NOVEL WEB “Haah… Haah…”
The sour breath wafted from my mouth.
A severe sense of fatigue washed over me. My calves felt so tense that I could easily predict soreness tomorrow.
“Young Master, you’ve only been running for 10 minutes.”
“Sir Mularus, do you know the principle of relativity?”
“Excuse me?”
What do you mean, “excuse me?” To you, as a knight, 10 minutes may seem trivial, but to me, it felt like I had just run a full marathon!
It was a problem that I had bravely accepted Sir Mularus’s suggestion of starting with 30 minutes of running each morning.
Why had I underestimated those 30 minutes so much? No, more importantly, just because I’m young, does that mean my stamina is zero?
When drawing, I can stay awake for hours without feeling tired, so I thought I had decent stamina, but engaging in physical exercise revealed that my body was in complete shambles.
Eventually, I collapsed on the training ground at the mansion. Sir Mularus, watching me, shook his head with a sigh.
“Young Master, didn’t you say you wanted to learn the Mana Training Method?”
As I lay on the ground, gasping for breath, Sir Mularus began to speak.
‘Mana Training Method’—it’s a special training technique learned by knights in this world, allowing them to perform superhuman feats like jumping the height of a building or breaking boulders.
When I heard about it, I asked if I could learn it, but I was told that I would need to build up my basic stamina first, which led me to start running.
Damn those original authors who write such vague setups as if you can jump straight into the Mana Training Method!
Thinking I would have to endure at least a year of this grueling training to learn it threw me into despair.
A year seems like the minimum; with my current stamina, it might take even longer. This feels like forever.
Who am I? I’m the person who can’t stand wasting time, not like those Nordic folk who are used to it.
“Is there any quick method? You know, something that instantly boosts stamina and makes muscles pop out like a miracle potion.”
“Young Master, those things don’t exist in this world. Unless you’re talking about the legendary ‘Philosopher’s Stone.’”
“Philosopher’s Stone?”
At my question, Sir Mularus responded with a smile.
“It’s, quite literally, a legend. A mythical stone that supposedly turns ordinary rocks into gold. Among alchemists, it’s considered a dream treasure.”
Wait, turning rocks into gold? That sounds just like the Philosopher’s Stone!
Hearing about the Philosopher’s Stone reminded me of a similar tale from Earth.
The ultimate goal and dream of all alchemists, that fantastical substance known as the ‘Philosopher’s Stone.’
Of course, it didn’t actually exist, but it was famous enough that even ordinary folks had heard of it at least once.
Then again, since alchemy exists in this world, it’s not strange to think a similar fantastical item could exist.
“Speaking of which, there’s a real masterpiece that comes to mind.”
With the mention of both the Philosopher’s Stone and alchemy, a particular manga suddenly popped into my head.
One that had once shocked and terrified all readers yet ended in a beautiful finale—a perfect shonen manga.
“Wait, this could actually work?”
I’d been struggling with ideas for a sequel, but finally, it dawned on me: this is the perfect option!
It’s something the people of this world could accept without feeling out of place, yet it’s a concept they’ve never seen before.
I could use this premise to create a comic that had produced outstanding works in the past.
“The story… Hang on, I need to hammer out this storyline!”
With a subject in mind for the sequel, characters that would fit the narrative began to emerge one by one in my thoughts.
The sudden surge of energy when I started to think about the manga was almost magical.
Before long, I was up off the floor, dashing toward the workshop in the mansion, all while Sir Mularus looked on.
“Young Master!!! You haven’t even started on strength training yet!”
I heard a voice shouting in protest, but I ignored it. It wasn’t that strength training was difficult; my fiery artistic spirit was simply leading me onward.
*
“Do you wanna build a Snowman~.”
In the workshop, Aida was singing the song I had taught her while wearing Elza’s dress and holding a magic wand.
“Hmm. It’s definitely the right season.”
Originally, Elza’s dress was characterized by its slim waist, but when tailored to fit Aida’s size, her belly bulged out prominently.
I found it adorable to look at, but Aida didn’t seem pleased. She started refusing the snacks I offered, claiming, “This isn’t the dress!”
Still, Aida was thrilled to be wearing the first prototype goods from ‘Kingdom of Ice’.
We were about to launch the sales soon, so I had her try it out. Ever since then, she had no intention of taking that dress off.
And it didn’t stop there. She boasted about the prototype to her peers, causing quite a stir.
“Please… can’t you hold back, Rupert? Or at least give me a heads-up!!!”
Recently, rumors spread that kids visiting our house could see the works I made in advance. As a result, little ones had been coming to the mansion daily.
Those kids went home and caused a ruckus with their parents, insisting they wanted one for themselves, creating quite the headache for the noble families in the surrounding territories.
It seemed that buying expensive custom editions or hardcover versions was a serious burden for them since they couldn’t be seen purchasing cheap goods, given their noble prides.
