Roland had foreseen that the movie would create quite a buzz among the ma.s.s.
In fact, he, as the producer and first viewer of the movie, had also been shocked by the epoch-making film when he had watched it in the castle hall on the night of its completion.
Words had completely failed him. The visual impact of the virtual world was phenomenal.
Roland realized that he had not been so impressed when watching the recordings of the meetings and ceremonies through the Sigil back in Reflection Church in the old Holy City. As most of the recordings were static images, they were not as lifelike as motion pictures, although Roland had to admit they were quite interesting. However, once the images were animated, human brains would be easily deceived, making people believe what they saw was real, even though they knew very well that it was not the case. The best example was the scene of a falling object in the movie.
Even Roland was quite amazed at the movie himself, let alone the general public, whose sole entertainment in this world so far had only been theatrical plays.
The success of the movie was almost certain.
However, there was also something beyond Roland"s expectations.
The visual impact of the movie seemed to go beyond what audience could physically bear.
When the movie had been on show for the third and the fifth time, one viewer had panicked out and attempted to leave the theater, whereas another had pa.s.sed out in the middle of the show. The former almost trampled over other viewers while the latter had been sent to the hospital immediately. Had Nana not been there, the unfortunate incident might have ended in tragedy.
Both incidents had occurred when Echo had started singing.
Apparently, the bird"s eye view shot at the beginning and the transformation of the princess posed some safety hazards.
The movie was currently targetting wealthy audience only, so the viewers should be more open to new things than ordinary civilians. Roland projected that when the movie was introduced to the ma.s.s a week later, there would probably be more incidents like this.
Due to safety concerns, Roland had no choice but to make some adjustments to the movie theatre.
Initially, he had planned to replace the recliners with benches to accommodate more people and prohibited food and drinks in the theater. However, it now appeared that benches were not a good option because they would be easily tipped over when a stampede occurred. In the end, Roland decided to use iron benches fastened to the ground and require audience to wear seat belts all time during the show to prevent similar accidents.
Additionally, he imposed some restrictions on audience"s age and their health conditions. Anyone who was over 45, had a heart disease or acrophobia was not allowed to watch "The Wolf Princess".
Since it was Roland"s first time to manage a theater, everything from designing the venue to drafting theater rules and regulations was new to him.
As "The Wolf Princess" became the most popular show in Neverwinter, the movie also attracted many businesses.
Over the past few days, the city hall had received a dozen applications from various merchants, all of whom had expressed their desires to open franchises for selling popcorns and milk bags. However, after hearing Barov"s report, Roland turned all of the requests down.
The business of snacks such as popcorns was not very lucrative after all. For one thing, the product was hard to preserve but easy to make, so people could easily steal the related technologies. For another, corn was not the main agricultural crop in Neverwinter, so Roland did not have much compet.i.tivity in the market. As such, he would rather keep the business to himself for tourism purposes.
As for the milk bags, he had no excess to sell at all.
They were indeed the first product made from the rubber worms.
These worms had pretty much settled down in the Third Border City after one year of adapting. The ancient witches had achieved great progress in their research. After they had found that they could adjust the flexibility of the rubber by changing the ratio of the slimes and the gall of the worm, they had soon settled where their research should head.
The rubber business had thus become a side project for the Taquila survivors. They dedicated themselves to the production of various rubber samples and the testing of the rubber"s durability and corrosion resistance ability.
The milk bag and the straw were two products they invented.
Roland did not decide to manufacture these two items on a whim. They actually played a significant role in the logistics. The rubber bag could be used to carry food and disinfectants. Compared to metal or gla.s.s containers, rubber bags were much cheaper. Other than worms, the production practically cost nothing.
Although there were a number of worm holes in the Third Border City, with the number of rubber worms increasing from 100 to nearly 1,000, it was still not enough to meet the war requirement. Therefore, the rubber worms would be one of the most important strategic resources in Neverwinter for a very long time.
Four days after the release of the movie, Roland learned that Edith, the Pearl of the Northern Region, had returned to Neverwinter with Olivia.
He met the girl whom he had just met once in the castle parlor.
Olivia looked pretty nervous. She did not avert her eyes, but there was almost a Spartan despair hidden underneath her serenity.
Unlike their last encounter, this time, Roland could see her face clearly in the well-lit hall. Her soft facial features and the emaciated frame reminded him of a flower that had just overcome a storm. After a long trip, she looked even more drained and fragile, but she managed to sit upright, which, at the same time, made her look even more beautiful. Roland knew if she had fallen into the hands of some other lords, she would have either been well protected or completely destroyed.
It seemed that she was ready to accept whatever came her way.
Roland broke into a smile. He knew many n.o.bles in this era lived a life of debauchery, but he was not that type of person.
"Don"t worry," Roland comforted her. "It"s much warmer than Coldwind Ridge here. n.o.body will disturb you. You"ll soon fall in love with this city."
"Yes... Your Majesty," Olivia said quietly. She hesitated for a moment and lowered her head.
"Take a rest first. Somebody will take you to your room," Roland replied.
After the guard led Olivia out, Edith dipped in a curtsy and asked, "That"s all? I thought you would have a chat with her to get familiar with each other."
"You have covered everything. I have nothing to add," Roland said while shrugging. Ignoring the latter half of Edith"s statement, he asked, "How was your trip?"
"Pretty good. She quickly made the decision for the sake of her child," Edith replied. "The clean-up took a bit longer than we antic.i.p.ated, but those people would not cause you trouble anymore."
"Good job," said Roland with a nod. "It was the right choice to put this matter in your hands."
"I"m flattered." The Pearl of the Northern Region said, smiling. "By the way, there"s another thing I want to tell you. On our way back, I received a message from the combat engineer unit. Azima didn"t find "the Glory of the Sun" in the Eastern Region, so she has turned to the north."
Roland frowned at the news. "So... the extension line is from the other side of the Swirling Sea?" he wondered. If the mine was outside of Graycastle, it would be a little problematic.
"I see." Roland soon regained his composure and said, "You should also go take a rest now."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
When Edith was about to leave, she suddenly turned around and said, "Your Majesty, it"s time for you to go to sleep as well. You must take care of yourself."
"Huh?" Roland looked at her in surprise.
"Because this world would be a lot less interesting without you," Edith replied with a smile and than disappeared from his sight.