Animation Producer in a Fantasy World

To conclude, everything was resolved smoothly.

I had made quite a lot of preparations in case things didn’t go as intended, but there was no need for that at all.

Just like how if a squad leader says to his subordinate soldiers, “I don’t like that mountain,” the next day the soldiers in the unit would be riding a train to hell.

When the Emperor looked at the students sitting in their seats with a meaningful gaze, all situations were concluded with that.

Because, true to being the ones who bullied Liz in a gloomy and petty way, they were damn quick to read the situation, and they planted their heads on the ground first.

“Your Majesty, I’m really wronged! I knew nothing about this situation!”

Meanwhile, the chairman was ardently claiming his innocence even while everyone else was keeping their mouths shut.

And the Emperor just laughed as if he found the chairman’s antics cute.

“Haha, this person. Do you think everything is resolved if you say you didn’t know? As far as I know, you were the person in overall charge of this place. Your life must be so easy.”

“No, that’s not it, I’m just saying we should resolve everything through dialogue because it’s not good to escalate things-”

“Oh, that’s a very nice thing to say.”

The Emperor replied with a pleased smile at the chairman’s words.

“It’s even more trustworthy coming from you, who didn’t bat an eye when this student I’m watching over was being bullied.”

“…..”

As I clicked my tongue watching the scene of the Emperor lightly suppressing the chairman’s last desperate pattern.

Serika, who was standing quietly beside me, opened her mouth as if puzzled.

“…Why that expression? Do you have some complaint?”

“Complaint? About what?”

“No, you’ve been making an expression like something’s not to your liking for a while now. Did you perhaps want to handle this matter yourself?”

“No, it’s not that…”

To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed.

Originally, at times like this, it would have been fun if there were one or two guys who bark at the Emperor without reading the situation, claiming they did nothing wrong.

‘Well, in a society with a class system, anyone who barks at the Emperor would be a crazy bastard.’

If someone here had shown a behavior of barking at the Emperor claiming their innocence.

I would have seriously suspected that the guy had ambitions to establish the 6th Republic hand in hand with Hikardo.

Anyway, as all situations were lightly concluded by the Emperor like that.

After dismissing everyone, the Emperor approached Liz, who was standing with a blank expression, and gently patted her head.

“Yes, you must have had a hard time at such a young age. It’s my natural duty to take care of the Empire’s subjects, but I failed to perform that duty for you. I apologize for that fact.”

“Y-Your Majesty. N-No! I, I just…”

“That’s enough. You don’t need to say anything. I just did what I should have done.”

Saying so, the Emperor looked at Kaya, who was standing behind him like a secretary, and smiled bitterly.

“So that’s why you, who are busy acting as Ragna’s assistant director, volunteered to act as my attendant secretary today. I thought it was a bit strange.”

“…I’m sorry. If I overstepped my bounds…”

“That’s enough. I can always fall for such tricks. Rather, it’s a bit pleasant. Because I can legally kick the butts of those good-for-nothings.”

The Emperor, who was saying so, suddenly turned his gaze and stared at me.

“By the way, Ragna. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…Pardon?”

“I mean, I handled a matter that you should have dealt with originally, so isn’t there any compensation or something?”

“…?”

Is this some quest in a game?

Getting a reward for solving a problem.

But surprisingly, the Emperor was making a very serious expression.

“If I was of help, could you perhaps provide me with a preview version of “Book of Life and Death”? Like before the… ahem, unfortunate incident that occurred between you and me.”

“…..”

“To be honest, I can’t stand it anymore. I’m dying to know how Alpha will find Zodiac’s whereabouts, what Louis is thinking as he deliberately exposes his location!”

The Emperor’s eyes were glistening like those of a duel addict… no, an anime addict as he was saying this.

“The Duke, if he’s going to spoil anyway, should do it properly, but he only speaks in bits and pieces as if to tease me, which only makes me more frustrated! So please. If you grant my request, the reward will be generous-”

But unfortunately, the Emperor’s words couldn’t continue any further.

“…Your Majesty. Please stop there. And didn’t you promise me? That you wouldn’t say anything to the Director about the preview version in any way.”

Because Kaya, who was standing behind the Emperor, was looking at the Emperor with an ice-cold expression.

“K-Kaya! I’m not doing that, it’s just out of pure love for anime-”

“That’s enough with the excuses. So keep your mouth shut and quietly follow me. Do you know how many schedules Your Majesty has to handle today?”

Thus, Kaya forcibly restrained the Emperor who was trying to say something to me and quietly disappeared somewhere.

“…..”

“…..”

As Serika and I were watching that scene with somewhat bewildered expressions, Liz, who had been keeping her head down without saying anything until now, approached me.

“Um… Director…”

“Yes?”

