Crowdfunding (4)

And so, the crowdfunding related to the sequel of “Sky of Destiny” came to an end.

The terrifying event that had driven the royal families and nobles of the entire continent into madness for the past few days had finally concluded.

And Kaisel, the man who managed to achieve his goal in that crucible of madness, smiled slyly.

“Kuhehe, I did it. I finally did it!”

Kaisel said, clenching his fists.

“In the final results of this crowdfunding, our royal family ranked second. With this, there’s no one who can prevent our royal family from taking the Knight King’s holy sword…!”

That’s right.

This crowdfunding related to the “Sky of Destiny” sequel adopted an extremely wicked method of ranking people based on the amount of money invested.

Then, only those who ranked within a certain range were given certain ‘special benefits’.

Those ‘special benefits’ included rights such as having one’s name appear in the ending credits, or being able to attend a preview screening to watch the sequel to “Sky of Destiny” in advance, but.

Among them, the special benefit that people coveted most was none other than the right to obtain replicas of the weapons and ceremonial tools used by the heroes in “Sky of Destiny”.

In the past, Count Ragna Tersion had sold various limited-edition goods related to his animations every time he completed one, so this might not seem surprising, but.

His act of giving replicas of ceremonial tools as special benefits this time was somewhat different in nature from those in the past.

Because the replicas of the ceremonial tools were not mass-produced items for sale, but super-rare items that existed only one in this world.

Of course, since they weren’t originally made with the intention of selling, they didn’t have various functions like the replica of the Book of Life and Death, but.

From the perspective of the various nobles eyeing the ceremonial tools… especially the royal families of various countries, such facts were not very important.

Because from the royal families’ point of view, this was an issue of national pride.

For example, the spearman Chris appearing in “Sky of Destiny” can be considered a great hero representing the Federation.

Now, suppose his magic spear ‘Aradva’ replica ends up being taken by a country other than the Federation.

And that would be nothing short of a nightmare for the Federation’s side.

The one-of-a-kind replica of the weapon used by the great hero representing their country has fallen into the hands of another country.

And not due to some unavoidable circumstances, but for the trivial reason of not having enough money!

Of course, there was no way the royal families of each country could endure such humiliation.

So they gritted their teeth and started throwing all sorts of money around to get their hands on the weapons of the heroes representing their countries, and.

At the end of that fierce battle, Kaisel barely managed to rank second in the crowdfunding rankings, following the Imperial family.

…Of course, as a price for that, he had to drain not only the royal budget but also his own personal funds, but.

Currently, not a single trace of regret was visible on Kaisel’s face.

Because in return, Kaisel was able to get his hands on the item he so desperately wanted.

“This is… the very holy sword used by the Knight King hundreds of years ago…!”

…Well, strictly speaking, what Kaisel was holding in his hands now was not the real thing but a replica used by the Knight King, a character appearing in “Sky of Destiny”, but.

Such trivial facts were not at all important to Kaisel.

The only fact important to Kaisel was one thing.

The fact that an item belonging to the Knight King, who could be called his favorite character among the characters in “Sky of Destiny”, had finally come into his hands.

“Hmm… It’s all good, but… it’s a bit disappointing that it doesn’t have special functions like the replica of the Book of Life and Death.”

In the past, the replica of the Book of Life and Death that Ragna had released as a limited edition had functions such as being able to cast minor curses by writing someone’s name, or summoning customizable spirits, but.

The replica of the holy sword was just a sword with nothing special about it except that it faithfully reproduced the appearance of the one appearing in the animation.

Of course, as the saying goes, “the end of tuning is stock”, this state wasn’t so bad either, but.

Kaisel, who wanted to reproduce that holy sword used by the Knight King in “Sky of Destiny” as much as possible, decided to take special measures.

“…So I decided to gather all the craftsmen and magicians in the kingdom to modify this holy sword. First, I’m definitely planning to add functions like the sword becoming transparent and the blade turning golden. And if possible, I’d like to add a function where beams shoot out from the sword, what do you think, Ragna?”

“…Do as you please. Just.”

Meanwhile, Ragna, who had come to the kingdom both on business and to hand over the holy sword to Kaisel, sighed and said so.

Yeah, it’s the holy sword you acquired with that money, so what right do I have to say anything about it.

Whether you make beams shoot out from the sword or add a healing function to the scabbard, just do whatever you want.

