Chapter 53
Even the most idiotic idea still needs the frontier spirit of "Let's do it right now."
After taking a moment to quietly gauge just how far a play's special effects could go before crossing into total overkill.
"Take care going in."
"You too, Writer! I had a great time today!"
After the tragic reunion of the hero and the princess that played out over the last ten minutes, I said goodbye to Roselyn, who'd been using my clothes as tissues.
And then, straight to market research.
"How do you make a magical play?"
The Novelpia business card was more powerful than I expected, so the troupe staff told me what they could without leaking any confidential information.
First, prepare a mage with a rich imagination.
Then pour a fortune into preparing a mana source.
"Practically speaking, that's what makes up most of the production cost."
"I see."
A magical play, huh.
It was a ghastly magical naming sense, like I might have to shoulder a magical duty instead of military service.
"Our troupe owner is the founder and authority on magical plays. The magical play you just watched was designed by the troupe owner, too."
The person explaining it puffed out their chest proudly.
"Then does that mean you need a magical mage and a magical mana source every time you put on a show?"
Ah, damn.
He'd gotten "magical" stuck to his mouth.
"No! A stage set designed once can keep being screened because the memory of the land is engraved into it, so you only need to prepare things properly the first time. Of course, you still need mana every time you screen it."
I see.
Well, then, for now.
That meant making a Magical Admiral Yi Sun-sin would take a lot of money and mana.
.
.
.
I went straight to Chloe, both to share my flashy magical idea and to ask for investment.
Naturally, I thought Chloe would flash a magical young-lady smile and go, "Ohhoho, this is insanely awesome, desuwa—let's get this moving right away, desuwa," but.
"Uh, um, a magical play? And with the troupe owner?"
"Yeah. I looked into it, and there are quite a few plays adapted from novels, so this isn't at all for my own selfish gain or wealth and glory, but don't you think it's worth trying once for Novelpia's revival?"
"Uh, um, th-that would be a bit difficult, wouldn't it?"
Surprisingly.
Even though, during the 24-hour skill-swapping cooldown, I'd temporarily given up Hector and borrowed the power of both Hermes and Cicero.
Chloe was sweating bullets, desperately avoiding my gaze.
She looked like a tin can pretending innocence after single-handedly wolfing down the only refillable can of Pringles the instant midnight struck.
In other words.
She had something to hide. It was obviously suspicious.
"Hkyaak!"
When I subdued Chloe with the truth-revealing hand gesture, she once again made foolish noises and shook like mad.
As I always think.
I'm not even tugging that hard, and she's such a drama queen.
Though that made the impact feel even better.
"What are you doing, desuwaaaah──"
Once I yanked her ears so hard that she lost the ability to speak.
"Hyaaagh, ugh, th-this one and the troupe owner don't get along very well, ugh."
Only then did Chloe start shouting, "The truth is just how it is!"
Roughly speaking.
They'd originally been friends, but compared to elves, whose appearance barely changes even across the same span of years, human aging has its limits even when it's held back.
So apparently, in front of a friend whose years had been slowly piling up according to nature's law, she had been pretty cocky.
Then, crucially.
"Still, I didn't know he'd get that triggered by just one word—'old?' Gyaaah── let gooo──"
"And 'let go' is casual speech, you rotten little elf."
"P-please let gooo── I'm sooorryyy──"
I grabbed both pointed ears side by side and repeatedly yanked the tips to deliver justice.
Troupe owner.
Are you seeing this?
Of course, there was no way he was.
No choice.
Since this is still at the concept stage, I have no choice but to spend about a week properly organizing the novel draft and adaptation direction, then go meet the troupe owner in person and settle it.
If it fails, that's a shame, I guess.
* * *
Even while I was still working on the concept and planning for Project Yi Sun-sin.
Suppressing the grudge of having sent Sima Yi away in bitter tears, Kim Yul wrote the two heroes (one of them dead) even more diligently.
By then, this was no longer a matter of skill.
The solemn resolve of a Three-Kingdoms boomer to spread the greatness of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms across Fantasy Land!
──didn't actually have that much substance.
- You mean the profits are so huge you could…… shower in gold?
- That's right! It's a golden shower, desuwa!
