"Fuck, why did the author of that book have to be a nobleman?!" Raphael cursed in frustration as he looked at "The Great Warrior Argon III!" in his hand.
Ever since he returned to his room, Raphael had been planning how he would sell the copies of this book, only to see a big remark about the noble author of the book.
If the author was a commoner, Raphael would feel bad, but he could still copy the story and wouldn't be penalized too much for it if he were found out, but if it were discovered that he was forging another nobleman's book, the penalty could be as serious as death.
And between living in poverty or dying, Raphael would go back to being poor without a second thought.
But that made him think of another idea for making money.
'If I can't copy this book, why not copy books from my other world? It's not like the original authors could sue me here for copying their stories!' He realized excitedly.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this idea would have a future.
The downside is that his mana base is very low, so at the moment he could only do one book a day.
But the upside is that even if he sold these books for the low price of 5 silver coins, that would still be an income of 1.5 gold coins a month!
Even after paying his living costs, Raphael would still have 50 silver coins left over each month, more than enough for him to make a good living and start investing in this world!
So after he had decided this, Raphael ate the meal William had brought and lay on the bed with his eyes closed, feeling the Mana in his body slowly recovering.
With nothing to do, he began to decide which story he would recreate in this world.
Thinking about how boring the book he had read was, Raphael thought about the other books his version of this world had read in the past and realized that he had never read picture books!
There were picture books, but only wizards used them, since only skilled wizards could control the ink water to copy the drawings in the books perfectly, while books for ordinary people only had text.
'I could use my drawing talents to recreate a popular story with otherworldly illustrations, that way even people with low literacy skills could read my book and find it interesting...' Raphael thought.
Although the price of 10 silver coins was high, the equivalent of an average family's month's salary, there were still enough wealthy people in the world to generate a demand for these stories.
And among these people, there were many plebeian bourgeois and merchants who became rich and didn't receive much schooling.
Stories like "The Great Argon Warrior!", which William had brought for him, didn't interest this class of people, as the writing style was too complex and far-fetched.
'So I need to think of an illustrated story that is simple, and interesting to these people...' Raphael thought.
He knew many stories, many that he would love to bring to this world like Naruto or One Piece, but he knew that the people of this world wouldn't understand any of those stories just yet.
Perhaps nobles and wizards could understand these stories, as they were already familiar with magic and had a high level of education, but for simple commoners, wizards were distant and mysterious beings, putting in stories with such complex and varied powers would make the book too complicated for these people who couldn't even read very well yet.
So Raphael decided to first get the public used to simpler content and texts, and gradually make it more complex, fantastical and magical, to get them into the swing of things, so that he could then release the stories he loved so much as a manga artist.
After much thought, a name came to mind.
Hansel and Gretel.
It was a simple story, almost silly, but strangely powerful. Two children abandoned by their parents, left to die in the forest as if they were useless weight, something relatively common in this world.
"Two siblings who, despite being thrown out into the world, manage to outwit a cannibal witch, rob her house and return home with a treasure." Raphael muttered, slowly turning the page with the sketch of the children holding a bag of gold.
'It's exactly the kind of story a commoner could put down on paper.
Because deep down, John and Mary was every commoner's fantasy... to overcome abandonment, to outwit those who would devour you without remorse... and to return triumphant, with your hands full.
As the story was so simple, if someone just saw the pictures, they would understand it.
"The perfect story for my first book." He said quietly, confident in the popularity of this story.
Now only one last doubt remained.
'Do I need to make the book myself first and then draw a copy of this book that already exists, or can I make the first version in the grimoire and create the original there without having to copy it?' Raphael asked himself in confusion.
Without realizing it, he gradually fell asleep, only to wake up late at night to William bringing him his dinner.
"Young Master, wake up, it's time for dinner!" William said worriedly from the other side of the door.
Hearing this strange voice, Raphael woke up startled, not remembering where he was, until the familiarity that the memories of this world brought to William's voice calmed him down.
Sitting up in bed, Raphael stretched as he answered in a calm voice, trying to speak like the original. "Come in, William."
