Rupert’s Fairy Tale Book and Comic Book were wildly popular not just among nobles but also among commoners, and the branch of the Yuren Merchant Association distributing them had impressive networks.
As a result, there were many readers in the outskirts of the Empire.
One such area, the eastern part of the Empire, was the only region bordering the sea, thriving in commerce and fisheries.
Currently, a boy reading the Pinocchio fairy tale book came from a family of fishermen.
“Ismael! Didn’t I tell you to hurry up for dinner?”
“Yes, I’m coming out, Mom!”
At his mother’s urging, the boy carefully placed the Pinocchio fairy tale book back on the shelf.
‘No matter how many times I read it, it’s really amazing!’
If he loitered any longer, his mother’s scolding would come down, but the boy couldn’t stop his thoughts.
The adventures of a wooden puppet with a life of its own thrilled him, especially the incidents at sea.
The story of Pinocchio entering the huge belly of a whale to rescue Grandpa Geppetto resonated deeply with the boy.
‘Mom, I read in Pinocchio that Dad might be waiting for us inside a whale’s belly too!’
The day he first read Pinocchio, he rushed to his mom, excitedly showing her the fairy tale book with a picture of a whale.
But his mom didn’t look happy, and with a tearful expression, she simply patted his head.
Not wanting to see that expression on his mother’s face again, the boy never brought up the fairy tale again after that day.
Yet he firmly believed that his father, who had gone to sea and never returned, was still alive inside a whale.
So he wanted to go out to sea as soon as possible, just like Pinocchio, to rescue his father from inside the whale.
‘But for that, I need money to buy a boat.’
His father’s boat didn’t return with him, so he had to find a boat of his own.
Boats, even the smallest ones, were very expensive, and with his pocket money, he could never afford one. Just then, luck struck.
‘Ultimate Comic Contest!’
Seeing the announcement for a comic contest hosted by the Pinocchio author with a 100 gold prize, the boy thought this was it!
He had often received compliments for his drawing skills, so he was confident.
If he won, he could buy the boat needed to venture into the sea where the whale was!
“I’m done eating!”
“Already?”
Having quickly finished his breakfast, he returned to his room and picked up the comic drawing tool set he had bought with his carefully saved allowance.
The boy began to draw the sea.
*
“The clubroom is larger than I expected.”
“Indeed, I heard other popular clubs are assigned smaller spaces.”
This was the newly established manga club for this semester.
As it was the first meeting, the clubroom was filled with members.
However, only four people were chatting happily.
The remaining six were extremely tense, careful even in their breathing.
‘Why on earth are those people, including the prince, here…?’
Many had applied to join the manga club.
The reason so many had applied to what seemed like an ordinary manga club was because of those four who were chatting intimately.
The Empire’s prince, the lady of the Duke’s house, the heir of the marquis, and the prince of the Kingdom.
Jokingly speaking, if these assembled desired, they could potentially abolish the academy.
Knowing this, many had applied in hopes of getting to know them better.
Yet all those hopefuls had been rejected, and the students Rupert selected were, by contrast, rather obscure.
Sure, two students from the Art Department were Rupert’s direct disciples, but the rest came from the Music and Engineering Departments.
Because of this, those who were rejected complained about the unfair selection process.
“Everyone’s here.”
Finally, Rupert arrived at the clubroom with a mix of students whose combination was incomprehensible.
“Thank you for applying to the manga club. We plan to create not just comics, but various works together.”
The students’ eyes sparkled at Rupert’s words.
Observing their expressions, Rupert thought he had made a good choice.
‘Just by looking at the application forms, I can tell who loves comics and who doesn’t.’
Except for the four he couldn’t possibly reject, the remaining students were selected purely based on what they had written in their applications.
Of course, their majors also played a role in their selection, but above all, Rupert had worked hard to choose students who showed genuine love for comics.
“I’ve read comics, but creating other things piques my curiosity. Can you tell us what they might be?”
The one who asked this question was Kyle, straightforward as a northern person should be, demanding an answer rather than waiting for an explanation.
With a nod, Rupert pulled out a small bundle of paper.
“Can everyone see this?”
In Rupert’s hand was a bundle of paper with small drawings on it.
“Yes, is that what we will be drawing?”
The students’ answers carried a hint of disappointment.
Most of the students gathered at the manga club had come for a fascination and love for comics.
However, the drawings Rupert showed were unimpressive, neither stunning nor artistic – just small sketches.
Of course, some, like Amelia, looked at Rupert with smiles, as if to say it was good enough.
