Trapped in this Boring Room!

Okay, I’ll try to finish this ASAP! I’m saying to myself that I’ll get 2 chapters done a week, I’ll try my best not to get distracted!

Well, this chapter is 8k characters long, so it’ll be split into 2 parts.

Special thanks to Doomr and Kyureki! (translator of My Pet Is a Holy Maiden/translation checker of My Pet Is a Holy Maiden)

Translated by LysUltima

Loop 3

●Day 1●

I returned back. It’s April 1st.

Well now, what’s the best way to write a novel?
Last time, I just wrote at random, but I get that good results won’t come out of that.
Well, if I wrote 1,000 books or 2,000 books, I might get lucky and one’ll hit, but that’s like hitting a lottery.
Novels are written by the hands of people. Not by gambling.
It’s like baseball batting. You have to see through a ball that’s flying towards you and precisely hit it. It takes many hits to get a one hit home run.
And, there’s a way to see through a ball that’s flying towards you and a method to swing. If there’s a technique, I’ll be able to learn by practicing to some extent.
It should be the same to make a novel a hit.

I had a lot of confidence in my writing ability, but I was let down this time.
Naturally, I haven’t written novels normally so far.
For now, I’ll forget everything until the present, and let’s think of me as a complete amateur. At this time, I’ll study everything; that’ll be good.
I’m an amateur.
I’ve never written something like a novel, I’m a beginner, an amateur.
Everyone around me is more skilled than I, so I should study since they’re all my betters.
Thinking about it, it’ll be good if I go study various things.

Nonetheless, I think that there’s various techniques to writing a novel.
Even if they’re both ball games, baseball has baseball techniques and soccer has soccer techniques.
I have to write a novel, but what technique to write a novel?
Of course, a “Let’s Write a Novel” novel.
In short, it’s become necessary to observe “Let’s Write a Novel.”

Such a technique, I don’t really want it…
Already, I’ve been in here for more than 60 days. In this confined white room, I’m going crazy.
I want to leave quickly.
Since it’s like that, it’s absolutely necessary to do it.

The problem is what skill to study, though…
Luckily, there’s a lot of models right before my eyes.
Let’s study.

●Day 30●

I spent a month reading novels at the top of the rankings.
And so, I’ve understood a few things.

First, on the site of “Let’s Write a Novel,” there is a popular genre.
That is “alternate world fantasy.” Or more commonly known as “isekai fantasy.”^[1]
Before, my friend had recommended novels that were nothing but isekai, and even the top rankings of isekai novels had their own place.^[2]
Although I say alternate world, it’s not Sci-Fi or Horror parallel worlds.
It’s the so-called western fantasy-type world.
To make it easier to understand, it’s like the worlds of Drag○n Quest or L○rd of the Rings.
Isekai fantasy is a story about a modern person who somehow goes to a fantasy-type world. Often to a game from around thirty years ago.

“Isekai fantasy.”
Before reading, I thought they were all similar, but, when I tried reading it, I couldn’t cut and abandon them in one sentence; they were varied.
Ones where the main character earnestly redoes life, ones where the main character has a leisurely and slow life, ones where the main character transmigrates into a game’s villain, ones where the main character loops the same time period many times to get closer to the truth, ones where the main character transmigrates together with mean acquaintances and swears revenge, and ones where the main character transmigrates into a villainess and tries to avoid a bad end.
Before reading, I was looking down on them, and, still, there are ones that I look down upon, but some of them match my tastes.

I wonder why were the ones that my friend recommended all boring?
Most likely, my friend’s taste is weird.
He’s always like that.
Introducing a person who’s disposition is slightly different, I’m happy that my taste is sharper than his.

Well, that’s good.
Each person has their own tastes; I don’t hate him.
Let’s leave it.

There’s another thing common about the top rankings.
They’re long.
There’s more than 1,000,000 characters in each one.^[3]
Moreover, they’re mostly not completed.
In short, this means that they’re still continuing.
When I tried looking at how many my novel had as a test, there was only 90,000 characters.
I’m embarrassed that I was confident of my fast writing speed.

