Crisis

"If you add some patterns like this..."

In the classroom that afternoon, Rainer recalled the drawing techniques from the nobleman's memories as he guided the girl before him.

Charlotte held a pen and slowly sketched onto the canvas.

After their alchemy-related lessons, Rainer had begun using the artistic aptitude lingering in this body to tutor Charlotte in drawing. He was no match for true masters of painting, but he was more than qualified as a beginner's instructor.

With just a few strokes, Charlotte outlined a lively rabbit. For a student who had been studying drawing systematically for less than a week, her progress was already remarkably fast.

From Charlotte, Rainer had also roughly learned about the girl's childhood.

Ever since she was young, Charlotte had been interested in drawing and possessed considerable talent. But in this era, painting was a thankless pursuit. Art supplies and paints were expensive, and unless one was a high-ranking noble or a rising talent trained by a renowned master, it was simply impossible to sell one's paintings.

That was right. This world had yet to develop the profession of designer. Painters primarily earned money by selling their works or serving as tutors to noble children. Unless one was exceptionally gifted, it was difficult to make a living.

For that very reason, when Charlotte's father learned that she wanted to study painting, he immediately threw all her art supplies out of the house, trying to crush that dream in the cradle.

The sensible Charlotte naturally understood why, and she had not mentioned it again all these years.

But when Rainer came to her with the slip of paper she had handed in, bearing her wish, Charlotte was still startled.

Written on the slip in elegant handwriting were the words: I want to learn to draw and become a painter.

Charlotte had thought Rainer was merely joking, but the headmaster had actually come to find her with drawing supplies and books.

"The labels you designed before seem to have been quite popular, Charlotte. It looks like you really do have talent in drawing."

Rainer spoke of the labels on New Moon Cola bottles. They were eye-catching, instantly recognizable, and memorable. Naturally, their designer, Charlotte, deserved credit for that.

"I still have a lot to learn."

Charlotte was not complacent. She knew she was only a novice apprentice and had to constantly absorb the experience of masters in order to grow quickly.

"By the way, have you ever tried drawing portraits?"

Thinking of some plans that had yet to fully take shape, Rainer asked.

"Portraits? I have tried a little."

As though she understood something, Charlotte nodded and took out her sketchbook.

It was an ordinary notebook. Inside were pencil sketches of fruits and vegetables, as well as various magical tools. They were not lifelike, but they were above average.

"I drew these secretly after coming to the school."

As she explained, Charlotte turned to one page. It depicted a woman in a long robe. Rainer looked closely before realizing that it was Claire.

Since Charlotte had no teacher and relied entirely on her own exploration, her style was completely different from that of portrait masters. For example, this portrait of Claire looked more like a cartoon character than a sketch. It emphasized Claire's distinctive traits. Though it differed somewhat from the real person, anyone could quickly identify the dean of discipline from those features.

"A genius."

Rainer could not help but marvel. This technique of symbolizing distinctive traits was one of the core techniques of comics that had become popular worldwide on Earth. Yet this girl had taught herself such a technique in a world where entertainment culture was still underdeveloped. Rainer could only feel that he had found a treasure.

"Uh, it isn't very good. It doesn't look like Teacher Claire at all."

Charlotte thought Rainer was merely being polite and bashfully closed her sketchbook.

"No, no, no. Your way of depicting people should become the mainstream in the future. More precisely, the mainstream of commercial art."

Rainer explained that in mass industrial production, the more complex and realistic a design was, the higher its cost would be. Moreover, during a brief glance, it was difficult for customers to form an intuitive impression of it. Symbolic designs with distinct features, on the other hand, left deeper impressions and were more recognizable. Correspondingly, they also cost less to maintain.

Complex and realistic figures contained too much information for the human brain to remember in a short time. The incomplete parts were easily discarded as useless information. Simple, intuitive symbols were the exact opposite. This was also one reason why the logos of famous brands on Earth were so minimalist.

Rainer did not intend to have Charlotte draw comics, but he truly did need an artist capable of drawing portraits. He had originally considered asking Oriana whether she had any connections, but it seemed he had found what he needed without any effort.

Tap, tap, tap—

A distinctive set of footsteps came from the corridor. Rainer looked up just in time to see Claire, dressed in a maid uniform, running over with puffed cheeks and one hand lifting her skirt.

"Why are you in such a panic?"

Rainer took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Claire. Without thinking, the dean of discipline accepted it and wiped the sweat from her brow. Only after quite a while did she come back to her senses.

"Uh, I'll wash it and return it to you."

Claire looked a little embarrassed. She still seemed resistant to accepting favors from Rainer. Putting away the handkerchief, she continued.

"This is bad. Pilam has started making its move after all."

"What happened?"

Rainer remained calm, unsurprised by Claire's words.

"They've imitated the cola. Now, throughout the streets and alleys of Priest, every store affiliated with the Pilam Alchemy Workshop is displaying a drink called Pilam Cola."

Claire took a bottle of black beverage from her pocket. Its bottle was decorated with an exaggerated advertisement, but there were none of the signature bubbles rising inside.

"I tried some. It tasted about the same as my sugar water, but..."

Before Claire could finish, she stared blankly as Rainer took the bottle of cola from her hand and took a sip.

"But no gas has been infused into it, or the gas can't mix with the sugar water."

Rainer quickly identified the composition of this "cola." It was like cola that had completely gone flat. Though the flavor was not too different, it was missing its essential charm.

A glance at the words on the label let Rainer quickly see Pilam Cola's marketing strategy.

"Selling it at half price? It's a little inferior to a buy-one-get-one-free offer, but it seems Pilam did not reach its current position for nothing. Still, it looks difficult to balance the costs and profits that way."

Though the pace was faster than Rainer had anticipated, everything remained under his control. Pilam likely could not have imagined even in its dreams that it was stepping into the trap Rainer had laid, becoming the first sacrifice.

"Teacher Claire, let's get ready and head to the Antoine Alchemy Workshop."

Rainer spoke, only to find Claire staring blankly at the Pilam Cola in his hand, her cheeks bright red.

He drank from it after me!

She screamed silently, unconsciously touching her lips as a tumult of emotions filled the young teacher's heart.