The Third Anime Plan (2)

The essence of a merchant is to pursue profit.

Therefore, merchants will do anything to make money.

Even if someone else might avoid it as dirty and filthy work.

Even if someone else might express reluctance, saying this is something they can’t do as a human being.

Even if it means selling their own parents, if it’s something that will definitely bring them profit, merchants are the kind of people who would commit such acts without any hesitation.

That’s why merchants were able to notice the potential of the field called animation from the time Ragna released the theatrical film “The Disappearance of Elli and Hamel”.

“That animation thing… doesn’t it seem like it could make an enormous amount of money?”

“I agree. Especially, I really like that the risk is almost zero compared to the enormous return on investment. Unlike those plays or operas.”

Because with plays or operas, if a popular lead actor or singer retires, the number of audience members decreases drastically in proportion, but.

The characters in that animation don’t age, don’t rest, and silently work hard all their lives, steadily producing money.

In other words, if you could just make one animation really well, it meant you could milk money from fans for a lifetime based on it.

If there were two successful animations, naturally the profits would double, and.

If an animation becomes a hit across the entire continent beyond the Empire, like “Machine God Chronicles” or “Sky of Destiny”.

It’s entirely possible for those profits to be inflated not just twice, but ten times.

“If that noble house’s young master Ragna could do it, we can do it too. Let’s make one great animation like “Machine God Chronicles”!”

“Recruit everyone without discrimination – scriptwriters from large theater companies, stage actors, famous novelists, singers! Bring them in by offering the best treatment in the industry! We can recover it all once the animation becomes successful anyway!”

So the large merchant groups poured in truly enormous amounts of money to produce animations, and.

They even went so far as to suddenly announce animations, aiming for the timing right after the broadcast of “Book of Life and Death” ended, and.

…As a result, they went completely bankrupt.

Almost everything in this world could be solved with money, and.

If there was a problem that couldn’t be solved, it would usually be solved by pouring in even more money, but.

Sadly, the animation produced by Ragna was an exception among exceptions that didn’t belong to the principles of this world.

Therefore, no matter how much enormous money they poured in, there was no way they could compete with Ragna’s animations.

“Indeed, so this was the reason why His Majesty bestowed the title of Count on a mere Baron family’s young master.”

“It seems the rumor that the Prince of the Rihard Kingdom recognized his talent and hoped to become friends was really true.”

“A professor at the Academy said that the level of animation produced by Count Ragna was at least 50 years ahead of the animations we produced.”

“…It’s unbelievable. Then our defeat was predetermined from the beginning?”

And so, the large merchant groups who realized their limits cleanly folded their animation-related businesses.

Because they realized that at this point, it was impossible to surpass the animations Ragna makes no matter what they do.

Of course, it’s not that they didn’t know that animation and various related businesses were an enormous honey pot, but.

They chose to quietly withdraw because they weren’t crazy enough to directly touch Ragna, who was being directly watched by the Emperor and the continent’s powerholders.

That’s why.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Would you be interested in investing in the animation I’m making?”

“…Pardon? Investment, you say?”

“That’s right. Of course, with the condition that you must become a pure investor who just provides money, without being able to interfere in any area related to the production of the animation.”

“…..”

Shylock, the head of the Shylock Merchant Group, one of the Empire’s 7 great merchant groups, couldn’t understand this situation at all.

What on earth is Ragna Tersion thinking right now?

Currently, Ragna Tersion is the only man across the continent with the ability to produce animations.

In other words, it meant that all the vested interests related to animation were in that man’s hands.

But that man is trying to blow away his own golden goose with his own feet.

No, more than that, he’s even allowing others to intervene in the honey pot he’s monopolizing.

Of course, Shylock can only purely provide money for the animation Ragna produces, but.

Even that was clearly a groundbreaking condition that would make other merchant groups drool if they heard about it.

Because providing money for Ragna’s animation meant becoming an official ‘sponsor’ like the Emperor or the Prince of the Rihard Kingdom, and.

Through this, it was really no big deal to create an opportunity where gold coins would automatically copy themselves if you just used your head a little.

Is that all?

Through this deal, he would also get the opportunity to learn the know-how related to animation production by watching Ragna produce animations.