- ?
- Why that face? Something gross is about to happen, isn't it.
The moment he heard the projected sales figures for "Hero Gathering," Kim Yul had already become a slave to capitalism.
If the Heavenly Demon Marx in hell had seen Kim Yul's earth-shattering antics, he would have immediately walloped him with a proletarian Heavenly Demon punch and made him his hell roommate.
But luckily, this Fantasy Land still hadn't developed a technique for reviving the dead.
On top of the motivation to write, he tossed aside the limit called historical accuracy.
And even the sweet temptation of enormous profits.
Gathering all the energy of the universe, Kim Yul's baton gradually began to conduct the grand epic known as the Battle of Red Cliffs.
The hope of Cao Cao's navy.
Jing Province's Cai Mao and Zhang Yun got caught up in the evil Commander Zhou Yu's scheme and turned into neck-snapped black-boned chickens.
It made readers chorus, "Hmm, was it really that much?" but he was still Zhuge Liang's rival, a side character who burst out of nowhere yet made his presence crystal clear.
Pang Tong supplied the idea of lashing Cao Cao's ships together.
Old General Huang Gai, after getting thrashed to pieces, took on the role of pioneer of girlish screams while preparing to surrender to Cao Cao.
It could have turned dull if the protagonist's presence hadn't been properly highlighted, though.
Like gathering tiny grains of salt to make a sea.
Interspersed here and there were scenes of Zhuge Liang atop the Seven-Star Altar, endlessly calling out to heaven and repeatedly chanting, trying to bring about the miracle of climate change with a mortal body.
Sometimes from the viewpoint of an extra from Wu, sometimes from the viewpoint of Zhou Yu, who seemed set up as an arch-enemy.
By describing that precarious attempt of Zhuge Liang's with such intense urgency, it built up the drama's tension.
"Well, he's the protagonist, so of course he'll succeed, right?"
"Did you already forget Liu Bei and Cao Cao?"
On the contrary, paradoxically, Kim Yul's actions up to now only raised the anticipation even more.
The protagonist of the earlier serialized work went back and forth on the success-failure roller coaster every time he did anything.
But what about Zhuge Liang?
Even now, he had maintained the image of the ideal strategist supporting Liu Bei, who had failed over and over, without a single failure of his own.
Even in Wu.
He was thoroughly toying with Zhou Yu, who could practically be called the number one man in Wu aside from the actual ruler Sun Quan, with nothing but his three-inch tongue, taking all the benefit for himself.
That too helped raise readers' anticipation over whether this would be Zhuge Liang's first failure.
And then, finally.
## ====== ##
"Kongming, however outstanding his talent may be, how could he defy even Heaven's will? If the southeast wind does not blow by tonight, I shall judge him by military law."
Zhou Yu swallowed his muttered words and stepped out of the tent.
Before he knew it, utter darkness had fallen, and when the sun rose again in the sky, Zhuge Liang's fate would be sealed.
……He knew he was a talent too precious to kill.
He would even have no face to show his elder brother, Zhuge Jin.
However.
He was too extraordinary, too dangerous, to leave alive.
If there were a single person in the world who could stop his lord's great undertaking and Wu's resurgence, it would be Zhuge Liang.
The moment Zhou Yu let out a sigh.
"……!"
The air changed.
The texture of the wind brushing his cheek changed.
The fluttering flags…….
Were slowly tilting toward the north.
Before long.
Flap-rustle!
"Th-this can't be……!"
The camp's flags all turned in the opposite direction at once.
It was the southeast wind. And it was blowing in with a ferocious force.
Shock turned to fear.
Fear turned to killing intent.
Zhou Yu's face hardened coldly.
"General Xu Sheng, General Ding Feng!"
At that desperate cry, Xu Sheng and Ding Feng, who had been waiting nearby, arrived at once.
"Right now, this instant, go to the Seven-Star Altar and behead Zhuge Liang! He must be punished for violating military law and using sorcery to bewilder heaven and man!"
Xu Sheng and Ding Feng also felt a tremendous thrill and awe as the wind's direction changed in an instant.
The grand commander-in-chief's order was absolute.
The two generals led the soldiers and raced toward the Seven-Star Altar.
