150. The Eleventh Performer.
150. The Eleventh Performer.
The legitimate successor of the Athena Guild.
Due to Minerva's sudden, unexpected statement, the situation at the Athena Guild was utter chaos.
But just because things were chaotic, just because a bad situation had arisen, that didn't mean pushing back planned tasks—that was the mark of third-rate among third-rates.
"Today's performance requires even more care than usual. Do you understand?"
"""""Yes!"""""
Originally, the protagonist of the Queen Siren subjugation battle, Minerva's solo, would have been included, but there was no point in lamenting what was missing.
Rather, the orchestra members took to the stage, finding solace in the fact that they could demonstrate their true skill without a clumsy performer mixed in.
[Then, we will now begin the concert of [The Heroes], the distinguished contributors of the Queen Siren subjugation battle!]
"....Fuuuuu."
The curtain slowly rose.
The public gazed upon the orchestra.
Amidst countless stares, he raised his baton.
'One....two....'
He replayed the beat in his mind.
'Three....four—!'
Precise rhythm. Perfect timing.
The moment he raised the baton in his hand to signal the start of the performance—
—Squeak?!!
"........"
The sound of the wind instrument was off.
A momentary dissonance. It could have been buried in the sound of the other instruments backing it up somehow, but it could not deceive his ears.
'Let's have a word later.'
He lightly glared at the performer who had made the mistake.
How dare they make a mistake at a concert representing the Athena Guild?
No matter how nervous they were, making a mistake right from the start was proof of insufficient practice.
—Ttuduk, duk!
—Ting!!!
".....?"
At least up until that moment, he had thought it was a matter of practice.
—Dudududu—Kwajik!
—Hiririririk!
'What is this....'
Beyond the level of dissonance, the instruments were breaking down in real time.
The tuning became disrupted, and their hands began to grow dull.
As their hands grew dull, their breathing faltered.
As their breathing faltered, their ensemble became warped.
As their ensemble warped, the overall form collapsed.
From a 'performance' whose form had collapsed, the 'gods' could never be moved.
'The blessing...is disappearing....?!'
The blessing of Muse, which had always felt overflowing within his body.
The sensation of the companion he had practiced with his entire life, the companion he had spent his lifetime with, departing far away.
It was strange.
It was an impossible occurrence.
Originally, the blessing of music, the blessing of Muse, should not disappear in such a manner.
'Even if one's skill declines...what does it mean for the blessing to disappear!'
Individual skill could undergo changes.
But the blessing of Muse, obtained as a reward for dedicating a performance, disappearing was something that could never happen.
Much less a case like now, where the blessings of numerous musicians were vanishing—this was something that could never happen in the whole world.
'It feels like hell.'
It was difficult to continue the performance.
Every moment, every measure was a chain of agony.
The urge to snap his baton and walk out right then and there.
A situation where he knew he was creating garbage with his own hands, and the more he realized it, the more self-loathing he felt.
'Why...why, why, why are you doing this to us...?!'
Even as the performance reached its end,
even as it reached its climax, the illusion of Muse did not appear.
All that existed was a dissonance that tormented the ears.
Why,
why,
for what reason
did Muse abandon us and withdraw her blessing, O Muse?
'—No way.'
A memory flashed through his mind in an instant.
Sometime before, a person who had declared that they had personally received the blessing of a Muse goddess, one among them, Ur.
Memories of tormenting that person, discriminating against them, and deliberately pushing them aside.
'No way, was it because of that...?'
No, that couldn't be.
That mustn't be the reason.
A god was always an impartial and just being.
Yet by the same token, to humans, they were also beings so indifferent as to seem ruthless.
Therefore—One never withdrew their blessing just because of something like slandering or disparaging someone.
The reason they withdrew their blessing, the act of removing a blessing, was only one.
Defiling music.
In other words—harming a performer better than oneself...was it, no, it wasn't.
"Keuk...!"
He gripped the baton tightly.
The baton bent slightly under his grip strength.
But he paid it no mind and continued to conduct.
'Our performance, our effort, our value is worth less than 'that thing'?'
Geniuses could exist.
The existence of a genius could exist anywhere.
But are you saying that we, who made performance our profession, who made performance our life, who dedicated our lives solely to performance,
fell behind a brat who hadn't even reached the state of full maturity and who merely performed at a hobby level...?
"Bullshit...."
He swung the baton.
"Don't talk bullshit....!"
Roughly. A little more violently.
He swung the baton more passionately to vent the emotions welling up in his entire body, but....
"Conductor..."
"!.......Aah..."
Even after the performance was completely over, the blessing did not return.
An existence that had already grown distant, grown faint.
"....O Muse-isiyeo.."
The conductor descended below the curtain.
Everyone descended, and someone else ascended.
[──♬]
".............."
The performance began.
Garbage-like music. Without exception, music that displeased him.
Compared to the elites he had gathered, it was nothing but worthless trash.
Yet Muse responded to their performance, overlaying beautiful fantasies upon reality.
"....Why.."
A question with no one to answer.
The conductor blankly stared at the performance.
A repetition of performance starting, ending, starting, ending.
And finally.
[With this, the 10th stage has concluded.]
"......Let us prepare."
The 10th stage.
The final stage of the concert had ended.
What remained now was our encore performance—
[Up next is the 'Truth' of 'Ur. Everyone, please welcome her with applause.]
".........??"
—It should have been.
The 11th.
An 11th performance that did not exist, that was not on the entry list.
Moreover, a woman, entirely alone, who had appropriated the name of 'Ur, a part of the 'Muses', stepped onto the stage.
[...It's been quite a while since I've been in a place like this.]
