Wandering Mage Luke #8
Wandering Mage Luke #8
So how about we drop the "bitch" and just call her a tool?
A blonde tool who tosses out heals, that is.
Since I confirmed she handed over proper performance tickets, I figure I can afford to loosen my tongue a little.
I asked Rebecca for her thoughts.
"What do you think about just calling Kate a tool?"
"Sounds good, tool!"
Surprisingly, an affirmative answer came right back.
As expected, Rebecca's personality wasn't exactly normal either.
'Now this is what a party member of mine should be like! Heh.'
Call someone a "tool" and sooner or later, they start acting like they own the place.
Seems she instinctively grasped that bit of common sense despite being a newbie.
Excellent, Miss Newbie!
The moment I looked at Rebecca with a satisfied expression,
the play began on stage. The wide curtains parted left and right, and the actors burst onto the stage. The story of Siegfried, just as the ticket booth employee had mentioned, had begun.
'A heroic tale, huh.'
I couldn't help but feel a swell of anticipation as I watched the actors. Having been born in an orphanage, I hadn't been able to enjoy much in the way of cultural life. When it came to plays, the only things I'd ever seen were puppet shows put on by volunteers who rarely visited the orphanage.
But this was a play being performed at a grand theater like this.
Wasn't the entertainment practically guaranteed?
The other audience members around me were also watching the stage with expressions full of expectation.
"Siegfried! I guess that's the main character's name?"
"Just hearing the name, he sounds tough as hell."
Taking the lead role in the play was a slender young man with his face powdered white. He looked pretty convincing holding that prop longsword.
On stage, the young Siegfried was setting out on a journey to defeat a wicked dragon. A classic heroic tale, the kind I'd seen countless times before, was unfolding. The plot saw companions joining one after another, and several mid-boss types getting taken down along the way.
"Lu, Luke. The main character split a boulder with his sword!"
"Whoa."
As Rebecca made a fuss beside me, my interest in the play perked up too. As befits a grand theater, the production values alone were spectacular. It looked awesome whenever sparks flew from Siegfried's sword swings. Could it be that thing's not just a prop but an actual magic tool? The whole experience felt like padding out a classic heroic tale with flashy spectacle.
'This is pretty watchable.'
Before I knew it, I was watching the play with genuine admiration. I found myself unintentionally absorbed, especially during the scene where the wicked dragon was slain. My eyes were glued to the moment when the stage machinery rotated and a giant dragon appeared.
"HYAAAAAAAAAAP!!"
After a fierce battle, Siegfried succeeded in killing the dragon.
If it had ended here, I honestly felt I could rate this play a masterpiece. And this was coming from me—a guy who'd been transported here after devouring every kind of media the modern world had to offer.
'Is this the end? It has to be, right? No matter how I look at it, the play feels like it's just about over.'
But, surprisingly, the story wasn't over.
The tale of what happened after Siegfried became a Dragon Slayer continued.
However, for some reason, the story started veering in a weird direction.
Because Siegfried, who had been a virgin, suddenly began a romance.
'What the? Why is he suddenly getting all lovey-dovey?'
In the blink of an eye, Siegfried wrapped up his first night with a woman who appeared out of nowhere. The heroic tale was instantly swapped out for a sticky romance.
With a single line saying "a woman of destiny appeared," they just glossed over any description of affection or anything—a breakneck plot development!
"Isn't this suddenly way too sloppy?"
"I like it. It's a heartfelt romance, isn't it?"
If only it were a heartfelt romance.
At some point, Siegfried was cheating with another newly appeared woman. And on top of that, his original lover, named Brünnhilde, was also blatantly cheating on him.
The two of them were each finding new partners and committing adultery.
Why on earth?
"Why did the mood suddenly turn into a sordid melodrama?"
My expression soured instantly.
On stage, a melodrama worthy of the trashiest soap opera was unfolding.
Had Brünnhilde, who was having her own affair, suddenly gotten jealous?
Brünnhilde hired an assassin to go after Siegfried's life.
