"How is it, Durin? Do I have a talent for magic?"
In the office of the Northrick Cinema, Du Lin withdrew his hand and showed a surprised expression at Daphne's expectant look, because Daphne really had a talent for magic. At least her magic circuit was first-class, and her elemental compatibility was also quite good, at least it was definitely not Helena's pure fire element compatibility.
With such talent, she was not valued by the Duke's family. You should know that the Duke's family employed quite a few magicians, and a simple test would reveal Daphne's talent in magic. But in fact, not only was Daphne's talent not developed, but the Duke of the Southern Territory even forbade her from contacting any supernatural powers... ...
Thinking of the possibility, Du Lin couldn't help but frown.
Of course, although he felt very strange in his heart, he still smiled and replied on the surface: "You have a good talent. With this level of magic talent, even if you start late, you can at least reach a high level in this life."
"Really?!"
Hearing Du Lin's words, Daphne was so excited that she grabbed his sleeve at once. Her usually reserved expression was completely relaxed at this moment, and she immediately shouted, "I also want to be a magician, Du Lin, teach me magic!!"
"Well, isn't it easy for you to learn magic? Go back to the Duke's Mansion now. The great magician named Roy in your family can teach you magic in a few minutes. At worst, ask your father the Duke to send you to the Mage's Tower, and you can officially go to class when the next semester starts."
As soon as Du Lin finished speaking, Daphne's expression suddenly dimmed. She took a step back and then said nervously, "Father will not agree to my learning magic..."
"You won't agree?"
Now Durin was completely confused. After all, let alone most of the nobles, even if the current King had a child with a talent for magic, he would definitely send him to the Mage's Tower to study magic in secret. It would not make sense to not let a child who has a talent for magic learn.
Of course, after seeing Daphne's look as if she was afraid of something, Durin gradually understood why Daphne, although the daughter of the Duke, did not become spoiled and unreasonable because of her pampered life. Instead, she seemed to be bound by rules and regulations and had to worry about this and that.
Finally, after thinking about it, he could only say helplessly: "Forget it, forget it, I will teach you, but you have to think clearly, I am not a serious magician, or rather, I prefer magic alchemy to magic. Even if you follow me, you won't learn anything about magic."
"Really?! That's great!! I will definitely try my best, Du Lin... ..Teacher Du Lin!"
"Don't... I'm only two or three years older than you. You can call me brother, but don't call me teacher."
Seeing Durin getting frustrated because he was called old, Daphne couldn't help but burst out laughing. After this episode, Durin continued writing the script until late at night when he was free. He left the Northrick Cinema with Daphne, who was excited about having just learned two basic magician abilities, magic perception and meditation, and planned to go back to the headquarters of Edward Studios, which was the tavern opposite the cinema, to rest.
However, as soon as he stepped into the tavern, an atmosphere completely different from usual came into Dulin's eyes.
It was seen that unlike the lively scenes in the past, the atmosphere of Edward Tavern was different from usual.
“… … .”
Looking at the two knights sitting in front of the bar with confused expressions, and the old knight in the middle of the hall who was holding Beldia's hand with an excited expression and even tears in his eyes, Durin and Daphne who had just arrived looked at the scene with a puzzled look on their faces, not knowing what was going on here.
... ... .
After Durin and Daphne walked into the tavern, after a while, they saw the young and middle-aged knights comforting the tearful old knight. Durin quickly grabbed Beldia and asked, "What's going on? Did you blackmail the old man?"
"How is that possible! Director Du Lin, please stop slandering me!"
"Then what's going on with you? If you don't know, you might think our tavern is a shady place and you're bullying the elderly. It can't be a scam, right..."
"I... I don't know either. He seemed to know me, but if he was an old acquaintance, so many years have passed and I have no impression of him at all..."
Yes, anyone who saw an old man with white hair and gray beard crying in the tavern hall could imagine a hundred kinds of bullying experiences in the black shop, not to mention Durin who knew that this shop was full of psychopaths and undead.
