To put it plainly, Karlreya was in the middle of thinking that Ragnar was a genius among geniuses.
Not the kind of person you could find anywhere in this world, someone who’s just slightly smarter than average.
But rather, an existence that seemed to dwell on a completely different level from ordinary people, truly special in every sense.
After all, hadn’t he personally created something called “animation,” a culture that had never existed in this world before?
Moreover, not only that—Karlreya had never once seen Ragnar struggle with animation production or agonize over how to develop a story.
It was as if, from the very beginning, he already knew exactly how to craft a masterpiece and what kind of direction would make viewers go wild with excitement.
That’s why she hadn’t realized it yet.
The fact that Ragnar, too, was putting in immense effort behind the scenes where no one else could see.
“…Huh?”
It was purely by chance.
When she entered his room to call him regarding an issue related to “Fate’s Sky.”
She happened to spot a certain notebook lying open on his desk.
“This is…?”
Truthfully, being from her background, Karlreya was stricter about etiquette than anyone else in the world and always tried to uphold it.
Thus, she was fully aware that looking at someone else’s notebook without permission was incredibly rude.
But…
[Upcoming Animation List and Storyboards]
“…A list of upcoming animations and their storyboards…?”
The words written on the notebook practically emitted a charm that made it impossible for Karlreya to resist flipping through its pages.
“Director…! I’m sorry!”
Ultimately unable to resist the temptation, Karlreya flipped open the notebook resting on Ragnar’s desk and took a peek—
“…Ah.”
That day, she discovered a whole new world.
As mentioned earlier, Karlreya had believed that Ragnar produced animations without any difficulty whatsoever.
But apparently, that wasn’t the case.
Because…
“…Goodness gracious. So Director actually considered ending ‘Knight Shin Chronicle’ with everyone clapping for the protagonist? And prepared three alternate routes for ‘Fate’s Sky’?”
Inside that notebook were clear traces of countless struggles Ragnar had faced while creating animations.
Of course, in reality, that notebook was more like a cheat sheet where Ragnar wrote down the contents of the animations he had watched in his past life so he wouldn’t forget them.
But unaware of this fact, Karlreya saw the notebook as nothing less than the crystallization of Ragnar’s blood, sweat, and effort.
Most so-called geniuses are annoying people who live off their arrogance and self-importance.
But Ragnar didn’t skimp on effort despite possessing a brilliance far surpassing those pretentious types.
This was nothing short of cheating.
And when a man shows this kind of side, what woman in this world wouldn’t fall for him?
So she fell even harder.
And started wanting to stand by his side.
Even though quietly supporting him from behind as she did now wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either.
After all, companionship means standing on equal footing, helping each other out in life, right?
From that moment onward, Karlreya’s goal shifted slightly.
No longer content with simply fulfilling the role of assistant director.
She resolved to become a woman who could help Ragnar even more in his animation production process.
At the very least, she needed to be more useful to Ragnar than that woman, Serika.
Starting that day, Karlreya began secretly working on animation storyboards.
Naturally, these were just practice.
Because she well knew that she was still far behind Ragnar in terms of animation production skills.
However, these storyboards were simultaneously filled with her utmost sincerity.
In a situation where the entire Empire, no, the whole continent, was expecting great things from Ragnar’s animations…
This was Karlreya’s little surprise gift to lighten his load, even if just a little.
Thus, while handling her duties as assistant director for “Fate’s Sky,” she found time here and there to work on character designs and storyboards.
By the time the final episode of “Fate’s Sky” aired, she had barely managed to complete them.
A story depicting the struggle between humans-eating vampires and humans with special powers.
“…Hmm, is this really good enough?”
But Karlreya stared at the storyboard she had completed with an unsatisfied expression.
Because her creation lacked originality.
In this world, vampires were creatures that had actually existed in the past.
Due to their horrifying trait of drinking human blood to sustain their lives, they had long since gone extinct.
But because of that, they became overly common subjects in fairy tales, plays, and operas.
The number of works featuring vampires as villains easily exceeded dozens when casually recalled.
If this story were animated and broadcasted, viewers would undoubtedly label it as “stale.”
“The storyboards and settings Director wrote in his notebook weren’t like this…”
Ragnar’s storyboards were exciting even at a glance.