After reading, I understood another thing.
There are several rankings in this site.^[4]

Daily Rankings.
Weekly Rankings.
Monthly Rankings.
Seasonly Rankings.
Yearly Rankings.
And then, there’s cumulative rankings.

In simple terms, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, and the rankings are a measurement of the rising of points in each period.
The cumulative rankings is the measurement of the points that accumulated from the time when one first submits a novel to now.
Most likely, the site has multiple rankings to keep the site active.

Just, I have a problem.
What ranking do I have to take first place in?

“At most, it’s the cumulative rankings, I guess.”

I didn’t really get the meaning of the room that I’m trapped in, but the goal is high.
Though, the current me isn’t even on the daily rankings.
The current first place in the daily rankings is 5225 pt.
It seems that there are times when the border is low, but I still have to get around 3000pts.
My maximum was 12pts. I needed to do 250 times better to hit first.
When I realized that I had to earn that in one day, I wanted to dive into the bed and sleep.

But, I have to do it.

●Day 31●

I started writing a new novel.

The writing style was that of the top works on the site.
The literary style was as simple as possible and easy to understand. It wasn’t roundabout like literary works.
The summary would be an ordinary high schooler dies for a strange reason, meets a deity in the afterlife, receives “power” and goes on a trip in an isekai, it has a “save the world” kind of feeling.

Hmmm.
It seems that there are no twists at all.
For now, the deity , in the end, didn’t give power to the main character, that high schooler originally had the power, and, with wisdom and bravery, he becomes the key to saving the world. I’m thinking of something like that, but….
Besides, there’s no original element.
It’s a story that appears often.

Honestly, will this story be popular?
It’s bad to copy, isn’t it?
I thought that a lot.
But, I want to try to see how many points I’ll get if I copy a novel that’s in the rankings once.

If I get entirely no points, that’s okay.
Anyways, I want to do something.

●Day 35●

If I think that this is an experiment, my writing brush moves swiftly.
For now, I finished writing 4 chapters. 1 chapter has 3,000 characters.
The writing style was loose, which was considerably different from the things that I’ve wrote until now, but, on the contrary, it was easy to write.
Somehow, I became really confident this time.

●Day 36●

When I finished writing chapter 5, a certain desire hit me.

“I want to try posting this.”

Yes, I wanted to post.
I wanted for someone to see my novel, and wanted to receive an opinion of my novel. Such a feeling welled out from the depths of my heart.

Confused.
Should I post, or not?

Until now, I posted after I finished writing everything.
I thought that was natural, but…
However, looking at all other works, it seems that it’s not typical.
Some of them stop updating even if it’s incomplete.

Shall I try posting?
But, starting something that I won’t finish, I wonder if it’s okay?
I feel that I’m ordering things that I know that I can’t eat, but I  can’t help it.

●Day 37●

I decided to post.
Well, I’m locked up in this room in any case.
Let’s throw away my funny pride and idées fixes.
Novels ascend the rankings when they do this.
Probably, amateurs like me can’t understand the reason.

For now, I re-read just the first chapter as a test and fixed typos and stuff before I posted.

The title is “Epic of a Common Hero.”
The genre is high fantasy.
Concerning tags, I tried entering in all of the things that I plan to add from now on.

Mixed feelings of hope and worry were swirling inside my heart.
I won’t get much sleep today.

●Day 38●

I got points.
16 points.
Until now, this is the highest amount I have, but there’s the dejection of, “only this.”
I was hoping for a lot somewhere in my heart.
If it’s this novel, possibly… I thought.
However, such a thing didn’t happen.
For now, I’ll write more and post the 2nd chapter.

●Day 40●

The points were accumulating.
It didn’t enter the rankings, but the points were increasing by around 5~20 points each day.
The number of bookmarks was increasing at the same rate.
I didn’t really understand, but, if it says it’s going well, then it’s going well.

●Day 42●

Waking up early, I turned on the PC, and I doubted my eyes.
All of a sudden, the point count jumped up.
Yesterday, I was supposed to have as much as 100 points, yet, when I woke up, the point count passed 700.
In one day, I got 600 points.
When I rushed to look at the rankings, it was on the 20th place in the daily rankings.

