Iron-Blooded Alchemist
Iron-Blooded Alchemist
The biggest difficulty in working on volume 3 of <Iron-Blooded Alchemist> was nailing down the setting.
'I could make Skal a member of a native tribe from the west.'
In the western part of the Silvania Continent, there actually were tribes similar to Native Americans.
Of course, they had been annexed by the Borus Empire where I lived, and most had now been absorbed into the empire's western region. Still, some were said to preserve their traditions at the far western edge of the continent, beyond the empire's reach.
Honestly, "annexation" was just a nice word for it. Like the Native Americans, they had simply had their land taken by force and been absorbed into the empire, and even now there were said to be many conflicts in the continent's west between the natives and the imperial citizens who had migrated there.
'The real problem is deciding what to do with King Brandon.'
He was an important villain inspired by the source manga and would play a key role in my <Iron-Blooded Alchemist> as well.
But deciding how to set King Brandon's status was truly tricky.
No matter how fearless I was, inventing a fictional emperor and making him an Artificial Human was already bad enough.
Making him a villain on top of that? Even if I had ten necks, I would need to borrow a few more lives.
So I dialed it back a little and made him the empire's Grand General. That would still let me use the plot I had in mind without any problems.
Legion Commander was the highest actual military post in the empire, but using it risked complaints from real legion commanders, and somehow it still felt lacking.
So even though the empire had no position called Grand General, I would create one and bestow it upon King Brandon. That seemed appropriate.
A Grand General trying to bring down the empire. It sounded convincing, and I was happy with the setup.
And since I had to draw the most important "that scene" in volume 3, I needed to focus even more.
No matter how much I changed the setup, there were scenes I could never cut, and this was one of the absolute core scenes of the work.
Ah, now that I thought about it, a model to reference for "that scene" had appeared not long ago.
"Poppy, come here."
A huge puppy growled at my words to make its displeasure clear.
No, could that thing even be called a puppy?
"He's not Poppy! He's Rash!"
Ada shouted from the puppy's back, hugging it around the neck.
I had objected, but Father had Alain find the puppy anyway.
Apparently, because of Ada's request, they had gone to a lot of trouble to find the biggest one.
A hunter in the territory had a puppy that had lost its mother, so they paid him and brought it back.
'What breed is that thing, anyway?'
The puppy that entered our household that way was too big.
It still clearly looked like a young puppy, yet it was already as big as a full-grown large dog. The size was bewildering.
Ada was simply delighted that it was big like Patrasche from , though.
Once again, I felt that Earth and this other world were completely different.
People here kept dogs for practical reasons rather than as pets, so no one had systematically studied breeds or traits. I couldn't even tell what it was.
Even though it was still a pup, Poppy could easily carry someone like Ada around.
'Poppy really is a perfect model.'
I studied Poppy closely and began sketching its features.
Maybe because it was still young, its round face was cute in its own way, and its body was quite large, making it a perfect fit for the puppy character I was going to draw this time.
I would bring "that scene" in at the beginning of volume 3, and then have Skal appear after that.
And then the enemies' identities would gradually be revealed.
The volume would wrap up with the brothers' journey toward the Gold Transmutation Stone getting underway in earnest, and at the end, it would be revealed that King Brandon, the empire's Grand General, was actually an Artificial Human.
I could already hear readers screaming, 'Woo-hoo!'
Wasn't this the other world's version of buldak stir-fried noodles?
In a world where noodles only tasted like banquet noodles, I would spread the taste of buldak stir-fried noodles.
"Rash! Let's go deliver milk!"
Ada shouted, climbing onto Poppy's back and hugging its neck.
Poppy's expression looked as if it was saying, Again?
No wonder. It had already gone on two “milk-delivery” walks today—once right after waking up and once after lunch.
Ada, seemingly tireless, began leading Poppy toward her personal cart again.
Poppy looked at me with sad eyes like a calf being dragged to the slaughterhouse, sending me a look begging for rescue.
But
'I'm sorry. Ada's stamina is beyond what I can handle now.'
The only thing that can match a child's stamina is a beast, not a human.
Hang in there, Poppy!
***
"I think it would be best to open the merchandise shop you mentioned, Master Rupert, in two places at once: the capital and Somerset Territory."
Esteban reviewed my plan and pointed out places it could be improved.
