Chapter 55
The play <The Knight of the Lake> told the story of a tragic knight.
A knight who had found the sacred sword by the lake.
Anyone could see it was based on ‘Hero Arhen’—but it was a story that adapted the tragic parts of his legend.
From a flawless hero,
to a human being burdened by tragedy….
The adaptation was irreverent, yet captivating.
And the play’s ending was intense.
Water rippled across the stage.
A handsome knight pleaded passionately.
“Then please tell me!”
With his feet in the lake,
he cried out toward the sunset, stained red as blood.
“If this world no longer needs me!”
Shing—
The Knight of the Lake raised his blue sword and began lowering it into the water, inch by inch. It was as solemn as laying the dead to rest.
“…Please sink this sword into the depths of the lake! Then I will gladly return my blue sword to the sun. I’ll go back to being a farmer and forget everything.”
He murmured quietly.
“Please….”
With an intense tremor in his voice,
“May this sword never rise again….”
The sword slowly disappeared into the lake.
And it did not rise again.
The age of heroes had come to an end.
“….”
Now an ordinary man, the knight slowly walked away from the lakeshore. He offered no blessing for the coming age of peace, nor did he show any pride in what he had accomplished.
It was quiet.
Only the glimmering lights fell from his eyes.
Those lights rose into the sky and became stars.
For the hero,
they were God’s only reward.
“….”
Beneath a quiet blessing,
the hero silently disappeared into the darkness.
“….”
Until he disappeared offstage,
he spoke not a single line or made a single gesture.
Step, step—
The end of a hero
The beginning of emptiness
That was the ending of <The Knight of the Lake>.
The audience gave it a standing ovation.
Clap, clap, clap, clap—!
Their cheers filled the theater.
-Waaah—!
The women wiped away their tears and said,
“So romantic…!”
“In the end, the Knight of the Lake stays devoted to his lover even after she dies….”
“I want to marry a man like that. Someone who waits kindly and approaches me slowly, on the same level….”
“Yeah, and with your looks, someone else would snatch him away while he was taking his time.”
“…Die.”
The men spoke with bitter expressions.
“How tragic….”
“Whew, it feels kind of empty. The knight’s left with nothing in the end.”
“Heroes always get cast aside once the chaos is over.”
“It’s an interesting story, but I wouldn’t want to be a hero like that. If I were a hero, I’d want to live surrounded by women in bunny outfits, getting sucked dry until I looked like a goblin. Five a night, you know….”
“….”
At his friend’s words,
a young nobleman leaned in and whispered.
“How can one person handle five women?”
“You’re great and all, but you lack imagination.”
His friend whispered a clever answer in his ear.
Whisper
Whisper
“….”
“….”
The young nobleman slapped his forehead in amazement.
“Good heavens… You have two of them pair off and ‘watch’? You’re a genius! I never would’ve thought of that.”
“Heh heh. It’s a basic skill for a noble.”
“Since you brought it up, want to head to the back alleys? I want to borrow that brilliant imagination of yours at the ‘Dream Shop.’”
“Sounds good!”
Like the tide going out.
The audience left the theater, taking their impressions with them. As they went, they praised the troupe members greeting them at the entrance: ‘Good work,’ and ‘That was fun.’
Rumble—
Someone watched
from the production’s backstage area.
A brown-haired girl with the bearing of a noble mage.
“….”
Mel, the receptionist, approached her.
Mel made her way toward the great genius girl, her face flushed with excitement.
“Lady Radiana!”
“….”
“Lady Radiana?”
“….”
As though it weren’t her own name,
the girl turned around several beats too late.
“…?”
Then she opened her mouth.
“Ah.”
‘…I’m not used to using an alias.’
Radiana answered awkwardly.
“Wh-why…?”
“That was incredible! Everyone leaving the theater was praising your lighting magic! They said it wasn’t even comparable to the mage who worked here before—!”
“….”
Radiana shyly lowered her head. It wasn’t so much that she was naturally humble as that she wanted to avoid the barrage of praise she’d been subjected to for days.
“I-it’s just the basics.”
“!”
“As expected of you, Lady Radiana! Such humility—you have such incredible magic skills and never flaunt them…!”
“?!”
Again.
Here we go again….
Radiana covered Mel’s mouth with her small hand.
“Aah, all right! Stop it!”
“Mmff…!”
She huffed,
resenting the friend who’d infiltrated with her.
‘Lydia…! She set this weird atmosphere…! Now every time I say anything, she keeps praising me as a genius mage…!’
*
Radiana’s loyal maid.
Daisy chatted with a cleaner who was tidying the stage. Most of the people there were bit-part actors, maids, and odd-job workers, so the place was noisy.
Daisy asked the chatty cleaner,
“A secret banquet?”
“Yeah. This is a secret.”
“….”
What she said was foolish.
‘If you know there’s a secret banquet, then it isn’t a secret….’
The cleaner immediately laughed.
“Oh ho ho! Don’t look at me like that. I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why a maid like me knows about the ‘secret banquet,’ right? If it’s secret, shouldn’t nobody know about it?”
