The mages present had only just immersed in the joy of the reunion between Belle and the Demon Prince when the screenwriter decided to expose his repulsive features to them again.
Seven fully armed knights appeared below a hill. As their horses galloped, a delicate flower was crushed beneath a hoof. The seven knights raised their weapons and charged into the flower field where the Demon Prince and Belle were.
“Who are those knights chasing after Belle?”
“From the crest on their armors, they seemed to be from the Nation of the Holy Church...”
Prophet could hear the discussions from the mages in the shop. But then, she heard a familiar voice.
“Teacher, we’ve come back.”
As Prophet was being held up by Ciri, the mages that entered the shop were all able to notice the little girl suspended in mid-air the moment they entered. Naturally, her four students were no exception either.
Prophet ignored her students and continued to pay attention to the projection.
Her students were very well-behaved and did not bother to make inquiries as to why she was being held in mid-air like a toddler by a human girl.
Among Prophet’s students, it was the vampire girl with a decent figure that carefully approached Prophet.
“Teacher... are the ones chasing Belle knights from the Nation of the Holy Church?” She asked with a lowered voice.
Prophet was able to hear the impatience and nervousness in her voice. Perhaps women were more sensitive by nature as the vampire girl seemed to have fully assimilated herself into the story.
“Those knights are undead. Did you not see the red glints from the cracks of their helmet?” After saying that, Prophet decided to call to her students’ attention, “This is a fictional story created by His Highness. It is not real. Lysa, you need to be able to differentiate fiction from reality.”
As Prophet reminded her students, she took a glance at the mages gathered around the projection. They seemed to be incapable of distinguishing between a movie and reality.
Even though the art form known as movies had appeared in Norland for over half a year now, the female mages present were still discussing the identities of the knights pursuing Belle and the Demon Prince.
Prophet had a feeling that once the female mages confirmed the true identities of the seven knights, they would take up their staffs and seek out those knights to punish them with righteousness.
But, as the short film continued, Prophet felt that it would not only be a mere ‘punishment’ anymore.
The knights caught up to the Demon Prince played by Zenarth. When a rope net that came out of nowhere caught the demon, Prophet... actually felt killing intent from the female mages in the store!
“THose knights are simply too despicable!”
“Where’s Belle?!”
“Teacher... shouldn’t a Sin Demon... be able to... break free from an ordinary rope net?” The vampire girl Lysa was also acting restless.
Prophet had no heart to answer her student’s question as some of the comments made by the female mages had caused her hair to stand on end.
“Your Highness Joshua... I believe these fans are no different from religious fanatics,” Prophet said to Joshua with an extremely quiet voice.
“Eh. Well, the majority of the fans will be able to keep their rationality. But, for every movie, there will always be... a small portion of die-hard fans.”
Joshua found it a bit difficult to make comments evaluating that the female mages in the store were being too extreme.
The development of movies had only just begun in this world. It has not even passed the infancy stage yet. Even though Joshua continued to insist the images and stories being projected were fictional, a great majority of the fans still continued to believe them to be real.
After all, compared to stage plays, movies were simply too ‘real.’
Because of that, many fans found it very easy to put themselves in the shoes of the characters.
At this moment, the short film had reached the latter half of the story line. Protected by the demon prince, Belle escaped the pursuers and ran into the forest.
When the scene of the forest appeared on the screen, the mages in the alchemic shop became extremely emotional.
“Isn’t that the Fluorescence Forest to the north of Norland?!”
“I was harvesting fluorescence mushrooms in that forest the day before yesterday...”
The mages present immediately recognized where the forest was. In order to save on time, Joshua chose a location close to Norland for the filming.
The appearance of a familiar setting once again increased the mages’ immersion with the film.
“Map! Does anyone here have a map of the Fluorescence Forest?!”
“I can see the Immortal Fir Tree behind Belle! If I’m correct, Belle is not far from the main road!”
Once they confirmed the location, the mages were no longer in the mood to continue watching the short film.
An attendant of the Klia Alchemic Shop immediately brought over a map of the Fluorescence Forest to the north of Norland.
In an instant, these mages were acting with exceptional coordination. It was as if they were all mercenaries of the same union. They split up into groups of three or four and began to discuss and plan out Belle’s rescue.
Before Joshua’s very eyes, the entire alchemic shop has, in only a couple seconds, transformed into a command room. Momentarily, he found himself at a loss.
“Ciri... perhaps I should’ve chosen the Demon Realm as the film site.”
“Didn’t I say so? To the mages of Norland, Fluorescence Forest is no different from the first map one will encounter upon exiting the newbie village. Practically all the magic academies of Norland will arrange for their students to spend a day or two in that forest,” said Ciri.
Back when choosing the filming site, Joshua didn’t pay much attention to Ciri’s warning. But now, he could foresee that the mage mercenaries at other venues would be discussing and planning Belle’s rescue too.
“Belle ran out of the Fluorescence Forest!” Like a messenger that had just acquired important information, a mage shouted.
At this moment, Joshua felt slightly rejoiceful that Belle came out completely unscathed at the end of the film.
If the film ended with Belle being trapped in the forest and surrounded by the seven knights...
Joshua believed that there would be over a dozen ‘Belle Rescue Groups’ treading into the Fluorescence Forest to seek out the tracks of the pitiful girl.
“A shop... how come I don’t remember there being a Klia Alchemic Shop outside the Fluorescence Forest?”
The following discovery brought upon... confusion... to the crowd.
The plot at the beginning of the film was more realistic. But, once a Klia Alchemic Shop appeared on the side of the road, the plot overturned a great majority of the audiences’ opinion of Belle.
The gentle and kindhearted little girl purchased nearly half of all the alchemic merchandise from the shop and armed herself to the teeth.
“What is Belle trying to do?”
The audience were shocked by Belle’s Rambo-like attire.
“She... seemed to be planning to rescue the Demon Prince by herself.” Someone managed to guess Belle’s intention.
“Those are seven templars. Belle doesn’t even know magic...”
The audiences were starting to become afraid to continue watching the film. There were already people that couldn’t contain their emotions anymore and ran out of the alchemic shop.
But, as the film continued, as the petite Belle raised up the iron hammer in her hand and sent the helmet of a knight flying with a golf ball swing, the noise-and-panic filled Klia Alchemic Shop suddenly turned strangely quiet...
The audiences stared at the screen, at Belle who was holding an iron hammer and punishing the seven knights with her own strength. As they watched Belle sending the knights and their horses onto the ground, they lost their ability to think.