Sky of Destiny – Climax (5)

Most humans are creatures that cannot stand idly by when others are doing well.

Well, there are people who dream of “wanting everyone to be happy” like Yuri, the protagonist of “Sky of Destiny”, but that’s just an exceptional case.

There are really many people who feel jealous when their cousin buys land, or who join in insulting rather than defending a celebrity caught up in some controversy.

No wonder the “Controversies and Incidents” section on sites like Wiki is more detailed than any other section.

Naturally, people working in the art industry are very afraid of their works or famous people appearing in their works getting caught up in such controversies.

Because once caught up in such controversies, even a successful work can collapse in an instant.

In fact, even in 21st century Korea, there were frequent incidents where perfectly fine works disintegrated due to historical accuracy controversies or issues related to the private lives of appearing celebrities.

Of course, in some ways, that’s a very natural thing.

Because works like movies and dramas feed on the fantasies of the public, whether they like it or not.

And it was only natural that directors and celebrities who produce such works, being in the public domain, were required to have much higher integrity than ordinary people.

But couldn’t we think about these things in this way?

If Ragna could deliberately create such controversies and cause some problems.

Ragna might also have no choice but to “inevitably” resign from his position as animation director and take a period of self-reflection for a while.

Of course, if he resigned in that way, Ragna had no plans to return as an animation director ever again.

‘Isn’t that… really the best.’

It couldn’t help but be a truly happy imagination just to imagine.

…Of course, the newspaper reporter who received such a request was wearing an expression like someone who had their SAN completely shaved off after witnessing an incomprehensible life form.

And so, sometime later.

Articles with such content appeared in the Empire’s newspapers, as if by agreement.

[Ragna Tersion, director of “Sky of Destiny”, why did he produce the animation while thoroughly ‘ignoring’ existing magic?]

[A certain official from the Magic Tower… ‘The magic appearing in “Sky of Destiny” is all nonsense… Anyone who knows even a little about magic can’t watch it with both eyes open….’]

[Academy professor related to magic studies, ‘If strange magic like ‘Imaginary Realm’ is put into animations, there’s a high possibility that viewers will misunderstand….’]

[Magic contempt from “Machine God Chronicles” to “Sky of Destiny”…. Could it be that Director Ragna is despising magicians as the weak?]

At first glance, it looked like usual WWE-like articles that blatantly targeted Ragna, including “Sky of Destiny”, but.

Duke Grünewald, who could be called the major shareholder of the newspaper company where these articles were published, knew the behind-the-scenes story that ordinary people didn’t know.

“…So, to summarize the main point.”

The Duke opened his mouth with an expression of utter bewilderment.

“The person who requested this article to be written was… actually Ragna himself?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…You’re saying he personally requested an article that disparages his own work, not something else?”

“The reporter who wrote that article testified so directly. Judging from the circumstances, it seems almost certain that Ragna himself put in such a request.”

“…..”

Naturally, the Duke, who could be considered a perfectly normal person, couldn’t understand Ragna’s such insane behavior at all.

“No… Is that guy really in his right mind? Where in the world is there a guy who requests to insult the work he created!”

He had seen countless cases of people advertising to promote their own works, or doing intentional viral marketing.

But he really couldn’t even imagine that there would exist a psychopath in the world who would request disparaging articles about the work he created in this way.

“So, why on earth did that Ragna do such a crazy thing? Surely he didn’t do it because he wanted to step down from his role as animation director…”

“I’m not sure about that either. When I asked Serika, that child seemed somewhat perplexed, saying it was the first time she had heard of it.”

Deneb, who usually looked at Ragna with a very displeased gaze but was enjoying the animations Ragna made, spoke in a calm tone.

“And Ragna said he’s planning to hold a press conference to explain about that article.”

“…What?”

He personally requested such articles to be written, and now he’s saying he’ll hold a press conference to explain about those articles?

At this point, the Duke felt his mind become calm rather than overflowing with bewilderment.

Even so, this far exceeded the level that could be laughed off as Ragna doing his usual crazy things.

