I Became A Playwright In Medieval Fantasy-Chapter 41

Despite having highly praised puppeteers, they had yet to settle down anywhere, probably because of this.

While people might welcome a wandering troupe passing through town, they’d most likely frown upon the idea of them settling down permanently, treating them as an eyesore.

“Now, let’s get back to the main point! Why would the great Phantom want to meet me?”

“Why would a playwright want to meet the leader of a troupe? Naturally, I want to create a work together.”

“Huh? A work, you say?”

Fluffy tilted her head curiously, twirling the crystal on her staff with an enigmatic look.

“We’re just a wandering troupe that performs short one-act plays! We can’t perform the kind of multi-hour scripts that the great Phantom writes!”

“That’s fine. I’m looking for a puppet show in Wanderbühne’s style.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“These are designs for the giant puppets I’d like to have created for our collaboration. Don’t worry about the cost; I’ll cover it.”

Using royal funds from the credit card ring, of course.

Mumbling that to myself, I handed over the design sketches I had scribbled in the dormitory.

The new production that would be performed as a birthday gift for Prince Wolfgang, titled The Cthulhu Mythos.

A rough sketch of the “Great Old One,” an ancient evil deity worshipped by heretical cults before the rise of the Celestial Church.

“Oh. A horror play based on a fictional ancient demon? That’s certainly interesting, but why choose such a bizarre theme? It doesn’t quite match the style I’ve heard about from the great Phantom!”

“I’m an experimental writer. Let’s just say I felt inspired to try something new.”

In reality, many readers end up disappointed when they actually read Lovecraft’s works, finding them less scary than his reputation suggests.

This is because the general public’s sense of fear differs greatly from Howard Lovecraft’s concept of horror.

Lovecraft pursued the fear that comes from a heavy, suffocating atmosphere rather than sudden shocks, which might feel underwhelming to those used to instant horror.

But that’s only when The Cthulhu Mythos is read in book form.

What if creatures like Cthulhu, Hastur, Dagon, and Bokrug appeared in massive forms, speaking in alien languages while towering over the audience?

‘...Of course, just doing that alone won’t fully capture the essence of the Cthulhu Mythos.’

To convey cosmic horror, simply narrating Lovecraft’s stories won’t suffice.

On the contrary, the audience must experience the situations in the play themselves to truly feel Lovecraftian horror.

Thus, the first step in preparation was to create vivid visuals and eerie, dreamlike stage settings.

This was the role Wanderbühne’s troupe had to take on. After all, their grotesque shows had already proven they were masters at creating an eerie atmosphere.

“So, what do you think? Do you have any interest in seriously considering my proposal, leader?”

Instead of answering right away, Fluffy stared intently at my rough sketches.

How many minutes passed?

Finally, she smiled brightly and nodded.

“There’s nothing to think about! It’s an honor to participate in the experiment of the great Phantom, the candidate of the pen! Hehe!”

“Haha, I see.”

She really was like a cute little wild rabbit with those buck teeth poking out whenever she laughed.

“But… did you imagine and draw all of these designs yourself, Phantom? Or are they based on something?”

“Of course, I drew them purely from my imagination. I’ve been fond of strange things since I was a child.”

“……”

“What do you think? As someone who has specialized in diverse puppet shows, I’d love to hear the opinion of a fellow professional.”

I suddenly grew curious about Fluffy’s thoughts on the sketches and asked.

“The opinion of a fellow professional?”

“You don’t need to hold back or sugarcoat it. I’m in the arts just like you, leader. What I need is your honest, unfiltered opinion.”

“An honest opinion? Are you sure?”

“Of course. I want to hear your sincere thoughts.”

“Hmm, hmm...”

Fluffy, the little rabbit beastman, paused for a moment, deep in thought.

Then, with an innocent smile, she replied in a cheerful voice,

“If you can imagine and draw something like this, I’d seriously recommend you check into a mental hospital!”

...That wasn’t the kind of sincerity I was hoping for, little bunny.

Though I could understand why she thought that.

The dark and ominous atmosphere of Lovecraft’s works stemmed from his troubled life.

Though not personally institutionalized, both of his parents were admitted to mental hospitals, where they eventually died.

“Alright! Follow me, Phantom!”

With that, Fluffy rolled up the designs like a scroll and spoke.

“If you want to discuss the puppets, there’s someone else you need to meet, not me!”

A little while later, I followed Fluffy to the back of the tent.

There, in a rundown trailer parked next to the performance equipment, I finally met the person in question.

The room was filled with strange, creepy-looking puppets hanging from every corner.