With the works' popularity growing and merchandise sales rising in proportion, I had proposed opening a merchandise shop.
In the past, there had been few works, and people lacked understanding of what merchandise even was, so we had no choice but to proceed step by step.
Now, though, the numbers finally made it look viable.
"The dwarven craftsmanship I had only heard about really is a gift from the gods."
The merchandise we had made so far was by no means poorly crafted, but there had been many things we couldn't make due to technological limits.
Kroon, who had recently joined us, solved that problem.
For example, the "figurines" we were releasing this time were a prime example.
Until now, when people said dolls, there had only been stuffed dolls made by stuffing cotton into leather.
When I gave Kroon a rough explanation about figurines, he immediately performed the miracle of producing a prototype.
"I used rounded joints instead of interlocking parts so they would move smoothly. The durability should be much better this way too."
In an instant, he created a modern-looking figurine skeleton, and
once I painted it, a figurine was complete.
After that, the sewing artisans made clothes to fit each figurine. Once they were dressed, the result was astonishingly good, and we decided to sell them as a new line of merchandise.
But one problem arose: there was no suitable place to sell them.
Actually, our current merchandise sales method was consignment sales through the branch stores of the Yuren Merchant Company.
The company head and I agreed that we needed a dedicated, recognizable place that sold nothing but merchandise.
The range of merchandise kept growing, making it harder to display, and serving merchandise customers was beginning to interfere with the merchant company's actual business. It had become an urgent problem.
"Honestly, it's largely my fault for not anticipating this level of popularity."
Esteban, the company head, gave a hollow laugh.
He had confirmed the potential of merchandise, which was why he had gone into business with me.
Even Esteban had assumed the company's branches could handle the demand, so he looked surprised that it had already grown beyond what they could comfortably manage.
Personally, I thought it was impressive that he had even sensed the potential of merchandise, considering that this other world had no subculture like manga at all.
"Still, it's a shame. If it were only in the Somerset Territory, it would definitely have a unique edge."
"Goldpool Valley is remote even by southern standards, so there simply isn’t enough foot traffic."
That was certainly true. No matter how attractive the products were, selling them exclusively at a merchandise shop in the Somerset Territory wasn't enough on its own to draw people in.
So, as a compromise, we decided to open the main store in the capital and a smaller branch in the Somerset Territory.
'If I built a landmark like Universal Studios or Disneyland, it could draw people even this far out.'
But it wasn't without hope.
Tokyo Disneyland, despite its name, was in Chiba outside Tokyo.
In the end, name recognition mattered more than accessibility.
I simply didn't have enough works yet to build a theme park like that.
Someday, when the number of works grew and recognition and fans increased, the day would come when setting up the main store here in the Somerset Territory would be no problem.
'Because I like it here.'
It might seem odd that I'd grown attached to this place after only a few months.
But it was true.
The people of House Somerset, who had felt awkward at first, now all felt like my family.
Especially the territory's residents, who always greeted our family with smiling faces whenever I walked around the territory.
The workshop employees who stuck with me even when I occasionally worked them hard.
Thinking of the loyal retainers who had stayed and supported the family even through hard times made me want to do something for them too.
If all I wanted was for me and my family to live comfortably, what we had now was already enough.
The book sales and existing merchandise sales alone had long since surpassed the territory's tax revenue.
I could probably live in reasonable luxury for the rest of my life without any problems.
But I hadn't achieved any of this alone.
I had been this fortunate thanks to the fairy-tale authors who left behind great legacies and the countless manga that inspired me.
The best thing I could do, I thought, was use the works I created to make this world even a little better.
There was a lot I had come to know and feel only after coming here.
I was beginning to understand the old fairy-tale authors—
why, for example, Andersen had written stories like his.
Whenever I thought of “The Little Match Girl,” one of his best-known works, its tragedy still stirred something in me.
Why had he written such a work?
When I thought about the lives children had led in his era, I found myself wondering what Andersen had wanted to tell us through such tragic fairy tales.
Then I remembered something the company head had told me.
An almost unbelievable story: after was published, children who sold things on the street had seen their sales rise noticeably.
I couldn't know whether that was true or not, since I hadn't seen it myself.
But through that story, I made one resolution.
Whatever I made from now on, I wanted it to have even a small positive impact on the world.