episode_0080

Rupert’s fairy tales and comic books were extremely popular not only among the nobility but also among the common people, and the branch of the Yuren upper class that distributed them also had an excellent network.

Because of this, there were many readers of his works even in the outskirts of the empire.

The eastern part of the empire, one of those outskirts, was the only region of the empire that bordered the sea, so it was a region where commerce and fishing were developed.

The boy who is reading the storybook now also came from a fishing family.

“Ismael! Didn’t I tell you to come out and eat quickly?”

“Yes, I’ll go out now, Mom!”

At the sound of his mother’s voice urging him, the boy carefully put the Pinocchio storybook back on the bookshelf.

‘No matter how many times I read it, it’s still amazing!’

If he hesitated any longer, his mother would scold him, but the boy couldn’t stop thinking.

Among the adventures of the living wooden doll, what excites the boy the most are the incidents at sea.

The story of Pinocchio, who entered the belly of a great whale and rescued his grandfather Geppetto, was especially meaningful to the boy.

‘Mom, I read it in Pinocchio. I think Dad will be waiting for us in the whale’s belly too!’

The day he first read Pinocchio, the boy ran excitedly to his mother and showed her a picture book with a picture of a whale in it, saying excitedly:

But the boy’s mother looked as if she was about to cry, not being happy, and just stroked the boy’s head.

The boy never wanted to see his mother’s expression like that again, so he never brought up the storybook again after that day.

He was convinced that his father, who had gone out to sea and never returned, was still alive in the whale’s belly.

So, I wanted to go out to the sea as soon as possible and save my father from the whale’s belly like Pinocchio.

‘Then I need money to buy a boat.’

Since his father’s boat did not return with him, he had to find a boat for himself to take.

The boat was very expensive, even though it was small, and he was worried that he could never buy one with his allowance, but then luck struck.

‘The Universe’s Strongest Comic Contest’

When the boy saw the announcement for a cartoon contest hosted by the author of with a prize of 100 gold, he thought, “This is it.”

I was confident because I often received compliments on how well I could draw.

If he were to win this prize, he would be able to secure a boat to go out to the open sea where the whale that swallowed his father is.

“I ate it all!”

“Already?”

After finishing a hastily prepared breakfast, I went back to my room and picked up the comic book drawing kit I had purchased with the money I had saved up.

The boy was drawing the sea.

***

“The club room is bigger than I thought.”

“Yes, I know that other popular clubs are assigned smaller spaces than this one.”

A new comics club established this semester.

Since it was the first hour, the club members were gathered in the club room.

However, there were only four people talking amicably.

The remaining six remained tense, even careful about breathing.

‘Why on earth are such people here, starting with the prince…?’

There were a lot of people who applied to the cartoon club.

In fact, the reason so many people applied to the ordinary cartoon club was because of the four of us who are talking so closely right now.

Prince of the Empire, Young Lady of the Duke’s House, Heir to the Margrave, Prince of the Kingdom.

If we were to add a little joke, these people gathered here today might be able to abolish the Academy if they wanted to.

Most of the people who applied to join the cartoon club knew that these people had applied and wanted to become friends with them at least a little.

But all of those people were eliminated from the document screening, and the people Rupert selected were, in some ways, very unconventional figures.

Even if we assume that the two students in the art department are Rupert’s direct students, the music and engineering departments make up the rest.

Because of this, those who were eliminated complained and expressed dissatisfaction, saying that the selection process was unfair.

“They were all there.”

Rupert finally appeared in the club room where ten students were waiting, without even being able to predict what kind of combination they would have.

“Thank you for supporting the cartoon club. In the future, we will create various things together, not just simple cartoons.”

The students’ eyes light up at Rupert’s words.

Looking at those students, Rupert thought he had made a good choice.

‘You can tell whether someone likes comics or not just by looking at their application form.’

Except for the four who I couldn’t bear to reject, the students were selected solely based on what they wrote in their application forms.

Of course, their departments had an influence on their selection, but Rupert worked hard to select only students who had a passion for comics.

“I’ve read the comics, but I’m curious about the other things you make. Can you tell me what they are?”

The student who asked Rupert a question, usually waiting for an explanation, was Kyle, who, like a northerner, demanded a direct answer.

Rupert nodded readily to Kyle’s question and took out a small bundle of papers.

“Can you see everything?”

The wad of paper in Rupert’s hand contained small drawings.

“Yes, is that what we should draw?”

There was some disappointment in the students’ answers.

Most of the students who gathered in the cartoon club gathered because they had an interest in and love for cartoons.

However, it was difficult to hide my disappointment because the picture Rupert showed me was neither fancy nor artistic; it was just a small picture.

