Surviving a Shounen Manga – Episode 99

An Appeal to Solidarity

This was how it began.

I was coming out of the third smuggling chief’s quarters, late at night.

There’d been no clue to Capone’s whereabouts, so my patience was a little thin.

And,

“Bring it all out.”

I was mobilizing the gangsters inside to bring out all the materials and equipment.

Just then,

“… Mr. Capone?”

An unfamiliar voice called out.

I glanced back reflexively in surprise.

There stood a middle-aged man with a pot belly. He seemed to be a smuggler who’d been woken up by all the noise the gangsters were making.

“Mr. Capone?”

“… Huh?”

Weirdly enough, he was calling me Capone.

“You’re Mr. Capone, right, sir?”

“What?”

Then,

“No… my mistake. Sorry!”

The pot-bellied man said hurriedly at my confused reply. Then he immediately whirled around and tried to disappear in the crowd.

It was then that an idea suddenly crossed my mind.

I immediately called him back.

“Wait, wait!”

“… Eh, ah, yes?”

“Stop for a moment.”

“…”

I asked him why he’d called me Capone.

His answer, however, was very simple.

“That was because… you were in charge.”

“In charge…? Ah.”

It was because the gangsters had been obediently following my order to haul things around.

“Hmm… So you’ve never seen Capone before?”

“Where’d somebody like me get the chance? Have you? The only gangsters I get to talk to are low level.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

It was an easy mistake for an outsider to make.

But I wondered if this was a type of ‘path’ to find Capone.

‘I almost missed this clue. I should’ve been more patient.’

Capone was even more secretive than I’d imagined. Even a well-connected local like this guy was unfamiliar with him.

Honestly, even the chief smuggler had said that he hardly ever saw the boss.

‘It’s odd.’

I’d had no idea that Capone’s identity was so mysterious. The original had made no mention of it.

And it was a surprise that the misunderstanding continued to proliferate.

Dawn was just about to break.

“Where should we put the money, Mr. Capone?”

In front of Jean’s warehouse, one of the gang members was the first to say that.

“What?”

“Eh? Ah, I was asking where should I put these…”

“No, before that. What did you call me?”

“Yes? Oh, should I… call you Lord Capone instead?”

“…”

Of course, this guy had the shackles engraved on him, so he had no choice but to be obedient. But that didn’t mean I’d asked him to call me Capone…

It wasn’t just him, either.

“Mr. Capone, should we keep the new metals somewhere else?”

“The warehouse is full. Should we move these to another one, Mr. Capone?”

All the gangsters following me were soon calling me that.

So when I asked why,

“It’s just that… what else should we call you?”

“I’ll change to something else if you don’t like it…”

These kinds of answers came back. While looking for a word to call me, they decided to just use ‘Mr. Capone’.

“Hmm.”

But this was very odd. Because ‘Capone’ didn’t mean some kind of position or rank. It was just one person’s name. The name of the boss of this place.

I decided to leave things alone for now. Because it might lead to something interesting – although I couldn’t tell exactly what.

Besides, being mistaken for Capone wasn’t necessarily. Rather, it could be beneficial.

As a result, all of a sudden, I was being called Mr. Capone by everyone.

---

• Keep calling me Capone.

• Let everyone know that Capone is here.

• Act as usual.

After I gave the gangsters these three instructions, I sent them all back.

If there were any special issues, they could just contact me.

Now was the time to tidy things up.

I first listed the current situation in my head.

• Capone couldn’t be seen.
• Capone’s organization here was much shabbier compared to the original.
• Most of the organization members had never seen Capone before.
• People were calling me Capone without feeling any sense of incongruity.

I could think of two possibilities.

1. Capone and his headquarters did exist. They just hadn’t appeared yet.
2. The character called Capone was not yet created.

In the first scenario, there was really nothing to worry about.

I didn’t really care where Capone was what he was doing.

He wasn’t here right now, but he should appear soon.

So I’d just wait for him to arrive and then deal with him like I’d planned.

The important issue was with the second scenario.

What if the character called Capone was not created yet?

And what if it wasn’t just because the author was being lazy?

What if the author was currently debating whether or not to create the character called Capone?

It might seem absurd at first blush, but the idea wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

The author would have a good reason to hesitate.

It was the same reason why I was trying to get rid of Capone.

Simple. The number of chapters in this arc was limited compared to rise in lead characters.

In a way, it was natural. The author was more liable to have a headache about the composition of this arc instead of me.

The author knew it as well as I did.

Two lead characters had been added. One of them was an uncontrollable and rampant bastard, at that. What’d happen if all the existing characters were also kept?

The characters might not get enough screentime, and there was a very high risk that the arc itself would become chaotic. The situation had changed a lot last time when he’d happily introduced Gronyan.

