Chapter 6: Test Shoot!
Re-written date: 5 / 15 / 2025
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In a dim, confined room, the faint glow of a magical crystal embedded in the ceiling bathed everything in a pale light, casting long shadows across the walls. At the center of the room, two figures sat facing each other.
"Mr. Zat, welcome to the afterlife."
A woman with long, flowing blue hair, dressed in slightly revealing garments, smiled gently as she spoke.
"Just now, you tragically met your end. Though your life was short, there's no mistake — you are, indeed, dead."
Zat, still disoriented and trying to process the surreal scene, slowly looked up in shock. Murmuring as if trying to convince himself, he asked, "I see… In that case, I only have one question… That girl I pushed out of the way…"
Seeing the concern in his eyes, the blue-haired goddess returned a gentle smile and said, "She's alive."
"Thank goodness…"
A wave of relief swept over Zat, and he let out a long sigh, his face serene like a saint.
"At least I didn't die in vain."
"??"
The goddess blinked, seemingly confused.
"What do you mean? Actually, even if you hadn't pushed her, that girl wouldn't have gotten hurt at all."
"??!!"
Zat's eyes widened. The goddess casually flipped through a thick, divine-looking manual, sighing as she explained, "That cart was going to stop in front of her anyway."
"Cart?" Zat asked blankly.
"Yes, a donkey cart."
"Wait—are you saying I wasn't hit by it? Then… how did I die?"
"Oh, you weren't run over," the goddess said cheerfully. "You died of fright. You thought you were going to get hit, panicked, had a sudden heart attack, and just… dropped dead."
"D-Died of fright?!"
Zat fell back from his chair in shock, his expression one of pure disbelief.
The goddess, no longer bothering to hide her amusement, burst into laughter with an expression that screamed I've been waiting for this.
"Pffft! Pfft—hahahahahahaha!! This is the funniest cause of death I've ever seen! Pffft—kukukukukuku!!"
"You thought you were about to be crushed, wet yourself, passed out, and got carried to the nearby church! You ascended right there — surrounded by a bunch of priests and nuns trying to hold back their laughter!"
As her merciless words continued pouring out, Zat clutched his head in utter shame, shouting, "Stop talking!! I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it!!"
But the goddess, with a mischievous grin now stretched from ear to ear, leaned in close and whispered venomously, "And now your family's at the church too. When they heard how you died, everyone, even your own family, burst out laughing!"
"AAAAAAHHHHH!! STOP! PLEASE JUST STOP!!!"
"Cut! Aya, that was great, you completely became your character. But Zat, your expressions are still too stiff, and some of your movements felt awkward. Practice with Aya for a bit and we'll do another take."
With Edward's voice echoing across the dim set, the two actors finally snapped out of character, though just barely.
Even as they stepped out of the room, they seemed so deep in their roles that they hadn't fully returned to reality.
Especially the blue-haired girl, Aya.
After being on the receiving end of Zat's complaints for so long, she finally had a chance to turn the tables — and she wasn't going to let it go. Brows arched smugly, she strutted like she was the divine being she'd just played.
"Lord Edward," Zat groaned, still traumatized, "why did you make the goddess such a nasty character? From now on, every time I try to pray at church, Aya's smug face is going to pop into my head. How am I supposed to focus?!"
"Whose smug face are you talking about, huh?!" Aya snapped back, clearly still riding the high of her performance.
Seeing the two of them on the verge of another scuffle, Edward simply shook his head with a smile and turned his attention to the Magic Video Recorder in his hands.
The results from the first test shoot had exceeded all expectations.
Even though he had little actual experience in filming, the absurdly overpowered features of this magical device — like floating camera angles and phantom zooms — made it feel like he had just shot a professional-level scene.
Yes, unlike cameras from the other world, which needed to be physically placed and could only capture from fixed angles and focal lengths, this magical camera could, within a certain range, display virtually any angle or perspective.
Calling it "futuristic technology" wouldn't do it justice — in this world, magic outright ignored the laws of physics and common sense.
Now that the issue of camera work was solved, the rest of the production began to fall into place effortlessly.
The filming location was just one of the unused rooms in the Durin Family castle. Lighting could be handled easily using adjustable magical crystals.
As for costumes, with Winry's meticulous nature, it was no problem at all.
After hearing Edward's requirements, she simply grabbed a few garments lying around the castle and, with a few clever modifications, produced exactly what he asked for.
With all these challenges overcome, the last remaining issue was the actors.
After the first round of filming, Edward realized something very clearly — while Aya was able to get into character almost instantly thanks to essentially playing a version of herself, Zat struggled.
Playing a downtrodden, otaku-style young man completely unlike himself had thrown him off.
Several retakes had to be done because Zat just couldn't fully capture the original protagonist's air of long-suffering, underdog misery.
However, with repeated practice, Zat clearly began to awaken a hidden talent for acting. Edward could see his performance improving steadily with each take. So now, even the issue of actors no longer seemed like a problem.
"Script, filming, actors, costumes, props, location — all solved. Looks like we're just about ready to wrap up the first scene," Edward said with satisfaction.
As he spoke, Winry, Zat, and Aya — who were currently reviewing the recorded footage via a magical projection device — all showed surprised expressions.
Especially Zat and Aya. They could hardly believe that everything they'd just done had actually been captured by the machine.
What shocked them even more was Edward's earlier claim that the footage would later be shown to large groups of people for public viewing!
For someone as loyal and duty-bound as Zat, this kind of ultimate humiliation wasn't easy to accept, but he bore it silently. Aya, on the other hand — who had clearly been tricked and dragged into all of this — instantly looked outraged.
However, the moment Edward casually mentioned, "Five gold coins per month, plus a cut of future profits once the film airs," her fury instantly turned into fervor.
She had now completely embraced acting — even unconsciously slipping into her Aqua persona while speaking, much to everyone's amusement and concern.
"Alright," Edward clapped his hands, getting back on track. "Winry, you go prepare dinner. You two, don't forget to keep rehearsing afterward. I've already sent someone to get the scripts printed. Once they're ready, I'll hand them out. Tomorrow, let's aim for a full, clean take. After that, we'll start locking in the shooting locations and casting the next roles."