Chapter 34
Translator - Zofu
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Even the actors on stage could see the spectators seated in the gallery. They simply proceeded toward completing the play, displaying their gestures and dialogue while assuming the audience's gaze didn't exist for the duration of the performance.
After the curtain fell, what awaited the actors might be rotten tomatoes hurled by enraged spectators, or thunderous applause from those moved to tears. Everything depended on the actors themselves.
That would be true for ordinary theater. But here existed perverted spectators who watched a play performed by actors who truly didn't know they were "actors on stage." While this place was decorated like a VVIP room in a normal theater, the actors could never perceive the audience's existence, nor could the audience interfere—whether by hurling rotten tomatoes or offering applause.
Simply put, it was like this: Could a doodle drawn on paper perceive the existence of the one who drew it? Or could it leap from the page with a knife to stab its master to death? Of course not. The relationship between beings who observed everything from a "higher dimension" and those who simply lived day by day in a "lower dimension" was exactly the same.
This play, featuring an all-star cast of 'protagonist—Kaldir Astra, heroine—Atlantia Atlas Atlenos,' was prepared after much difficulty in recruiting. It provided considerable amusement even to the Transcendents who had lived for so long in a higher dimension—where a flick of a finger could erase the lower dimension—that they'd fallen into unbearable boredom.
Oh-ho...! So this show was entering a new phase now. Buster, one of the two spectators who had been sitting quietly watching Kaldir and Princess Atlantia's passionate performance backstage, muttered in a low voice.
What made the corners of Buster's mouth visibly lift—he who had maintained a stoic expression throughout this play that began when Kaldir turned fifteen and left for Earth—was none other than Princess Atlantia, who had activated the "Dream Demon's Domain" with the sole intent of making Kaldir hers. She could be proud. She made ME smile!
That woman called Atlantia was undoubtedly one with insatiable lust, not to mention an equally voracious possessiveness. Otherwise, she couldn't have pulled out all those flashy tricks—the Absolute Yin Physique, ancient sorcery, the Dream Demon's Domain—just to claim a single woman.
As far as I recalled, that woman Kaldir acted all haughty and proud before she turned fifteen and went to Earth—before she was captured by that woman. But seeing her now pinned beneath such a possessive woman, mixing moans with nasal sounds, her body seemed quite honest. That's good. Very good!
Buster tossed a gold coin toward the actress named Atlantia. He did the same toward the actress called Kaldir. It was appropriate praise for the two lead performers.
Having finished his excessive, excited praise for the actress, Buster sat back down. His human disguise resembled Winston Churchill—Winston Churchill with a protruding belly in a sharply fitted suit at the theater, puffing on a cigar.
"Aria, I'm quite fond of this play myself. But... with the story unfolding like this, what becomes of that supporting actress... Carnelian, was it?"
Buster's voice, disguised as a wicked middle-aged nouveau riche, was appropriately gruff. In contrast, the woman called "Aria" was exquisitely beautiful. Sporting a hime-cut with short bangs and long hair in back, she wore a purple party dress befitting her beauty—a dress so revealing that her cleavage and back were openly exposed.
No, if that were all, it would be fortunate. The back was cut so deep that the cleft of her bare buttocks—she wasn't even wearing a thong—was almost exposed, and the chest portion was similarly brief, with her pink-tinged areola barely visible.
The combination of a pot-bellied middle-aged nouveau riche and a seductive beauty with brilliant purple eyes. At a glance, it was hard to believe these two beings were the same age—three billion years old. Rather than childhood friends who came to watch a play together, it looked more like a nouveau riche who'd bought a woman from a brothel and was pawing at her breasts and buttocks, ignoring the play entirely and begging to be touched.
The gold diamond jewelry adorning the woman's neck, ears, and fingers did nothing to dispel such misunderstandings—rather, they encouraged them. At best, their presence changed the scenario from "a prostitute being groped by a nouveau riche" to "a pitiful young lady sold into a strategic marriage to a middle-aged nouveau riche from a noble house."
"Ah, Buster. I'm glad you like the play. Though of course, since I prepared it with such painstaking effort, it couldn't possibly fail to please."