Moreover, in this chapter, apart from new strong characters who had be highlighted, there were also other concerns.

In order to follow the original plan, Tanya and Kiriko must had to get some of the spotlight.

Only then would Tanya be able to become Leo’s new ally, and Kiriko would be able to awaken; thus inducing a surge in the Leo Adventurers’ stock price, which had recently fallen low.

In total, there were ten people to consider.

• Three in the Leo Adventurers (Leo, Kiriko, Tanya),
• Gronyan,
• Karl Zayed,
• Four new powerhouses,
• And, of course, me.

I considered the author’s point of view.

If any of these had to be eliminated, or their significance reduced… who should it be?

It was difficult to choose. Definitely. Deleting a character meant deleting all the stories associated with them.

But if one had to be picked, there was only one sensible choice.

Somebody among the four powerhouses who didn’t need the spotlight as much.

And that, was Capone.

For a single reason. Leaving out his importance in this current arc, he had the least weight in the story to come.

If you left out Capone, the other two powerhouses, Cyborg Gelop and Magic Weapon Jimus, were slated to play a fairly important role not only in this arc but also in the Northland side in the future. In the first place, the background setting was that they’d been sent from Northland to secure the Ramirez.

‘… Are you really going to delete Capone?’

It was a definite possibility.

But nevertheless, I couldn’t be sure.

In fact, the role that Capone had played in the original wasn’t insignificant.

Wasn’t he the ‘Ruler of Gibrante’? Capone was the one whose existence had crystallized the background and atmosphere of this city. Moreover, the ‘black market’ he managed was a foreshadowing of the atmosphere of Northland.

And also –

He was the opponent the author had prepared for Kiriko.

Through his fight with this guy, Kiriko would awaken, and the readers would cheer at the sight.

It was a touch choice. Especially for the author who’d planned it all.

“Hmm… he sure has it rough.”

My position was different from the author. I was just thinking of eating him up and increasing my own significance, but the author had to calculate how Capone’s existence or the lack of it would affect the other characters.

Was he perhaps feeling lost?

Then,

“Hm? Wait a minute, maybe…”

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

Might the author ‘officially’ transfer Capone’s background to me?

Hadn’t I received a similar offer once before?

Was I going to become Capone?

I explored the possibilities for this.

But soon,

‘No, that can’t be.’

I shook my head.

I was already too well-established a character to suddenly become someone else.

What would I say, that I’d always been Capone, the Smuggler, the Ruler of Gibrante?

The readers would riot, saying what the hell was this sudden nonsense.

I was already depending on my ‘goblin’ background to digest all these backgrounds I’d accumulated…

Rather, it would be far more plausible to say that, according to my original plan, I’d defeated Capone and devoured his organization.

‘Of course, I don’t think the author would allow such a development.’

The character called Capone was too precious to be consumed in that way.

Capone, as seen in the original, was a character that the author made with great care, both in terms of his unique abilities and his background.

Would he throw away a character like that without even using it?

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing.”

It was a long chain of thought, but the conclusion was simple.

I didn’t know.

…

In the end, I got up from my seat, still undecided.

For now, I’d just be called Capone, and wait for the real Capone to arrive.

---

Two days later.

Only three days or so left before I expected everybody to arrive here in Gibrante.

Capone still hadn’t showed his face.

Of course,

“How are you, Mr. Capone?”

“Good job, Mr. Capone.”

“Are you going to stay here now, Mr. Capone?”

The gangsters were probably thinking the opposite.

“Where’s Cormier?”

“In the warehouse.”

I leisurely raised my hand in response to the gang members who greeted me, then opened the door of the warehouse and went in.

Whiiiirrrrr–.

Cormier didn’t seem to even notice that I’d come.

I watched from up close as he toiled.

A long piece of scrap metal in the shape of a guitar case, with a bulging upper part, and the shape narrowing as it went down.

It was the leg part of the robot.

Of course, it didn’t resemble what one would think a ‘leg’. Rather, it resembled the shape of a gun more.

However, the reason I was able to convince myself that it was a leg, was simple.

Because I’d advised this form.

I peered a little closer.

Soon,

“Wait, wait! Do you think my legs would fit in there?”

I had to stop Cormier.

Now he seemed to realize that I was here.

“… Huh?”

“Look, the space is too small.”

“The rider’s body has to be in full contact for smooth piloting. Just endure even if there’s a little pain.”

“What are you talking about? I clearly told you. You could use a liquid metal that can connect with nerves. If you use that, even if you don’t make it so narrow…”

“Where?”

“Huh?”

“Where is it? That metal. What’s it called?”

“Eh? Uh… well.”

