The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#366 Ghost Sirius (6) - An Ingenious Method of Concealment Growth, by nature, is the most intense motivator and reward there is. Even those who despise exercise come to enjoy it once they feel their bodies improving day by day and their vitality overflowing. Even those who, when it comes to studying, only think of ways to skip it, come to feel joy once their grades visibly rise and learning grows easier. Depending on how one takes their steps forward from here, the title by which the world evaluates that person changes. If one does well while keeping a reasonable balance with daily life, they earn fine titles like master or grandmaster; but a person whose balance breaks down, or who never even considers balance to begin with, earns titles like madman or ghost. To put it in the fashion of the distant eastern Liu Empire, if one is composed about it they become a Martial God or Sword Immortal, and if one goes off the rails they become something like a Mad Demon or Sword Ghost. And Stella Rosenberg was, by any measure, a person who belonged to the latter category. To her, being an actress wasn't labor for a living, but an act closer to karma itself. She was, quite literally, mad about acting, and so the exhilaration she felt continuing the play together with Sirius was something hard to put into words. Every time she matched her breathing with Sirius, she could feel her own skill rising. Meeting his eyes, exchanging movements, gauging the distance between them — every single one of these acts was lifting Stella up to the next stage. A thrill and sense of fulfillment she had never once felt while standing on stage with other actors. 'Yes, this is it. This is exactly it!' In the karma that was acting, on this uphill road, there was still further to climb. The stage she had longed for wasn't some fantasy — it actually existed! And so, the moment the curtain fell on the play, Stella wanted to ask him. Just who was Sirius, really? What thoughts did he hold about theater? But when Stella actually tried to speak to Sirius, she had no choice but to stop. Because the figure of the gray-haired young man who had been on stage had, before she knew it, already vanished. "……." Even as she felt disappointed, Stella became aware of herself thinking, ah, and accepting it. 'Just as I thought — the way he seemed to vanish last time wasn't some kind of illusion after all.' It wasn't that Stella had simply missed Sirius stepping down from the stage after the play ended. It was simply, physically, that the very instant the play ended, the actor called Sirius himself had quietly vanished from the stage. 'No wonder no amount of digging through personnel records could find him.' Who could have imagined that he was, of all things, a real ghost? "Wh-what!? Where did he go!?" Just then, one side of the audience seats grew noisy. When Stella looked that way, Troupe Director Pantalone was whipping his head around the stage this way and that with a dazed expression. "...When did the Director even get here?" "Well, to give you an earful — no, that's not what matters right now! Where did that actor just go!? What kind of staging is that!?" Didn't something important just get glossed over like it was nothing? Stella pondered it for a moment, but soon decided to just pretend she hadn't heard it. Honestly, it just wasn't something she cared about. "I don't know either." "Y-you don't know? You acted with him, didn't you?" "I did act with him. But I don't know who he is, and I don't know why we were acting here in the middle of the night like this, either." "……?" Pantalone, wearing an expression that said what nonsense am I even listening to right now, soon asked in a dazed voice. "So you're telling me that right now, in the middle of the night, you were putting on a play all alone with some mysterious figure whose identity and purpose you don't even know?" "That's right." "That's right, my foot!!" Pantalone roared. He was so worked up that he even stammered over his words. "A-are you out of your mind!? Have you no sense of danger at all!? Not even knowing what schemes the other party might be harboring, and yet fearless as anything!!" It was an entirely reasonable lecture, whether as a senior in the industry or as a director responsible for managing his troupe members. But— "Well, I suppose that's true." Hearing Stella's answer, Pantalone's mouth fell wide open. ...Well, I suppose that's true... ...........Well, I suppose that's true............. ..................Weeeell, I supposeee thaaat's truuue..................... Stella's answer just now stretched out long in his head, as if by the Doppler effect. And soon, the rest of the sentence Stella had left unspoken played back automatically in his mind. ─Well, I suppose that's true. But so what am I supposed to do about it? It wasn't as though she didn't know it had been dangerous. She admitted it had been a reckless act, too. But even so, she truly had not the slightest intention of changing her behavior — not even a sparrow's tear's worth. "Th-that, uh, um, uhh." Perhaps it was because such a wide range of emotions and every manner of thing he wanted to say came surging up all at once. Pantalone, his facial muscles and complexion shifting through a whole spectrum of colors as he creaked and sputtered like something broken, soon slumped down into a chair as if all his energy had drained out of him. 