“Xenia, are you secretly reading manga again?”

“Ah! No… I finished my studies, and I was just reading during my break. It’s true….”

The red-haired girl, Xenia, spoke as she hid the manga she was reading behind her back, looking genuinely aggrieved.

Yustaf could tell that what his student said was true.

There was still a trace of Xenia’s mana lingering in the room, so she had indeed been studying magic until just a moment ago.

‘She is not only naturally talented but also remarkably intelligent.’

Having trained countless students over the years, Yustaf was certain that Xenia was the most talented among them.

He had a wizard’s intuition that she would surpass him in the future.

When he first took her in, he was amazed to find she could read to some extent without any formal teaching.

‘Books… I learned from reading fairy tales and manga.’

It was hard to believe that she had taught herself to read without anyone’s help.

But that wasn’t all.

His magic theories, while written as simply as possible, were still difficult for current academy undergraduates to grasp.

Yet, Xenia understood and absorbed them effortlessly, as naturally as breathing.

‘If this child were to go astray….’

Luckily, Xenia, his final student, had a pure nature.

Had she gone down a dark path, the Empire might have faced a great threat in the near future.

“I’m curious just how entertaining this new manga is that you were reading.”

“…Here you go.”

Xenia handed him the manga she had hidden behind her back, her expression very conflicted.

Her face clearly showed her mixed feelings of not wanting to give it up but feeling she should since her master was curious. It was quite amusing to see.

The Iron-Blooded Alchemist.

Yustaf mainly researched magic, but he had basic knowledge of alchemy too.

While wizards often appear in novels, a book about alchemists, and a manga at that, piqued his interest.

Yustaf settled in and started to delve into The Iron-Blooded Alchemist.

And his eyes began to widen as he read.

“Krun! Look at how much I made today!”

Sena entered with a jingle of coins and a bright smile.

“Hmph. Of course, the sculptures and accessories I made cannot be compared to those made by humans.”

“Then why can’t you make a glass coffin?”

“That’s….”

As always, the thing that stopped Krun from boasting about his craftsmanship was the glass coffin.

It was an object from the fairy tale Snow White, a magical glass coffin made by dwarves to preserve the poisoned, sleeping princess.

‘What on earth is that!?’

From Krun’s perspective, it was unfair. How could he create such a magical item that preserved a person inside?

And making a coffin out of glass? Such delicate craftsmanship could only be done by a particularly outstanding dwarf artisan.

He didn’t mean to imply his skills were lacking, just that the level of difficulty was too high.

‘Wow, Krun, even as a dwarf, you can’t make it? The seven dwarfs made it, though.’

Sena’s continual provocation was maddening.

Those darn seven dwarfs!

What kind of dwarf did the author meet to make such an absurd description?

“Still, thanks to Krun, I was able to buy the manga this time.”

“Hmph, no point in praising me now, kid. I told you to buy some food, but you didn’t listen.”

Krun had made unlikely wooden trinkets and sculptures to repay the kindness shown to Sena, who often went hungry.

This kid never listened.

Instead of buying meat, Sena insisted on buying the newly released manga.

“But look here, look at what the dwarfs made in this part!”

“What?”

Krun was startled by Sena’s words.

He feared what kind of bizarre item the crazy author had created this time, blaming the dwarfs again.

Sena was sure to tease him again, asking if he couldn’t make it.

“Look at this, Krun! Here’s something called a new golem prosthetic, and it says it was made with the dwarfs’ secret techniques!”

“A new golem prosthetic?”

In the manga that Sena showed, there was a prosthetic arm and leg of a form Krun had never seen before.

‘What is this?’

Made of steel, these prosthetics connected to nerves, allowing them to move like real limbs.

The name was given as a new golem prosthetic.

Krun examined every scene featuring this new golem prosthetic.

‘Does the author really have a dwarf nearby?’

He was in awe. Although the exact principles weren’t described in the book, Krun could sense how it roughly worked just by its appearance.

“Wait, wouldn’t you need to use different types of metal here? No, more importantly, this joint requires a special material; otherwise, it won’t function flexibly like a real joint….”

Krun became absorbed in the manga.

Sena was surprised by this unfamiliar sight of Krun. Usually, he carved sculptures or made jewelry casually with just a knife, joking around.

Even while making them, he had enough leisure to chat with her.

It was the first time she saw him so intensely focused on something.

‘I was right to buy the manga instead of food.’

Sena thought as she watched Krun, satisfied with his concentration.

“Wow, this is really amazing.”

I couldn’t help but express my admiration.

In my hand was a silver, antique pocket watch.

The cover had a neatly engraved transmutation circle that I had designed and appeared in the manga. The overall design was so beautiful it could be used as an actual watch.

Even someone unfamiliar with manga would think it was a classy pocket watch.

Moreover, when you opened the watch, there was a picture inside the cover of the protagonist brothers with their mother, which I had drawn myself.

‘The key to merchandise is in the details.’

Thanks to emphasizing the need for these essential elements, it was beautifully adorned.

“As a merchant, even I can see that this is an item that would sell very well.”

Even Esteban, the trading company owner, admired the quality of the watch, praising it as he examined it from various angles.

But soon, he let out a sigh.

“Hah… Are you really going to sell… no, raffle off just 12 of these?”

“We can’t mass-produce them anyway.”

“That’s true.”

I had no intention of selling the first product of The Iron-Blooded Alchemist merchandise, the Empire-Certified Alchemist Pocket Watch.

I planned to give them away for free to those who purchased the manga, through a raffle.

The trading company owner initially said I was crazy when he heard my plan, but I was confident.

‘This is definitely going to be a hit.’

This pocket watch couldn’t be mass-produced.

Each one had to be made by artisans individually, so even if the factory ran day and night, we could only make 12.

To make money off this, I would have to sell them at a very high price.

Even if people wanted them, selling them for an exorbitant price could have long-term negative effects.

So it was better to offer them as raffle prizes.

Instead of making a small profit and damaging the brand image, it was more important to increase the sales of the manga.

Moreover,

“You get one raffle ticket per manga purchase, so those who want the merchandise will surely buy multiple copies.”

“Indeed, I hadn’t thought of that. Making people buy multiple copies of the same item, that’s really….”

Yes, it’s a devilish marketing strategy.

Are you watching, Korean idol agencies?

Your successor is once again enhancing national prestige here.

Isn’t this the cultural victory Kim Gu spoke of?

Spreading K-marketing tactics to another world.

If Korea knew about this, they would surely broadcast my proud story widely, from the 9 o’clock news to nationalistic YouTube channels.

It’s truly a shame.

“But are you really okay with this?”

“With what, exactly?”

“With leaving the task of hiring someone to help with the drawings to me.”

Oh, that?

Recently, I’ve been busy working on the second volume of The Iron-Blooded Alchemist and fulfilling Ada’s request for a fairy tale book, so I’m short on hands even if I had ten.

That’s why I discussed hiring an assistant with the trading company owner.

I insisted on personally interviewing candidates, but the trading company owner said there was no need.

This is something I absolutely have to do myself.

A simple assistant just needs to be good at drawing, but I wanted someone more than that.

‘I remember a certain artist who couldn’t draw well.’

There was an artist in Japan, where manga originated, who drew with elementary school-level art yet still got serialized and even had their work made into an anime.

Art is an important aspect of manga, but it’s not everything.

I needed someone who could understand my work and assist with it.

That’s why I insisted on conducting the assistant interviews myself.

I was worried because even in a world where manga was mainstream, finding such a talent was difficult.

But it was useless to dwell on it, so I set it aside and reviewed the merchandise production process with the trading company owner.