“I’m going to have a serious conversation with Count Rupert regarding the holy painting, so please wait for me in the drawing room.”
Just the fact that the Saintess and a young noble were together in the drawing room felt unsettling.
When we finished our discussion and stepped out, the Saintess’s assertion that it would just be the two of us in the workshop bewildered the bishop and the holy knight.
Of course, the Saintess’s orders were absolute, so they had no choice but to comply, but it was hard for them to understand.
It was disheartening to think that only Rupert, the artist, could hear Mother Goddess’s voice, despite the fact that they were also children of Mother Goddess.
Still, they couldn’t express dissatisfaction with the Saintess’s words. Even the leader of the cult, the Pope, couldn’t hear the Goddess’s words directly, while the Saintess was the only one who could communicate with her.
When the previous Saintess returns to the arms of Mother, a new Saintess is born somewhere on the continent.
When that Saintess turns seven, the reigning Pope has a dream sent by the Goddess.
In it, she would say, “My daughter has been born and raised somewhere on the continent, now bring her to me.”
That moment when the Pope is commanded to find the seven-year-old girl is the process of the Saintess being born.
The Saintess born in this way often carries out the role of conveying the Goddess’s will to the members of the church.
As the daughter of the Goddess, she possesses divine power that surpasses even the Pope, and is effectively the most important figure in the cult.
The Goddess, who loves and values her creation, humanity, provided her own avatar in the form of the Saintess.
There could never be a figure in the church that would question the words of the Saintess.
And now, that very Saintess was passionately conveying the Goddess’s will to Rupert in the workshop.
“It’s important that the veins in the forearm are clearly visible, Brother.”
Rupert was sweating on his forehead despite it being the middle of winter, pouring his heart and soul into the drawing.
It depicted a major scene between characters Edward Elric and Roy Mustang from the comic ‘Iron-Blooded Alchemist’, where they held each other with solemn expressions.
The Saintess was pointing out Roy Mustang’s arm in particular.
Roy, in his shirt rolled up to his elbows.
The important part she kept emphasizing to Rupert was the prominent veins on the forearm.
“My, Brother, you are truly gifted.”
When Rupert drew Edward’s lips biting in expression, the Saintess’s face lit up with joy.
It was as if she had witnessed the Goddess herself.
However, despite her enthusiastic reactions, Rupert felt like he was losing his mind.
‘What in the world is going on…’
There was a time before I started drawing webtoons when I worked as an illustrator.
Memories of various requests from that time suddenly flooded back.
‘You want me to draw a smiley girl with puppy ears and a tail, right?’
‘No, I asked you to draw a pretty puppy!’
Requests so bizarre they shattered any sense of common logic just from hearing them.
Yet they always came with a substantial amount of money, making it hard to refuse, invoking bittersweet nostalgia from the past.
But among those, there was one commission that Rupert couldn’t accept.
‘I never thought I would be drawing BL.’
Although he had endured much, he felt drawing in that genre was a forbidden line that he couldn’t cross as a biological man.
Now, however, he had no choice but to draw it.
Instead of demanding a holy painting, the Saintess requested illustrations of male characters.
Given that this was a small price to pay compared to the favor of keeping her lie in front of the Crown Prince, he felt no real dissatisfaction.
However, he grew somewhat anxious about the Saintess’s fervent response.
If she ever got caught with this drawing later on, she might be pressed for its source.
‘Rupert drew it as a gift for me.’
The cult members wouldn’t dare question the Saintess, but part of him worried they might come after him with nails and a hammer.
“Uhm, Saintess. It is an honor to draw for the daughter of Gaia, but I do worry that this drawing might put you in a tight spot…”
“Why would this drawing be a problem?”
“Well, that is…”
He couldn’t voice the thought that a drawing of two men embracing might be considered normal.
The Saintess answered without answering.
“This is the comradery of noble warriors.”
“Comradery?”
“Yes, look, these two are comrades fighting with their beliefs. How could you think anything improper when looking at them, Brother?”
Well, it seems like your gaze is the one holding some misunderstandings.
Rupert struggled to choke back the words rising to his throat with superhuman patience and quietly continued to draw.
Finally, the drawing was complete.
The Saintess stared at the drawing Rupert handed her for a long time, then nodded in satisfaction and carefully rolled the paper.
Then she tucked it tenderly into a pocket on the white frills that she initially thought were just decorative.
“But what about the holy painting?”
“Oh, the holy painting was merely an excuse, Brother.”
“Excuse?”
