Free Web NovelChapter 211: Chapter 189: Seeing Off the Drama Guild (Part 3)
Zog presented the pile of scripts with all the flair of someone hawking cabbages.
"Are all these writers deceased geniuses?"
That was how Zog had described Agatha to him.
"Er, you could put it that way."
Grandpa Galina couldn’t understand. He had never heard of any of these writers.
If they were all as good as Agatha, why weren’t any of them famous?
One undiscovered genius like Agatha made sense. There would always be talented people who languished in obscurity, their work only discovered after they died.
But for so many geniuses to go unnoticed was just too strange.
He looked at Zog, and a dreadful suspicion suddenly crossed his mind.
’Could it be? Has the Zog Group actually imprisoned a horde of brilliant writers, locking them away in a place like the Forbidden Land of the Giant Dragon?’
’And then he forces them to write scripts day in and day out, and if their work isn’t good enough, they get eaten or something.’
’That must be why the outside world has never heard of these authors.’
Grandpa Galina broke out in a cold sweat, terrified by his own thoughts.
’If that’s really the case, then the Zog Group is far more ruthless than the Drama Guild.’
’He was already seventy. It wouldn’t matter if he died. But what about all the people who followed him to establish the New Drama Guild?’
’Many of them are still so young. In pursuing my ideals, have I doomed these kids?’
"Why are you trembling?" Zog asked, perplexed. "You don’t actually think I’ve imprisoned a bunch of writers, do you?"
"Yes—no!" Grandpa Galina blurted out nervously.
"If I had captured them all, why would I credit them by name?" Zog said.
’Huh, that’s true.’
Grandpa Galina suddenly realized that made perfect sense.
"Then who are these people?"
"Have you ever heard of the Sunken Empire?" Zog asked conspiratorially.
"I have."
It was a famous legend. A glorious civilization had once blossomed on an archipelago, but they angered the Deities and brought divine retribution upon themselves.
Earthquakes and tsunamis destroyed the islands, annihilated the Empire, and sank everything to the bottom of the sea.
"We discovered a Relic from the Empire. These works were found within it. After being deciphered, they were adapted to suit our current era."
Zog said, his expression completely serious.
’It’s great having Deities in this world,’ Zog thought. ’Anything that doesn’t make sense can just be explained away as their doing.’
’How could literary works be preserved at the bottom of the sea?’
’Don’t ask. If you have to ask, the answer is: divine miracle.’
And Grandpa Galina really didn’t ask. Perhaps it was the characteristic romanticism of an artist that led him to actually believe Zog’s story.
"So, does that mean we can perform all of these plays?" he asked, his voice filled with excitement.
Zog then said, "Here’s the plan. These scripts are for the troupes that join the New Drama Guild. After you’ve read them, you’ll assign suitable plays to the different groups.
"Any troupe that joins the Guild will have their licensing fees waived for the first year, as long as they don’t leave in the second year."
"Furthermore, our licensing fee is a percentage of the box office, not a fixed, upfront price like the Drama Guild’s. This will ease the financial pressure on smaller troupes."
This was a vicious blow aimed right at the Drama Guild’s weak spot.
"What about my troupe? Can we perform these plays as well?" Grandpa Galina felt Zog’s plan was excellent, but it seemed to have overlooked his own team.
"Your group will be responsible for collaborating with this gentleman."
Zog gestured toward the unfamiliar face in the room.
"This is the City Lord of the Silver-White City State. As the Guild’s most outstanding troupe at present, you will be presenting a play based on him as the protagonist."
Zog said this for the City Lord’s benefit, of course. Since the Guild currently had only one troupe, it was, by default, the most outstanding.
"This play is currently incomplete. It will need you to flesh it out. I’m confident that with your writing talent and the City Lord’s wealth of experience, you’ll be able to perfect the script."
Zog took out the script’s outline.
The title on the outline was extremely brief.
*Yes, City Lord.*