Unless he’s aiming for retirement at a young age, there must be a clear reason for doing such things.

Of course, the reason Ragna was doing such crazy things was to quit animation production and retire as soon as possible.

It was impossible from the start for the Duke to uncover Ragna’s hidden intentions with his common sense.

Then, perhaps the reason Ragna is doing this is-

“…Come to think of it, that woman Aris has been very quiet recently.”

“Pardon?”

“Ragna’s teacher. Aris, the head of the Magic Tower. Recently, she hasn’t been helping with animation production and has been cooped up in the Magic Tower all day, devoted to some research…”

Wasn’t “Sky of Destiny” originally a work created at Aris’s request?

If Aris, that woman, had directly requested Ragna to produce “Sky of Destiny” to revitalize the Magic Tower.

It would be proper for her to stick right by Ragna’s side and help with the animation production 24 hours a day.

Yet that woman was neglecting her duty and, far from helping Ragna, was cooped up in the Magic Tower under the pretext of ‘research’.

Ragna, who suddenly behaves incomprehensibly and draws people’s attention.

The content of the articles that Ragna himself requested, which seem to blatantly target magicians.

The new magic ‘Imaginary Realm’ that appeared in “Sky of Destiny”.

Aris, who continues some kind of research while cooped up in the Magic Tower.

Then, could it be-

“…I see, so that’s how it was.”

The Duke, who had found the answer through a series of clues, grinned at Deneb, who was still wearing a perplexed expression.

“Don’t worry. I can guess what that Ragna is thinking of doing such things.”

“…Pardon? What on earth-“

“It seems that Ragna is planning to show us another interesting sight.”

As the Duke said this, there was an extremely pleasant smile on his lips.

---

A few days later, in the square in front of the Imperial Palace.

Being located in the center of the system, it was originally a place where countless people passed by.

But today, it was packed with several times more people than usual, leaving no room to step.

The reason was simple.

Because today was the day I said I would hold a press conference to explain all the rumors circulating about “Sky of Destiny”… especially the collapse of settings related to magic inserted in the animation.

On the surface, this looked like a situation where I had finally raised the white flag, unable to endure as articles seemingly targeting “Sky of Destiny” were produced in various newspapers almost every day.

Therefore, not only reporters from newspaper companies who came to pick up exclusive stories, but also many ordinary people who came to watch the scene of the upstart called Ragna Tersion, who had been a bit cocky recently, collapsing in real-time.

Of course, none of them would know that my true purpose was ‘collapse’ itself.

‘Kekeke…’

…It’s been truly long.

My dream was to ruin the ending of the anime and then live as a jobless person in a comfortable rural village, but how on earth did it come to this?

But that’s not far off now.

Soon, I will be free.

I can escape from the death spiral structure where I have to make a successful animation and then inevitably have to make the next work!

Just as I was making a mushy expression without realizing it while imagining such happy thoughts in my head.

“Everyone, please be quiet! We will now officially begin Director Ragna’s press conference!”

As Kaya’s voice rang out, I also put on an outwardly dejected expression as if I had heard news that the Empire had collapsed.

I had to make such an expression so that the wolves who had been eyeing me all this time would get more excited and try to bite me.

Yes, hurry up and throw questions at me.

Especially questions related to magic, ask why I crammed nonsensical magic like ‘Imaginary Realm’ into the anime!

“Ahem, then I will ask the first question to Director Ragna.”

As if my wish had been granted, one of the reporters sitting in the front row opened his mouth towards me in a careful tone.

“Is it true that you, Ragna, played a big role in the creation of the new magic ‘Idea Barrier’ that Aris, the head of the Magic Tower, announced to the academic society an hour ago?”

“…Pardon?”

“According to Aris, the magic called ‘Idea Barrier’ is a disciple-level magic modeled after the ‘Imaginary Realm’ appearing in “Sky of Destiny”… Could you give us a detailed explanation about this?”

“Then was it true that “Sky of Destiny” was indeed an educational animation to indirectly provide ideas to magicians? Please give us a comment on this!”

“…?”

Excuse me?

So… what did you say?