Who among boys hasn’t, at some point, picked up a stick and swung it around, imagining themselves as a hero slaying dragons?

At some point in every boy’s life, they’ve envisioned themselves as the legendary hero vanquishing dragons. That’s how inherently appealing swords are to men.

“Wow… That flaming sword is just incredible.” “The line he said after killing the vampires is something I’d love to use!” “You mean this one?”

“Silence, you’re nothing but fodder.”

Three vampires, who had been threatening the boy, charged at the man with deafening shrieks, but they were dispatched in a single breath. With one swing of the flaming sword, the vampires were reduced to pieces, which then ignited and turned to ash on the ground.

To the people of the Empire, the vampires depicted in Van Helsing were akin to mythical monsters. These creatures, long gone from reality, were now remembered only in stories, used by parents to scare disobedient children.

Seeing such creatures brought to life in the pages of a manga rekindled a sense of wonder. The image of corrupted elves with pale skin and sharp fangs was monstrous yet strangely captivating.

Even more terrifying was their resilience—advancing toward the protagonist despite being impaled—only to be swiftly dealt with by the mysterious man, who was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

“Now that the protagonist has started following that man, he’s definitely going to get stronger, right?” “No question about it! He’s joined the Van Helsing organization!” “Argh! It’s so short! I’m dying to see the next chapter already!”

Although having multiple works in a single magazine was great, the reduced content compared to full volumes left many readers wanting more.

“But that other work… it was truly brutal.” “Are you talking about The Count of Monte Cristo?” “I don’t know who the author is, but the noble in that manga was as vicious as they come.”

That Van Helsing, one of Rupert’s works, was a huge hit was to be expected.

However, that The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas also became a hot topic was more surprising.

The reason was simple: many readers could empathize with the sheer misfortune the protagonist faced. Since the vast majority of manga readers were commoners, they couldn’t help but feel anger toward the villainous nobleman, Fernand, and his cronies.

“What’s the point of a trial when the lord is the judge?” “If a noble kills one of us, they just pay a fine, but if we so much as hurt one of their fingers, we’re thrown in jail.” “Remember that woman from our village who had to flee in the middle of the night because she couldn’t endure the advances of that noble scumbag?”

With such clear distinctions between social classes, it was no surprise that most readers could relate to the protagonist of The Count of Monte Cristo, even if they hadn’t experienced a complete downfall at the hands of nobles themselves.

The interesting thing was that, while support from commoners was expected, the manga also received mixed reactions from nobles, with some expressing positive views.

“A noble should feel the weight of their responsibility as much as their privilege!”

These supporters were mostly up-and-coming nobles, many of whom had earned their titles through service in the recent war or other achievements.

While they were technically nobles, they were often ostracized by the established noble class, leading them to harbor resentment.

“Hmph, who do these people think they are, with no history to speak of?” “Indeed. They’re just as uncultured and unrefined as the commoners.” “A noble engaging in trade? How disgraceful, mingling with the peasants.”

The new nobles, many of whom had only recently gained their status, were often highly capable individuals.

However, despite their talents, they were frequently undermined or ignored by the old guard, who relied on their wealth and connections. It was only natural for them to hold grudges.

For these new nobles, the villainous aristocrats in The Count of Monte Cristo were a perfect reflection of the old noble families they despised, which made them eager to join the chorus of criticism.

“Damn it! Can we really allow this kind of work to be published?” “Now that the Somerset family has the favor of the Imperial Court, they seem to think they can do whatever they please!” “Their lives are worth less than a drop of our blood, but these brats act as if they’re equals!”

There were quite a few nobles who read Manafia, and many of them were furious about the portrayal of nobles as corrupt villains in Dumas’ work.

The situation was already irritating, with both commoners and upstart nobles rallying against them like a pack of wolves smelling blood.

Had Rupert been an ordinary noble, or worse, a commoner, these enraged aristocrats would likely have taken drastic action by now. But none of them dared to make a move against Rupert, who was known to be favored by the royal family.

Not only was Rupert known to have the support of the Imperial Court, but rumors also linked him closely with Duke Bluewell, the most powerful noble in the Empire. Some even whispered that Yuren Trading backed the Somerset family.

With both political and financial power behind him, few nobles were brave enough to openly oppose Rupert.

“If that’s the case, we’ll have to go about this in a different way.” “A different way?” “We must slowly sway noble opinion and raise the issue at the next council meeting.”

