Recently, Somerset Mansion was truly benefiting from its expansive grounds, which felt quite out of place.
“Hm… doesn’t this part seem a bit unnatural?”
“Surely, the Professor’s initial draft didn’t intend to express this motion.”
The art department students at the academy, who referred to themselves as guests but were essentially slaves, were hard at work in a lab built in one corner of the mansion, refusing to take a break for the holidays.
Not only that,
“It feels more fitting for the piano to be the protagonist instead of the violin melody. Adding the timbre of woodwinds would be nice too.”
Upon learning that Wolfgang was responsible for the animation’s music, students from the music department also joined in to collaborate on the theme song.
“As for music before reaching the climax, it should express an incomplete feeling while still embodying freedom.”
Talking was easy.
The music that needed to emerge in the scene where the protagonist, Elza, finally breaks free from her shackles and realizes her freedom was arguably the most important part.
Because the quality of this piece could determine the overall quality of the work, delicate tuning was needed.
However,
“This is it! For the refrain, we can switch to a minor progression and then change it to a major progression for the climax to elevate the scale, thus expressing both confusion and freedom!”
Wolfgang’s talent, having regained his hands, was extraordinary enough to easily navigate through that difficulty.
As Wolfgang composed the piece seamlessly, all that was left was for the other students to refine the details and record the music to be stored in the playback device.
Thus, the students, tirelessly progressing in their assigned roles in both art and music, already had dark shadows under their eyes.
It was a result of several days’ worth of nonstop work.
– Feel free to come and go.
But this was not out of compulsion.
Rupert hated losing future talents to overwork, so he guaranteed them unlimited freedom.
Yet, the students willingly chose to stay and continue working.
“That animation we saw at the end-of-term ceremony was amazing!”
“My drawings actually come to life.”
“I want to see the results as soon as possible!”
The driving force behind their motivation was their dreams.
People gathered, captivated by the spectacle from the end-of-term ceremony that Rupert and the comic club had shown.
Without anyone forcing them, they happily worked to create their projects and see the results.
Moreover, the payment that Rupert offered for the work exceeded mere pocket money and was rather substantial.
“Master! Please take a look at this drawing.”
And the guests who arrived at Somerset Mansion weren’t just those students.
“Your Highness, didn’t I mention this several times? A drawing solely facing the front doesn’t suit a comic.”
Rupert sighed as he looked at the picture Edric handed over.
‘Of course, it’s impressive that he’s trying this hard.’
Having witnessed Edric’s drawing skills during club activities throughout the semester, Rupert could guess from just seeing how much his work had improved how much he had strived.
“Sure, he can draw a frontal view decently, but side profiles or different angles are difficult.”
Edric’s visit to Rupert, asking him to teach him how to draw because he had a piece he wished to create, was truly unexpected.
‘Master, I will accomplish anything, so please teach me how to draw.’
Rupert was troubled by Edric, who suddenly requested to stay in the guest room, eager for guidance.
He couldn’t kick him out since he was a person of status, so he begrudgingly reviewed his drawings and gave him assignments.
‘It’s a bit clumsy, but strangely, he’s quite decent at drawing female characters?’
While backgrounds, composition, and proportions were all still at a rough level, Edric had a bizarre knack for drawing female characters to a level that was passable.
Moreover,
‘This is the content of the comic I conceived.’
He told Rupert about the comics he wanted to draw to learn the technique.
‘That comic will certainly connect.’
Rupert was still shocked by the narrative Edric conceived and was yet to recover from it.
By his judgment, it was sophisticated enough not to seem out of place on modern Earth, and above all, it had tremendous emotional depth.
There are various conditions for good comics, but personally, Rupert thought that the most challenging aspect was the emotional depth.
Unlike video or novels that stretch imagination to extremes, comics are characterized by their intuitive appeal.
Of course, that was also an advantage, but on the flip side, evoking emotional aspects was tremendously tough.
One notable manga artist who handled that aspect well was known for his youthful manga.
‘He was brilliant at directing.’
He was a writer known for vividly capturing fresh romantic feelings with themes of sports and youth.
Especially the timeless, heart-wrenching scenes that tugged at readers’ hearts were unmatched even as time passed.
However, the comic Edric wanted to create was intended to provoke emotions through its setup and story rather than directing.
‘How on earth did you conceive such a comic?’
‘…I always think of those unreachable people, and that leads to this comic idea.’
Edric spoke with a somewhat bittersweet smile.
“Your Highness, please try drawing this doll from various angles.”