Anyway, seeing that Beldia was also hesitant and didn't know what happened, Du Lin could only wait silently for the tearful old man to recover. During this time, he also chatted with Saeki beside him and asked if there were any inconveniences in living in the southern border for the past two days after moving, until... ...
"My Lord! I, Wilhelm, finally have the honor of seeing you again in this life..."
"???"
General Wilhelm, who was so excited for the first time in his life, calmed down and immediately came to Beldia, who was still in a state of confusion, and bowed, "Sir, do you still remember the chaotic area outside the North several decades ago?"
"Decades ago? The Chaos Realm?"
Beldia was stunned for a moment, looking at the old man in front of him whose face had been wiped out by time. After a while, he responded: "Decades ago, I was still controlled by that damn lich, and only in very rare cases could I regain myself... Uh, wait a minute, I seem to have some impression. Are you the young man who faced a group of monsters alone?"
As soon as he finished speaking, accompanied by a plop, General Wilhelm, who half-knelt on the ground, almost burst into tears again. His tearful appearance made Durin, who was standing by, quickly close the door to prevent outsiders from thinking that his tavern was blackmailing the elderly.
On the other side, Wilhelm, who knew that the person standing in front of him was his savior, said excitedly, “Yes, that young man was me. I was so confident in my strength that I soon lost contact with my teammates after entering the Chaos Realm. I wanted to return the same way, but I accidentally entered the lair of the lich and was hunted by countless monsters summoned by it. If it weren’t for you, the Knight, who suddenly showed up, I would have been food for the monsters!”
Suddenly, everyone who finally understood what had happened breathed a sigh of relief, and the Headless Knight, with the soul fire slowly burning in his eyes, quickly remembered the rare moments of clarity in those endless years.
So, Beldia sighed and slowly helped the old man up, then said helplessly: "Although the only benefit of this body is immortality, the greatest pain is also immortality. Not to mention my former companions, even you have become old now..."
Hearing the Dullahan's sigh, General Wilhelm said quickly: "No matter what, it is because of your help, Sir Dullahan, that I am still alive today. Please make sure that I can repay your kindness!"
Seeing that the other party was about to bow again, the Dullahan quickly stopped him, and Durin on the side said with a smile: "Look, Beldia already knows about it, so just show your appreciation. And is it really okay for you to be so close to an undead, General Wilhelm?"
"you... ... ."
Unexpectedly, Durin recognized him. Not only Wilhelm, but also Wycliffe and Rhine beside him showed surprised expressions.
In response, Durin just slowly pointed at the badges on the chests of several people and said calmly: "Although most people can't recognize the emblem of the Imperial Army, I have seen it once. And General Wilhelm, didn't we meet at the Duke of the Southern Territory's banquet a few years ago?"
"You are... the eldest son of Edward's family?"
After realizing that the chaotic scene was finally sorted out, Durin nodded and quickly drove out those who had nothing to do with the matter. In the end, except for the three knights, only the headless knight and Durin remained there.
Seeing that the old general was about to burst into tears again, Beldia couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he smiled and took out the newly acquired wine beside him and said, "Alright, alright, don't just stand there. This is a tavern. It's important that we meet here and have a drink together."
As he said that, he used his head, which was not connected to his body at all, to drink a bowl of wine. Du Lin on the side didn't even realize where the wine went. This guy drank it all.
Seeing this, Wilhelm hesitated and took the wine glass handed over by Beldia, and asked: "By the way, Lord Dullahan, why are you in this tavern in the southern border?"
No matter what, Wilhelm could not forget that scene of the past. The strength of the knight in front of him remained in his heart even after so many years. He was also very curious about why the other party appeared in this southern land which was separated from the northern land by who knows how many miles.
When hearing this question, Beldia drank and, with Durin's supplement, told the story of how he escaped from the lich, was hunted by the church, was almost dying in the South Territory, and chose to become a member of Edward Studios after being saved by Durin.
