Chapter 16 - Filming
The village that had been raided by the bandits was called Mocannaly. It was a village situated on the edge of the mountains, northwest of the city of magic, Norland. Most of the houses in the village were wooden houses.
Before the bandits struck the village, a large portion of the villagers had fled and hidden in the forest. Only a small number of them were taken captive by Zenarth.
Thus, when Joshua brought the rescued villagers back from the Demonic Realm, a touching reunion took place within the small village.
After all, hugs and tears were a celebration of a loved one's safe return. The villagers gathered around the largest house in the village to celebrate.
"Why don't you stay for a while. There is plenty of fresh goat's milk to drink, hah."
Unfortunately, Ciri did not have the luxury to stay there and celebrate for long as she needed to leave with Joshua.
"That is because I have taken all the shots I need."
The originium crystal in Joshua's hand had already recorded a large amount of footage.
The footage came from Joshua's contact with the celebrating villagers. There was a scene in "Beauty and the Beast" where the villagers cheered and praised Gaston for his exploits, so Joshua used the opportunity to capture footage of the villager's admiration for Gaston.
The filming process went much smoother than Joshua had expected, and even one of the hardest parts in his plan had been solved.
The way "Beauty and the Beast" was presented as a film contained Disney's usual characteristics, and that was to use musicals to portray parts of the plot.
Beauty and the Beast began with a chorus performance by Belle and the townsfolk in the town.
Joshua wanted to preserve the original charm of the Disney production. While he was making an adaptation, he also hoped to retain the original atmosphere of the movie.
Fortunately, a problem that originally troubled him did not seem to exist from the beginning as the villagers of this village... were extremely capable of song and dance.
Joshua enjoyed the performance of an elderly villager who had put his experience in the Demonic Realm into rhyme and song.
He had never studied traditional musicals before, so he could not be a judge on whether it was good or not. He could only say it was pretty decent.
Anyway, Joshua did not have to worry about all of that. Ynor was a succubus, and the voice of a succubus had the ability to affect the minds of living beings just like the sirens in the legends. As for Joshua, his resistance as a Chaos Demon was a little too high for it to work, so he felt nothing.
Normal humans, however, would indeed be affected by Ynor. The effect was only suggestive, like how one's sexual impulses were aroused when one looked at a succubus. That was the most direct manifestation of the suggestion.
So, as long as the villagers heard Ynor's singing, they would definitely be tempted to participate as well.
All that was left for Joshua was to officially commence the filming of the scene between Belle and her father, or her mother in this instance. It was one of the most important scenes in the movie.
Joshua took out a bottle of invisible powder from his briefcase. The powder was not the prince's creation, rather it had been made from crystals left behind by some powerful wraiths. It was what one would call monster material.
The powder was extremely expensive in the Human Realm as it had many uses. Besides making anything it came into contact with invisible, it could also serve as an expensive alchemical component.
"You... You're going to use the Wraith Dust just like that?"
Ciri obviously recognized what was inside Joshua's bottle. A pinch of that powder alone was enough to feed the poor mage for ten years.
Yet, Joshua just nonchalantly fed ten years' worth of her food allowance into an unknown magical device!
"Is there anything wrong?"
Joshua held the Wraith Dust in his hand and sprinkled it all over his camera. Soon, the camera blended into its surroundings like a chameleon.
"Nothing..."
It was not hers anyway, and Ciri had no need to feel bad about it.
"In that case, close your eyes," Joshua said to Ciri as he took another handful of Wraith Dust.
"I don't think... we need that much."
Ciri wanted to slam an alchemy catalog into Joshua's face and let him know how precious the ingredient was.
"A necessary investment."
Aside from some small-budget blockbusters or cult films, which film production did not run into the millions? In the pursuit of the best footage and effects, budget was a totally foreign concept to some directors.
While Joshua was not the type to sink in millions without any thought, he was of the thought that an expensive item that just sat there was as good as worthless!
Joshua then ruthlessly sprinkled the silver Wraith Dust all over Ciri's long gray hair. The moment the shimmering silver powder touched Ciri's hair, it became transparent... To describe it in a more scientific way, light had been refracted by the powder.
However, this was a world of magic, and Joshua did not intend to apply his previous common knowledge to get a sense of it. That magical camera he had was a good example. Without the numerous runes engraved on it and magic power, it was at best just a useless box.
Once Joshua and Ciri were covered with the Wraith Dust, Joshua finally experienced the same excitement Harry Potter felt when he first put on the Invisibility Cloak.
"Time to work."
Joshua picked up the camera by feel and tossed an originium crystal coated with Wraith Dust to Ciri as he walked to the edge of the village.
Ciri looked at her already completely transparent arm. If not for the crystal on her neck restricting her movement, perhaps she would have taken the opportunity to escape or... maybe use the chance to knock the demon prince out?
She looked at Joshua's back as she pulled out her short staff from her robe. After a moment of hesitation, she gave up on the self-defeating idea.
"You hired me just to have me carry these things for you?"
Ciri could not help but ask as she ran to Joshua's side. Even though Joshua was totally invisible now, she could still determine where he was based on his footsteps on the grass.
"That is the case at this stage, but there will be many more special tasks in the future."
"Special..."
It could not be for her to sleep with him, right? Ciri covered her pretty unimpressive chest, but as she thought things through, she found it impossible. Ciri did not consider herself that beautiful, especially when compared with that succubus next to Joshua. Her feminine wiles were basically not worth mentioning at all.
"Well, it will be a job that is even more interesting that being a mage. The explanation ends here. Time for you to work, Ciri."
Joshua had brought Ciri to the edge of the village.
The room where Melina the merchant was staying in was at the edge of the village, and since she was just an outsider, she did not join in the celebration with the villagers.
Based on Joshua's script, Ynor was living with her, and through the window, he could see that Melina and Ynor were talking about something.
With his impeccable acting skills, Ynor had managed to completely win the merchant lady's trust or rather... her heart?
Joshua did not have a clapperboard with him for the time being, so he had to use his memory to remember every frame he was required to shoot and compare it with the original.
The next scene would be "Belle and her mother". Action.