Aria answered calmly, paying no mind to appearances. The forms they currently wore were just one of countless forms they'd assumed before, and they could transform into anything they wished—so there was no reason for her to squirm under any perceived judgment.
"Carnelian? Did you say Carnelian? Indeed, I did insert a 'dead weight' by that name into this play."
"Pfft... So you call her 'dead weight' instead of a supporting actress?"
Aria paused as if lost in thought for a moment, then spoke again. At her words, Buster let out a quiet laugh. After all, one would be hard-pressed to find a playwright who belittled an actor in their own painstakingly prepared production by calling them "dead weight."
If you're going to call an actor with an actual role—not even an extra—"dead weight," why not just exclude that role from the script entirely? Truly, an incomprehensible woman, despite being a childhood friend.
"Yes, she's nothing but dead weight to me. What else do you call an actor who harbors unrequited love for the heroine and only interferes with the protagonist, being neither the female lead nor the heroine herself? She'll be removed from the stage soon enough."
"Now, is the director personally spoiling her own work? I thought that woman might manage to accomplish something by inserting herself between the lead actors."
"Hmph. Think whatever you like."
Aria's voice was so beautiful it seemed to gently caress the listener's ears, but its content was unyielding. Buster, too, could predict that Carnelian's fate wouldn't be particularly bright, so he didn't press further.
Buster continued watching Kaldir and Atlantia enjoy their utterly vulgar sex under the guise of nursing for a while, then set down his cigar as it burned to its limit and pulled out a new one. As he lit it, he asked again with a worried tone.
"But that, while certainly novel... I mean, is it actually possible to ensnare the protagonist with the Dream Demon's Domain? Though that ability is meant for such purposes... the gap in psionic power between those two isn't exactly ordinary, is it?"
Only someone who intimately understood the nature of the Dream Demon's Domain could ask such a question. Could that princess wench truly wield that ability perfectly? Might she fail to make Kaldir her possession and merely turn her into a prostitute instead, due to her inexperience with the ability?
Mind domination fell within the realm of psionic powers. Naturally, it was extremely difficult to pull off such tricks against someone stronger than oneself. Moreover, if the gap between them was unimaginably vast... it would be like expecting a grandmother running a corner store to buy out a world-class conglomerate with a single cash payment.
The universe was a vast space even for the two Transcendents, and in such a universe, there were no scenarios with a literal 0% chance of occurring. But hoping for a scenario that infinitely approached 0% to happen by chance... wasn't that excessive greed?
"As for that concern... don't worry. There won't be any problem."
Even though Kaldir's psionic power as the would-be victim far exceeded that of Princess Atlantia, the would-be dominator, Aria's response was unhesitating. It meant she had that much confidence in what she was saying.
"From the beginning... why do you only assume it won't work?"
"Well, obviously... Hah, I should hold my tongue."
Buster tried to argue against Aria's words, but seeing her ignore what he was saying and instead shower the woman called Atlantia with a pouch full of gold coins, he shook his head side to side.
Gold coins were simultaneously praise from spectators to brilliant actors, and also a kind of stimulant that helped brilliant actors deliver even more outstanding performances.
To put it simply... Aria, as a Transcendent, possessed near-infinite psionic power to begin with. Taking some of it and giving it away in the form of gold coins wouldn't be noticeable. But to an actress, even a single gold coin held tremendous value. If you gave her a pouch full of them...
Though Princess Atlantia, who had unleashed the Dream Demon's Domain on Kaldir, likely didn't realize it, Aria's showering of gold coins could narrowly bridge the psionic gap between them. Considering the nature of the Dream Demon's Domain, the Princess shouldn't have been able to activate it against Kaldir at all under normal circumstances.
Thanks to Aria, the Princess met the minimum activation conditions for the Domain. Thanks to Aria, the Princess could completely grasp Kaldir in her palm. So—having received my favor—she should work her body even harder and put on a show.
"A director spoiling her own work, and now playing favorites by showering an actress with gold coins instead of silver or copper... This is a completely rotten director, isn't it?"
Buster grumbled, but Aria simply smirked as if to say, "Do your worst." Whatever Buster spouted, he was merely a general audience member here. He held no authority to interfere with what the director did.
Well, he'd watch to the end no matter how this play concluded, so it didn't matter. Buster muttered to himself.