Attacked by the assassin, Siegfried died a hollow, meaningless death.
"Th-the Dragon Slayer got taken out in one hit."
"The assassin is way too strong!"
The main character died from a single stab of a knife!
A crazy plot twist that doesn't even give you a signal before it veers!
And the play's ending was even more seriously messed up. Brünnhilde, who had arranged the assassination, took her own life and threw herself beside Siegfried's corpse.
The two dead lovers lay side by side, holding hands.
The performance ended with sad music.
"Wow."
I stared at the closed curtain, speechless.
Just what kind of moral was this play trying to convey?
If you don't wanna die, don't fall in love?
Whatever the moral was, I was seriously pissed right now. Of all things, I had to watch this cursed play from a spot with a great view. It felt like I'd been smacked hard in the back of the head.
My clenched fist trembling, I shouted someone's name.
"Kaaaaate!!"
That tool-bitch set me up!
Could all of this have been Kate's scheme? Was there a reason she handed over the tickets with a smile? Fury surged through me as I thought about the play that had ended with such a ridiculous conclusion.
"Hey, why are you suddenly getting angry?"
"How can I not be angry! The ending turned out like that!"
"Is this really something to get that angry about?"
"What?"
But, unexpectedly, Rebecca's expression was calm. Rebecca, looking at the stage, didn't seem remotely shocked. Come to think of it, Rebecca had seemed indifferent even when the sloppy plot development first kicked off.
Rebecca spoke to me with a puzzled look.
"Originally, most heroic tales end in tragedy. Isn't it common for them to end with all the main characters dying?"
"An ending like this is common? There's no dramatic logic to it."
"Why are you nitpicking about dramatic logic? Back in my hometown, I saw plenty of plays where a god suddenly descended and slaughtered all the characters. Compared to that, this ending is pretty tame."
"Good lord."
I looked around with an expression of disbelief. After the play ended, the audience members still seated had calm expressions, just like Rebecca. In fact, I could occasionally hear murmurs that it was a decent play.
"Amazing."
I think I'd briefly forgotten I was living in medieval fantasy land.
A dark age where things like dramatic logic in stories get completely ignored.
An uncivilized civilization where the concepts of frustrating slogs and cathartic payoffs haven't even been established.
In this other world, an ending where all the characters get massacred was genuinely a common plot development. If I tried to enjoy cultural life in a place like this, I might end up choking to death from sheer frustration.
Maybe I shouldn't have blamed Kate?
Still, an ending where all the lovers get massacred seemed a bit over the line. I was just left wondering what Kate was thinking when she handed over those tickets.
'Maybe she didn't know the plot of the play? I'll have to check that first when I see her next.'
Rebecca's unfazed reaction helped me calm my anger. If she enjoyed watching the play, there was no particular reason for me to be angry.
I walked out of the theater building with Rebecca.
"That was a fun play."
"Just which part did you find o-mo-shi-roi, exactly? For your reference, o-mo-shi-roi means fun."
"The part where the Dragon Slayer gets stabbed to death by a knife? That's amazing! A guy who took down a dragon gets offed by a single knife strike! Just what kind of person was that assassin?"
"I wonder. A passing Sword Master?"
Watching Rebecca chatter happily, I was freshly reminded that she was a person of this other world. A person of this world, thoroughly indoctrinated in medieval literature.
Suddenly, I felt a desire to pour some cathartic payoff, some cider, into Rebecca's mouth.
The kind of cider named regression, possession, and reincarnation.
"I thought it was pretty fun, too. The dragon-slaying scene was okay."
"Right? Heehee."
And so, we stood in front of the theater building, chatting endlessly for a while about our impressions of the play. Just as our conversation was winding down, I was thinking of moving on to somewhere else.
There was a restaurant selling meat on the same street as the theater building. If we could eat lunch here and then part ways, it seemed like we could wrap this up as a satisfying date.
"Rebecca, aren't you getting hungry?"
"Yeah."