During this time, the young knight Rhine felt his blood boiling as he listened, and kept asking questions, but was eventually scolded and shut up by Knight Commander Wycliffe who was also listening attentively.
"Speaking of which, how have you been these years? I remember that you were so scared that you peed your pants when you were surrounded by monsters. At that time, I advised you to prepare more wine when you went to the battlefield. After all, even the most timid person can muster up the courage to kill the enemy and die in battle after drinking. Hahahaha!"
Wilhelm didn't expect Beldia to reveal his dark history under such circumstances. His face turned red and he quickly looked at the two knights beside him. The two juniors tried their best to hide their crooked smiles...
"In short, thanks to your help back then, my lord, I successfully returned to the army, and because of that experience, my swordsmanship has also improved by leaps and bounds. Now I am a general of the empire. This time I came here because I wanted to discuss with the Duke of the South how to deal with the invading Orc Empire."
"Sure, I didn't expect you to become a general of the empire. This is really, hahahaha..."
No one knew what Beldia was laughing at. While Durin and Wilhelm were looking confused, Beldia looked dejected and said, "My teacher was once a general of the Empire. It was entirely because of his promotion that I was able to achieve success in the army. If it weren't for that accident, I should have been able to take over as the next generation of generals of the Empire, just as he hoped when he promoted me, to become the first knight of the sixth rank in the human race, and to defend the Empire's territory from the hands of aliens..."
“… … .”
At this moment, even Durin knew the Dullahan's past for the first time. Hearing his desolate words, Wilhelm said hurriedly: "In short, if it weren't for your help, Lord Dullahan, I wouldn't be who I am today... As long as it's something I can achieve, I guarantee as an imperial general that I will do it for you!"
"No need. Director Du Lin has fulfilled all my wishes for me. If you must repay him, please help me repay him."
All of a sudden, he didn't expect Beldia to put the blame on him. While Du Lin was stunned, Wilhelm immediately cast his eyes on him, and his look clearly said, "I can do whatever you ask of me."
In this regard, looking at this sturdy old man who was neither a cute girl nor even a girl looking at him expectantly, Du Lin sighed helplessly at first, and then said: "If you ask for anything, I really don't have any requirements..."
"But... ... "
Just as General Wilhelm was about to say something, Durin said, "Of course, although I don't have any requests, if it can make you feel that you have repaid Beldia's kindness, I do have a small favor for you as an imperial general..."
Hearing his words, General Wilhelm ignored the hesitation of Knight Commander Wycliffe and said decisively: "I will never be able to repay the kindness of Sir Dullahan in my lifetime, so as long as it is the request of Baron Durin, the benefactor of Sir Dullahan, I will do my best to fulfill it."
"Well, don't be so strict. This isn't a big deal. It's just... General, do you have any good fighters and actors under your command? No matter if they are men or women, I'll take as many as you can!"
"???"
All of a sudden, Wilhelm, who felt completely at a loss, froze in place, while the Headless Knight, who was originally curious about what Durin would ask for, suddenly showed a subtle expression. After all, as a member of Edward Studios, he knew very well why Durin made such a request.
Listing reward
Although the listing results are a little worse than I expected, they are still pretty good, so without further ado, let's start the reward. The reward rules are as follows:
If you donate 100 blades or equivalent rewards, I will add another chapter. In addition, the more monthly tickets and recommendation votes, the better. I will add more chapters as much as possible.
Finally, because I don't have many manuscripts in my collection, I can only update quickly. Of course, if no one contributes, I don't mind. After all, updating is tiring. It's so comfortable to be a salted fish who updates two chapters a day...
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Chapter 73: "Fate Zero" auditions begin
Chapter 73
Early the next morning, Du Lin used Edward's Tavern as a place to recruit actors.
Since the plot of "Fate Zero" is very long and many scenes are very grand, Du Lin did not limit the number of auditions this time, and just accepted as many as possible.
As for the people who provided the audition candidates, there was no doubt that they were Vanir, who was frantically contacting all the old theater troupes he could get in touch with, and General Wilhelm, who hurried back to the Imperial Army last night.
