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Chapter 3: The Inaugural Meeting for Project Magivision
“We shall now commence the first meeting for Project Magivision,” Hildetaura confidently proclaimed to the room, the relaxed air immediately becoming much more tense as everyone focused.
The tea party ended here, turning instead into a serious discussion.
“Allow me to say this first: Nia, Relia, both of you should start calling me Hilde. You need not address me as ‘Your Highness,’ nor do you need to speak to me with any formality. There may be times in public where that will prove a little difficult, but if we do not see ourselves as equals, then we will not be able to comfortably express any opposing opinions. Please do not feel the need to hesitate to say what you wish to say. A meeting in which we dance around our issues is a waste of time. The noble prestige that comes with royalty and aristocracy has become nothing more than arbitrary, so there is no need for us to care about our status anymore, correct?”
If she insisted, then I would not hesitate to do as she wished.
“No, I could never speak to Your Highness so crudely,” Reliared implored.
Ė n̂ům̄а
“This formality is the kind of thing that Hilde was saying is a waste of time. Right, Hilde?”
“Precisely.”
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Reliared’s flustered reaction was no doubt what was expected of an aristocrat, but I couldn’t afford to be troubled by it. Time was exceedingly precious for me, after all. I had to do whatever I could as soon as possible to increase the popularity of magivision for the sake of the Liston family’s finances.
On the third day since my school life began, with the hype surrounding the sudden broadcast of the entrance ceremony still in the air, Hildetaura had asked to meet. Since she commuted to school from the castle, she had no room in the dorms, and mine only had the bare necessities—it wasn’t the most attractive place to have a meeting.
Reliared’s room, meanwhile, was the perfect example of a wealthy girl’s bedroom. She had decorations hanging from her walls and a vase full of fresh flowers, giving her room a much more fabulous aesthetic than mine. This would no doubt be more comfortable for Hildetaura than my own barren space. That was also the reason I had thought it better to record us in Relia’s room over mine on the day of the ceremony.
And so, we were here now after school, just as planned.
W̄е b̄n̊о̄vе̇l Е́ n ů m̄а̊
After we enjoyed the cakes and tea that Hildetaura had brought with her, we began our discussion.
Hildetaura continued. “First, we are unable to get involved with any magivision business that requires specialist knowledge. Partly because I am not terribly informed on much of the system’s inner workings, and partly because I am forbidden from giving my thoughts on any areas that involve large investments.”
That felt like a given. Though she was a princess, Hildetaura was still only eight years old. Why would she have anything to do with parts of the business that they had hired specialists for? The amount of money they would be handling would be massive—certainly more than a child’s allowance.
“Um, what exactly do you mean by things that require specialist knowledge, Your Highness...?” Reliared was clearly struggling to drop the formalities in front of the third princess, but she would get used to it in due time.
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“Hmm... All right, consider the MagiPads on which we view magivision.”
MagiPads, of course, were the crystal tablets that would float in the air.
Еnüm а̇ . і̀ d
“When inventors first began developing them, they experimented with the uses of natural crystals. The more they did so, the more their techniques evolved, and they were eventually able to create crystals with magic. However, that does not change the fact that the crystals still require resources to create. Even just one takes an incredible amount of time and money. The MagiPads sell for a very high price, yes? There is actually a reason for that.”
I had heard that the current cost of just one MagiPad was enough for an entire commoner family to live a life of comfort for several years.
“Now allow me to go over a little of magivision’s history: Once it became possible to make MagiPads with human hands, it then became necessary to start up magivision projects. Originally, magivision was seen as a form of transmission available only to royalty, the aristocracy, or the wealthy, but due to a certain trailblazer of the field, the industry had a new mission to make the technology available to all across the land,” Hildetaura said, sure she had our attention.
“Natural crystals were a finite resource, but now that we can make them with magic, rarity is no longer an issue. It was announced to the upper classes and the wealthy that the long-term plan was to gradually spread this technology far and wide. However, research and development would require money, so much that even a whole country’s assets might struggle to fund it.”
“When the plan was announced, the country asked if anyone was willing to be a joint investor for the project. The Liston family raised their hands immediately, but after that, no one else followed. A few years have passed since then, and now the Silver family has also stepped forward to invest as well.”
Interesting. Well, history aside...
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“The first thing I can think of is trying to lower costs,” I said.
