Chapter 66
Human greed knows no end.
And people repeat the same mistakes.
But Kim Yul was a man who had always pursued a future-oriented, growth-minded life, constantly learning from the past.
So, the moment he decided to choose Jeanne d'Arc as his next subject.
"Oh my, so you've come to ask for advice?"
"Yep."
He had proactively visited Roseline, the only variable who could stamp a 'You're a heretic' mark on his forehead, and built some rapport in advance.
Of course, Roseline had no interest whatsoever in whether the protagonist was a saint or a prostitute.
"What about romance?"
"Unfortunately, none."
"Aww."
She had merely checked whether romance was at the core of it.
"Well, whatever. So long as it isn't excessively blasphemous, that's fine. What's so special about a saint, anyway? She's just an ordinary person who can borrow a little divine power."
At Roseline's unexpectedly easy approval, Kim Yul looked at her again.
He had clearly expected a reaction like, 'Hmph! I won't allow it unless it's a romance!'
"But asking me for permission means I might be the inspiration, right? Oh my, I'm already embarrassed..."
"Ah, no, that's not it."
"Just kidding."
Roseline pouted and gave Kim Yul's upper arm a playful smack.
"Ow!"
"Oh my."
With that sudden blow, carrying not even a trace of killing intent, Kim Yul's shoulder popped out of joint with a crack.
"Ugh, ngh... should I show it to you first when it's done?"
Touched by the rough treatment that came with healing, Kim Yul twisted in submission to the irresistible violence, but.
"You don't need to go that far."
Roseline laughed with an apologetic grin.
"To be honest, if it's a Kim Yul work, it's bound to have something blasphemous or tragic in it, right?"
"Haha..."
"Hmm, aside from not liking that sort of development, your work really is right up my alley. And I really love theater too. I'll be looking forward to it, okay?"
"Yep."
* * *
"Ah, I feel so much better."
When my shoulder had spun all the way around earlier, I almost let out a girly scream without realizing it, but.
After one round of treatment, it felt like even the chronic soreness in my shoulder lately had been blown away in one shot.
The saint's physical therapy.
The effect was incredible...!
Though I don't want to do that twice.
Anyway.
At least I'd managed to preempt, to some degree, the disaster of finishing everything with great effort only for Roseline to come storming in with a bunch of knights, shouting 'You heretic!' and branding a fugitive mark on my forehead.
And I'd already prepared a rough draft.
After heading home first.
"Let's go."
"Travel is a highly inefficient activity, though."
"You said you were curious. And if you keep eating and never moving around at home, you'll put on love handles."
A tin-can punch, utterly lacking in heft compared to the saint's punch, flew at me.
"You eat and lounge around at home all day, so of course you can't even land a punch."
"Ugh, how humiliating..."
I forcibly dragged the can, which lately looked like it might actually start rolling around for real, and headed outside again.
After all, it was the can who said it wanted to see illusion magic in person, and if I didn't make it walk somehow, our little can would go dark-evolution all the way into a Willendorf's Historié.
.
.
.
After 'The Song of Heroes and the Sea' recently wrapped up successfully, I stepped into the now quiet troupe.
"Welcome, writer. The troupe leader is waiting for you. And this one?"
"He's my cousin. I let the troupe leader know in advance."
"Ah, I see. I'll tell him."
Following the guidance of the troupe staff member who had first explained magical theater to me, I entered the troupe leader's room.
"I've been waiting for you, Kim Yul."
The magical misi troupe leader was waiting for me, lightly waving a fan that looked for all the world like a white-feather fan.
After briefly handing Can over to the troupe leader's personal graduate student to satisfy his academic zeal.
I immediately handed the first draft of the script to the troupe leader.
"You even took the staging into magical account this time?"
"My younger sibling helped a lot."
"The idea is basic, but the application isn't bad. You might have a talent for magic. Doesn't Kim Yul have any talent for magic?"
"The Magic Tower told me they'd never seen a mana-less person like me before and threw me out at the entrance."
"How unfortunate."
Please don't sound so sorry in such a calm tone when you clearly aren't.
Honestly, I want to use magic too...
I want to stop writing weird stuff too...
"Tsk, Thea."
"Hm?"
"It's nothing."
The troupe leader, who had tilted her head at my nonsense, soon picked up a pen and started slashing away at the script.
It was much the same as when I handed over the first draft of Magical Yi Sun-sin last time.
So I sat there and watched at my leisure without any particular burden on my mind.
The process was a little violent, but the end result was a perfect adaptation that I couldn't really find fault with.
When collaborating with professionals, trusting each other is important.
"Does Jeanne really need to have such big breasts? You emphasize it all over the place."
"It's historical accuracy."
No room for compromise.
If you imagine Chloe or someone like her going, "Ohoho, this humble one is Jeanne d'Arc!" while waving a flag...
I could have ripped the four syllables of "Ulysses" straight out of the original author's name right then and there.
