Drawing Manga in a Romance Fantasy

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In the Sylvania Continent, besides the Borus Empire where Rupert lives, there were many other countries.

Among them was the home country of Adrian, the Kingdom of Sylvania, which he had come to study at the Imperial Academy, along with the Desert Kingdom of Aramen, each smaller than the Empire individually.

However, when combined, their territories and populations rivaled that of the Empire.

What all these nations had in common was their almost reflexive dislike for the Empire.

“Borus Empire? Using their stuff makes you a total traitor!”

“Those Imperial folks are so arrogant and boastful, just the sight of them makes me want to vomit!”

“If they ever split up, that’ll be the perfect time for revenge…!”

This was their shared sentiment towards the Empire.

To understand the reasons behind this, one would have to trace back through the history of the continent.

Before the Empire was established, the Sylvania Continent was truly a chaotic era filled with dozens of small and medium-sized kingdoms.

Even the Borus Empire was once just the Borus Kingdom, one among those small kingdoms.

However, after Emperor Alexander Belmont conquered the other kingdoms through war and established the Empire, the history of the continent began to repeat itself.

It was a fight between the Borus Empire, seeking to unify the continent, and other nations joining forces to oppose them.

Fortunately, now there was a certain balance of power, so territories were somewhat defined, but before that, it had been an era of relentless warfare between the Empire and the Allied nations.

Some referred to that time as the Age of Knights, romanticizing it, but that was usually from the Empire’s perspective.

To the people of other nations who feared their countries disappearing due to the Empire’s invasion, the Empire was nothing more than a fierce beast.

As time passed and exchanges between the Empire and other countries resumed, Imperial merchants were reluctant to engage in trade for quite a while.

“Money is great and all, but I can’t risk my life for it, can I?”

Due to the widespread negative perception of the Empire among foreigners, it was common for Imperial merchants to be attacked, and there were even cases of those losing their lives, causing others to shy away from trade.

“The Empire can be self-sufficient within its own borders.”

Moreover, the Empire had no need for outside goods.

After all, nearly half of the continent’s land belonged to the Empire, so they could meet all their needs internally, and for what they couldn’t provide, they simply traded with the Eastern lands across the sea.

On the contrary, it was the other nations, excluding the Empire, that found themselves in a difficult position.

Among them were landlocked countries, as well as territories with only rugged mountainous regions, deserts, or coastlines.

In such situations, exchanges with the Empire had to happen, aside from the negative feelings.

“Set up a representative to facilitate trade there.”

To facilitate trading with the Empire, it was essential to create a special commercial district within their territory to ensure the safety of Imperial merchants.

“However, the Empire only accepted raw materials for trade.”

Kranaksu Namu, the Prime Minister of Aramen, muttered quietly as he observed the Imperial merchants busily negotiating within the commercial district.

“That’s right. Even if the Empire’s goods are cheap, our Aramen folks prefer to use our own items, even if they cost more,” said the commercial district manager proudly, who was accompanying Prime Minister Kranaksu Namu.

Despite the shortages, they held firm on their last shred of pride, refusing to buy finished products even if they imported from the Empire.

“Yet, it seems our Aramen merchants are happily purchasing those goods,” Kranaksu Namu remarked.

“Th-That is…”

But the manager found it hard to respond to Kranaksu Namu’s subsequent statements.

“The latest work from the Somerset Workshop, ‘Rupert’s Fable,’ limited to only 100 copies!”

At the shout of the Imperial merchant, Aramen merchants swarmed around him.

“I’ll buy it! I’ll offer 10 gold!”

“I’ll bid 11 gold!”

“Hey! I’ll give 15 gold!!!”

The merchants clamored, each with their eyes glued to the 100 copies of ‘Rupert’s Fable’, culminating in the final auction won by the merchant who called out 15 gold.

It was a sight that both Kranaksu Namu and the commercial district manager could not miss.

“Those items seem to be trending lately…”

“I’m not saying you’re at fault.”

Kranaksu Namu understood that it wasn’t the manager’s fault at all.

“I, myself, bought fairy tale books for the children!”

People who had once cringed at Imperial goods had been buzzing with excitement over the Imperial books that started filtering into the commercial district months prior.

“Kids are completely hooked on those fairy tale books.”

“Isn’t literature universal? Just think of it as mere children’s toys.”

“Comic books aren’t exclusively Imperial goods; they’re just a facet of culture.”

Unlike previous Imperial goods, this recent influx of fairy tale books and comic books faced far less resistance among the people.

Moreover, they surely possessed a certain enchanting charm.

“’Iron-Blooded Alchemist’ has already concluded in the Empire, you know?”

“Your info is really slow. New works have already come out.”

“Recently, it’s all the rage for the noble class in the Empire to play card games.”

Once someone laid eyes on Rupert’s works, they were left craving for more, like addicts wanting their next fix.

Thus, the items selling the best in the commercial district were not food, salt, or any of those essentials, but rather the creations of the Somerset Workshop.