Of course I didn’t know. I wouldn’t be able to recognize it even if somebody put it in front of me. I just knew that there was such a thing.

But I couldn’t exactly say that, could I?

“Tch, shouldn’t the designer himself look for it… There’re still a few more metals in the warehouse, so take a look.”

Then I carefully stepped away.

After all, I couldn’t contribute anything to the work itself.

Cormier stared after me silently for a while, but soon went back to focusing on the job.

Whiiiirrrrr–.

Only the day before Cormier had started prototyping the ‘Smart Armoured Cavalry’, a rideable robot.

It hadn’t been a lie that this guy didn’t know about it. He hadn’t even thought up the ‘concept’.

And to top it all off,

“A pilotable robot? How’s that more useful compared to current equipment? It can be a bit bigger and tougher, sure, but you’d lose more in agility.”

He didn’t even recognize its usefulness.

Cormier was adamant that ‘clothing-type equipment’ that mimicked ‘armour creation ability’ were the apex of personal armaments.

But this was the part that confused me.

Why did he think so? ‘Clothes’ like my gloves could never stand up to ‘robots’, right?

How absurd.

‘Rather, shouldn’t he know this better than me?’

White Rain, designed by Cormier himself, had a gotten such a cheat characteristic as ‘unbreakable’ basically due to two factors.

1. The enormous amount of materials used in its construction
2. The concept of ‘ship’

In particular, in ‘designing’, the ‘concept’ that defined the object was more important than anything else. Because the characteristics of the product could be designated based on the concept.

In other words, looking at these two factors alone, ‘robots’ were obviously stronger than ‘clothes’.

The construction needed a lot more materials, and it was easier to add ‘combat-related characteristics’ to the concept of a robot.

How could somebody like Cormier overlook that?

Of course, I knew that designers had a tendency to ‘streamline’ and ‘simplify’. But surely there were limits?

So I stubbornly told him. Just once, to make what I told him. I’d tell him about the form it’d take.

“Huff…”

Since I wasn’t there to hold his hand, he was running wild.

I watched Cormier work for a while from a distance, then turned around.

‘Well, he’ll make something, anyway.’

I wasn’t demanding the same product he was supposed to make in the future, anyway. I didn’t know if making that was even possible at this time, and it could also cause other problems.

Just as I left Cormier’s workshop –

Suddenly,

“M-, Mr. Capone!”

Someone called out to me in a panicked tone.

A member of the organization, who’d come running from a distance.

“What’s the matter?”

“There, out there…”

‘Out there’ seemed to refer to the outside of the factory area.

“Out there what?”

“M-, Mr. Capone… No, a man who says he’s Mr. Capone…”

“Huh?”

At that moment,

“Where?”

I figured out what’d happened.

He’d finally come. The real Capone.

‘Did the author decide?’

I ran straight in the direction the gangster had pointed to.

I forgot to even take the equipment Cormier had made.

But even though I remembered along the way, I didn’t turn back. Laying eyes on Capone was more urgent.

Finally,

…

I was able to meet a middle-aged man with a tall fedora hat. Behind him stood a dozen or so men who looked like subordinates.

“Who are you?”

“… That’s my line. Who are you?”

“This is crazy. What the hell happened while I was away? I’m Capone! Capone the Smuggler! Ruler of Gibrante! I told him to call the guy impersonating me… Oh, is that you?”

It was astounding. Extraordinarily so.

“You’re Capone? Seriously?”

“What? Haha, this cheeky Squatjaw…”

I stared at the man.

He wasn’t the Capone I knew. There was no resemblance. In appearance, and in power level.

‘What happened? Is he just some impostor?’

But he sounded too arrogant for that.

Was he really Capone?

But that’d be crazy. Somebody like him could never take on the role of that Capone.

It was a bizarre situation.

That was then.

Tiling–.

Suddenly, a message arrived in the hologram window.

Leaving me astonished once I read it.

[You have received a mission proposal from the author]

• Catch Capone!
  • Defeat the man in front of you and absorb his organization.

[A linked action that must be performed afterwards.]

[Please press to check the details.]

[Rewards]

• If accepted, the current scene will be appended to the chapter.
• Author’s favourability will increase by 100.
• Character points will be paid 100,000p.
• Additional 100,000p will be paid for each successful linked action.

※ As this is a proposal separate from the preceding plot, refusing it will not incur any penalty.

“Heeh…”

I checked the details of the linked actions.

A lot of words were written there, but to summarize –

1. To declare a winner-takes-all battle with Ramirez’s Treasure at stake.
2. To lure adventurer teams to the factory area.
3. To have a fight against Kiriko from the Leo Adventurers.

“Hey…”

So this was what the author decided to do in the end?

How amazing.

He was making an appeal to solidarity.

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Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.

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