If the cost of a MagiPad could feed a family for years, then no matter how trivial the cost was to the wealthy, it was far too expensive. It went counter to our desire to appeal to the common people. Even if they wanted to buy one, they couldn’t. And if someone managed to buy a MagiPad solely because they felt compelled to, they’d never be able to make ends meet.
Hildetaura nodded in agreement. “The cost is definitely an issue. Though they’re actually cheaper than when they initially launched...”
That was the cheaper price? No wonder MagiPads hadn’t spread yet.
“May I ask— Uh, h-how...are they made?” Reliared asked, stumbling through an attempt at being casual. Do your best. You can do it.
“That is all top secret. Even I don’t have access to that information.”
Ẇ_е̄ b nо̊ v̊ е l̊ Ẽ ṅ u m̈ ǎ
“I-Is that so? I see.”
That would mean we wouldn’t be able to do anything relating to the development of the MagiPads themselves. It was less because we were too young to be involved and more that, as outsiders, we shouldn’t be meddling with something we had no knowledge in. The method of making MagiPads was likely top secret so that it didn’t leak to other countries.
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I thought it best that we remained out of the loop. It was possible that there would be those who would try to get the information out of us at any cost. If I were interrogated directly, I could handle it, but I didn’t want the people around me getting mixed up in anything.
It didn’t take long before our discussion came to a standstill. The cost of MagiPads felt like the part that needed the most work, but so long as its creation process was a state secret, we had no choice but to give up on it.
So what was next? What else was there?
“Oh, right,” Reliared suddenly spoke up, after a silence so long that our tea had cooled. “Our channel has been dealing in a lot of pictures about adventurers.”
Е̌n̊u mа.і̂ d̀
I’d heard. And I had much interest in them, but my parents still refused to give me permission to watch, so I hadn’t had the opportunity to see any. Just let me see bloodshed already.
“I have heard— I’ve heard that adventurers get their income by finding resources or gathering materials from monsters during their explorations,” Reliared explained. “They say that if they’re lucky enough, they could make an absolute fortune.”
Income, hm? Certainly, earning the money to then buy MagiPads for the population was a direction we could take. Had we the money, it would have proved a quick and easy solution. Though whether Reliared’s suggestion was the right way to go about it, I couldn’t say.
Technically, I could easily earn the money by hunting monsters myself, but...
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But I was six years old. Taking down city gangsters was one thing, but hunting monsters out in broad daylight would no doubt make me stand out in a way I wanted to avoid.
“I believe that would be difficult to use as a reliable source of income. An adventurer’s work comes in waves. They cannot guarantee they will be able to get rewards regularly and the amount they receive would likely not suffice for our needs,” Hildetaura said.
Е̃ n̄ um̈ а̇_
That was true. We could maybe finance one or two MagiPads that way, but not a whole country’s worth. If we found an ore vein somewhere, then perhaps we could increase those numbers, but that was a rare occurrence. And the problem with hunting monsters was that the more monster materials were on the market, the less valuable they became.
This...is proving very difficult. If this problem could be solved with my fists, then I would have known exactly how to deal with it, but I wasn’t the best at using my brain.
“May I speak?” Just as silence had fallen over us once again, Reliared’s personal attendant, currently acting as our waitress, spoke up.
“Yes, go ahead.” Hildetaura nodded without hesitation. If we kept going like this, this whole meeting would have been a waste of time, after all.
“There are tales of a renowned adventurer whose talents and achievements were so famous that he was able to gain an aristocrat as a sponsor. Essentially, he was able to get someone to financially support his expeditions.”
Hmm.
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“In other words,” Esuella continued, “if we are fully able to display magivision’s financial potential, we would be able to gain support and investments from all manner of people and perhaps even receive more work in the process. I believe that if we wish for magivision to spread, we must first increase magivision’s popularity and reputation itself.”
Uh...huh?
“I see.” Hildetaura appeared to understand, but I was still a little lost. Reliared’s face was very serious, but it appeared that she was only halfway to understanding, the same as me. Seeing Reliared’s and my matching confusion, Hildetaura chuckled to herself. Our cluelessness was no doubt spelled out clear as day through our faces.
“The selling point of magivision, naturally, is broadcasting moving pictures,” Hildetaura began to kindly explain. “So if we were to broadcast more fun and interesting programs—pleasant programs, informative programs that people would want to see—we would gain further support from them. That is essentially what your attendant is trying to say.”
