White Thorn Flower Jazz

Led by a servant, Joshua passed through a corridor lined with oil paintings on both sides.

Every painting depicted scenes of war—blades intertwined, blood splattered everywhere, bones and corpses the most common adornments on the canvases.

The paintings made Joshua feel as if he were in some war memorial museum rather than a theater hosting performances.

The corridor was not long, and they soon reached its end. The servant stopped before a door, stepped aside, and made an inviting gesture.

If the room beyond this door was the theater manager's office, then as a servant, he should have knocked first to announce any visitor. Yet this servant did no such thing.

Because of the racket coming from inside, even if he knocked, the people in the room probably would not hear him.

"Even if you offer a higher price, I will never sell the theater to you!! You despicable merchants! Get out of here!"

"White Thorn Flower Jazz, your productions are already outdated. No troupe is willing to perform here anymore, so why not make one last profit and retire in peace?!"

"Classics never go out of date! Even if there is only one audience member left, this theater will remain open! If you refuse to leave, I will be forced to use force!"

The shouting from behind the door made the servant's expression turn rather unpleasant. Before long, two men in elaborate black attire emerged from the room. They merely glanced at Joshua, Helan, and Ciri behind him before storming away in anger.

Joshua straightened his clothes properly. He was about to enter a business negotiation, and the person he would be negotiating with did not seem to be in a very good mood.

"Wait here for me." After leaving this instruction for Ciri and Helan, Joshua pushed open the door and walked inside.

"Marlon, didn't I say no matter wha—wait... who are you?"

There was only one person in the room. He sat behind the wooden desk at its center, somewhat plump and dressed in an elaborate... costume. Most striking of all were the blush painted onto both cheeks and the layer of rosy color seemingly applied to his lips.

It seemed this somewhat effeminate fat man was the owner of the theater, White Thorn Flower Jazz.

"A partner who can save your theater."

After some thought, Joshua decided to define himself as a partner. After all, he did not have a theater troupe—only a film crew, a behind-the-scenes crew composed of demons and undead.

"A partner? You heard my rebuke just now, didn't you? You merchants can forget about getting even an inch of this theater's land from me!"

He was still agitated and visibly impatient. He pressed the bell on his desk, and two towering... spellcasters immediately emerged from another door in his office.

White Thorn Flower Jazz, burning with rage, was already prepared to throw Joshua out.

He had truly been blinded by fury and lost all reason. There was no way Joshua could get him to calm down and negotiate, so he could only take out the badge Bone Duke had given him.

Joshua held the badge, engraved with an unknown pattern, in his hand. White Thorn Flower Jazz had excellent eyesight and quickly made out the badge. Just like the servant earlier, his furious expression froze instantly, replaced by panic—though he soon regained his composure.

The two spellcasters White Thorn Flower Jazz had summoned were about to throw Joshua out when he immediately stopped them.

"What are you doing?! He is a guest! Hurry and have someone brew a pot of black tea!"

"..."

Bone Duke's influence really was no small matter.

Joshua watched the two spellcasters hurry into another room. In their place, a female servant hurriedly pushed out a cart carrying a teapot and cups.

Joshua, meanwhile, made himself entirely at home and sat directly in the chair before White Thorn Flower Jazz's desk.

What Bone Duke had given Joshua was not merely influence, but White Thorn Flower Jazz's life as well. When Joshua approached the plump Jazz, he noticed the mark on his left hand react.

There was residual magic from Bone Duke inside him... but White Thorn Flower Jazz did not look like an Undead Creature.

"You... were you sent by that lord?"

Only after the female servant who had brewed the tea handed Joshua a cup of black tea and left the office did White Thorn Flower Jazz ask in a frightened, uneasy voice.

"No. I am his friend."

Though Joshua addressed Bone Duke as Lord Jazz, and Bone Duke addressed Joshua as Your Highness, their standing was equal. After Bone Duke became a fan of Beauty and the Demon, Joshua's relationship with this Lich Lord had become more like friendship.

"Fr... friend..."

He seemed to realize just how terrifying Joshua's identity was. He rose to bow to Joshua, but Joshua stopped him.

"I said it already: I have come this time as a partner. White Thorn Flower Jazz, there is no need to be so formal."

"A partner... My lord, please show mercy. This theater was once glorious in Nolan. You must have heard of the plays The Maiden of Xin'oge'er and The Great Revolution. I wrote the scripts for both and staged them in this theater."

He pleaded with Joshua, apparently truly believing him to be a merchant here to purchase his theater.

"White Thorn Flower Jazz, you said it was once glorious, didn't you?"

Joshua deliberately placed emphasis on "once," while glancing at a painting hanging on the wall behind White Thorn Flower Jazz. It was an oil painting of a young girl in armor holding a flag, its composition somewhat resembling Eugene's Liberty Leading the People.

"It still is." White Thorn Flower Jazz tried to defend himself.

"It still is? An empty hall with no one in it is this theater's most glorious moment? Or is my understanding of the word 'glorious' somewhat different from yours, Jazz?"

Faced with such a flimsy argument full of holes, Joshua had countless ways to leave him speechless.

"Relax, Jazz. I haven't come to acquire your theater. On the contrary, I have come to save it."

Seeing the Jazz's neck flushed red from holding himself back, his pale cheeks filling with color as well, Joshua feared that his nerves might trigger some heart condition and cause him to suffer Sudden Death, so he stated his purpose outright.

"Save it?" White Thorn Flower Jazz stopped arguing and waited for Joshua to continue.

"That is right. I have a performance that can return your theater to its former days of glory—and even surpass that era by far."

Joshua had absolute confidence in Beauty and the Demon. A film that could move people was undoubtedly a good film. If it could make even Bone Duke shed a few drops of Soul Fire, Joshua refused to believe these humans with their well-developed tear ducts would remain unmoved.

"A performance? Forgive me, my lord... I did not know you were the manager of a theater troupe. May I ask what your troupe is called?"

Joshua's answer delighted White Thorn Flower Jazz. He had originally commanded two theater troupes, but every last one had been poached by that damned Nolan National Theater. He had been preparing to gather people and build another troupe from scratch, but if Joshua managed one, White Thorn Flower Jazz would not mind letting Joshua's troupe go up and give it a try.

"I'm not a troupe manager, and I don't have a troupe." Joshua shook his head, indicating that this was not his line of work.

"Then..." White Thorn Flower Jazz fell into confusion.

"My performance is in here."

Joshua said, tapping his Suitcase with a finger.

"A performance... enough to raise the curtain on a new era."