Chapter 83

Rupert’s daily routine involved teaching at the academy, spending some time playing with Aida, who had grown horns, when he got home, and then heading to the workshop to report on the animation-related work.

After wrapping that up, it was time to move to the third floor to check on the manuscript that the Saint and Sena were working on.

Honestly, it wasn’t just enjoyable from a reader’s perspective when looking at both of their works.

It was quite a challenge to give careful advice to enhance the quality of the comic while focusing and analyzing as much as possible.

Darn it.

Both of their works had many incredibly interesting elements. If forced to categorize the genre, it had the form of sci-fi and romance comics.

Having enjoyed modern civilization, Rupert found it easy to understand both pieces, but he had to remember that for readers from another world, those genres were very unfamiliar.

Sena’s work was easy to understand, but since comics didn’t only have female readers, a task to broaden the reader demographic was necessary.

Since it was just the beginning of the manga era, it was a natural disappointment.

The reason modern comics could cover diverse and niche genres was that the prophets built a huge fence and led countless readers to the world of comics.

Therefore, Rupert and his comrades had the responsibility to lead the popularization of comics like other writers on Earth.

If he made the wrong choice and the comic genre fell into a bad path, there was nothing more terrible than that.

“Good work, now go inside and rest.”

Even though the Saint and Sena wanted to fix the parts Rupert pointed out right away, he made them leave work forcibly since he had had the experience of collapsing from overexertion.

Only after taking care of their works could Rupert prepare his own.

This semester is going to be tight until the end.

Rupert was trying to live a more regular life than before, but as always, it was never easy to make it happen.

At least, despite being busy, he didn’t skip his morning workouts, and the fact that he wasn’t gulping down vitality potions like water meant it was a lot better than before.

Finally, seated at his desk, Rupert calmly started drawing the storyboard.

Let’s kick off with a story about the protagonist who loses his entire family after being attacked by vampires.

The family was brutally killed by the vampires while the protagonist was out of the house.

Seeing the state of his family, the protagonist blindly chases after the vampires for revenge and finds himself in crisis against their power—this was the main plot of the beginning.

Then a mysterious man appears, using a weapon that was more akin to a staff than a sword, smoothly cutting down the vampires.

But,

Yep, just using a sword feels bland.

There was a reason why swords emitted fire and lightning in manga.

Of course, there are works where a single sword struggles against formidable foes, but this was a world of fantasy.

In a world overflowing with magic and superhumans, it wouldn’t be easy to meet the reader’s expectations with mere swordsmanship.

Thus, a special element.

Natural powers will definitely stand out.

Flames or ice, or wind or lightning bursting forth from a sword—could anything make men’s hearts flutter more than that?

Or it might be cool, like in manga featuring shinigami, where a sword unlocks special abilities.

But Rupert thought that elements people could easily and intuitively accept, no matter how he considered it, were natural forces.

Thus, the man who was blasting flames from his sword took care of the vampires attacking the protagonist.

In fact, while following him, who belonged to the secret organization hunting vampires, the protagonist would begin to grow, which somewhat finalized the storyboard.

Naming the secret organization Van Helsing feels just right.

One of the main characters from Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” has now become synonymous with vampire hunters.

Now, due to numerous reinterpretations, a strong hunter’s image emerged, but in the original, he was a character who used his head rather than sheer strength.

Of course, people from another world wouldn’t know Van Helsing or even Dracula, so Rupert decided to use that as the name for the secret organization.

Now that the organization’s name was decided, it was time to figure out the setting for Van Helsing.

Since it was a secret organization that had continued fighting against vampires since ancient times, various races, including humans, elves, and dwarfs, mixed together, but he decided the central race would be elves.

He was intrigued by the fact that elves, much like vampires, lived for a long time.

What if the evil elves that split from the elves transformed into vampires? That wouldn’t be too far-fetched!

Pale skin and an almost immortal lifespan.

The typical good-looking image of pale vampires was very similar to the elves of another world.

As the setting began to take shape, Rupert’s working speed began to intensify.

*

“I’ve heard of Crimson Warden.”

Unusual visitors reached Celestial, the headquarters of the Goddess Church, bringing commotion to the quiet place.

Elves.

Not only was their interaction with humans rare, but they were almost polar opposites of the Goddess Church, making their visit to Celestial a once-in-a-long-history event.

Belief in the goddess was the same for both humans and elves, but while humans called the Saintess the daughter of the goddess, the elves, who believed solely in the World Tree they guarded, viewed it as an oil-and-water relationship.

