A ghost was haunting the Borus Empire.
The ghost called "The Iron-Blooded Alchemist."

“Don't push! I've been camping out for three days to secure this spot, and you dare to cut in?!”

“Wait a minute, I just went to the bathroom. How is this your spot?!”

“Are you crazy? Don’t you know it’s over if you leave the waiting line?”

This was now a common sight at the capital branch of the Yuren Trading Company headquarters.

The promotion for the first volume of the new manga, The Iron-Blooded Alchemist, had begun a week ago, and the day the promotion was released, a long queue formed in front of the company.

The queue was much longer compared to the previous work, The Kingdom of Ice.

The reasons were complex.

The first reason was none other than hoarding.

“I heard Samson, who bought the limited edition of the last manga, sold it for three times the price.”

“What? Three times?! The limited edition was already very expensive, and if it sold for three times that, it’s a huge hit!”

Among Rupert’s manga, the limited editions and deluxe hardcovers aimed at wealthy buyers had set quantities.

Rumors circulated that people who couldn’t obtain these were buying them from others at high prices.

The story spread that this was an easy way to make money, leading everyone to join the line.

The second reason was a certain piece of news.

‘Please note that the purchase and reading of this manga are only available for those aged 12 and above!’

This one line, added when the Yuren Trading Company advertised the new manga, became a hot topic as it spread from an insider’s statement.

The content was that this new work, unlike previous ones, was not exclusively for children but aimed at at least a young adult audience.

Children's books were naturally loved by girls, and the first manga, The Kingdom of Ice, was suitable for all ages and genders.

Nevertheless, the works had a higher proportion of female readers.

Perhaps because of this, men had not shown such an enthusiastic response to fairy tales or manga.

This time, rumors spread that the author had openly targeted male readers, and curious people flocked to it.

This led to the creation of a long queue.

However, the three men at the front of the queue, between numbers 12 and 14, were feeling awkward.

‘What are those guys doing here?’

‘Damn it, how did I end up as a knight escorting the imperial princess?’

‘Isn’t that guy over there the crown prince’s servant?’

Coincidentally, number 12 was the servant of the third prince, number 13 was the servant of the crown prince, and number 14 was the knight escorting the princess.

All three had duties serving the imperial family at the palace, so they had seen each other’s faces, making the situation even more awkward.

They weren’t standing in line for three days to buy the manga for themselves.

They were merely following orders from those they served, but they were embarrassed that they might be seen as men obsessed with girly manga.

And it was critical that they couldn’t even talk to each other.

No matter how trivial the task of acquiring a book was, it was still an imperial order.

If they revealed themselves as people of the royal family during their mission, rumors might spread, so they had to keep their mouths shut.

Thus, the three men spent a silent three days pretending not to see each other.

“Phew... This is really too much fun.”

Esteban was sitting in a comfortable chair in his office, where a magic stone stove kept the temperature warm, reading the manga.

In fact, this was already the fifth time he was reading it, and he had memorized the content and dialogue.

No matter how many times he read it, what was fun remained fun.

The content was particularly exciting.

A mother who died of illness and a father who left home and never returned.

And the adventure of the two brothers left behind.

Esteban initially doubted his eyes at the beginning.

Seeing the brothers, he thought this was an adventure story. Considering the title The Iron-Blooded Alchemist, he imagined it as an adventure saga of the alchemist brothers.

He thought it wasn’t bad.

If you change the alchemist to a knight, it would feel like a heroic epic about knights that men love.

But what followed was completely different from what Esteban imagined.

‘The materials needed for human transmutation are 35 liters of water, based on the average adult...’

The protagonists weren’t going on an adventure.

The brothers attempted the forbidden alchemy, “human transmutation,” to bring their mother back to life.

Human transmutation, a forbidden magic to resurrect the dead. Is such alchemy real?

And what are the materials that make up the human body? Some were familiar, and some were unfamiliar, but it was very specific.

