072 – Birthday Party (3)
Rakan thought before acting.
The time given to Rakan is two and a half hours, but he cannot fully use it.
It was because he had to play the role of a barbarian warrior and a passing citizen, and he had to change clothes frequently and refresh his makeup.
Then you can use it for about 2 hours.
Two hours is enough time to tell Tigris that Bisco is weird.
But it’s not enough just to let people know that Biscotti is weird.
It was important to figure out what Bisco was aiming for.
‘Damn, even if I was just holding a gift.’
Rakan is a secret agent of the Inquisitor, so he must not let others know that he is an Inquisitor.
When entering the Palace of Spring, the guards inspected all artifacts and relics, so they had no choice but to leave the gift behind.
Fortunately, the ruby necklace was brought in after talking with the guards in front of the castle gate, but the important thing now was a means of communication.
Rakan glanced at Biscotti.
I was worried about doing something strange, but he stood still.
‘What the hell is this guy trying to do?’
This guy is the perfect infiltrator in this spring palace, where golden knights and iron-blooded wizards are scattered all over the sky.
Naturally, there is a high possibility that it is a high-level wizard, a knight, or an assassin.
It’s important to figure out why this guy infiltrated Biscotti.
Rakan first remembered what kind of friend Bisco was in normal times.
Biscotti was from the same commoners as Rakan, and was not a friend who had a dream of acting.
– I want to see with my own eyes how beautiful the Imperial Palace is.
This simple country young man, who has been farming for 19 years in the black soil area, came to Tokyo with one thought that he simply wanted to see the imperial palace in person.
Rakan liked this young man with a simple smile, and he often talked to each other whenever he took a break after practice.
Although it is true that the Black Soil area is a neighborhood with a lot of war, he said that the village of Paphos, where Bisco lived, was in a very remote area, so he said that it was an area far away from the fire of war.
Other than that, how frightening the customs officers who come to collect the tax are, how disobedient my younger brother is, how I made and sold soap for 5 years to raise money for Tokyo, and I was at a loss when I first came up to Victory because I didn’t know what to write. He told me small things such as work.
Biscotti’s life story smelled of fragrant earth.
Rakan looked at Biscotti today.
He said that he is the type of person who talks a lot when he is nervous.
However, the boy did not change his complexion and just sat quietly in a corner seat with his eyes closed.
Rakan scanned every nook and cranny of him.
‘But how can they be so alike?’
His height, muscle development, and even the scars on his hands were all Biscotti.
If it wasn’t for Rakan’s ‘Advanced Search’ ability to catch even the slightest change in habits, no one would have noticed that Biscotti was strange.
‘And that tattoo.’
If you want to imitate Bisco perfectly, it would be right to imitate the tattoo perfectly.
But Biscotti’s tattoos were slightly different from those of Rakan and others.
Of course, it was a change that would have been overlooked if you didn’t care, but since you’ve noticed that Bisco is weird, there must be a reason for the change in that tattoo.
‘I need someone outside to help.’
Two and a half hours is too short a time for Rakan to move alone.
And if Rakan frequently wanders outside, he may be suspicious.
It’s a problem even if big players like Tigris, Princess, and Bergang move directly.
Unless you know what moves he’s hiding, you don’t know what he’ll do if he moves noticeably.
If that’s the case, then you need someone who will help you with Rakan’s investigation without being too conspicuous.
At that time, the stage director said, with a wide eye towards the minor role.
“Barbarians, get your mind right! Ready!”
Sweat dripped from Rakan’s back.
If Biscotti is rioting or doing strange things right now, Rakan can’t stop it.
‘For now, I’ll pass this on somehow.’
Rakan gripped the model sword.
The stage director’s cue sign entered.
“depart!”
Rakan performed a low-level performance and ran up the stage.
At the time of rehearsal, I didn’t know that the chairs were empty, but as hundreds of people watched the stage, the pressure was no joke.
Rakan desperately searched for Tigris.
Finding Tigris wasn’t difficult.
Tigris was watching a play with the princess sitting on a block-shaped seat protruding from the wall.
Read at noblemtl.com
Judging by the dull expression on his face, it seems that he had not yet grasped that Biscotti was strange.Rakan first stood behind the barbarian captain ‘Misat’ as per the scenario.
What Rakan had to do was to shout and follow Misat after Misat’s monologue was over.
Rakan glanced at him.
He was still there, as if he had mastered the script.
However, the hand holding the sword was a problem.
All the barbarians decided to unify the sword with their right hand.
At that moment, Tommy, who was next to Bisco, muttered a little.
“hey. Bisco. right hand. right hand.”
“ah.”
Biscotti took the sword with his right hand.
‘Magic circle?’
For a brief moment, Rakan saw clearly.
