Chapter 63: Before the Storm (1)

As Xenon's Biography came to light, who benefited the most? Most people would probably choose demons.

Simply, a single book has turned the fate of an entire race upside down, and as demons began to act in earnest, even the world's situation began to fluctuate. The demons have been taking a somewhat coercive and closed stance, but now that they have started to move, it is inevitable that other countries will be affected.

Demons have strong individual power and outstanding magical abilities comparable to those of elves. However, their magic is powered by a sinister energy called "black mana," which elves despise and makes them very reluctant to get involved with demons.

Anyway, it is true that demons have benefited greatly from Xenon's Biography. To the extent that if you ask any passerby, they will give you the same answer, it is becoming common sense.

However, if we delve deeper, we can see that there is a true winner.

It is true that the perception of demons has changed through Xenon's Biography, but fundamentally, such a thing could never have happened if it had not become popular worldwide.

In other words, as Xenon's Biography became popular worldwide, the profits were staggering.

However, since Xenon's Biography is still spreading and becoming popular worldwide, a proper accounting has not been done. But most people are not paying much attention to the profits of Xenon's Biography, focusing more on the book itself.

And those profits are sure to have a significant impact on the publisher that signed the rights to Xenon's Biography. In fact, the first publisher to publish Xenon's Biography grew in size like a flood through the enormous profits.

"Hmm~ Hm-hmm~"

In a room similar to an office, filled with various luxury items, a middle-aged man sat at his desk, humming and writing something in his notebook. His mouth was turned up, indicating that he was in a very good mood.

'I made the right decision to introduce the technology at an expensive cost. I've already paid it all back.'

The identity of the notebook he was writing with his pen was a ledger. Not just any ordinary ledger, but a ledger that the man manages and is closely related to his company and his social circle.

If it were an ordinary ledger, another employee would be managing it, but because a man seemingly of high rank manages it, the purpose of the ledger had to be special.

It is a ledger that manages funds given by nobles, or money that could be called bribes. If it were an ordinary company, it would be different, but as much as the man is receiving bribes from the nobles, the company he manages is very unique.

Because the company he manages is a publishing company, and it was the publisher that first published Xenon's Biography.

The reason he receives bribes from the nobles is that when a new volume is published, they ask him to give it to them first, or they ask him to let them know who the author is.

'You can't split the belly of a goose that lays the golden egg.'

Surprisingly, the man knows the true identity of Xenon's Biography. More precisely, he has mistaken him for Hawk, not Isaac. It's understandable because he personally brought the manuscript of the first volume to the publisher. However, when Xenon's Biography became a big hit, he began to hide his identity and started hiring messengers.

After that, people from all walks of life came to the publisher and asked for the author, and some even threatened him. It was very difficult for the publisher, but he gathered the courage to overcome it.

Because the profit generated by Xenon's Biography was more tempting than the bribes or threats from the nobles. As long as he is under contract with Xenon's Biography, it's safe to say that the money is duplicating.

'The imperial family was a little scary...'

Of course, even if the publisher was the one who went to the imperial palace, he was very nervous. Fortunately, they only investigated whether he had evaded taxes, and nothing was found.

Moreover, since the books were meticulously managed, there has never been a case of tax evasion. To be honest, even if they did evade taxes due to the large profits generated by Xenon's Biography, no one would know.

At the end of this situation, the publisher's mood began to soar. Recently, he has been paying for expensive investments and introducing new technologies.

'The principal has been paid back, and now we only need to take care of the maintenance expenses. As time goes by, the maintenance expenses will slowly decrease anyway.'

Due to the introduction of new technology, the profit margin doubled. Although the publishing company originally only had contracts for books, the CEO ended up acquiring a printing company.

As a result, even the nobility was able to amass a tremendous amount of wealth. With that kind of funding, the company grew significantly as well. As the CEO, every day was busy, but he was equally happy.

Knock- Knock- Knock-

The sound of knocking on the office door reached his ears just as he was finishing up the books. The CEO deftly put the books away in a desk drawer before speaking up.

"Who is it?"

"Sir, it's me, Mathew."

"Oh, Mathew! Come in."

The CEO was quick to invite Mathew in upon hearing that it was him knocking on the door. While other employees might not have been as trusted, Mathew was his beloved secretary who always had good news to share, such as updates on Xenon's Biography, which the CEO was editing himself.

As he received the CEO's command, Mathew gently opened the door, revealing his brown curly hair, hazy and cloudy eyes, and glasses.

The face looked as if it perfectly captured the image of a weary office worker who was exhausted day after day.

"So, what news do you have today? It's about time for the manuscript of Xenon's Biography to come in."

Upon seeing Mathew's face, the boss opened his mouth with a smile, and even grabbed his hands in anticipation.

Mathew raised his fallen glasses upon hearing the boss's question. In his arms lay a postal envelope.

"First, there are three pieces of news. Good news, normal news, and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"

Mathew replied with a tired voice to the boss's question. He always gave reports in that manner.

The boss raised a skeptical expression when he heard that there was bad news among the three news items, but he decided to hear the report first.

