episode_0079

“Honey, I was under the illusion that my way of doing things was right… or rather, I was stubborn.”

In the ossuary where the imperial figures were laid to rest, Emperor Leonius Bel stood alone, especially where the former empress was buried.

The only times he visited here were on the anniversary of the Empress’s death or, very rarely, when he felt very depressed.

Now, the latter is the case.

“Both Alex and William have grown so much, you probably wouldn’t recognize them if you saw them.”

Leonius spoke as he stroked the tombstone, but soon found himself laughing.

-How could I not know my children? Those lovely children.

This was because the image of the former empress, who loved and cared for them more than anyone else, confidently saying that there was no way she wouldn’t recognize them came to mind.

The Emperor thought it was the Empress’s fault that the children, who had always had bright smiles while she was alive, no longer smiled.

He had been trying to suppress his sadness, thinking that it was her fault for leaving him and the children behind first.

But I knew that it was not my mother’s death but my father’s indifference that had taken the children’s laughter away.

“I read about an ugly father who looks just like me in my book today.”

The father in the book also had a relationship with his children where he had misunderstandings and hurt them because of his secrets.

Leonius thought as he watched their story of how they were finally able to release their ties to each other and convey their true feelings only after death.

‘I have lived as an emperor for nearly 30 years, so now I will live as a father.’

Since he ascended to the throne through a bloody process, he raised his children strictly in the hopes that they would not experience the same terrible thing.

But Leonius realized too late that he was actually pushing his children because of it.

But I thought it wasn’t too late yet. Unlike the characters in the book, I still had time left.

‘Rupert, did he already know something that I had not realized in decades?’

The importance of family. It’s a common saying, but it’s surprising that he created a work that taught him this at such a young age.

When Iolin first announced that he would distribute comic books, he honestly didn’t expect it to have this much of an impact.

The emperor simply said to do it because it seemed like a good idea and paid no attention to it.

It was because I thought it was a childish-looking book.

‘As I get older, I become more prejudiced and stubborn.’

Leonius realized that what he thought was experience was actually prejudice.

It was regrettable that Rupert, who had given him such enlightenment, had rejected his offer.

It was because he thought that if there was one such talented person by Crown Prince Alex’s side, he would be able to worry less about his son.

The emperor stroked the stele again and pondered for a moment.

***

“Can you show me Sir Mullers one more time?”

The parade ground of the mansion.

Now it was more familiar to Rupert and the craftsmen as a place for physical training than to soldiers.

Since it was clearly a place where knights and soldiers trained, the sight of Mullers holding a sword there looked quite plausible.

“Anything is possible, Your Majesty.”

Mullers answered Rupert’s words, gripping his sword again and taking a moment to catch his breath.

After quickly jumping out and stabbing, he then turned around and continued to slash horizontally and vertically. His appearance was truly that of a knight who is called a superman.

An ordinary person would have twisted their knees and wrists from the sudden change of direction, but a knight trained through the Mana Training Method was able to continuously perform movements that were impossible for the human body, like flowing water.

Rupert, who was watching Muller’s splendid demonstration of swordsmanship, tried to remember it as much as possible by sketching it on paper.

‘It is certainly difficult to imagine the movements of a knight.’

Rupert had recently finished serializing and was enjoying some free time.

There was a need to prepare the next work step by step.

This time, it had to be published in the form of a magazine rather than a standalone series, so a lot of preparations had to be made.

I would give feedback on Saint and Senna’s works whenever I had time, and I would also select works through contests.

Above all, Rupert’s role was important.

‘In the early days of serialization in magazines, most readers would have purchased the work just to see it.’

Saint was famous as the best painter in the empire, but since it was literally related to painting and it was his first time with comics, it was difficult to expect great popularity.

Not only is Sena an ordinary child, but all the writers who are selected through the contest are also new.

Rupert had to produce good work to attract attention.

Rupert, who felt a great sense of responsibility because of this, rewrote the story several times and succeeded in creating a storyline that he was satisfied with.

But the problem was the action scenes.

The previous work, , also had many action scenes, but since most of them involved alchemy, the focus was on imagination.

This new work, , needed to be realistic and realistic because the main character’s fierce battle had to be the main focus.

‘Because this is a world where real superhumans exist.’

On Earth, there is so much information available that it is not a big problem to inject a little excessive imagination into the action.

Anyway, we all know that it is fiction, and the readers had no knowledge of swordsmanship or other weapon techniques.

But this was a different world where there were many knights and many people who worked as mercenaries in each village.

Rupert, worried that if he drew it carelessly, he might lose popularity in an instant, decided to do thorough research from the beginning.

Of course, I read everything from swordsmanship textbooks to books containing various weapon techniques.

