Xenia
Xenia
"Please read it one more time."
The red-haired girl Xenia pleaded earnestly with the man who read the village's shared manga volume aloud.
"What? That's already the fifth time. My throat's about to split."
"Please, I'm begging you."
At Xenia's pitiful expression, the man sighed, then began reading <Kingdom of Ice> again from the beginning.
It felt like only the day before yesterday that the whole village had gathered to read the shared manga volume together, but now nearly every household had bought their own copy.
So the village's shared manga volume was practically Xenia's alone.
'So pretty.'
She had been shocked to learn that the manga was drawn by the same artist who had created the picture book she had fallen so deeply in love with.
She had known the picture book she'd seen was a shoddy counterfeit, but she hadn't realized the difference would be this great.
The artist's drawings in the manga volume distributed by Her Highness the Imperial Princess for the empire's citizens had captivated Xenia in an instant.
'They say the artist is a young nobleman....'
Both the picture book and this manga felt as though they were comforting her.
How could a nobleman raised so far above someone like her create stories that seemed to comfort people in her position?
Elza from <Kingdom of Ice> felt just like her.
'Xenia, you must never show your ability in front of others!'
Her own special ability—the one her parents, before they died, had warned her never to reveal.
Elza, too, had to live hiding the power she had gained from the ice witch's curse.
But in the end, she became a hero who saved the kingdom with that power.
Lately, Xenia had begun to wonder: couldn't she do the same?
When the man finally finished the fifth reading of the manga and went home,
Xenia remained alone in the village square, peering at the manga volume.
She had heard the story dozens of times, enough to roughly recognize what the words in the manga meant, so Xenia began reading it again on her own.
As she reread it, her favorite scene appeared. The battle scene where Elza reached out her hand and froze the wicked villain.
It was a scene Xenia had seen countless times already, but she got excited and reached out her hand just like Elza.
Elza froze things—she could burn them.
She glanced around quietly, and no one was in sight. Xenia stealthily reached out her hand and glared at the empty air.
Then a fireball appeared in the air. She quickly extinguished it, since maintaining it for long made her body tired in no time.
Watching that sight, Xenia let her imagination take flight.
She knew she shouldn't, but—the image of herself saving everyone with this power if monsters ever attacked the village.
It sent a thrill through her to picture people marveling as monsters collapsed at her gesture.
'Xenia, you're our village's hero!'
The villagers who had looked down on her for having no parents, and her uncle's family.
Just imagining them clapping and cheering for her was delightful.
"So you know how to handle mana?"
But Xenia's sweet fantasy was shattered.
She had been certain no one was there, but when she turned at the voice from behind, an old man covered head to toe in a robe was standing there.
"Ah... ahh."
Xenia felt as though her world was collapsing. Someone had noticed this ability her parents had told her to hide at all costs.
She didn't know what to do, and the words wouldn't come out properly.
"Do not worry so much, red-haired child. I mean you no harm."
When the old man's hand touched the top of Xenia's head, she squeezed her eyes shut in fear.
But nothing in particular happened; she just felt a soft energy lingering gently around her head.
"Huh, so it was real. A person carrying the bloodline of the 'Eldor' clan."
Eldor? Xenia couldn't understand what the old man was saying, but he didn't seem to intend her any harm, so she relaxed slightly.
"Do you have parents?"
"...."
Xenia simply shook her head at the old man's question.
"I'm Yustaf. I may not look like much, but I'm a fairly famous wizard."
The old man raised a single finger before Xenia's eyes.
Then a blue flame sprang from the tip of his finger.
Xenia's eyes went wide. There was someone else besides her with a strange ability.
"Will you come with me?"
At the old man's question, Xenia's mind went blank.
Her parents' warning never to follow strangers collided in her head with the dreadful uncle's house she would have to return to.
And then
"...If I go, could I become a hero too?"
"A hero?"
At Xenia's words, the gaze of the old man who had identified himself as Yustaf turned toward the manga volume the girl was holding.
<Kingdom of Ice> was a book that had become a hot topic recently, so he had read it once.
A hero—did she mean she wanted to become like the princess who was the protagonist of that story?
The old man found it admirable and stroked Xenia's head.
For someone born with such enormous magical power that they could cast crude magic by instinct, their environment was extremely important.
From everything he could see, Xenia's circumstances did not look good.
Her parents were dead, and even the clothes she wore were threadbare.
Her hands were chapped all over, so she must have had a hard time of it.
In such circumstances, ordinary people tended to go astray. But this child said she wanted to become a hero like the one in the manga, and that was admirable.
She was a kind-hearted child.
Yustaf gave a slight nod at Xenia's answer, then held out his hand.
