24 – Theatre
“Obey your Majesty, brave warrior!”
The king was sitting in the royal seat, with what seemed like a Prime Minister or a Chief Minister next to it, opening out a proclamation and reciting it.
About 5 meters away directly in front of the throne, there was a kneeling warrior with his right hand on his chest and head bowed.
“Retrieve the prince unharmed from the clutches of the evil sorcerer! If you do so, I shall grant you the next throne and the prince!”
“I accept your command!”
The hero exclaims with a tone brimming with confidence.
A royal guard steps forward, reverently holding a sword with both hands and approaches the throne.
The knight kneels and offers the sword to the king, lifting it up with both hands.
The king takes the sword in one hand and rises from his throne.
Holding the sword, he walks toward the hero, looks down upon him, and extends it still sheathed.
“Please use this holy sword to defeat the sorcerer and return my son safe.”
The king’s voice is deep and commanding, tinged with a hint of maternal affection.
“I am profoundly honored!”
The hero lifts his head and raises his hands to receive the holy sword.
“All of them have been women…”
Until now, without exception, every character that had appeared was a woman.
Except for the prince and the sorcerer, who had only been mentioned but not yet seen.
“Well, they haven’t made their entrance yet…”
In moments like this, one is starkly reminded of the world’s reversal.
“And so the hero embarks on a quest to save the prince…”
After the narration flows, the curtain falls and then rises again.
The scene shifts.
The hero’s journey unfolds, facing adversities and receiving a mysterious item from a noble stranger cloaked in riddles.
After a couple of scene changes,
“Haah! Yah!”
The hero slashes through the sorcerer’s minions in combat.
“Hmm… It’s a bit childish and predictable, but more entertaining than I expected.”
In a world scarce of diversions, this provides a rare hit of dopamine, stirring a slight interest.
Glancing to the side, I notice Betty fully engaged, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
I can’t help but smile at the sight.
“Still harbors a child’s heart, it seems.”
Or rather,
“She’s still just a kid, after all…”
“But considering how much she must’ve seen if she said she enjoys watching plays, I wonder if they could still be this interesting…
Come to think of it, I remember feeling similar as a child.
Whenever there was an interesting animation on TV,
I always wondered why adults didn’t watch these.
‘But still, feeling this way till the age of seventeen is slightly late…’
While recalling such trivial thoughts, the climax of the play draws near seemingly out of nowhere.
“So this is the magician’s main base, the Magic Tower!”
The actor playing the hero, brandishing an almost white-black sword, kicks open the door.
She confronts extras in ghost roles, draped in white shrouds, and ascends the tower by slicing them down with her holy sword.
Throughout this play, her acting skills were absolutely outstanding.
‘I guess there’s a reason why she was cast as the main role’
There was a powerful intensity in her performance, a kind of desperation.
This desperation translated into a more immersive experience for the audience, as she was trying to save the prince in the play.
Some of her over exaggerated gestures and actions were somewhat irritating, but, well, it is a play.
‘I have hardly enjoyed watching the theater before’
Seeing a few children’s plays with my parents when I was little is the full extent of my theater experience.
“So this is the final floor!”
The hero, after climbing the magic tower, finally reaches the top floor where the magician is expected to be, and takes a look around.
—
Audrey feels a shiver run through her entire body.
‘If I get through this scene, I can take the lead role in the future!’
She feels it. Her performance exceeded her seniors’ today.
It was neither beginner’s luck nor the confidence of a fool.
She has been working tirelessly since she was a little girl, since joining the theater company doing odd jobs ten years ago.
She flattered her senior actors and managed to borrow scripts, which she copied faithfully and memorized passionately.
And while watching the performances of her senior actors,
‘What would I have done in her place?’
She would imagine this, and stayed behind after closing to practice acting.
Even after being cast in a minor role, she would copy the main actors’ scripts and practice as if possessed.
Without anyone to correct her, she persevered in silence.
Luckily, Audrey had overflowing talent in acting.
Because talent and effort combined, there came a moment when,
‘Isn’t that how it should be done…’
She started to notice weaknesses in the acting of her seniors.
Although she only played a small role amongst the wizards in this play, she practiced all the roles of the lead and supporting characters.
Perhaps that group approached her, caught such activities, and manipulated the roles a week ago.
Handing over the lead role to a supporting role a week ago was essentially impossible.
However, she managed to do it.
Now, after defeating the wizard and becoming the king, once the scene where she marries the prince ends, she will successfully complete her first lead role!
Her sense of achievement starts to overshadow her nervousness about what she needs to do next.
‘After all, it is a dispel spell…’
Associated with this fake sword was a magical dispel spell that wouldn’t harm anyone.
Audrey, who didn’t know much about magic, hadn’t heard of this spell before, and couldn’t fully trust their words.
But she would do it.
Now, she believed she could take the leading role without their help.
However, they had the power to easily control the casting of the Central Theater.
The next replacement could be her, irrespective of her skills.
Such uncertainty and her hopeful future ran through her mind and drove her to act.
Audrey raised her sword high above her head and shouted the starting phrase of the artifact engraved with the strengthened level 5 area destruction magic: “Reveal yourself!”
———————–
At the moment the actor playing the hero raised his sword and spat out his lines in search of the villainous wizard,
I sensed something strange from the sword in her hand.