“Hmm, if you, the original creator, had told me not to modify it, I wouldn’t have. Now that you’ve given permission like this, I can start working with a happy heart.”

Kaisel nodded his head upon hearing Ragna’s permission that wasn’t really a permission.

“Ah, while we’re on the subject. Can I perhaps erect a statue modeled after the face of the Knight King from “Sky of Destiny”? Of course, I’m not planning to erect the statue without permission, but to pay you a certain price.”

“…A statue?”

That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Is it a trend these days for high-ranking people to erect statues of characters from animations?

Although it was somewhat surprising news, Ragna didn’t show much surprise as there was already one precedent, but.

Very unfortunately, it seems that the plan Kaisel had made was something far more insane than what the Emperor had done.

“I’m thinking of moving the existing statue of the Knight King somewhere else and erecting a statue of the Knight King from “Sky of Destiny” in the square in front of the royal palace. Since a statue of the hero representing our kingdom is being newly erected, people will be very happy, right?”

“…What?”

For a moment, Ragna doubted his ears upon hearing Kaisel’s words.

So, you’re saying you’ll move the existing statue of the Knight King somewhere else and newly erect a statue of the female Knight King in its place?

Is this bastard saying this in his right mind?

“Hm? But I came to realize what true history is through “Sky of Destiny”, you know?”

“…True history?”

“Yeah. The Knight King’s gender was originally female, but due to various unavoidable circumstances of the times, she had no choice but to pretend to be male. This is just ‘common sense’, isn’t it?”

“…..”

To be honest, there was a lot I wanted to say, but.

No matter how close friends we are, since it was another country’s business after all, Ragna decided to just keep his mouth shut.

Well, surely nothing big will happen.

At most, what more could happen besides the crown prince of the Rihard Kingdom being replaced?

“So, why did you come to our kingdom? If it was just to hand over the holy sword, there was no need for you to come in person, right?”

“Ah, actually, I need a composer to compose music to put in my next animation work.”

“…A composer?”

At Ragna’s words, Kaisel tilts his head as if something doesn’t make sense.

“Aren’t there many skilled composers in the Empire too? Then why did you come all the way to the kingdom?”

“Well, because the style of composers in the Empire and composers in the kingdom is very different.”

In the past, before Ragna newly introduced the genre called animation to the world.

The genre that had a firm grip on the Empire’s art world was none other than theater and opera.

And accordingly, the music of the Empire also developed in a form suitable for theater and opera, and.

In other words, should we say that music that gives listeners a sense of becoming grand and majestic was mainstream?

In contrast, in the kingdom, somewhat light or ballad-oriented music was mainstream.

In the past, if he was going to insert children’s songs or classical music like in the ‘organ party’ scene in episode 17 of “Machine God Chronicles”, it wouldn’t have been a bad choice to borrow the power of Empire musicians, but.

The songs to be inserted in the new works to be produced this time were not that kind of music, so here he had no choice but to borrow the power of kingdom musicians.

“I’ve already conceived all the basic melodies, so you just need to compose them to fit the current trends. In that sense, could you perhaps introduce me to a good composer?”

“That’s not such a difficult task. Don’t worry. I’ll lend you the court musician who boasts the best skills in the kingdom.”

Saying so, Kaisel listens to the melodies of two songs recorded with Serika’s help, with an expression of wonder.

“Hmm, so these songs are the OSTs that will go into the new work you’re going to release as the next work after “Sky of Destiny”, right? I don’t know much about this field, but these songs seem really good, don’t they?”

Well, that was in a way a very natural thing.

Because those two songs were worthy of being called masterpieces among masterpieces that remained legendary in the field of animation even after decades had passed since their release.

Even if they weren’t Earthlings but people from a fantasy world, it was impossible for them to evaluate those songs negatively.

“The song that will go into the theatrical animation is cheerful and makes me feel like I’m flying somewhere, and the song that will go into the next work after “Sky of Destiny” makes me feel nostalgic as if remembering someone.”

Kaisel, who boasts a sharper sense than anyone when it comes to otaku-related matters, made such an evaluation and then kept humming the melodies as if he really liked those songs.

“So what are the titles of these songs? I think you would have already given titles to these songs, Ragna.”

“The title of the first song will be ‘Butterfly’, and the title of the second song is…”

Ragna, trying hard to hold back tears welling up in his chest for some reason, quietly opened his mouth.

“…’Seeds of Sadness, Fruits of Happiness’.”