Raize continued moving around his naval base, placing the physical rewards he had obtained from playing games into the warehouse. Some food was put into the cafeteria kitchen, while weapons and ship gear were all stored in the armory warehouse.
When Raize entered his main base, several Manjuu were moving things back and forth. After seeing him enter, they chirped in greeting.
One of the Manjuu pushed a chair over in front of the desk. Raize sat down and looked around with satisfaction.
Meow meow…
Chirp chirp!!
Suddenly, a soft kitten's cry sounded, followed immediately by the Manjuu's panicked chirping.
A small kitten with beautiful, vivid crimson fur appeared, its reddish-brown cat eyes filled with very human-like joy. Flames burned at the tips of its tail and on its four paws. It was chasing a terrified Manjuu around.
The kitten looked only three or four months old. Its fiery red appearance was extremely cute, and it was clearly treating the Manjuu as a playmate.
However, the flames on the kitten's body were no ordinary fire—they were flames originating from Raize himself. Their power went without saying.
The Manjuu absolutely did not want to get close to this little thing that was even smaller than itself. It felt like it was about to be roasted.
"Scarlet…"
Seeing the Manjuu being chased everywhere by the fiery kitten, Raize had no choice but to step in. What if playing with fire injured the Manjuu or set the place on fire?
Upon hearing Raize's voice, the fiery kitten looked toward him, then happily meowed as it ran over.
Raize wasn't afraid of the flames at all. He reached out and scooped the kitten into his arms, lightly tapping its little head with a finger. The flames burning on its body instantly extinguished and disappeared.
The fiery kitten—named Scarlet by Raize based on her fur color—narrowed her eyes contentedly and rubbed against him in his arms. Her plump little paw pads pressed against Raize's finger as she gently licked it with her small tongue.
"No playing with fire casually in the future, got it?"
Feeling the barbs and moisture on the kitten's tongue, Raize looked at Scarlet with the expression one would use on a child.
Scarlet meowed twice, then glanced regretfully at the exhausted Manjuu nearby before nodding very human-like at Raize.
The flames on Scarlet's body were abilities Raize had transferred to her using Kirby's enchantment and transfer abilities. They were extremely dangerous.
Scarlet was a kitten Raize randomly obtained after clearing a certain catgirl game—one that could turn cats into a catgirl once raised enough.
Seriously, hurry up and transform already!!
Last night, after clearing Minecraft, he also happened to clear Nekopara.
After obtaining this kitten, he planned to raise her as a pet, so he gave her the flame ability.
Chirp chirp…
After finishing office work, the Manjuu gathered around Raize on their own. The leading Manjuu wearing a commander's hat very human-like handed Raize a document.
Raize took a look—it turned out the construction resources were almost used up. The Manjuu had listed the required materials for him.
"I understand. Go eat at the cafeteria first. There are plenty of usable resources in this world. I'll purchase a batch outside and hand them over to you."
After putting away the materials list, Raize hugged Scarlet and handed a Spirit Peach to each Manjuu as a reward.
The naval base was built using resources from this world, while Raize could also purchase materials from the outside to decorate it.
The Manjuu happily walked off together, each carrying a peach as tall as themselves—probably to rest or eat at the cafeteria.
After all, Manjuu were living creatures and needed food. They didn't eat chicken feed—whatever humans could eat, they could eat too.
Meow~
Scarlet suddenly meowed. Raize looked down and saw her slightly opening her mouth, pointing at it with a little paw.
"You're hungry too? Let's go eat!"
Smiling, Raize rubbed Scarlet's fluffy little head. With a thought, a pitch-black square doorway appeared above his head.
Holding Scarlet, Raize freed one hand and reached upward into it, then gently pushed forward. The dark space above instantly turned into the ceiling of Raize's room.
In the morning, when Raize didn't come out of his room for a long time, Eu knocked but got no response. She entered the room but still didn't find him.
The computer screen was still in standby. Just as Eu was about to leave, the large drawer of the desk in Raize's room suddenly slid open on its own.
"Eu?"
Returning from the Minecraft world, with half his body emerging from the drawer, Raize immediately saw Eu staring at him with slightly widened eyes. He hadn't expected her to be in his room.
Eu widened her beautiful eyes slightly. Looking at Raize—half his body coming out of a drawer while holding a cute fiery red kitten—she silently raised her notebook to her chest and faced him.
(Doraemon Raize, did you ride a time machine to the 22nd century and come back?)
Faced with Eu's teasing, Raize's mouth twitched. He hadn't expected her to tease people in such a playful way.
With her expressionless face saying such a joke through a notebook, there was a strong gap-moe feeling.
"I didn't go to the 22nd century. I just went to a brand-new block world."
Raize climbed out of the drawer and closed it. He could open and enter the minecraft world at will—it was basically his personal dimension. One of its entrances was simply placed in his room.
Aside from him, the system itself could also enter the minecraft world at any time.
"Did you need something from me?"
It was pretty rare—this was the first time Eu had come to his room. He wondered what she needed.
(Make breakfast! I'm hungry.)
"Didn't Haruna make any? I remember her dinner last night was pretty good."
(It was good, but your cooking is better. And those special ingredients—Haruna doesn't know how to handle them. So hurry up and make breakfast.)
"Got it. I thought I'd finally get to rest."
It seemed Raize's cooking had completely won over Eu's taste buds. As they grew more familiar, she had become a bit more proactive.
After leaving the room, with Eu following behind, Raize passed by Haruna's room and noticed a soundproof barrier still on the door. He pointed at it and asked Eu:
"I haven't seen her since last night. What's she been doing in there?"
(She said she's making a magic-attraction machine. She wants to use it to retrieve her magic.)
