The Imperial Academy's general education courses, apart from major-specific subjects, typically saw the highest enrollment in topics like Imperial History, Theology, and Etiquette. These were areas of study that the Empire’s upper class deemed essential, so it was widely recommended that students take them while at the Academy to solidify their understanding.

Other popular courses included Weaponry, Magic, and Engineering, depending on the student’s personal interests. Surprisingly, the arts courses were also quite popular. Though many students didn’t pursue these fields as majors, subjects like Music or Literature were seen as enriching and enjoyable, making them frequent choices.

However, within the arts, the Art Department's general education offerings tended to rank at the bottom in terms of popularity. In particular, the course Understanding Art, offered this semester, seemed to have little practical application or appeal. In a typical semester, it might have faced cancellation due to lack of interest.

“Looks like the room is already packed.” “Should we stand in the back and listen?” “I didn’t expect to have to do this just to attend a class…”

The Understanding Art classroom was already full of students, both new and returning. Those who arrived late clicked their tongues in frustration upon seeing no available seats, but despite their complaints, they quietly settled in at the back.

“I can’t believe the Third Prince and Lady Bluewell are attending this class.” “That’s not all! Even Kyle Prius, heir to Count Prius, is here.” “It’s true, I can see them sitting right up front. But who’s that sitting next to him?”

Seated next to Kyle Prius, the eldest son of the Northern Border Count, was a man with striking light-blue hair. There was no way an ordinary noble would sit so casually next to the heir of a border count, so the students were intrigued by the identity of this unfamiliar figure.

Then, someone in the room exclaimed, “That’s Adrian Belmont, the second prince of Sylvania!”

The realization caused a stir in the classroom. While Sylvania was not part of the Empire, no one had expected a foreign prince to attend the class. The excitement among the students only grew as the most notable freshmen—dubbed the Four Stars—were now all gathered in one place, making Understanding Art a must-attend lecture, regardless of its subject. After all, even the slightest chance of establishing a connection with one of them made this class worth attending.

Creak.

The door to the packed Understanding Art classroom opened, and in walked a young man with curly blonde hair and glasses.

As Rupert Somerset, the new professor of the Art Department, entered the room, the mildly chaotic atmosphere instantly quieted as all eyes focused on him.

“Quite a few of you showed up. I introduced myself yesterday, so I don’t think there’s a need to do it again,” Rupert said, offering a light greeting to the students.

However, no response came. The students were deliberately remaining silent, showing a subtle form of defiance—an implicit indication that they were not yet ready to accept him as a professor.

But then,

“Yes,” came the response from a few students in the front row.

Surprised, the rest of the students glanced over to see who had spoken, only to be even more shocked to realize that it was the Four Stars—Edric Bell, the Third Prince, had replied with a serious expression; Amelia Bluewell smiled brightly as she answered, and even Kyle Prius and Adrian Belmont joined in.

Only four students had answered, but their status gave their words considerable weight.

“Alright, let’s begin the lecture then,” Rupert said, glancing briefly at the four who had responded before starting his class.

“Have you ever thought about why we need art?”

Rupert’s question hung in the air, met with silence. This time, it wasn’t defiance but genuine lack of an answer. Most students had never considered why art was necessary.

“To be more specific, we already have cameras—so why do we still draw?”

Rupert pressed on, determined to make them think, until finally, a student spoke without really meaning to.

“Well, because there are things you can’t capture with a camera?”

Snap!

Rupert snapped his fingers, acknowledging the answer. “Exactly. For example, could we go and take a photograph of a dragon?”

• If you tried, there’s a much higher chance you’d end up getting crushed by its claws.

Laughter rippled through the classroom at Rupert’s playful response.

“But that’s not all. Take a look at this painting.”

Rupert pulled out a pre-prepared painting and began showing it to the students, starting from the right side of the room.

“What do you see in this picture?” Rupert asked the first student.

“An old woman.”

The students seated on the right nodded in agreement with the answer, but those in the middle and on the left strongly disagreed.

“What do you mean, an old woman? Is something wrong with his eyes?”

As the students expressed their disbelief, Rupert moved on to the next person, Edric Bell.

“What do you see, Your Highness?”

“Please, speak freely, Professor Rupert. I see a young woman,” Edric replied politely.