Based on that know-how, even if it’s impossible right now, it would be possible to produce a decent animation in about a few years.

It was a deal full of pure goodwill, with no traps visible anywhere.

That’s why he couldn’t understand.

What on earth is Ragna Tersion trying to achieve by making such a deal with him?

Why on earth?

‘…Could it be that he wants other people to enter the animation market he’s currently monopolizing? And is he trying to retire leisurely?’

For a moment, Shylock had such a thought, but he soon inwardly smiled bitterly at himself for having such a crazy idea.

Ragna’s age was barely in his early 20s.

And at such a young age, he wants to not only kick away the honey pot he’s monopolizing but also retire?

Nonsense.

Then, it means Ragna has a separate aim he wants to achieve through this, but….

“…Why me of all people?”

“Pardon?”

“There must be as many merchant groups wanting to invest in you as there are stars in the sky, Count. Why do you want to receive investment from our group? Also, from your perspective, I must be a merchant who doesn’t know his place, trying to enter the animation market without fear, so why-“

“…Hmm.”

At the merchant group head’s question, Ragna seemed to ponder something and then slowly opened his mouth.

“In the past, even though your first animation failed, you didn’t give up and immediately produced a second animation, didn’t you? Unlike other merchant groups that immediately withdrew as soon as the first animation failed at the box office.”

“Yes, that’s right. Looking back now, it was an action that didn’t know its limits, but…”

“That’s exactly why. That’s the reason I chose you, Sir.”

“…Pardon?”

“Your obsession and passion for animation that you showed. That’s why I came to you, setting aside others.”

Ragna’s words were not just lip service, but facts themselves.

Because the more people there are who are full of obsession to produce awesome animations like the merchant group head in front of him, the sooner his retirement date would be brought forward.

Raising money to produce Kaya’s animation by receiving investment from the merchant group head was just a secondary purpose.

Ragna was here solely to nurture a reactionary who would threaten his position in the future.

‘Perfect.’

Meanwhile, the merchant group head looked at Ragna with trembling eyes.

…It’s even more incomprehensible.

If he were in Ragna’s position, he would have immediately crushed such an insolent fly that dared to reach for the honey pot he was monopolizing.

But Ragna was instead reaching out his hand to him, saying he liked such obsession of his.

What on earth is that man thinking right now?

‘…No, wait a minute.’

What did Ragna just say?

That he came to him specifically because of the obsession and passion for animation he showed in the past?

Then could it be that the reason Ragna came to him was none other than-

“…Could it be that you want to retire?”

The fundamental reason why the merchant group head jumped into the animation market was because it was an undoubted honey pot, but.

Before that, it was also because other cultural markets were already saturated, so he couldn’t possibly enter them.

Because there, old people called ‘veterans’ were wielding absolute power and strictly preventing others from entering their world.

Of course, they spewed excuses about preserving the purity of art or whatnot, but.

In the merchant group head’s view, their actions were nothing more or less than actions to defend their own rice bowls.

In fact, due to such old people, the current art world was being evaluated as greatly stagnant with no development, and.

It seems Ragna really disliked such old people.

Because in the merchant group head’s view, Ragna was a greedy monster itself who wasn’t satisfied with just monopolizing the animation market.

In fact, didn’t Ragna recently declare that he would enter areas other than animation by introducing a card game called TCG?

So now, it seems Ragna wanted a hunting dog to bite the old people in his stead.

Probably because as a noble Count, it would be unseemly to fight directly with the old people.

In other words, isn’t Ragna planning to forcibly ‘retire’ the old people spread like cancer cells throughout the art world using the merchant group head.

Then occupy their positions himself, and ultimately swallow the Empire’s entire art world?

The merchant group head put all the speculations he momentarily came up with into the single word ‘retire’ and asked the question, and.

“…Hmm.”

There was no answer.

Silence continued for quite a long time.

At least that’s how it felt to the merchant group head.

And Ragna silently looked at the merchant group head like that, then.

“Oh my.”

He smiled with a snicker.

“This is why I hate perceptive people.”

“…!”

As expected.

So that’s how it was…!

Meanwhile, Ragna looked at the merchant group head and thought to himself.

Hmm.

This person.

Could he be a genius…?