The Prophet followed Ciri into the Weissenasche Theater.
The front entrance has been completely covered by people. Even a knight capable of hammering a water buffalo to death single-handedly would not be able to breach the crowd.
The Prophet had no desire to experience the sensation of ‘being surrounded by humans’ again. Fortunately, Ciri led her and her four apprentices to a side entrance.
This entrance was for the performers and workers of the Weissenasche Theater. There were many staff-holding guards in front of the entrance.
Ciri greeted them and then led Prophet and her apprentices onto a red-carpeted hallway.
“Which of the three movies do you wish to watch?”
“Movies... His Highness Joshua has been mentioning it ever since we entered Norland. But, exactly what are movies? Is it similar to the human stage plays?”
The Prophet has never heard of movies before. But, based on Joshua’s explanation, she was able to immediately associate movies with the human stage plays.
“Since you haven’t seen movies yet, it’ll be difficult to understand what they are. I guess... they’re both performances.”
Ciri pointed to the two sides of the hallway. All the movie posters since the screening of ‘Beauty and the Demon’ were hanging on the walls. In addition to the posters, there were drawings of the movie characters made by Ciri and other artists.
“Which movie do you all plan to start watching first?” asked Ciri.
“Which...”
The Prophet looked to the posters on the wall. When her eyes landed on the poster for ‘Beauty and the Demon’ and saw a Sin Demon in gorgeous attire dancing with a ‘human’ woman, she suddenly realized why the humans at the Klia Stage Station would have such... admiration... for her Sin Demon attendant.
Through a movie, the Third Prince had transformed that Sin Demon into a ‘Prince’ that could dance gracefully with a human girl from the monster of the Demon Realm that would roar with dark green flames.
“Are these the totems of the religion established by His Majesty?”
The Prophet seemed to be insistent on viewing ‘movies’ as a new sort of religion.
“Well... you can understand it like that. So, you’re planning to watch ‘Beauty and the Demon’ then?”
“No... I plan to first browse the content of this movie first.”
The Prophet pointed her finger toward a poster next to the poster of ‘Beauty and the Demon.’ It was the poster of ‘Léon: The Demon.’
The demon hitman Léon was lowering his head and looking at Mathilda who was only as tall as his waist. This poster has successfully attracted the Prophet’s interest.
“‘Léon: The Demon?’ Hmmm, okay.” Ciri’s eyes were moving back and forth through the poster and the Prophet. If her expression was taken as a picture, it would definitely be able to become a smirking ‘meme’ on the Mage Forum.
“You seemed to have some sort of misunderstanding. The reason I chose this movie had nothing to do with the height of the main female head.”
The Prophet pushed her wooden glasses frames. She effortlessly guessed what the human mage was thinking.
“Hmm... got it.”
Ciri tried her best to contain the smile on her face. She did not consider the Prophet as a little girl just because of her youthful appearance and short height.
The Prophet emits a strange sort of air... It was a feeling Ciri had faintly felt from Gray Mage Lursk before. That said, she only felt that air when Gray Mage Lursk was not raising his owls or checking out the Mage Forum.
“If I remember correctly, Weissenasche Theater should still be screening ‘Léon: The Demon.’ Follow me this way.”
Ciri resumed her job as the guide and led the missionaries from the Demon Realm further into the Weissenasche Theater.
The hallway led to Weissenasche Theather’s screening hall. Seeing Ciri’s arrival, the owner of the Weissenasche Theater, Sir Weissenasche, immediately rushed over personally.
“Are these five people here Mister Joshua’s distinguished guests? My name is Kelman, you all can address me as Sir Weissenasche,” Sir Weissenasche enthusiastically greeted the missionaries from the Demon Realm.
Since they were designated as honored guests by Joshua, he felt that he needed to give them his utmost hospitality.
“When will the earliest next screening for ‘Léon: The Demon’ be?”
Ciri did not bother to wait for Sir Weissenasche to pamper to the Prophet and others. She directly entered the main topic for their coming so that she could watch ‘Léon: The Demon’ for the seventeenth time.
“The next screening would be in ten minutes... But, all the tickets for the VIP seats are already sold out. We only have some tickets for general admission right now. If you all don’t mind, we can watch the movie at the cinema room. I can personally prepare a screening for you all there,” said Sir Weissenasche.
“There’s no need for that. I wish to personally experience everything. That said, my apprentices are still afraid of humans,” The Prophet looked to her four apprentices standing behind her.
“Teach... teacher, we’ll be alright,” said one of the apprentices. The other three also gathered up their courage to interact with the humans.
“Ah... okay. Then, please follow me. I will do my best to make sure you all are seated together.”
Even though Sir Weissenasche was confused as to why a little girl would be the leader of this missionary group, he was very quick-witted and chose to not ask unnecessary questions.
With the help from Sir Weissenasche, the Prophet and others entered the screening theater ahead of the crowd.
Unfortunately, all the general admission seats that remained were scattered. Furthermore, none of them were at locations where one could watch the movie cozily.
“This one then... I’ll ensure my own safety.”
The Prophet chose the front-most seat available. Soon, her four apprentices also managed to seat themselves. As for Ciri, she went to the broadcasting room above the theater to ensure their safety.
After Sir Weissenasche finished making all the arrangements, the audiences for the movie were allowed in one after another.
The Prophet observed the humans that were entering the theater in hopes of finding a common point between them. But, she discovered that the audience for this movie seemed to be all different sorts of humans.
She saw many parents coming to watch the movie with their children.
The charm of the so-called ‘movies’ is this strong?
The Prophet straightened her back. She looked at the two humans seated in the row before her. They were people in their middle ages.
“Ronnie, it’s already our third time watching this movie. Can’t you save your money so that we can watch the new movie?”
“I would if I could purchase tickets for ‘Hachiko: A Dog’s Life’ right now! Our neighbor, that jeweler, had dispatched his servant to stand in line since last night and has only managed to acquire the tickets this morning.”
The Prophet quietly listened to their conversation. She now had a rough understanding of movies’ affect on humans.
Although she found it quite unbelievable, there seemed to be all sorts of humans among the people gathered here. The only exception would be... the mad believers from the Nation of the Holy Church.
“Little girl, did you come here alone? Where’s your parents?”
A gentle voice suddenly sounded from beside the Prophet. The moment she turned around to look at the owner of the voice, her expression immediately grew cold.
A woman dressed in the Nation of the Holy Church’s nun attire was seated next to her. Not only that, there were two other people dressed in a knight and a priest attire next to that nun.
She retracted her earlier words... It seemed that ‘movies’ are also effective toward people from the Nation of the Holy Church.