…….
…….
By the time the two generals reached the riverbank in pursuit of Zhuge Liang.
In the darkness.
On the river, a small boat had already left the shore and was gliding across the surface.
At the bow, Zhuge Liang stood calmly waving his white-feather fan.
He radiated a majesty that made it seem as though he were continually conjuring the southeast wind with that fan.
"General Zhuge! Stop! The commander-in-chief is looking for you!"
Xu Sheng shouted at the top of his lungs, but.
"Please tell the commander-in-chief that, since I have lent him the southeast wind, I am now returning to Lord Liu to prepare to defeat Cao Cao!"
Xu Sheng and Ding Feng exchanged glances for a moment.
They couldn't let him go like this.
The moment they ran to the fast boat tied up at the pier.
A silver flash fell from the sky.
Pure white silver armor.
A silver spear so sharp it made your chest ache just to look at it.
At his waist hung the Qinggang Sword, known as the finest blade under heaven, radiating its presence.
That's right.
Right here, right now──
"I, Zhao Zilong of Changshan, have come to escort General Zhuge."
(To be continued)
## ====== ##
"Estheaaaah! I knew I could count on you!"
Clang!
"Ah."
Yielding to Kim Yul's threat that he'd snap his pen if they bullied him one more time, Reader No. 1, Esthea, swung her spear around and smashed a cup.
"As expected! It's Zhuge Liang, desuwaaa!"
Even while being physically shaken around, Reader No. 2, who was also the editor, publishing-house president, and total sucker Chloe, let out a cheer and couldn't stop fangirling over the novel.
After shining on the battlefield known as Changban.
The touching moment when the Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun duo, who hadn't been together for a while, reunited at the most dramatic moment is.
Shook the hearts of imperial citizens hard over the course of a few days.
"Spend 4 cost to put Silver-Spear Zhao Yun on the field, then spend 1 cost to use A Dou, who'd been tossed onto the ground, to boost Zhao Yun's stats── why are you looking at me like that?"
"……Tell me, exactly when did you put Zhao Yun in the deck?"
"Heh heh heh. Money can buy anything. How many tens of gold did I pay for him again?"
"I hear he's over a hundred gold now?"
"What?"
The resale price of the SSR Silver-Spear Zhao Yun card skyrocketed like crazy.
"Applicant. Why do you want to learn magic?"
"Naturally, because I want to bring about the southeast wind!"
"……? You want to learn climate-change magic? As a mere human?"
"Zhuge Liang can do it!"
"Take him away."
In the imperial capital branch of the Mage Tower, the popularity of the Wind School skyrocketed like a storm.
Naturally, the fallout even reached the capital guard.
"Spear arts! Let's train spear arts!"
"Have these bastards gone insane?"
Regios spat out insults while sneakily glancing at the spear placed at his seat.
And before long.
"So this is why they put the Empire's second-in-command on hiatus."
"At this rate, I guess Wei and Cao Cao are basically finished……."
"The villain who hides his ambition falls, and the body that was going to become the second-in-command ends up unable even to act on its desire for power."
At Cao Cao's utterly miserable defeat at Red Cliff.
The readers who had liked Cao Cao's domineering side in the earlier "villain hides his ambition" arc all let out sighs in unison.
I don't know how vast the land is, but anyway, according to the author, most of the million-strong army had been drowned.
All that remained was Cao Cao fleeing with only a few thousand troops at most.
Of course, since they were the residents of Fantasy Land and lacked any real understanding of China's actual geography, this was a conclusion they could reach because they didn't know about the grand continental spirit spilling out of Hebei.
Even if they had had that background knowledge.
Right now, Cao Cao was the very image of a fallen king, just a fallen king who had lusted after a married woman and was crying, "After love comes only ruin."
And then, finally.
The original SSR-level general whose presence had recently grown very faint.
Just before Guan Yu descended upon Huarong Road to land the finishing blow on Cao Cao.
"I'm Kim Yul, the one who contacted you a little while ago."
"Ah! Ulysses! We've been waiting for you."
Thanks to riding the afterglow of the Battle of Red Cliffs, Kim Yul was finally able to meet the troupe owner.