Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious?

This remark struck a nerve with several hotheaded judges, who all turned their heads away, pretending not to hear it.

Meanwhile, the Ajma judge standing to the side had his lips twitching unconsciously.

Hearing this, it feels like the commentator, Toki, is indirectly criticizing his old friend's guild.

A short old man sitting at a bar in the distance suddenly sneezed and looked puzzled.

"Only those candidates who successfully pass the written test and rank in the top sixteen are eligible to enter the second stage."

At this moment, Toki extended his second finger and continued:

"When we reached the second stage, which was the final internal selection,..."

At that time, these sixteen young people who have passed the test will be summoned to ERA headquarters, where we will score them based on their performance. As for the format, it is not yet fixed, and we can discuss it later.

The final rankings will be determined by performance scores, and the top-ranked young people will have the opportunity to become potential judges. This is the current plan.

The council's new, comprehensive evaluation system was thus demonstrated in its effectiveness.

Everyone at the round table quietly flipped through the documents, looking at the soon-to-be-finalized plan.

Speaker Crawford Heem nodded, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"A very good plan."

This ensured both the quality of the selection process and the prestige of the council.

I think both the magic academy and the mage guild will be satisfied with this assessment.

The speaker scanned all the evaluators in the roundtable room and asked:

"Do you all agree with this plan? If you have any opinions or suggestions, please feel free to bring them up now."

Seeing that all the judges nodded in agreement and had no objections for the time being, the speaker nodded as well.

"So, we'll implement the first phase according to this framework. The second phase will require some adjustments, and we'll discuss those in the meeting room next time."

Once everything was finalized, this document was promptly distributed to the presidents of all legitimate mage guilds on the continent of Ishgar in January of the following year, X775, and also to all magic academies to inform them.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Speaker."

She responded with a slurred voice.

Afterwards, the meeting spent some more time briefly finalizing the scope and direction of the written test before moving on to other plans.

When all the lengthy agendas finally came to an end, the clock on the wall was already past the halfway mark, and night was gradually falling.

Speaker Crawford rubbed his temples, a slight ache emanating from them.

After the pain subsided, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you all for your hard work today. That concludes the meeting. Meeting adjourned."

After hearing that the meeting was adjourned, all the judges stood up.

Whoosh!

In that instant, the judge who had recommended the Pure White Theatre Company in the roundtable meeting room solemnly picked up a broom, mounted it, and flew away.

"I'm taking my leave now. Farewell!"

Amidst the astonished gazes of all his colleagues, the serious judge didn't even bother to bow and say goodbye to anyone before smashing open the wooden door with a broom and rushing out.

The remaining judges in the meeting room were all frozen in place, looking at each other blankly.

"What...what happened to him? Did something happen at home?"

One of the judges looked at the still-shaking wooden door with a shocked expression.

Speaker Crawford's eye twitched, and he shook his head speechlessly.

Congressman Toki Anderba paused for a moment, then laughed helplessly.

The judges' eyes, hidden by long, drooping white eyebrows, revealed a curious look.

Is this direction heading towards the town of Magnolia?

Meanwhile, the commentator above ERA headquarters maintained a serious expression, but in reality, after calculating the time, he was unconsciously becoming excited.

If the broom's magic output speed were doubled, we could still make it in time for the performance!

Although this speed of flight would quickly deplete his old man's magic, it was negligible compared to missing the first performance of "Bleach"!

Now I can finally watch the first performance of "Bleach" from the front row!

Chapter 93 Thriving

In the blink of an eye, the continent of Ishgar has reached the year X775.

In the past few months, the Pure White Theatre Company in Magnolia has been creating a sensation in the local area.

The Pure White Theatre Company has been putting on 3-4 high-intensity performances every day for the past few months, ranging from the family-friendly Pokémon to the high-energy Naruto and Bleach, capturing all age groups in their audience.

Not only were all the shows sold out, but the newly introduced pre-sale ticket system also sold out instantly, creating a frenzy where tickets were extremely hard to come by.

This exaggerated level of popularity even attracted some shady guilds that sensed a business opportunity.

They planned to hoard these performance tickets and resell them at exorbitant prices, but before they could even begin their money-making scheme, a mysterious young man got wind of it and instantly destroyed their headquarters, packing everything up and sending it to the council branch.

As their fame spread to every surrounding town, the troubles of happiness also followed.

The tents recently replaced by the Pure White Theatre Company are the largest tents they can currently set up, but they still can't accommodate the enthusiastic audiences who flock from all over every day. They have to wait for them to sell tickets each time.

Faced with this situation, Ron ultimately decided to buy the land near the Pure White Theatre Company and prepare to build a large theatre.

As for the huge amount of money needed to build the new theater, Ron had already prepared it.

He had received development funding several months earlier, which came from the bounties issued by the Council, with Deliora's bounty making up the majority of it.