Okay, I could understand that.
“But wait, does that mean the programs we’ve been showing up to this point are no good?” I asked.
Ĕñ u mӑ
“Not entirely, but is there not a program with something more that we could record? Something more thought-provoking, something more eye-catching. Rather than trying to do something just to stand out, perhaps we should think of a more direct and aggressive approach.”
Just as I wanted to see adventurers, island explorations, and battles to the death with monsters, many viewers had their own things that they desperately wanted to see—so why not broadcast pictures like those? That was what she meant.
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It wasn’t that we were ignoring demand when choosing what to record, but her point was to go even further with it, most likely.
“So, the question is what kind of programs would have the most demand, right? I wonder.”
Reliared crossed her arms in thought, and Lynokis, standing behind me, came to whisper in my ear.
“Young Mistress, ‘love.’”
Ẅè bǹ о.ṽ е̌ l Еṅ ũm̌ a_
Love?
Lynokis elaborated. “What the people have interest in is those of the opposite sex—in other words, romance. Humans desire other humans. When you consider that stories of love and hate have been abundant since time immemorial, and that they continue to increase even to the present day, you can tell that humans—whether through instinct or reason or some other carnal need—desire other humans. In fact, that was exactly what your very first stage play depicted. To put it bluntly, if there is romance, anything works.”
Could she not have just said that out loud rather than leaving me to communicate such a long-winded explanation? But she had a point. So long as it wasn’t convoluted and tedious, even I enjoyed a good romance.
“How about a love story?” I said, using Lynokis’s idea.
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“Oh my.”
“Oh, but love stories are so boring.”
W̌ё b nòv̇ е l̄_ Е n u̇ m ā
Summarizing what Lynokis had said to me—there was no need for me to go on for as long as she did—Hildetaura seemed very agreeable to the idea, but Reliared looked much more unhappy with it.
“Really, Reliared? Love stories have been popular with people for such a long time, though. Actually, Nia, was your first stage play not also a love story?”
Oh right, I remembered my grandfather had told me that Hildetaura had come personally to watch the final showing of The Girl Who Fell in Love.
“You came to see the final performance, didn’t you? Thank you very much for your patronage.”
“It was very polished. A wonderful performance.”
I was glad that she liked it then.
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“But aren’t love stories annoying to watch? Adults are meant to be mature and yet these stories always have them keep wasting time, and beating around the bush, and getting all fidgety. You’re a grown-up, just say what you feel already!”
See? Reliared was on exactly the same page as me. I understood more than I wished I did. She was exactly right. Why was an adult being all “Oh, but I can’t just tell them, hee hee!” about it? Don’t be like that. You just make me want to punch you.
But Hildetaura’s eyes twinkled. “Adults are adults because they have so many circumstances to consider that they cannot just decide on the spot. Are you listening? An adult’s love begins as tickling embers, but when those embers touch and burst into a flame, they burn everything.”
Why was she talking like that was obvious?
“Relia, I don’t understand that eight-year-old.”
“Right? She may be royalty but even I don’t get what she’s talking about. She’s acting like some love expert, but I bet she hasn’t even had her first love.”
W ebn̂ о̇v ёl Еṅ u m а̂.
“Who cares! I can still analyze romance! Why are you both like this?!”
Hildetaura pretending to be an expert aside...
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“I do think it is true that there are a lot of people who care about love stories. Maybe not children, but at least adults.” Beyond their personal feelings, neither Hildetaura nor Reliared denied that fact. Going by what was stated earlier, there was one thing in particular we could focus on. “In other words, if we wanted to create a romance that would garner a large audience...we should go for the naughtier kind.”
“What?! Nia?!” Reliared was looking at me like I had grown two heads.
“Wait a moment, Nia! J-Just how naughty are you thinking here? Just how naughty?!”
“How naughty? Hmm...” Shouldn’t that be obvious? “Naked?”
Ёn ŭ m̂á
“Naked?!”
“Full nudity?” I clarified.
“Full nudity?!”
“A man and a woman getting tangled up in bed—”
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“Stop! That’s way too far!”
Oh my, really? Reliared didn’t seem to like the thought of it, but Hildetaura’s reaction was especially extreme. And yet she had been acting like a master of romance just two seconds ago.