“Ah, yes….”
“Actually, all the main members of the Hanson Troupe can attend the banquet itself. The director, playwright, lead actors, even the troupe leader…. They enjoy a lavish feast there with noblemen, priests, and merchants.”
Without even a guest list,
a banquet held without warning.
It was suspicious by anyone’s standards.
The cleaner chuckled and said,
“I found out because I overheard Laila and the director talking.”
“Then aren’t they not even trying to hide it in the first place?”
“Oh ho ho! Exactly! You’re a clever one!”
“….”
Good heavens,
to be praised for something like that.
‘This is kind of… embarrassing. Is this how Morgan feels?’
But the cleaner wasn’t done.
“But the important thing isn’t the banquet. The secret is that nobody knows ‘why’ it’s held.”
“Why the banquet is held….”
“Because the season’s over? Because the audience response was good? Hmm…. Who knows. They held one when the previous mage was here, even though the response was terrible. Her skills were just awful. Good thing she had to take a break because of an upset stomach.”
“….”
And then the conversation immediately turned into gossip. That was how it always went when women talked among themselves.
“She was always making excuses like ‘I can’t focus because I’m in a bad mood,’ or ‘I can’t get the incantation out because I’m thirsty,’ and whenever it was her turn, she’d bolt away in a flash. She was as slimy as a mud slime.”
“….”
“One time, the troupe members had a meal together….”
Daisy redirected the conversation. She wouldn’t normally have done something like this, but she couldn’t let the cleaner’s mouth keep flapping.
“…I see. So, about the banquet?”
“Huh? Oh, right. Anyway, nobody knows why the banquet is held. That’s why it’s a ‘secret banquet.’ That’s all.”
“Th-then, do only the lead actors and troupe executives know what happens at the banquet?”
“Huh? No? Laila knew, too.”
“?”
Laila?
Who was that?
Her curiosity was quickly satisfied.
The cleaner gestured with her chin.
“Over there. That girl from our troupe with the biggest bust, the bit-part actress.”
“!”
Daisy looked behind her.
There, a twenty-something actress with a voluptuous figure was doing odd jobs.
“…Does she have some important job in the troupe, too?”
“Huh? No? It’s just her bust.”
“….”
“Since you arrived, she’s become second in the troupe, but she’s still the biggest onstage and draws in a lot of audience. So the director recruited her as a ‘banquet hostess,’ saying she was ‘aesthetically pleasing.’”
“A banquet hostess…? What does that position do?”
“You know, those bunny outfits the men of Saintroix have been crazy about lately. They wear those and make the banquet hall look nice. It’s a position that goes to the troupe member with the sexiest figure.”
“I see….”
Bunny girls….
Just how far had they infiltrated?
‘This world is weirdly meticulous about the most useless things.’
To Daisy,
the cleaner grinned and said,
“Maybe the director will call you in soon, too, Daisy? I hear it’s a great way to catch the eye of noblemen and wealthy merchants. What a windfall! Use that bust of yours to win them over!”
“….”
Daisy did not answer.
*
Radiana—Morgan shook her head. She was in a corridor inside the troupe that led to the meeting place used by its executives.
“…No good.”
“….”
Daisy—Lydia said,
“Even with your magic, it’s that difficult, Miss?”
“Yeah, the entire corridor is covered in barrier magic and anti-infiltration measures. If you try to dispel any of them, it’ll set off a chain of explosions and make a huge mess… They set it up in the nastiest way.”
“Even your genius can’t solve it, Miss?”
“The magic itself is low-grade. The problem is that they laid a whole pile of it over several months. It’s impossible to get through quickly without being noticed.”
Like cheap homemade bombs,
they were designed to do their job at the slightest touch.
It was a truly nasty, underhanded kind of magic.
Morgan sighed.
“No, maybe they’re waiting for someone to make the mistake of trying to dispel it after seeing just a few of the spells laid on the surface…. This filthy barrier itself also serves as a kind of warning light.”
“Amazing. As expected, you’re a genius mage, Miss.”
“….”
Silence hung in the corridor for a moment.
“….”
“….”
Morgan spoke quietly.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“We’re alone. Do you really have to do that?”
“Of course. The moment you let your guard down even once, your usual way of speaking slips out.”
“Then is constantly praising me as a ‘genius’ also part of the act?”
“No. An act is most convincing when more than half of it comes from the heart. It’s hard to immerse yourself in a completely fabricated story.”
“….”
Morgan sighed again.
“…Sigh.”
Silence once again filled the corridor.
“….”
“….”
This time, too, Morgan was the one to break the silence.
“Do you really have to wear that outfit there?”
“Fortunately, I’ve prepared for that.
“How?”
With confidence in her eyes, Lydia held up two fingers. Then she answered in a serious voice,
“If I wear two pairs of stockings, I can reduce how much skin is exposed.”
“….”
Morgan slapped her forehead.
Ah….
She never cared about that sort of thing in the first place….
*
It was a few days after the director had spoken to Daisy.
“Hey, Daisy. There’s a special event coming up. Would you be interested in taking part?”
“!”