Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 522 New Artwork
It's afternoon tea time again.

The Queen and Princess Louise sat at the table, drinking tea and looking at the picture book in front of them.

After the Queen finished looking at the sketchbook, she put it aside and looked at Louise. Although Louise's expression remained relatively calm, a hint of excitement could be seen in her eyes, and she was flipping through the sketchbook very quickly.

After a while, Louise finished looking at the picture book, closed her eyes, and took a long breath.

"What do you think, Louise?"

"To my surprise, Mother."

Princess Louise looked at Her Majesty the Queen and spoke.

"Sir Levy's latest picture book is truly...stunning."

This is to be expected. In "Betty the Dog," Levi used a four-panel everyday style, where even without a background, just a few characters interacting was enough. But "Steel Legion" is completely different. Levi used a lot of shonen manga style, and importantly, it's extremely dynamic and has a huge impact.

The paintings of this era were mostly static paintings. Although Li Wei drew black and white comics, he was able to create the feeling of mecha charging by using various lines, as well as the arc of the chimera swinging its arm, which made it easy for people to imagine what the monster would look like when it moved.

"I think that after a while, everyone will want to pilot mechs."

Recalling the craze for Betty the Dog, when everyone wanted to own a dog, Louise couldn't help but comment that the mechs in Iron Legion were just too cool, and the industrial style that Levi used was super to the Empire's liking. Although he didn't use color as always, the sheer weight and texture of the mechs in the black and white images were exhilarating.

Even Louise, who hadn't been in a good mood for a long time, had a burst of energy.

Hearing Louise's answer, Her Majesty the Queen said nothing, but secretly chuckled to herself. She remembered that when Levi gave her the sketchbook, he complained that there were so many mecha parts and it was so difficult to draw them... But she had to admit that the effect was really good.

"Mother, could we make promoting picture books one of our priorities?"

Louise looked at Her Majesty the Queen and spoke.

"In my opinion, picture books are very popular with children, and they are easy to promote and readily accepted by the public."

Louise is right to think this way. In her view, the advantage of a picture book over a book lies in its accessibility. More importantly, it is not just a picture, but a story. Even people who are illiterate or have limited literacy can easily understand the story it tells.

In Louise's view, this was much more convenient for promoting to the public than simply using newspapers or the like.

"indeed."

Her Majesty the Queen nodded.

"But there is a problem."

"What's the problem?"

"You need to find more people to draw this."

Her Majesty the Queen smiled and pointed to the sketchbook.

"Sir Levi told me that this mecha is very difficult to draw. He only releases one episode a month. If you push him too hard, he might only release one episode every six months."

“Uh, this…”

Upon hearing the Queen's reply, Louise was speechless for a moment. Only then did she realize that the artist who drew this picture book was none other than Sir Levi. He was a very busy man, and drawing picture books was just his hobby. You couldn't expect him to quit his job as a detective, an earl, or a knight just to make picture books for you.

Alice can help draw Betty the puppy, but Levi is unlikely to really use her as an assistant to the point of exhaustion.

"However, Sir Levi already has a solution, so you don't need to worry about that."

Indeed, Li Wei didn't want to actually treat this as a job either, but then he thought, if he didn't want to treat this as a job, weren't there people who did?

Those cartoonists also have a whole bunch of assistants, don't they?
So Li Wei decided to open a short-term comics training course to teach others how to draw comics. As the saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Once they have all the skills, Li Wei won't have to work so hard.

Besides, he also wants to see other people's comics; he can't just draw them all by himself!
What's the point of self-production and self-sales?

“Now, I have another matter for you to handle.” With that, the Queen handed Louise a document from the bottom of the sketchbook. Louise took it, flipped through it, and showed a hint of surprise.

"Veterans' Protection Act?"

"That's right, it was proposed by Sir Levy, regarding the issue of retired soldiers after the war."

Her Majesty spoke, a smile playing on her lips; this bill was simply to her liking. In the proposal, Li Wei suggested that veterans, especially those with meritorious service, could be recruited into local police forces. At the same time, the government could provide skills training and employment opportunities for ordinary veterans.

Even more ingenious, Li Wei proposed that these veterans be placed in enterprises and institutions, with those companies paying for their employment, and in return, the government could appropriately reduce or exempt some of their taxes.

For the Queen, this was a risk-free and highly profitable deal. After all, she had raised the tax rate for capitalists very high, and Her Majesty was certain that if she were willing to lower the tax rate, those capitalists would definitely be willing to pay to support a few disabled soldiers.

In addition, including meritorious soldiers in the lower-level law enforcement system can, to some extent, ensure the loyalty of these institutions to the royal family. After all, these retired soldiers were given their jobs by the royal family, and they obviously cannot disobey royal orders.

Knowing that their lives are secure after retirement, the soldiers will naturally be more supportive of the royal family.

With civil servants and the military as her safeguards, the Queen was no longer afraid that nobles and capitalists would dare to mess with her.

More importantly, the majority of the money for supporting retired soldiers under this bill comes from capitalists, which makes the Queen even happier.

The soldiers will eventually realize that they got the job and the pay entirely because of the royal family, and they will naturally be grateful to the royal family, not the capitalists.

This was clearly beneficial to the empire's rule.

Li Wei didn't mention much about improving the rights of ordinary people. In his view, discussing this in this era was too advanced, and there was no foundation to build upon it. Li Wei essentially viewed the world as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and his current goal was to help Qin unify the six states.

Of course, Li Wei was not worried that he would suffer the same fate as Shang Yang.

If Shang Yang can't escape, then why can't he escape too?

Besides, Livy's reforms weren't aimed at the nobility, but at the capitalists. Capital... well, if you shut it down completely, it can't cause any trouble.

Of course, we also need to be wary of them resorting to desperate measures.

So the Queen controlled both politics and the military, leaving capital with no choice but to submit.

What do you think of Sir Levy's proposal?

"Sir Levy's proposal is excellent."

"Well, then I'll leave it to you to carry out. I actually quite like him, it's just a pity he's so lazy..."

The Queen chuckled as she spoke. She genuinely hoped that Levi would marry Louise and inherit the empire. In the Queen's view, Levi didn't have a particularly strong desire for power, nor was he very interested in making money, and he especially disliked capitalists, always trying to outmaneuver them.

Although Levi never spoke ill of capitalists to the Queen, judging from the proposals he made targeting capitalists, one might think he had some kind of blood feud with them.

Moreover, his proposals and ideas greatly contribute to the improvement of the empire. In the Queen's view, if Levi is willing to marry Louise, the future of the empire will be secure.

Unfortunately, he was just lazy—well, although Li Wei made up many excuses, the Queen could tell at a glance that he was just lazy.

When others receive a task from the Queen, they all try their best to complete it, but he says it's too difficult to draw and that it will take half a year to produce a new issue?
The Queen would definitely disagree; how could you be so lazy?

But now... he probably won't be able to stay idle.

Just as the Queen had expected, the entire Fog City was now in an uproar over an advertisement.

Li Wei publicly stated that he plans to establish a comic studio and gather people who are interested in learning comics to work with him!
Of course, what exactly constitutes "together" is up to Li Wei.

Many people were immediately tempted after seeing Li Wei's advertisement!

(End of this chapter)