Rupert quickly moved on to a student on the left side.

This time, the student claimed to see the face of a young girl, further confusing the room.

The students couldn’t understand why they were all seeing different things. Some even wondered if Rupert had used magic, though the magic students in the room would have noticed if that had been the case.

“You all saw the same picture, yet you gave different answers,” Rupert said as he held up the picture again.

This time, everyone saw what appeared to be the face of a young woman. But when Rupert tilted the painting to the left, then to the right, the image shifted in real time, transforming from an elderly woman to a young girl.

“Photos capture moments in time, and that’s an incredible achievement. But there are things that only art can show,” Rupert continued.

He then moved to the chalkboard and quickly drew a simple sketch.

It was a drawing of a rabbit, but it wasn’t particularly detailed, and the students snickered at how crude it seemed. Some thought they could draw better than that.

However, the snickers stopped when Rupert asked his next question.

“What do you see in this drawing?”

Just as one student was about to answer “a rabbit,” another interrupted with “a duck.”

Now the students were squinting and rubbing their eyes, staring hard at the sketch on the board.

“Cut, and cut again.”

Even after the class ended, Rupert didn’t leave his office. Instead, he sat at his desk, reviewing the mountain of course registration forms that had flooded in after his first lecture.

He had to narrow down the applicants to just 40, and he was sorting through the forms with a cold, impassive eye.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t need students from the Military Faculty,” Rupert muttered as he tossed aside applications from students in the Military or Liberal Arts faculties.

Under normal circumstances, these students would have been highly sought after, but they didn’t fit the profile of the talent Rupert was looking for.

On the other hand, whenever he came across applications from the Art Faculty, Rupert carefully set them aside. Especially students from the Music or Art faculties—they were guaranteed admission, as Rupert considered them to be invaluable assets for his plans.

Students from the Engineering Faculty were also high on his list, as he could find many uses for their skills.

Though he wasn’t sure if he really needed students from the Magic Faculty—given that he already had the support of the Magic Tower—he figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a few on hand, so he ranked them third in priority.

“I didn’t expect this many applications,” Rupert sighed.

For a class with a capacity of just 40 students, Rupert had received a staggering 400 applications—nearly one-third of the entire student body.

But Rupert knew that not all of these students had applied out of pure interest in the subject.

Many of the freshmen had applied because of the Four Stars—the main characters of the original story—who had all chosen Rupert’s class.

It was only natural that students hoping to make connections with them would flock to the course.

Rupert would have liked to reject all of them, but even if he were the professor, he couldn’t withstand the backlash from turning away so many prominent figures—not even Headmaster Yustaf could protect him from that.

“Two students from the Military Faculty, a few from Magic and Liberal Arts… Why are the most useless faculties so well-represented here?” Rupert muttered in frustration as he continued sorting through the applications.

Despite these faculties being among the most prestigious at the Academy, they were of no use to Rupert.

While he had some connection with Amelia, he couldn’t understand why the others had chosen his class.

He had only briefly crossed paths with the Third Prince at the Imperial Palace and had no prior connection to the others.

But Rupert had long since stopped trying to make sense of the strange events in this world, so he simply moved on.

“In the end, the lecture went more smoothly than I expected,” Rupert thought, reflecting on the day.

His previous experience working part-time as an art instructor at a prep school back on Earth had made it easy for him to handle students at the Academy, who were around the same age.

Plus, Rupert was confident that there was no one in the Empire who knew more about art than he did.

This world’s magic-based photography had developed early, causing the art of painting to stagnate.

On Earth, photography hadn’t become widespread until the 19th century, giving art the time it needed to take root and flourish. But here, the art of painting had withered before it had a chance to blossom.

Rupert wondered what kind of reaction he would provoke by introducing the art movements of Earth to this world—movements like Fauvism, Impressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.

Although he knew it would be difficult to introduce modern art movements with their complex philosophies, Rupert had plenty of material to draw from—countless artistic movements that had arisen in response to photography.

For Rupert, explaining the history of art and its evolution was a simple task.

And once art began to flourish, it might even transform Rupert’s comic book business.

It wouldn’t just be a matter of bringing modern comics to this world—he could witness the birth of an entirely new art form.

Suddenly, Rupert felt eager to see that moment arrive.