Of course, there were those like Amelia who looked at Rupert and smiled as if that was okay.

“To be precise, this is a manual for what will be made in the future.”

“Manual?”

Rupert handed the bundle of papers he had brought to the Third Prince, who was right in front of him.

“Your Majesty… No, Sir Edric, would you please run your fingers through it quickly?”

“Is this what you mean?”

When Rupert, remembering that he had asked Edric not to address him in a respectful manner, asked Edric to do as Rupert had told him to do, and he quickly began flipping through the stack of papers with his fingers.

“What is this?”

Then the Third Prince’s eyes widened and he was speechless as if he had seen something surprising.

The others who had been indifferent to the Third Prince’s reaction also looked at the bundle of papers he was holding, wondering what was going on.

But it was just a small drawing like the one I had seen before, and there was nothing special about it, so I was just curious.

“The picture definitely moved?”

“Edric, would you please pass this on so others can see it?”

At Rupert’s request, Edric turns around and hands over the stack of papers so that the other students can see them.

Then, the students, who were curious about what could have caused the picture to move, began to watch it intently.

As soon as Edric’s fingers began to turn the wad of paper, they all couldn’t help but react the way he did at first.

What was clearly a drawing of a small person began to run as if it were alive.

The expression “the picture comes to life” was the most appropriate.

“What the heck is this?”

“I thought I was seeing things.”

“Is it magic? No, I didn’t feel any mana.”

-The pictures flashed by so quickly that it looked like they were moving.

Rupert was slightly impressed by Edric’s words as he looked at the picture carefully once more.

‘I noticed it right away, so it’s a little disappointing, isn’t it?’

Of course, it was thanks to the Third Prince’s absurd kinetic vision that he was able to notice this right away, and among the other students, only Kyle was able to understand what he was saying.

“That’s right, if you draw a picture in detail and then project it quickly, it will look like it’s moving alive.”

The students were impressed by Rupert’s words, but they also had some questions.

The fundamental question was, why is this necessary?

“No matter how fast you flip through it now, it doesn’t look natural, but what if dozens of pictures were projected in one second?”

“Is that possible?”

This could not help but raise doubts among students who were still unaware of what Rupert was trying to create.

How can you show so many pictures in such a short time as one second?

“I call it animation, and it’s in development right now.”

“Animation?”

The students had a hard time imagining what it was because it was an unfamiliar name they had heard for the first time.

It’s a moving picture.

But one student had a completely different reaction.

“Sleep… Wait, Professor Rupert, if what you just said is true, then surely… .”

Edric had a dumbfounded expression on his face, as if he had realized something shocking.

“Is the comic book you made moving?”

How great would it be if Elsana from or Windy from could move as if they were alive?

Because it was Edric who imagined things every day, he could understand better than anyone else what a moving picture would create.

It was a feat that could only be called a revolution.

For comic book characters to move, isn’t that exactly his dream and goal?

“Yes. Of course, there are many areas that need to be developed for that purpose.”

Rupert picked up the wad of papers again and flipped through them quickly.

It definitely looks like it’s moving, but it feels like something is jerking.

“You have to study engineering because you need the help of machines and magic instead of manually handing it over like this.”

This time, Rupert just opens his mouth, but of course, no sound is heard, so the students are puzzled.

“In order to look natural, you have to hear the lines, right?”

Finally, Rupert scattered the wad of papers and continued speaking.

“For reference, this stack of papers is 62 sheets, but we would generally expect the animation we are trying to create to be around 12 frames per second.”

“Wait a minute. At 12 frames per second, that’s 720 frames per minute. To make a 30-minute video, roughly 21,600 frames?”

The one who answered was Amelia, and her mental arithmetic skills were amazing, befitting the next head of the Faculty of Magic.

But the students couldn’t help but be surprised by the numbers that came out of Amelia’s mouth more than her mental calculation skills.

‘How on earth do you draw that?’

‘That’s a ridiculous number. I’m going to graduate after drawing that.’

‘Of course I’m curious about the results, but this is a bit… .’

Everyone was more overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work than curious.

Rupert couldn’t help but laugh at the students’ reactions.

“30 minutes is not the amount or level you can make.”

It was only then that the students felt relieved after hearing Rupert’s words.

Then, when I heard that the goal of the cartoon club was to show a work under 10 minutes at the end of the first semester ceremony, I began to understand to some extent.

Of course, even so, the students were worried about the amount of work that did not seem easy.

But someone stood up with an expression of joy on their face and grabbed Rupert’s hand.

“Let’s do it! We can do it! I definitely want to do it!!!”

In the heart of the Third Prince, winter had passed and spring was coming.