Seiji instantly felt like he had received an honor when he heard this round of applause.
Linpu Kotaro felt like he was at the most glorious moment of his life so far.
As a middle school student, Seiji had won a gold medal on his first entry in the famous Thunder Bunko Newcomer Awards. This was undoubtedly an achievement worthy of being called a genius!
While other idiots of my age were busy studying useless things, participating in meaningless club activities, and pretending to please others in order to maintain fake relationships, I was already making a name for myself! At this rate, I would soon be able to leave school and live a free life as a genius author … that was what Seiji believed.
Linpu was happy about his current glory and the beautiful future that awaited him. However, he was still somewhat angry about what happened in the preparation room earlier.
Koushi Nomura, a person who spouted nonsense! Harano Seigo, a bastard who appeared frivolous on the outside but was actually violent on the inside!
Seiji hated both of them, but there was nothing he could do about it. After all, apart from writing novels, he was just an ordinary middle school student.
The reason why he was writing novels was actually because of his dreams.
That day, Linpu Kotaro was resting at home due to a cold. He had a dream while he was in a daze. After he woke up, he had a strong urge to express what he saw in his dream. So, he picked up a pen and wrote a story in his childish language … a story about an avenger.
The main character was the prince of a small country. His country was invaded by a powerful country. His father personally went to battle and died on the battlefield. He followed his father's secret will and chose to surrender.
However, he never expected that the powerful country would openly violate the agreement after accepting the surrender and execute all of the royal family members of the small country, including the main character!
After the main character witnessed all of his family members being brutally executed, he faced death in despair.
In the darkness, the main character's soul came into contact with an unknown existence and formed a contract with it. He was then able to reincarnate into a corpse.
The only thing he wanted to do after reincarnating was to take revenge and kill all of the royal family members of the powerful country!
Before completing his revenge, he couldn't do anything unrelated to it. And, no matter how he died, his soul would be transferred to another corpse to be reborn.
The main character tried again and again, going from pain to numbness, from being filled with hatred to having a heart as hard as ice … After transferring his soul dozens of times, the main character finally succeeded in killing his first enemy.
It took Linpu a long time to write this story. Although he knew what he wanted to write, it was difficult to write. It was difficult to use words to describe what he wanted to express.
For example, it was relatively easy to recall an exciting movie, but it was a rather difficult task to describe the movie in words. Some people couldn't even keep a running account because they didn't know how to use words to express what they wanted to express.
After personally experiencing the difficulty of writing, Linpu wanted to give up more than once. However, the dream kept reappearing, and each time, he would have the urge to write, so he reluctantly persevered.
Why did he have such a dream? Why did that dream make me so impulsive?
Although he was confused about this, he didn't tell anyone.
When he submitted his story for the Best Newcomer Light Novel Award and was selected, Linpu regarded it as his own talent.
Now that he had won the gold medal, he considered himself a genius.
'No matter what that Nomura says, I'm the winner of the Gold Medal, the most honored person at this award ceremony!' Linpu Kotaro was proud of himself.
"Now, let's welcome Thunder Bunko's editor, Sozo Hattori, to the stage to give a speech."
After the award winners were seated on the right side of the stage, the male and female hosts said a few words to liven up the atmosphere. Then, they invited the winners to the stage.
This was the first time that Seiji met Sozo Hattori. He felt that this white-haired, black-rimmed eyeglasses-wearing editor was similar to what he had imagined.
"First of all, just like in previous years, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone present, as well as everyone who wasn't present but still supported Thunder Bunko. Thanks to so many people, Thunder Bunko has been able to continue its Best Newcomer Light Novel Award to this day.
Not only did Hattori talk about the situation of the light novel industry last year, but he also talked about the situation of manga, anime, and video games. Finally, he turned around and praised the award-winning light novels of this year, starting from the Gold Award to the Special Award. He only used a few words to point out the merits of each work.
"… Finally, about 'Brother Monogatari,' I would like to mention that the author wasn't the one who submitted his story for the Best Newcomer Light Novel Award. I recommended it.
"Before I recommended it, this story had already signed a publishing contract. I personally believe that with its quality, even if it didn't receive any awards, it would still be able to sell well. But, for such an excellent light novel to be published without any honor, it would be a waste. That's why I decided to recommend it.
"Everyone knows the results now. 'Brother Monogatari' received unanimous praise from all the reviewers, and it entered the finals. It even received the Special Award.
"I'm quite happy about this. Now, I would like to express my heartfelt apologies to all the reviewers who spent too much time reviewing this light novel, as well as to the author of 'Brother Monogatari' who only found out about this afterwards. "
After saying this, Head Editor Hattori bowed towards the stage. He even turned towards the award winner, Seiji Mukai, and bowed as well.
When Seiji Mukai looked over, Seiji met his gaze and understood the meaning behind Seiji Mukai's gaze.
And so, after Seiji Mukai bowed, Seiji also stood up and bowed as well.
There was a round of applause from the audience upon seeing this scene.
Nomura followed suit and clapped. Miyabi and the other award winners also clapped … only Linpu didn't.
Linpu Kotaro felt rather displeased at this scene.
They'd already signed a contract beforehand … Head Editor personally recommended his story for the finals … This was practically overshadowing his Gold Award winning story!
The Special Award was clearly just a consolation prize … what was going on!
Seiji's inner resentment kept increasing. He felt as if something was about to burst out from the depths of his heart.
After Head Editor Hattori finished his speech, it was time for the award ceremony.
The award presenter was the president of a famous anime company. She was a woman who appeared to be in her early forties. She wore a western suit and had light makeup on. She had a graceful and mature appearance.
"The eighteenth Annual Thunder Bunko Newcomer Awards, Gold Award winner, Linpu Kotaro -san!" the male host called out the award winner's name.
Linpu stood up and walked across from the audience.
He couldn't help but feel nervous when he sensed that many people were looking at him. His body involuntarily stiffened up.
As he walked to the center of the stage, he strongly realized that he was now the center of attention, causing his heart to thump furiously.
* Plop, plop, plop … *
Something deep within his heart was slowly rising.
"Hmm?"
Seiji suddenly felt that something was off. He silently cast [Astral Vision].
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