Animation Producer in a Fantasy World

Following “Book of Life and Death”, the next animation Ragna announced was “Sky of Destiny”.

And as soon as people saw the preview of this new work titled “Sky of Destiny”, they realized something was unusual.

“This… seems somehow different from the previews Director Ragna has released so far?”

“Yeah. How should I put it… it feels like it was specially produced just for this preview?”

In the past, Ragna had always released previews before airing animations.

There was no more effective method to arouse viewers’ interest and curiosity about the upcoming work than showing a preview.

However, while the previews for “Machine God Chronicles” and “Book of Life and Death” were made by simply cutting and pasting content from the first episode,

This preview for “Sky of Destiny” had a somewhat different character from past previews.

Because this “Sky of Destiny” was not an animation produced for people within the Empire like “Machine God Chronicles”,

But an animation produced for all countries existing on the continent and the citizens of those countries.

No matter how popular Ragna’s animations had become, spreading to all countries on the continent,

Ragna’s animations could be called a fresh new culture that had only appeared on the continent about a year ago.

As such, while it might not be the case in the Empire, looking at the continent as a whole, there were still more people who didn’t know about the genre called ‘animation’, and.

That’s why Ragna didn’t make the preview for “Sky of Destiny” in a patchwork format like before, but properly set it up and made it.

As has been proven numerous times on Earth,

A very well-made preview went beyond making people have expectations and directly involved the popularity of the work.

And so, around 9 PM on weekend evenings when “Machine God Chronicles” and “Book of Life and Death” had aired,

Ragna began to officially broadcast the preview of “Sky of Destiny” that he had made with all his might.

Clack.

A dark room.

Someone is playing chess alone in a room where only a very faint light enters.

No, he is not playing chess.

He’s just quietly moving the pieces placed on the chessboard while deeply lost in thought.

“…The Full Moon Ritual. The ritual that receives the evaluation of being the most noble and ugly to mages.”

“No, can it be called a mere ritual?”

“From swordsmen to lancers, archers, cavalry, mages… it summons all sorts of heroes who existed in the past to the present and makes them wage a war killing each other.”

“It’s said that if you win this war, you’re given the qualification to make any wish.”

The next moment, the camera’s perspective changes and begins to show the pieces on the chessboard.

Starting from chess pieces holding swords, to pieces holding bows or spears.

Even chess pieces with monster heads.

No matter how you looked at them, they were somewhat heterogeneous objects different from the chess pieces used in normal chess.

As the pieces on the chessboard are zoomed in, the television screen begins to show various characters.

A female mage conjuring magic with an alluring smile in a place like a cathedral.

A very young girl, and a warrior with a huge build who seems to be guarding her.

A woman running somewhere with a dagger in her hand, her face not clearly visible as she’s wearing a black hood.

A man gazing blankly at the moon in the middle of ruins.

A young man wearing agile armor all over his body, holding a longsword, and a lancer throwing away his knife fight.

And.

“…I ask you. Are you my master?”

Up to a boy who was forced to participate in the Full Moon Ritual due to a terribly unfortunate coincidence, and a knight who saved him.

Clack.

He, who was moving the chess pieces, strokes the chess piece holding a sword in a somehow loving manner.

“The rituals held in the past all ended in failure for some reason.”

“…But, this time will be a bit different.”

“This time, I will make my hand reach the end of that sky.”

Saying that, as the scene of the unidentified figure slowly stretching his hand towards the sky ends-

“Sky of Destiny, D-30 until official airing date.”

“Scheduled to officially air on January 30th.”

Buzz-

The preview of “Sky of Destiny” ended there.

“…..”

“…..”

An utterly unfriendly preview that didn’t directly reveal who the characters that just appeared were, or what the upcoming story would be.

But.

“Kyaa! This is real anime! This is true anime!”

“Animations made by merchant associations? Hmm… do such moving cheap pictures… even deserve to be called animations?”

“Director Ragna…! I have committed a mortal sin for not believing in you for a moment and purchasing such cheap animations…!”

“Please forgive me for my faith in you wavering for a moment…!”

