Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Intermission: The Hero and the Song of the Sea (1)
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A man proves himself with one action rather than a hundred words.
The troupe leader had definitely given me a look like I was some kind of lunatic.
Well, even I probably wouldn't have believed it.
Knowing a dragon? Yeah, right.
I still couldn't believe it myself.
"Ughhh! It's so tiiiight!"
"Esthea, come on in."
"Sigh."
This thing was a dragon? Unbelievable.
After plucking Esthea out from where she'd jammed her head through the lab door again today, dangling there like a curious puppy, and playing with her for a bit.
"Whaaat? Your new work isn't a novel, it's a playyy?!"
"I have a novel too."
"Hand it over right now!"
I spent some tense time getting feedback from the one who'd hurt my feelings by hopping off with Sima Yi.
And the result was...
"Ughhh... Admiral Yi Suuun-shin... you're the best..."
Unlike Roselin, who hyper-focused only on romances, Esthea's tail went limp against the floor from immersing herself too deeply in every genre.
"I do think the novel version is good too, of course. But I wanted to make this heroic figure feel more real to as many people as possible, so I thought of turning it into a play."
"Hmm... Sounds good!"
"But I need your help, Nugget—no, Esthea."
"Me? Why? What?"
"Have you heard of magical theater, by any chance?"
"No idea!"
After giving her an exaggerated explanation for the sake of my Nugget, who still hadn't seen that dazzling Prism Show...
"That sounds fun!"
The gold dragon's eyes sparkled, jaded from living far too many ages.
Prism Shows really are pure freedom.
Well.
She wouldn't say that if I took her along and she saw Nugget cracking open my house pet's belly to yank out a dragon heart or something.
.
.
.
"A-a-a real dragon...?"
"Ahem! This one's name is Esthea Golden Lintberius!"
I took a moment to admire Nugget striking a pose, greeting them like a little red demon kid in an eyepatch.
"Since you're interested in magical theater, could you give us a demonstration?"
"Ah..."
I patted the troupe leader, whose soul had slipped out a bit, and let Nugget show off a glimpse of advanced civilization.
Well, just as I'd instinctively realized while watching magical theater myself...
"Ooooh...!"
As expected, Nugget's reaction was positive.
Magical theater was still such a novelty here—less than five years old, with traditional plays dominating the stage.
From what she'd let slip last time, she'd barely left her lair these past few years, just devouring whatever books and papers her servants brought her.
I knew she'd love it.
Classic Jammin'.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Then, if you could come this way for a moment."
We followed the troupe leader down to the basement.
About three floors underground.
"Whoa."
"A massive magic circle? Is this what powers that magical whatever?"
I couldn't see the magic circle myself.
But there was a huge stone slab standing in the center of the vast cavern, filling it almost completely.
"This is the core circuit for magical theater. As you can see... it requires a ton of mana."
The stele, resembling a Poneglyph, glowed faintly blue at the base, fading to darkness the higher it went.
That blue glow was probably mana.
And the stele was like an ESS. Main ingredient lithium, maybe?
"Kim Yul! Is this what you needed my help for?"
It wasn't my field of expertise, so I just nodded.
Nugget toddled right up, placed her hand on the stele, and closed her eyes.
Right then.
Shwaaaah—!
A fine blue light began gathering at the tip of her grip.
Esthea's wings, which I'd only thought of as handlebars for assisting, expanded massively, spreading wide to either side.
Rumble...!
Ruuuuumble...!
The whole underground cavern shook.
"Wow."
"That's... dragon mana...?"
The troupe leader and I let out gasps in unison.
In an instant.
The brilliant blue light Esthea poured in swept over the stele's face like it was driving out the darkness.
"How much would that be worth in gold?"
"...Hard to even convert."
"Got any emergency gold bars in the troupe?"
"Gold bars? Hmm, probably."
"Get 'em ready."
Even told to offer up precious gold bars as tribute, awe and smiles didn't leave the troupe leader's face.
From that day on.
I deliberately lost interest in the play for a while.
I knew if the original author got too wrapped up in the media mix, something horrific like 'The Omniscient Author's Viewpoint' or 'The Chaebol's Youngest Son' could happen.
But if it did, my novel's value might skyrocket in reverse.
I still didn't fully grasp the mindset of people in this fantasy land.
Take those around me.
Roselin, Chloe, Esthea.
Two of them weren't even human by strict definition, but I couldn't understand any of their thought processes anyway.
In cases like this, the right thing was to trust the troupe leader's hands for at least the first production.
And so.
"Alright! Great work, everyone!"
The rehearsal for key scenes from the magical theater The Hero and the Song of the Sea wrapped up.
"Whoa, the tech is incredible. IMAX level."
"Woooow! So fun, so fuuun!"
"......"