Е̊ṅ ù m а́
“If we air something like that on magivision, aristocrats from all over will boycott us until the industry completely falls apart! This is still a high-cost, low-return project! We cannot give them a reason to cry for our cancellation because we are corrupting our younger generation!”
Well, even I could admit that would be troublesome.
Hildetaura rushed to change the subject. “Let us put aside the idea of a love story for now! What else is there?!”
What else? That really was a difficult question.
“Nia, you are forbidden from saying anything about n-nudity or—or bodies getting all tangled, okay?!”
“But you’re interested, aren’t you? Wouldn’t you love to see it?”
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“Absolutely not!”
So we couldn’t do anything directly related to the MagiPads themselves. Whether trying to cut costs or anything else, it would require us learning about country secrets. And now romance wasn’t allowed either. As things were, we didn’t have a notable source of income nor did we have the support of the citizens, so we couldn’t do anything that would completely ruin the image of the magivision industry. As such, my pitch for naked relations between a man and a woman had been shut down immediately.
Actually...
“Perhaps something like this would be best discussed alongside the staff at the broadcasting stations,” I suggested. Given how informed they were on the workings of magivision, they could confirm or deny what was possible for us. Naturally, they would have slightly more developed morals than us children, so they would best be able to decide whether or not such naked adult encounters could be approved or not.
“You make a good point,” Hildetaura said. “They are constantly considering what they should record, after all. They are likely many steps ahead of us on that front.”
Exactly. I was fairly sure that whatever we had thought of, they had already considered.
Ẽ n ů m.а̂
“Mmm... I think unless we think up a really good idea, we should just leave the programming to them? Maybe?” Reliared, still struggling to completely drop the formality, had come to the same conclusion.
“And back to square one...” Hildetaura sighed, realizing when we had run out of ideas once more. “Before I met the two of you, I had run through many possibilities in my head. However, I never quite came up with anything that felt like a winning idea. How do we increase magivision’s popularity, and how do we get it to sell? Even adults have not found the solution to this problem. It is a fool’s errand to believe that we could, but...it really does not sit right with me.”
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“Your High— Miss...Hilde.” Reliared’s eyebrows scrunched together with pity upon realizing how deeply Hildetaura had been worrying about this topic. It wasn’t an impersonal matter for me either, so I definitely felt the frustration that Hildetaura did.
What exactly should one do at moments like that? Ah...there was one thing we hadn’t tried.
“If we find ourselves stuck at an impasse, then how about we turn our thinking around?”
Just remaining here dejected wouldn’t get us anywhere. There was no point in thinking about whether or not our ideas were actually useful. For now, we just needed to spit out whatever came to mind.
Ѐn̈ u mа̌. і̊ d̄
“Right now, we’re thinking about this from the perspective of those who perform. ‘What can we do?’ That is our current approach. But how about we think of it from the opposite side? For example, what kind of programs would the viewers like to appear in?”
“What the viewers would like to appear in?”
Yes, that was something that I had thought of when we did our impromptu recording of the entrance ceremony, that crazy mess of a school tour.
“Many children wound up broadcast as a part of that entrance ceremony program. There were those who deliberately stood in front of us and those who chose to tag along. In other words, many of those children had thought in that moment that they wished to appear on magivision.” I was simply saying whatever came to mind, unsure where it would actually lead.
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“That’s it!” Hildetaura was the one who found an answer in my ramblings. “An all-new type of magivision program where the audience gets to participate!” Her eyes opened wide as she slammed her hands on the table and stood. “If the common people learn that they, too, can appear on magivision, they will become far more interested! A program that they don’t just watch but also participate in! Nia, Relia, this is it!” Hildetaura seemed to be in her own world as she got all excited and then suddenly went flying out of the room with a bang.
Um... Did she... Did she go home...?
W е bñоv̌ е l̄ Еñ u m̆а̇
None of us knew how to respond to the girl’s sudden departure. Was that what it meant to be rendered speechless?
“Lynokis, please at least watch over her until she enters her carriage.”
“Yes, Young Mistress.”
I decided to have Lynokis guard Hildetaura for at least a short distance, just in case. Hildetaura didn’t live in the dorms, so she commuted by carriage every day. I couldn’t imagine there being any danger within the campus grounds, but given she was a princess, we would be in trouble if anything happened to her.
