Chapter 503: The Loyalty Hymn of the Knight of Valsi

To be exact, Liszt wanted to create a stage play in the style of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" or "Romeo and Juliet."

Of course, he didn’t know much about such stage plays.

He had never seen a full stage play.

But that didn’t stop him from pioneering a brand-new form of stage play in this world. It didn’t need to be highly sophisticated or have a complex plot; he just needed to introduce the concept of stage plays. Once stage plays became popular, novelists would naturally create truly good works.

In fact,

Liszt only needed to adapt one or two classic knight tales to create a stage play. Based on the hints from the smoke mission, he knew Avril Mask had artistic talent but lacked inspiration. The adaptation could be left to her.

"Avril, I plan to take over your comedy troupe and help you create a brand-new stage play. Your troupe will move to Flower Town and mainly perform for my territory’s residents. Once you’ve rehearsed classic stage plays, I’ll recommend you for performances in bigger cities."

The comedy troupe was made up of freemen, many of whom were struggling and related by family.

Liszt was willing to take over the troupe, and Avril and her family had no reason to object. The new stage play intrigued Avril: "Lord, I’m eager to perform stage plays for you, but I’m not sure if they’ll be popular."

"Don’t worry about popularity. I’ll take over your troupe and set a base salary based on the territory’s workshop standards. Profits from each performance will be split… My goal for you is to focus on art, not profits."

Whether stage plays could make money depended on whether this art form gained recognition.

But even if stage plays became popular, the troupe’s limited performance time and frequency made it hard to earn much. Liszt owned many businesses and didn’t need stage plays to make money.

He invested in stage plays, first to complete the mission and second for promotion.

He was even willing to take a loss to keep it going.

After Liszt’s confirmation, Avril was thrilled and immediately asked for his advice on rehearsing the stage play.

"I’ve already explained the stage play format. You might still be unsure, but you have plenty of time to figure it out. I recommend two knight tales: 'The Loyal Ode of Sir Walcy' and 'The Ambitious Sir Piero.' Simplify them, focus on the main plot, and adapt it for the stage."

These two knight tales had few war scenes and a realistic style, making them easy to adapt.

Most importantly, their themes were wholesome.

"The Loyal Ode of Sir Walcy," as the name suggests, tells of a knight who loyally protects his lord; "The Ambitious Sir Piero" is about a commoner who, through bravery and loyalty, becomes a noble knight.

Such stories would undoubtedly appeal to both commoners and nobles.

"Avril, quickly rehearse a rough story. I will guide you on which parts have issues, and you can make modifications." To complete the mission as soon as possible, Liszt set a limit, "Within three days, I want to see 'The Ode of Walcy' on stage."

"Lord, is three days too short? I don’t know if I can do it well."

"Then I’ll give you a little more guidance. The story of 'Walcy' is quite simple: bandits come to the territory, the lord is injured, Walcy loyally protects the lord, he performs exceptionally and defeats the bandits, the territory is safe, and then the lord rewards him generously. You just need to extract the main storyline, add some dialogue, and do some simple action mimicry."

"Then I’ll give it a try."

"Go ahead."

...

Avril’s comedy troupe was renamed the "Black Horse Island Drama Troupe" and began to focus on rehearsing "The Loyal Ode of Sir Walcy."

Meanwhile, Liszt took Cris Truth to Black Horse Island to select a location for the mage tower.

Generally, magicians would build their mage towers in relatively remote locations to conduct their truth research undisturbed. However, Cris could no longer leave the lifestyle of the town, so she chose to build her mage tower on the edge of Port Town.

Moreover, Port Town, the new castle, and the mage tower formed a triangular distribution.

She didn’t decide the architectural style of the magic tower, as Liszt proposed a completely new design with arched doors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and large columns.

It also featured an independent stairwell and a piping system with a water tower.

The design was a five-story circular building with four rooms on each floor, aside from the stairwell. Although called a magic tower, it was essentially an apartment building. Liszt planned to build more such magic towers to train more magic apprentices or scholars.

He disliked the obsession magicians had when pursuing the truth, but exploring magic power and magic arrays was a research direction worth discussing in the future.

Magic could potentially be industrialized.

Of course, this idea couldn’t be realized for the time being. Cris wasn’t even willing to mentor magic apprentices, let alone cultivate a large number of scholars researching magic. Moreover, magicians were highly dangerous, and to achieve the industrialization of magic, he first needed complete control over the territory.

Only the knights’ mana could safeguard and restrain the threat of magic.

"The requirements are clear: finalize the magic tower’s design as soon as possible, and start construction immediately after approval by me and Cris," Liszt instructed Jo Maya Hammer.

The architect, despite his past misconduct, had worked diligently since arriving at Black Horse Island and hadn’t caused any further incidents. Having arrived earlier, he had more experience with rubber, bricks, glass, etc., and temporarily held the position of the territory’s chief architect. The new serf architects, still struggling with the language, had to adapt to the architectural style.

"Lord, rest assured, we will design the magic tower perfectly!"

Liszt turned to Cris and said, "The magic tower will mostly reflect your ideas. Feel free to share any needs." Although he said this, the architectural tone of the magic tower was set by him, and Cris was too embarrassed to overturn it to build the magic tower she envisioned.

Moreover, Liszt’s plan was indeed quite good.

The neoclassical-style magic tower was far more aesthetically pleasing and practical.

...

Three days later.

Liszt had returned to Flower Town, and the "Valci" rehearsed by the Black Horse Island Drama Troupe officially premiered in the castle’s manor, with not many spectators, only the town’s officials.

The stage was basic, the play’s content was even more so, and the actors’ performances were awkward.

The roughly fifteen-minute "Valci" ended awkwardly. It was more of a farce than a play, leaving Liszt utterly speechless. These farce actors didn’t know the first thing about performing a stage play.

However.

When he summoned the smoke task, he smiled happily.

"Task completed, reward Loki’s new magic - Levitation."