Despite the enthusiastic reactions from Tin Can and Nugget.
I couldn't hold back the pounding headache.
Well...
The visuals were amazing. No doubt.
Even without borrowing Tin Can's big-data praise for something she'd never seen, the immersion was spot-on.
Hell, during the crashing waves scene, I swear I smelled sea spray all the way in the audience seats.
The lead actor's performance was top-notch too.
-One swing clears them, but the blood won't stain these mountains... isn't the sea too vast for that?
-The sea is vast, and so are the countless foes.
The dialogue sprinkled throughout was great.
Especially that final 'line'—it sent shivers down my spine.
But... how to put it.
Well...
"The adaptation is... pretty... heavily..."
What the hell.
Why did the turtle ship's prow have a gold dragon head spouting fire breath? Was that Nugget?
Why was Swordmaster Yi Sun-sin leaping onto enemy warships, butchering them with flashy dual-wield swordplay? How was that actor swinging two two-meter longswords? Reincarnated gorilla?
And also.
Why were the... no, the Yuan forces played by goblins...?
How the hell did they even recruit goblins, for real?
"Didn't peg you for a racist. Groggen over there playing the Yuan role is one of our main actors—a half-goblin. Human on his dad's side, so no rude assumptions."
You're the one who just species-shamed. Why tack on useless TMI to mess with my head?
"O-okay... but why goblins for the Yuan?"
"Hmm? Weren't they spies for the Yuan king?"
It was the kind of statement that would make the Yuan clan descendants seize up and fire off lawsuits like cannonballs, so I just stayed silent.
I'd almost suffered humiliation myself once, so the script inevitably used the pseudonym 'Yuan forces.' The published novel would have the real name, of course.
PTSD etched into the bones is a terrifying thing...
Anyway.
Overall, the play's polish made borrowing the dragon's power worth it.
All the elements I'd envisioned.
The nobility and competence from the start.
Midway, a brief plot of schemes and conflict, swiftly moving to leading from the rear with minimal frustration.
Then the climax onward: turning disadvantage into victory after victory, even incorporating the fearless flagship charge.
"Still, it's a bit different from the original novel..."
"Don't worry. Rehearsal stage and actual performance will differ, and adding the skipped parts will make it perfect."
"I see."
Hmm.
Well, adaptations are inevitable to some degree.
Novels stimulate imagination through narration.
But a stage like this needs to hammer visuals straight into the audience's eyes.
Plus, 'Wae invaders' probably didn't resonate much in this fantasy world, so localizing them as goblins wasn't bad.
...Though using half-goblin actors for it was kinda head-scratching.
Made me wonder if it wasn't straight-up speciesism.
"Speciesism? Eh. Just getting them on the same stage is my contribution to equality."
"The troupe leader's so open-minded, desu!"
The troupe leader had a point, and so did short-lived discriminator Kanf...
"Kekeke, this is fun!"
"Joseon human... plunder... kekeke, got too immersed..."
"Acting fun!"
"Earn money, feed tribe!"
"You brats, I said no creepy grinning like that! Ah, hello. You're the author, right? Name's actor Grodek. Dad's side is human. Some folks imagine it backward, but I won't spell out the results."
"Ah, y-yes..."
I decided to just go with the flow at Mr. Grodek's flex of those solid, muscled forearms.
If they were fine with it.
Whatever.
The long-awaited premiere day.
"Whoa."
"Huge crowd."
Strolling out with Tin Can, the plaza was packed wall-to-wall with people.
Guess it really had been ages since the last new magical theater.
"Can't remember the last one... So exciting!"
"Original by Ulysses? Red Cliffs story?"
"Doesn't seem like Two Heroes series. Yi Sun-sin? No such name in Two Heroes or Heroes Assemble."
"I want Grodek's abs!"
The hype surpassed even a card pack open-run launch.
Title: The Hero and the Song of the Sea
Public Evaluation: No EvaluationsSales: 0 Copies
I had no idea how much this heat would translate to book sales,
...or how they'd take the adaptation vs. original differences.
Today's opening reaction would decide.
Whether I received the authority of the Three Provinces Naval Commander,
or the Three Armies Commander-in-Chief.
Inflating my expectations, I headed for the staff lounge—
when the plaza suddenly fell silent.
Wondering what was up, I traced the source of the wave-like hush.
Soldiers in flashy armor, looking like VIP entourages throwing their weight around at an airport, were rolling out a red carpet.
And atop it, two men stepped down from a carriage.
"It's the Second Prince!"
"Eeee! The prince came to see the show!"
"So handsome...!"
"Empire forever!"
Cheers and screams soon filled Artists' Plaza.
One annoyingly handsome young man, even to my eyes.
And beside him, a familiar face.
Kanf Duke, tagging along like a bell on his hip.