"White Whale had a simple structure from the start."

At Rupert's words, Ismael nodded.

Originally, Ismael’s White Whale was an adventure about a boy searching for his father, and the story was supposed to end with the boy defeating the great whale, a sea beast named White Whale, and rescuing his father.

"But… if I progress the story the way I first imagined, it might end too quickly."

Ismael was worried about exactly that. Rupert’s Van Helsing and other works had just moved past the opening stages of their stories, while White Whale had already reached the final battle with the whale.

“What’s bothering you about that?”

“If my story ends before the others, there will be a gap in the magazine, won’t there?”

Currently, Manafia was serializing six different works, and Ismael was concerned about leaving a void if his story ended early.

I didn’t realize he was thinking about this too.

Rupert found Ismael’s consideration admirable. It wasn’t easy for someone so young to not only think about their own work but also take into account the magazine’s situation. Ismael was showing remarkable depth for his age.

"Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared for something like this."

"Huh?"

"Not every story can end at the same time, so I’ve made arrangements in advance."

Rupert smiled and patted Ismael’s head, which brightened his expression. Ismael had been struggling to stretch out his story, and Rupert’s reassurance that it was fine to conclude it without worry felt like a beam of light.

"But remember this, Ismael."

"Remember what?"

"A writer's work doesn’t belong to the writer alone."

Ismael tilted his head, confused by this statement.

"Oh! You mean because Manafia or the Somerset Comics Workshop owns it?"

"No, that’s not what I mean."

Rupert chuckled softly and continued.

"When you’re creating something on your own, it can be whatever story you want. But once you’ve released it to the public and people start reading it, it’s no longer just yours."

"Then whose is it?"

"It also belongs to the readers. Never forget—if no one reads it, it isn’t a story at all."

• A comic is only complete when someone reads it, so you must write an ending that the readers can understand.

Ismael finally understood the weight of responsibility that came with serializing a comic. Up until now, he had been drawing without much thought, but Rupert’s words made him realize that hundreds, if not thousands, of readers were watching him.

Can I deliver an ending that readers will understand?

Ismael began to reevaluate the conclusion he had in mind for his story.

Meanwhile, Rupert was also lost in thought.

I regret it the most.

The advice he had given Ismael was, in truth, a warning to himself.

The final scene on Earth flashed through Rupert’s mind.

Ah, I wish I had been born in a world where I could just draw comics.

Even now, he sometimes had nightmares of dragons appearing and destroying everything.

Back then, his editor had pushed him to wrap up his series due to licensing issues, and if someone asked whether Rupert had made the best decision at that time, he would have said no.

There must have been a better way.

But with the tight deadlines of weekly serialization, sudden cancellation orders, and the accumulating fatigue, Rupert’s mental state had been far from ideal.

That’s why he had ended his series the way he had—chaotically.

Thanks to Ismael, I’ve realized what I need to do now.

Rupert’s eyes gleamed with determination.

 

Yuren’s trading posts were spread across the major cities and regions of the continent. Once every quarter, each branch reported their earnings to the main office, making it the busiest time for the head office’s accountants.

"Make sure to double-check the sales reports and inventory from each branch!"

"There’s something odd in the books from the Undaf City branch!"

"Hey, don’t mix up the papers! Sort them out!"

If this auditing process wasn’t done thoroughly, any corruption at the branches would go unnoticed. Every detail had to be meticulously analyzed.

"What about these funds?"

"The head merchant has instructed us to categorize the Agora compensation separately and include it in the company’s revenue."

Adding to the workload, they also had to account for the compensation from the Imperial Parents Association following the recent Agora, making the accountants of Yuren Trading Company even busier.

"When converted to Imperial gold, that’s 2,810,451 gold. If we calculate it in Kingdom silver, that’s 1,844,658,345 ferring… Wait, why is the total different from earlier?!"

"Recalculate everything from the start! There can’t be any errors!"

“Nooo! We can’t start over!”

After what felt like endless recalculations, the final sales figures for the current quarter were finally completed. The staff couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the results.

"Is this even a real number?"

"Even with the compensation included…."

"We’re the top trading company in the Empire!!!"

The revenue generated was nothing short of monumental.