Just as I was about to suggest to Rebecca that we go eat, a voice suddenly rang out from the direction of the theater building.
"Excuse me, adventurer!"
A voice calling for an adventurer.
At first, I didn't pay much attention to the voice. I wasn't the only adventurer roaming the streets, after all. Besides, I was currently in casual clothes without any armor on. Which meant there was no reason for anyone to single me out as an adventurer.
"Luke. Someone's looking for an adventurer?"
"It's probably some other adventurer, not us."
But right at that moment, the voice rang out once more.
This time, the voice was definitely singling me out.
"Horned adventurer! Please come this way!"
Horned adventurer?
On this street, I was the only person with horns. The moment I casually turned my head to look back, I saw a woman. A young woman in stage makeup was calling out to me from the entrance of the theater building.
Rebecca opened her mouth with a surprised look.
"That person is Crimhilt! The actress we saw on stage earlier!"
"Crimhilt?"
"The minor role who had the affair with the main character!"
Only then did I recognize who the young woman was. I hadn't recognized her immediately, since most of her heavy makeup had been removed.
The young woman was the adulteress who had thoroughly seduced the main character on stage. An actress who appeared briefly and then faded out of existence at some point.
"Why is she calling me? And how did she even know I'm an adventurer?"
I stood there confused, watching the waving actress. She was definitely making a gesture for me to come closer. Rebecca, seeing the same scene, also wore a bewildered expression.
"Do you know her? That actress?"
"There's no way that could be."
It's sad, but there were only three women I knew socially in Yoen-su. The receptionist, Miss Wendy; my party member, Rebecca; and the tool, Kate. I absolutely couldn't think of any reason an actress from a grand theater would recognize me.
"...Let's just go for now."
I approached the actress standing at the theater building's entrance.
The moment I got closer, the actress gave a slight shiver, as if frightened. Any woman would have heard the bizarre rumors about Dream Demons, after all. But she didn't run away.
I spoke to the actress.
"Who are you?"
"M-Michelle. I played the role of Crimhilt in the play just now."
"No, I meant how do you know me? You seem to know I work as an adventurer."
"Ah, that's..."
The actress, about to offer some explanation, paused for a moment and looked around.
"There are quite a few eyes watching out here. I'd like to go inside and talk. Is that alright?"
Hearing the actress's words, I realized there were plenty of glances directed at me from our surroundings. Well, naturally—a big Incubus flanked by two pretty women, anyone would stare. At her suggestion to go inside, I couldn't help but hesitate for a moment.
I wouldn't end up having my organs harvested if I went in, would I?
This is the notoriously dangerous Midgard Continent, after all.
A world hardly different from that "continent" in my past life.
"Let's go in quickly, Luke."
"Why?"
"This is a chance to talk with an actress! If we miss it, we might regret it!"
Rebecca was pushing me from behind. She just seemed excited at the opportunity to chat with an actress. Pushed by her hands, I took a step forward.
"Please follow me quickly, horned adventurer!"
Did she take that as an acceptance of her proposal?
The actress turned her back and walked inside the theater building. She moved her feet so quickly that if we lingered, we might miss her.
After some deliberation, I decided to follow the actress.
"Fine, there's no need to be unnecessarily scared."
"That's an excellent choice!"
I chased after the actress with Rebecca. The actress, who had been walking fast as if being chased by something, stopped in front of a door in the building's hallway.
A room with an old door.
When the actress opened it, a cramped space that looked like a break room revealed itself inside.
"In here!"
The moment I entered the room with Rebecca,
Thud! The actress shut the door with a loud bang. Tense, I bent my fingers and quickly formed a hand seal. If things went south, I could at least launch a mana sphere and respond to a crisis.
"You asked how I knew you, right? Horned adventurer."
"That's right."
"There's no need to be so guarded. You're quite famous among the citizens of Yoen-su, horned adventurer."
I was famous among the citizens of Yoen-su?
The moment I heard that, I couldn't help but feel even more confused.