A strange magic circle was drawn on that guy’s left palm.
The reason he was holding a weapon in his left hand was to hide the strange magic circle drawn on his palm.
Rakan quickly rummaged through his mind.
I needed to find out what kind of magic circle it was.
But Rakan searched his memory, but couldn’t figure out what kind of magic it was.
It was also because it was too short and the angle was not good and it looked fragmented.
‘Damn I don’t know.’
However, one thing is certain, it is a magic circle of at least 5 circles.
A magic circle is a circle that can contain magic.
That is, it depends on the number of circles.
Five circles were clearly drawn in concentric circles in that little palm.
‘I’m glad I have a notepad for the junior investigation.’
The fragmented magic circle that Rakan just saw must have been contained in the investigation notepad.
I’ll draw a picture and let Tigris know.
“Let’s go kill that wicked Perschen!”
Missat’s magnificent monologue ended.
“Wow!”
Rakan looked straight ahead and raised his sword high into the sky and shouted.
Sweat dripped from Rakan’s back.
As Misat ran, Rakan ran.
Biscotti was also well following Rakan’s side.
‘It doesn’t look like it is now.’
Isn’t it time yet?
Fortunately it was
Rakan glanced at Tigris’s face before heading backstage.
Could it have felt strange?
Tigris’ eyes were fixed on Rakan.
But he didn’t know if he noticed because he didn’t change his expression so much.
‘I can’t help it. I have no choice but to find it myself.’
Rakan decided to go to Tigris as soon as he changed his makeup and changed his clothes.
[Quest Success!]
Take off your top at the princess’s birthday party.
Get 5,000 points!
‘Eight away!’
Even the quest success message did not relieve Rakan’s tension.
* * *
‘Rakan is a little strange.’
Tigris paid attention to Rakan as he left.
He seemed very nervous, unlike Rakan.
It’s my first time performing on a stage like this, so I’m nervous?
However, he seemed to be conscious of the man next to him.
Rain Rover tapped Tigris’ arm and said.
“Did you just see Rakan? Are you so nervous that your expression hardens?”
“Oh, yes. I saw it.”
“Today’s play is more fun than expected. When someone you know is appearing in a play, don’t you think it’s delicious to wait for the next one?”
“yes. I think so too.”
Rain Rover looked at Tigris’ hard expression and said:
“What’s wrong? Sir Tigris?”
“Well······.”
Tigris was worried.
I’ll go to Rakan right now and check if there’s something wrong, or I’ll just stay still.
There was no solid evidence and it was just a simple heart attack, so it was difficult for Tigris to move directly.
If it were nothing, it would be very disrespectful to Rain Rover.
However, according to Tigris’ intuition, it was right to move once.
After much deliberation, Tigris decided to tell a lie with the truth.
Today is Rain Rover’s birthday.
I didn’t want to make the person who should be the happiest today worry for nothing.
“no. I think there is a bit of a problem with the verification.”
“Are you sure?”
“Barbarians don’t rub their tattoos on their skin like that. Only when I win a duel, I get a tattoo. By the way, aren’t the tattoos drawn from the general barbarian warrior to the massat? That’s a verification error.”
Rain Rover looked at Tigris with a puzzled expression.
“What else can I say? It’s a play, but what about the historical error? A play should be seen as a play.”
“It was just a little uncomfortable.”
“Okay. I knew it was some serious problem. Well, by the way, that’s also the Tigris kind of thing.”
‘Let’s check the authenticity first.’
Tigris got up.
“I’ll go to the bathroom for a while.”
“…are you sure you don’t want to go to Danju and ask?”
“Absolutely not.”
“It was a joke. Come on. If you leave your seat for a long time, you will be scolded.”
The seat Tigris sat was a block-type two-seater attached to the wall, so he was able to get out without disturbing other people.
Tigris went out the door and headed for the block seat next to him.
Four people, including Charlotte, were sitting there watching a play.
“By the way, didn’t there just be someone who looked like Rakan among the barbarians?”
“uh? I knew I was the only one who thought so.”
“Am I getting to the point where I can see Rakan even if I only take my shirt off?”
“Is that possible…….”
Tigris approached the four of you.
“uh? Tigris.”
“quietly.”
At Tigris’ serious gaze, the four of them swallowed their saliva.
“What happened?”
“No, nothing is certain. It’s just my heartache.”
Tigris said looking at Trisha among the four.
“The other three are here, Trisha, head backstage and find Rakan.”
“… Lakan? Wait a minute, then the person we talked about resembles Rakan…”
“Probably the person you saw was Rakan.”
“Oh my gosh······. Why is Rakan…”
“I will explain that later. First of all, try to contact Rakan so as not to be noticed by others.”
“What should I do when I go to Rakan?”