“That caught me by surprise.”
“Same here.”
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Reliared couldn’t help but let out her honest thoughts after Lynokis had left the room.
Hildetaura must have been thinking much more seriously about how to promote magivision than I had originally thought. Though it was a personal issue for me as well, even I hadn’t thought about it as much as she had.
As proof of that, the girl immediately ran off to put an idea into motion once we’d found one she thought was viable. Personally, I thought we could have sat and spoken about it a little more first, especially given I hadn’t said everything I wanted to say yet.
Hildetaura had put a definitive end to the meeting, but I had thought of something more when the princess mentioned the idea of a program that the audience could participate in.
“Relia, do you have a casino in your territories?”
“A casino? I’ve heard rumors that we have illegal underground casinos, but that’s all.”
Е̂n̄ ů m̃ӑ. і̌d̆
So they weren’t public.
“When Hilde mentioned doing a program with audience participation, my very first thought was gambling.”
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“Gambling?”
“Or some kind of competition, perhaps. I’m sure you remember what happened the other day at the club fair. The moment a match was about to happen, everyone gathered to watch.”
“That’s true.”
“Now imagine we had a program in which adventurers were pitted against beasts, or strong warriors fought against each other. How does that sound?”
Еn̆ ŭṁ а. і̇ d́
“What? That sounds great.”
Right? I wanted to see something like that too. Actually, just watching wasn’t enough; I wanted to participate.
“But a lot of people have been saying they don’t want to see any blood. Apparently, if we air anything too graphic, we get a lot of complaints.”
Was she serious?!
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“But how can you get excited without bloodshed?! What else is there going to be during a tournament?! People dying just comes with the territory!”
“HUH?! Who said anything about people dying?! That’s just scary!”
W еb̃ n̊ о̇ v̇ еl Ė ṅ ú m̌ а̇
“What do you mean?! Haven’t there been adventurers dying every day on the Silver Channel? Blood spurting everywhere? Limbs all torn apart?!”
“Where did you hear that from?! Of course that isn’t happening!”
I-It wasn’t...?
What a disappointment.
The Silver Channel was even more of a disappointment than the Heavenstriker style.
“Why do you look so disappointed?! Why do your thoughts naturally get so extreme?!”
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You know what, I didn’t care anymore. For so long I had wanted to be granted permission to see what was on the Silver Channel, and yet it turned out it was all peaceful! Who would want to see something so boring? Show me bloodshed!
I was well and truly fed up with today. I had been disappointed so much that my will to live was being sapped away. Hildetaura had returned home, so I decided I may as well return to my room too.
I was really, truly disappointed.
A week had passed since school had begun. When Reliared and I arrived at our classroom, our classmates were staring at us yet again.
“They’re still staring,” Reliared remarked.
“I think that’s good, to be honest. It’s like a form of advertisement.”
E_n ū m̀а̂. i̇ ḋ
There were those who would greet us, those who would watch us from afar, and those who would keep a more average distance—but all were still watching us. Reliared was right: we were being stared at for quite a long time—and intently too. Even children from different classrooms or different years would drop by our class just to get a peek at us. Were we really that interesting to see in our everyday lives?
If they wanted to talk to us, then they should. But naturally, almost no child was brave enough to actually do that. Still, I liked to believe that this was, in fact, a part of our PR campaign. For the children in the dorms who had seen the three of us on magivision, getting to see us in person was no doubt a rare experience in their mind.
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Even though a week had passed, the other children were still maintaining a good distance from us either because they saw us as a spectacle or as a nuisance. I had thought they would get used to it quickly, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
This year’s new elementary school students numbered about three hundred. Barring exceptions, that meant that all of the kingdom’s six-year-olds had gathered here from across the country and would now spend the next six years together. Incidentally, those exceptions were for the children who went to schools that were sometimes found in large territories outside of the capital.
The three hundred of us were split into different classes of around twenty-five people each and were expected to complete classes and school events prepared by the academy within those groups.
Elementary school included the first year through the sixth year. Reliared and I were considered first-years, given we had just enrolled. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, we had ended up together in class 1-4. I was at the window seat furthest back, and Reliared was next to me. Our unfamiliar school life had started with us being a spectacle all the while.
