Translator: Yang_Wenli
A dozen or so minutes earlier. After Mrs. Melina finished reporting the finances to Joshua, a new guest appeared in Joshua’s study. It was Sir Weissenasche.
Ever since the Weissenasche Theater screened the movies ‘Beauty and the Demon’ and ‘Léon: The Demon’ in succession, the Weissenasche Theater became unprecedentedly popular.
Sir Weissenasche swears that if it wasn’t for Joshua’s two movies, his Weissenasche Theater would’ve been crushed to ruins by his old foe.
It was Joshua’s appearance that rescued the near-bankrupt theater and allowed Sir Weissenasche to achieve success enough to leave his name in the annals.
“Your Highness Joshua.”
Sir Weissenasche took off his hat upon entering the study. Ever since he learned that Joshua’s true identity was a prince from the Demon Realm, he began addressing Joshua as ‘Your Highness.’
“Are you really going to be fine walking on the street dressed like this?”
Joshua looked at the slightly chubby middle-aged theater administrator. Both his hairstyle and his attire made Joshua associate him with the number one villain of “Léon: The Demon,’ Stansfield.
“People will recognize me at times and think that I’m Mister Stansfield. But, after my bodyguards mediate with them, nothing major will happen. There have also been a couple young girls that have sought for my autograph.”
Dressed like this, Sir Weissenasche will most definitely be recognized by the fans of ‘Léon: The Demon.’ But, he wouldn’t receive warm treatments from the fans like how Pluk, the person playing the male lead Léon, would.
Generally, he would be seen as a heinous evil person by the fans and suffer their attacks to relieve the grievance the characters in the movie suffered under Stansfield’s hands.
Even though his attire was extremely dangerous, Sir Weissenasche seemed to be very happy to receive such enthusiasm from fans.
“Autograph? It would appear that the character Stansfield is quite charming still. In that case, Sir Weissenasche, what brought you here today?”
Joshua was not involved in the internal management of the Weissenasche Theater. He had never doubted whether or not Sir Weissenasche was loyal either.
If Joshua guessed correctly, Sir Weissenasche was very possibly a servant of the Duke of Bones. The Duke of Bones seemed to have placed some sort of magic on this human too.
Through the power of the Duke of Bones’ imprint on his hand, Joshua was able to easily strip life away from Sir Weissenasche.
“Your Highness Joshua, this here is the most recent earnings report for the Weissenasche Theater. I’ve already deposited your earnings into your storage.”
Sir Weissenasche took out a very thick ledger and handed it to Joshua. Joshua flipped a couple pages and skimmed the contents. Every single page contained profits with numbers in digits so high that the Third Prince has never before seen.
Sure enough, the movie box office business was an enormous source of revenue. Even though the Hearthstone card packs also bring forth a considerable amount of profit, the revenue from the movies were what truly backed Joshua’s assets.
“Furthermore, I was informed by my servant that the manager of the Norland’s National Theater, that merchant who doesn’t know art, is planning to sell that theater.”
Sir Weissenasche was an artist with a dream. Because of his dream, he had once embarked the path toward bankruptcy. The person who forced him onto that path was none other than the manager of the Norland’s National Theater.
After Joshua came to Norland, things changed completely. Sir Weissenasche not only managed to accomplish his dream, he also utterly defeated his old rival’s plot against him.
“After the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe left, Norland’s National Theater no longer possessed any means of resistance... But, I wasn’t expecting for the manager of the theater to be this decisive in selling the theater. What happened to the theatrical troupes that were working in that theater before?”
Having stayed in Norland for so long, Joshua already learned how the theaters of this world operates.
Generally speaking, a theater will always attempt to cultivate their own theatrical troupe. Sir Weissenasche has managed to cultivate two theatrical troupes that were somewhat well-known in Norland before too. Unfortunately, his theatrical troupes were scooped away by Norland’s National Theater.
“That despicable merchant will definitely consider them as goods and sell them along with the theater. Your Highness Joshua, there’s many promising performers in those theatrical troupes.”
In the end, Sir Weissenasche failed to live up to the standards of being a merchant. He remains an artist with his humanity still intact. He was recommending to Joshua the performers that will soon become homeless.
“Gather those performers. I can provide them with an opportunity. But, tell them this. Apart from their acting skills, what I demand for is loyalty. I do not want goods that can be purchased using money.”
Joshua’s voice sounded extremely tranquil. Sir Weissenasche looked at the young man sitting behind the desk. Truth be told, he was unable to sense the airs of a ruler from Joshua...
But, hearing Joshua’s words, Sir Weissenasche felt a cold sensation behind his back. He knew very well that the person seated before him was no ‘human.’ Instead, he was a ‘dangerous Chaos Demon.’
“Understood. Your Highness Joshua, I will pass this message on to them.”
Sir Weissenasche lowered his head and bowed to Joshua. Then, he left the study.
After seeing Sir Weissenasche leave the study, Joshua yawned. Then, he picked up a pile of screenplay scripts in the study.
Ciri had requested a leave of absence in order to take the test to increase her mage ranking. She will likely be out for a week or so.
Joshua was slightly unused to the absence of the female mage. Or perhaps... he was not used to not hearing her ridicules?
Joshua pushed aside the strange thoughts and began to plan on his next movie.
Sure enough, the most direct method to test a performer would be to have them participate in the shooting of a movie. The first step would be the screening process.
Joshua was planning for his next movie to be a story about the relationship between a person and an animal. ‘Beauty and the Demon’ and ‘Léon: The Demon’ had gradually altered humanity’s view toward demons.
What Joshua needed now was a movie that other races will shed tears upon watching. For example... the elf race.
While Joshua was inspecting his scripts, Ynor walked into his study with his dinner. He was carrying two sets of dinner. One was for Joshua and the other was for Tylene.
“Ynor, have Tylene come to my study after she finished her broadcast.”
“Big sis Tylene... wuu... Your Highness Joshua, I understand.”
Ynor’s body trembled slightly after hearing Joshua tell him to find Tylene. Even Ynor’s characteristic demon tail curled up in a lump.
“Don’t think too much about what Tylene’s doing to you. At times, if you’re unable to resist, just give in and enjoy it.”
Obviously, Joshua knew of the strange obsession the frost elf acquired recently. But, he showed no desire to stop her. After all, even though Ynor was saying he didn’t like it, he was actually enjoying the dress-ups.
“O...kay.”
In the end, with complicated feelings, Ynor left Joshua’s study.