Chapter 79

“Honey, I think I mistook… no, I stubbornly thought my way was right.”

In the tomb where the figures of the Imperial Family lay, Emperor Leonious Bell stood alone at the place where the previous Empress rested.

The only times he visited this place were on the anniversary of the Empress’s death or when he felt overwhelmingly suffocated.

Right now, it was the latter case.

“Alex and William have both grown so much; you might not recognize them if you saw them.”

Leonious stroked the tombstone as he spoke, but soon a laugh escaped him.

– How could I not recognize my own children? Those lovely kids.

He recalled the confident expression of the late Empress who had cherished and loved them more than anyone else, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

When she was alive, the bright smiles that the children once had had faded, and he blamed it on the Empress.

He forced himself to believe that it was her fault for leaving him and the children behind, swallowing his grief by blaming her.

But he knew. It wasn’t the mother’s death that took the smiles from the children; it was their father’s indifference.

“I read a story about a pathetic father just like me in a book today.”

The father in the story ended up building misunderstandings with his children and hurting them because of his secrets.

Only in death did they clear up their unresolved issues and convey their true feelings; as he thought of their story, Leonious pondered.

‘Having been an emperor for nearly 30 years, I shall now live as a father.’

Having ascended the throne through a bloody process, he had educated his children strictly, hoping they wouldn’t have to experience such horrific things.

However, he realized too late that this actually pushed his children away.

But he also thought it wasn’t completely too late. Unlike the characters in the book, he still had time left.

‘Rupert, did he perhaps know something I couldn’t grasp even after decades of living?’

The importance of family. It was a common phrase, but he was amazed that such a young person had been able to convey it to him through their work.

When Princess Ioleen announced she was going to distribute the first comic book, he hadn’t anticipated such a huge impact.

He merely thought it looked good and told them to go ahead without any further thoughts.

He had dismissed it as a childish book.

‘I’ve become trapped in prejudice and arrogance as I age.’

Leonious realized that what he had thought was experience was actually bias.

He regretted that Rupert had turned down his offer despite giving him enlightenment.

If he could connect such talent to Crown Prince Alex, it would relieve his worries about his son.

The Emperor caressed the tombstone again, falling into contemplation.

*

“Lord Mularus, could you show me once more?”

In the mansion’s training grounds.

Though now familiar as a place for Rupert and the artisans to work out rather than soldiers, it still remained a training area for knights and soldiers, making Mularus wielding a sword there seem quite impressive.

“Of course, Young Master.”

Mularus answered Rupert’s request, gripping the sword once more, momentarily gathering his breath.

Then, he dashed out like an arrow, executing thrusts; turning his body, he followed with horizontal and vertical slashes—truly a knight worthy of the title of ‘superhuman.’

A common person would have twisted their knees and wrists with such rapid direction changes, but the knight trained through the Mana Training Method could execute impossible movements continuously, flowing like water.

As Rupert observed Mularus’ gorgeous swordsmanship demonstration and sketched it on paper, he tried to engrave every detail in his mind.

‘Indeed, a knight’s movements are hard to capture through imagination alone.’

Having recently finished the serialization of “Iron-Blooded Alchemist” and enjoying a leisurely time, Rupert knew he had to carefully prepare for his next work.

This time it was to be published not as a solo release but in the form of a magazine, requiring extensive preparations.

While he also provided feedback on works by the Saint and Sena when he had the time, and selected works through contests, his role was crucial.

‘In the beginning phases of magazine serialization, most readers would be buying it to see my work anyway.’

Although the Saint was renowned as the Empire’s greatest painter, that was strictly related to painting, and since this was his first comic, he couldn’t expect much popularity.

Sena, a common girl, was no exception, and the authors who won the contests were all newcomers.

Rupert needed to put out a good work to generate buzz.

Thus, feeling a heavy sense of responsibility, Rupert rewrote the story many times and succeeded in creating a storyline he was somewhat satisfied with.

But the problem lay with the action scenes.

His previous work, “Iron-Blooded Alchemist,” had plenty of action scenes, most of which focused on alchemy, placing emphasis on imagination.

In contrast, the new work “Van Helsing” needed the protagonist’s desperate battles to be the main focus, thus requiring realism and credibility.

‘After all, this is a world where real superhumans exist.’

On Earth, there was a wealth of material, and injecting a bit of excessive imagination into the action wasn’t a big issue.

Readers were no strangers to the fictional nature, and they had no knowledge of swordsmanship or weapon techniques.

But over here, it was a different world teeming with knights, and mercenaries were abundant in every village.

Rupert decided it was important to conduct thorough research, fearing that drawing it inadequately would lead to immediate loss of popularity.

