Assist

"The situation seems more serious than I thought."

An empty village.

Only the dried bloodstains scattered here and there proved that people had once lived in this place.

During the search for the missing, this was already the fifth village to greet the party with such a sight.

Not only Crown Prince Alex, but even the battle-hardened Yustaf and Harun could not hide their devastation.

"How in the world can something like this be happening inside the Empire without anyone knowing?!"

A wretched voice spilled from his lips, which had gone white from biting down so hard the blood could not flow.

"This is a village of slash-and-burn farmers, so news is bound to travel slowly."

The group, presumed to be dark wizards, had persistently attacked only the settlements of the slash-and-burn farmers.

Most of these farmers were people who had fled their territories, unable to endure the exploitation of their lords, and no one cared whether they lived or died.

They paid no taxes, so they were not citizens of the Empire.

Their very existence was an embarrassment to the Empire, so authorities often oppressed their settlements as supposed havens for criminals and fugitives.

It was only natural that wicked people would target them to avoid leaving a trail.

The Crown Prince, having belatedly come to understand these circumstances, stared at the slash-and-burn village for a long while without a word.

Sunset was approaching.

In the Crown Prince's eyes, something redder than the sunset was clearly burning.

"If they were planning something near the capital, they'd have to leave traces."

Harun, who had been watching him, muttered to himself, weighed down by guilt and frustration.

They had managed to confirm, while tracking the missing, that the bastards were using the slash-and-burn villages as sacrifices to plot something.

But they still could not answer the crucial questions: where was it happening, and what exactly were they preparing?

Given how many villages had vanished, the operation had to be large-scale, yet they had not found so much as a trace.

"Did they vanish into the sky, or into the ground? How can there be no trace at all?"

"Wait... underground? That's right—if they're plotting something underground, wouldn't it make sense that we haven't found them?"

At Alex's remark, made while listening to Harun's grumbling, both Yustaf and Harun shook their heads.

"Your Highness, according to the new Transmutation Circle in the book, they would need to establish connection points all around the capital's perimeter."

"So?"

"If they were digging underground at each of those points to prepare the circle, it would be impossible for it to go unnoticed. That would be a large-scale construction project that even the Empire could not easily undertake."

Digging underground was no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠easy task. Moreover, preparing a Transmutation Circle of this scale was something only the Empire itself could accomplish, so it was reasonable to deem it impossible.

'Unless they could move freely through the earth.'

Yustaf had not failed to consider the underground when no traces were found on the surface, but he had dismissed the idea as too absurd.

If that were possible, they would not be dark wizards but tunnel snakes.

The tunnel snake, a monster said to spend its entire life tunneling through the earth.

It was said to move through the earth as freely as a sea snake through water, but it was so rare and came to the surface so seldom that most people treated it as a creature of legend.

'Wait... didn’t the black magicians have a secret art for controlling monsters?'

In an instant, goosebumps rose all over Yustaf's body.

What if this organization really was a dark wizard organization, and they were controlling tunnel snakes through their secret arts?

That would make it an almost perfect crime, impossible to detect until the plot was already being carried out.

"Harun! I've heard the Alchemy Guild has detailed records on various monsters."

"Yes, that's right. But why do you ask?"

"Burrow snakes! I need records on tunnel snakes!!!"

***

"Sena, want to try inking from here?"

"M-me?"

I nodded.

But Sena only shook her head and said she could not do it, the pen trembling in her hand.

"It's fine. This isn't even a final manuscript, just storyboards. If you mess up, we can just redraw it."

Only after I said it didn't matter if she made a mistake did Sena finally take a deep breath and begin inking along the rough sketch I had drawn.

'I wasn't wrong about her after all.'

I believe drawing is, in truth, a realm of innate talent.

Of course, practice can take someone to a certain level. But it is common for one person to grasp through years of practice what another seems to know instinctively the moment they pick up a pen.

Geniuses who instinctively use elements like perspective, color composition, shading, and folds so naturally when drawing.

Sena was that kind of genius.

I had learned this fact by chance.

That morning, Ada had come racing down the hallway with a sheet of paper in her hands, so naturally I took a look.

On that paper were drawings of Ada and Poppy—no, Rash.

Ada was riding atop a cart like some triumphant general, and Rash was pulling the cart with an exhausted expression.

'Did I draw this in my sleep?'

There were rough spots, but Ada’s lively expression and pose came through beautifully, and Rash looked magnificently dead inside—like an office worker trapped on a packed commute home.

'Sena drew this for me!'

Sena did?