Eu knew what Haruna was busy with. When Raize wasn't home, Haruna had dragged her along to do some physical examinations, supposedly to observe her magic.
The magic-attraction machine was meant for Eu's use. Raize had already reminded Haruna how difficult it would be to retrieve her magic from Eu. To overcome such a massive obstacle, Eu's cooperation was essential.
After understanding the situation, Raize didn't disturb her. He went downstairs to make breakfast. He even prepared breakfast for Haruna, but she didn't come down to eat—it seemed she was completely absorbed in her work.
There was an exam at school today, so Raize had to go in person. Even if his attendance wasn't great, as long as his grades didn't fall behind, he'd retain the privilege of freely requesting leave.
And in the afternoon, he had an appointment with Suzuna. Dies Irae had already entered production under his absurd speed. While he helped Mashiro draw manga, Mashiro also helped him draw CGs for the game.
In his plan, the novel content of Fourth Heaven—Eternal Mercurial Recurrence—had to closely follow the game's progress.
The novel had already accumulated quite a bit of popularity and traffic. Although the Dies Irae novel was deeply engaging under his meticulous revisions, compared to a game with voice acting and passionate music, it still fell a bit short.
After all, the story of Eternal Mercurial Recurrence was massive—perfectly suited for a text-based story game.
Walking along the cherry-blossom-filled streets in the afternoon, Raize noticed that the signboard outside a small bookstore at an intersection had been replaced with the exquisite cover illustrations he himself had drawn for Kajiri Kamui Kagura and Warhammer.
The Kajiri Kamui Kagura series featured majestic character illustrations. At the pinnacle of the cosmos, the Dualistic Truth of Good and Evil—a beautiful woman with long red-purple hair and heterochromatic eyes—leaned on a floating circular platform with her elbow, smiling pleasantly while reclining sideways.
The image of Second Heaven, Remorseless Paradise of the Fallen , differed from the old man-like god statues of the throne. Instead, it depicted a neatly dressed, purple-haired middle-aged man. With both hands resting on a conspicuous greatsword, he sat upon a throne formed from giant swords arranged in the shape of the Qliphoth, displaying the aura of the ultimate warrior.
And then there was Third Heaven's star of the show—Sorrowful Heaven of the Morning Star—Nerose Satanael. A beautiful man with pure white, salt-like long hair sat upon a throne as pristine as dawn breaking through the night, gazing calmly down upon all beings with a noble, sacred posture.
The artwork was so exquisite that it was impossible to look away. The figures seemed almost real, their authority and supreme presence overwhelming and deeply shocking.
On the other side, Warhammer was just as striking. The Emperor, clad in seemingly cumbersome golden armor, sat upon the Golden Throne, while Space Marines from various legions roared as they charged toward heretical enemies.
There were also the Death Korps of Krieg—silent and orderly—fighting without words, dying quietly.
There was no sense of hot-blooded heroism. Real battlefields were never hot-blooded. They were formed from mountains of corpses of blood-soaked comrades, dried blood spread across shattered, decayed land, adorned with mute, ruined wastelands.
Each book's illustrations had its own unique charm. Warhammer appealed more to young adults and adults, while Kajiri Kamui Kagur satisfied the fantasies of chuunibyou youths.
Already, many passersby were being drawn in by these exquisite cover illustrations—so different from the usual cute light-novel heroines. The divine thrones depicted in Raize's illustrations radiated an imposing presence that captivated readers at a glance.
But Warhammer is nothing but grand, epic scale—there's none of that moe-trash or cutesy titling!
For readers with a particular taste for dark styles, this kind of visual direction really hits the mark.
The promotional slogan on the posters wasn't exaggerating either: This year's strongest sci-fi novel, Warhammer, arrives with a shock—shattering your preconceived notions of science fiction and revealing a truly dark and brutal universe!
"Dugo-sensei's masterpiece—debuting straight at the peak!"
The slogans plastered across the posters were extremely eye-catching. It was obvious these were the handiwork of Suzuna, the fervent editor, pushing all-out promotion across every channel.
Many people who already knew of these books rushed straight into the store after seeing the posters. Fans didn't just buy one copy—some particularly enthusiastic ones grabbed two or three at once.
With purchasing this exaggerated, books related to Warhammer and Kajiri Kamui Kagura quickly sold out.
As a result, passersby who had been drawn in by the artwork entered the bookstore only to find nothing left to buy. Faced with such blazing popularity, those who missed out wore strange expressions as they pulled out their phones to search instead—after all, there were online platforms where they could read later that evening.
Hot-blooded, chuuni-leaning student groups gravitated toward the Kajiri Kamui Kagura series, while those who had entered society or were more mature in mindset found Warhammer far more appealing.
"Suzuna's execution really is something else."
Raize glanced at the bookstore, where everything had sold out in no time. Seeing that most customers had come specifically for these two books, the owner seized the opportunity and stocked even more copies.
Other books that hadn't moved much were cleared from several shelves to make space exclusively for these titles. Their popularity today—and in the days to come—would only continue to rise.
Kajiri Kamui Kagura perfectly matched the needs of certain domestic reader groups, while Warhammer's broad appeal was bound to spread further and further.
At this moment, Suzuna over at Shorinsha Publishing was extremely busy. While working, she kept an eye on the ever-expanding influence of Warhammer and Kajiri Kamui Kagura online. Physical sales had already surpassed the one-million-copy figure originally discussed with Raize.
Thanks to excellent word of mouth both online and offline, total sales had now broken into the tens of millions—and were still climbing, with no sign of slowing down.
Sales continued to skyrocket, and Suzuna left no promotional angle untouched, whether online or offline.