Chapter 26
Translator: True Detective
I Do Not Have That Kind of Taste
Money was not an issue when it came to finding an illustrator.
Noel also had plenty of money.
Unlike other artists who usually received financial support from patrons, Noel was a wealthy noble to begin with, and she was personally raking in money from the success of her works.
The problem was not the money, but finding a competent artist who would do exactly as she asked without talking back.
In this era, everyone who called themselves an artist had a strong sense of pride.
No, artists were like that in any era.
That tendency was especially strong the better their skills were.
To perfectly create the new culture called comics, she would need to use highly skilled individuals... but would such experts obediently follow her?
Just like with the Adapter Trio before, buying artists' favor was annoying, and she did not really know how to win them over anyway.
Even if she knew the heart of a writer, Noel was not an artist, so she did not know the heart of an artist.
That was why she decided to borrow the Imperial Princess's authority to proceed with the matter.
This was not selling their pride for a noble's amusement, but rather joining the Imperial Princess in the glory of creating a new culture called comics.
She intended to sell Lydia out in that manner.
Even if the work was exactly the same, justification was important.
She had to package it as participating in a great birth, not a noble's prank, so the artists would follow her well.
To that end, Noel explained the situation to the Imperial Princess, and...
"I love it!"
Lydia naturally agreed with delight.
However, instead of the Imperial Princess, Rosalyn expressed her predicament.
"I do not know what comics are, but using the name of the Imperial Family for such a strange endeavor could potentially be a disgrace."
In any era and at any time, novelty was also unfamiliarity, and being unfamiliar meant it was destined to be rejected.
It was not that she distrusted Noel, but this was not a matter to be handled lightly.
Rosalyn could not even begin to grasp what comics were, or what it meant to tell a story through pictures.
Originally, any new idea was like that.
Because in hindsight, things that make you think, "Why didn't I think of this?" are always bizarre when they do not exist yet.
"But Rosalyn... Even though I'm supposedly a patron, I haven't done a single thing properly for her yet..."
Comics, they also looked somewhat fun.
Hiding such inner thoughts, Lydia showed her impatience to Rosalyn, asking when else she would help Noel if not now.
Although she actually held the title of patron, Imperial Princess Lydia had not done much for Noel.
It was not a situation where she needed to provide financial support like other general patrons either.
At best, she had exerted some effort to help the work spread widely, and while promotion and marketing were important tasks, Imperial Princess Lydia herself did not think of it that way.
She believed that Noel's works would have become popular on their own even without her, and honestly, that was the truth.
Therefore, she argued that she should provide help fitting for a patron at a time exactly like this, but...
"Still, it is problematic to put forth the Imperial Princess's name when doing something as strange as comics or whatever it is."
Rosalyn shook her head, saying they could not use the Imperial Family's name to make some strange thing she could not grasp no matter how much explanation she heard.
Hiring a large number of artists to create a story through pictures?
Were they going to draw a mural or something?
Noel tried hard to explain what comics were, but since Noel herself was a web novel author in her past life and not a comic artist, there was a limit to lecturing about comics.
First of all, it was a problem that would be cleanly resolved if she just completed what a comic was and showed it.
Rather, by that time, the fact that she participated in creating something called comics would certainly have a highly positive effect on her reputation.
It was clear that she would leave her name in history as having contributed to the birth of a new culture.
But that was all a story for later.
Right now, she could not even properly persuade a single fan, Rosalyn.
And Lydia, too, was not helping because she related to and felt something about comics, but purely because she wanted to do something befitting a patron and wanted to help Noel.
With the situation like this, Noel eventually thought she would have to give up on causing a scene under the Imperial Princess's name.
To be exact,
'I think I need to prepare at least a sample of what a comic is so it will be easier to persuade them and proceed with the work.'
She judged that making them realize the greatness of comics came first.
'Right, you can't be full on the first spoonful.'
She decided to just gather some artists under her own name first, and then give them money and order them to work without talking back.
Even if it fell short of actively cooperating from the bottom of their hearts, it would be fine as long as a result came out that was enough to roughly understand what comics were.
'It should be fine if I roughly make something like The Elf and the Woodcutter into a comic and show them.'
Out of the three fairy tales Noel wrote, the most popular was The Elf and the Woodcutter.
Deciding to make that short fairy tale into a sample to help understand the culture of comics, Noel immediately put up a notice.
Saying that she would pay a lot of money, so she was looking for an artist who would draw whatever they were told without talking back.
However, compared to how easily she had thought of it, finding an illustrator was harder than expected.
"Why? What is the problem?"
She was trying to find someone through the Artists' Guild, but even after a few days had passed since she posted the notice, there was no news.
Was it buried under the massive issue of The Saintess visiting the Empire?