With Fluffy having left after explaining the situation, I found myself alone with this person.

“P-p-p-phantom? Are you really the great Phantom, just like the leader said…?”

“Yes, that’s right, I am...”

“W-wow, woooah!!”

Suddenly, she grabbed both of my hands and began panting heavily in excitement.

Her crimson eyes gleamed from behind her long, disheveled black hair.

“I-I’m a huge fan! I’ve been keeping up with all your works…!”

“Uh, is that so?”

“Oh! S-sorry! I got too excited without realizing it…!”

With a slow, sleepy tone that seemed to sap the energy from whoever listened, she quickly released my hands and backed away.

“A-anyway, it’s such an honor to meet you. E-especially your Farewell to the Conqueror—it was a masterpiece!”

“It’s nice to meet you too. Morgan, was it?”

“Y-yes, that’s right. Ehehe.”

Morgan, a young girl with deep dark circles under her eyes, smiled faintly, her expression lighting up despite her gloomy appearance.

Though she was undoubtedly a pretty girl, her messy, dreary appearance somewhat ruined her beauty.

According to Fluffy, this girl was an apprentice witch approaching her coming-of-age ceremony.

A ‘genius’ inventor, she was responsible for developing the magical devices and equipment used in Wanderbühne’s bizarre, otherworldly shows.

I’d heard she had run away from her witch training because it didn’t suit her and had joined the traveling troupe. Wanderbühne’s rise to fame had only begun after she became a part of the troupe, due to her artistic genius.

Apparently, Morgan had always had a natural inclination for grotesque themes, making her a perfect fit for Wanderbühne.

“But Morgan, aren’t you part of a wandering troupe? How have you been able to keep up with my performances, even though they’re staged in the capital?”

“Well, I’m a witch, you see. I share my senses with my familiar, a raven, and I watch the performances through its eyes. Hehe.”

“A raven?”

“Oh! B-but I didn’t sneak in for free, I swear! I always asked a friend to bring the raven in, and I paid for the ticket properly every time! I sent my friend the money!”

“I understand. I’m not accusing you of anything, Morgan. Now, let’s move on to the main topic, shall we?”

I reassured the girl that I wasn’t upset as we returned to the main point.

“You’ve heard everything from Fluffy, right? What do you think? Do you think you can create the puppets I’m envisioning?”

“Hmm, well… Hmmm, hmmmm...!”

Morgan, after receiving the design papers, scrutinized every detail carefully. Her crimson eyes darted over the sketches and specifications.

About one or two minutes passed.

“Sniff.”

“Huh?!”

Suddenly, tears welled up in Morgan’s eyes.

“Are you crying? I’m sorry! Did I make a mistake?”

“N-no! That’s not it at all, sniff!”

Wiping her eyes with a tissue, she responded, her tone now joyful.

“It’s just so beautiful! I’ve met many horror artists in my life, but I’ve never seen anyone express the concept of demons from hell so uniquely and captivatingly!”

“Beautiful, you say?”

“Most people can’t imagine demons as anything beyond skeletons or horned monsters, but your endless imagination far surpasses anything I expected! I’m truly moved! This isn’t just art—it’s a masterpiece of dark art that might only come around once every thousand years!”

...Yep, she’s definitely an otaku.

To think she’d be moved to tears by this. Is this what they call the happiness of a ‘successful fan’?

“Oh! But don’t misunderstand. I’m purely speaking from an artistic perspective. I’m not a demon worshiper, and besides, witches abandoned demon worship long ago...”

“I didn’t assume anything like that. If I did, what would that make me, the one who drew all this?”

“Ehehe. That’s true too.”

In this world, ‘witches’ were descendants of an ancient line that had passed down mysterious magical rituals.

Before the rise of the Celestial Church, they had served as shamans and priests for tribal societies.

At one time, witches were hunted due to their ties to demon worship, but that was over a century ago.

Now, witches had mostly abandoned dark magic, focusing instead on creating magical items and selling practical charms, peacefully coexisting with the Church.

“So? Do you think you can do it? As you can see, the climax at the end requires the creation of a puppet much larger than the ones your troupe usually uses, for the character of ‘Cthulhu.’”

“Well, it would certainly be difficult... The larger the puppet, the harder it is to make it move smoothly... Plus, we’d need to expand the size of the tent...”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve already discussed the expansion with the leader, and I’ll be covering the costs.”

Once again, it would all come from the royal credit card ring. Since it was for the prince’s birthday, no one should have any objections.

“Then yes, it’s definitely possible!”

