Chapter 57
The Empire's Second Prince, Aizen, had no interest in art.
Music? Boring and dull. I'd rather spend that time discussing future international affairs with my staff.
Theater? What was the point of that meaningless fit? I'd rather inspect military drills one more time.
Novels? If I had the spare time to read print, I'd rather spend it reading one more official document.
He had been born, in every sense, to work.
If Hwang Hui, the legendary overtime grinder, had seen him, he would have praised him: "Oh-ho, the white ox works the hardest."
Over the long years, the Empire could already be said to have been built on rock-solid foundations, but danger was always there.
First, foreign enemies.
In the north was the fanatical group called the Holy Kingdom, whose purpose no one could even begin to understand.
To the east and south, the Republic Alliance, unwilling to acknowledge even a shred of the emperor's absolute authority, was always watching for an opening.
Internally, there were the unstable would-be rebel forces headed by Duke Vertus, whom one could chew up and spit out without a second thought.
And then there were the rifts, along with those mad black mages, thrashing in a futile attempt to devour not only the Empire but the entire world.
Since its founding, the Empire had fought countless enemies.
That conflict continued even now.
The reason he had come today was to see a bizarre thing called magical theater, something he'd never even heard of before.
Had he suddenly become interested in art?
Impossible.
- Do you know the writer Ulysses? I hear he's been preparing an amusing performance with my daughter lately, and if you could personally attend and honor us with your presence──
It was for thoroughly political reasons.
Since Duke Vertus had completely broken with them, there was no harm in strengthening ties with Duke Schneisen; even if the elves were somewhat unappealing, it would not hurt.
And besides, Ulysses.
He had definitely heard that name in a conversation with Father.
Wasn't he the man who wrote such annoyingly entertaining pieces?
He would probably never understand the origin of that "annoyingly entertaining" feeling for the rest of his life, but it was enough to pique his interest.
Of course, the moment he planted his backside in the premium seat.
"Hoo……."
Thanks to the lack of sleep from processing documents until dawn, the depleted rest soon turned into a nightmare demon and began to engulf him.
If theater had one advantage over other forms of art, it was that you could sleep comfortably without worrying about appearances.
And so, he closed his eyes before the curtain even rose.
But.
- Rumble…… boom……!
"……?"
With the crash of lightning, what Aizen, startled awake, saw was
the back of a man standing with his back to the lightning, clad in armor of a form he'd never seen before.
And then.
From that moment onward.
Until the curtain fell once midway through.
He kept wondering whether he had been caught in a powerful illusion magic, yet he remained utterly absorbed in the story.
A very brief glimpse of the protagonist's past.
- This paulownia tree in the government residence is also state property, so it cannot be cut down for private use.
That one line alone was enough to show just how upright the protagonist was, and how he was a model bureaucrat who strictly separated public and private matters.
Even after rising to the position of admiral of the navy, he never obsessed over promotion and meticulously carried out his duties while preparing for the war that was sure to come.
"Overall, he seems a lot like me……."
Reciting the insane line that had once also slipped from Duke Vertus's mouth, Aizen quickly became absorbed in that upright and unbending life.
And then, naval battles.
Victory, then victory.
What struck Aizen the hardest was.
"……This kind of deployment?"
It was the naval battle fought at a place called Hansando.
Before that, they had gained one-sided advantages through surprise attacks that exquisitely dug into the enemy's weak points.
This time, it was a head-on battle.
But that too was ingenious.
He lured the enemies, who were stationed on favorable terrain, so naturally that he deliberately exposed a gap in his own side.
And against enemies who had abandoned their terrain advantage, he formed a massive three-pronged encirclement like a phoenix spreading its wings, wiping out their forces all at once through total encirclement and annihilation.
Possible?
It was possible.
Difficult?
It was difficult.
Was the idea simple?
……Absolutely not.
Unless you were skilled not only in strategy but also in large-scale tactics involving moving armies, you could never express such meticulousness.
.
.
.
From that point on, until the play ended, Aizen didn't take a single sip of water and drank in everything with his eyes.
"Hic, hic……!"
"General……!"
"No, the protagonist died again……."
"What the hell! Yi Sun-sin! Why'd you diiie!"
The audience had been reduced to a sea of tears.
Even the bizarre spectacle of some blonde girl storming the stage and grabbing the fallen actor by the collar had taken place,
but until that uproar was settled and applause of gratitude for having seen a good play poured down,
Aizen didn't move a muscle while sitting there.
"Oh, ooh……."
I don't know about the others,
but Aizen wanted to tremble at this writer's astonishing imagination and pay him his respects.
He had, of course, portrayed very effectively how a single hero could change the course of the battlefield.
But what he focused on was different.
Ordinary soldiers.
The people of the nation called Joseon, too.