Although Yuren Trading had already been one of the Seven Great Trading Companies before partnering with Rupert, they had lacked a distinctive identity.

For instance, the southern Invest Trading Company was known as the best for grain, while the northern Iron Trading Company specialized in military supplies and weapons. The Vera Trading Company, once the Empire’s top trading company, held a monopoly on luxury goods for the nobility.

Each of the Seven Great Companies had its own specialization.

Yuren Trading, on the other hand, was successful in multiple areas but didn’t have a unique edge. They had always been called the “eternal runner-up”—excelling in everything but never dominating any one field.

Heh, the Yuren guys are always just picking up the scraps left by the top companies.

This reputation had always bothered Yuren’s employees. Outwardly, they dismissed the insults as petty jealousy, but deep down, their pride was wounded.

"Finally, we’ve become the top trading company in the Empire!"

Achieving the status of the number one company was a deeply meaningful milestone for everyone.

To think the head merchant’s predictions were right.

Absinthe, the former branch manager of the Somerset branch, recalled his first visit to the Somerset estate with Esteban.

This will be a strategic weapon that will target the noble class!

Back then, Absinthe had thought such talk was absurd, but now he knew every word had been true.

Rupert’s books had become the definitive symbol of Yuren Trading.

Now, when people thought of Yuren Trading, they immediately associated it with children’s books and comics—an unmistakable symbol of their company.

"I’ve always wanted to swim in a pile of gold!"

"With this much, we’re looking at a royal-level treasury, right?"

"Does this mean we can expect big bonuses this quarter?"

Just as the staff were getting excited at the sight of the mountain of money in front of them,

"You’ve all worked hard."

Esteban, the head merchant, descended from his office on the second floor.

"Head merchant! Look at this—these are the earnings for this quarter! Not for the year, but for this quarter alone!"

"Haha, that’s impressive."

Esteban smiled at their excitement but then added,

"All of this needs to be spent."

"Huh? All of it?"

"Hmm, it might not even be enough. But we’ll have to squeeze some additional investment from the Vera Trading Company to make it work."

The staff were shocked to hear that Esteban intended to spend every last bit of this enormous sum.

It was such a vast amount that they couldn’t even fathom how it could all be used up so quickly.

Esteban understood their concerns.

It’s insane, I know. With this much reserve, it would be wiser to hold onto it and use it when the time is right.

In trading, you never knew when a crisis might strike, so having ample reserves was always a good idea.

But to execute the plans he had discussed with Rupert, a massive amount of money was needed.

Honestly, it’s nerve-wracking even for me.

Esteban thought back to the conversation he’d had with Rupert.

 

“No matter how much we streamline it, our craftsmen have calculated that the cost price of the projector is still about 20 gold.”

At Rupert’s words, Esteban frowned.

"That’s too high."

Twenty gold was an unattainable sum for most commoners, and even for nobles, it was a steep price, limiting the potential market.

The animation projector was already an expensive venture, and there was a real risk of not even breaking even, let alone making a profit.

"Even if the craftsmen continue to refine the design over time, it’s hard to predict how much the cost will drop."

"It might be better to delay the release until we can lower the price as much as possible…."

"No, we’re going to raise the price even higher."

"What?!"

Esteban was taken aback by Rupert’s words.

Even with the current price, only a limited number of people could afford it. Raising the price would restrict the market to an even smaller group of elite nobles, making it difficult to recoup the investment.

"Rupert, that would be like throwing money away!"

Esteban, who usually trusted Rupert’s business instincts, was firmly opposed to this idea.

"We’ll approach it with two strategies."

"Two strategies?"

"One is to sell luxury projectors for nobles, exquisitely crafted and decorated, so they can enjoy the animation in their own homes."

Esteban understood that part—if the price was going to be high, positioning the projectors as luxury items for the elite was a reasonable strategy.

But the problem was that with such a high investment in animation production, it wouldn’t be enough to cover their costs.

"And the second strategy is to build public theaters."

"Public theaters?"

"Yes, we’ll build theaters across the Empire, wherever there’s a sufficient population, so that everyone can watch the animation."

If they couldn’t make enough profit selling projectors, Rupert proposed setting up theaters throughout the Empire where people could come to watch the animation.