Tensei Shite Inaka de Slowlife wo Okuritai - Chapter 608

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Al's Presentation

「Puppet show is a type of performing arts where we use dolls to play in a story. A puppeteer controls dolls with their hands to move them and with the voice actor's voice to make the dolls act with emotion to tell a story to the audience. Is there something you do not understand up to this point?」

「Aah, I understand. But, I can not imagine a doll moving using magic, and I do not understand how this ‘voice actor’ will express emotions」

「In that case, then it will be easier to show you directly」

　Signaling with my eyes, Gregor guessed my intention and called Tickle over. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

　Gregor gently put Gekota, - which he held in his arm, - to the table and I cast Psychic.

　As I spread my mana into the doll, I shook Gekota’s body.

　Gekota - who had been quiet - slowly tilted his head.

「Geko?」

「――!?」

　When I moved him at the same time as Tickle infused her voice, Barnack - who had been watching as if drawn in - reacted with a gasp.

　Since I precisely used Wind magic to match the voice sent from Tickle with the doll’s movement, it must have sounded like the voice came from Gekota from Barnack’s view.

　It is the moment when the soul of the voice actor and the puppeteer’s technique overlap.

　It is no longer just a doll covered in cloth. There was certainly life inside the doll.

　Making Gekota’s body stir, I made him jump spiritedly as if expressing the raw joy of life he felt at the moment.

「Geko, geko, geko!」

　Gekota’s lighthearted, joyful voice resounds.

　It is similar to the words he uttered before, but it has a completely different type of emotion put into it.

　As expected of Tickle. It seemed like she was diligently training her performance skills as a voice actress while improving her skills as a puppeteer. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

　After jumping in a circle, Gekota eventually stopped in front of Barnack.

「Nice to meet you, Barnack-sama! I’m Gekota! Best regards!」

　Tickle greeted him in a manner typical of Gekota without any timidity toward others.

「I, I can’t believe this. Is this the combination technique of magic and voice acting?」

「Yes. I use Psychic to move Gekota while Tickle uses her voice for Gekota’s voice」

「Hm? Was it the maid over there who sent her voice to the doll?」

「Y, yesh! Although it was to explain about the puppet show, I apologize for the rude greeting!」

「Y, your voice is completely different.....」

　Barnack had a stunned expression on his face when Tickle lowered her head and apologized.

　Her natural voice and Gekota’s unique, hoarse voice sound nothing alike after all. So it is understandable.

　When I first heard it, I thought, where in her throat does that voice come from?

「What do you think, Barnack-sama?」

「A, aah. I have a sufficient image for the moving dolls」

「I am glad to hear that」

　It was worth it to show him the demonstration with Tickle.

「I would like to spread the performing arts of puppet shows in the kingdom. In order to do that, I will need to perform at Barnack-sama’s opera house!」

　Gregor took the chance to passionately convey his enthusiasm.

「……there are a few things I am curious about, may I ask about it?」

「You can ask anything」

　Gregor leans forward toward Barnack’s favorable response.

「Looking at this script, it looks like there are quite a lot of dolls that appear, but are there enough puppeteers?」

「We have around 5 puppeteers, including Tickle. I can not say it is sufficient」

　Even at the minimum, you need at least 10 people to make that play’s script work.

　Considering that there will be multiple performances in a day, ideally, there should be twice that number so they could rotate. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

「But, we have recruited non-attribute magicians since autumn last year in Gregor’s territory, and the number of candidates increases steadily」

「So you have started to move towards a public performance already」

　Barnack let out a cry of admiration upon learning that we have already been working based on a meticulous plan.

「Yes. We still do not have enough puppeteers right now, but Schugel-sama has arranged to introduce excellent students from the Magic Academy to us. The number of puppeteers will likely increase next year」

「What. So Schugel is involved in this? You should have told me earlier if it was like that」

「It’s not like you will definitely make some room for the public performance for me even if I told you that, right?」

　Schugel joined in the conversation while smiling when Barnack raised his voice in surprise.

「That’s right. I will not do anything that I think is not interesting」

「I thought of letting you confirm it yourself without any preconceived notion. How was it? How was this two’s proposal about the puppet show?」

「It is a revolutionary proposal. Really interesting. If you ask me, I definitely want you to try it once they are ready」

「Ohh, so that means.....!」

「However, even the general public still does not know anything about this puppet show. It is a big risk to suddenly take on a large project like this」

「That is right. When it comes to this script, it will probably take around one and a half hours 」

「Gunununu……」

　Perhaps it’s because he hold an emotional attachment toward the first story he wrote about of Gekota’s adventure that Gregor let out an impatient groan.

