Surviving a Shounen Manga

Now Do as You Please

I stood atop a mountain and looked down.

Gazing upon a panoramic view that captured the delicate and charming features of the city below.

Clone City.

The reason I'd chosen this tiny city as the place for the goblins to come on stage was very simple.

Because this was where Leo and his party would first intervene in the Ramirez Scramble.

The first battlefield that the readers would see from Leo's point of view.

Merely that. Else I would've chosen a bigger and more spacious place. It was no small task to contain a hundred goblins who were anxious to jump out and wreck havoc.

Of course, I'd also considered moving the arena to somewhere else. I was holding the Ramirez right now, after all. As long as I went somewhere else, I thought everyone else would also follow.

But I scrapped this thought in the end. Because so many people were fated to gather and clash here, I had no way to know what kind of butterfly effect might happen if I arbitraily moved the location. If the characters that should've appeared didn't manage to catch up in time, the plot progression would be completely twisted.

But,

"A Black Shadow member?"

Now my thoughts were beginning to run a little differently.

"This guy?"

I grasped the masked man's collar by one hand and gently lifted him up.

Then,

"Yes, there's a mark on the back of the neck. I'm sure. Looks like an officer."

Haka gave a quiet smile and nodded.

I was feeling quite nonplussed.

"Black Shadow… Why is that name popping up here all of a sudden… no, more than anything else, why's he this strong?"

"… Strong? Didn't he fall down at the first blow? The others held out longer, right? Like that guy there… or that other guy over there…"

Haka pointed to the scattered human bodies lying nearby.

He wasn't wrong. Those other, bigger guys had resisted three to four hits.

In comparison, this bastard in my hand was the weakest. He'd passed out in an instant with just one shot to the temple.

The problem was, I'd felt a smidgen of threat from his thrown weapon. And a scout like him could only be a low to middle level assassin among his peers.

The Black Shadow I knew, was not a force with that kind of power.

It was merely an underworld organization that'd appeared as the final enemy in an early arc, not the first main boss of the story. It made no sense that a low-tier member, not the boss or even an executive, would be capable of threatening me as I was now.

I couldn't treat it as just another run-of-the-mill organization…

At that moment,

‘Ah…! Another organization…'

I realized.

Literally, it had to be another, completely new organization.

In the original plot, the Black Shadow had never appeared again. After Yan's joining, their story was over.

But now, an organization that should've only existed as a setting within the story reappeared?

An organization that should've naturally been forgotten?

I could make a few guesses as to why this had happened.

Author's intervention.

Clearly, the author had brought it back to life to add to the number of asassins after my head. Since the organization already existed as part of the setting, he'd recycled it.

But of course, it should've been impossible to resurrect the characters who'd appeared last time. They must've all been ‘deleted'.

Meaning the current Black Shadow couldn't be judged by the same scale as its former incarnation. I had to think of it as a new organization, filled with ‘new characters' who'd been born with the advantage of the new power balance, merely using the Black Shadow moniker.

Moreover, it was a common shounen manga trope that when a character or organization reappeared after a long time in a ‘new setting', it'd come with a huge power upgrade.

Maybe these bastards were the same.

For example, they were the ‘hidden secret force' within Black Shadow, or the ‘core bodyguards' secretly raised by the boss.

"He was fast and stealthy. There was some heavy power behind his knife throw. Doesn't match those bastards that I know."

"Hmm… is that so?"

"You mean you didn’t feel anything fishy?"

"Well… honestly, Sir Squatjaw, I only saw you blow him away. I can't judge anything from that, can I?"

"…"

That was no help at all.

"That reminds me. Are you still in contact with those bastards?"

"No. Oddly enough, they just suddenly cut off contact one day. I wasn't involved too deeply with them, so there was no point worrying too much about it. In fact, I thought they'd withdrawn from Westland altogether. There wasn't any news of them since then."

"But now they've appeared again?"

