Creating Anime In A Fantasy World

Early the next morning, Edward set up the Edward Tavern as the location for casting actors.

Since the plot of “Fate/Zero” was lengthy and featured grand scenes, Edward didn’t limit the number of people auditioning this time—he was open to as many as possible.

As for the candidates, they were provided by none other than Baniel, who contacted all the old theater troupes he could reach, and General Wilhelm, who hurriedly returned to the Imperial Army the previous night.

Wilhelm wanted to repay the Headless Horseman, and upon hearing that Edward needed people to act in the new film, he eagerly took on the task of finding actors.

With that, Edward, who had been concerned that the actors Baniel provided wouldn’t fit the roles of the heroic spirits, felt a bit more reassured. He began with the auditions for the people Baniel brought.

After auditioning for the entire morning—about two troupes worth of actors—Edward had indeed taken in quite a few theater actors that Baniel had recommended.

Seeing their acting skills during the auditions, Edward finally felt like he was actually making a movie.

His previous films had succeeded mostly by luck, especially since the roles were adventurers. Even hypnosis magic wouldn’t have helped most people get into the right mindset otherwise. But these professionally trained stage actors were different—their acting skills were superb.

Of course, seeing their joyful reactions after successfully auditioning, Edward found it hard to tell them that most of their roles in the movie would just be extras.

“Baniel, are there more?”

Though he had recruited a group, Edward still needed more people to match the number required by the script.

Most importantly, the core cast hadn’t been fully decided yet.

Though Wilhelm was handling the heroic spirit actors, there were still no suitable candidates for the magicians, who were the main characters.

The reason for this was that most well-known stage actors were women.

Although they were all stunningly beautiful, Edward wasn’t making “Love Live,” he was making “Fate/Zero”!

The total number of major female characters in “Fate/Zero” could barely fill two hands, so no matter how confident these actresses were in their abilities, if they didn’t fit the appearance, Edward didn’t take them.

As a result, by the time they had gone through all but one troupe, Edward was already considering giving up and recruiting adventurers instead.

After all, there were only so many theater troupes in the South, and most had already been driven away by the movie industry.

Finding enough extras was challenging enough. However, the thought of seeing the big, burly adventurers playing the mysterious, elegant magicians made Edward cringe.

“Is this all of them? Are there really that few male stage actors?”

Edward, staring at his notebook with several leading roles still unfilled, looked frustrated.

Baniel awkwardly laughed and said, “Well, to be honest, Edward, you’re a noble, so you should understand the reality of the theater industry. Most nobles aren’t really interested in watching plays themselves; what really fascinates them is not the performances, but the actors performing. That’s why there are so many actresses. For many of these girls, acting is just a way for them to catch the eye of a powerful noble and get into their good grace. That’s why most stage actors are women.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that…”

Edward couldn’t help but feel disgusted.

He had heard about scandals in the entertainment industry in his previous life, and now, even after transmigrating to this world, he encountered similar issues.

Seeing Edward’s reaction, Baniel quickly added, “Of course, I used to enjoy that sort of thing too, but after seeing your films, I realized that a story can truly captivate people. Director Edward, your films are destined to change this era!”

“Alright, alright, stop flattering me. Is there anyone else?”

Despite the grim reality of the theater industry, Edward still had no other way to find actors, so he could only continue searching among the old actors.

After all, it was a merciful gesture on his part; once movies became widespread, most stage actors would be out of a job.

For these stage actors, this audition was their last chance to board the ark in the storm of a rapidly changing era.

Baniel quickly checked the list of troupes attending the auditions and said, “There’s one last troupe—the Snow Flower Troupe. Wait, Snow Flower? Why would they come here…?”

“What’s the problem?”

Edward asked, noticing Baniel’s puzzled expression.

Baniel explained, “The Snow Flower Troupe is actually quite famous in the South. Unlike other troupes that rely on pretty leading ladies, this troupe has outstanding plays and scripts. It’s said that their manager personally writes and directs all their performances, and because the stories are fresh and engaging, they are very popular with the common folk. They’re a rare beacon of purity in the otherwise chaotic theater world.”

“That sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Why do you look so worried?”