Eň_û m̄ а̂
As a matter of course, our personal attendants were not allowed into the classrooms. Servants were only allowed to assist with specific daily duties for their appointed children. Given they were neither students nor staff, they were treated more like members of the public.
While on the topic, Neal and Hildetaura were in their third year.
“Did you receive any contact from Miss Hilde?” Reliared seemed to be wondering the same thing I was.
“No, nothing. I can only assume it’s because she’s still working out a proposal.”
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If her idea had been refused, she’d have probably pulled us into another meeting already. I hadn’t checked to confirm she was still going to class, but surely there was no way she was truant.
Four days had passed since that first Project Magivision meeting that Hildetaura had abruptly left. I had no idea if there had been any progress in that department, but it wasn’t as if I could do anything about that. I would just have to wait for any updates.
W̄е bn̆о v̇ е l̇ Е ń ü.m ӑ
“I think I’ll have to start recording again soon.”
I had received a letter from my parents yesterday stating that the Occupation Observation episodes that we had stocked up had all aired now, so we would need to record some new episodes soon.
It had been a long time since I had had such a long break between recordings. Actually, it might have been the first real break I’d had since I started seriously recording Nia Liston’s Occupation Observation.
“Oh, same here.”
Seemed the Silver family was in the same boat.
“I guess we’ll both be busier in the coming days.”
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Our school life had only just started, and there was still a lot I was unaccustomed to, including being treated like a spectacle everywhere I went. If recording started on top of that, would I end up with even less time to train? I had managed to get into such a nice routine too. Even Lynokis was crying tears of joy every day as we trained.
“That reminds me, Nia, you should come join me in one of my recordings.”
“Hm?”
“You appeared on magivision with me when we were trying on our school uniforms, right? Apparently, that did really well in the Silver territories. People want you to appear again.”
Ah, the recording I had dragged Neal into. It was all well and good that it had done well in the Silver territories, but I hadn’t heard anything about how well it had done back home. I couldn’t see it doing poorly,though.
“Sorry, but I can’t make decisions like that by myself. The only reason I participated in the last one was because it was on such short notice that I didn’t even have time to contact my family about it in the first place.”
W̌ е b n̈_о̃v̊ ẽ l Е̂ ń u mа
Reliared was skeptical. “Why? Is the pay not good enough? Or is your schedule just too full?”
“Those may be part of it, but I’m acting on behalf of my parents and the Liston family, so I would rather avoid doing anything they don’t want me to.”
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It was my duty to listen to the orders of the Liston family. I would speak, I would state my opinion, I would use my strength, and—were I given the permission—I would even use my chi. But the Liston family would always come first. That fact would never change, not while my life was replacing Nia’s. I had to live a life that she would be proud of, and showing dedication to my parents was a part of that.
“So it’s because of your family then?”
“The Liston family invested in magivision for my sake. I won’t feel right if I don’t make back what they put in. If I don’t, then there would have been no reason for them working to get me back to health.”
“Oh, yeah, you...used to be really ill, huh?”
Ѐ n̄ û m а́
Indeed I did. They were days filled with impatience and frustration, but I was much better now. Now I was so healthy I could beat up tigers and dragons as a warm-up. I was excessively healthy, to a degree that not being able to get all my pent-up fighting energy out was starting to weigh on me.
And so, another school day ended. The children dispersed, finally freed from their greatest nemesis. Those who were in clubs would go on to those activities, while those who weren’t would hang out somewhere or return to the dorms.
My after-school time was open now, but it was almost time for recordings to begin again. The little free time I still had before we hit the ground running almost felt even more precious than before. I could not waste it.
I returned to the dorm with Reliared, and there we split up to go to our own rooms.
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When I made it back to my room, I was greeted by the sight I’d hoped for.
“W-W-W-Welcome...back, Young...Mistress!”
Wе b̀ n о v е̌ l_ E ṅ ǔ m̊ а
Lynokis, wearing light clothes instead of her usual servant attire, was sweating profusely as she remained in a stance with her fists clenched. She was also very out of breath.
“How many sets is that now?” I asked her.
“Th-Three hundred and...three.”
Not bad.
“Seventeen left, then. I’ll keep watch, so continue.”
“Y-Yes, Young Mistress...!”
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Muscles tensed up across her whole body, Lynokis continued to carry out the forms I had taught her with a slight layer of chi cloaking her as she went through the movements. Her exhaustion was due to her inability to control her chi. The act of tensing her muscles was forcing the energy to accumulate.