He begun reading sword manuals and various books on weapon techniques.

Wanting to witness vivid scenes firsthand, he even requested a swordsmanship demonstration from his family’s knight master, Mularus.

‘Lord Mularus’ skills are said to be somewhere in the middle among knights.’

It was tough to categorize the levels of knights distinctly, but they were generally divided into three stages.

The entry-level being User.

Users are those who could utilize mana internally after training through the Mana Training Method.

From this point onwards, one could claim the title of knight.

The next stage was Expert.

Mularus was currently at this stage; even in rural areas, achieving this level was regarded as being quite capable.

Finally, there was Master.

A Master was not merely a level but a title honoring the strongest.

Anyone who obtained the title of Master could be regarded as nothing short of a monster.

Even Yustaf would be in grave danger if taken by surprise by a Master, illustrating just how fearful that level of skill could be.

‘Sufficiently depicting Users and Experts would be enough.’

Although he wished to see the mastery in action, that was impossible.

The Empire’s Master swordsman had been missing for several years.

After teaching his last disciple, the Third Prince, he had left without a word, and no one had since heard from him.

Of course, only someone like the Emperor would be able to witness his swordsmanship; therefore, it was impossible in any case.

And in fact, he didn’t even need to go that far.

‘Because the Master’s level is so rare, it wouldn’t be a problem to exaggerate a bit.’

There were plenty of Users and Experts to depict accurately, but the Master’s strength didn’t need to be depicted so precisely.

‘Still, I wonder if firearms are out of the question?’

Since the story features vampires, it would be so cool to draw scenes where guns fire left and right, but guns didn’t even exist here, making that impossible.

If he pushed the boundaries a little, he could possibly depict them as a new weapon that appeared in the comic.

However, thinking about the case of the new Golem’s Arm, he felt a bit dizzy.

He had to remember that while these people weren’t stupid, their culture was different from ours.

If someone like Kroon managed to create the guns depicted in his comic, that could really turn into a nightmare.

‘This time, swords need to stay swords.’

It would still be cool to be chopping down vampires with a sword, and Rupert was satisfied with that.

Of course, plain swordsmanship felt a bit dull.

For instance, thinking along the lines of a sword that releases flames or one that crackles with lightning would be interesting, too.

These comic-style elements that provide powerful impact were very important.

A prime example was the hugely popular comic about vampires from Earth.

Among the various reasons for that work’s popularity, the stunning depiction of swordsmanship infused with natural elements was the biggest draw.

‘But that’s too Eastern in background; setting it as a tale of the vampire progenitor slaughtering vampires would really give a great feel, wouldn’t it?’

Although there was still a lot of time left before the next new work needed to be serialized in magazines, Rupert was exhilarated as he began sketching his comics.

*

“Jenia, you were born with incredible talent.”

In the headmaster’s office at the Imperial Academy.

There sat Master Yustaf and the red-haired girl facing each other.

The girl bowed her head as if she had committed some sin, listening to Yustaf’s words.

“…I’m sorry.”

Seeing the girl repeat only her apologies, Yustaf worried whether his teaching had gone astray.

‘Threatening a student with mana….’

The talent of his disciple, Jenia, was astonishing.

Not only was she gifted with the heritage of Draconian lineage, but her intellect and senses were equally impressive enough to compare with his own.

He was certain that with time, she would undoubtedly become a greater wizard than he was.

But thinking of the terror if her talent went astray truly frightened him.

If someone stronger than him were to cause havoc, how could it be controlled?

While he knew it would not come to that, he possessed enough strength to plunge the Empire into crisis if he so wished.

“Can you tell me why you did that?”

“…That guy, I mean… that student insulted the professor!”

As she recalled the incident, Jenia’s voice became a bit louder, stirred by her emotions.

“I’m thankful for your anger over insulting this old man….”

“But he insulted Professor Rupert! How could they dare to speak ill of him without knowing anything…?”

Upon Jenia’s reply, Yustaf felt a bit awkward. When he had assumed the professor was himself, a familiar name suddenly came up.

‘Rupert?’

Did Jenia have some connection with Rupert?

He remembered how she had been especially fixated on Rupert’s works.

Moreover, she had practically insisted on following him when they visited the Somerset Territory.

‘Does she have a crush on Professor Rupert?’

While that was a possibility given his handsome appearance, the real issue lay with Jenia’s behavior stemming from it.

As Yustaf recalled what had happened, he saw Jenia still fuming in anger.

The mana within the professor’s office swirled in resonance with her emotions.

‘Wait, did Jenia just….’

As he observed Jenia, Yustaf was startled.

At first, he thought it was just his imagination, but he clearly witnessed it.

Jenia’s body had undergone a rapid growth spurt.

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