.

In this drawing, he saw a beautiful girl and a handsome boy about to reach out to each other's hands. It was obvious that they were the main characters of Brother Monogatari .

The art wasn't of any scene from the novel, but it did have the same atmosphere and style as the novel. The characters were drawn vibrantly and the expressions were lively. The details were done exquisitely.

Tanaka inwardly sighed after looking it over closely for a while.

This level was more than sufficient to be the insert art for a light novel. And if he compared his own drawing to this author's drawing for his own novel… Although he didn't want to admit it, the author's drawing was indeed better than his!

"Nice drawing," he finally said in a light voice after remaining silent for quite a while. "Compared to the insert art that I drew, this one is better."

"But this drawing isn't a scene from the story, so it's difficult to do a direct comparison. While I admit that you did a good job on this drawing, will you be able to draw similarly well for a scene from your own novel?"

"I can," Seiji said resolutely. "I'll be able to draw any scene from the story with excellent quality."

Tanaka was able to feel the author's willpower emanating from him.

The youth's expression, the look in his eyes, his spirit… all of this astonished him.

'Is this really alright? Is this really alright?'

For a moment, he wanted to just agree to the author's request and accept giving up on this job. But, the next moment, he kept asking himself, 'is this really alright?'

Even he didn't understand why he kept questioning himself. But he followed his instinct that told him he didn't want things to end just like this.

"Let's have a compet.i.tion! We can compete using the exact same scene from the story, and draw this scene within a limited time frame as a compet.i.tion. If your drawing is better than mine, I will accept your request, and I won't even request any payment from you. And if I'm the one who draws better, then please allow me to continue working on this novel."

Seiji looked directly at him.

This skinny brown-haired man who had an ordinary appearance and half-rimmed eyegla.s.ses and dark circles under his eyes had suddenly gotten all spirited.

This was a duelist's spirit… whoops, the spirit of an artist's pride.

"Alright." He accepted.

'I accept this duel!'

"Which scene should we draw, Demon Soldier Sensei?"

"You can decide, Sh.o.r.e Sensei."

"Then… Let's draw the climax: the battle between the male lead and the antagonist."

"Please be more specific about the exact scene and page."

The two of them discussed the specific scene to draw, and agreed upon a time limit and a place to meet again.

When the time limit was up, they had to meet again at the agreed upon place and show each other their new drawings for the compet.i.tion. If one couldn't complete the drawing in time, then it would be considered a loss.

After agreeing to this, Seiji and Saki said goodbye and left.

"Harano, Demon Soldier Sensei has successfully been able to publish his own short manga in the past, in the magazine Hot-blooded Shonen ."

The female editor spoke up after they left Demon Soldier Sensei's home.

"He's always been aiming for publication of his own manga as his goal. Although he still hasn't succeeded, his drawing speed and quality are both quite good. And, he's considered top-notch in the area of light novel insert art."

Hot-blooded Shonen  was one of the biggest manga magazine publishers in Sakura Island. Anyone who was able to successfully be published in it would become someone that normal artists would look up to.

And as for Seiji… He couldn't even be called an artist currently, because he had never shown off any of his artwork before, not even as an amateur on the internet! He could only be called a drawing enthusiast.

Looking at it from the industry's angle, the difference between him and Sharp Demon Soldier Sensei was like the difference between a beggar and a middle-cla.s.s person.

'You need to know what you're getting yourself into,' Saki expressed this to Seiji.