And this phenomenon wasn’t limited to just the Kingdom of Aramen.

Bang!

“Such a fool…!”

While many nations held disdain for the Empire, the one that loathed it the most was undoubtedly the Kingdom of Sylvania.

“I apologize.”

“Is this even reasonable? Trying to sabotage the Empire backfired and ended up helping them instead…”

Sylvania, which shared a border with the Borus Empire and was the most formidable nation among those excluding the Empire, had been involved in countless battles with it.

The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sylvania, Cartel, was visibly struggling to contain his rage lately.

“The Prince risked his life for our kingdom and infiltrated the Empire!!!”

Each time he thought of Adrian being dragged into the Imperial Academy almost as a hostage, his heart ached.

-Prime Minister, I will create chaos within the Empire. If anything goes wrong, I must remain alone at my discretion, so prepare to abandon me.

“Cough… Prince…”

Adrian had entered the Empire to foster division within a country that was essentially their nemesis.

Yet recently, the Kingdom had been overflowing with nobles who had succumbed to the Empire’s new cultural influx, driving him to the brink of exasperation.

“Illegal copies only made matters worse.”

“Damn it, were we played by the Empire? Could they have anticipated this as well?”

Cartel reprimanded himself for acting too hastily.

A year prior, new cultural phenomena had rapidly spread across the Empire, and the neighboring Kingdom of Sylvania was one of the first to witness this wave.

‘Fairy tales and comic books.’

He recalled personally witnessing the stir that swept through the nobility and commoners alike in the Empire.

And the books created by Rupert were certainly candidates for great popularity.

These were picture-driven books that had never been seen before in the Empire, let alone the continent, appealing both visually and entertainingly.

‘It’s only a matter of time before they come to our Sylvania!’

Having recognized the explosive potential of those fairy tale and comic books upon first encountering them, Cartel resolved to prevent their spread.

However, it wasn’t going to be easy.

‘Even if I block commerce in the district, it’ll be hard to uproot smuggling.’

Due to sharing a border with the Empire, the Kingdom of Sylvania had no shortage of people attempting to strike it rich by engaging in smuggling.

Thus, realizing that no matter how much he prohibited them, these goods would likely spread throughout the kingdom, he approached the situation from a different angle.

-Immediately gather the artisans of the Kingdom in secret!

If he couldn’t prevent these items from leaking out, Cartel devised a plan to at least block profits from flowing back to that detestable Empire.

He summoned the Kingdom’s artisans and ordered them to mass-produce illegal copies of the fairy tales and comic books.

His reasoning seemed rational at first glance.

If they produced a large number of copies in the Kingdom and sold them at near-cost prices, whether they were smuggled in or imported legally, the prices simply wouldn’t compete, leading to Imperial goods gathering dust and sending the Imperial merchants coming to sell into a significant loss.

Initially, it seemed to be going according to his plan.

‘But we already have a ton of these in our Kingdom, right?’

‘What? That doesn’t make sense, this is the first batch we brought this time!’

‘Still, I can’t buy it at that price!’

Seeing the dumbfounded expressions on the faces of the Imperial merchants as they took their goods back, it felt as though a decade’s worth of pent-up frustration had finally been released.

However, there was one aspect that he hadn’t anticipated.

‘The quality difference is staggering!’

‘What I possess is the genuine Imperial product; the quality is just different!’

‘Damn it, no matter how cheap, I can’t have this junk!’

The disparity in quality between the replicas created under his guidance and the genuine articles produced at the Somerset Workshop was glaringly evident.

Initially, the cheaper kingdom-made replicas saw significant popularity, but only among the commoners.

As for the nobles, regardless of the price, they preferred to buy the genuine imported products, as it gave them an air of prestige, and suddenly, this became a hot new trend.

Naturally, the Kingdom’s artisans did their utmost in replicating the goods, but the original products combined the skills of Rupert’s long-established craftsmanship and the Dwarf Kroon’s seemingly unbeatable expertise.

As it became all the rage among the noble class, affluent merchants began acquiring the genuine Imperial originals, and soon, even the common folk started following suit, making Rupert’s works the latest trend, even more so than in other countries.

“Books are all just the same!”

Cartel couldn’t wrap his head around it.

How could the Empire’s technology be so advanced that the replicas crafted with effort by the Kingdom’s artisans were being disregarded as inferior?

Ironically, as the illegal copies proliferated, the genuine products garnered even greater popularity, leading to a situation where his actions had indeed become a double-edged sword, and the Imperial merchants were growing ever more triumphant, bamboozling the merchants of Sylvania.

“How about we discuss trade again?”

“Didn’t you say that wasn’t necessary?”

“Hahaha, let’s forget the past and start anew…”

“The prices have gone up, haven’t they?”

“Damn it, I’ll give you what you ask for!”

In this manner, fairy tales and comic books began to spread across the entire continent.