By the middle of August, 'Fate/Zero' had reached Episode 6, and Volume 2 of the main novel officially went on sale.
The contents of the second volume covered roughly Episodes 5 through 10 of the anime, truly bringing the Holy Grail War before the audience. The ideological differences between magi and their magical battles, the conflicts between Servants and their Masters, and the tightly interwoven, ever-escalating plot gave readers virtually no time to catch their breath. Although the "Banquet of Kings" would become the story's first major climax, everything leading up to it was like a volcano building pressure, creating enough tension and anticipation before erupting all at once.
Several weeks before Volume 2's release, Chiyo Bookstore had already begun promoting it on its light novel website. Thanks to the popularity accumulated by the side stories and the substantial boost from the anime adaptation, readers' anticipation for the second volume was enormous.
At present, the combined sales of the seven 'Fate/Zero' side-story novels have reached 2.4 million copies, averaging roughly 350,000 copies per volume. The first volume of the main series had sold over 400,000 copies, putting it on par with the very first Saber side story, 'Twilight of the Knights.'
At first glance, those numbers didn't seem especially astonishing—they were simply the benchmark for an excellent-selling light novel.
The remarkable part was that 'Fate/Zero' had achieved what ordinary successful light novels took years—or even a decade—to accumulate in only a single month.
Moreover, with the anime still airing, those sales continued to climb steadily.
With overwhelming promotion, outstanding quality, support from a popular anime adaptation, and an innovative premise, if a light novel still failed to gain popularity under those conditions, then the entire light novel industry might as well be buried with it.
Because Yosuganosora Animation Studio and Chiyo Bookstore had already established a cooperative relationship through 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' and because Kamiyā Yuu had not imposed particularly demanding publishing conditions for his own novels, 'Fate/Zero' naturally became one of Chiyo Bookstore's flagship titles for the second half of the year, firmly securing the number one position within its own light novel lineup.
However, Chiyo Bookstore did not monopolize the entire light novel market. Kamiyā Yuu could easily name several other major publishers. Looking at overall light novel sales for the year, Volume 1 of 'Fate/Zero' ranked only fourth.
...
2018 Japanese Light Novel Oricon Rankings — Top 10
1st Place: 'Hero's Tale 2'
892,837 copies
(Released April 2017; sales counted beginning in January.)
Kamiyā Yuu had tried reading this novel but never managed to finish it.
In short, it followed the standard isekai power-fantasy formula that dominated Japanese light novels in his previous world.
The protagonist was an ordinary high school boy who was summoned to another world, discovered he possessed extraordinary magical talent, and then proceeded to steamroll every enemy while collecting several girls with fantasy-world appeal.
To be honest, the novel wasn't particularly impressive. It mainly appealed to inexperienced readers.
Still, that happened to be the mainstream.
2nd Place: 'Strange Tales of a Foreign Land'
752,817 copies
(Released February 2018; sales counted beginning in February.)
Kamiyā Yuu lost interest after merely reading the synopsis because he wasn't part of its target audience.
The novel resembled 'The Story of Saiunkoku' from his previous world.
It created a fictional world centered on Chinese culture, where an ordinary female high school student was transported and became romantically entangled with a series of handsome ancient men.
Among anime inspired by Chinese culture, Kamiyā Yuu's personal favorite remained the now rarely discussed 'The Twelve Kingdoms.'
He still vividly remembered its story.
Watching the heroine grow from an ordinary high school girl who constantly held everyone back into a capable empress was deeply moving. Another princess, who initially cared only about pleasure, eventually came to understand the responsibilities she had to shoulder.
The most satisfying part, in his opinion, came later, when the heroine—already the emperor—disguised herself as a wandering commoner and became involved in various incidents. The moment she finally revealed her true identity gave viewers the same exhilarating feeling as the classic web novel trope of hiding one's strength before astonishing everyone.
3rd Place: 'My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be a Fox Spirit'
601,982 copies
(Released September 2017; sales counted beginning in January.)
A classic harem wish-fulfillment light novel.
Among the top three, this was the only one Kamiyā Yuu could comfortably read.
The protagonist accidentally discovered that his younger sister was actually a fox spirit, after which he became entangled in various supernatural incidents involving Japanese yōkai.
Overall, the plot wasn't particularly outstanding, but its clever writing constantly made readers laugh.
The protagonist served as the story's primary straight man, and his sarcastic commentary alone made the novel entertaining.
4th Place: 'Fate/Zero'
472,819 copies
(Released July 2018; sales counted beginning in July.)
Kamiyā Yuu was essentially creating his work while standing on the shoulders of giants.
With such rich source material, it was only natural that his revised version surpassed the original in both quality and appeal.
Even in his previous world, the original 'Fate/Zero' had already stood apart from ordinary light novels.
Its protagonist wasn't an average high school student, and its story possessed considerably greater depth and maturity than most of its contemporaries.
Without exaggeration, Kamiyā Yuu believed that almost no competing work from the same period could surpass 'Fate/Zero.'
Placed within this world's publishing environment, it stood out even more.
Japan's excessive commercialization had caused the market to become flooded with formulaic titles—one isekai power fantasy after another, endless Japanese-style harems, while genuinely imaginative stories had become increasingly rare.
Compared to 'Fate/Zero,' most contemporary works felt like they were written for overly dramatic teenagers.
'Fate/Zero,' meanwhile, was aimed at readers with more mature values.
That uniqueness itself became one of the reasons so many readers were drawn to it.
5th Place: 'Twilight of the Knights'
491,827 copies
(Released June 2018; sales counted beginning in June.)
The Japanese Oricon rankings did not combine 'Twilight of the Knights' with the main 'Fate/Zero' series when calculating sales.
As a result, besides the main story itself, three of the 'Fate/Zero' character side-story novels had also entered the Top 10.
In reality, this was largely because Kamiyā Yuu's writing speed was simply too abnormal.
He consistently produced around 200,000 characters every week, fully deserving the title of a human word processor.
Most light novel authors, even with detailed outlines, would suffer from creative exhaustion after writing ten thousand characters in a day.
To many of them, picking up a pen felt more unbearable than grasping a red-hot branding iron.
...
...
"This ranking doesn't include the sales figures for Volume 2 yet."
Inside his office, Kamiyā Yuu smiled while looking at the Oricon sales rankings displayed on his computer.
It had already been more than four days since Volume 2 went on sale.
Before long, the first week's sales figures would be released.
To be honest, if not for the anime adaptation and his own reputation, Kamiyā Yuu wasn't confident that the 'Fate/Zero' novels could surpass the three titles ranked above it.
Being different wasn't entirely an advantage.
Being different also meant having a narrower audience.
That was why the anime adaptation was needed—to broaden the pool of potential readers.
"Ah... now isn't the time to be looking at this. I've gotten distracted again..."
Kamiyā Yuu closed the Oricon rankings page and reopened his writing software.
Volume 3 contained the first major climax of 'Fate/Zero,' so he had to approach its construction with far greater care.
He needed to delve into every character's perspective, considering how each event would be perceived through their eyes.
As a result, writing Volume 3 would likely take more than twice as long as any previous volume.
These past few days, he had already sacrificed nearly all of his sleeping time, yet he still felt completely overwhelmed.
He almost wished every day had forty-eight hours so he could finish everything waiting on his desk.