“What happened…?”

If I’m not mistaken, yesterday, I posted the chapter 5.
It was a chapter about the main character using the power he got from Kami-sama to save a female priest who was being attacked by hoodlums.
The female priest said that she was going to return the favor of being saved, and became the main character’s follower…
It was such a chapter.
Particularly, there were no moving scenes or anything like that and nothing got done.
Although I said that… what did I say?

“Ah, there’s comments.”

When I looked, the comments numbered 3.
In one day, 3 comments appeared.
While my heart was pounding, I opened the comments page, and, while my eyes became like plates, I saw the words that got written.

(For more details about the actual site go here)

『Commenter：UNI-END [May 11, 2017 19:36]
▼Good Point
The main character beating up the hoodlums refreshed me.
Priest-chan being meek is cute!

▼One Statement
On the trip, the main character didn’t do anything at all, which worries me, but it’s slowly getting interesting.
I’m looking forwards to what’ll happen from now on.』

『Commenter：Beta Cutter (ベータカッター) [May 11, 2017 20:05]
▼Good Point
After a long time, an upfront chapter.

▼One Statement
Lately, there are many strange novels, so I’ve been waiting for this.』

『Commenter：Half-Cook [May 13, 2017 1:05]
▼Bad Point
Start is normal, can tell what will happen
Development looks like something somewhere else

▼One Statement
Hoping for development after this』

From the last one, I had a little bad impression, though…
However, that person has hope.
That person will surely enjoy developments from now on.

“…I see, it’s the main character’s activity!”

That was written on the first two comments.
Frown what’s written there, I have a solution to my problem.

Thinking about it, the first 4 chapters were only exposition; the main character didn’t do anything.
Transmigrated into an isekai, thrown out without knowing why, and moved around the surroundings.
There was no way for the main character to use the power that he got, so the story progressed boringly.

But, there was action on the chapter 5; saving a person.
There, the main character used the ability that he got.

“Isn’t that so? Even in movies, it’s not interesting if the protagonists only moved around.”

The first 4 chapters’ flow is commonly referred as “spilling situation.”
But, chapter 5 wasn’t like that.
That’s why the readers thought that it was interesting.

In outline, I undersood the reason.
And, at the same time, the inside of my heart grew warm.

Until now, I thought that the readers of this site had completely different tastes.
But, now, their and my values agree.
That thought make me a little happy.

“Okay, I’ll write more.”

Going with this pitch, I might get first place of the daily rankings.
While thinking that, I opened the word possessor.

●Day 43●

Today, I got about 700 points.
Daily 18th.
Truly, if I keep going up like this, I might take first place.
No way, this test novel is…
This is great and exciting.
I have to work hard and write more.

●Day 48●

…To say the conclusion, I didn’t take daily first place.
Back then, it was temporarily increasing by 1,000 points, but the highest was 9th place.
From there, the points stopped growing, and slowly started to fall.
Even so, I passed over 5,000 points today.

5,000.
Since I began posting, it’s been 10 days, but the daily first rank earned the same amount of points.
I posted my novel and the points mostly didn’t stick, my novel…
I’m pretty happy.

At the same time, I also understood.
Yep, isekai.
In this site, isekai fantasy is popular.
I don’t get why, but it’s become popular at any rate.

Even if only to confirm, it’s a big harvest.
A pretty big step.

But, I had a question at the same time.
My work, what’s bad about it?
Honestly, even if compared to the novels on the daily ranking now, I don’t think that it falls behind a lot.
The development shouldn’t be bad.
A storm of high-praise comments didn’t exist, but there were many favorable ones.

Hmmmm…
Favorably, I made characters make their appearance, and the main character have a bigger role in reference to the comments.
Because of that, the story became longer than I first planned, but that was the fruit of the writing brush.
With a writing brush, I write interesting things.
It’s impossible for it to be bad.
Even if it’s me, right now, I can make good stories.

Anyways, I have no choice but to continue writing.
If I write a good story, the readers will understand.
I get that, so I should write a good story.

●Day 72●

It’s no good.
Points aren’t growing at all.
It’s supposed to be a good story, but why?