Though usually accidentally, even beginners could expel chi on the exhale of an attack. Such coincidences could occur when the mind, body, and spirit were all in sync at an enhanced level for just a moment. It was an entirely unconscious act, with the only real awareness coming from the fighter realizing that they would sometimes get a really good attack in without knowing why.
As Lynokis was still unable to voluntarily use the power of chi, I was having her train in stances that would bring her muscles to their limit and stay there in order to force the accidental release of chi. Once she became able to hold that steady, she could work towards relaxing her muscles while maintaining the energy.
That was one of the methods to acquire control of chi, but...it seemed like there was still a way to go.
Two weeks had passed since school had begun, which signaled the beginning of recording for both the Listons and the Silvers. The school week at Altoire Academy only included one day off, so we had no choice but to use that single day for our magivision work.
As this would be my first recording since I had started school, Bendelio had come to direct the recording—his face still distinctive as ever. Seeing it again after so long only reaffirmed for me how distinctive his face really was. When that familiar look came into view at the port, I was startled.
Ё n ǔ ma. іd̂
It was rare for him to come to my recordings nowadays. Given he was the supervisor for the production crews in the Liston territories, he always had a mountain of tasks to do and was unable to come to my sets.
“We’re in talks with the broadcasting station in the capital right now. If they go well, we might be able to nab spaces there for both our crew and the Silvers’ crew. Basically, each territory would have its own little branch within the capital.”
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That explained why he was here, at least. He had just decided to drop by because he was around.
Still, a new branch, huh? Apparently, things had been progressing in ways that I hadn’t even begun to consider. Not that I knew exactly what a new branch would entail, but I was familiar with the problems facing our current setup.
“The travel time was the big problem, after all, hm?” I replied.
It took over half a day to get from the royal capital to the Liston territories. Going back and forth between the locations each week would be tough, not to speak of how inefficient it was. You would end up spending over a day’s worth of time on travel. And airship fuel wasn’t cheap either.
Е̊nu m а
“If the production crew has to keep traveling here for Occupation Observation, it’ll bleed into the production schedules for other shows, as well. If we could establish a base of operations here though, we could easily station one of the crews at the capital permanently. It would make it easier to record episodes at other floating islands outside of the Liston territories too.”
He was right; returning to the Liston territories would be a bit of a hassle, but at least any floating islands close to the capital were instantly much more accessible from here. It would make it much easier to put together recording schedules too. In fact, it sounded like they had already made lengthy plans for recording in and around the capital. I had primarily recorded in my home territory before now, but with this new setup, I would now have ample opportunity to record in Altoire.
“Oh, but of course, your health comes first, Nia. A full day’s flight is already tough on adults; I don’t like to think how tough it is for a kid.”
I was perfectly fine no matter what they did, so I would just leave the scheduling to them anyway.
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Boarding the familiar airship used for the production crew, I chatted with Bendelio as we traveled to our destination. It had been quite a while since I last saw him, so we had plenty to talk about.
“Sorry it’s not your mom or your dad here to see you. This is the kind of thing you talk about with your parents, not some random old man.”
Wѐ ḃ ňо v̀ е l. Е ńŭm̈ а̂
I wouldn’t deny it.
We’d spoken about how my time at school was going, about how I’d met the third princess Hildetaura, and about how I’d ended up forming a friendship with the Silver family’s youngest daughter. We spoke about work too, of course, but it was mainly about my school life. These were topics usually saved for family, not someone who was essentially your boss.
“Maybe. But I don’t think it’s much of an issue. You’re not a stranger anymore, Mr. Bendelio.”
It seemed Bendelio had known my parents for a while, but we’d only known each other for a little over a year. Still, I would say I’d spent a good long time with this distinctive face. If you compared it to how long Nia had lived, I’d known him for a sixth of her life.
He never really appeared at my shoots anymore, but I was greatly indebted to him for his assistance when I was starting out. As someone who also appeared on magivision, I viewed Bendelio as a trailblazer in the field. I had made it this far following his teachings; in a sense, I was his pupil.
This man had such a superficial, sloppy look to his distinctive face, and yet he was actually a very considerate person. That consideration of his had helped me many a time.