Even Esteban, who didn’t know anything about it, found the materials plausible, sending chills down his spine.

‘What is this? How does Young Master Rupert know about such things...?’

And then came the next part.

“Ugh...

What came out of the transmutation circle wasn’t their mother. Can this even be called a person?

I looked around while blood dripped from my missing left arm.

My invisible brother, ‘Alex.’

It’s a rebound, the price for attempting forbidden transmutation.

It took my brother away.

“No!!!”

I screamed and pounded the ground. I lost my balance and fell because I had only one hand left.

But I can’t give up like this.

“Wait, I’ll definitely get you back!”

My eyes caught the armor decoration occupying a corner of the house.

Although the human transmutation failed, perhaps I could capture the soul.

I began creating a transmutation circle with my blood.”

Esteban was in awe, lost in the shocking development and scenes, no matter how many times he saw them.

Is this really something to admire?

How on earth could Rupert create such a work?

Until now, Esteban had sensed potential in Rupert’s works but had never felt shocked.

But this work was different.

As a merchant, he couldn’t help but want to read it and was desperate to see the next volume.

“Is this what Young Master was talking about when he said it’s a series?”

In fact, Esteban had suggested that they convert the three existing fairy tales into manga to continue the success.

It was an obvious plan that anyone could see was safe and guaranteed success.

But Rupert said that was riskier and prepared a new work instead.

His judgment was certainly correct.

Esteban looked out the window of his office.

Even though the sale hadn’t started yet, the line in front of the company stretched endlessly.

And this wasn’t even the line that formed today; it had started a week ago when the advertisement first came out.

“Those people might really storm the Somerset estate after reading this work.”

It wasn’t a joke but sincere.

In fact, if he weren’t in the position of a trading company owner, he would want to rush to Rupert and beg him to release the next volume immediately.

“This work will surely be much more popular than The Kingdom of Ice.”

Both as a reader and a merchant, his instincts told him that The Iron-Blooded Alchemist would be an unprecedented success.

“Then I should plan the merchandise right away.”

They were already making a huge profit from The Kingdom of Ice merchandise, but as soon as they were produced in the merchandise factory, they were sold out, so there was always a supply shortage.

In this situation, producing merchandise for the new work was impossible without preparation.

First, he needed to decide on the items for merchandise, hire various artisans, and procure materials.

The estate grounds were still spacious, so they could build a separate factory next to it.

‘Come to think of it, the count also said he was recruiting more knights and soldiers this time.’

Initially, he thought it was crazy to build book and merchandise factories on the estate grounds, but the more he thought about it, the better it seemed.

Anyway, the territory's soldiers were guarding it tightly, so thieves or spies couldn’t easily infiltrate, and unfortunately, those trying to escape from the arduous work would be caught.

He remembered the proud look on Rupert’s face when he visited the family to receive the recently completed book, saying he was happy to work without sleeping with the help of holy power.

Indeed, one must be that obsessed to create such a work.

Personally, he really liked Rupert. If he weren’t a noble, he would have wanted to immediately recruit him into his company as a talented person to use.

When he was young, he had closed his eyes and drunk stamina potions when the work was tough, but Rupert seemed to enjoy it like a beverage.

“Oh, I need to discuss that too.”

Thinking of Rupert, he realized he needed to discuss the increasingly popular fairy tales.

While Rupert’s works couldn’t be touched due to fear of the imperial family, the format of fairy tales was free to copy, so new fairy tales had begun to appear.

Of course, they were still far from being substitutes due to the quality and content differences.

But such things gradually develop.

If they were complacent, they might catch up quickly.

Therefore, it was necessary to maintain the fairy tale market that had already been captured.

“But there’s no solution. Unless the young master has multiple bodies, creating fairy tales now is impossible.”

The current pace was already unbelievable, and asking him to create additional fairy tales would be like telling him to die.

Even Rupert, who loved work, had his limits.

However, it was regrettable to give up the fairy tale market loved by young women, so the trading company owner’s worries deepened.