Chapter 125: The Fake Play (2) A hair salon in Volska. For the first time in her life, Hannah was getting a perm.
"...How much?"
"Thirty Volans."
The reflection in the mirror felt entirely foreign. Her once-coarse hair now had waves that gave her the air of a proper businesswoman.
"Here you go."
Leon had given her a new identity and a role.
'Our weapons broker will start laying the groundwork, hinting that you're looking to smuggle arms. You'll make contact pretending to be a businesswoman and catch whoever's behind it.'
Leaving the salon, she walked toward the designated hotel.
'Have you ever bought and sold goods before?'
'Oh, tons of times!'
Hannah had been a commoner from a backwater village. However, she had realized her talents quite early on and understood from the moment she dreamed of becoming a knight that she would need money.
So, she worked any job she could find. She foraged and sold medicinal herbs, skinned and sold animal hides, and tenaciously saved money by hawking goods in the marketplaces.
'Really?'
'Yes. Not to brag, but I earned ten thousand dollars on my own before I even entered Empire Point. If not for that, I would've starved to death long ago.'
Ten thousand dollars. To some nobles, it was the cost of a single night's drinks, but to an average Imperial worker, it was half a year's salary.
However, if someone told you an eight-year-old village girl had earned that much by the time she was thirteen, no one would believe them.
'So you're a veteran? Then just think of this as doing the same thing, just on a larger scale.'
'...But sir. To look like a businesswoman, don't I need money?'
'Oh, don't worry. I got a reply. From Max.'
Leon had handed Hannah a keycard to Volska's finest luxury hotel.
'You can get the operational funds there. The Empire will reimburse it once the mission is a success anyway, so spend as much as you like.'
And that brought her to right now.
Hannah unpacked her bags in the suite. She quite liked the person staring back at her in the full-length mirror.
"Maybe I should keep my hair like this."
The waves had turned out quite well. Back at Empire Point, she had always kept it in a bob because long hair was inconvenient.
Ding-dong.
In that instant, Hannah tensed.
"..."
Clutching a dagger, she approached the door slowly and stood against the wall beside it. She sensed the area outside, feeling for any vibrations.
There was no presence.
Nevertheless, she preheated her mana and slowly pulled the door open.
Creeeeeak—
No one was there, but a bag sat on the floor.
Hannah brought it inside. She placed it on the table and opened it cautiously.
"Whoa...."
Her eyes went wide. Bundles of cash were packed tight like bricks. On top of them lay a note written in Maximilian's handwriting.
[Operational Support Protocol: 5,000,000 Imperial Dollars]
Hannah stared blankly back and forth between the money and the note.
"Five million....... That's three years of my salary."
No, wait. After taxes, living expenses, and putting money into savings...
"It's more like five or six years' worth."
Regardless, it meant she had more than enough for the operation.
She nodded resolutely and closed the bag.
* * *
The Sentinel Knights' office.
I picked up a document lying on my desk. It was a file sent from Volska.
[Maximilian Foundation Support Application]
[Year 0 Knight: 'Hannah Usar']
It seemed a fierce intelligence war was brewing beneath the surface. A wave of anti-Imperialist terror attacks was expected soon, so they were likely moving after sensing the omens.
Leon and Hannah were trustworthy enough.
I turned on my terminal.
"Schatz. Have someone transfer five million dollars to Volska. In cash."
— Yes, sir. Understood.
For now, I would only provide financial support. I didn't have the luxury to worry about the affairs in Volska right now.
Because 'tomorrow' was the day.
Unless there was a significant deviation, a terror attack would occur tomorrow night at the Royal Opera House.
The day Justine visited the theater alone, having slipped away from her escort knights.
A terror attack happens to occur at that exact moment, and with Leonard's help, they forge a romance.
— Sir. What about the operation you mentioned last time?
At Schatz's question, I looked at a poster.
「New Composition: The Phantom of the Opera」
— Suspicious circumstances have been detected inside the Opera House.
If my guess was correct.
If Izenheim had orchestrated the meeting between Leonard and Justine to draw the Princess in.
If the most romantic tragedy from before my regression was, in fact, their script.
".....It is a necessary task."
— Yes.
I had pondered deeply until now.
Could I win the Princess's heart instead of Leonard? Could I simply replace Leonard by saving her at that moment?
But...... I didn't think that was necessary.
I quietly crumpled the poster in my hand.
The night of the Royal Opera House.
Perhaps because of the new production, the street in front was teeming with people.
If history remained unchanged, a terror attack would occur here today.
I moved to the side of the Opera House.
The back door I had identified beforehand. It was a narrow passage used by staff moving stage equipment.
I already had an ID badge around my neck, and I was dressed in work clothes and a beret.
"....Leo."
Static. A cute response came through the earpiece.
— Woof.
Leo had already infiltrated the interior.
Today's mission was a two-man cell with Leo. From now on, I decided to treat Leo as a human, not a dog.
"Move. Just as we discussed."
— Woof.
After that, I entered the backstage area. It was a flurry of activity with staff moving about. I intended to survey the situation first, but...
"Hey! You! What are you doing! Take this!"
A middle-aged man with a nasty temperament shoved a ladder toward me.
"...Yes, sir."
I took it for now.
"Set it up over there."
I had no choice since I was disguised as a worker. First, I helped the staff set up the stage. Put this here, put that there, not there, over there, you son of a bitch, you crazy bastard, do you have no common sense, you idiot, god, is this guy total dead weight?
"...Is this enough?"
When I turned around, he had vanished.
"Son of a..."
They say opera is a culture of the nobility, but it seemed the places out of sight were still quite savage.
"What are you doing there! Get out of the way, you moron!"
A shout erupted from somewhere. I suppressed a sigh and stepped back.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The stage lights dimmed. The auditorium was now packed with people.
Sssssss...
The curtains slowly parted to the sides, the veil rose, and the new opera I had personally imported, The Phantom of the Opera, began.
Shhhhhhh—
A soft light illuminated a single point on the stage. It was Leonard's back.
I watched him for a moment before quietly slipping away. Like a phantom, I moved by hiding myself in the shadows.
* * *
The basement of the Royal Opera House. A hideout that didn't exist on the blueprints.
There, a rehearsal more sophisticated and secretive than the opera itself was underway.
"The preparations are solid."
Cecilia, the composer of the Opera House and the strategist for this operation, spoke.
Before her were detailed blueprints of the Opera House, with red strings tracing the expected paths of the Princess and Leonard tonight.
"......Is it really possible?"
A comrade asked with an anxious gaze.
They had dared to plan a romantic play targeting the Emperor's daughter. The moment they were discovered, even beheading would be too light a punishment for such high treason.
"Of course it's possible. Do you know how many times the Princess has come to see Leonard?"
She pointed to a calendar on the wall. Every day Leonard performed was marked with a red circle. There were no exceptions for the days Leonard played the lead.
"It's almost every time. That noble lady hides in the corners of the theater just to evade her guards."
And was Leonard's family background lacking? Not at all.
A family with long-standing tradition and high honor, though lacking in scale. He was the perfect background for a son-in-law to be brought into the royal family.
"The Princess's heart has already swayed. We just need to give that heart a tiny 'spark.' Today is even a day when she has no guards."
The Revolutionary Group. An organization connected by dots.
"We have to be the ones to do it."
They each supported their cause in different ways.
"The Empire is currently mad for war. The moment war breaks out, too many people will die. We need someone on the inside to pull the brakes."
Princess Justine. She was the Emperor's only daughter, the future of the Empire.
What if she fell in love with Leonard, who held open-minded ideologies?
"There is no other way but to win over the Princess. We cannot defeat the Empire with swords and guns."
The most romantic political maneuver.
She pointed to the blueprints. The locations of explosives installed throughout the building and the positions of armed revolutionaries who had volunteered for the cause were marked.
Crisis, rescue, and love.
The script was already prepared. The actor had taken the stage without even knowing his role, and the lights were on.
Now, as long as they moved according to the pre-arranged paths, the tragedy would transform into love like destiny.
"Let's get ready."
...
— Music of the night! Enfold me!
The Phantom of the Opera, which had been a massive success in the western Progen Republic.
Having landed in the Empire with Maximilian's help, this opera shook the hearts of the audience through Leonard's voice.
I am a man who cannot see you.
The opera he had truly wanted to sing all this time. Leonard poured out his voice as if releasing years of pent-up longing. Nobles, commoners, and the bourgeoisie alike were all immersed in his performance.
— Lowly and insignificant, a man who cannot approach you.
Having become the Phantom of the Opera, he belted out a volume that vibrated through the theater, his face half-hidden by a mask.
— You, I wish for you to become my music!
The moment Leonard, lost in the play, reached out and grasped the air.
Crack.
A fine tremor occurred in the seating area.
It started in the general admission seats on the third floor.
A small rift, or perhaps the sound of a screw coming loose.
Rumble—
That vibration gradually grew louder.
The commotion soon spread to the second floor and eventually reached the VIP seats on the first floor.
"...What?"
"What classless commoner is....."
The nobles frowned and looked back. Their glares were meant to scold the uncultured wretches who dared to cause a disturbance during a sacred opera.
But the bustle did not stop. Instead, it grew violent like a wave, causing even the actors on stage to falter.
Finally.
CRASH!
The sound of something shattering.
.......
Leonard's song stopped. The melody of the orchestra was cut short.
Immediately after, an explosion erupted.
BOOM—!
The ceiling of the Opera House warped as debris rained down, and the stage pillars collapsed.
THUD—!
The auditorium became a scene of carnage. Screams, explosives, sparks, and smoke rose in a chaotic mix.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Gunfire from an unknown source poured into the air, triggering a mass panic in the area.
"This way! Hurry!"
Leonard and the other staff members shouted while pointing toward the emergency exits, but his attention was focused on only one place.
"..."
Leonard had already identified the Princess's location. A ticket booth employee at the Opera House had made arrangements beforehand. Inside the thin paper bracelet placed on the wrists of attendees, a sophisticated clockwork mechanism had been planted.
A mechanical resonance device that signaled location through minute vibrations. Since it didn't use mana, it was something that wouldn't be noticed.
Vrrr.
The vibration buzzed from the receiver on Leonard's wrist.
He turned without hesitation.
KABOOM—!
A bomb exploded at the designated spot. Smoke billowed along with the roar.
Beyond the thick haze, he saw the back of a woman draped in a robe. She was walking toward the passage behind the stage.
\------!
According to the script, the second explosion.
The ceiling lights came crashing down.
The timing was perfect.
"Hup!"
Leonard sprinted with all his might. He threw himself past the falling fragments.
He rolled across the floor, pulling the Princess into his embrace.
".....Are you alright?!"
He didn't even check who it was. He didn't try to look, and her face was hidden by the robe anyway.
For now, he just had to be faithful to his role of rescuing someone in danger.
Bang! KABOOM—
The explosions continued even more violently.
"This way! I know a safe place!"
Leonard grabbed her wrist and led her away.
To the pre-arranged escape route. To the place where his comrades would be waiting, where destiny would sprout.
— Stop.
Backstage.
At the very end of the corridor, Leonard's legs suddenly came to a halt.
"..."
Leonard instinctively stepped back.
A ghastly shiver ran down his spine.
Step.
From the darkness, someone was walking out.
Step.
It wasn't a comrade. It wasn't a staff member. It wasn't a guard.
Two bloodshot eyes. A man dragging a blood-stained axe, dripping with murderous intent from his entire body.
An appearance not in the script.
Leonard's instinct was telling him.
If that thing catches me, I die.
* * *
The Royal Opera House. A scene of carnage where all sorts of explosions went off, fragments flew, and people fled breathlessly.
Gunfire echoed countless times from somewhere, but strangely, no one was actually dying. There were victims caught in the accidents, but death itself was not the objective.
I thought to myself.
If this entire incident is a script they've written, I cannot let things play out according to their wishes. I must not.
Therefore, I had to make the situation more fair.
I decided I would rather flip the board entirely.
The surest way to ruin a fake play is to unleash the real thing.
In this underworld, there are plenty of people who will do anything for money. The psychos of the sub-city.
I had commissioned them to infiltrate this Opera House, and their objectives were the assassination of Leonard and the escalation of the terror. I had brought in real killers, not actors.
— Woof!
Leo's voice came through the earpiece.
— Woof.
"...You found her."
Leo had found the Princess.
I turned my head toward that direction.
"Stand by."
In my opinion, those people are underestimating life.
Life is no mere play.
Its essence is chaos.
It is the most important value that must never be taken for granted—something humanity must grasp with all its might and desperation.
"Let's go...."
From now on, we step onto the real stage.
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