That’s right. Because General Wilhelm wanted to repay the Headless Horseman, he accepted the task without hesitation after learning that Durin needed people to star in the new movie and went back to the imperial capital to find people.
As a result, Durin, who was originally worried that the actor provided by Vanir was not suitable for the role of the Heroic Spirit, was now a little relieved and took the lead in auditioning the person provided by Vanir.
After a whole morning of auditions, about two crews were screened, and Du Lin also included quite a few stage play actors recommended by Banier.
At the same time, after seeing the acting skills of these people during the audition, Du Lin finally felt like he was making a movie himself. You know, he was really lucky to be able to make those two movies before. If the characters were not set as adventurers, it would be difficult for ordinary people to get into the state even with hypnosis magic. The qualities of these people who have received professional stage play training this time are completely different. At least their acting skills are top-notch.
Of course, seeing how happy these people were after passing the audition, Du Lin really couldn't tell them that most of their roles in the movie were just extras.
"Barnil, is there anyone else?"
Although a group of people were included, according to Du Lin's script, the number of people performing this time will be even greater.
At the same time, the most important thing is that the lineup of the protagonists this time has not been completely determined. Although Wilhelm, the actor who plays the heroic spirit, will find a way to solve it, the magicians who are the main characters of the movie have not yet been found.
The main reason for this is that famous actors in stage plays are usually women. Although they are more beautiful than each other, Du Lin is shooting "Fate Zero" instead of "Love Live"!!
The total number of main female characters in the entire "Fate Zero" is no more than two hands, so no matter how confident those actresses are in their acting skills, Du Lin would not accept any of them as long as their appearance does not meet the requirements.
In this situation, when he had unknowingly screened down to the last troupe, Du Lin had already had the idea of giving up directly and returning to the Adventurer's Guild to recruit people. After all, there were only so many troupes in the South Territory, and most of them had been driven away by the film industry. It was already the limit to find some extras at the moment.
However, when he thought about the big and strong guys from the Adventurer's Guild playing the roles of mysterious and elegant magicians, the corners of Du Lin's mouth began to twitch.
"Are these all the people? Are there so few male stage actors?"
Du Lin looked at his notebook which still had several leading actors yet to be filled in, and showed a helpless expression.
In response, Vanir smiled awkwardly and said, "I can't help it. To be honest, Director Du Lin, you are also a noble, so you should know the essence of the stage play industry. In fact, most nobles have no interest in watching stage plays. What really interests them is never the performance of the stage play itself, but only the actors who perform the stage play. In this case, you can probably understand why there are so many actresses, right? Rather than living a life of acting for a lifetime, their real intention is to be noticed by a great noble and marry into a wealthy family. That's why most stage play actors are women."
"Oh, I really don't know..."
Du Lin couldn't help but reveal an expression of disgust as he didn't expect that there would be such a scandal in this industry. After all, he often heard about scandals in the entertainment industry in his previous life. He didn't expect that he would still encounter such a thing after traveling to this world.
Seeing Du Lin's attitude, Banier couldn't help but quickly add: "Of course, although I used to enjoy this kind of thing, it was not until I watched Director Du Lin's movie that I realized that the story performed could actually make people so intoxicated. Director Du Lin's movie is destined to change this era! ”
"Alright, alright, stop bragging. Is there anyone else behind you?"
Although he knew the inside story of the stage drama troupe, Du Lin had no other way to find actors, so he could only look for useful talents among these actors from the old era.
After all, this is also a manifestation of his kindness. After all, if he does not absorb these stage play actors, when movies really become popular, most of the stage play actors will probably have to starve. For these stage play actors, participating in this audition is their last chance to catch the Noah's Ark sailing in the sweeping tide of the times.
After hearing what Du Lin said, Baniel quickly checked the list of troupes that came to audition, and then said, "There is one last troupe, their name is Snow Flower... Uh, wait, Snow Flower? Why is this troupe here..."
"What's wrong?"
