A Treacherous Courtier Manages the Empire Well

75 – Persuasion Potential Open

“Lord Randor. You should see this.”

As I pondered on how to persuade the green dragon I had drawn after lunch, suddenly Chertu and Seorik, who were on guard duty, came to me.

“Seorik. Chertu. What’s the matter?”

“We caught some guys publishing lewd materials within the Portu commercial city.”

“Lewd materials?”

“Yes. It was a gathering of young artists drawing such things.”

Saying that, Seorik handed me a book. I took the book and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“These guys. They drew well, didn’t they?”

It wasn’t just simple drawings.

The cut separations and various formats were more like comics than drawings.

“They drew well. Extremely lewdly well.”

I chuckled as I enjoyed the comics and then looked at Seorik and Chertu.

“But why is this?”

I remained surprisingly calm, while Seorik seemed a bit flustered.

“These are lewd materials that disturb society. Lord Randor, aren’t you concerned at all? When we asked the court, they said that due to the ambiguity of the drawings, they needed the opinion of the Baron Changeback for their legal judgment, so we came to you.”

Right. I had momentarily forgotten. Here in Ailam, the culture itself was very strict regarding s*xuality. It was a tightly closed culture where even discussing natural s*xuality would be condemned.

Of course, from my perspective, having seen adult content in Xtoons featuring Donguri and Gonju, this was relatively mild.

“Will society really be disrupted by seeing this? I don’t think so. Oppressing s*xuality tends to lead to strange outcomes.”

Having power allows you to make such judgments.

Should we censor culture?

Or should we loosen the reins on culture?

Of course, if it were in the realm of extreme genres like child erotica, cannibalism, gore, or snuff, I might also consider it, but this wasn’t that extreme. Rather, it was closer to a tasteful work with a mature content rating in terms of story and execution.

I had no intention of foolishly censoring and burning such comics under the guise of lewd materials.

“Seorik.”

“Yes.”

“Bring these artists to me.”

“Understood.”

That was my stance.

I had no intention of cultural censorship.

If they were going to draw, they might as well do it properly and on a larger scale.

“Comic magazine business. Does that sound plausible?”

I burst into laughter while continuously flipping through the obscene comics drawn by those guys.

Before long, a group of artists were dragged in, all of them sporting swollen eyes. As soon as they saw me, they started bowing frantically from head to toe.

“P-please spare us! Lord Randor!”

“We, we are struggling artists who haven’t had our debut, and making a living is tough as it is!…”

“We drew on commission! W-we didn’t draw because we liked it!”

“Please, don’t put us in prison!”

I was even more surprised by their words.

“Someone commissioned this kind of art?”

“Yes?”

“Yes. That’s correct?”

“Yeah. Seorik. Bring the one who commissioned these.”

Seorik quickly ordered the commissioner to be brought in.

Before long, a man who clearly looked like an otaku, with a slightly chubby physique, glasses, and messy hair, stood nervously in front of me.

“Lord Randor, nice to meet you. Is there a problem by any chance…?”

“These drawings. Did you commission them to be drawn?”

“Yes?”

The man, who appeared to be in his late twenties, seemed, how should I put it, excessively geeky by Korean standards. He exuded such a strong sense of geekiness that it was almost overwhelming.

It felt like his house would be filled with piles of plastic models.

As soon as he saw the obscene comics I handed him, he started to stammer.

It seemed like he thought he had been apprehended by mistake.

“Y-yes, I made a mist…”

Just as he was about to bow his head, I made a request to him.

“Hey. Draw a few more of these. This week’s theme is adventure. Draw a typical adventure epic this time.”

“Yes?”

“You know. A story about a hero who goes on an adventure and falls in love at first sight with a heroine he meets. Come up with a story and bring me drawings in the same style as the ones you guys drew.”

The artists and the commissioner looked puzzled at my words. They seemed to have trouble understanding the situation.

However, they couldn’t refuse the imperial order.

“Alright, I’ll come up with a storyboard.”

As the artists worked on the storyboard, the commissioner rearranged it.

“What’s up with these cuts and compositions? You guys. Drawing it this way is much more artistically impressive than that.”

“Oh. This is indeed much better, isn’t it?”

“Great. Change the cuts and compositions like this… and try to make the direction more, how should I put it, sweeping from top to bottom.”

“Got it.”

After a while of discussing among themselves, they eventually presented me with a three-page short comic.

“Well, what do you think?”

After examining the short comic for a while, I burst into laughter.

These little rascals.

Well drawn.

And the heroine is quite appealing.

The marketability seemed sufficient.

From Noble mtl dot com

“Hey. You guys. What do you call this?”

“Just… a drama illustration…”

“From now on, call it a comic. Understand? And you guys. Have you ever thought about officially serializing this?”

“Yes?”

“I’m thinking of expanding the publishing business extensively. I was considering trying out this kind of illustration genre along with novels… and you guys are perfect. Since I’m going to invest a lot of money, try drawing a comic.”

The illustrators and the client had blank faces.

I assigned roles to them.

“Client. What’s your name?”

“Swanson, sir.”

“From now on, you’re the editor. Pay attention to editing the comic, like directing, characters, and panel distribution. Got it?”

“Yes…”

“And you illustrators. Who’s your representative?”

One artist raised their hand.

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“Carl Moria.”

“From today, you guys are comic artists. Understand? Go and draw interesting work synopses and characters and bring them to me. Try to have a variety of genres in your work. Make the heroines as appealing as possible. As long as it’s not overly ethically questionable, even drawing adult comics is fine. Got it?”

Carl Moria’s crew and the client Swanson were blinking, wondering what was going on.

I patted their shoulders.

