Ch.419[Episode 419] Heroes of Legend

“Cut! Cut!”

At an outdoor film set.

Buildings resembling ruins were erected here and there, with an impressive forest of lush trees.

There, someone who appeared to be the director shouted “cut” irritably.

This director was in charge of the trailer for Heroes of Legend, an AAA-tier mode, but for some reason he was clearly displeased, puffing on a cigarette with an expression full of irritation.

“Hey, assistant director.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Is this how you want to work?”

“Pardon?”

“My coffee is empty! Go get me coffee right now!”

“Ah, yes!”

The staff, including the assistant director, were driven crazy by the director’s irritability.

The director was currently throwing tantrums, finding fault with even the most trivial things.

However, the director had his reasons.

Starting with why he had become so irritable in the first place.

The director hadn’t always been this irritable.

He was someone who had been as happy as a child at the unexpected opportunity to introduce the relatively unknown AOS genre to people in Gacha Land.

That’s why he had willingly accepted the director’s position for this trailer production.

At first, the director had been full of happiness.

But gradually, he became increasingly irritated and angry.

It was because of the heavy responsibility placed upon him.

More precisely, it was due to the enormous sense of responsibility he placed on himself.

‘It’s an AAA-tier mode, so the trailer must be AAA-tier too!’

‘I must create my life’s masterpiece and not hold back the mode!’

The director gradually lost his composure as he became bound by such responsibility.

Above all, the staff and actors were partly to blame for his irritability.

His ambition and ideals to create the best trailer of his life were shooting through the sky and into space, but the actors and staff couldn’t keep up with the director’s vision.

So the director couldn’t help but be irritated with the staff and actors.

“Director! Here’s your coffee—”

“It’s cold! I told you 88 degrees! The temperature! 88 degrees! What did I say?”

“88 degrees, sir!”

“Right! So go heat it up again! This time make sure it’s 88 degrees!”

The director threw down the coffee the assistant director had brought and bellowed in anger.

The staff began to gossip in whispers as they watched the director’s behavior.

“I applied because I heard he was a fairly renowned director, but he’s not a director, he’s a tyrant.”

“I know. At least the pay is good, but no matter what, he’s not someone I’d work with twice.”

The camera team’s director of photography shook his head.

As the audio team’s sound director said, the current director was someone difficult to work with twice.

“Sigh. Another day of hard work ahead of us.”

“Well, what can we do? It’s our fault for applying because the pay is good. Hey, rookie! Move that camera over there!”

“Ah, yes sir!”

The director of photography had the camera team’s rookie move the camera.

Then, as the rookie was moving the camera, he glanced nervously at the director of photography and carefully asked a question.

“Um, I’m really curious about this camera. Would it be okay if I handled it for a bit?”

The director of photography stared at the rookie who had made such a request.

The rookie knew that such opportunities didn’t come often, so he desperately tried to think of ways to persuade the director of photography.

“Well, I—”

“Go ahead.”

“…Pardon?”

“You can handle the camera during the break.”

“Ah…!”

The camera team rookie’s face lit up as soon as the director of photography finished speaking.

“Th-thank you!”

After thanking the director of photography, the rookie took the camera and headed to a secluded spot.

And he carefully began to explore its various functions.

Of course, he was limited to basic functions like record, stop, rewind, and fast-forward.

“Hey, isn’t that an expensive camera? Is it okay to let the rookie handle it?”

“Leave him be. You don’t see that kind of enthusiasm these days. Letting him handle the camera once builds goodwill, so it’s a win-win.”

“I guess so. Sigh. I wonder when our audio team will get a rookie with that kind of enthusiasm and spirit…”

The director of photography and the sound director chatted like that.

Mostly gossiping about the director.

…

The camera team rookie spent the entire break recording and deleting footage repeatedly.

He needed to get used to this kind of camera to avoid getting scolded later.

“Hey! I told you it’s not swoosh! pabak! but swoo-oosh pabat! How many times do I have to tell you!”