Du Lin couldn't help but ask about Vanir's confused expression, and the latter just silently replied: "The Snow Flower Theater is actually quite famous in the South Territory. Unlike other theaters that rely on beautiful heroines to lead the whole audience, this theater has very outstanding repertoires and scripts. I even heard that the repertoires they perform are all written and rehearsed by their managers. Because the stories are novel and interesting, they are deeply loved by ordinary people. It can be said that it is a rare clean theater in the chaotic stage play world."
"Isn't this great? Why are you making that expression?"
Seeing Du Lin's confusion, Banil said awkwardly, "Well, actually, the Snow Flower Troupe has always had a low reputation in the aristocratic circle, because their troupe has no beautiful dancers, and the only beautiful heroine is said to have become the wife of the troupe manager. At the beginning, many noble young masters who pursued this beauty were very angry. Therefore, for a long time, the nobles in the southern region resisted this maverick troupe and even slandered it for malicious marketing. Of course, because the performance strength of the Snow Flower itself is really strong, even without the support of the nobles, they still rely on the support of the civilians to gain a foothold in the southern region. I thought that such an idealistic and aspiring troupe had left the southern region because of the emergence of the movie, but I didn't expect that they were willing to come to audition for the movie..."
"Also, although I also hope to allow such a powerful troupe to participate in this movie audition, I am worried whether this will cause resentment among the southern nobles... After all, the attitude of the southern nobles towards us has been quite bad in recent times, and they are just short of openly uniting to boycott the development of the film industry..."
In this regard, after hearing what Vanir said, Du Lin shook his head decisively and said, "If we don't invite such a powerful troupe, will those nobles come to lick our movies? In the final analysis, as long as our movies are good enough, sooner or later they will become believers of the 'True Fragrance Cult'. Until then, we just need to quietly do our own thing."
"I see. You are worthy of being Director Du Lin. So, what is the 'True Fragrance Cult'?"
"Uh, anyway, don't worry about it, just call the person over first."
After hearing what Banil said, Du Lin, who had originally had no interest, suddenly became interested in this unique troupe, so he asked Banil to invite them over immediately.
Soon, as the door slowly opened and Vanir returned, a middle-aged man who looked ordinary walked in from outside, accompanied by several figures who were so attractive that people could not take their eyes off them.
"Excuse me, I'm Chase, the manager of Snow Flower. They are members of my troupe. Do you need me to introduce myself first?"
After saying that, Chase's gaze slowly settled on the boy in front of him who didn't look very special. With Vanir's introduction, he already knew that this boy was the one who created the movie that changed the era!
In response, Du Lin, who had already roughly looked around at the troupe members, smiled and said, "No need, just start the audition."
... ...
Leah is the vice-captain of the Imperial Knights. As a sword spirit, she is one of the lucky few who has made merit in the army and has been recognized and promoted by the Imperial Knights.
Because besides her, there are many powerful people in the Imperial Knights who have extraordinary skills but have not been promoted simply because of lack of merit. Those people either have strength or status, but this year's leader of the Imperial Knights, Wycliffe, is an absolute freak. He does not look at talent or family background, and only selects talents based on his own vision.
In fact, his vision was indeed very accurate. At least this session of the Imperial Knights was definitely the strongest one compared to the previous ones, both in terms of overall capabilities and military discipline. It was precisely because he had done what he should do that the current King of the Empire allowed him to reform the army.
For Leah, Knight Commander Wycliffe is her true benefactor. After all, women joining the army will never be welcomed. Even though the empire has no laws prohibiting women from joining the army, it is a fact that women's status in the army is lower than that of men.
If the current Knight Commander was not the absolutely rational and fair Knight Commander Wycliffe, no matter how talented and skilled Leah was, she would not have been able to climb to her current position.
At this moment, after completing a day's training, Leah packed up her luggage a little and planned to inspect the army's discipline when the Knight Commander was away. However, before she could leave the rest room, the order to assemble sounded in the training ground not far away.
"???"