I immediately called Sena over and asked if she had really drawn it herself. Sena, thinking she had done something wrong, was on the verge of tears, but soon answered that she had.

It took a while to convince the terrified Sena that she was not in trouble, but once she calmed down, the ability she showed was every bit as good as the drawing suggested.

'This is real talent. How can she copy my rough sketches while preserving my art style?'

This was by no means as easy as it looked. Assistants for published manga artists are generally classified into three tiers.

The lowest tier handles the most menial tasks, like applying screen tones or making corrections with white-out.

The next tier up handles backgrounds—background specialists.

The most skilled assistants handled the delicate finishing work around the characters the artist had already drawn.

It was that important a role, requiring not only skill but also instinct.

And she pulled it off this well on her first try.

"Sena, have you ever drawn before?"

"...I’ve only copied drawings from your picture books a few times, Master Rupert."

Hearing Sena's story suddenly reminded me of my own childhood.

In fact, if you ask most manga artists what got them into drawing manga.

It often started with copying something they had seen as a child.

I, too, had been scolded more than once or twice as a kid for copying the cool protagonist from the first manga I ever read into my notebook during class.

"Sena, I’m not ordering you to do this. You can choose whatever you want, all right?"

"...Yes."

I spoke slowly and acted as gently as I could so Sena wouldn't get nervous.

But Sena was still completely terrified.

'At this rate, she'll say yes to whatever I propose.'

I'm so used to dealing with troublemakers like Ada that I don't know how to handle a girl who's like a frightened puppy.

"Sena, when you're deciding something, you should do it for yourself, not for others. Of course, once you're an adult, there are times you'll put others before yourself, but it's not too late to do that then."

I said, lightly brushing Sena's hair back.

"For myself?"

"Yes. To put it more simply, you can think the whole world exists for you. Just like Ada."

Isn't that the privilege ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of children?

Though our family's youngest enjoys it a little too much, which is the problem.

At my words, the hand she had been clenching so tightly finally stopped trembling and relaxed.

"I’d like you to help with my drawings, but this isn’t an order. Do what you want to do."

"...I want to. I love your drawings, Master Rupert. I want to draw pictures like that too!"

I was happy at Sena's answer. I had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠having more trouble than expected finding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an assistant to help with my drawings, and then a talent like this appeared.

It had only been a short time, but I had already confirmed she had a good personality, and her family and Kroon were also working at our workshop.

There was no downside to Sena becoming my assistant.

Of course, I would have plenty to teach her at first, but once she had some experience our efficiency would improve dramatically. Training her was worth the time.

'Still, the one downside is that she's still a child, so it'll be hard for her to keep up with my pace.'

I'm not enough of a scumbag to overwork a twelve-year-old kid.

For a while, an hour or two of instruction at a time would probably be her limit.

Even so, I raised an inward toast simply to having someone who could help at all.

Now it seemed I'd be able to get about four hours of sleep a day.

***

"What? Sena, you can't play with Ada anymore?"

"No, my lady. I’ll still be with you like always whenever Master Rupert isn’t working."

Despite Sena's words, Ada's puffed-out cheeks showed no sign of deflating.

After the nobles of the surrounding territories had forbidden their daughters from visiting House Somerset, Ada had been lonely without playmates her age, so Sena was a precious playmate to her.

"Ada wants to draw with Big Brother too!"

Ada, who had a long record of ruining manuscripts while claiming to help with the work, had been banned from the studio, so that was impossible.

Sena had a hard time soothing Ada, but her heart was so full of joy that she didn't even notice the difficulty.

"The whole world exists for you, Sena."

The image of Rupert looking at her as he said those words.

In truth, when Sena first saw Rupert, she had been so surprised she couldn't speak.

'He looks exactly like the prince from The Little Mermaid!'

The author of her favorite picture book had a face that looked just like the protagonist of that picture book.

When that same Rupert saw the drawing she had made and, far from scolding her, praised her lavishly and asked if she would help him.

She had resolved then and there that she absolutely would.

Unlike ordinary nobles, he treated her no differently from his own younger sister Ada, and she would be able to help with the work of the Rupert who drew the picture books and manga she loved—this was unbelievable luck.

'This is a great chance to repay his kindness!'

Sena had been worried about how to repay Rupert, who had brought her family to a much better life and allowed her friend Kroon to do what he wanted.

Now, thinking she could repay even a little by helping with the work, she resolved with desperate determination to assist Rupert.

However, the workshop artisans and Kroon, who had been watching her make this choice, screamed "No!" and let out incomprehensible cries telling her to run away right now.