　I know how he feels, but there won’t be many that will come if you suddenly announce a large work.

「What about if we first introduce a genre of puppet show to the citizens of the royal capital by showing a short program?」

「That will be helpful if you could do that」

　First of all, it is important to let people understand what is ‘puppet show’.

　First, let them enjoy the shorter version first, and then slowly build a foundation for them to accept larger works. That is important.

　After I conveyed that idea to Gregor, he eventually nodded in understanding, although he looked disappointed.

「Well then, I would like you to proceed that way」

「I understand. When can it be shown?」

「About this autumn」

「Very well. Then, let us perform it at the Slowlett House’s Harvest Festival next autumn. Depending on the result, we can decide whether it can be performed in the royal capital’s opera house or not. Is there a problem with this, Alfried-dono?」

　……eh? There are definitely problems. Why does it have to be like that? We can just reserve the opera house’s hall and hold the review there, can’t we?

　I wanted to protest like that, but things have gone so smoothly up to this point. I can not throw cold water on that now. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

「……I do not think there is a problem, but please allow me to check with my father just in case」

「Aah, please do」

　Barnack’s powerful gaze is piercing.

　I wonder if the intent behind his gaze is something like 「Please take care of this」?

　It is a request from a prominent head of an earl's house in the royal capital. This is practically impossible to refuse.

　I headed toward Nord-tousan and Elna-kaasan’s table as if to escape from that gaze.

「……did something happen?」

　Once I arrived next to them, Nord-tousan looked at me with a worried look on his face.

「Umm, they said they want to perform a puppet show at this year’s Harvest Festival.....」

　When I told him it was Barnack’s strong wish to do so, Nord-tousan almost looked up at the sky in exasperation, but he managed to hold it in.

「Why did it become like that?」

「Isn’t it because Barnack-sama is a fan of the two of you?」

　Maybe he is just curious about the territory ruled by the Dragon Slayer. I wonder if it is the kind of feeling a fan or a certain work gets when they want to visit a holy land?

「It certainly felt that way, but it was not said out of politeness’ sake, huh」

　Oops, apparently the main characters - the two of them - are unaware of Barnack’s strong fan feeling.

　Even though he showed such kindness from the initial greeting.

　The fact that he spoke to him when Nord-tousan received his court rank means he was Nord-tousan’s fan since his days as a commoner adventurer. He really likes the two of them.

「What should we do?」

「The people of the territory will also be happy if Viscount Gregor performs the puppet show. Let’s take this in a positive light」

「That is right. Could you tell them that they are welcome to visit?」

「Okay」

　After receiving Nord-tousan’s formal permission, I returned to the table where Barnack and the others were waiting. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

「How is it?」

「My father said there is no problem with that」

「It is decided then」

　Barnack looks really pleased since he could go and visit the Slowlett’s territory using his work as an excuse.

　……how nice. I also want to get a good reason of ‘work’ to freely go out and play around somewhere.

「Barnack, this is just between you and me. We are thinking of trying to do an even larger business using a puppet show as the foundation」

「Hou? Will you tell me about it?」

「Of course」

　At the point where the path toward the puppet show became certain, Schugel spoke to Barnack about the outline joint venture.

「……that looks like a very interesting idea, isn’t it, Schugel. Such a large-scale project is unheard of, you know?」

「Even back to the time of the founding of the country, there has not been a large-scale project such as this where multiple noble houses join hands」

　We are trying to build a huge theme park in the royal capital after all.

　It seems like there has not been anyone planning such a ridiculous event, even going back to the time of the founding of this country.

「Well, everything depends on whether it becomes true」

　It is as Schugel had said.

　If Gregor’s puppet show does not work, the important characters and creation of the worldview for the theme park will also can not be made.

　First, we need to spread and establish the puppet show in the royal capital to gain solid popularity, otherwise, it will not be worth talking about.

「The Misfid house, Dole house, and Slowlett house are forming an alliance. I can only see a successful future」

　I think it is still in the theoretical phase, but it seems like Barnack believes this will become a definite future. www.ihavesinnedtranslation.com

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