When I turned my head to look at Liz, she was making an expression as if she was about to cry at any moment.

“Th-Thank you. Really… I never thought you would care about me this much…”

“…Alright, so stop making that expression. I hate that kind of thing.”

But Liz’s expression didn’t seem like it would easily change, and.

In the end, I had no choice but to use a cheat key after taking Liz to a quiet place where there were no people.

The identity of that cheat key was none other than.

“Ahem, actually, there was something I urgently wanted to discuss with you, Liz, regarding the development of episode 7 of “Book of Life and Death”. Since things have turned out like this, can we talk about it for a moment here?”

“…The development of episode 7 of “Book of Life and Death”? But why with me…?”

Indeed, as expected, Liz made a much better expression when the topic of “Book of Life and Death” came up.

Because if nothing else, Liz was also a professional voice actor, so she would show a very serious attitude whenever talking about “Book of Life and Death”.

I opened my mouth with a little relief at Liz’s such attitude.

“Well, it’s because you’re the voice actor for Alpha who’s chasing Zodiac.”

“…Pardon?”

“No matter how much I’m the director overseeing the production of “Book of Life and Death”, my understanding of the character is bound to be lower than yours who’s immersed in acting Alpha’s role. And this episode 7 of “Book of Life and Death” is also a part where Alpha’s thoughts are very important.”

“…..”

At my words, Liz blinked her eyes and then slowly nodded her head.

“…I understand. If I’m good enough, I’ll help you as much as I can, Director. So, what is it that you want to ask me?”

“You know what the content of episode 6 is since we recently did the script reading for episode 6 of “Book of Life and Death”, right?”

“Yes. It’s the content where Alpha suspects Louis might be Zodiac and installs all kinds of artifacts for wiretapping and surveillance in Louis’s house.”

Until now, “Book of Life and Death” had been developing in a way where Louis and Alpha were struggling to reveal each other’s identities without any clues, but.

From episode 6, Louis and Alpha, who have roughly guessed each other’s identities, began to engage in a full-scale battle of wits.

“As you well know, Alpha is currently suspecting that Louis’s identity is Zodiac. Although he’s saying outwardly that the probability of Louis being Zodiac is not even 1%, in fact, he’s almost certain in his heart that Louis is Zodiac.”

Therefore, Alpha continues to try to catch Louis’s tail by monitoring and wiretapping Louis’s house to somehow find evidence that he is Zodiac.

“And Louis also knows very well that Alpha is monitoring his room, so he’s trying to deceive him by showing as normal an appearance as possible. While doing exactly what men of that age do.”

“…And?”

“Because Alpha has already determined in his heart that Louis is Zodiac, he will never clear his suspicions no matter how normal behavior Louis shows. In this situation, what should Louis do to make Alpha finally stop monitoring him?”

That’s right.

This was the biggest reason why I was racking my brains over the development of episode 7 of “Book of Life and Death”.

If Alpha had been an ordinary person, he would have immediately cleared his suspicions upon seeing the ‘normal daily life’ Louis was acting out, but.

Alpha was an incomparably competent detective who managed to pinpoint Louis in a situation where there wasn’t even a single clue about Zodiac’s identity.

Therefore, if a development occurs where Alpha is deceived by Louis’s half-baked actions, the plausibility of “Book of Life and Death” would also completely collapse.

Listening to my words, Liz seemed to be thinking about something deeply, and then opened her mouth with her face turning bright red.

“Umm… If I were Alpha, I think I would clear some suspicions if Louis showed behavior like reading an erotic book in his room.”

“An erotic book?”

“Yes. Isn’t it very normal for men of that age to show interest in erotic things? And since erotic books are not something to be shown to others, it’s also normal to try to hide it, and at the same time, I think it can explain all the reasons why Louis was cooped up in his room and didn’t come out much.”

“…Hmm.”

Listening to Liz’s explanation, I nodded my head.

Appreciating erotic novels or porn.

Certainly, it’s not a bad idea.

If we use the idea Liz just told me, even Alpha would have no choice but to stop monitoring Louis while still suspecting him.

Because what Alpha is doing is, after all, peeking at someone else’s embarrassing private life, and.

If by any chance Louis was really innocent, it would be a great disrespect to him.

But.

“Hmm, it’s not bad. It’s not bad, but… no matter how I think about it, the impact is a bit weak.”

“Pardon?”

“For an adolescent in puberty, looking at erotic things is not special. It’s as natural as breathing air or drinking water. But would Alpha be convinced by seeing such a natural scene?”

For example, wouldn’t Alpha clear his suspicions only if he reads a manga with the outrageous content of a dragon transforming into a carriage, or if he boldly drops his pants even while knowing there’s surveillance?

I seriously thought so.