"............."
Hair concealed beneath a white veil.
Sea-colored hair visible beyond its edges.
Holding no instrument whatsoever, she brought her lips to the mic and began to sing.
***************************
A single person visible beyond the screen.
Though covered by a veil, her sea-colored hair remained unconcealed.
"She came out in person entirely?"
She began to sing as she held the mic.
No, actually, I wasn't quite sure if I should call this singing.
The expression was that she was 'singing', but...
[Ah─────♬]
"......Uum.."
There were no lyrics.
A song solely composed of vocalization, of pitch variation and its inherent technique.
A voice that seemed to appeal to something, without any words or lyrics.
There was no meaning or significance within it that I could concretely grasp.
All that existed was mere question.
I didn't quite know what she wanted by doing that...
"Ah....eut, heuk.....euut....!"
"...Minerva?"
Minerva, half losing her mind, began to cry.
The chat window was also either frozen or broken, as not a single chat was coming up.
I typed '?' out of curiosity and it went up just fine, so it didn't seem broken...
"Ur's voice. Ur's song touches the 'soul'."
"Mai...you seem fine though?"
"Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. Mai doesn't get bewitched by anyone other than Big Brother."
"Haven't heard that one in a while."
So what's your point?
"Big Brother is currently resisting the 'Wise Mother and Good Wife' trait."
"Uh...is that so?"
"So that's why."
"......Aah!"
I roughly understood what Mai was saying.
Put another way, while resisting Mai's Wise Mother and Good Wife trait, I must have simultaneously blocked the mental attack Ur had inflicted.
"So...am I the only one who can't hear it?"
"You can hear it. You just have to filter out only what you want."
"How do I filter that out?"
"I could tell you. But it might be meaningless...."
Well, since the performance was already over anyway...?
[....Thank you for listening♬]
"Ah....."
Ultimately, the performance finished without me even being able to hear it.
Anyway, seeing how it felt like a really good song just from the voice alone, it seemed she had sung with such sincerity.
'I should ask Ur to sing it again later.'
I turned off my phone and slipped it into my pocket.
And I approached Minerva to tell her what we were going to do next—or tried to.
"I'm sorry....because of me, because of just me, this...I'm truly sorry.....!"
"...Minerva?"
She came running towards me and embraced me as she was.
She was even shedding tears as she apologized, something I couldn't figure out the reason for...or I guess I could?
"No way this is...."
"Big Brother must be tremendously loved by the goddess."
"Really...."
Symptoms caused by Ur's song.
I didn't quite know what she saw through the song, but seeing Minerva right beside me like this...
—Ttiriririk♬
"....Mars."
The sound of a phone ringing immediately.
I picked up my phone and answered the call.
[....Chrono. I'll apologize in advance.]
Sorry.
But I seriously can't hold back.
[I...am going to go wreck the Athena Guild a bit.]
"STAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"
No!
Stop the guild war!
Even if you do it, not now!
[...............]
"....Mars?"
A strangely quiet sound.
Could it be she really had already half-destroyed it? Did she mute it while smashing everything up?
Just as all sorts of thoughts swirled through my head in that split second,
[Well,]
"No....that, what is it...."
A voice pitched low.
It didn't seem like she had broken anything yet...
"...You won't break it, right?"
[You told me not to break it.]
"Uh, yeah."
Good, as long as she hadn't broken it.
As long as she hadn't broken it, that was good.
...But does that even make sense?
'Honestly, even as I was saying it, I was already thinking about the cleanup.'
Mars was burning with rage, and she just listened to my words obediently?
This was something that could never happen unless she'd been hit in the head with something—so that's exactly what happened, isn't it?
"Hit in the head, so the medicine came in through her ears?"
So could this possibly be...
Just as the 'Greek solution' was slowly surfacing in my mind,
"Not that."
"....I didn't even say anything."
Mai said,
"It'll wear off with time. And it won't harm Big Brother or the women around him either."
"......But.."
"Everyone was worrying about you, Big Brother. Nothing has changed."
"............"
An odd sense of discomfort lingered in my heart.
To this, Mai said,
"Ur did this for Big Brother's sake. You might not like it. But...
...I think only getting angry is too much."
"..............."
Mass brainwashing.
Damage to civilians.
The resulting aftermath and so on.
Regarding the countless idle thoughts rising in my mind,
"Big Brother said so."
Mai said,
"Gods often interfere with heroes."
"....You're calling me a hero?"
"Seeing what you do, it seems right."
"..........."
Can't really deny that.
Anyway, I get what you're trying to say.
"What do you think I am, some kind of anger management case? Getting mad every single time?"
Ur ultimately took this action for my sake.
Furthermore, she didn't cause any harm to everyone.
Considering she's a 'Greek god', it was a measure that considered people excessively.
Of course, she didn't think of other people at all, but that's also very 'Greek' of her, so...
"I'll have a good talk with her later. And since this has already happened, I'll make use of what I can."
The phrase 'Rather, it's good' suited the current situation perfectly.
I moderately revised my plans in my head.
'The next batter is....surely Merk.'
I also knew how to use Scythe now, so it would probably end easily.
As an aside,
"..........."
"...Why are you looking at me with those eyes?"
Mai looked at me with wide, round eyes.
"Big Brother... didn't have intermittent explosive disorder...?"
"Hey?"
Why do you go around making people look like nutjobs.
"Thought you had it exclusively for the Main Gods."
"That's because they started doing weird shit first—"
"What about the carnal crest?"
"—Seems like I actually do have it."
Should I say it's a reflex from getting burned so many times?
...You try getting backstabbed three times in a row. See if you don't end up like this.