"Yeah. With a lot of fanfare, to boot."

What Haka had told me a while ago was somewhat shocking.

That the Black Shadow had suddenly come back to the limelight.

A large number of their assassins had gathered here in Westland.

Possibly on the orders of their boss, whom I was hearing of for the first time.

The guildmaster of Black Shadow, Groaniyan.

Once called the Assassin King, and now one of the Underworld Kings who ruled the East Continent.

"He created the Westland Assassination Association just a few days ago and came straight to this place. His goal, of course, is you, Sir Squatjaw."

"Did you… know, by any chance?"

"Yes? About what?"

"About his history."

"Ummm… no? This is my first time hearing about him. I've never met the guildmaster directly. That being said, it seems a bit odd that there're suddenly so many rumours circulating about him."

"Is that so?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, not really."

All of this, the guildmaster, the Assassination Association and so on… the author must've created the settings for them early on. Maybe he'd spent a lot of effort desiging the details. And so he was now able to bring them to the stage in such a hurry. To the extent of ignoring the damage to narrative plausibility.

In any case, the summary was as follows:

Hundreds of new assassins, led by the guildmaster of Black Shadow, had flocked to this narrow city, following the numerous adventurer teams that'd come coveting treasure.

To hunt me down.

…

I carelessly threw away the guy in my hand and slumped down on the rock next to me. Then I pulled out a piece of paper from my pocket.

It was a list of characters I was trying to deal with in this arc.

1. Welsh Adventurer Team – Two adversaries

2. Geronimo Adventurer Team – Geronimo (Soldier)

3. Big Turtle Adventurer Team – Captain Turtle, Vice-Captain Turtle

4. Twin Adventures – Two blond twins

⦙

The requirements for being on the list were simple.

First, they had to have the leading point of view at some point during this arc.

Second, they had to be people I could beat.

In a word, they were food to grow my level.

No matter how strong somebody is, unless he wins in front of the readers, it doesn't mean anything. And fighting somebody you can't beat has to be avoided at all costs.

However, this list now seemed meaningless. Because the viewpoints would almost certainly not be distributed like in the original work, since the author had brought in a lot of new manpower.

Also, it was already closer to a defense game rather than a scramble. If the fight turned into an army of characters attacking me, instead of them scrambling and fighting each other to get the treasure…

Without further thought, I immediately tore apart the list.

Instead, I started thinking about what I had to do to meet my goals.

But nothing came to mind other than:

1. Giving up the Ramirez.

2. And coming back later.

There were only two people who'd unconditionally own the Ramirez in the near future.

Leo, and Karl Zayed.

To be honest, did I really have to pass it on to those two? It was true that I'd planned on it. But now I was having second thoughts, wondering if I could just hold on to it by myself.

But still, I thought this would definitely cross a line. Since the author's preceding plot would completely turn to shit.

I could only possess it if it didn't interfere with Tanya being fully accepted into Leo's team, and Karl Zayed's weakness being revealed.

In other words, I had to respect the overall plotline.

Leo would anyway hand the treasure over to Karl Zayed at that time, so the rest of the process didn't really matter.

The problem was when to give it to Leo.

When? And how?

It was impossible to reproduce the same situation as the original.

In the original story, Leo came to the city, and shortly thereafter with Tanya's guidance, he encountered the guy running away with the treasure. After defeating him, it naturally fell into his hands.

But I didn't want to give it up so easily.

I didn't like the thought of being chased by an army of enemies, but getting beaten by Leo and my treasure being snatched away? That wasn't going to happen even if it killed me.

Hmmm.

‘Isn't there any other way?'

There was one plan I'd made ahead of time in case things went south.

Plan B. AKA, ‘do as you please.'

If you can't think of a clean countermeasure, why keep squeezing your brain to come up with something half-baked? It'll just make things worse.

And I didn't have to deal with everything myself. I just had to let others carry the story on their own.

The only question was how much damage ‘they' would do.

