Overwhelming Firepower

”That was a good game. It’s decided you are now the actor who’ll play Eren Holt.”

Lucen, who stopped being in character, spoke. When Taren heard his words, he could not believe his ears.

”Are you talking to me, sir?”

”Yes, who else should I be talking to? Ask Harry for the full script he will explain the details of how we will proceed.”

Taren stared blankly for a few seconds before hurriedly standing up and bowing his head. ”Thank you very much, Sir Lucen! I won’t disappoint you!”

Lucen waved his hand casually. ”Do not thank me yet. If your acting becomes terrible later, I will replace you without hesitation.”

Taren stiffened. ”Y-Yes, Sir.”

Harry Nidhouni chuckled softly before standing up and walking toward the stage with several papers in hand. ”Come with me later. We still need to discuss contracts, rehearsals, schedules, and payment.”

Mireya crossed her arms and looked at Lucen. ”So you found your protagonist, are you going to hold auditions for the other characters as well? Are you going to look for the rival character next?”

Lucen looked at the rival’s deck in his hand. The image of Kael Veyr was still fresh in his mind. The arrogant posture, the cold smile, the way he looked down on Eren while secretly acknowledging his potential.

Lucen always had fun portraying characters from his past life, yet this one was something he created himself, albeit by copying certain tropes. He had so much fun not only playing the game but also acting out like that.

”No, this time I will play the character myself.”

The moment Lucen said those words, the theater went silent.

Harry Nidhouni froze while holding the papers in his hand. Taren also looked up in surprise, and even the other applicants stared at Lucen as if they had heard something unbelievable.

Mireya herself was quite surprised. Lucen Thornehart, the heir of the Iron Duke, a powerful figure who had invented many things, was going to act?

”Hahaha! Yeah, with what you have shown, no one could be a better actor than you. Not only are you a marvelous writer, but you’re a good actor as well.” Harry could not help but praise.

***

Once the protagonist and the rival characters were chosen, the childhood friend who was also the love interest was the next to be chosen.

Mireya wanted to try to act as well, since that would allow her to play a lot more, but unfortunately, her acting skills weren’t that good.

Despite being a mage who specialized in illusions, Mireya had a hard time changing her facial expressions.

Still, there was a character that perfectly suited her, as it was basically a similar person within the story.

***

It took a few days, but the auditions ended, and the female lead was a woman from a small theater group.

The reason she was chosen was because of her natural charm and her bright smile. She, without any need to act, just by being herself, was already the perfect female lead that Lucen was looking for.

Her name was Liora Maren. She was not the most experienced actress among those who auditioned, but the moment she read the scene where the childhood friend encouraged Eren after everyone mocked his deck, Lucen knew she fit the role.

She did not sound like someone pretending to be kind. She sounded like someone who truly believed in the person standing in front of her. That was important.

The female lead of the story was not meant to be someone who simply stood beside the protagonist and smiled.

She was Eren Holt’s first supporter. She was the one who believed in his deck before anyone else did. She used Art Cards and support strategies, and while she was not as flashy as Eren or Kael, she would become the reason Eren survived many dangerous duels.

Lucen needed someone who could make the audience understand that kind of warmth. Liora did that naturally.

When she smiled and said, ”If one card can give you another turn, then that turn can become your victory.”

The way she spoke was like seeing the girl Lucen had imagined.

***

Once the actors were ready, after Lucen was done with his Royal Academy work, he was ready to start production.

Robert wanted to bear witness as the historic first take of the first show using the video orb was about to take place.

Unfortunately for him, he was unable to attend despite wanting to do so. When Thelwin heard he was teaching a class called battle alchemy, the strongest mage of Norvaegard and Robert’s pseudo-father figure, came to watch him teach class.

Thelwin made sure that Robert taught the class properly without slacking off, which meant Robert had no time to do his own things and was forced to take his instructor job seriously.

In the end, Robert Duskwell, the well-known mad alchemist, did something that he would never have done, and no one would imagine he could do.

Robert actually begged Thelwin to let him leave early and join with Lucen. Seeing him do such an action, Thelwin was moved, or so one would think.

In truth, Robert had done this a few times with Thelwin, so that the other party had already gotten used to it. Of course, Thelwin knew that despite everything Robert said, he had never changed or done as he promised while begging.

So with a smile on his face, Thelwin told Robert. ”You can go once you’re done with work.”

Robert looked at the ton of paperwork he had pushed back because he found it boring and unneeded, and could not help but wail. ”NO!”

***

On the other hand, Lucen, who had not neglected a single thing from the start, had a lot more free time.

So right now, he was able to form a schedule for when to do the shooting of each scene. Today they were going to shoot the first episode of the show.

The first scene was simple. It would show Eren Holt after his father goes to Velmira’s embrace and is given a deck, and with that deck, a dream was born to become the best Card Summoner of all time.

Well, it was simple on paper. Still, due to the unfamiliarity of the video orb and the so-called proper camera angles, which became possible after the orb was remade to focus on a specific area instead of recording everything around it.

Still, unlike in a play where making a mistake was pretty much the end and there were no redos, here they can make many mistakes, though it will take a chunk of time.

It took them several retakes to get the scene perfect, and the actors were able to say the lines naturally. Harry, who was the Director, was getting excited by the new way to show a story.

At first, he had thought directing with the Video Orb would be similar to directing a play.

He was wrong.

In a play, the audience chooses where to look. If two actors stood on stage, the audience could look at either one.

But with the focused Video Orb, Harry could decide what the audience should see. He could show everyone what he wanted them to see, what he wanted them to focus on.

When Eren’s hands trembled while holding the old deck, Harry had the orb focus on his fingers.

When Eren tried to hold back tears, Harry had the orb focus on his face.

When Eren looked at the deck as if it were the last thing his father had left behind, Harry felt his heart tighten.

”This is truly incredible! With this, we can share much greater stories... No... With this, we can show the world different views. We can even make a person who has never left his village see the world!”

Lucen smiled when he saw Harry’s excitement. This was exactly the reaction he expected from someone who truly loved stories.

”That is the point,” Lucen said. ”A stage can show a story to those sitting in front of it. But this can carry a story farther than any stage could.”

Harry looked at the Video Orb with shining eyes. For the first time in his life, the theater felt small. Not useless. Never useless. But small compared to what this new art could become.

Taren, who had finished the scene, stared at the orb with a strange expression. He had wanted to act on stage before, but this was different.

Liora stood beside him, equally speechless. Mireya looked pleased, though she was still disappointed that she had not played a card duel yet.

Lucen clapped his hands once. ”Good. Now that the first scene is done, we can move to the next.”

Harry spoke. ”The next scene is a timeskip showing Kael’s overwhelming strength and then learning that Eren has a rare card he wants, correct?”

Lucen nodded. ”That’s right. This will be Kael’s first appearance, so it needs to leave an impact.”

Harry looked at Lucen and smiled. ”Then I suppose you should prepare as well.”

”So it’s finally time to use illusion spells to show the cards look like they were truly summoned.”

Mireya, who was watching from the back, was getting excited again. This was the game she had created alongside Lucen, and more than anyone, she wanted it to succeed so that she could play with plenty of people.

”Yes, so let’s all do our best,” Lucen replied as he was going to change into Kael’s attire.

Harry gripped the script tightly. For the first time, he was not just a playwright. He was now creating a brand new world.