Why was her own storyboard so unremarkable and lacking in fun?
Was this the pure difference in talent?
Could someone like her, a mere sparrow, ever catch up to a heaven-sent genius like Ragnar?
Planning to give this as a commemorative gift to Ragnar upon the conclusion of “Fate’s Sky,” Karlreya tightly shut her eyes.
“…I’m sorry, Director. I was an incompetent and useless woman…”
She lamented in a voice heavy with dejection.
“…I wanted to present you with a storyboard of exceptional quality, but this seems to be my limit. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with a fresh story involving vampires…”
Though Karlreya muttered this gloomily,
“…Hmm.”
Ragnar, after seriously reviewing the storyboard Karlreya had created from start to finish, thought differently from her.
“No, it’s not bad. This storyboard.”
“…Eh?”
Indeed, as Karlreya said, vampire-related material in creative works had become painfully cliché.
But at the same time, because vampires were such a tasty subject, they kept getting reused everywhere like old bones boiled repeatedly for soup.
If even a stale story could have a few distinct points of differentiation from other works,
Then there was definitely a possibility that Karlreya’s storyboard could transform into an extraordinary animation.
Upon hearing Ragnar’s evaluation, Karlreya looked at him with sparkling eyes.
“Is that so…? Then, Director, could you possibly give me some advice on improving this storyboard?”
“Eh? Advice? Hmm, well…”
While critiquing another person’s hard work might not be polite, Ragnar initially hesitated to accept Karlreya’s request.
“No, please! I’ve thought about it endlessly, but I can’t come up with any ideas to add to this!”
“…Hmm.”
Unable to refuse due to Karlreya’s persistent pleading, Ragnar eventually agreed.
‘Wait a minute.’
On second thought, wasn’t this a golden opportunity?
The reason emperors and dukes kept relentlessly pressuring Ragnar was precisely because he was the only person capable of producing animations.
But what if someone else, like Karlreya, came along?
If she could produce animations as entertaining—or even better—than the ones Ragnar made, not some amateurish stuff churned out by large trading companies,
Wouldn’t Ragnar then be able to step down from directing and return to a life of unemployment?
‘…This will work. It has to work!’
Thinking about this brilliant future awaiting him, Ragnar suddenly felt a surge of motivation.
“Vampires… What about vampire-related material…?”
Hmm, what fresh vampire themes are there…?
Like the story of chopping up a random vampire woman encountered on the street, or perhaps a war between an army hunting vampires and vampires who want to die at the hands of humans.
‘No, that’s not it.’
Karlreya’s storyboard was about humans with special powers fighting vampires who viewed humans as food.
Therefore, the critique Ragnar should give Karlreya is:
“What do you think about adding a subplot where the protagonist’s friend turns into a vampire?”
“…Eh?”
“To be precise, a story where the protagonist’s friend, overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority towards the protagonist, willingly transforms into a vampire.”
Adding lines that emphasize the vampires viewing humans as food would make it even better.
‘For example, referring to the humans they’ve drained as bread…’
Just as Ragnar was about to offer various critiques to Karlreya,
Creak!
“L-Lag, Lagrana! Have you heard? Any news?”
The door abruptly swung open, and Serika hurriedly burst into the room.
What’s going on with her?
“What news? What are you talking about?”
“Well, it’s about the crowdfunding announcement you put in the credits of yesterday’s ‘Fate’s Sky’ finale! You really haven’t heard anything?”
At Serika’s words, Ragnar blinked in confusion.
Because, truth be told, the crowdfunding advertisement Ragnar had aired was riddled with problems.
Setting an astronomical target amount of 50 million gold pieces—it was essentially a public declaration that he had no intention of making a sequel to ‘Fate’s Sky’.
So unless the fans of ‘Fate’s Sky’ were burning with passion, it would be strange if they responded enthusiastically.
But what Serika said next was beyond anything Ragnar could imagine.
“All the funds for the crowdfunding have been gathered.”
“…What? What did you say?”
“That is, the target amount you set was reached long ago, and now the total has doubled!”
“…?”
Crowdfunding for the sequel to ‘Fate’s Sky’.
Time taken to exceed the original funding goal by 100%:
One day.
