In the study of the Loki Familia.
Hestia and Loki were sprawled across the bed, staring at the huge pile of gold coins earned from selling the comics, practically delirious with joy.
Meanwhile, Alice was seated on the sofa, holding a teacup with her left hand and taking delicate sips. Her right arm lay limp beside her, where Shanghai and Hourai were diligently massaging it.
Signing a hundred books wasn't really all that strenuous.
But during the signing session, one thing proved to be quite troublesome.
Both gods and adventurers had a small request—they wanted Alice to include their names along with her signature.
Alice's signature only consisted of the five letters for ["Alice"], nothing more.
So the gods suggested adding their own names as well.
As a result, what should have been just five letters per book turned into twice, or even several times, that amount.
The initial batch of a hundred books sold out in less than half an hour.
But this simple addition of names multiplied the workload of Alice's signing task several times over.
The signing event ended up dragging on much longer than expected.
Since Alice wasn't used to writing much, by the time it was over, her arm felt sore and aching.
That's why Shanghai and Hourai were now giving her a massage.
As for hoping the two gods currently cackling over their money on the bed would lend a hand—well, that was simply out of the question.
She flexed her arm slightly, and under Shanghai and Hourai's attentive massage, the soreness gradually faded away.
"Alright, that's enough. Thank you both, Shanghai, Hourai," Alice said gratefully.
Receiving her thanks, Shanghai and Hourai twirled happily in the air before both slipped into a gap and vanished.
Alice then turned her gaze to the two on the bed counting their earnings.
Since it was a signing event, and Alice herself was doing the signing, every god present wanted to show off their coolest side in front of her.
Loki and Hestia had priced the comics quite cheaply. Since the story wasn't a one-off, they set the price for each volume at just 300 Valis.
About the cost of a bowl of noodles—very affordable, so anyone could buy one.
But today, the gods were exceptionally generous when it came to paying.
Right where Alice could see, they'd toss their money pouches to Hestia with what they thought was a dashing gesture, flick back their stray locks, and utter in a deep, magnetic voice, "Keep the change."
Whether these antics actually attracted Alice or made her happy was unclear.
But Hestia knew one thing for sure.
Every one of those gods who tossed their pouches with such flair seemed incredibly cool to her in that moment.
As for whether Hestia was mentally questioning their intelligence, no one knew either, but at the very least, she greeted every god with a smile.
Especially the ones with the bulgiest money pouches—those, she found the coolest of all.
"We really hit the jackpot this time! Just one signing and we made this much—must be around 500,000 Valis, right? And the goods only cost 30,000 Valis. Alice-chan's power is truly something else," Hestia mused, sprawled on Loki's bed with deep emotion.
This was probably the first time Hestia had ever earned so much money by herself in the lower world, so the feeling was extraordinary for her.
Loki, on the other hand, was relatively calmer, though she was equally amazed by Alice's influence.
"Yeah, Alice-chan's charm is really something. But it's not surprising. If it were me, a signing event is a rare chance to get Alice-chan to remember you. Of course, you'd want to make the most of it."
With that, Loki let out a soft 'pfft' of laughter.
"Just didn't expect all those guys to use the same routine. Couldn't they be a little more creative?"
Hearing this, Alice couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth slightly.
"Speaking of which, what story did you two draw this time? It's about me, right? If the story's boring, I'll be very upset, you know."
Even though it was a comic where she was the main character, and she'd even signed a hundred copies,
Alice still hadn't actually seen the content.
"There's a copy on the bookshelf over there. You can grab it yourself, Alice," Loki said from the bed, pointing to the shelf behind Alice.
Alice turned and spotted the comic right away—it was hard to miss, since that shelf only had that one thin booklet.
She twitched her finger slightly, the ring on her hand glinting as a thread shot out, retrieving the booklet.
She opened it and skimmed through a few pages.
It was still a simple story, but much better than the heroic epics. The protagonist was herself, and the plot basically involved her traveling to strange places and meeting peculiar people.
"What you're reading now is just the first chapter that Loki and I drew. There'll be plenty more later. We plan to turn [Alice's Adventures] into a story known throughout the whole world," Hestia declared.
If there was one thing Hestia had, as a god billions of years old, even if she didn't know everything, she was still very familiar with the customs and cultures of various places.
Hestia's story was about the protagonist's travels and experiences—lighthearted and easy to follow, complemented perfectly by Loki's adorable art style.
About a dozen pages—Alice finished flipping through them quickly and nodded in approval.
"Quite good."
Hearing Alice's praise, Hestia was overjoyed.
Alice smiled gently. "Hestia's story is fun, and Loki's art style is lovely. I hope you two keep getting better. Oh, and Hestia, don't forget my 30% cut."
"Uh... hehe, of course not," Hestia replied with an awkward chuckle.
Seeing Hestia's reaction, Loki chuckled too.
"By the way, Alice, you know about the Monster Feria, right?"
Suddenly remembering something, Loki looked at Alice and asked.
"Monster Feria? I know of it. It should be starting soon, right? Is there a problem?" Alice looked at Loki curiously.
Loki scratched her head. "It's in less than a week. Actually, I wanted to ask if you'd like to come with us during the Monster Feria."
Hearing this, Alice lowered her head and thought seriously for a moment, then looked up at Loki with a smile.
"No problem, I'd love to."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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