章 69: [69] The Golden Age
Suddenly, Tohsaka Tokiomi remembered that he forgot to ask for Kurokawa Kazuya's address.
"Should I investigate it myself?"
However, this task couldn't be entrusted to magus. Otherwise, they might obtain more manuscripts of Fate/Zero from Kurokawa Kazuya, which would be disadvantageous for him.
He couldn't leave Fuyuki City on his own, and without a confirmed location for Kurokawa Kazuya, he didn't have much time for an investigation.
There was no other option. He would have to send Kirei to handle it. Tohsaka trusted him. Judging from the manga's performance, he was a disciple worth trusting.
But, he had once again forgotten his own advice about not letting Kotomine Kirei see this manga.
...
"Wow, this is amazing!" Rito Ishizaki's eyes lit up. This artwork had a peculiar style, and to him, it had a strong epic feel.
However...
After a while, he became conflicted.
Should he vote for JoJo this time, or should he go for Fate?
...
"Insufficient? Print more copies!" JUMP's Editor-in-Chief, Shigeo Nishimura, said on the phone. He was excited but had gotten used to it.
Of course, he was still very excited.
The general hierarchy levels at JUMP are Editor, Team Leader, Deputy Chief Editor, Chief Editor, Editor-in-Chief.
As the Editor-in-Chief, Shigeo Nishimura was at the top of JUMP, and he believed that he wouldn't be able to stay in this position for much longer. However, JUMP was currently experiencing a peak during his tenure.
These last few issues saw the storylines of the manga on JUMP reaching a climax. One after another, the rankings kept changing—today it was first place, tomorrow it might be fifth or sixth. However, in reality, the difference in votes wasn't that significant.
The reason was that every manga had its own climax, propelling JUMP to new heights.
Dragon Ball started from a lukewarm beginning but rapidly climbed, with the story progressing to the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Hokuto no Ken reached its zenith with Kenshiro's ultimate showdown against Raoh.
Captain Tsubasa was in the middle of a fierce match between Nankatsu Elementary and Toho Elementary.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure featured Joseph's battle against the Pillar Men.
And the new serialization, though the survey results had yet to be released, was already generating a lot of buzz—Fate/Zero!
JUMP's sales had already exceeded 4 million, but it still wasn't enough! More copies needed to be printed!
JUMP's glorious era was unfolding under his leadership.
"Editor-in-Chief Nishimura, the preliminary survey results are in."
"Hmm... How's the preliminary survey looking?" Shigeo Nishimura asked eagerly.
"Um, well, the preliminary survey shows that the new manga, Fate/Zero, is in first place with 63 votes, followed by Hokuto no Ken with 28 votes, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with 27 votes in third place, and Dragon Ball with 25 votes in fourth place..."
"Huh? Bring it here; let me take a look!" Shigeo Nishimura was slightly surprised.
He also liked this manga a lot. It had an unexpected boldness, and while the art style was different from the current trend, it was still visually appealing. The action scenes felt realistic, and the author seemed to have genuine knowledge in that area.
But he never expected this manga to become so popular.
With this thought in mind, he looked at the comments on the survey.
[Amazing, what is this?]
[Impressive, as expected from Kurokawa-sensei, the new manga is just as entertaining.]
[Those bugs are so disgusting...]
[Who's that last female knight? She's so beautiful.]
[Irisviel von Einzbern, the female character, looks so lovely. How did they draw her?]
Almost all the comments for Fate/Zero were positive. Those who hadn't chosen it had some comments like, "Fate is so disgusting; they subjected a young girl to that kind of thing. What is the author thinking?"
It could be said that this manga had already captured the hearts of its readers within its first chapter.
Shigeo Nishimura was well aware that this manga would only get more exciting as it went on.
But a problem had arisen.
Fate/Zero was only thirty-two chapters long. In other words, it would finish in less than a year. What would they do after that?
If the manga didn't have much impact, it would be fine. However, if it did...
"Yeah, the world of Fate/Zero seems quite extensive... Let's see if we can convince the author to continue?" He decided to use JUMP's preferred method of "not letting it end."
However, everything depended on how things developed.
Afterward...
As expected, when the complete survey results came in, Fate/Zero held its position at the top, just like in the preliminary survey.
In this issue, JUMP's sales exceeded 4.5 million.
The next issue of JUMP was released, and the popularity of Fate grew even hotter. Sales reached 4.7 million.
Originally planning to come over here and hypnotize the high-ranking staff at JUMP, Tohsaka Tokiomi somehow didn't show up.
...
Meanwhile, in Morioh Town...
Kazuya kept switching TV channels.
"No news from Fuyuki today... And Tohsaka Tokiomi hasn't visited either..."
It had been two weeks since Fate/Zero began serialization in JUMP, and the second chapter of Fate had also been published.
While the votes had declined slightly, Fate/Zero was still in first place.
All of his preparations had been completed. His entire set of Fate/Zero had already been delivered. Even if Tohsaka Tokiomi was calculating how best to use it, he should have finished by now.
But why had no one shown up?
Tohsaka Tokiomi hadn't come, and neither had the Mage's Association.
If the television wasn't broadcasting any related news because it was being suppressed, what was happening?
Could it be that this world was truly devoid of mystery?
Kazuya felt a sense of suffocation in his chest. His passion for creating manga had waned lately because he yearned for mystery, the unknown, and interesting things.
But...
All his preparations had been made, so why had no one come? Was this world really so devoid of mystery? Was it truly as uninteresting as it seemed?
---
The Holy Grail War has begun!
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