Ebner would, of course, not be so "deranged" as to place truly terrifying "ghosts" into a castle meant as an "entertainment attraction"...

He had merely, in order to let Fors enjoy herself, deliberately docked the "Ghost Empire" in the mirror world corresponding to the castle, then allowed the aura of some high-level evil spirits within it to seep through.

These auras had no effect at all on ordinary people with low spirituality perception, or even low-Sequence Beyonders, because they simply couldn’t detect them... but to Fors, a Sequence 5 of the cowardly trio, they were "terrifying" to the point that her body went weak.

Even though she knew Ebner and Xio, two demigods, were right beside her, and even though she was certain she wouldn’t be harmed, Fors still felt that this place was far too "stimulating"...

It could be said that this "gift" tonight would likely be unforgettable for the rest of her life.

"This was recreated one-to-one based on your description... You should know that Miss Cici in your writing wasn’t afraid of this place at all," Ebner teased with a smile after they had finally finished experiencing all the attractions in the castle.

"But Miss Cici is just an ordinary person. She doesn’t have as high a spiritual perception as I do!"

Only now did Fors recover. Thinking back to how she had reacted when seeing the ghosts, she seriously suspected that Ebner had tampered with her secretly; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible for her to embarrass herself like that.

As a medical student, she felt that her "fear" earlier had been somewhat excessive.

What Fors didn’t know was that Ebner had indeed done a little tampering. It was the result of reverse engineering after he studied the negative effects of Klein’s "Death Knell" revolver.

The negative effects of "Death Knell" were so powerful that even after Klein advanced to Sequence 3, he still couldn’t completely resist them. Ebner had coveted that for a long time and had always wanted to understand its principles.

Unfortunately, despite studying it for so long, he still hadn’t been able to fully "analyze" it. The "mystic technique" developed from it found it difficult to specify a particular kind of "fear"... and the reason Fors just happened to draw the effect of "fear of ghosts" was because Ebner had also applied a brief "bad luck" buff on her beforehand.

Of course, Ebner wasn’t going to tell Fors these unimportant "details."

Faced with her suspicious gaze, he merely smiled and led the two of them to experience other attractions.

Finally, just before sunrise, the three of them arrived together at the summit of the tallest mountain on the outskirts of Berdan City. While waiting for the sunrise, they looked down over the entire city.

They saw that Berdan, which had once looked like a massive construction site, had completely transformed. Buildings from various eras and styles were arranged in different zones at the four corners of the city—they were all newly built "film studios," convenient for most low-budget productions to shoot on location.

Between the four corners were interspersed famous landmarks and wonders from various countries. Even some buildings that existed only in novels had been faithfully recreated, bringing them from people’s "dreams" into reality.

At the very center of the city was a massive "theme park," which was where Ebner and the others had been playing earlier.

Inside were many classic scenes from films, all developed into "attractions" for future tourists to "consume."

Aside from a few particularly iconic ones, these attractions were all detachable and replaceable, making it convenient to add new scenes after new films were released—allowing for continuous "harvesting."

As for Berdan’s local residents, they were either concentrated in the old urban area or had moved into a newly planned residential district in the south of the city.

As she watched, Xio suddenly noticed something odd. She frowned, leaned close to Ebner’s ear, and carefully said, "There are too many residential-type buildings in those filming locations, aren’t there? Is that really necessary? A lot of those houses probably won’t be used, right?"

Ebner glanced back at her and said meaningfully, "I’m more worried there won’t be enough..."

Xio thought about it and seemed to understand his meaning. Then she asked a completely unrelated question: "I heard you’ve also purchased a lot of grain... Where is it stored?"

"Right in the theme park. The underground areas of each attraction are filled with it," Ebner replied with a smile.

Xio nodded thoughtfully, then sighed and asked again, "Is it really unavoidable?"

"There’s no way around it... This is the will of the gods." Ebner spread his hands helplessly.

Xio fell silent for a few seconds before nodding. "Then I want to bring my mother and younger brother here. Is that okay?"

"Of course! And I guarantee Berdan won’t be drawn into the flames of war," Ebner assured.

This wasn’t only because of Einhorn’s promise, but also because it was meaningless for Feysac’s military to attack a city guarded by an "angel."

Moreover, the "God of Combat" might even need to seek the support of the "Earth Mother," making it even less likely that he would act against his territory.

While they were speaking quietly, Fors suddenly cried out in surprise, "Sunrise!" She raised her camera and captured the moment the first rays of sunlight fell upon the dreamlike city below.

Ebner and Xio also shifted their attention, and the three of them immersed themselves together in the beautiful scenery.

"Once the weekend comes, bringing those people who ’won’ the survey to Berdan and letting them personally witness their ’dream ideas’—or rather, ’wishes’—come true should accumulate enough ’miracles’...

"If nothing unexpected happens, before next Monday, I should be able to go to the ’Forsaken Land of the Gods’ and bring back the ’Floating City’ and Little Sun!"

...

In the luxurious villa of Count Hall in the Empress Borough.

Count Hall, whose belly had grown somewhat round, took a puff from his pipe and handed a newspaper to his eldest son.

"Hibbert, can you see Viscount Ebner Bryan’s intentions?"

Hibbert Hall took the newspaper and glanced through it. It reported that the Viscount of Berdan would fund the rental of more than ten airships to take the winners of the previous "survey" on a free two-day tour of Berdan.

After thinking for a while, he answered, "He wants to promote his territory to attract more investment?"

"No, he’s leading a trend—a trend where ’traveling to Berdan City is fashionable,’ a trend where ’filming movies must be done in Berdan,’ a trend where ’if you don’t go, you’ll feel regret.’

"Hibbert, although our family holds a fixed seat in the House of Lords and you will eventually become a member, aside from those with special identities like the Speaker, why do some nobles wield greater influence than others, even though they are all members?"

Hibbert thought for a moment and said, "Title, wealth, commercial status, and connections within the government and military?"

"That’s only part of it. As time passes and society develops, the overt privileges of nobles will weaken. Titles will become less and less important, eventually becoming merely honorary, while influence in the commercial world and personal influence will become the most important... This is something you should learn from Ebner Bryan.

"On the surface, it may not be obvious, but in reality, he has long-term plans for everything he does... Just looking at how he holds the initiative at every step in the emerging film industry shows how deep his calculations are.

"While others are still following trends in filmmaking or trying to expand cinema chains, he’s already establishing his own rules, trying to control the entire industry from behind the scenes." After explaining this, Count Hall added, "Of course, the establishment of the ’Academy Awards’ is also about setting ’rules.’ And because our family acted in time, we gained most of the say.

"It’s not that he didn’t think of it, but that his network is still relatively weak. Even with Princess Vera’s help, it would have been difficult for him to establish the ’Academy Awards’ alone, which gave us an opportunity...

"And yet, he didn’t hesitate at all and chose cooperation.

"This is something you should learn as well—when it’s time to let go of certain benefits, you must let them go."

Hibbert replied with sudden understanding:

"I understand, Father."

At this moment, Susie, who had been crouching nearby and eavesdropping, yawned boredly.

After everything ended, she slipped into Audrey’s studio and repeated everything she had heard. At the end, she muttered:

"They talked about Ebner the whole time."

She didn’t particularly like that "detective" who had given her a new competitor.

Audrey listened thoughtfully, then smiled faintly.

"This is perfect. I can pass this information to Mr. ’Pride,’ who asked me to gather intelligence on Ebner, in exchange for contributions."

At the same time, as a marionette, "Pride" Hvin Rambis once again received a summons from King George III.

(End of Chapter)