“What’s this?”
Rupert handed Edric a wooden doll.
The wooden model Rupert gave perfectly mimicked the human body structure, and the joints allowed it to move freely just like a real person.
“The basics of drawing comics are free direction. To achieve that, you need to be able to draw characters from various angles, so you should practice using this every day.”
It was an assignment that could fill the most needed gaps for Edric right now.
Listening to Rupert’s words and looking at the wooden doll in his hand, Edric’s expression brightened like a child who received a toy as a gift.
Barely uttering words of thanks, he quickly sat at his desk, placed the wooden doll on it, and started drawing.
Rupert felt eager to see the work created by this passionate prince.
*
“Ha!”
Clang!
“Truly, the northern swordsmanship is quite ruthless.”
“You too had such skills hidden away!”
Meanwhile, in the mansion’s training yard, Kyle, the second son of the Northern Marquis, was sparring with Oun, a knight of the Somerset family.
‘What brings Lord Kyle to our family…?’
“Hahaha, Professor. I’d rather spend my vacation in the warm south than endure the cold and dreary north, so I’ve come to intrude.”
Originally, Kyle had aimed to stay in the capital and enjoy sparring with the Third Prince but ended up tagging along with Rupert, who shut himself in the Somerset family.
By the time Kyle arrived, Edric had already received his visit, so Rupert thought, “I don’t care anymore,” and accepted Kyle as a guest as well.
However, as Edric was too busy practicing drawing to spare a moment for him, Kyle turned to the family knights.
What caught his eye was Oun, whose skills had been rapidly advancing recently.
‘May I request a spar?’
‘It would be an honor for me to witness the northern swordsmanship.’
From that day onward, they engaged in daily sparring sessions.
Kyle displayed the aggressive northern style, while Oun showcased the solid defense of the western style; they turned out to be perfectly matched sparring partners.
And,
“I want to fight with big brother too!”
“Little lady is always welcome!”
Seeing their spar looked fun, sometimes Aida would interrupt, resulting in some strangely balanced sparring moments.
“Professor, I’ve finished analyzing the works you assigned.”
“Already?”
“It wasn’t so much an assignment as it was enjoyable, so I was able to do it much faster than expected.”
Adrian, the last of the unexpected visitors to Somerset Mansion, handed a stack of papers to Rupert.
“Hm, you’ve analyzed it in detail.”
“Yes, I initially underestimated books for children, but surprisingly, there were many points to analyze.”
Rupert’s assignment to him was nothing less than an analysis of the work.
‘Since that day, I can’t shake the image of people cheering for my creations.’
One day, Adrian approached Rupert unexpectedly and expressed this.
He couldn’t forget how the audience had been absorbed in the animation made from the screenplay he had written on the end-of-term ceremony day.
‘As for the screenplay… I plan to create a formal animation about an hour long instead of just ten minutes now.’
‘Really? Then could you give me a chance to write the screenplay?’
‘Of course, Mr. Adrian, I know you have talent in screenwriting. However, there are still lacking areas.’
‘Which areas?’
‘A work isn’t simply about creating what I conceived.’
Originally, animation—no, comics—always required consideration of many factors during creation.
And to achieve that, an ability to analyze the works would be essential.
So, Rupert assigned Adrian the task of reading through all the fairy tales he had created and to analyze the intent of the work, its strengths, weaknesses, the most impressive parts, and which characters were appealing.
‘Actually, this is more of an editor’s course.’
From the first time he saw Adrian, Rupert felt he would excel in the role of an editor.
However, due to his status, he couldn’t suggest it, but since he was now willing to step forward, there was no reason to refuse.
‘A good editor is also a good screenwriter. With this level of analytical ability, I’m considering entrusting you with a script for animation.’
Now, Rupert managed everything from the script to the original art, but once the academy reopened, he wouldn’t have the time for that.
If Adrian continued to grow and take on that role, it would certainly be a relief.
“The most impressive work is certainly A Dog of Flanders, as it portrays the miserable aspects of society…”
Adrian elaborated on his reviews of the works in front of Rupert.
Edric sat at the desk, practicing drawing.
Kyle rolled on the ground after being kicked by Aida in the training yard.
It had become a familiar sight at Somerset Mansion, bringing a sense of peace.
However,
“Master!”
The urgent voice of Alain calling for Rupert shattered that tranquility.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
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Damn, all sorts of high profile guest have gathered in Somerset territory and the vampires took that time to attack lol.
They’ll get cooked when the full force of the Empire is brought down upon them.