Chapter 17

With the designs and various settings for the characters and Knight Shin wrapped up, we were finally ready to dive into the main production process.

If you were making an anime on Earth, this part would actually be the most wretched and messy phase imaginable.

Starting with storyboard creation, then moving onto what’s commonly called L/O or layout work, followed by key animation, in-betweening, quality checks, tracing, and coloring…

There’s a bunch of dog-tired work that regular folks don’t even need to know about, but it had to get done somehow.

But at least for me, none of this was scary.

Because as I’d mentioned before, I could use Illusion Magic and Copy Magic to handle all those steps with just a few clicks.

The work isn’t hard.

All I had to do was visualize the scenes in my head, output them using Illusion Magic, and then mass-replicate them with Copy Magic.

Then, with magic, animate the drawings—and boom, done.

Compared to how they make anime on Earth, this method might seem like cheating goddess-level stuff.

However, there was one fatal drawback to this approach.

A typical anime requires anywhere from 300 to 2,000 keyframes.

Meaning, pulling images out of my mind into reality would consume an absolutely ridiculous amount of mana.

Even if I could automate the process with “clicks,” I’d still have to repeat it at least 300 times.

So, Kayla hired a few more mages to join the anime production team besides myself.

It was faster working with machines—no, other talented mages—who could handle the workload without draining me completely.

“Hmm, so this is how you create anime, Ragnar.”

Standing next to me now was a mage in her late twenties with an incredibly enchanting appearance. She was smiling warmly at me.

Under normal circumstances, this situation would’ve triggered some dorky daydream circuit in my brain—”Does she like me? How many kids will we have?”—but…

Unfortunately, my heart didn’t flutter seeing her smile.

For reference, this wasn’t because my preferences suddenly shifted to something Marine-Lit-like.

More accurately speaking…

“…Please stop teasing me, Master. Your student has never properly dated a woman before, so I lack any immunity to such things.”

That’s right.

The mage supporting me right now wasn’t just anyone—she was my master from the Mage Tower.

Her name is Aries Renoa.

Currently the leader of the Sky Tower and one of the top-ranked mages in the Empire.

…Though honestly, to me, she’ll always just be the crazy old hag who clings to my pants begging me to become the official successor of the Mage Tower.

“Hehe, are you feeling nervous around me? Sure, I’m older than you, but only by three or four years, so it wouldn’t be impossible for us to connect romantically.”

“…As far as I know, the age gap between us isn’t three or four years—it’s closer to six or seven…”

Right then…

Crack!

The table Master was leaning on split in half.

“Let’s leave it at that. It’s common knowledge that men who casually bring up a woman’s age aren’t very popular.”

“…Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Had I continued arguing, I’m sure she’d have blasted me with a fireball, so I shut my mouth.

“Anyway, sorry for dragging you here, Master. The task I’ve given you is nothing more than repetitive grunt work.”

Viewers usually watch a 20-minute episode and critique everything about it—the key animation, whether there was frame-collapse (“work-ruin”), etc., but behind the scenes, animators slave away for days to produce those 20 minutes.

And here I was making my own master do all that hard labor, which made my K-Confucian conscience feel pretty guilty.

But luckily, Master simply smiled gently at my apology.

“It’s fine. I’ve always been curious about how anime is made. Besides, helping my only student is only natural, isn’t it?”

“Master…!”

I felt an overwhelming wave of emotion when I heard her say, “…even though you’re not much of a student, I still love you…”

“Since you’re grateful, make me an anime with a mage protagonist sometime. That way, new slaves—I mean, talented mages—will flock to our Mage Tower after watching it.”

“…”

At any rate, thanks to Master and several other mages’ help, I quickly completed the in-betweening and background art.

Thus, with the finished animations in hand, we officially began voice dubbing.

***

The Commander stared at him with a voice devoid of emotion.

“Board the Knight Shin, Kai.”

“Pardon?”

“I said board the Knight Shin, Kai. And repel the incoming Outsider. That’s the sole reason we brought you here.”

“B-but—”

Suddenly, Kai bit his lip involuntarily as he processed the Commander’s words.

“My reason for coming here was because you promised to tell me about my missing younger sister. Now you want me to pilot this thing and fight the Outsider?”

“Either climb aboard or get out of here. It’s your choice.”

“But… I’ve never even seen a Knight Shin before! How am I supposed to control it?”

Just then…

“That boy’s right, Commander. There’s no need to waste time boarding someone so incompetent. I’ll take over Unit 0.”

It was a girl.

A frail girl whose entire body was tightly wrapped in bandages, blood seeping through the gaps despite her best efforts to hide it.

She struggled to walk, breathing heavily with every step.

Anyone could see she was barely clinging to life, yet the Commander regarded her with icy eyes.

“Weren’t you just defeated by the Outsider moments ago, Saya? And now you want to pilot Unit 0?”

“…But if this idiot refuses to board, I’m the only option left, right?”

“True. Very well, Saya. You’ll replace him and board the Knight Shin.”

“No way! Are you seriously suggesting we let a patient with injuries like hers pilot a Knight Shin?”

Kai shouted, glaring fiercely at the Commander, who merely smirked in response.

“Do you have a better solution? There’s no way to defeat the Outsider without a Knight Shin, and if the Outsider invades, humanity will perish. Here you are whining about doing nothing while criticizing others—how laughable.”

“…!”

Struck by the Commander’s words, Kai clenched his lips tightly.

But only for a moment. Then, as if making a decision, Kai spoke firmly.

“…I’ll board it.”

“What?”

“I’ll board the Knight Shin instead of her! Come on, how hard can it be?”

“…Cut! Let’s take a short break.”

My shout marked the end of the dubbing session.

Simultaneously, the staff members observing the dubbing seemed to snap back to reality.

“Hard work, everyone! And thank you, Serika-san!”

As Liz, who played Kai, bowed deeply to the voice actors beside her, Serika, playing Saya, finally came to her senses and looked startled.

“Yes? Ah… good job, Liz.”

“Hehe, nah. I just read my lines from the script.”

Liz grinned innocently, but…

In that instant, I noticed Serika’s face stiffen upon hearing Liz’s seemingly humble comment.

“…What a monster.”

I couldn’t help but whistle under my breath as I watched Liz.

“How is she a rookie? I’d believe she’s a veteran with twenty years of experience in this industry.”

Indeed.

Though Liz was technically a newcomer I discovered during auditions…

Her acting ability far exceeded anything I imagined.

Just moments ago, all the staff, including Serika, were entranced by Liz’s performance, almost as if Kai himself had leapt off the screen.

Exaggerating slightly, Liz’s portrayal had achieved near-perfect synchronization.

Right then…

“…Uh, Director?”

“Yes? What is it?”

For reasons unknown, Liz approached me hesitantly, peeking nervously.

“Um… Am I doing okay? I tried my best, but earlier, everyone’s reactions seemed… strange.”

“…?”

Naturally, I found her question baffling.

After delivering a performance that made everyone else look amateurish, what was she talking about?

“Of course you’re doing great.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I’d even consider bringing you onboard for the next project if possible.”

“Hehe. That makes me really happy.”

With my affirmation, Liz shyly smiled, blushing faintly.

Right as Liz and I were having this heartwarming little exchange…

“Hmm?”

I turned my gaze.

There stood Serika, silently staring at Liz with an unreadable expression.

“…This should’ve been mine. Mine.”

“…?”

Why did her expression change like that?

And what did she mutter earlier about Liz?

“…Well, maybe she’s just fired up as a fellow voice actor, competing against Liz.”

I shrugged off Serika’s behavior, not giving it much thought.