“How many months has it been since I last drew a manga?”

Unlike illustrating a fairy tale book, drawing specifically for a manga made my heart race with excitement.

I became a webtoon artist because I loved manga so much, and creating manga never felt like work to me; it was pure joy.

While the craftsmen were researching and developing the materials and tools, my job was to work on the conté.

Manga is a genre where the writing takes up very little space. Therefore, driving the plot with just dialogue and character actions is essential, making the distribution of panels crucial.

The work of planning and arranging the distribution of manga panels is known as creating a conté.

“Reading from left to right feels the most natural.”

The first step in making a conté was deciding on the reading direction.

While the reading direction can vary depending on the type of manga, it's generally best to assume that people will read from left to right.

This is mainly due to the nature of the language. The language of this world is written horizontally, and on Earth, most countries also use horizontal writing systems.

Japan is a country that uniquely insists on vertical writing.

Because of this influence, Japanese manga, which could be considered the birthplace of manga, is structured with the unique reading direction of right to left.

“This used to be quite a struggle for people reading manga for the first time.”

People naturally prefer to read from left to right, so it isn't the best way.

After setting the reading direction, it was time to distribute the panels.

In some cases, there might be more than ten panels on a page, but this is rare. It’s usually best to keep it to around eight panels for an aesthetically pleasing composition.

It's entirely up to the artist whether to divide the eight panels into equal sizes or vary the sizes of each panel.

As long as the reading experience isn’t uncomfortable and the manga is enjoyable, nothing else matters.

This is one of the biggest reasons I love manga so much.

It is a genre that strips everything down to the point where only the fun remains.

No matter how meaningful the content is, if it isn’t fun, it will receive a poor evaluation.

And even if the content is lacking, as long as it’s fun, it can be considered a masterpiece in the world of manga.

“For the panel distribution here... No, I should narrow the gap and use overlapping styles in this section.”

This is where my confidence lay. The reason I was chosen by the publishing company’s president in my previous life to turn The Youngest Son of the Royal Family into a webtoon was due to my ability to distribute panels effectively.

It’s the process of transferring the scenes that appear in my head from reading the original novel or watching the movie onto paper.

During this process, the best way to distribute the panels would naturally come to me.

My skill in panel distribution was praised for making my comics easy to read, and I was glad to see that my skills were still intact.

However, I was often described as an artist who was more suited for adapting existing works into webtoons because I lacked the ability to create original stories.

“Even after reincarnating into another world, the inspiration doesn’t magically appear.”

It’s annoying that this damn monkey’s hand didn’t grant me the talent for creating stories.

I had no choice but to create Frozen based on an existing work instead of creating something from nothing.

“But that doesn't mean I can just copy the original story as is.”

In the case of fairy tales, they’re already steady classics, and altering them at will would be a desecration of the original work.

However, for the manga Frozen that I am about to draw, sticking to the original story wasn’t right.

The basic framework should remain the same, but there was a need to change the details.

“The dual protagonist part is attractive, so I'll keep that. I’ll have to adapt the settings to fit this world.”

This could work. The contrast between ‘Elsa’ and ‘Anna’ makes their character dynamic intriguing, so I’ll retain that. Since this world has real magic, incorporating a backstory about the curse of the Ice Witch makes sense.

Elsa is cursed by the Ice Witch, causing everything she touches to freeze, and the king and queen imprison her, fearing she might hurt people.

Anna, unaware of the truth, thinks Elsa is dead and is next in line for the throne.

“Honestly, I’m curious to see just how far my drawing skills can go.”

While creating the conté, I found myself marveling at Rupert’s incredible talent.

Illustrating for a typical fairy tale book is different from drawing for a manga. Manga requires simplifying the artwork as much as possible to highlight the characters’ features.

Rupert’s drawing skills were so adept at doing this that he could be called a ‘manga god.’

Effortlessly, I started sketching the characters in a style suitable for manga and began working on the conté in accordance with the storyline.

Scene Transition

The craftsmen of the Somerset estate were growing increasingly frustrated with Rupert’s behavior, which involved covering all the windows with blackout curtains to avoid any sunlight.

“Sunlight? You must be joking. All a person needs is water and bread. We’re not plants; we can bask in the sun after the work is done.”

At Rupert’s words, some even questioned whether the young master had become a vampire, but their doubts were dispelled when they saw him gulping down vitality potions like they were water.

Every time Rupert drank vitality potions as if they were fine wine, the craftsmen were terrified.

They were ordinary humans, after all, and had tried drinking vitality potions to regain energy when they were tired, but...

“Uh… why is the world spinning? Ugh!!!”

Once the inevitable dizziness and nausea hit after a certain period, they swore never to touch it again.

