NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: The Beginning of a New Era
For “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World” to truly be promoted, the Southern Adventurers Guild clearly spared no expense. This could be seen from the change in the atmosphere of the entire Adventurers Guild.
As for Edward, although he was also looking forward to the film’s release, since he had entrusted all the preparations for the release to the Adventurers Guild, he didn’t intervene much. However, he would still personally supervise the premiere, as he didn’t dare to entrust the world’s first movie premiere to a bunch of people who knew nothing about movies.
As for the general information obtained from the Adventurers Guild, Edward couldn’t help but trust the Guild Leader of the Southern Adventurers Guild even more. As expected, the Guild Leader followed the advice Edward provided within those two hours yesterday and prepared the premiere in a new way.
First of all, “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World” would premiere in Nosrick, at the only theater there — the Nosrick Grand Theater.
The so-called theater was a place for performing plays or stage plays, which were one of the precious entertainment activities in this world. Although the format was simple, due to the fact that most theater troupes traveled throughout the empire, this rare form of entertainment naturally captured the hearts of the audience. Wealthy spectators almost never missed any performances.
Of course, this form of performance has many drawbacks. The first is the itinerant theater system mentioned earlier. Since the troupe travels between locations, the performance cycle is very long. To catch a show, the audience often needs a great deal of luck with timing and location.
Additionally, because of the high cost of facilities and manpower, a stage play typically costs at least five silver coins. This is equivalent to five or six days’ worth of food for an average person, making it nearly impossible for lower-class civilians to enjoy such entertainment.
Another issue is the high barrier to understanding stage plays. Most uneducated people simply cannot comprehend the artistic singing and dancing in these plays. Besides clapping along, they often cannot grasp what the play is about.
Therefore, when Edward decided to produce “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!”, he had already resolved to release it in a completely new format—film!
Unlike stage plays, films do not require extensive manpower and resources. All that is needed is a small imaging crystal and a magician to infuse it with magic.
As a result, films not only eliminate the need for a long production cycle but also drastically reduce costs. According to Edward’s calculations, the cost of the hundreds of imaging crystals he had in reserve was less than ten gold coins, and the filming cost was almost negligible. This is a stark contrast to stage plays, which cost at least three figures.
For this reason, when the Southern Adventurers’ Guild heeded Edward’s advice, they boldly set the ticket price at five copper coins per show, a tenfold drop from the price of stage plays!
What does this mean? It means that for the cost of skipping a single mug of ale, one could enjoy a 90-minute visual experience in the cinema. This makes it accessible not only to ordinary citizens but also to the relatively poor. In fact, by sacrificing a bit of viewing comfort, the imaging crystal could even be sent to remote villages for open-air screenings at night!
In this way, “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!” or, more broadly, films could potentially achieve widespread popularity. It could become a sensation not just in the Southern Territory but throughout the entire empire!
Naturally, the decision to release “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!” as a film came after long discussions between Edward and the Guild Leader of the Southern Adventurers’ Guild. This was a high-stakes gamble and a potentially era-defining opportunity!
Calling it a gamble is because this disruptive behavior will inevitably affect numerous interest groups in the Southern Territory and the entire empire. No one in the art industry will be unaffected, and the backlash might be more than Edward or the Southern Adventurers’ Guild can handle.
However, the potential rewards are almost unimaginable. If this new form of entertainment takes off, it will bring enormous benefits to the Southern Adventurers’ Guild and Edward, making them pioneers of a new era!
If films become widespread, the entire entertainment industry of the empire will be revolutionized. Entertainment will no longer be the exclusive domain of the wealthy; even the poor will be able to enjoy it and experience joy!
This was Edward’s initial motivation for filming. Although it included his personal ambitions, he also aimed to satisfy the desires of countless others by making this change!
Rather than pursuing the ultimate truth of magic, Edward, who comes from a higher level of civilization, hoped to change this boring world!
As clichéd as it sounds, he wanted to say that he, Edward, wanted to be someone who changes the world!
……
That afternoon, upon hearing that the Adventurers’ Guild had negotiated the premiere details with the head of the Nosrick Grand Theater, Edward went to the theater with Winry.
As the guild president had mentioned, this theater lived up to its reputation for its long history in Nosrick. The visibly magnificent decor and design elements surprised Edward. Soon, he met the theater manager, a young man with a distinguished demeanor.
This man was reportedly a baron with some past connections to the Durin Family. The Nosrick Grand Theater was his family property. After hearing about the new invention of films, he immediately watched one and was so impressed that he promptly agreed to screen it at his theater.
“Hello, hello, Lord Durin. My name is Baniel, the baron who inherited the Nosrick Grand Theater.”
Baron Baniel seemed to be quite a chatterbox. From the moment he met Edward, he bombarded him with questions, asking about the future developments in “KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!”, if he could join the filming, and even mentioning that he had severed ties with several theater troupes after watching the film.
Though Edward was pleased that the theater manager was open to new ideas and willing to break the mold, he found Baniel’s persistence a bit tiresome. He eventually said, “I’m here to discuss the premiere. Can we save the other questions for later, Baron Baniel?”
Realizing that Edward was becoming impatient, Baniel quickly put on a knowing smile and replied, “Of course, of course. Let me first show the great master magician around our theater.”