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In the magivision industry, just being strong didn’t mean things always worked out—in fact, there were many moments when it didn’t help at all. Someone like Bendelio was so formidable in an environment like this that he was deserving of being called a strong foe. He was honestly stronger than me in this regard.
“Ha ha ha, really? You might as well call me papa, then,” he said with a laugh.
“Then if you’ll excuse me. Papa, how has your work been? Are you managing to carry out your duties without incident?”
He chuckled again. “Wow, you’re quite good at this. Almost makes me want to give you an allowance.”
“You’ll give me something? Then give me an unexplored island. Please, papa?”
“I...suppose I should have expected such an outrageous demand from you.”
Е̂n_ú m̌ a._і́ḋ
After the half-joking exchange, we went on to the more important work matters that needed to be covered. I told him about how Reliared wanted to collaborate with us again and made it clear that if it fit the schedule, I wanted them to accept—I would do anything to make it happen. I also told him about the idea that Hildetaura had had about audience participation programs, however vague much of the plan still was.
“Audience participation, huh? It would gather more interest.” He understood the point of it immediately.
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See? He truly was a trailblazer in the field.
“If you think it sounds interesting, then please let the capital’s broadcasting station know,” I told him.
“Sure, will do. I think it sounds fun.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe what Hildetaura had to say about it, but when it came to magivision matters, I trusted Bendelio’s distinctive face the most. Surely if he found it interesting, then perhaps we could use it after all.
Е n̂ ūm̌ å
Though I was looking forward to seeing how this proposal would be realized, I was also a little afraid as well. Even if the idea itself was good, it would mean nothing if we failed in execution.
It was a given that this idea would be something primarily performed by me, Hildetaura, and Reliared as the actual magivision stars. Whether we succeeded or failed rested on our shoulders. If we failed, the losses would no doubt be immense.
A world in which strength alone does not guarantee victory truly is a frightful one.
The shoot ended without incident, and I was able to return to the capital shortly after noon. We had been recording at a farm on a floating island a short distance from Altoire.
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The island was famous for its luxury beef taken from Mooamoora cows frequently eaten by the upper classes. No one was sure if it was because of Vikeranda’s destruction of the continent, but apparently, the grass grown on that island was known for its exceptionally good quality, making people believe that the secret behind the exquisite taste of a Mooamoora cow’s meat was the grass they were fed.
Though its beef was famous, the lesser-known milk was also delicious. I was so sure that it would make a fortune if they sold it as is, but it seemed that they only sold it to restaurants or made cheese with it, and didn’t sell it directly.
Е̇ n ù m̀ а̂ .i d
This Occupation Observation episode would feature me working on that farm. I wore some overalls and cleaned out the barn and brushed the cows, I herded sheep together with the sheepdog, I challenged the sheepdog to a ball-fetching contest and won by a landslide (making the dog hate me), and finally, we had a barbecue together with both the production crew and the farmworkers, being given the chance to try some of the Mooamoora meat they had prepared specially for us. It was a fun session.
“Ahhh, your shoots are always so simple, Nia. It’s a relief not having to stay alert all the time,” Bendelio said as we began returning home with all the familiar faces of the production crew.
The crew had been busy before I started school, and it seemed that even now, that was the case.
“Young Mistress, what would you like to do after this? Do you wish to return to the dorms?” Lynokis asked after we were left at the port. My attendant had been lurking in the shadows this whole time, but she chose to speak up once we were alone.
“Hmm, well, we have already eaten.” If we hadn’t, I would have suggested we go eat something first, but I had gotten to devour a whole bunch of tasty meat back at the farm. I didn’t mind the toughness and chewiness of red meat, but fatty beef was its own kind of heaven.
Since we’d already eaten that, though, there wasn’t particularly anything I wanted. If anything...
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“How about we go have some tea somewhere?” I wanted tea. I could technically have some back at the dorm, but given we were already away from the campus, we may as well have something outside for a change.
“That sounds good. Is there anywhere in particular you would like to go?” Lynokis asked me.
I didn’t want us to use too much money, so I ruled out any high-end places. I would go to those kinds of establishments if invited, but I wouldn’t dare visit in my own private time. With that being the case, anywhere was fine honestly, but, hm... Oh, of course. I supposed it was about time I paid him a visit.
Let’s go to Anzel’s place, the bar of the dogs.
If I wanted to do that, though, first I would have to somehow get Lynokis off my back.
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