Xenia silently took it.
***
"Now this is what nobility is."
Lately, the dining table had been growing more lavish by the day.
The soup was packed with so many chunks that it alone could serve as a meal, and the bread was crispy outside and moist inside—delicious even without dipping it in anything.
Most of all, there was a different meat dish on the table every day.
Yesterday there had been a roasted chicken dish, and today they presented a veal tenderloin steak.
Not just me—Father and Ada had also been overeating at mealtimes recently to the point of gaining weight.
Actually, I rather liked how Ada was getting rounder and rounder; I found it quite adorable.
'My lady, you mustn't gain any more weight. You need to show some restraint!'
The maid who looked after Ada apparently didn't see it that way. Well, Ada had been eating snacks nonstop lately, to be fair. But children and animals are cuter the chubbier they are.
I'd even been scolded after the maid caught me secretly feeding Ada a dessert from the capital that I'd gone to considerable trouble to get.
Whenever work wore me out, squeezing Ada's chubby cheeks and chin made the fatigue fade. I'd miss that if it disappeared.
"Ah, now that you mention it, Rupert. Do you truly not intend to attend the Academy?"
While I was lost in idle thoughts watching Ada munch on her bread, Father suddenly brought up the Academy.
"Yes, I thought it over, but I don't have the time to spare."
Father sounded disappointed and asked me to reconsider, but I wasn't going to change my mind.
Originally I had planned to attend the Academy, but there was no need to go now.
'Imperial Academy'
The cradle of the empire's talent, where nobles and gifted commoners alike could enroll.
To enter such an Academy, you had to have outstanding talent in at least one field.
'Rupert had gotten in through art.'
Even if artistic talent was looked down on, skill at this level would obviously earn admission.
They gathered such talented people regardless of status and trained them with lessons from the empire's finest instructors, forging them into capable individuals.
Because of that, getting in was hard, but graduating was no easy feat either, so merely being an Academy graduate meant many places would vie for you.
Knowing our family's circumstances, I had considered enrolling, thinking I'd at least need to graduate from the Academy to make a living.
But now that I was earning money through business, there was no need to go.
If anything, it would only cut into my manga-drawing time.
Besides, the Imperial Academy was the main setting of the original web novel.
Starting this spring with the Third Imperial Prince and Amelia enrolling, the main cast would gather there, and there was no need to throw myself into a place where all sorts of events would erupt.
'I was already getting tangled up with the imperial family and the Bluewell Ducal House. Things had been dangerous enough lately.'
I did want to meet the protagonists of the original web novel at least once, but that didn't mean I wanted to get close to them.
I answered Father's request to think it over again by saying I understood, then left the table.
Since I wasn't going anyway, I headed straight to the studio, intending to start planning my next work.
'Master Rupert, you are far too frail. You need at least a minimum amount of physical training.'
I suddenly remembered what Sir Mullers, the family's only knight, had said as he watched me shut myself in the studio every day.
It was true that taking care of one's health in advance was the right thing to do.
If I ruined my back later, I might end up like a certain artist from my previous life.
He fully deserved to be called a manga god, yet he would casually go on hiatus for years at a time.
Fans thought it was because he was playing games, but when I found out it was actually because his back was ruined and he couldn't work, I cried.
Being a manga artist was a grueling 3D job from the outset, and your body was your livelihood.
I was making manga in another world because I wanted a comfortable life in the end. If I ruined my health in the process, I'd be defeating the whole purpose.
"Right, starting tomorrow, let's exercise!"
Sir Mullers had suggested physical training, so this was a good chance to build up my stamina.
The knights of this world truly possessed astonishing abilities that could rival superhumans, and if I could even come close to matching them, I'd be able to draw manga for the rest of my life without worrying about my health.
Of course, starting today would be a bit much. Tomorrow. Everything starts tomorrow—that's how it works.
"Now then, what shall I pick for my next work?"
I had already spoken with the merchant company head about a new work after <Kingdom of Ice> became a massive hit.
The company head proposed republishing the DiXney three-title set that had already been published as picture books into manga volumes, but honestly, that didn't appeal to me.
Picture books and manga volumes aren't in a hierarchy. The reality is that just because you turn something into a manga doesn't make it more fun or more popular.
Cinderella, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid were all stories with very little action. They might work as animation, but—
They were stories far better suited to picture books than manga volumes.
"But I can't just pick up any old manga, either."
I couldn't bring over just any popular manga.
If a work didn't fit this world's setting, it would clearly feel awkward no matter how much I adapted it.
For example, if I spread a cyberpunk work in this world, would people really be able to understand that worldview and setting?
Even after arriving at the studio, I continued agonizing for a while over what to make as my follow-up work.