Instead of attacking the Somerset family directly, the angry nobles opted for a more indirect approach.

“We’ll form an organization to ban these vile manga books!” “Great idea! If we grow the organization, even the Imperial Court won’t be able to ignore us.” “To protect the Empire’s boys and girls from these filthy manga, we’ll call it the ‘Imperial Parent-Teacher Association.’”

And so, under the leadership of certain nobles, the Imperial Parent-Teacher Association, a group with a rather long-winded name, was born.

“Is this the new script?”

“Yes, I know it’s a sudden change, but I believe this is a much better story.”

While all this chaos unfolded outside, Rupert continued his duties at the academy—teaching classes and overseeing the manga club’s activities.

After the weekend, some students approached him with a new script they wanted to work on, and Rupert immediately began reading it.

‘This is impressive.’

In truth, Rupert hadn’t placed much importance on the works the manga club was producing. Since the primary goal was to showcase the prototype projector, he was more focused on the animation quality than on the story itself.

But the new script the club members had written this time left Rupert pleasantly surprised.

‘It’s The Bremen Town Musicians!’

The script was strikingly similar to the famous Grimm Brothers’ tale about a group of animals on an adventure. Rupert found himself wondering why he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

‘The story is short, and incorporating music would be natural.’

Plus, having animals as the protagonists was much more suitable for showcasing animation than humans.

“This is really good!”

Hearing Rupert’s enthusiastic reaction, the students’ faces lit up with joy.

Although the workload had increased for them, they all agreed that the new script was superior, and they were determined to make it happen. They had been worried that Rupert might reject the idea due to time constraints or script quality, but now that he had given his approval, they were excited to start working.

“Did you write this script yourself, Adrian?”

“Yes, I did.”

Rupert now saw Adrian, the club’s scriptwriter, in a new light.

His previous work hadn’t been particularly exciting. It wasn’t poorly written, but it was a fairly standard piece of knightly literature, so Rupert hadn’t taken much interest in it.

However, now that Rupert knew Adrian was capable of writing something like this, he couldn’t help but feel a bit greedy.

‘Having someone who can write scripts like this would be a huge asset.’

It wasn’t that he wanted to have Adrian draw manga, but Rupert thought he would make an excellent editor.

After all, now that Rupert was publishing manga magazines, he had to not only produce his own works but also edit the works of other artists. He was eager to find someone who could help him with the editorial side of things.

But...

‘Ugh, it’s a bit much to expect that from a foreign prince.’

If Adrian had been from a regular noble family, Rupert might have pursued the idea. But considering Adrian was the prince of Silvania, it was clear that training him as an editor was out of the question, so Rupert quickly abandoned the thought.

“Professor.”

Just as Rupert was giving Adrian some pointers on editing, someone called out to him.

“Oh… yes, Edric, what is it?”

Rupert still felt awkward addressing Edric by his title, but he responded nonetheless.

With a slightly perplexed look, Edric asked, “Do you have a secret bodyguard assigned to you by your family?”

“No, I don’t have any bodyguards.”

At Rupert’s answer, Edric’s expression became noticeably sharper.

“Hyaaah!”

With a sharp yell, Ada moved with a speed and precision that seemed almost impossible for someone of her small stature.

“Excellent, young lady!”

Alain, watching her, was filled with joy and admiration.

Ada had absorbed the physical techniques Alain had taught her like a sponge, mastering the basics of balance and movement, even with just the tips of her toes. Her punches and kicks, though basic, were already infused with an air of seriousness.

‘Could it be that the Somerset blood runs strong in her?’

Tears threatened to well up in Alain’s eyes.

Both the current lord, Count Bradley, and his heir, Rupert, were far from being warriors.

They were so uncoordinated that Alain had never even considered passing on the Somerset family’s martial arts techniques.

The only hope, Richard, the eldest son, had disappeared, and Alain had resigned himself to the fact that the family’s martial arts legacy would be buried forever.

‘I will defeat Owen!’

But when Ada suddenly asked to be made stronger, Alain couldn’t refuse.

At first, he had intended to teach her only some basic self-defense, partly as a joke, and partly because of the recent attack, which had made him realize that even simple training could be useful.

However, seeing how quickly Ada learned and how determined she was, Alain began to nurture a new hope.

Perhaps he had finally found someone to inherit the Somerset family’s martial arts techniques after all.