'This one won't listen even if I try to stop her.' Right now, Stella was, quite literally, in a state where her eyes had rolled back with excitement. A hint toward a higher stage. The sense of unity that came from working hand in hand with an actor who was her equal or better. A woman already overflowing with professional dedication had now tasted honey this sweet, so no matter what anyone around her said, there was no way she would stop meeting with that mysterious ghost from before. "Whew, fine. But I'll still have to report this and get it investigated. To begin with, isn't it possible he's not even human, but some kind of undead or evil spirit? If we discover something like that right in the middle of the city and just stay silent about it, we could end up implicated as accomplices later. This isn't something I can compromise on." Before Stella could get a word of objection out, Pantalone quickly went on. "Instead! Once verification comes back that he's a harmless being, I'll offer him a formal invitation to join the troupe. Even a temporary contract at the very least! You'd want to perform alongside him in front of others too, if you're going to do it at all, wouldn't you? An actor ought to show their play before an audience!" "Hm." Just as Pantalone had expected, Stella's mouth shut. After all, a play was, by its very nature, something meant to be shown to someone. No matter how outstanding the acting, it was useless without anyone watching it, so it was no wonder Stella found herself drawn in. In truth, it was doubtful from the start whether some being who might or might not even be a ghost could safely obtain approval from a public institution, but Pantalone chose not to bring that part up. For now, persuading Stella was more important. "Understand? We report it, run the inspection, and only then make the contract. So don't get in the way of this." "Whew. Fine. Though, if you report this out of deliberate malice, you'd better be prepared for what comes after." "I was an actor myself once too. I wouldn't do something so petty after watching a performance like that." The two of them stepped out of the theater. *** As far as Lucidra could tell, the Crown Prince was, fundamentally, a person who rarely got angry. In his Clone state, he got angry comparatively easily. But his True Body — that is, Alondre as the Crown Prince — she had truly never seen get angry over anything ordinary. To put it kindly, he had a large capacity; to put it unkindly, he was an eccentric whose very sensibilities were somewhat detached from other people's. "So, how exactly do you intend to take responsibility for this, Lucidra?" But right now, he seemed to be angry……. At the sight of the Crown Prince sitting at his desk, staring at her with utter indifference, Lucidra felt a chill run down her spine. If he'd at least raised his voice or twisted his expression in anger, she could have consoled herself with something like 'I made him angry! I can control this man's emotions!' — but a face utterly devoid of emotion, one that looked as though it were pondering methods of demon dismantlement, was nothing but bone-chilling. "Originally, the role of Ghost Sirius was decided to some extent. An actor who reveals himself at midnight and exists in reality only for the span of a single play. A ghost of the stage without substance. Performing various plays alone, and through them, giving people all sorts of inspiration. And then, after his final play, vanishing. That was how it was supposed to go." The Crown Prince's words were in the past tense. Because Lucidra had been coaxing him along on the side and had turned Sirius's story into a session of dishing out tales of the Crown Prince's past Clones plus gathering reactions. It had been an act born of the desire to share and discuss the Crown Prince's Clones' countless past karma(?) with other people too, but in the end, it had turned out to be a bad move. Because the woman named Stella, who she'd thought was only good at singing and acting, had turned out to be an overpowered talent at writing as well. She had sent over The Story of Adventurer B with the names changed, the setting changed, and even the ending cut out — who could have predicted she'd manage to reproduce the original almost perfectly? Feeling that, thanks to this, Blanca's private life had ended up widely spread around, the Crown Prince was, unusually, angry in his True Body rather than his Clone state, and Lucidra, who had to bear the brunt of it, was drenched in cold sweat. 'If I went all out against this man, my odds of winning would be a mere three in ten…!' Calculating odds that would make anyone who knew the Lucidra of old think 'That Lucidra, only three in ten?' and anyone who knew the Crown Prince's true strength think 'Three in ten, in front of His Highness? How dare she?', Lucidra watched his mood carefully, then soon cried out. "I'll fix it! I can fix all of it! The point is just to keep this story from spreading out into the world, right!?" "And how, exactly?" "I'm Lucidra, a Greater Demon! Something like this is no problem at all!!" She did wonder whether it was really all right to use her Greater Demon title as an excuse here, but Lucidra was desperate. And having heard Lucidra's plan, the Crown Prince fell into thought for a moment, then nodded. "Indeed, that should do it, I think." *** "Director? Whatever happened with that report thing you mentioned?" "...Report? What are you talking about?" "?" Stella tilted her head. Was he getting senile?