And whether I could bear the aftereffects.

‘… I might end up paying a penalty.'

I shook my head vigorously.

Don't know, don't care!

It was all water under the bridge anyway. Ever since I'd brought the goblins here; no, strictly speaking, ever since the author had kicked me away to Eastland, this was all set in stone.

‘Let's go then, Sir Author. It's all up to you now to handle.'

Roughly gathering my thoughts, I got up.

Now that the idea was there, I felt like I had to start preparing right away.

"What happened to Cocoa and Chinuavi?"

"They're together. Sir Cocoavi is probably in the central tent, and Sir Chinuavi… somewhere in the crowd, probably."

"Then who's the temporary boss right now? Do you know?"

"Nest…avi? I think he's called something like that."

"Nestavi… Oh, that guy I saw once in Oldboy’s living room? Good. Best I have a chat with him, then."

It was only after arriving here that I found out, but surprisingly, the goblins had been waiting for almost a full fortnight without causing any trouble.

The reason being that they'd found a fun game to waste the time.

It was called ‘change the boss.'

Those crazy bastards were playing the ‘game of kings' and betting on it.

Come to think of it, unlike me, who'd been recognized as the boss through a bet with Oldboy, Chinuavi had only been appointed to his position by my order. The fact that all the other goblins had followed it so meekly should've tipped me off that there was something afoot.

Funnily enough, Chinuavi had very quickly lost his position. Didn't he boast about having the highest win rate or something at some point? Either way, I was just glad that he hadn't lost it while on the ship.

‘Do your best, and don't bother me.'

To be honest, giving orders to the goblins was no easy task. Due to their very nature, they always interpreted their orders whichever way they wanted and acted as they pleased. I couldn't control them either, without being constantly by their side.

Still, luckily,

"Relay an order to them."

"I can do that, but I don't know if it'll reach everybody…"

Today, they were getting an order they'd be prefectly happy to obey.

"It's fine as long as it reaches even a single one of them. From there it'll spread on its own."

Because my order this time was pretty simple. ‘Do as you please.'

Near the entrance to Clone City.

"I’m not going."

Halting abruptly in place, Tanya declared.

"I’m sorry. I can’t leave."

She couldn't just run away, even if it killed her.

But,

"Then what're you going to do, if you aren't leaving?"

"You have to come, Tanya."

"Sigh. Are you thinking of tangling with that monster? You of all people?"

"Tanya, don’t get me wrong. You are a thief. Not a fighter."

The other guys seemed to have a different opinion.

"Who said anything about fighting? The goal is to steal the treasure."

Of course, not by herself.

There was no way she could think of that'd work.

But Tanya was sure. As long as she tried hard to search, she'd surely find a way somehow. That was how things always went.

But the others were timid.

"You fool, is there such a thing as treasure in the world? How many times have I told you? There's only one precious thing in this world."

"Your own life."

"That’s it."

"Got it? Now stop talking nonsense and let’s go."

But Tanya didn't move.

"I told you already. I'm not going."

And then, as if they didn't even care, the others hurried their steps to leave.

"Okay, then."

"Contact us if you do manage to steal it."

"Don’t get followed."

"…"

Tanya stared at their backs, then turned around.

Cowards!

No matter how they prettied up the words as the Huntingtons' principle, in the end it only meant one thing.

They were just scared.

If you're planning to steal from others, don't you have to be ready to get into a fight?

If you have real greed, danger shouldn't stop you, now should it? Even in this age of adventure, they were a bunch of scaredy-cats huddling together in the name of a ‘band'.

"Hmph."

This was why Tanya had always dreamed of independence despite spending countless days with the Huntingtons.

It wasn't enough for her. Her aspiration was to one day steal even the world itself.

Shouldn't greed also be part of the measure of a person's worth?

The Huntingtons lacked that quality. They weren't quialified to be true rogues.

"I'm different from them. Different!"