“If there’s money for the holy painting, wouldn’t it be better to give a meal to the poor in the Empire?”
She outright stated that she never intended to create a holy painting, leaving Rupert with a dumbfounded expression.
Her aim was a BL drawing from the start, and the holy painting was just a pretext for coming to see him.
It amazed him that everything unfolded according to the Saintess’s plans, but those bold tactics, using even the unexpected variables to achieve her goals, invoked admiration in Rupert.
Even if he shouted this all over town, they wouldn’t believe him, and would simply scoff.
It was eye-opening to learn even a fraction of the true self of the Saintess, whom he thought to be just good and noble.
Though he found it difficult to draw such kinds of illustrations, he thought it would yield a significant benefit in return.
“I’ll make sure to tell them that the holy painting is too hard to execute now and will try again when Mother grants us a revelation later.”
“Yes, understood. But is it alright to lie that it’s the Goddess’s word?”
This place, unlike Earth, was a world where gods clearly existed.
Rupert grew somewhat anxious, imagining if the Goddess who might have cast him into this world were to see this state of affairs and strike him down with lightning.
However,
“Children will always vex their parents, so Mother will surely understand.”
Seeing her remain so unabashed, Rupert finally relaxed and chuckled lightly.
After all, even the Saintess, daughter of a Goddess, was still a human, so she must have desires of her own.
With a slightly lightened heart, Rupert went to welcome the departing Saintess as she left the mansion.
“What a really long day it has been.”
The Saintess’s visit, Amelia’s hospital visit.
And then the Crown Prince visited as well—this day was certainly tiring, but with everything resolved well, it seemed like it would be a cherished memory.
‘Good thing I’ve been exercising lately.’
This wasn’t a joke; had he faced today’s events in that old tired and potion-drenched state, he wouldn’t have been able to stand up multiple times over.
After the Saintess left, the house staff seemed to finally relax and slumped to their seats.
“Well, it’s time to go home. Everyone has exhausted themselves today, so don’t overdo it.”
Rupert ordered the workshop employees to leave early, even though there was still time left.
No matter how much the Saintess healed them, pushing those who had fainted wouldn’t sit right with him.
“Eh? But there’s still time left?”
“Don’t overdo it. There isn’t much work left anyway, right?”
Rupert spoke brightly, causing the artisans to feel a mix of happiness and a twinge of discomfort.
After Rupert had collapsed and recovered, he had begun proclaiming that health equals productivity! When he got everyone to participate in morning exercise they wondered what he was up to.
However, since that day, late nights had vanished.
So lately, those artisans who returned home early were pleased but felt something was off.
In their hearts, there was a peculiar discomfort that asked, ‘Why are we working so little?’
Curiously enough, now that they were told not to, they found themselves wanting to work late. It was more pleasant, after all, to be talking and laughing with friends at the workshop than face a nagging wife and uninterested children at home.
Unbeknownst to Rupert, who hurried them to leave, he headed to the workshop.
He had to start working on volume 5 of Iron-Blooded Alchemist.
After the release of volume 4 and collapsing, the work had paused for a while, but the script for volume 5 had already been completed.
Being clear-headed made the process smoother, and he didn’t think the release speed would slow down too much.
“The scene where the protagonist brothers head north to find someone who can help them must be included,” he pondered.
The protagonist approached the truth through the dying message Maes Hughes, Roy Mustang’s comrade, delivered before dying—“The army is in danger.”
Since they couldn’t confront the homonculi group with just their strength, they had to seek out the Duke of the North, known as the Empire’s wall, to start their journey.
With many characters appearing after that, it seemed reasonable to regard volume 5 as a buildup for volume 6.
Kimblee, the villainous alchemist who wields explosive alchemy, was an essential character that couldn’t be left out.
In addition, the hidden mastermind behind the homunculi, Pride, would also have their identity revealed.
Moreover, the father of the protagonist brothers and ‘that being’ would make an appearance, creating tremendous confusion for the readers.
‘It feels like making millions of friends.’
Every time he adapted and changed the stories from the works he once knew to show the people of this world.
Rupert felt like he was having conversations about comics with friends.
The thought of countless people reading the book he created and sharing similar sentiments made his fatigue fade away.
So Rupert wanted to show volume 5 to the waiting readers as quickly as possible.
He wanted to inform them that there were such fun stories and chat with them like friends.
Of course, now he mustn’t overdo it, so he wouldn’t stay up all night, but it was hard to resist.
‘Just for today, let me have a little fun.’
As he sat at his desk drawing manga, Rupert’s eyes sparkled with life.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.