Chapter 36: Sir Weissenasche
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Led by the attendant, Joshua passed through a corridor that had oil paintings lining both sides of its walls...
The the of the paintings surrounded the depiction of war, with clashing blades alongside blood-soaked bodies and dried bones being commonly found in most of the paintings.
The paintings made Joshua feel like he was in a war morial instead of a performing theater.
The corridor was not too long, and soon, he had reached the end of it. The attendant stopped at a door before he turned around with an inviting gesture.
If the theater manager’s office was behind the door, then the attendant should have gone ahead and knocked on the door to inform the manager. Yet, the attendant did no such thing.
It was because there was noise coming from behind the door, and even if the attendant knocked, he assud that no one inside would hear it.
“You can give the highest offer you want, but I will never sell this theater to you!! You bunch of scoundrels! Get out of my sight!”
“Sir Weissenasche, your repertoires are outdated, and no troupes are willing to perform here anymore, so why don’t you just make one last big earning and retire?”
“The classics will never be outdated! This theater will continue to open even if there is one last audience mber left! If you don’t leave now, I will resort to using force!”
The yelling behind the door made it awkward for the attendant, and shortly after, two n in black suits ca out of the room. They only glanced at Joshua, then at Ciri and Hyrlan before they left angrily.
Joshua properly sorted out his clothes since he would be going into a business eting, and the person he would be talking business with did not seem to be in a good mood.
“Please wait for here,” Joshua said to Ciri and Hyrlan before he opened the door and walked into the room.
“Marlone, didn’t I just say, no matter... Wait... who are you?”
There was only one person in the room, and he was sitting behind a wooden office table at the center of the room. He had a slightly portly figure and was wearing a rather gaudy... costu. The most striking part about him was that he had blush on both sides of his cheeks, and his lips seed to have a ruddy gloss to it.
It seed like the rather effeminate fat man was the owner of the theater, Sir Weissenasche.
“A collaborator who can save your theater.”
Joshua pondered for a bit and chose to portray himself as a collaborator. After all, Joshua did not have any troupe, he only had a crew, a behind-the-scenes crew composed of demons and the undead.
“A collaborator? You did hear yelling just now, right? You scummy businessn will never get an inch of this theater off of !”
He was still a little emotionally agitated and was not in an accommodating mood. He pressed the bell on the table, and two large... spellcasters walked out of another door in the office.
Sir Weissenasche, already boiling in anger, was ready to chase him out.
He was dealing with a person who was totally lost in anger, and Joshua felt that it was impossible for him to get Sir Weissenasche to calm down to talk business. So, Joshua could only pull out the badge that the Duke of Bones had given to him.
Joshua held the badge with an unknown insignia in his hand. Sir Weissenasche had good eyesight, and he quickly caught sight of the insignia. His expression froze imdiately like that of his attendant earlier, and fear imdiately replaced his anger, but he quickly cald down.
The two casters whom Sir Weissenasche had summoned in were about to toss Joshua out but they were imdiately stopped by him.
“What are you two doing?! He’s a guest! Get soone to make a pot of black tea, now!”
The Duke of Bones’ reputation sure was sothing.
Joshua watched on as the two casters hurried into the other room. In place of them, a female attendant quickly pushed out a dining cart with a teapot as well as several cups on it.
Joshua simply sat down on the chair before Sir Weissenasche’s table.
What the Duke of Bones gave Joshua was not only her prestige but also Sir Weissenasche’s life. When Joshua got close to the sowhat portly aristocrat, he noticed that the mark on his left hand reacted.
Sir Weissenasche seed to have remnants of the duke’s magic in him... but he did not look like an undead creature.
“You... Did that person send you here?” Sir Weissenasche asked in a fearful tone after the female attendant served Joshua a cup of red tea and left the office.
“No, I’m her friend.”
While Joshua did indeed call the Duke of Bones “Her Grace”, and the Duke of Bones referred to him as “His Highness”, Joshua and the duke were of equal position. After the duke beca a fan of “Beauty and the Demon”, Joshua and the Lord of Liches even beca more like friends.
“Fr... iend...”
He appeared to realize how terrifying Joshua’s true identity was and wanted to stand up to bow, but Joshua stopped him.
“I ntioned earlier that I’ve co here today as a collaborator, Sir Weissenasche. You don’t need to be so reserved.”
“A collaborator... Sir, please spare us. This theater was once a distinguished institution in Norland. You must have heard of these two plays, ‘Girl of Sionagle’ and ‘The Great Revolution’. I wrote and perford both of them.”
He used a pleading tone to speak to Joshua and seed to regard Joshua as a businessman who had co to buy his theater out.
“Sir Weissenasche, you ntioned ‘was once’, right?”
Joshua purposely emphasized “was once”, and at the sa ti, he glanced at the painting behind Sir Weissenasche. It was of a young girl in armor, and she was holding a flag. The entire composition of the painting was reminiscent of the French painter, Eugene Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People”.
“It is still the sa now,” Sir Weissenasche tried to explain.
“The sa? An empty theater is a glorious mont in this distinguished institution? Is my understanding of the word glorious different from yours, Sir?”
With such a flawed excuse, Joshua had countless ways to poke holes in his logic and render him speechless.
“Relax, Sir Weissenasche. I’m not here to buy your theater. I’m here to save your theater.”
Joshua watched on as Sir Weissenasche’s neck reddened, and his pale face was finally ruddy now. Seemingly afraid that the latter would suddenly die of a heart attack or sothing, he went straight to the point for his visit.
“Save?” Sir Weissenasche stopped giving excuses and waited for Joshua to continue.
“That’s right. I have a show with , a show that could bring your theater back to its glorious days, perhaps even far beyond that.”
Joshua had absolute confidence in “Beauty and the Demon”. A film that could move soone was definitely a good movie. It was a movie that made the Duke of Bones shed tears of soulfire, and Joshua did not believe that humans with developed tear glands would not be affected by it.
“A show? I’m sorry, Sir... I didn’t know that you’re the manager of a troupe. Can you tell the na of your troupe?”
Joshua’s answer delighted Sir Weissenasche. He originally had two troupes under his wing, but all of them had been poached by that damned Norland National Theater. So, he was preparing to assemble the manpower needed to rebuild one, but if Joshua was a troupe manager, then Sir Weissenasche would not mind allowing his troupe to give it a go.
“I’m not a troupe manager, and I don’t have a troupe either.” Joshua shook his head, indicating that he was not soone from that sector.
“Then...” Sir Weissenasche was confused.
“My show is here.”
Joshua tapped his fingers against his suitcase.
“It’s a show... that could kick-start a whole new era.”
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