“Just tell me I sent it. If there is a problem, listen to what the problem is, and if it is something you can handle, take care of it. If you need my help or the help of others, come to me. Do you understand?”
Trisha nodded her head.
“Yes. Okay. Oh, by the way, can I take Charlotte, Irene, and Linia from here besides me? I think it would be better if we moved together with these three people rather than alone.”
Tigris looked at the three for a moment and then nodded.
“If that’s your opinion, then it’s fine.”
“Yes. All right.”
* * *
Rakan changed into civic attire, refreshed his makeup, and went backstage.
Chapter 4 had to start for Rakan to come up on stage, so there was a bit of leeway.
Rakan glanced at Biscotti.
Biscotti also played the role of a passing citizen, wearing shabby clothes like Rakan.
The only difference was that Biscotti was wearing gloves on both hands.
‘I’m a little anxious if I leave it alone…’
He could have done something while Rakan left and came back.
The agony didn’t last long.
‘Nevertheless, the first priority is to inform.’
Rakan left Bisco behind and went to the stage director and said,
“Director. I’ll go to the bathroom for a while.”
“Go quickly.”
“yep! All right.”
Rakan secretly passed the bathroom and headed for the passageway connecting the backstage and the audience.
At the end of the passage, there were guards standing guard.
‘Oh, there were guards.’
All of the people in the audience were high-ranking people, so in case of terrorism or various assassinations, the passage connecting the backstage and the audience was thoroughly blocked by the guards.
When the guards saw Rakan, they immediately became alert.
“What’s going on?”
“You are suffering. My name is Rakan, who works as a minor in the Fiora Troupe. I’m sorry, but can I go out for a while and come back?”
“…for what purpose?”
Rakan shook his head for a moment.
If Tigris had an urgent message to tell, it was obvious that these guards would not be sent.
However, if Biscotti said that he had to raise the level because it was strange, he would be considered a madman.
‘Wait a minute, am I pretty famous?’
Didn’t Danju recognize Rakan’s face?
If so, wouldn’t these guards know Rakan’s face?
Rakan said confidently, taking off his bread hat.
“Do you not know me? This is Rakan.”
“······· Rakan? Who is Rakan?”
“Isn’t that there? He’s the one who caught Viscount Kayle and made a huge contribution to finding the Chimera Lab. That’s the fold.”
The guards were slightly stunned by Rakan’s confident self-introduction, but the two focused on what they had to do.
“Well······. Well, it seems there was such a person. But is that you?”
“Yes. Right. Should I carry this newspaper with me? Oh no. Look at this.”
Rakan took out a ruby necklace and showed it to him.
The guard scanned the ruby necklace and Rakan up and down.
“If you say Rakan is right, why are you working here as a minor?”
“uh······. that is······.”
Rakan was worried about whether to sell the name of Tigris here.
‘No, it’s right to sell Instructor Tigris’ name here.’
If Rakan mentions Tigris here, the guards will directly ask Tigris to ascertain the authenticity, and will be able to make contact with Tigris.
“Tigris has placed me in this Fiora troupe just in case something unexpected happens.”
“What happened?”
“yes. Maybe behind-the-scenes terrorism or an assassination attempt or something like that. It means you planted me in case something unexpected happens.”
Rakan seemed to have answered quite well, even if he thought it was.
However, the guard’s eyes became more bloody.
“So, you mean that Sir Tigris did not trust the Imperial Palace Guard, Golden Knights, and Iron-Blood Wizards, and placed you in this extreme?”
“······yes? no. no. It doesn’t mean you don’t trust the Imperial Guard!”
“Otherwise, why did you put you in the extreme without telling us that?”
“Ah… well, uh… this is a confidential matter…”
“You’re not even an Inquisitor, what kind of secret? you’re winning something Are you the real Rakan?”
“Is that right?! Please check the directory. Rakan Wood. There will be only four letters, right?”
“Then who else knows about this? Are you the Golden Knights Commander? Or the Iron-Blood Magic Leader?”
“no······. That is… the Princess.”
The guards laughed at how ridiculous it was.
“If the Princess had known about this, she would have at least informed the captain of the guard or Sir Bergan. Do you two know?”
Rakan swallowed dry saliva.
The lies piled up like a snowball, reaching a level Rakan couldn’t handle.
‘How should I do this…’
“I guess we looked so lame.”
The guard eventually put his hand on the sword.
“Right now, put your hands on the wall and turn around.”
“no! Wait! You can’t just check with Sir Tigris with a crystal ball now! I have to go see Sir Tigris now!”
Rakan seemed to run out of breath as he swallowed about 100 sweet potatoes.
Another guard pulled handcuffs from his waist.
“Get your hands on the wall right now. Now I’m starting to doubt whether you’re the real Rakan.”