"Let's hear the normal news first."

"It's a story that the runner passed along to me. He asked if we could deliver fan letters from the publisher."

"Fan letters?"

"Yes. The letters that pile up on our company's publishing day."

Xenon's Biography is so popular worldwide that there are a lot of fans who are crazy about it. Not only were the fans diverse, ranging from the common people to high-ranking nobles.

But also, there were letters even from demons, dwarves, and occasionally elves and beast people. It is a fact that they have a wide reach regardless of nation or race, although we do not know what is in those letters.

However, due to circumstances, they cannot be directly sent to the author and are being sent to the publishing company. Even the publishing company has difficulty communicating with the author and has been accumulating them endlessly, but fortunately, it worked out this time.

"Of course we can. But how should we deliver them?"

"I've asked a messenger to send them. They said they would pay a reasonable fee, but please take care of security."

"I see. I was just wondering how to dispose of those."

As the boss pointed his thumb to the back, Matthew's gaze naturally followed. There was a square box that was not small in size, and it was filled with fan letters.

Considering the fact that the box was full of fan letters, one could guess how much was in there.

"Can you tell me some good news then?"

"The manuscript for Xenon's Biography, Volume 10, has just arrived."

It was really good news. The boss barely suppressed the urge to dance.

Xenon's Biography was at the level where money poured in when a new book came out, so there was nothing but joy.

However, He should not let his guard down. There was still bad news at the end.

The boss raised the corners of his mouth and asked Mathew.

"What's the last bad news?"

"Could you take a look at this? It's a manuscript that came in the mail, and I hope you can read the last page for me."

When Mathew handed over the manuscript, the boss received it without any suspicion, although he had some doubts. Then, he took out the manuscript from the already opened mail and turned to the last page as Mathew had instructed.

The last page contained the "Author's Note," which the author had never written before. The boss was briefly surprised, thinking that the author wanted to communicate with the world, but he could not hide his astonishment after reading the Author's Note.

"... I-Is this really...?"

Feeling his happy mood drop to the ground, the boss alternated between looking at Mathew and the manuscript, overwhelmed by a trembling voice and a look of fear.

"Well... it's just as you see."

In response, Mathew let out a deep sigh with a lifeless face and spoke in a voice that sounded embarrassed and unbelievable.

"He's taking a break for a year and a half to two years."

It was truly earth-shattering news.

For a while, the boss sat there as if his soul had left his body, then quickly shook his head and combed his hair hastily. It was not the first time he had faced a crisis while running his company.

Furthermore, the person who needed to regain his composure the most at this moment was none other than the boss himself. He then tried to figure out if he had missed anything in the Author's Note.

[Hello, dear readers. I am 'Xenon,' the author of Xenon's Biography. 'Xenon' is my temporary pen name, so you don't have to bother looking for me. Anyway, what I want to say to you all is...]

It is a seemingly ordinary greeting. After the greetings, "I was surprised that so many people loved Zenon's biography", "thank you so much", etc. There were only words to express their feelings.

But the problem arose in the middle.

[Although Xenon's Biography is a book that many people love, a burden has been placed on my shoulders in proportion to that love. It was simply a hobby for me to write, but it's been taking a toll on my body and mind. I want to write with a peaceful mind, so I've decided to take a break.]

It's a very polite statement, but the story is different when compared to the author's situation. People are currently tracking down the author of Xenon's Biography from various places.

Whether it's nobles, royals, or other races, they are all scrambling to find the author.

And in this situation, these words came out? In the eyes of readers, it will look like this.

[You guys are annoying me, so I'm going to take a break for a while. If you keep looking for me after I take a break, I won't publish any more books.]

From the reader's perspective, it will be like lightning striking the dry sky and causing a natural disaster. And it's obvious where the arrows of criticism will be directed. Of course, the world will be somewhat unsettled for a while.

Of course, from Isaac's perspective, he simply wants to concentrate on his studies, but unfortunately, most people are guessing that the author is a sage. Some even reported on the news that they spilled blood on a manuscript and are worried about their health.

As a result, readers may become anxious that the author is in danger. This may even mean that they won't be able to read Xenon's Biography forever.

"... ..."

The boss read the author's words again with a stern expression. Then, he let out a deep sigh and covered his face with one hand, murmuring to himself.

"Quickly call everyone together."

"What?"

"We need to hold an emergency meeting! Gather all the employees right away!"

"Yes, yes! I understand!"

As Matthew replied, the boss exploded with a rage that had never been seen before. When Mathew left the room, the boss only remained for a moment, before covering his face with both hands.

"These damn aristocrats... they only know how to help with money..."

While the CEO and the publishing company were busy, what was our Isaac doing?

"Hehehe."

"Is it nice?"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Even though we're just hugging?"

"Yeah!"

He was enjoying a happy date with Marie, completely unaware of what the world had in store for him.

Translators note:

Since diablo 4 open beta starts tomorrow I might be a bit late with chapter uploads this weekend but most likely not cause I'm gonna be stuck in a queue Kek

Also the new series is coming on monday.

I still have no idea how to coherently translate it's title lol