“To be precise, this is a guide for what we will create moving forward.”
“A guide?”
Rupert handed the bundle of paper to the Third Prince right in front of him.
“Your Highness… I mean Edric, could you flip through that quickly with your finger?”
“Like this?”
Recalling that he had asked Rupert not to address him in such a way, Edric began to flip through the bundle rapidly, following Rupert’s instructions.
“What is this?”
With his eyes widening as if witnessing something astonishing, the Third Prince found himself speechless.
Seeing his reaction, the others around him, who had seemed indifferent, couldn’t help but turn their attention to the bundle he was holding.
However, to their confusion, aside from the small drawings they had seen before, nothing appeared extraordinary.
“It definitely moved, didn’t it?”
“Edric, could you pass it around so others can see?”
At Rupert’s request, Edric turned his body to share the bundle with the others.
Curiosity piqued, the students began to focus on the paper to see what could have possibly moved.
As Edric flicked through the pages, everyone inevitably had the same reaction as the Prince initially did.
It was clear the small figure drawn began to run as if alive.
The expression “the drawings are alive” fit perfectly.
“What is this?”
“I thought I was seeing things.”
“Is it magic? But I didn’t sense any mana.”
“No. The continuous series of drawings appeared to move rapidly as they flipped by.”
Once again, Rupert admired Edric’s observation.
‘It’s a bit disappointing that he noticed it so quickly.’
Of course, it was Edric’s incredible visual acuity that allowed him to realize this, and among the other students, only Kyle seemed to grasp it as well.
“Exactly! By splitting the drawings into detailed frames and flipping through them quickly, they appear to come to life.”
At Rupert’s words, the students were amazed yet perplexed.
But they were also left with a fundamental question: why was this necessary?
“Currently, no matter how quickly they are flipped through, they don’t look smooth. However, if dozens of frames were projected in one second, what would happen then?”
“Is that even possible?”
This raised doubts even among students who still didn’t understand what Rupert was trying to create.
How could there be so many drawings shown in such a short time?
“I call that animation, and I am currently developing it.”
“Animation?”
Hearing the unfamiliar term for the first time, the students found it hard to imagine what it meant.
Moving drawings?!
However, one student had an entirely different reaction.
“Wait… wait, Professor Rupert, are you saying…”
With a shocked expression, as if he had just realized something incredible, Edric interjected.
“Are you saying the comic book you’re creating will move?”
How wonderful would it be if characters from The Ice Kingdom like Elza or from Iron-Blooded Alchemist like Winry came to life?
Edric, who imagined this every day, understood perfectly what kind of creation moving drawings would produce.
It was a feat that could only be described as a revolution.
Characters from comic books moving; it was practically his dream and aspiration!
“Yes, that’s correct. Of course, there are many areas where we need to develop to achieve it.”
Rupert picked up the bundle of paper again and flipped through it rapidly.
It seemed to move, yet there was a distinct sense of it being choppy.
“To look natural, we naturally need dialogue to accompany it, right?”
Lastly, Rupert scattered the bundle of papers and continued.
“By the way, this bundle contains 62 sheets. But generally, we expect our animations to require about 12 sheets per second.”
“Wait, if it’s 12 sheets per second, that means 720 sheets in a minute? Roughly 21,600 sheets for a 30-minute production?”
The one who spoke was Amelia, showcasing remarkable mental calculation skills like the next top student of the Magic Department.
However, the students couldn’t help but be shocked by the number Amelia had just cited.
‘How do we even draw that?’
‘That’s an absurd number; it’ll take forever to graduate at this rate.’
‘Of course, I’m curious about the final product, but this is a bit….’
Everyone was more overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work than curious about the creation.
Seeing their reactions, Rupert chuckled.
“A 30-minute production isn’t something you all can achieve with your current levels.”
With Rupert’s words, the students finally felt relieved.
Understanding that the goal for the manga club was to showcase a work of under 10 minutes by the end of the first semester put things into perspective.
Even so, the task was still daunting, and they were filled with concern.
Yet someone stood up with a radiant expression, grabbing Rupert’s hand tightly.
“Let’s do it! We can do this! I really want to do this!!!”
In the Third Prince’s heart, winter was passing, and spring was beginning to bloom.
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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Ismael and a whale…..🧭🐟⚓🐋
Thank for the chapter!!!
It’s all your fault ismael
where toc button ?
It got dmca
Bro really down so bad for Elza 😭
I hope Rupert will make a Ghibli movie in the future
gak sabar untuk kelanjutan nya