It felt like something around was being drawn into one point.
That point was on the blade…
‘Magic?’
What was being drawn was the magic in the theater.
Even the magic outside the theater seemed to be somewhat involved, the congregation was remarkable.
And I’m aware of this phenomenon.
‘It’s the stages of magic activation’
Looking around, no one seemed to notice anything strange.
Even Betty, sitting next to me.
After about three seconds of concentration, the sword begins to glow.
“Wow… Is this a new production method!”
“Such impressive technology lately!”
The surrounding audience exclaims in admiration.
‘Is that so.’
I ended up thinking that their admiration is part of the play’s direction.
But the magical concentration continues.
“Welcome, brave hero”
“Contemptible wizard! Let the prince go!”
Even though the wizard reveals himself and the play continues, the concentration goes on.
The sword is now so bright it hurts to look at.
Finally, the audience seems to realize that something is wrong.
“What, what’s happening?”
“It’s too bright…”
A quick look at Betty reveals her troubled expression.
“Ah, ah~~ That, that’s truly the Holy Sword! Such a sacred light!!”
The actor playing the wizard spat out his original lines, but no matter how I looked, it seemed like he had to improvise out of surprise.
‘This is… serious’
I’ve learned three level 1 spells; Martan, Shield, and Grab, and I know the concentration of these spells.
But the concentration gathering on the prop sword right now…
‘100 times that of Martan. No, 1000 times?’
It feels that magnificent.
‘What on earth is happening’
The moment the light from the sword feels intense even with my eyes closed,
The concentration stops.
The gathered magic takes its place in a certain arrangement.
That was…
From Noble mtl dot com
“An explosion.”
I was able to grasp the meaning of that magical formation.
To my surprise, Betty, who heard my involuntary utterance, sprang up without hesitation and pounced on me at an incredible speed.
She mounted me as I was sitting and forcefully pulled my head close to her.
“B-Betty… A moment! Gasp!”
She seemed to be focused solely on protecting me.
My face was buried between her ample breasts.
‘My, breathing…’
I forcefully raised my head and managed to catch my breath.
However, at that moment, I felt something like a barrier enveloping my body.
‘This is…’
I could tell that it was a shield spell.
However, it felt incomparable to even a Level 1 Shield.
‘This is… a ‘field’ that disrupts and disperses magical power itself.’
‘Could Betty have? No, that’s not it…’
I could sense the direction where this was coming from.
I turned my head and looked diagonally behind the seat, where a voluptuous, tanned woman in a revealing leather suit was licking her lips and winking at me from the edge of the theater.
‘Did that woman do this? But why only me…?’
The atmosphere in the theater changed.
The actors stopped their performance, realizing that this was not a simple stage accident.
‘Time is running out.’
The magical formations began to merge.
‘How… what can I do…’
For the time being, I squeezed out all the remaining magical power in my bracelet and cast a double Grab spell.
One grabbed the nape of the warrior actor, and the other seized the shining sword.
Then, I separated the two.
The actor dropped the sword and looked around in bewilderment.
“Everyone, get out of the way!!”
With a cry of despair, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
By now, both the actors and the audience seemed to sense the impending danger. The actors, including the hero, scrambled off the stage and rushed toward the seats.
“Please, everyone, exit in an orderly manner!”
They yell.
As the spectators tried to scramble out of their seats and escape from the theater in a flurry, I instinctively knew it was in vain.
There will be an explosion in less than ten seconds.
There’s no time left to exit in any kind of orderly fashion.
‘Dammit!!’
The bracelet no longer possesses any power.
Most of the people here won’t be able to withstand the magic.
Only a handful of people here have the capacity to withstand this.
But…
‘How did I know that?’
It felt as if I could sense everything in the theater clearly, as if it was operating under my own senses.
The extension of my perception felt inexplicably expanded.
‘Although, I was able to use my grasp correctly even when I couldn’t see due to Betty.’
Once I recognized this, I immediately understood the cause.
Her, sticking close to me.
‘Ah…’
Her vast magic, which I once allowed to control me, now allows me to the same just by making contact.
It has become my eyes and ears, contributing to the extension of my sense.
Now, only four seconds remain.
I muster all my willpower to grasp Betty’s magic tightly.
“Betty! Please cooperate with me!”
Without even nodding, she simply only held me, silently agreeing.
Her ocean-like magic fully comes under my control.
Without delay, I enter into visualization. What I am about to do requires a high level of concentration.
I was a talented developer.
I was confident in my focus.
‘I can do it. I can do it!’
I could feel the blood rushing to my head.
The sensation of something warm tracing down from the inside of my nose, along my philtrum…
1 second.
The incantation for magic aids in speeding up the activation through self-suggestion, but for someone like me who is quick without saying anything, the incantation for level 1 magic was only a mere help of about 0.3 seconds.
However, right now, that 0.3 seconds will decide everyone’s life or death.
“Shieelddddd!!!!!!”
After completing the visualization, I shouted the incantation for the level 1 defense spell as if my throat were about to tear.
At that moment, a shield of over 100 layers is cast on the shining sword. And additionally,
The audience, actors, staff, everyone in the theater.
A total of 529 people had shields of 10 layers each on their bodies.
0.1 second.
Bright light as if staring directly at the midsummer noon sun.
“””…….!!!”””
-Kwaaang!!!!