Morgan rolled up the design papers and tied them tightly with a purple ribbon, grinning.

“For a puppet that big, it would be best to create the skin with lightweight magical paper and construct the internal framework with enchanted, lightweight metals.”

“Magical paper? Can something like that really create a realistic look?”

“Of course! It’s not just any paper—it’s enchanted with witchcraft! I can recreate the sticky, slimy textures and the shining scales you’ve imagined perfectly! And any rough edges will be hidden by the dim lighting on stage!”

“Hmm, interesting.”

For a while longer, I discussed the puppet production process with the young apprentice witch.

Finally, after much time had passed and the conversation had reached a conclusion, I was about to leave the trailer when—

“P-p-phantom! Wait a moment, please!”

Morgan handed me a crudely bound book.

“C-could you… before you go, give me your autograph? Right here on the cover.”

“Of course, but what is this? The Tale of the Red Dragon and Blue Dragon?”

At the strangely familiar title, I asked, and she grinned mischievously.

“It’s fanfiction. A retelling of Farewell to the Conqueror, where I reinterpreted the twisted relationship between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang in a more beautiful way.”

“Fanfiction?”

“Our fan club made it. Don’t worry, it’s not for commercial distribution. It’s just shared among the members.”

I had heard rumors about this.

Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

Fans of Phantom’s works, gathering and enthusiastically creating their own derivative works. Even the academy had caught wind of it.

But Morgan’s explanation gave me an uneasy feeling.

Reinterpreting the relationship between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang in a ‘beautiful’ way?

“Sorry, but this isn’t one of those, is it? You know, stories about… relationships between men...”

“What?! No, absolutely not! Our club doesn’t promote the kind of same-sex relationships the Church forbids!”

Morgan recoiled, horrified at the thought, and vehemently shook her head.

I was relieved, thinking it wasn’t some kind of ‘bromance’ fanfic.

“B-because! In this story, Xiang Yu is a woman!”

Wha—

“A man who stands strong and refuses to fall no matter how many times he’s trampled! Princess Xiang Yu, who used to look down on Liu Bang with her misandry, slowly begins to see him differently and grows obsessed with him, gradually getting colored by the Han King!”

Whaaaat.

“And then! At the end, in the battle of Wujiang, instead of dying, Xiang Yu surrenders to Liu Bang, giving her body and soul to him! Isn’t it a beautiful happy ending, all from just changing one gender?!”

Good grief. It wasn’t a BL story, but a TS (gender-swap) story. A TS story where Xiang Yu and Liu Bang get entangled.

I could only imagine Princess Xiang Yu surrendering to Liu Bang and shouting something like, “I’m just a third-rate fighter—❤︎!”

How did this bizarre hybrid even come to exist?

“Ehehe, Phantom... your autograph…”

About an hour after Phantom had left.

Morgan was rolling around in her bed, hugging the fanfiction book he had signed.

It was like a dream come true. Not only had she met the great writer she admired, but she had even gotten his signature.

She would never let anyone borrow this fanfiction.

She planned to display it in a shrine, passing it down as an heirloom for generations to come.

But what truly excited her was the artistic inspiration and passion Phantom had given her through the Cthulhu Mythos designs.

“Yes! That’s it!”

Morgan suddenly leapt out of bed and rushed to her desk to start writing down her ‘inspiration.’

“Hehe, ehehe...”

As her pen scratched across the paper, her pale cheeks began to flush red.

In truth, Morgan’s side job was writing racy novels.

Known as ‘blue covers,’ these cheap erotic novels were illustrated and carefully written by Morgan herself, then sold in the underground market.

Her specialty was writing niche genres.

Her target audience was people with strange fetishes, such as wealthy beastman enthusiasts or those who fantasized about slimes and other non-human creatures.

Until recently, she had been fixated on orc humiliation fantasies, inspired by Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix.

However, the monstrous designs in The Cthulhu Mythos had opened her eyes to a new and exciting genre.

A genre that had yet to exist in this world.

But one she was sure would find a dedicated audience.

“Yes, that’s it... Monsters like the Kraken or giant man-eating plants, with their sticky yet warm, flexible yet firm tentacles! Grabbing the heroine and doing all sorts of things to her, heheh!”

For now, she was busy with her work on The Cthulhu Mythos, so it was just an idea.

But once the play’s premiere was over, she planned to polish it and write it for real.

...And thus, even before its production, Phantom’s Cthulhu Mythos had already sown the seeds of madness in this otherworld.

The madness of what would come to be known as “tentacle stories.”