The next day, I went to the library to ask Elma to make a copy of Overlord's first volume. When I entered, Elma came running toward me with a big smile.
"Luan! What brings you here? Did you bring the fourth volume by any chance?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Yes. I've already discussed the cover with Bella; she should deliver it soon."
"That's great! Come, follow me."
I followed Elma to the storage room, and then we went through another door that hadn't been there before. On the other side was a well-decorated meeting room with two sofas and a small table in the center.
The walls were adorned with artwork of the characters from Re: Zero, and a shelf in the room displayed several copies of the first three volumes.
"Wow, what is this? This is amazing."
"I got tired of having our conversations in that storage room full of boxes, so I built this room. It was finished yesterday—pretty good, huh? It was expensive, but it was built super fast."
"It's incredible. But you didn't have to spend money on this."
"I had to! You deserve to be treated properly! Now, where's the fourth volume?"
"Calm down, I'll give it to you. First, I'd like you to make a few copies of this."
I pulled the first volume of Overlord from my inventory and handed it to her. "This is the first volume of the new book I'm going to publish. I want a few copies made."
"WHAT!? THIS IS AMAZING!!!" Elma screamed in disbelief. "Overlord? What an interesting name. What's it about? How is it? Can I read it?"
"You can keep the draft after you've made the copies. But I want you to delay the publication, Bella needs to create the illustrations to go inside the book."
"Got it. Will you ask Bella to make illustrations for Re:Zero as well?"
"It's a good idea to start doing this from the fourth volume onward. I'll discuss it with her."
"All right, wait here. I'll be back shortly."
Elma left and returned a few minutes later with four copies of the first volume of Overlord. She handed them to me and kept the draft for herself.
"I'm definitely reading this today!"
"Let me know what you think afterward. It's good to have someone's opinion."
"No one's read this yet?"
"No, I haven't let anyone read it."
"Then I'll be the first to read it!? That's amazing; I think I might faint."
"You're overreacting. Anyway, I need to go. I have some drawing to deliver to Bella."
"Drawings? Are you drawing now too?"
"I made a few illustrations of the main characters from Overlord to help her. They're not as good as Bella's drawings, but I think they turned out well."
I pulled the drawings from my inventory and handed them to Elma.
She began examining them, her eyes widening.
"Did you really draw these?" Elma asked after looking through all the drawings. "They're incredible. You could start drawing your own covers."
"No, I don't want to do that. Bella's art is excellent, and I don't want to take her job."
"But this is amazing. You're so talented, it's almost scary."
"I'm not talented at all." I took the drawings back and left the meeting room with Elma.
We talked a bit more before I left the library. Then, I headed to Bella's house to deliver the drawings. When I arrived at the gate and called out to her, Bella ran out of her house.
Her home resembled mine, with a yard and a large gate.
"Luan! Come in," she said with a big smile.
"Am I not interrupting?"
"Of course not, come on in."
Bella invited me in, and her mother was waiting for me. The moment she saw me, she lowered her head in apology.
"I'm so sorry for what I did. It was an accident. I picked up the draft to read it and knocked over the juice while I was reading…" Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
"It's okay. I already told Bella it's fine. Here." I pulled two Overlord copies from my inventory and handed one to Bella and Meteria.
When they saw what they were holding, their eyes lit up.
"I told you it wasn't necessary!" Bella said, her eyes shining.
"I can't accept this either! I don't want to ruin anything else!" Meteria exclaimed, tears brimming in her eyes.
"It's fine. These are just copies. The draft has already been handed to Elma, and she'll start preparing it for publication. Oh, and you'll need to hurry and start drawing because Elma seemed pretty excited." I pulled the drawings I had drawn from my inventory and gave them to Bella.
When Bella saw the drawings, her reaction mirrored Elma's. Her eyes widened slowly, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"What is this? Drawings? Are these the characters from Overlord? Oh, it's the skeleton protagonist. What's this? He's huge! And his outfit is incredible!"
"Yes, it's very detailed. I'm not sure if I could manage something like this. Who drew these?" Bella asked, looking straight into my eyes. She couldn't believe I was the one who had drawn them.
"I did," I said with an awkward smile.
"…"
"…"
The two of them were silent, glancing between me and the sketches in Bella's hands.
After a few seconds…
"YOU MUST BE JOKING!" Bella lost her composure and shouted.
"I told you he could surpass you in a month, but he did it in less than five days. BWAHAHAHAHA!" Meteria burst into laughter.
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Read more chapters on my patr eon: patr eon.com/parodygirl
Next chapters: Chapter 188 - After lunch / Chapter 189 - I'm suffering. +18 / Chapter 190 - Good smell... and good taste. +18 / Chapter 191 - Soma Familia. / Chapter 192 - God Soma / Chapter 193 - Soma accepted everything easily. / Chapter 194 - A bad idea. / Chapter 195 - Ishtar is annoying. / Chapter 196 - Ishtar is out of her mind. / Chapter 197 - Healthy sex with Ishtar? +18 / Chapter 198 - I'm not yours, you're mine. / Chapter 199 - Choosing skills after a long time. / Chapter 200 - He wants to meet Haruhime?