That's how important historical accuracy is.
When I briefly took my eyes off the troupe leader and looked over at the can, which was watching various fantastical magical demonstrations over there.
"Illusion magic can be considered a type of operation that rotates the target's coordinates of perception themselves in complex-plane space. However, since there is no system capable of proving its own consistency, from an axiomatic standpoint you multiply the wave function responsible for the visual cortex by an imaginary number..."
"Ooh, I see."
Facing the other graduate student, who was spewing incomprehensible alien jargon, our graduate student kept letting out admiring exclamations and listening intently.
What is that?
I don't know, it's scary...
At a level of conversation that a humanities major like me could never hope to approach, I blocked my ears again and waited quietly.
"Good, this should do."
The troupe leader handed the dismantled, analyzed script back to me.
I quickly reviewed it.
Overall, as before, the revision had been done in a way that kept the story unchanged while inserting a few more magically provocative scenes.
"That should be enough."
"You really do read fast. Then, are you planning to publish the original novel together with it this time as well, like last time?"
"Yes. If possible."
"I can accommodate that much. But we're a little pressed for time."
"Is something going on?"
"More precisely, I have a bit of business to take care of, so if possible I'd like to finish it within two weeks and start the performances."
Normally... can work really be done that quickly?
"What about the actors? If it's a play, shouldn't they at least rehearse and whatnot?"
In response to my reasonable question, the troupe leader gave a somehow ominous smile.
"We can cast everyone by the end of today. Anyway, it'll take that friend some time to hear the whole explanation, so why don't you wait about three hours?"
Tsk.
I've got a lot to do.
* * *
"Hmm, a magical play."
"What do you think? Doesn't it sound fun?"
Despite the troupe leader's suggestion, Catalina wore a bored expression.
Considering both the troupe leader's standing in the imperial theater world and the fact that she was her acting mentor, it was not a step she could take lightly.
Catalina herself was a bona fide star actress of the Empire.
There were already stacks of scripts waiting for her participation, and in magical theater the lead itself doesn't shine so much as the direction carries greater influence.
So choosing it rashly carried some risk.
And there was one more thing.
"Teacher. Last time, you said you didn't like my acting, and yet..."
"Oh my, holding a grudge? Still, I think it'll suit you perfectly."
"Why?"
"Because the heroine has big breasts."
Catalina wondered for a moment whether she should get angry.
But seriousness flowed in the troupe leader's eyes, so instead of anger, she answered with a sigh.
"Teacher, you know I already have a lot of preliminary scripts piled up."
"Probably. But once you actually read the script, you might be the one telling me you want to do it."
"That much?"
Catalina straightened up in her seat without realizing it.
Even if the troupe leader was playful, she was someone who prided herself on being thorough when it came to work.
"Want to read it?"
Catalina, filled with curiosity, took the script the troupe leader offered and quickly read through it.
The synopsis was standard.
An ordinary protagonist, yet one filled with conviction.
And the clash between the individual and a vast power.
And the noble sacrifice born in the middle of it.
But.
Reading the situation.
Savoring the dialogue.
And chewing over the meaning contained within it.
She felt a deep emotion that could not be put into words.
The power to turn an ordinary story into something special lay in how much persuasive force the narrative could provide.
Jeanne's political and religious situation overlapped with real-world problems just precariously enough to make a mere village girl feel extraordinary.
Before she knew it, she was absorbed in the script.
"I held up the banner because I wanted to avoid killing people, and I have never killed anyone directly."
To the point that she even found herself reciting the lines from the script aloud.
Seeing that, a smile touched the troupe leader's lips.
One page, two pages, three pages.
At the end of the script, which was not yet complete but contained the essential material.
"Though the body may be mortal, my soul shall be immortal. Ah, Lord God, I beseech You, please watch over this country and its people with this frail life of mine...!"
Calm yet impassioned.
Earnest yet pleading.
Holding all of those seemingly contradictory emotions intact, Catalina's voice echoed as though she were truly offering a prayer to God.
Immediately after.
She closed her eyes, took one deep breath, and briefly let go of the play's protagonist—Jeanne, who had just filled her body.
And then.
This...
Regardless of the score, I absolutely want this role.
Swept up in that intense impulse.
"Teacher, you're such a mean person..."
Catalina whined to the troupe leader.
It was the moment the lead role in the magical play 'The Saint of Orléans' was decided.
.
.
.
The rest of the cast came together just as quickly.
Leveraging the fame of 'Fantasy Horizon' and Catalina, the troupe leader had, just as she boasted, finished casting everyone in a single day.
There was only one thing left.
It was the character of Bishop Cauchon, the man who played the villain in the latter half.
And.
The troupe leader had already found someone who seemed like the best fit for him.
Though not an actor by trade, he looked like he'd be excellent at playing a truly wicked villain if asked.
"Want to try acting?"
"Did I do something wrong?"
The man named Kim Yul.