“But still, nobles bring in sweet money, so there’s no way I’m giving that up.”
Now I finally understood why my parents were so wary of toy sections in department stores back in my previous life.
But that was their issue, not mine.
They were rich folks, after all.
It was better to sell at a high price to wealthy nobility rather than reselling at a markup to ordinary commoners, even if it meant catching some complaints.
So, this time for ‘Kingdom of Ice’, I didn’t publish it only for commoners but also for the nobles.
And oh boy, did this create a massive buzz!
The custom editions were hard to keep up with, so I released limited editions and premium hardcovers.
Because the nobles couldn’t buy the commoner versions due to their status, all the demand flooded in for the higher-priced options, generating a pretty sweet revenue.
Especially this time, instead of a raffle, we adopted a first-come, first-served strategy for the limited editions.
“Young Master, we need some visible strategies this time.”
This was part of my idea inspired by the guild leader’s complaints.
Until now, a lot of whispers circulated among the nobility that our raffle system was fraudulent or based on connections, causing a significant amount of dissatisfaction.
So, by introducing this first-come, first-served method, it became impossible for them to raise grievances about manipulation or connection-based sales.
According to the guild leader, even the palace attendants were lining up, so I guess that settled the fairness issue.
Anyway, the first-come effect created a long line outside the Yuren guild’s main branch, which had never been seen before.
Seeing that spectacle sparked interest even among those who weren’t aware of it, leading to an increase in book purchases.
“Ah, this part is quite tricky.”
However, on the flip side of the profitable ventures, the progress on my sequel wasn’t moving along as well as I’d hoped.
The bottleneck I was facing wasn’t about the story or characters; it was a seemingly minor detail—the ‘Transmutation Circle.’
“I can’t think of a Transmutation Circle!”
In the current project, ‘Iron Blood Alchemist’, alchemy was a central theme, so naturally, the transmutation circle popped up frequently.
The truth is, in the work that inspired me, the circle held a significant meaning, but I couldn’t easily come up with something for it.
“How unfortunate that is.”
I had browsed through a few alchemy books for research and copied the transmutation circles that actually exist in this other world, but they were just lacking in flair.
Perhaps it was because they only featured simple ones that I didn’t feel the urge to design my own unique transmutation circle.
Furthermore, if I threw something together haphazardly, I’d definitely get feedback later.
“Hmph, real alchemists wouldn’t use such shoddy transmutation circles!”
Thinking of the possibility of hateful comments made it necessary to pay attention to even the smallest details.
However, the idea of studying alchemy for the sake of my work seemed just too excessive, and I found myself wondering if there was a book filled with plausible transmutation circles.
“I can’t believe I even think such a ridiculous thought. What are the odds of a book like that appearing conveniently?”
Deciding to put off the transmutation circle for later, I moved on to outline the rest.
*
“Freeze!”
Aida pointed at me with Elza’s wand, and I had to freeze in place.
Honestly, standing still like this was torture, and I wished to be released soon. But this kid was meticulous, just like someone else I knew.
She poked at various parts of my body with the wand, checking for any reaction before finally saying, “You can move now!”
“Thank you, Princess Aida.”
“I’ll let you go this time!”
Looking at Aida, who was beaming with pride, I finally let out a sigh of relief.
When I used to imitate the characters from storybooks, I just had to go along with the dialogue.
But this time for ‘Kingdom of Ice’, the difficulty in matching the cues had significantly increased.
Still, even while I worked, it was nice to have some mood boosters with her antics, though I wondered if it might become problematic later on.
“Aida is off on an adventure!!!”
Last time, she insisted on going on an adventure like Elza and Hannah, which meant we had to take a picnic in the woods within the territory.
That wasn’t all.
“Mana is a mysterious substance that exists in nature. You can’t see it, but you can feel it…”
After our playful role-playing session, Aida sat next to me and started reading a book, quickly dozing off.
In her hand, she held a book.
“The Basics of Magic – By Yustaf Heindel”
I had bought this introductory magic book because she kept whining that she wanted to cast spells like Elza.
“It’s been days, and she hasn’t gotten past the first page.”
She seemed to genuinely try her best, but every time I looked, she was still stuck on the first page.
Apparently, a book full of just text was nothing but a sleeping potion for Aida.
“Sigh, you really can’t be sleeping here.”
I was about to carry the sleeping Aida to her bedroom when the contents of the book caught my eyes.
After placing Aida in her bedroom, I got curious and took a look at the “Basics of Magic” book she had been reading.
After all, anyone in modern times had fantasized about magic, so I was filled with a twinge of expectation and paused my work to read the book with focus.
However, the only redeemable part seemed to be the beginning. The rest was filled with content that made no sense to me, causing my interest to wane quickly.
“I see why this is being used as Aida’s pillow.”
It was so boring that it made even me drowsy. Just as I was about to close it, something intriguing caught my eye.
“The role and meaning of rune letters and shapes.”