Because I wanted to see a real, vivid scene, I even asked Muller, the family’s knight captain, to demonstrate swordsmanship.

‘It is said that Sir Muller’s skill is average among knights.’

It is difficult to strictly divide the level of the article, but it is said that it is broadly divided into three levels.

A user who is just starting out in martial arts.

Those who have trained in the Mana Training Method and have gained the ability to utilize Mana within their bodies are called Users.

From this point on, it was the most basic step to being able to use the title of knight.

And the intermediate stage is Expert.

Mullers was at this level, and in rural areas, it was said that even just reaching this level was enough to be called a skilled person.

The last one is Master.

Master was a title that honored the strongest rather than a realm.

All those who have earned the title of Master are, without a doubt, monsters.

Even Yustav said that if he was surprised by the Master while unprepared, he could not guarantee his life, so you could see how scary it was.

‘It’s enough to be able to describe both users and experts.’

I would have been greedy and wanted to see the master’s skills, but that was impossible.

Because the Master of the Empire, Geomseong, had been missing for several years.

After teaching his last disciple, the Third Prince, he left behind a letter and no one has heard anything from him since.

Of course, even if there were, only the emperor could understand his swordsmanship, so it would have been impossible.

And actually, it wasn’t even necessary to that extent.

‘The realm of the Master is so rare that even if you set it a bit too high, you can’t find fault with it.’

There were quite a few articles by users and experts, so I had to pay attention to the accuracy, but there was no need to describe the master’s skills so accurately.

‘By the way, I guess guns are too much?’

Since the subject matter is vampires, I wanted to draw cool scenes of people shooting guns, but since there are no guns, it was impossible.

If I were to be a little pushy, I could draw it as a new weapon that appears in a comic.

I felt dizzy when I thought about the new Golem’s number.

We had to keep in mind that the people of this world have a different culture from us and are not stupid.

Rupert decided to be cautious after seeing the gun he had drawn in his comic book, thinking that if someone like Krun were to implement it, it could be truly terrifying.

‘This cartoon has to be about a sword, it really has to be about a sword.’

Rupert was satisfied with that, as it was a pretty cool picture of cutting down vampires with a sword.

Of course, just swordsmanship is boring.

For example, I was thinking of making a sword that shoots out flames, or a sword that flows with lightning.

The comic elements that could have such a powerful impact were very important.

A representative example was a vampire-themed comic that was a huge hit on Earth.

There were many reasons for the popularity of the work, but the biggest reason was the flashy swordplay that incorporated natural elements.

‘But that’s too oriental, so wouldn’t it be really good if the setting was a work where the progenitor of vampires cuts down other vampires?’

There was still a lot of time left because his next new work had to be serialized in a comic magazine, but Rupert was still excited about drawing comics.

***

“Xenia, you were born with a great talent.”

The principal’s office at the Imperial Academy.

There sat the owner, Yustave, and the red-haired girl facing each other.

The girl listened to Yustav’s words with her head bowed as if she had committed some sin.

“… I’m sorry.”

Looking at the girl who just kept repeating that she was sorry, Yustav worried that his education was wrong.

‘Threatening students with mana… .’

The talent of his disciple, Xenia, was amazing.

Not only was he gifted with the ability to use his bloodline as a dragon, but he was also a talented individual with both the five senses and the five senses that were comparable to his own.

He was sure that in time he would become a greater wizard than himself.

But if that talent were to go astray, it would be a truly terrible thing.

If a wizard more powerful than you were to run wild, would there be a way to control him?

Even Yustav would not have done that, but he had the ability to single-handedly put the empire in danger if he had put his mind to it.

“Can you tell me why that happened?”

“… That guy, no… That student cursed at the professor!”

Thinking back to that time, Xenia’s voice became a little louder, perhaps due to her emotions.

“Thank you for getting mad at me for swearing at this old man… .”

“You cursed Professor Rupert, not the teacher… How dare you curse him when you know nothing… .”

Yustav was a little embarrassed by Xenia’s answer. He must have thought it was her since Xenia had cursed at the professor, but a familiar name came out of nowhere.

‘Rupert?’

Are you saying that Xenia and Rupert had a relationship?

Thinking about it, I remembered Xenia’s obsession with Rupert’s work.

He also insisted on following her when she visited Somerset Estate.

‘Do you like Professor Rupert?’

Well, other than that, she looked pretty, so I thought it might be possible.

However, the problem was Xenia’s actions that resulted from it.

As the incident came to mind, Yustav watched Xenia, who was still fuming, as if her anger had not subsided.

Mana in the professor’s office sways as if sympathizing with her emotions.

‘Wait a minute, Xenia just… .’

It was Yustav who was startled as he watched Xenia like that.

At first it seemed like an illusion, but Yustav clearly witnessed it.

Xenia’s body just grew rapidly.