“I know there’s no goodwill between us, but if we let them go this time, terrible things might happen to the continent.”

The priests around the elf turned pale at his words.

No matter how different their races and doctrines were, replying to the Saintess, whom they served, in such a disrespectful tone was unacceptable.

Noticing the cold glances, the elf male was flustered, but the expression on the elf female, Cypris, remained unbothered.

“I can only promise support after hearing the details.”

“That can’t be! This intel is a valuable lead we put our lives on the line to obtain. If there are traitors on the human side, it’ll be the end!”

“That’s interesting. Is it the elven way of trading to request support while refusing to share information with those you can’t trust?”

“That is….”

“Above all, we know about a guy named Sataniel. He was originally an elf, right? Isn’t it even more dangerous for something so valuable to be in the hands of elves who birthed such a demon?”

Cypris gritted her teeth and glared at the Saintess as she spoke.

However, she couldn’t refute the Saintess’s words.

Sataniel could indeed be considered the original sin of all elves.

“Saintess, she has come here as a member of Crimson Warden, not as an elf.”

Seeing the situation unfold, Richard interjected to continue the conversation between Cypris and the Saintess.

“I’ve heard that the secret organization of the Goddess Church played a crucial role when dealing with the Night’s Faction in the past.”

“You still remember that story from long ago; it seems hard to understand elves in human time.”

The Saintess’s face showed a hint of amusement at Richard’s words.

She found the visitors from the Crimson Warden to be quite intriguing.

Even though she had known of Crimson Warden for some time, she had never seen them due to their secretive and reclusive nature, making their visit unexpected for the Saintess as well.

Moreover, their message carried the heavy significance of needing to avert a crisis in the continent.

“I thought there was only one human in the Crimson Warden.”

“…My master has passed away.”

“What? Him?”

Richard’s response shocked the Saintess.

Normally, she wouldn’t reveal emotion, much less surprise, but this time it was unavoidable.

The Swordmaster.

Just a few years ago, he had suddenly vanished from the Empire, and only the Pope and the Saintess knew he had joined the secret organization Crimson Warden that fought the Night’s Faction.

-My last seat will be where I’m exhausted from cutting down those brutes. That would be sufficient.

One day, he visited the headquarters of the Goddess Church, asking to bless his sword with an unquenchable sun.

Originally, blessings were something priests granted to weapons to deal with wicked beings, like those tainted by malice.

Usually, such blessings didn’t last long.

However, only the Saintess could grant a blessing on a sword that lasts forever as long as it doesn’t break, known as the unquenchable sun.

Of course, it required a considerable amount of divine power, making it a precious opportunity the Saintess could only perform about once a year, but the church honored the Swordmaster’s request.

Having lived a righteous life and accumulated good deeds, he was a worthy recipient of the Saintess’s blessing.

After receiving the blessing, the Swordmaster vanished, and soon it became known that he had joined the secret organization Crimson Warden to combat the Night’s Faction.

I never imagined that tragedy could have been caused by the Dark Elves.

Rumors spread in the Empire that the reason for the Swordmaster disappearing was the personal tragedy that struck his family.

But the fact that Sataniel had caused that tragedy was a secret even the Emperor did not know.

Only the Church, having heard directly from the Swordmaster, retained that secret.

And the Saintess could not believe the news of the Swordmaster’s death.

“Is Sataniel truly that powerful?”

The Empire’s Swordmaster, Cal Oregan.

He was a monster whose skills stood among the best of the historical Swordmasters, a being that couldn’t simply be described as a superhuman.

Sataniel had already been within the Church’s watchful eye, and while she had a rough understanding of his danger, she didn’t believe he could kill the Swordmaster.

“It’s… it’s my fault! My master was protecting me when he fell! He wouldn’t have lost to someone like Sataniel!!!”

Richard burst into tears, shouting through his heartbreak at the Saintess’s question.

This could really be dangerous.

However, the Saintess remained stoic, not easing her stern expression even after hearing Richard’s words.

No matter how dire the situation seemed, she concluded that the threat level of Sataniel, who had killed the Swordmaster, must be raised to the highest.

“It doesn’t seem like the time for stale discussions.”

With her words, everyone gathered in the Church was left in shock.

-Please gather the Zion Knights.

If the elves had the secret organization Crimson Warden chasing after the Night’s Faction…

Humans had their secret weapon to stand against the forces of evil.

A powerful paramilitary organization that only the Saintess could control within the Church.

The moment she called for the Zion Knights, everyone realized.

That the Holy War was about to begin once again.

---

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