“No, is it really that Rakan? Are you eating dinner together with that Tigris-nim and the princess? Do you drink tea too? Did you do it all?”
Sureung-
The guard eventually pulled out his sword.
“You’re interrupting the play of the Princess and Lord Tigris because of your abnormal behavior? Do you think that makes sense? Come on, put your hands on the wall Otherwise, I will enforce it.”
The guard’s words made sense, so Rakan ripped off his head.
“Aww! driving me crazy! This is not it!”
“Wait!”
At that moment, I saw four dolls in the hallway in the distance.
It was Trisha, Charlotte, Irene and Linia.
“Five. Hallelujah.”
Rakan felt like he had received the four goddesses now.
* * *
The guards were lined up in Linia’s line.
It was because the guards knew their faces because they were Tigris’ sisters.
Rakan and the four of them entered a quiet warehouse.
“thanks. Thanks to you, I am alive.”
“I didn’t know you were going to do a real play. By the way, what was the reason you were being held by the guards?”
Rakan said, blushing.
“The guards didn’t know my face. I had something to tell Instructor Tigris, so I asked him to send it, but he didn’t.”
“·················ogue.”
“Don’t look at me with those eyes. I’ll be famous soon. No, shouldn’t it be famous? Anyway, how did you get here?”
Charlotte said with her arms crossed.
“Instructor Tigris sent it. Judging by the look on his face, it looks like there is something wrong with him.”
“How did the instructor know?”
Trisha shook her head and said.
“I don’t know. There’s something about the instructor that’s a little tingly. Could it be that the nib has appeared again?”
I don’t know how Tigris knew Rakan was strange, but he lived thanks to it.
If you go to Moro, you can go to Seoul.
No, the saying that even if you go to Moro, you can go to the zodiac, may be coming from here.
“Anyway, what’s wrong? Can you explain?”
“yes. I’ll explain right away. I don’t know the exact details yet, but there is a person named ‘Bisco’ in this theater group. I think that person has been replaced.”
“Does being swapped mean someone is pretending to be biscotti?”
“yes. Right. The unusual thing is that he drew a circle of 5 on his left palm and had a strange tattoo on his body. This is not a barbarian tattoo.”
Rakan lifted her jacket up to her stomach, showing off her tattoos.
The four of you were a little terrified, but Rakan’s serious gaze managed to control their expressions.
“Can you show me that tattoo and then draw a magic circle on the palm of your hand?”
“yes. By the way, I know the tattoos as a whole, but the palm magic circles are fragmented, so I couldn’t understand them accurately.”
Rakan drew a picture on the spot with a notebook and pen brought from the props warehouse.
Rakan’s drawing skills aren’t very good, so I drew more detail than I expected.
In particular, the body tattoo side was completely painted from the front to the back.
Irene tilted her head and said.
“How do you remember all this?”
“I don’t have a bad momentary memory.”
“ah······. okay.”
Rakan handed the picture to the four of you.
“I have to go back on stage soon, so I have to go back. So the four of you have to be busy moving around. We only have an hour and a half left.”
“An hour and a half? How do you know that specific time?”
“Because this play ends in an hour and a half. The culprit will do anything in it.”
The four of you swallowed their saliva.
“First of all, I have told you everything I need to tell you. I’ll do my best to do the best I can behind the scenes.”
“okay. We will inform Tigris-sama immediately.”
Rakan and the four of them left the warehouse.
* * *
Rakan made his way through the passage and met the guard again.
The guards let Rakan go, with a slightly confused expression on their faces.
stop!
Rakan paused for a moment, then turned back and approached the guard.
“What’s going on?”
Now, when the guards even spoke politely, I felt like I ate cider.
For now, I decided to set aside this feeling and continue the investigation.
“I have one question. Is there any other passage connecting the stage and the audience seats besides this passage?”
The guard nodded his head.
“That’s right. To be precise, it is directly connected to the stage, but there are golden knights and wizards standing on the border so that no one can go there.”
“Then you mean no one else can enter except through this passage? And when people move, two people have to check in unconditionally.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then, have any of the outsiders other than the Fiora troupe moved to the backstage?”
“Wait.”
The guard scanned the entry list hanging on the wall and opened his mouth.
“Well······. Yes. There is one.”
Rakan’s eyes widened.
“really? Who is it?”
“You are a priest of the Lux Church. He had come to pray before the stage started.”
remembered
The leader of the Fiora troupe was a faithful member of the Lux Church.
So, before the main stage started, everyone had to say a prayer of congratulations.
‘Until then, Biscotti was fine.’
“Did he ever go out?”
“no. You haven’t left yet.”
Rakan snapped his fingers.
“It’s him!”
Rakan seemed to find the culprit unexpectedly quickly.