The goblins of the nation called Wa, too.
Each and every one of them held a magic staff.
A weapon that could stop enemies from afar and, though that was probably dramatic exaggeration, clearly had lethal power, while seemingly not requiring a very high level of skill to operate.
Of course, as depicted in the play, it might not offer much stopping power against a powerful superhuman like Yi Sun-sin.
But if it were the Demon Frontier?
If such personal ranged weapons were supplied to ordinary soldiers suffering under all sorts of unidentified beasts in the Demon Frontier?
In the Demon Frontier, where mana was so scarce that even high-ranking mages were severely restricted in what they could do.
Could it not become a ray of hope, and a continuation of life itself?
* * *
"Wow, that was insane."
Watching Esthea's lead actor put on that climactic collar-grab spectacle, I couldn't help but let out an admiring gasp.
It was on a whole different level from rehearsal.
The actors' entrances and exits?
Scene changes in an instant through teleportation magic.
The flashy effects kept pouring in without even the slightest chance for immersion to break.
Watching goblins collapse, spewing blood every time the double-barreled hwando flashed, made me briefly wonder whether they were really dead.
And the combat details I had been worried about were better than I'd expected.
The depiction of the crane-wing formation, first showcased at Hansando.
And the magnificent victory at Ch'ilchonryang, fantastically portrayed by Japan's great shogun, Mudaguchi Gunwon-sensei.
Against that grand strategy, devised long ago.
"Though our ships are few, as this humble servant has not yet died, they shall not dare look down on us…… Hoo, that really lingers."
Even the famous line that had set the heart of that tin can—whose OS still hadn't fully installed a human heart—aflame.
"If you want to live, you die, and if you want to die, you live—I told you that, didn't I! Get up, Yi Sun-sin! It's not time for you to die yet!"
"……Tin Can. Go catch that one for me. It's getting embarrassing."
"Yes……."
Along with the sight of the yellow mutt, who by tomorrow would probably procure two longswords longer than his own tail and go around saying, "Ahem! I am E-sun-shin!"
"If only it hadn't been for that wicked death beam at the end……."
"Ghh, those wicked goblin shamans……!"
"But what's a matchlock?"
"Could it be some kind of magic tool? It looked like it was spitting fire."
"It was a ship model I'd never seen anywhere, but…… it looks more practical than I'd expected……."
"Hey, you! You're coming all the way here and thinking about work?"
"But how can I resist a ship that spits dragon breath?"
"I have to come back for the second showing tomorrow……!"
As I slipped toward the back of the stage, listening to the voices of the audience leaving in twos and threes, I became certain.
This.
It's going to be a smash hit, no question.
There's no way the original novel won't sell……!
After exchanging a glance with Historié, who had captured the yellow mutt flailing and clattering about, I strode boldly toward the staff-only restricted area behind the stage.
"Whoa, what exactly is that kid?"
"Woof! How was my acting!"
I also greeted the lead actors.
"Kikikik! That was fun!"
"My chest hurts……!"
"You cried! Bad acting!"
And I also took in the goblin actor friends, who fortunately weren't in any real danger thanks to being magically marked as dead.
I left the lead actors with words of praise.
"The finest Yi Sun-sin and the finest Gunwon."
"Being called the finest Gunwon sounds a little insulting, haha!"
"Oh."
That does seem a bit like it…….
Naturally, I also didn't forget to hand out a bowlful of thumbs-ups to both the Joseon navy and the Wa army.
If it were up to me, I'd have loved to hand out a little cash bonus, since they'll be contributing greatly to the box-office success of our play and novel again and again in the future, but.
Let's do that later when the royalties come in.
I don't have any money right now…….
"By the way, where's Ear-Grabber?"
"Ear-Grabber? Sure enough, you always did use Lady Chloe's ears like a handle. Well, she still hasn't come back yet."
Using her ears like a handle sounds ridiculously obscene.
You crazy perverted goblin.
Ah, were goblins and perverts synonyms?
……That kind of joke, steeped in racism as it was, never left my mouth.
Bang──
Like the saying goes, speak of the devil and the yellow mutt appears; the door opened and Chloe returned.
"Hmm, Ulysses. It's been a while."
"Hello……?"
Watching her act so pure and innocent, like a demure young lady, just because Father was here, I almost burst out laughing.
Unfortunately, I wasn't in a situation where I could laugh.
There was a strange man standing beside the duke, too.
No, not that unfamiliar.
I had seen him come in along the red carpet just now.
Having seen the Paektu bloodline, I ought to be performing the proper three kneels and nine kowtows—but in my head, the sequel "Rando-motan-jo" was already premiering.
"Would you like to enlist voluntarily?"
The Second Prince was grinning so brightly in front of me that it was almost unsettling, reciting the startup sound of an Odobongo.
What the fuck?