Instantly the door opened and William entered with a plate of oatmeal soup and a large piece of chicken.
Remembering the rancid, bland taste he had tasted at lunch, Raphael had to try very hard to eat this almost tasteless food.
But after dinner, he felt his Mana recovery speed increasing again, as if eating gave him a temporary recovery buff, making eating this food not so bad.
Feeling that his Mana had already recovered around 40%, Raphael was tempted to try using the grimoire again.
Just in case, he had put this 'golden finger' of his under his blanket before going to sleep, and fortunately no one had picked it up.
'The original Hansel and Gretel book was only around 5 to 10 pages long, while [The Three Truths of Laufrey the Merciless] was over 50 pages long, maybe the cost of making the book smaller is also less?' Raphael wondered excitedly, trying to find an excuse to test the grimoire again.
For someone who had never had contact with magic, this experience was incredible for him.
But when he opened the grimoire, there was something written on the first page!
[The three truths of Laufrey the Merciful]
"Isn't that the first book I copied?" Raphael asked himself in confusion.
"Could it be that if I wrote that title, the book would automatically copy it?" Raphael was excited by this possibility.
But as soon as his quill touched the paper and he began to copy the book's title, the Mana in his body drained at an alarming rate.
Startled, Raphael quickly raised his hand and stopped writing, horrified.
"I haven't even fully recovered my Mana and this would use it all up? What if I ran out of Mana before I finished copying this?!" He was even more frightened.
Putting that point aside, Raphael returned to the idea of copying Hansel and Gretel.
So having found the excuse he wanted, Raphael decided to try doing it the "easy" way, mentally remembering what the book he had read as a child looked like and drawing it on the blank page of the grimoire.
If all went well, he would hopefully be able to make the book without drawing any pages, just relying on his imagination to make it take shape.
But reality was cruel...
Raphael looked at the book on the grimoire page and was disappointed when nothing happened.
Not even the Mana had been drained from his body.
'So I need to be looking at the target of my copy during the whole process of the first drawing?' Raphael tried to understand why this wouldn't work.
Looking around the room, he saw a rolled-up scroll on his desk and decided to draw on it.
As soon as the tip of the quill touched the paper of the grimoire, Raphael felt his Mana slowly being drained, but this time at a much slower and more manageable pace.
But with little Mana left in his body, Raphael accelerated his copying speed and within a few minutes he had finished drawing that scroll.
Just like the first time, when the drawing was finished the book began to glow and in the next second there was a scroll above the grimoire!
The content of this scroll was exactly the same as the original, relieving Raphael.
Turning quickly to the first page, Raphael saw that the drawing of the Hansel and Gretel book he had originally made had disappeared, but a new sentence had appeared just below the first one!
[The Three Truths of Laufrey the Merciful]
[Message Scroll For Raphael Von Kaelen]
Drawing the scroll had cost Raphael 10% of his total Mana, and considering that he only had 35% after recovering and writing the first letter of the first book, this left Raphael with only 25% of his total Mana left.
'Should I try copying the title again?' he asked himself worriedly.
After staring at the scroll in his hand for a few minutes, Raphael couldn't resist and tried writing the title of the scroll.
[Message Scroll...]
As he began to write in the book, his Mana began to drain faster than when he was drawing, but slower than when he was writing the title of the first book.
So Raphael continued.
In just 10 seconds Raphael had written the full title and the glow appeared in the grimoire again, causing another scroll to appear!
"It worked!" Raphael laughed excitedly.
Even though he had spent twice as much Mana to draw the original by hand, 20% of his total Mana Pool, the difference in work to write a title for 10 seconds or draw a scroll for 15 minutes was glaring.
But seeing the result of his test made Raphael proud.
Knowing that he only had to draw something once and then just copy the title from it was incredible!
So having tested the grimoire, Raphael decided that for the next few days he would make a physical version of the original Hansel and Gretel, and then make the first copy of it from the grimoire!
"I just hope my money is enough for that..."