According to the official conclusion, the bounty was actually paid in full to Ur, but she naturally knew in her heart that it was Ron who sealed Deliora away.

Therefore, the moment she received the money, she handed over the entire bounty to Ron.

Ron didn't accept everything, because Ur had helped him a lot during that sealing, increasing the success rate of the seal.

The two argued about it for a long time, but in the end Ron still forced Uru to give him 10% of his bonus. After being persuaded by Ron, Uru finally accepted the 10%.

Ron, on the other hand, used the remaining 90% of the bounty to develop his own theater troupe and prepare to gain popularity.

The troupe's high-quality and innovative scripts, after gaining wide audience approval, naturally attracted visits from major newspapers and magazines.

Inside the private study of the Pure White Theatre Company in Magnolia Town.

"Well then, Mr. White, it was a very pleasant first meeting with you today. Regarding the serialization intentions of 'Naruto' and 'Bleach,' our newspaper will immediately draft the specific terms of cooperation once we get back."

Several representatives from Weekly Soshalala stood up, their faces beaming with satisfaction, and warmly shook hands with Ron to say goodbye.

"I also look forward to our future cooperation. Take care."

Ron responded with a gentle and polite smile, then tactfully escorted the representatives of these well-known media outlets in the magic world out of the study.

As the study door closed again, Leqi, who had been standing by helping organize the documents, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With Paris and Doronbo sharing the workload, she temporarily became Ron's assistant, and she would consider filling in the gaps once new employees were recruited.

She curiously approached and asked Ron with anticipation.

“We had such a smooth conversation just now, are we planning to collaborate with Weekly Sosala?”

Ron returned to his desk and sat down, shaking his head decisively.

"No."

Leqi was stunned for a moment, tilted her head, and looked puzzled.

"Huh? But weren't you two just chatting and laughing, having a great time?"

Judging from your expressions just now, it seems like you're about to start calling each other brothers.

"These are two different things. It's true that we get along well, but we can't rush into finalizing the cooperation just because of that. They haven't even given us any specific details about the cooperation yet; they're just making empty promises."

Upon hearing this, Leqi frowned, revealing a worried expression.

"What should we do then? Will their offer be significantly lower than we expected?"

"They wouldn't be that stupid; they wouldn't be that foolish."

Ron picked up the half-finished cup of black tea and drank it all in one gulp.

He smiled gracefully and explained to Leqi:

"Actually, it's not us who are anxious right now, it's them."

All we have to do is wait for the other major newspapers to come to us and listen to their quotes.

After all, we hold the initiative. Even if this company's terms sound good, we still need to see the cooperation terms offered by other newspapers before making a decision. Letting them compete with each other allows us to get the best share.

Ron thought to himself, "Anyway, the quality of my script is much higher than others, otherwise they wouldn't have come to visit me in person."

After hearing Ron's words, Leqi's worry lessened considerably, and she nodded slightly.

"Ron, I didn't know you knew so much."

"It's nothing, it's just that you still have a lot to learn."

Knock, knock, knock~

Just as the two were chatting in the study, there was a sudden knock on the door.

The two of them paused for a moment, then looked at each other.

Ron spoke first, asking:

Are any other newspapers planning to come today?

Leqi shook her head, indicating her denial.

"No, it was only Weekly Sosala that said they were coming today; we haven't received any news from other newspapers."

Ron looked puzzled, then stood up, walked over, and opened the door.

"Hey kid, did you miss me?"

Standing outside the door was Chairman Makarov, his hands behind his back, wearing his usual smile.

Ron was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with joy.

"President! Why did you come in person?"

Makarov strolled in slowly, smiling as he said:

"I just came to check on your theater troupe since it's become so popular lately, didn't I?"

He looked around the study and then saw Leqi standing to the side, greeting her with a smile.

"Oh, Leqi is here too. Your troupe has been so busy lately, thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard work, President. I can still learn a lot of new things from Ron."

Leqi adopted a respectful posture and quickly responded.

Makarov then jumped and sat down on the sofa.

Upon seeing Makarov's expression, Ron couldn't help but sigh.

Based on all the years I've spent with him, his sudden visit couldn't possibly be just to check on him.

He noticed that Makarov was still hiding what was behind him, trying not to let Ron find it, clearly just trying to get his attention.

"President, you came all this way for more than just to see me, right? What are you holding in your hand?"

"Hehe, you're really smart."

When Makarov heard Ron say this, he stopped hiding it and took out a parchment letter.

The letter was sealed with the red wax seal of the Magical Council (ERA).

Chapter 94 Killing Two Birds with One Stone

“Ron, I want to talk to you about this privately.”

After Makarov finished speaking, Ron turned around and winked at Leqi.

Leqi nodded slightly and replied with a smile: