It worked perfectly.
Before I could even say anything, Elias's forceful insistence led to a test run of lines with Narke, proving I truly had memorized the entire script. After that, the other students took the situation and ran with it on their own momentum.
In that short time, we managed to practice just the opening three minutes about three times.
Astonishingly, everyone was so focused on the fact that someone who knew the lines had appeared that no one asked for my opinion.
I didn't need to ask to be pushed along. I was literally swept up.
'...Well, that works in my favor.'
"Because we only had about 20 minutes left then. Actually, before you came, the professor was about to announce we were canceling."
Narke offered a sudden consolation, as if he understood my bewildered state.
Now only a few students remained in the waiting room. Those not acting had gone down to the auditorium to claim seats.
"Is that so."
"You made a good choice. It probably won't be as problematic as you're worried."
When I silently looked at him, Narke scratched his head and continued.
"Hmm... There's a bigger problem."
"What?"
"I don't really know. It's just a feeling."
Did he use a precognitive ability?
On a day like today when so much has happened, hearing something like that feels ominous.
Just then, laughter from the Class 1 students echoed from the opposite side of the waiting room.
"We have 155 audience members, guys!"
"Isn't that irrelevant? They don't have a lead over there."
"Hey, is your lead still not here?"
The Class 1 students were taunting in front of the Class 2 waiting room.
Many students had known each other since the Third Educational Institute, so they had no reservations about teasing.
'I noticed they were comparing how many from the special class went to each side.'
Childish. It just makes me laugh.
Leo also ignored their provocation and slammed the door to the hallway shut.
Then, a staff member knocked on the door connecting the waiting room to the stage.
"Class 2, you're up now!"
The time was 9:55.
Narke stood up from his seat and nodded at me.
"I'm going. See you later."
* * *
Finally, 10 o'clock, the scheduled start time, arrived.
I stood backstage, doing a final check of the script.
When the stage lights briefly came on, a murmur came from the audience seats.
"Are they just going with one?"
"Looks like Mephistopheles is doing it alone."
Laughter could be heard.
How loud do you have to talk for it to carry all the way back here?
Anyway, everyone was probably thinking the same thing. They said nearly 100 audience members had already gathered. They must have come out of curiosity about how it would start without the lead.
'If they couldn't start, all 100 would probably just leave...'
But we are starting, so all that's left is to absorb all 100 people who came out of curiosity.
The reason I'm thinking about this now is because the two supporting actors next to me keep whispering about the audience count.
The two supporting actors shut their mouths immediately when our eyes met.
'I wasn't glaring at you to be quiet.'
I looked at my watch and listened to the voices flowing from the stage.
It was now 10:03. The final line before Faust's entrance was being delivered.
It was God, making a wager with Mephistopheles about Faust, and the final words given to Mephistopheles.
[I have never hated your kind, and I give you to my humans. Go and lead them in your devilish way!]
*Thud—*
With a sound, the stage lights went out and the curtain fell.
The noise from the students also grew louder. Everyone seemed to know it was now the lead's turn.
I moved my steps onto the dark stage. The sound of the clunky heels of the prop shoes prepared for me echoed.
The Class 2 students moving the sets hesitated, then gave me a slight nod with serious eyes.
'...So solemn...'
Well, I should live up to the expectation.
I sat at the prepared desk and gazed into the pitch-black emptiness.
Not long after, the start signal appeared in the distance.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"...I have studied philosophy, law, and even theology, pouring a lifetime of effort into them in vain. Yet, nothing remains for me."
"...Huh?!"
"What is it?! Is Faust here?"
Even before my figure was visible, the audience seats grew noisy.
*Thud—*
As the curtain rose, a cool wind swept across the floor from the audience seats.
When the lights above came on, the heat from them now poured down stingingly.
As written in the script, I still looked to the side of the stage and gave voice to Faust's words.
"For me, joy has vanished forever, the certainty of knowing what is right is gone, and I no longer have the confidence to teach and enlighten other humans. I am..."
"Whoaaa?!"
"Hey, wait a minute! What is this?!"
The sound of chairs scraping could be heard sporadically from various places.
Even without looking at the seats, I could tell what the situation was. The noise from the audience was already drowning out my voice, to the point where even I couldn't hear myself.
* * *
The play ended successfully.
As Elias predicted, the audience exceeded 500, with the final count being 550. It was a small auditorium, so it couldn't accommodate more.
'And then...'
*Ding—!*
'Route 1 — 〈 Chapter 5 〉' is starting.
「 Chapter 5. Good Things Take Time (1) 」
Chapter 5 Special Reward
A Solid Support Base! A new Impression item is provided.
'What is this.'
A new Impression item.
Right before the curtain call, I returned backstage and opened my status window.
Lucas Rene Ascanien
Title: Sir Nicolaus
Physique: +1.3 [+4.3]
Mind: -1.1 (+0.5)
Magic: ?
Skill: +2.7 [+5.7]
Impression: -9.9 [-7.0] [+6.61503261]
Luck: +1.15 (+0.2)
Traits: Dawn777, Divine Power, Charisma (Lv.2), Retry (Lv.1)
A new slot had appeared in the Impression items.
-7.0, and judging by the phrase 'A Solid Support Base'...
'It must be the school.'
I didn't expect a special reward in this situation.
It seems the meaning is to win over the students of our school as a support base. It's about time to change Luca's image anyway.
I checked the change possibility one last time.
Dawn777
— Time until final ending 'Chapter X. Death': 693 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, 21 seconds
— Change Possibility: 18.6% (+0.1%p)
It went up again.
My intuition tells me it's more likely that a small negative was followed by a larger positive. Anyway, to gain something, you have to accept some loss, so it doesn't matter. The final value increased, and there's no way to know if it was a real overlap of rise and fall, so I can only focus on the situation at hand.
"Lucas, let's go."
Narke wiped his sweat, grinned, and pointed toward the stage. He looked happy, having properly finished the play he was looking forward to.
'...It's strange he's in a good mood after playing the devil.'
Clearly, once the news gets out, there will be an uproar.
Still, for him, it was an attempt he decided on his own, so he must be pleased.
When all the students who played roles gathered on the stage again, the stage lights came on.
"Wooow—!"
Applause followed.
At first, the audience fell silent, shocked by the unexpected person's appearance, but as time passed, they seemed to separate the role from me and immersed themselves appropriately, enjoying the play. For that moment, they couldn't feel any rejection toward Luca.
It felt like I had briefly returned to reality, creating a strange mood, and I struggled a bit to recall my lines in the middle.
'Seems I got some help from the trait for immersion.'
The persuasiveness of the Charisma trait.
I went up without proper practice, so in my mind, I was just a machine reciting lines, but fortunately, no one laughed at my mechanical delivery. It wouldn't make sense if the 30% persuasiveness correction wasn't at work.
[So, did you enjoy the play prepared by the Magic Department, Class 2?]
The voice of the student acting as MC rang out.
A decently positive response poured from the audience seats.
[Finally, we would like to...]
"Eeek!"
"Ahh!"
Just then, screams erupted one after another from the far side of the auditorium.
The students beside me looked at each other with panicked eyes.
In the distance, the entrance was wide open, letting light in.
"What? Why are they screaming?"
"..."
Leo, who had been watching from below the stage, gestured to the control room and approached the entrance.
But before Leo could even get there, the students at the entrance shot up from their seats.
"Hey, isn't that the guy from Class 2?"
"Oswald?"
The name of the missing lead was heard.
*Thud—*
Right then, the lights came on throughout the entire auditorium.
From the distance, one person looked around with half-open eyes, then looked our way and let out a deep sigh of relief.
'But...'
From his face to his uniform shirt, he was completely covered in blood.
A student standing in the row behind me urgently spoke up.
"Wait, what's with him? Why does his face look like that?"
"What? Is he hurt?"
He seemed to have no strength left to walk; he staggered while holding onto a chair, then collapsed.
*Crash—*
"Ahh!"
The students who had half-risen around him stepped back.
'...This is...'
Really, it wasn't just skipping out. That appearance was clearly someone who had been attacked somewhere.
*Bzzt—*
[This is an announcement. From 10:45 PM today, warp magic and warp tools cannot be used on campus. Movement outside for any business is not permitted. Outsiders who have entered the school cannot move until the investigation is over. Please visit the first floor of the administration office immediately upon hearing this broadcast.]
"Hey, did you see the newspaper?! If not, look now!"
Several students ran into the auditorium and pulled their friends out.
The atmosphere was gradually becoming chaotic. Now everyone knew something quite serious had happened.
The ominous feeling I had when Oswald disappeared came back to life. I stepped down from the stage and retraced my memories.
'...Back then, the name of the missing first-year was...'
Amalia Kastel.
I immediately looked up and stared at Leo. Another amplification magic unfolded.
[This is an announcement. We are looking for Magic Department first-year, Class 2, Amalia Kastel, and Magic Department second-year, Class 2, Oswald Schmidt. Students who find them, please report immediately to the administration office or the school hospital.]
Leo's face instantly turned pale.
His wildly shaking eyes wandered through the air before meeting mine. They were filled with a shock I had never seen before.
And it was probably the same for me.
Kastel is a Bavarian noble family.
And Oswald was also said to be from Bavaria.
"Lucas!"
Ignoring someone calling my name, I approached the exit and picked up a newspaper scattered on the floor.
Black letters were prominently printed in the center of the Imperial Newspaper.
[7 Bavarian-born Mages in Capital Seriously Injured... 4 Minor Victims]
As I read, the number changed; now there were 8 victims.
In the heart of the Imperial capital, mages were seriously injured. And all of them are Bavarian.
I slowly read the article.
'Perpetrator unknown.'
According to the investigation bureau, all victims have no memory, and no witnesses who saw the accident scene have been found.
But... it's obvious.
Bavarian-born mages seriously injured simultaneously in the heart of the capital?
'...It's retaliation and a warning.'
To anyone seeing it, it's the work of Pleroma.
—-----------
T/N:
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