“Just draw comics that are entertaining. I’ll make sure you’re well compensated. Got it?”

“Yes?… Yes.”

They retreated with expressions indicating they didn’t understand the situation. Their faces seemed to question whether this was a dream or a hallucination.

But this was reality.

The next day.

I handed over a whole building in the Porto Commercial District to them, and they started earning hefty salaries there while working on comic synopses.

“Separate from your salary, if the work does well, you’ll receive manuscript fees equivalent to the number of comic magazine sales. So draw your work to be engaging. Understand?”

“Yes. Understood.”

“I’ll have a comic-specific publishing machine made and brought from Matop, so keep that in mind.”

They followed my words obediently.

A few days later, Swanson proudly brought me the outlines of several works, and I decided to include 7 of them.

From Matop, they quickly developed a machine capable of copying and mass printing drawings.

Since it was a modification of machines developed a few years ago to insert illustrations into newspapers, the development was quick.

Thanks to the substantial capital of the Merchant Guild, a specialized comic publishing company was established, and Swanson, Carl Moria, and their crew worked hard to draw comics and brought them to the publisher.

Thus, the first comic magazine in the history of the Empire was born.

Swanson & Carl Moria.

It was the moment when SK Magazine was released.

“Sir Rando?”

“I’m watching too, Swanson. I’m watching.”

“Lord Randor!……”

“How do you feel?”

I was standing by the window with Swanson and the Karl Moria gang.

Outside, people were bustling about.

They were all people who had come to buy comic magazines.

The word spread quickly.

With advertisements for comic magazines behind the overwhelming popularity of football and drama, the sales figures exploded, and the trend of an increasing number of buyers fascinated by the entertaining content of comics continued.

Swanson and Karl Moria had expressions of disbelief at the sight.

“It feels like this can’t be real.”

“It is real.”

I burst into laughter.

SK Magazine was a sensation.

In a land where entertainment was lacking, comics were a new, easily accessible consumer content for everyone.

The saying that they sold like hotcakes was indeed true.

“Lord Randor! We’re running out of printing paper!”

“Wait. I’ll fetch some new ones.”

The publishing house churned out magazines every day to the extent that the machines caught fire, yet they still had to keep bringing in paper continuously.

Swanson and the Karl Moria gang were left speechless for a long time when I brought a pile of gold coins for them during the first month’s settlement.

“This is…”

“It’s your share. I’ve taken the Guild’s cut and brought the rest for settlement. Keep drawing even harder in the future.”

“Hail, Lord Randor!”

Using the money earned, SK Magazine started drawing even more diligently and gained numerous fans, boosting sales even more.

“Karl Hanson.”

“I’m swamped. What is it?”

“We need to establish a widespread distribution network for comics. It’s not enough to just target the Portu Commercial District people, right?”

“That’s a great idea… You want me to do it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you telling me to just drop dead?”

“Work when you can. Work like a dog.”

“Please let me rest.”

It was an impossible task. Karl Hanson had to work like a dog.

The popularity of comics was explosively high.

Before long, comic magazine sales outlets appeared in most regions of the Empire, including the capital, and comics spread throughout the Empire via roads and railways.

Especially, the comic ＜Tales of the Seven Seas＞, drawn directly by Karl Moria, boasted incredible popularity. It was a work that reimagined the legends of seafarers into comics, securing a massive fan base with captivating characters and an intriguing plot in no time.

“The fans have gathered in front of SK Magazine headquarters again.”

“If too many people gather, accidents can happen. Seoric, use the Cherto to disperse them.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Fans flocked to get autographs, causing such a commotion that dispersing the crowd in front of SK Magazine became one of the main tasks of the security guards.

And I had no intention of stopping there. With the capital amassed through SK Magazine, I also devised a plan to nurture new artists.

“We held a large-scale comic contest to gather artists from all over the country. Swanson.”

“Understood. A contest, right?”

“Yes.”

SK Magazine opened the contest, and artists from all over the country sent their works with a mix of excitement and doubt. Swanson, with a happy expression, began selecting new comic artists, as he said.

New rookie artists. New works.

SK Magazine was expected to continue to prosper.

“Let’s also try launching a novel this time. Let’s hold a novel-related contest together.”

“I think we need to hire more people at the Merchant Guild. Someone to handle the fields of comics and novels.”

“What if we appoint Swanson as the CEO and have him take charge of the comic and novel-related departments?”

“That doesn’t sound bad, does it?”

And so, a novel contest was also held. The charming novels of talented writers would be published massively and sold in bookstores nationwide. I could now look at the growing novel and comic businesses with a proud smile.

And all because of an entirely unexpected event.

Clues about convincing the Green Dragon and Blue Dragon were starting to emerge.

“Green Dragon, sir. I’ve come again today. Please, I beg you. If you could oversee the hotel and entertainment businesses…”

“Hey, Randor. You’re being noisy. Shut up for a bit.”

One day, when I visited the Green Dragon, I noticed him reading SK Magazine’s comics with an expression of having lost his soul.

“Hurry, where’s the next volume? Where is it?”

He was frantically reading the comics, with 32 issues stacked up beside him.

It wasn’t just the Green Dragon.

“Karia, ma’am. Is the persuasion of the Blue Dragon going well?”

“These days, he’s even more immersed in a corner. Something about Randor’s comic magazine. He’s so distracted by it.”

“…The Blue Dragon is also reading comics?”

“Something about the Seven Seas tale. He’s too absorbed in it. Lately.”

I heard from Karia in bed that the Blue Dragon, too, was absorbedly reading comics.

Upon hearing that, one plan came to my mind.

“…If I handle this well, I might be able to convince both of them?”