The rookie heard the director shouting at the actors in the distance.

But the rookie didn’t mind much, as this had been happening day after day.

As he was operating the camera, the rookie suddenly felt something strange.

“…Huh?”

The rookie turned his head toward the source of the strange feeling.

There, he saw a blue gate spinning in circles between the clouds.

“What is… that?”

The rookie stared blankly at the spinning blue gate, but soon thought he should record it and began operating the camera.

The rookie turned the camera toward the blue gate and focused.

And when the rookie pressed the record button after completing all the preparations…

…

“This is just holding us back!”

The director expressed his anger with all his might, seething.

“No one understands my grand ideals and goals!”

The director truly meant what he said as he threw his hat to the ground.

Nothing was to his liking.

The actors were performing half-heartedly, and none of the staff were doing their jobs properly.

They were all thieves, robbers, and parasites stealing his money.

“If you don’t do it right now, I’ll cut your pay or… Huh?”

It was then.

The director suddenly noticed the rustling of the bushes beside him.

“A wild animal?”

The director said as he picked up a stone at his feet.

He threw it toward the bushes and burst out in anger.

“Get lost! I’m already annoyed enough as it is…”

The director’s voice, which had been shouting loudly, now became as small as an ant’s.

It was because of something that appeared from the bushes.

“W-who are you?”

No, not something, but someone.

The one who appeared from the bushes was a muscular man wearing a mask. He was shirtless and decorated his body with straps and feathers.

He stared at the director for a moment, then suddenly began making incomprehensible sounds.

“Alalalai—!”

Then the bushes rustled all around, and several people in similar attire to the muscular man appeared.

Like the muscular man, they glared at the director, then once again shouted incomprehensible sounds.

“Alalalai—!”

Then they each pulled out hand axes they had hidden.

And after the muscular man made the strange sound one more time, they began charging toward the director.

“Alalalai—!”

“S-stay away!”

The director was so startled by the sudden attack that he fell down on the spot.

One of the mysterious attackers threw an axe between the director’s legs.

The director squeezed his eyes shut and spread his legs wide.

Fortunately, the axe thrown by the mysterious attacker narrowly missed and stuck in the ground.

The director was so shocked by the situation that he almost wet himself, but he quickly regained his senses, jumped to his feet, and began running toward the filming location.

He thought that if he went to a crowded place, they might give up the attack.

…

“Alalalai—!”

The masked man decorated with feathers chased after the director with an axe in hand.

Why was he chasing the director?

In fact, he was a bandit.

More precisely, he was the leader of a bandit group.

They had recently fled to this forest to escape the police.

Camping in the forest is enjoyable for a day or two, but beyond that, it becomes boring and irritating.

In the midst of this, the bandit group discovered people filming a movie.

The bandits gradually tightened their encirclement, as if they had found an interesting plaything.

At this rate, the staff and actors would be attacked without even noticing the bandits’ presence.

In this situation, a single stone thrown by the director had revealed their presence.

“Alalalai—!”

Don’t let him escape!

The bandit leader shouted with roughly that meaning.

If they let the director escape, they might have to flee from this forest as well.

“Ahhh!”

As if heaven willed that he shouldn’t escape, the director tripped over a tree root and fell.

“Alalalai—!”

The bandit leader mocked the director, as if he had expected this.

And he slowly began to approach the director.

He intended to slit his throat before he could make any more noise.

It was then.

Thwack!

“…?”

The bandit leader was surprised by the sudden impact to his head and fell forward.

After losing consciousness, he never got up again.

The director had squeezed his eyes shut in fear of the approaching bandit leader.

But when nothing happened to him after a sudden thwack sound, the director slightly opened his eyes to survey the situation.

The fallen bandit leader, wooden planks scattered around.

As the director was trying to understand what was happening, his eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

It was because someone who had no reason to be here was present.

“S-Sir Dominic?”

“Hmm?”

Around the fallen bandit leader where wooden planks were scattered, there stood Sir Dominic.