Even if the country went to ruin, a farmer would still go out to work the fields.
The Saintess coming was one thing, and work was work.
Noel thought she would be able to find someone without difficulty since she had also offered a hefty pay, but...
"I think that became the root of the problem?"
Imperial Princess Lydia gave advice to her, who was agonizing over the artists not gathering.
"Pardon?"
To Noel, who tilted her head as if she could not understand, Imperial Princess Lydia opened her mouth with an expression that looked a bit difficult to speak.
"Well, the conditions Miss Noel offered... Usually, um... nobles who possess extremely specific tastes... um... use that method when looking for artists..."
Picking up a brush for a noble with peculiar tastes.
Because that was something that seemed to consume not just pride, but even human dignity, it was a job normally avoided unless an artist was truly desperate for money.
In other words, the artists were currently under the delusion that Noel was hiring them for such a thing and were avoiding it.
"A-No, no! People usually hire secretly for that sort of thing, they don't post public notices like this, do they? But a misunderstanding still occurs?"
Noel's voice was filled with a sense of injustice.
She had suddenly become a strange young lady trying to hire an artist for a peculiar hobby, so it was inevitable.
No, actually, being misunderstood didn't really matter, but──.
"Miss. The Madam is looking for you."
The real problem was this kind of situation brought about by that misunderstanding.
'This is so unfair...!'
To think she would do such a request openly when doing it secretly wouldn't even be enough... Noel swallowed her tears at Natalie's furious scolding, asking what on earth she was thinking.
In the end, Noel had to listen to her mother's nagging for a grueling hour.
Even if the truth wasn't like that, as a result, it appeared that way to the public, and avoiding that responsibility was impossible.
Noel, who had been thoroughly scolded, barely managed to escape by saying that she did it because it was necessary for a new work.
"Is that so...? You needed an artist for a new work? Hmm..."
"Yes!"
"...However, it is a fact that it was careless behavior, so be careful from now on."
Timing is now.
After quickly saying she would be careful, Noel succeeded in escaping the hell of nagging.
"Sister, did you get scolded?"
Noah, who suddenly appeared just as Noel was returning to her room sighing at the fact that a strange scandal was bound to circulate for a while, struck up a conversation.
"Did you get spanked?"
"I did not."
If she had to pick a good thing since making her debut, Noel thought it would be the fact that she had definitely graduated from getting spanked when being scolded by her mother.
Noel was also in a situation where she only had two years left until she reached the adult age of 17.
Although getting spanked rarely happened, there were still times she got hit whenever something occasionally surpassed Natalie's patience.
It was embarrassing, but until very recently... no, even now, Noel was unable to properly perform the etiquette of a lady.
However, that definitely disappeared after her debut as an author.
Her coming-of-age ceremony had not happened yet, but it felt like she was already acknowledged as an adult.
Or it could simply be because Imperial Princess Lydia was residing in the Grace Viscountcy as a guest.
Regardless, Noel asked her younger sister what was going on and told her to stop saying weird things since she didn't get spanked.
"A guest is here~."
"A guest? For me?"
"Yeah, the Red Sister came looking to meet you."
Red Sister?
Thinking about that title which sounded like it would be three times faster, Noel asked about the guest's whereabouts.
"So where is she right now?"
"Greeting Dad."
If a noble visited a noble's house, even if they had separate business, it was proper etiquette to greet the head of the household first.
Figuring she should just go wait in the drawing room, Noel thanked her sister who came to inform her and moved along.
Passing by, she asked a maid to bring out some refreshments and then waited for the guest in the Grace Viscountcy's drawing room.
Who could the Red Sister her younger sister Noah mentioned be?
Pondering who would seek her out at this timing, Noel realized.
"Could it be...?"
Clara Vence.
Considering the 'Red Sister' part, she was about the only person who came to mind as someone likely to visit.
That prediction was correct.
With a light knock, the drawing room door opened, and Clara Vence, who was excessively elegant again today, made her appearance.
"I am sorry for the sudden visit without any prior notice. However, I heard some news that I simply could not overlook."
Clara brought this up right away instead of a greeting.
She seemed quite urgent.
"Is it true that you are looking for an illustrator?"
Ah, as expected.
The moment she heard those words, Noel made that exact expression and replied with a drained demeanor.
"That is true, but it is not like I am looking for an artist for some strange hobby. Strictly speaking──."
"Why didn't you contact me?"
I am not a person with specific tastes.
Noel was giving an explanation that wasn't really an explanation like that, but Clara spoke as if none of that mattered.
"I don't know what this is about, but if you needed an artist, wasn't it right that you should have contacted me first?"
Not expecting Clara to say something like this, Noel widened her eyes.
Did she really come all the way to the Grace Viscountcy in person without prior notice just because of this?
It was surprising.
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