"..." After reading the letter, everyone fell into a strange silence.
After a while, Bennis muttered unwillingly, "I knew I shouldn't have expected Prince Roland to bless me. Thinking about the places he frequented in the king's city and the rumors about him, I thought the ascension would make him..."
"Shh." Egrepo pulled Roland's arm. "Be careful with what you say. All the nobles here are His Majesty's supporters. Even if they're not, they'll pretend to be. If they hear you say that, you'll be in trouble. "
Roentgen sighed and said, "I guess we'll never set foot in the new king's city again."
"That's not bad. We're quite popular here, aren't we?" Egrepo comforted her. "Kajen Troupe can be regarded as a first-class troupe anywhere except Neverwinter. It won't be a problem for us to make a living."
"The magic movie will come to the old king's city sooner or later," Kajen suddenly said. Kajen suddenly said, "I've been reading May's plays over and over again these days and found that they all have one thing in common, which is that the audience is subtly influenced by a fictional background, and that background is the future planned by His Majesty. Since it's a tool to spread the king's ideas and will, how can it only be shown in Neverwinter? By then, will you still be so confident in your plays? "
Egrepo was stunned. "We... we can go to other places, such as the Kingdom of Dawn. Teacher, as long as you ask, the theater there will be willing to let us stay there... "
Kajen shook his head and said, "I won't go to the Kingdom of Dawn."
"Then..."
The dramatist looked up and said, "I want to go to Neverwinter again."
"What?"
"Teacher?"
The three of them turned pale with fright.
"It takes at least a month for the troupe to go back and forth to Neverwinter, and during this time, we'll barely have any income," Egrepo hurriedly tried to dissuade them. "It's fine for us, but I'm afraid that the newcomers and apprentices won't be able to make ends meet, which will affect the troupe's stability."
Kajen, of course, knew this. It would be fine if the troupe had a fixed theater to perform in. Otherwise, they would have to prepare all the props and materials by themselves, which was not an easy job.
However, what he meant was not what they thought he meant. "I won't take the troupe with me."
This time, the apprentices were stunned for a longer time. "Then... what are you going to do?"
"To compete for the magic movie," Kajen said slowly. "Although His Majesty said that magic movies will become popular sooner or later, he didn't mention a specific time … Ten years or twenty years? In any case, I can't wait that long. Even if it's only five years, the Star Flower Troupe will reach an unprecedented height. By that time, it'll be too late for us to catch up and start from scratch. "
The best time to catch up with a wave was right before it leaped out of the sea.
"The problem is that His Majesty already has the Star Flower Troupe …" Bennis murmured.
"In the beginning, Star Flower Troupe only consisted of Star and Flower." Kajen glanced at his disciples and said, "Plus, I haven't changed my mind. An outstanding performance must be honed behind the scenes to reach its best level. Since Star Flower can't handle the drama arranged by His Majesty alone, we might be able to solve it. If I can beat him in the theater, I might be able to get a chance to perform in the magic movie. "
"You're going to act in those … plays?" Egrepo asked incredulously.
"If I want to get one part, I have to give up the other." Kajen nodded. "But even if it's a play, it's not a reason to slack off. I'll do my best."
Kajen paused for a moment. "Of course, His Majesty may reject this request. In that case, I'll join the Star Flower Troupe in my own name. Do any of you want to come with me? "
No one answered.
Kajen did not know whether they were still in a daze or unwilling to leave the old king's city.
Maybe both of them.
Kajen was not surprised. In fact, he was shocked when the idea popped up in his mind. Just as Egrepo had said, even if he went to the Kingdom of Dawn, he would be able to gain a high position with his reputation. It would not be an easy choice for him to give up on this.
Moreover, he was old … His memory was not as good as before, and his legs were not flexible enough. What kind of roles could he play on the stage? Usually, he would play unimportant supporting roles. No matter how good he was, he would still be a joke in the eyes of others.
It could be said that from the moment he became successful and moved from the front of the stage to behind the scenes, he never thought that he would make a comeback one day. Since His Majesty could not accept his script, and he could not write stories like "New City" and "Dawn", then he could only give it a try as an actor.
Was it too incredible?
Kajen looked at his apprentices' expressions as if he could read their minds.
Yes, it was indeed incredible. After making this decision, he felt a sense of relief that he had not felt for a long time.
He was indeed old, but strangely, his heart seemed to have returned to more than 30 years ago, when he first went to the theater with his family and watched a play.
At this moment, he could not suppress his excitement and impulses, which were almost exactly the same as when he was young.
He had countless reasons to stop himself, but in the face of this possible opportunity, all his reasons were useless.
"Egrepo has been with me for the longest time, and he knows how to run a troupe. When I'm not here, he'll temporarily manage it," Kajen said calmly. "Recently, there are many talented newcomers in the troupe. Let them perform more. As long as the plays are rehearsed normally, there won't be any problems."
"Teacher..." The three of them wanted to say something, but Kajen stopped them.
He followed the voice of his youth.
That voice was telling him.
He wanted to act in the magic movie.
*****
In the City of Neverwinter, the western region of Graycastle.
As Roland had expected, the speed at which the napalm could be weaponized was astonishing after the right materials were found.
In just one week, the Ministry of Chemical Industry had put the trial product in front of him.
It was about 10 iron buckets with a diameter of 30 centimeters and a height of about one meter. There were detonating explosives in the center of the iron buckets and they were connected by wires.
"Your Majesty, this is the 'City-burning Skyfire Thunder' I designed," Retnin said excitedly. "It has three layers, namely, the special snow powder layer, the combustion-supporting layer, and the fuel layer. In order to make the fire spread more widely, the three layers are not simply wrapped. Instead, they are like inverted mushrooms. The snow powder fire will hit the combustion-supporting layer and the fuel layer like an erupting volcano! And... "
Retnin, who used to be the Chief Alchemist of the Alchemist Workshop in King's City, probably felt that it was not easy to get the opportunity to replace Kyle Sichi. His many designs really made Roland's eyes light up. In addition to the directional ignition configuration and the combustion-supporting layer, Retnin also mentioned the idea of delayed detonation for the first time. Using the precise and controllable characteristics of electric detonators, multiple explosives could be detonated in sequence to reduce the impact on each other and increase the lethality. Roland had to admit that this group of people who stood at the top of the industry had extraordinary talents.
For example, Retnin seemed to be particularly enthusiastic about the use of chemicals to make explosions.
The only thing that made Roland doubt was Retnin's style and taste in naming.
However, this was not a big problem. After all, he would be the only one who had the right to name them after they were officially equipped with the army.
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