To the craftsmen, Rupert was a bizarre creature who drank it like water.

Additionally, he was incredibly demanding about the quality of the products.

“Hmm… there’s a big issue with this paper.”

“What?!”

“It’s just that this paper only appeared now!”

“Isn’t it amazing? We worked overnight to make it.”

“If I had seen this earlier, I wouldn’t have let you leave work early last time. Do it again!”

Rupert may not have noticed, but as he turned away, one of the paper craftsmen brandished a knife at him.

Still, the reason the craftsmen hadn’t yet revolted was that Rupert was the one working the hardest in the workshop.

It was disorienting to see the person drawing at his desk when they left work still drawing when they returned.

Not only that, but while drawing, Rupert took time to inspect the other craftsmen’s work, point out issues, and discuss business matters with the head of the trading guild.

What was even more surprising was that Rupert managed to do all this while also playing with his sister, Ada.

There wasn’t a single craftsman brazen enough to complain about being too tired when their boss, a noble, was leading the charge.

“Here are your wages for this month.”

“Sir, this amount is more than last time. There must be some mistake…”

The craftsmen, surprised by the amount in the envelope Rupert handed them, immediately reported it.

Even though their wages were already comparable to those of craftsmen in the capital.

The amount they received this time had increased even more, so it had to be a mistake.

“It’s not a mistake. I included the extra payment for the overtime we had this month.”

“Sir…”

Even if they were paid much less, the craftsmen wouldn’t have complained.

They had heard stories from other estates where taxes were constantly raised, and they were called to work on private tasks for the lord without pay.

In contrast, even though Count Bradley Somerset, their lord, had faced severe financial difficulties after the war, he never raised taxes.

He never exploited the craftsmen for personal work either. This made him poorer compared to other nobles, but the people respected him for it.

They thought they would work for Rupert, the count’s heir, out of gratitude even if he did exploit them.

Instead, he treated them so well that they couldn’t complain even if they wanted to.

“So, since we received our wages and are in a good mood, let’s pull an all-nighter!”

“What? We did that yesterday.”

“One day is a long time. We have a lot of new things to make, so we can’t waste time on trivial matters.”

But whenever Rupert made such remarks and slipped away, the craftsmen couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotions.

However, they were already used to such situations. The craftsmen swallowed their emotions, returned to their stations, and quietly resumed their work.

Scene Transition

“Good work, Sir Rupert. This time, I personally spoke with the head steward of the Imperial Household and secured funding.”

“Good. I’m glad they didn’t try to give us another commendation plaque.”

“Sir, you shouldn’t treat a commendation plaque as ‘just something like that’…”

A commendation plaque is neither something to sell nor to eat, so to me, it’s just like an anti-counterfeit sticker.

“This time, all the funds needed for purchasing the latest printing equipment from the Magic Tower for mass production and research services have been secured.”

The head of the trading guild explained to me each purpose and usage detail of the funding.

“You’ve managed to include everything.”

“Of course. I do love spending other people’s money.”

While the official documents listed the uses under plausible names, there were goods mixed in here and there for our merchandise business.

There were numerous tools and equipment we needed, and using our savings to buy them all would have drained our funds completely.

After discussing with the head of the trading guild, we decided to purchase them using the Imperial funds.

Of course, since these items were also for making manga books, it was perfectly reasonable on the surface, allowing us to raid the Imperial treasury flawlessly.

It felt like we had settled some of the grudges from the Elf-made fertilizer incident, which was satisfying.

“But all of this will depend on the quality of your work, Sir Rupert.”

“Indeed. Even with the princess fronting the project, with this level of funding, failure would bring scrutiny.”

“But I am confident. I believe the new ‘manga books’ you’re creating will have a more significant impact than the fairy tale books.”

Originally, the plan was to distribute books in the form of fairy tales under the princess's name, but our project expanded after the head of the trading guild reviewed my manga manuscript.

He confidently suggested that since the manga books were bound to succeed, we should heavily tap into the Imperial funding.

I agreed with his bold plan, noting that we could speed up our merchandise business by using the Imperial funds.

“By the way, how is your work progressing?”

“We’re about seventy percent done. Once the craftsmen develop the necessary tools, we’ll be nearly finished.”

“Your pace is remarkably fast.”

“No, it’s not satisfactory yet. However, the craftsmen are so exhausted that not even vitality potions can revive them. Isn’t there a healing potion or something?”

“Sir, healing potions are for healing wounds, and consuming them without injuries will only make you feel hungry.”

Tsk. There are limitations even in this world of mysteries. Hmm, what about the church?

“If we bring a cleric from the church to heal them, wouldn’t they be able to work without sleep?”

The head of the trading guild looked at me as if I had said something outrageous, so I quickly withdrew my suggestion.