Right now, the climax is steadily approaching.
If this is no good, then it’s already no good.

●Day 75●

It’s already no good.
Originally, it was a story that I started writing to make sure of something, but it made me feel really downhearted when I wrote the scenes with a yell of fighting spirit all to be in vain.
If I write a good story, the readers will understand.
Around a month ago, I thought that, but… I probably was mistaken.
For those guys, a good story and a bad story are both good.

●Day 77●

Things like writing spirit disappeared.
Even if I continue this novel, I don’t think that the points will increase anymore.

Already, I’ll stop updating here and shouldn’t I start writing the next novel?
I don’t like abandoning things midway, but my goal is to leave this room, and I started writing this to get the feel of writing isekai novels.
Even if I continue this novel, it can’t get in the rankings, and I already have the feel of writing isekai novels.

But then, I don’t have very much writing spirit to the next novel.
I might as well not do the next novel, and maybe pressing the reset button is good.
This time, I earned the most points until now.
What, maybe I’ll get a new function.
If I use those functions, maybe I can aim for higher points.

No, it’s still to early.
Let’s look at the situation a little more.

●Day 78●

Today’s daily ranking top has a pretty high amount of points.
7,000 points.
On the daily rankings, occasionally, a novel that gets a really large amount of points comes out.
In most cases, they’ll stay on first place for 2~3 days, and, as it is, take weekly rankings, then encroach into monthly and seasonly.

This time’s daily ranking first place’s novel has a reincarnation with a little twist.
Just before the main character reincarnates to an isekai, Kami-sama gives the main character a power. That’s a common story.
However, that power was given by a Kami-sama that was a stag beetle that the main character saved a long time ago.
This Kami-sama is, after all, an insect. At the very beginning, the main character starts off very weak.
However, the main character obtains power without a hitch, and steadily becomes stronger. Steadily, comrades increase.
I couldn’t see any special, amazing part, but it continues to develop nicely anyways.
I feel that there aren’t many ups and downs, but I personally think that it’s interesting.

“…Ah.”

When I was reading and thinking that, a light bulb flashed in my mind.

“…I can loop, so can’t I copy this novel and post it as it is to take daily rankings first place?”

Anyhow, it’s a work that took daily rankings first place.
If the words are the same, even if a different person posts, it’s within reason to take first place.
No, it doesn’t have to be this novel.
If I copy the cumulative first place novel that will come later and post it…

“Do this… I can do this…!”

Excitement. An electric shock ran up my spine. My blood boiled.
Thinking of that, my jaw unintentionally dropped.

But, in the bottom of my brain, there was a cold part.

This is plagiarism.
I’m stealing someone’s novel, I’ll get remuneration for that.
Doing this isn’t good. Doing this is not good.
This won’t be allowed.

But, it isn’t like I want to be come a pro.
I want to become good at writing a novel, but that doesn’t mean that I bask in the limelight.

I just want to leave this room.

●Day 360●

After that, my eyes became like plates searching the rankings, and copying the works that had a high amount of points.
Though, there wasn’t a novel that took cumulative first place this year.
The number one highest novel was at yearly first place.
It currently has 160,000 points.
That novel currently is on cumulative 24th place.
Yes, the one that earned 7,000 points, jumping to to daily first place on day 78, that novel.

Compared with the cumulative first place’s novel’s points of 350,000.
In short, for the current yearly first place’s novel to take cumulative first place, it’s necessary to more than double the points from now.
So, even if I post the copied novel, it doesn’t mean that I can take cumulative first place.
Although, for now, it’s enough.
When I take yearly first place, I’ll probably get some achievements.

Regarding games, there are many highly useful rewards for high difficulty things.
For now, I’ll see how many points this novel can get before I start the next loop.

●Day 365 6 AM●

For some reason, a sudden sleepiness attack came.
It might be from lack of sleep, but something is off.
When I noticed something, it was already too late; I fell on the desk and lost consciousness.

[1] If you didn’t know already, isekai = different/another world.
[2] See here for more details
[3] 200 chapters/400k English words
[4] See [2]