And so, as soon as the preview of Ragna’s new work, “Sky of Destiny”, came out, people went crazy with enthusiasm, and.

At the same time, the nameless animations that the merchant associations had ambitiously released completely failed right from the start.

The preview of “Sky of Destiny” that Ragna released this time didn’t just become a topic within the Empire.

Of course, since the ratio of Empire citizens was the highest among fans of Ragna’s animations, it inevitably caused the biggest repercussion within the Empire, but.

The country that showed the second most intense reaction to the preview of “Sky of Destiny” after the Empire was none other than the Silgea Federation.

The reason for that was none other than,

“The young man holding a spear who appeared in this preview of ‘Sky of Destiny’, isn’t that Chris-nim, one of our Federation’s great figures?”

“That’s right. They said in the preview, didn’t they? This animation is about heroes from all eras coming back to life in modern times and fighting.”

“Then did Director Ragna feature our Federation’s great figure in his animation?”

“Haha, well. He certainly knows his stuff! Indeed, he’s someone who wouldn’t be embarrassed to be presented not just in our Federation but anywhere on the continent!”

For reference, the reason why the Federation people could immediately see through the identity of the young man holding a spear was extremely simple.

Because it looked exactly like the statue erected in the middle of the Federation’s capital.

The handsome young man wearing blue armor and holding a black spear imbued with a curse in his hand could only be Chris, one of the Federation’s great heroes.

A hero from their country confirmed to appear in an animation that people all over the world might watch?

This was something that would inevitably make any citizen of the Federation swell with national pride.

If this world were 21st century Earth, YouTube would probably be flooded with nationalistic videos like “Why did the Empire’s animation producer Ragna Tersion choose a hero from our country of all things?” “Ragna Tersion, having a favorable impression of the Silvia Federation from before…”, but.

Unfortunately, since YouTube doesn’t exist in the fantasy world, that didn’t happen.

Instead, all books about the life of hero Chris and related fairy tales were sold out in the capital.

Moreover, people appeared who analyzed how strong the legendary Chris was and what form he would take in “Sky of Destiny”.

“According to legend, Chris-nim was a great hero who was not only skilled with spears but also proficient in swords, bows, and even magic.”

“I see, so that’s why Chris-nim got the position corresponding to ‘Lancer’ in the Full Moon Ritual.”

“Isn’t this essentially Director Ragna, the producer of ‘Sky of Destiny’, acknowledging Chris-nim as the world’s most excellent lancer?”

And so, the people of the Federation, fully intoxicated with national pride, began to dig into every detail of the mere 3-minute long PV as if dissecting it, and.

“But you know, that man holding a longsword fighting Chris-nim in the preview. Who on earth could he be?”

“Hmm, right. Who could that man be to be able to face Chris-nim head-on?”

Eventually, attention began to focus on who the man exchanging blows equally with Chris in the preview could be.

“Well, he’s probably not a mage… and seeing him fight Chris-nim head-on, he doesn’t seem to be an assassin either…”

“He’s holding a sword in his hand, so isn’t he obviously a swordsman? No, to exchange blows equally with a great hero like Chris-nim, he must be a famous swordsman who left his name in history!”

“Well, it doesn’t make sense otherwise.”

But then,

“That man… could he perhaps be an archer?”

Someone raised an objection about the identity of the man holding the sword.

“First of all, it’s certain that an archer participated in this ritual, but looking at the video, there’s no one holding a bow. So by process of elimination, there’s a possibility that the man crossing swords with Chris-nim could be the archer.”

But,

“Hahaha, what nonsense is that! Where in the world is there an archer who fights holding a longsword!”

“If that man later shows a scene of shooting the sword rapidly like arrows, it might not be an impossible thing.”

“How on earth could that man be an archer! Why don’t you also say that man’s true identity was actually a mage?”

And so people threw countless sneers at the person who said those words, and.

“Well, I guess it was too far-fetched a claim after all?”

The person who claimed the man’s identity might be an archer scratched his head with an embarrassed face.

And so the truth was buried deep where no one knew.