Chapter 14

“Well, I’ve got some issues to deal with, so I think I’ll head back for now.”

With that, the Empress suddenly announced her departure, as abruptly as she had stormed into the Viscount’s territory.

“First off, I intend to report to His Majesty regarding the plan we’ve established here.”

“…Report to the Emperor, you say?”

Without realizing it, I furrowed my brow at the Empress’s words.

Seriously, if word gets to the Emperor about making an anime, there’ll be no backing out of this.

“I know you might feel burdened by all this. But even I, as the Empress, can’t just handle matters involving the Imperial Household budget on a whim.”

Saying this, the Empress gave my shoulder a light pat and flashed a grin.

“But don’t worry too much. Things like the budget or artifact distribution—I’ll take care of all the messy details. If anyone bothers you with anime-related issues, feel free to use my name however you see fit.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

As someone who’s barely a Chikorita in the noble social scene, having an Empress-level Legendary Pokémon backing me up is pretty damn appealing.

“Always remember that I’m on your side. With that said, I’ll be taking my leave now.”

With those parting words, the Empress gracefully disappeared with light steps.

I clenched my teeth and began preparations for producing a 50-episode super-long anime.

The first thing I tackled? Writing the synopsis.

“…Synopsis? What’s that?”

“It’s sort of like a blueprint for making an anime. You start from the title, go through the planning intent, plot, settings, and jot down a brief summary of all that stuff.”

Serika tilted her head, clearly confused by my explanation.

“But we didn’t write anything like that when we made ‘The Mysterious Disappearance of Eli and Hammel.’ Why are we doing it now?”

“That’s because the situation is different this time.”

Indeed.

Back when we produced “The Mysterious Disappearance of Eli and Hammel,” there weren’t many factors I had to stress over.

After all, with a mere two-hour theatrical anime, writing a full synopsis wasn’t necessary. Most of the work was resolved with a simple “click” thanks to Illusion Magic and Copy Magic.

But this time around, things were different.

“No matter how much magic can simplify most tasks, producing a 50-episode anime alone is simply impossible.”

So, just like in my past life in the 21st century on Earth, I needed to assemble a production team to make this anime happen.

“Starting with a mage who can use Illusion and Copy Magic alongside me, we’ll need writers to fill in any plot holes, an assistant director, voice actors for supporting roles and extras, and staff to handle various miscellaneous tasks…”

Just thinking about it makes my head ache already.

In my previous life, I was nothing more than a lowly freelancer handling subcontracts, so I’ve never dealt with these kinds of organizational challenges before.

“Damn it… maybe I should ask Duke Grinevalt for help.”

Even as I hesitated, wondering if I should seek assistance from the guy who always glared at me, the Empress suddenly appeared.

“Hmm, I heard about it. Ragnar, you’re struggling to put together a production team, aren’t you?”

“How… how did you know about that?”

Did she plant a spy somewhere around me?

Despite my baffled expression, the Empress spoke without batting an eye.

“Now, now, does that really matter? More importantly, I believe I can be of help to you.”

“The Empress wishes to help me? How so?”

And then, right as she spoke, I couldn’t help but question my own ears.

“I also want to participate in your anime production. I’d like to assist you as one of the staff members—what do you think?”

Wait… what did she just say?

****

After discussing anime production with Ragnar, the Empress immediately returned to the palace to meet the Emperor.

The man named Ragnar Terison, whom the Empress had personally encountered, was someone who tirelessly worked to create anime that could be enjoyed by all citizens of the Empire.

Thus, shouldn’t the Empress, as Ragnar’s partner, strive to fulfill her duties in her position to support him?

At this moment, the only thing the Empress could do for Ragnar was secure a substantial budget to allow him to fully realize his vision.

“Ho, anime, you say. That recent trend, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Through my conversation with Lord Terison, I’m convinced that using the anime he creates, we can craft something enjoyable for all our citizens. Broadly speaking, this could serve as a catalyst for advancing our Empire’s culture.”

“Hmm…”

The Emperor seemed deep in thought, then addressed the Empress.

“Your point has merit. It’s not a bad idea to provide entertainment that everyone in the Empire can enjoy.”

“Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty. Then, I will immediately begin allocating the relevant budget…”

“However, there is one condition.”

The Emperor cut her off mid-sentence.

“If the Imperial Household is going to fund this anime, we must ensure the funds are being used appropriately, don’t you agree? We can’t have Ragnar wasting the budget unnecessarily.”

“Uh… well…”

While the Empress believed Ragnar was far from such behavior, the Emperor’s concerns were valid, leaving her unable to argue.

“In light of that, we should send someone from the Imperial Household to supervise and control whether Ragnar is properly producing the anime.”

“Uh?”

“From what you’ve told me, anime seems quite versatile. For instance, wouldn’t it be useful to embed content praising the Imperial Household within the anime?”

“…”

Upon hearing the Emperor’s words, the Empress felt her heart sink.

In her opinion, the greatest strength of Ragnar’s anime lay in its boundless imagination and freedom.

Take “Nymph and Goblin” or “The Mysterious Disappearance of Eli and Hammel”—both became masterpieces because they weren’t confined by reality, allowing Ragnar to freely express his creative vision.

But if the Imperial Household meddled constantly, forcing Ragnar to produce anime according to their tastes…

Could such an environment possibly yield another masterpiece like “The Mysterious Disappearance of Eli and Hammel”?

“Absolutely not!”

That’s why the Empress stepped forward herself.

If she volunteered as the Imperial Household’s supervisor, she could prevent others from interfering in Ragnar’s creative process.

“Ragnar, focus solely on creating anime without worry. Leave the dirty work of the secular world to me—I’ll handle it all.”

Meanwhile, completely unaware of these circumstances, Ragnar stared at the Empress with bewilderment.

“Surely you jest? Producing anime is an exhausting and arduous task—not something suitable for someone as esteemed as Your Highness.”

“Not a problem. Do you think I’m some naive child who doesn’t understand the realities? On the contrary, I’m quite confident in administrative tasks. In your current predicament of struggling to assemble a production team, I assure you I can be of great help.”

“Hmm…”

Ragnar paused, seemingly deep in thought.

But after a moment, he sighed deeply and responded.

“Let me reiterate: there will be absolutely no special treatment for Your Highness during the anime production process.”

“I don’t expect any. I’m not joining for preferential treatment.”

“Additionally, I won’t be the chief director. Therefore, if Your Highness joins the production team, you must follow my instructions without exception.”

“So be it. I promise to unconditionally follow Director Ragnar’s orders throughout the anime production process.”

“Very well. I accept Your Highness into the production team in the role of Assistant Director.”

“Within the team, please call me Karlreya instead of Your Highness. Calling me ‘Your Highness’ might confuse others.”

“Understood… Karlreya.”

Karlreya’s first action upon officially joining the team was satisfying her immense curiosity.

“So, Director, what kind of anime are you planning for the next project?”

“Huh?”

“At least give me a rough outline of the plot. I’m dying to know! Will it be a fairy-tale romance like ‘The Mysterious Disappearance of Eli and Hammel’? Or perhaps something humorous like ‘Nymph and Goblin’?”

“Hmm… well…”

Ragnar absentmindedly scratched his head in response to Karlreya’s question.

Because he couldn’t bring himself to say, “It’s a story where the protagonist gets congratulated with applause by everyone around them, only to turn humanity into orange juice at the end.”

Seeing Ragnar hesitate, Karlreya sighed softly and changed her question.

“Hmph… fine. At least tell me the title of the next project. We’re going to start working on it soon anyway, so that much shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Hmm… the title…?”

Ragnar pondered briefly about what to name the upcoming work.

“Probably something like ‘Cruel Angels Become Legends’…”

A perfectly crafted title that both reflected the trending sentence-style titles in modern web novels and paid homage to the respected work he was benchmarking.

Unaware of Ragnar’s inner satisfaction, Karlreya cringed slightly.

“Um… Director… could you reconsider the title for the next project?”

“Why?”

“Come on, sentence-style titles just sound weird, don’t they? Please try to avoid that sort of thing…”

“…”

Karlreya’s comment twisted Ragnar’s face into a grimace.

‘What the hell…’

If you talk like that, what becomes of Korea’s entire web novel market?

The Empress understands nothing about human hearts.