Everyone in the venue was giddy with excitement and one could almost see and feel the excitement floating in the air. It was not so much the prices for the costume competitions that made all the participants visibly tremble with excitement but the fact that this event was celebrating their favorite movies.
The judges were chosen specially for this event since most of them were artists consisting of bards, actors, dancers, and poets.
Surprisingly, there were artisans among the judges as well like tailors, blacksmiths, and jewelers. According to the hostess who was speaking on the stage, the artisans were specially chosen to make sure that every part of the costumes was judged fairly.
If that were true, Anton would bow to everyone’s expertise in judging the costumes in that small amount of time. If it was back on Earth, the only thing he could say was that it was impossible but maybe Antonia and Lucia had the means to complete the judging of the costumes.
It was not actually important to Anton if the costumes were judged fairly since this event was made to make sure that everyone was having fun. They did keep the judges anonymous to supposedly avoid some sort of briber but he assumed that no one would do so in this kind of unimportant but fun event.
The funny part was, that Anton thought that he and his family members would win some of the categories since the effect of the “Anton’s Magic Belt” which consisted of three defensive spells from his Diablo II system was exquisite but then again, he underestimated the wizards of this world. Anton could see that almost all of the participants who wanted to win were glowing with some sort of magical effect and Anton was truly impressed.
Anton was glad that there were no exceptions since he and his family and friends could join the contest since the judges were supposed to be impartial. That meant that everyone would enjoy joining the costume competition.
Everyone was so excited that Anton noticed that most of the participants did not eat lunch and were just waiting for the judging and when it started the cheering was fabulously loud.
For the next few hours, the hosts invited all those who were selected as the finalists who managed to get a spot for the possible winners and every one of those had to parade their costume to everyone on stage. Since there were so many categories, it really did take several hours but everyone was having fun and that was the most important part.
By the time the awarding ceremony ended, everyone, including Anton, was hoarse from cheering, and surprisingly, he won in a category as “The best elven male” costume since he was wearing a Celeborn costume. According to the judges, it was because of his dignified bearing and of course, the magic of his auras since while he was parading, he activated the effects of the auras that had the most beautiful special effects.
He kept the trophy and the price that he had won in his inventory and would check it out later but he knew that it was a powerful magic item.
Another one who won from his family was Selena who won the “The best elven female” wearing an Arwen costume. The only thing Anton could say was that his father’s paramour deserved it since Selena was truly beautiful and she was able to mimic the bearing of Arwen while parading on stage and answering the questions of the judges. It was almost a beauty competition and even Anton had to answer some questions and the fact that he knew the films inside and out allowed him to act out the answers to the questions without any issues and that was one of the reasons why he won.
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Anton almost laughed at his father when he saw Anders was smitten with Selena all over again.
Unfortunately, Anton and Selena were the only ones who won and the other categories went to other participants.
His friends celebrated his win and for that moment, even though some would say that it was a shallow experience, Anton was happy. He felt like a kid again who was able to join a comic convention which was one of his unspoken dreams when he was on Earth.
After the ceremony ended, no one left the venue and kept on partying. Anton and his friends were amused that all the people in the venue kept acting out scenes from the film and it was highly entertaining to watch especially the mistakes. Anton's face almost hurt from smiling and laughing.
Sadly, the event would end at midnight since the next day was supposed to be focused on business and the day after that was when the Amelia would leave the Islands of Norbuna.
The funny part was, that the government of Norbuna was willing to pay an astonishing amount of gold coins for the magic item that had a copy of the three movies. Even Antonia, Lucia, Walter, and Philip were flabbergasted and they were the richest of the rich from New Drennor.
Antonia and the others said they did understand the intention of the government of Norbuna and if they were in their shoes, they would have done the same thing.
Anton and his family went to the conference room to talk about it. When they arrived there, everyone looked at Anton since it was his decision.
“I’ll pass on the decision to you, father since it doesn’t matter to me if we let go of the copy of the films. The coins would be able to help us a lot once we arrived in the Gale continent.”
This time, the discussion was between Anders, Nemina, and Antonia and ultimately they decided to sell the records since according to Frederick the magic item would only last for a few years before it degraded to a point that it wasn’t usable anymore.
After that decision, Anton told his father that he didn’t want to join the meeting with the ones who wanted to purchase the movie recording since he wanted to play with his friends. Anders sighed and let him go so he immediately ran off before his father could change his mind but Anton thought he saw a smile on his father’s face.
He thought that his father was happy that he was behaving like a spoiled teenager and not some wise archmage who was shouldering the weight of the world on his body. Anton knew his father wanted him to behave like that so he intentionally did so to make Anders happy.
Anton met Torun, Blake, Amelia, and Soren at the Prancing Pony tavern and they celebrated there but only for an hour so since they all wanted to roam around the venue before the event ended. They all wanted to commit the place to their memory since it was probably one of the happiest memories they could have.
While roaming around, Anton told the others that his family would earn a humongous amount of gold coins from the people of Norbuna since they would sell to them the magic item that had a copy of the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
“Does that mean that we can’t see the movies anymore?!” Soren gasped.
“Of course not. As long as there’s an item that can record things, I can make copies of any movies that I have since the original is with me.”
Anton laughed when he saw the visible relief on Soren’s face but the other three looked exasperated.
“Didn’t you know that?!” Andrea taunted Soren and he just ignored her.
Blake asked how much they were selling the records of the movies for and Anton told them that he didn’t know the exact details since he left the meeting but from what he gathered, it was enough to make them purchase a mansion and a cinema in New Drennor and that made his friends gasped.