Uchiha Byakuya had a surprising amount of free time given the situation, so aside from spending time with Yoshimura Eto and overseeing some business regarding the TSC , he even signed a contract for a work at Shoei Publishing.
Given his status as the Commissioner-General of the CCG/TSC, even if he had submitted gibberish, they would have signed with him without a second thought.
Of course, what he wrote wasn't anything poor or half-assed, it was Attack on Titan.
Even though the original Attack on Titan was a manga, Byakuya wasn't skilled in art, and drawing manga was far too slow.
So instead, he chose to recreate and 'copywrite' Attack on Titan in prose, using the pen name Hajime Fujimoto.
Whether he could fully capture the essence of the original manga wasn't important as he was doing this entirely for Eto, but of course, he would still give it his best.
Just writing it out based on his memory of the plot, how hard could that be?
That's why Byakuya was churning out content at an exceptionally fast pace.
Eto had also noticed that Byakuya seemed to be busy writing something recently. At first, she thought it was some matter related to the TSC that required his attention.
But over time, she realized; this guy was just typing.
"Are you writing a book or something?"
That night, Eto finally couldn't help but ask Byakuya.
"Yeah."
Byakuya admitted directly, without slowing the rhythm of his fingers dancing across the keyboard.
"What are you writing?"
Eto was instantly intrigued.
"Attack on Titan. That's the name of the book," Byakuya Uchiha replied.
"Attack on Titan..."
The title didn't strike any particular chord with Eto, since her own tastes leaned more toward proper literary works.
But she was still quite interested, after all, it was a book written by Byakuya. "Have you finished the first volume yet? If you have, let me read it."
She didn't want to read something halfway finished as she'd understand nothing. Naturally, it was best to start from the beginning.
"Almost. I'll send you the digital draft when it's done."
Byakuya answered.
He had always intended for Eto to be the first reader of 'his' work in this world.
"By the way, what pen name are you using?"
Eto was a little curious what sort of pseudonym this guy would come up with.
"Hajime Fujimoto."
Byakuya Uchiha replied.
"That sounds like a pretty ordinary name. Does it have any special meaning?"
Eto asked.
"No special meaning. I just combined the names of two people I know."
Byakuya said with a perfectly straight face, making stuff up on the spot.
In reality, he had simply fused Tatsuki Fujimoto and Hajime Isayama together.
"I see…"
Eto nodded slightly, looking forward to the kind of story Byakuya would create.
At the same time, she couldn't help but once again marvel at just how fast his typing speed really was.
He had already finished the first volume.
For that volume, Byakuya didn't write an overly long draft.
He ended roughly at the part where Reiner and Bertholdt revealed their betrayal, in other words, the iconic scene: "I'm the Armored, he's the Colossal."
Byakuya immediately sent the digital version of Volume One to Eto.
The latter instantly became his first reader.
She quickly finished reading the entire first volume, and that amazing twist at "I'm the Armored, he's the Colossal" completely hooked her.
The brilliance of that moment lay in Reiner's mental breakdown, his fractured mind suddenly exposing both his and Bertholdt's true identities.
Even Bertholdt himself had probably been caught off guard at the time.
And then... there was nothing more.
"That's it? Just when it was getting good!"
Eto immediately complained in a somewhat disgruntled tone.
"Well, I have to write the rest before there is a next part,"
Byakuya replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
In truth, he chose to end Volume One right there out of sheer habit.
Back in his previous life, when he'd just entered the web novel industry, practically every editor he encountered emphasized the importance of cliffhangers.
If you didn't even know how to do a basic cliffhanger, your manuscript would get rejected outright.
In the most extreme cases, every single free chapter leading up to the paywall had to end on a cliffhanger.
The very last chapter before pay-to-read went live needed to end on the biggest cliffhanger. And even after going behind the paywall, you were still expected to keep the cliffhangers coming.
Novels that followed this pattern usually performed extremely well in mobile premium platforms.
Over time, that practice simply became second nature.
"Hurry up and write the next part, or I'll start using violence to force some updates."
Eto raised her tiny fist, putting on a fierce expression.
But if Eto were truly serious about fighting, she wouldn't wear that face; she'd be smiling sweetly as she ripped out your heart.
Definitely not as cute and puffed-up as she looked now.
"Got it. I'll do my best to be quick."
Byakuya said with a laugh.
Over the following days, he went full throttle into writing mode.
He churned out twenty thousand words a day, grinding away at the keyboard whenever he had free time.
His goal was just to bridge time and help this world's novel Industry.
Soon enough, he finished writing the entire Attack on Titan in prose form and sent the full digital manuscript to Eto first.
Of course, when it came to the original story's ending, Byakuya didn't insert any of his own "creative liberties", he left it mostly unchanged.
While Eto was reading the manuscript, Byakuya Uchiha stepped out for a bit.
Ward 2, Shoei Publishing.
Even though his contract was a 100% guarantee, he still had to go through the formal procedures.
His editor for this series was none other than Shunji Shiono.
Out of curiosity, Shunji had already read the draft of Volume One.
And was instantly blown away, it was senior level writing!
First, there was the sheer awe that someone like Byakuya Uchiha, the Commissioner-General of the TSC, high-ranking and overworked, still had the energy to produce such a quality piece of fiction.
Second, the work itself was fantastic. From a commercial standpoint, it was almost certain to be a bestseller.
Shunji Shiono didn't dare speak in absolutes, but to put it plainly; he had extremely high expectations for the book.
"I never imagined that Commissioner-General Uchiha could create such an outstanding work!"
Shunji said with genuine admiration.
"You flatter me."
Byakuya replied modestly.
Technically speaking, it wasn't even really modesty. After all, Attack on Titan wasn't a wholly original creation of his, it was practically written straight from the original plot.