After muttering for a while, Tanya took one long breath.

Then she started to focus.

How could she get the Ramirez back from Squatjaw?

Of course, she wasn't merely engrossed in ‘deliberation'.

Tanya's eyes were shining brightly.

She was looking for a path.

That was then.

Psssh–.

"Huh?"

Something flashed in the distance near an alleyway.

‘What, is it this easy?'

There was no doubt that the light was clearly distinct from the surrounding objects. It was a signal from her pathfinding eye.

Tanya hurriedly ran towards the light.

And there,

"Huh?"

"What, is it this girl?"

"I don't think so? Besides… I think she's ‘seen' us too…"

She met a group of four people.

A messy-haired boy with a scarf around his neck, a boy with a small, somewhat shrunken build, a redheaded spubku-looking guy and finally a woman with a strange smile.

All of them were shining in her eyes.

"Hey… are you an adventurer team?"

Tanya asked cautiously.

The word ‘seen' clearly meant that there was a guide in the group, meaning they were likely adventurers. Hopefully they weren't plain bandits.

"Yeah, we're the Leo Adventurers. I am Leo."

"Leo?"

It was a name she'd heard somewhere.

Where did she hear it, again…?

At that moment,

"Oh!"

Tanya let out a sound of surprise.

"Huh? What is it?"

"N-, no, nothing…"

She remembered. These people were the same adventurer team who'd had a running battle with the rest of the Huntingtons over the lost treasure of Hetro Temple. She'd gotten a letter from Eastland full of colourful curses about these four, so the information was fresh in her mind.

‘Wow, so that's who they are?'

It was a strange relationship.

Tanya's eyes quickly filled with curiosity.

"I'm Tanya. A guide."

"Seems like it. Did you ‘see' us too?"

It wsa as she'd surmised. Their guide had also been looking for a path and stumbled upon her. Although she couldn't quite guess why.

"So, why did you come here? Are you after the treasure?"

"Yeah, and… the guy who's got it now is due for some payback."

Saying so, Leo grinned and clenched his fists.

Tanya's eyes changed slightly as she looked at him.

This guy was burning with enthusiasm at the very thought of competing against ‘that monster'. Without the slightest trace of fear, he was purely looking forward to their meeting.

‘Is he that confident?'

Hmm.

The minute tremors that wracked his body were clearly not from fear. They were from excitement.

He looked oddly striking.

There had to be a reason why her pathfinding eyes had settled upon then.

"Alright. I'll guide you."

Tanya made a snap decision. She was going to stick with them for now.

"Do you know where Squatjaw is?"

"Of course."

Of course that was a lie.

But Tanya didn't think it'd be that difficult to find the man. It was no secret that a squat-jawed guy had been knocking the lights out of anybody going up the nearby mountain. It was the talk of every single tavern in the city.

"So just follow me and…"

That was then.

"But… I don't think it's necessary, you know?"

"What?"

The redheaded man, who'd been silent till now, suddenly spoke.

"I don’t think we need this woman to find Squatjaw."

"…"

It wasn't funny.

"Hey, so you're a guide too, is that it? You're that confident in your eyes?"

But,

"Ah… no, cancel that. We do need her, probably."

Suddenly, the redhead changed his mind again.

What was he up to?

As Tanya impatiently took one step closer to the redhead –

She noticed the strange expression on his face. As if he was… startled, or speechless?

‘What?'

So, Tanya also naturally turned her head to follow his gaze.

Then,

"… What the hell?"

She was similarly astounded.

The redhead had indeed been correct to say that she wasn't needed to find Squatjaw.

Because Squatjaw's form was openly visible, over the mountain's side in the distance.

Squatjaw was coming down the mountain.

Or more precisely,

"… N-, not just one?"

"… How many are there?!"

‘They're all Squatjaws.'

Dozens of… no, close to a hundred people, were running down the mountain.

Editor's Notes:

None for this chapter.

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