Seeing Edward’s puzzled look, Baniel awkwardly explained, “Well, actually, the Snow Flower Troupe has always had a low reputation among the nobility. Their troupe doesn’t have any glamorous dancers, and the only beauty in the troupe ended up marrying the troupe’s director. This upset a lot of noble suitors, and for a long time, the southern nobles actively boycotted this unconventional troupe, even accusing them of malicious marketing. However, Snow Flower’s performances were truly strong in quality, so even without noble backing, they managed to establish themselves firmly in the South with the support of commoners. I honestly thought such an idealistic troupe would have left the South by now due to the rise of the movie industry, but I didn’t expect them to come here for auditions…”

Baniel hesitated, adding, “As much as I’d love to see a talented troupe like theirs join the auditions, I’m concerned that this might provoke the nobles in the South. Their attitude toward us has already soured significantly, and they’re nearly at the point of openly uniting against the movie industry.”

In response, Edward firmly shook his head. “Do you think the nobles would suddenly start loving our films if we didn’t invite a talented troupe like Snow Flower? In the end, as long as our movies are good enough, they’ll eventually become believers in the ‘fragrance of truth.’ Until then, we just need to focus on doing our work.”

Baniel, intrigued, asked, “The ‘fragrance of truth’? What’s that?”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. Just bring them in.”

Hearing Baniel’s explanation, Edward, who had previously felt indifferent, became interested in this unique troupe. He immediately had Baniel invite them in.

Soon, the door slowly opened, and Baniel returned with a rather unassuming middle-aged man, followed by a few figures who, at first glance, were hard to look away from.

“Excuse me. I am Chase, the manager of Snow Flower. These are the members of my troupe. Should we introduce ourselves?”

As he spoke, Chase’s gaze fell on the young man before him, who didn’t seem particularly remarkable but was, as Baniel had informed him, the very person responsible for the era-changing films.

Edward, having quickly sized up the troupe members, smiled and said, “No need. Let’s start the audition.”

…

Liya was the Vice-Commander of the Imperial Knights. As a sword soul, she was one of the few lucky individuals who earned merits in the military and was promoted by the Imperial Knights.

Many others in the Imperial Knights had formidable skills but were not promoted due to their lack of accomplishments. These people either had the talent or the background, but the current Commander, Wycliffe, was an oddball. He didn’t care about talent or lineage and selected people solely based on his own judgment.

To be fair, his judgment was quite accurate. Under his leadership, this generation of the Imperial Knights was by far the strongest, both in terms of skill and discipline. Thanks to his effectiveness, the current emperor allowed him to carry out his reforms in the army.

To Liya, Wycliffe was her true benefactor. After all, women in the military were rarely given equal treatment. Even though the Empire had no laws preventing women from serving, in practice, women often held lower positions than men. Without Wycliffe’s impartial leadership, no matter how skilled Liya was, she would not have risen to her current rank.

After finishing a day of training, Liya tidied up her gear, intending to patrol the barracks while the Commander was away. However, before she could leave her quarters, a summons rang out from the nearby training grounds.

“??”

Confused, Liya knew that the Commander had gone to the South with the Imperial general. With a tuft of her hair bouncing in puzzlement, she grabbed her weapon and rushed to the training grounds, only to be greeted by familiar faces.

“Uh, Commander? General? Why are you back so soon?”

Liya’s confusion grew as she saw Wycliffe step aside for General Wilhelm to speak first.

Though she wanted to ask more questions, she knew that when her superiors returned, discipline came first.

She quickly rejoined the ranks and helped organize the knights, some of whom were still hastily putting on their pants after hearing the call to assemble.

Once the entire squad had gathered on the training grounds, Wilhelm nodded and slowly stepped forward.

As the knights waited eagerly, some began whispering.

“What’s going on? Why did the general summon us?”

“I don’t know, but wasn’t the general just dealing with the Empire’s relations with the Orc Kingdom down south? Could this mean… war?”

“Is it finally time for me to earn some glory?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I heard the orcs have supernatural strength. Even a human swordmaster would struggle against a fully armed orc warrior. Think about surviving the war first…”

The whispers spread through the ranks like wildfire.

Standing before them, Wilhelm remained composed, pausing briefly before speaking. “I know that each of you, as elite knights of the Empire, has the courage to shed blood for the Empire. So…”

“Is it happening?”

“War?!”

“The Orc Kingdom?”

“Glory!”

“Time to go home and get married!”

“Earn glory, then go home and get married!”

The knights’ minds raced with possibilities as Wilhelm continued. Some were already imagining themselves returning home as celebrated heroes.

However, Wilhelm, whose expression stiffened slightly, coughed and said as clearly as he could, “Is there anyone among you who’s good at acting?”

“…”

“????!”

The knights, who hadn’t expected such a sharp turn in the conversation, were left completely stunned.