Herolia and Messai returned to the backstage. The closer they approached the stage, the clearer the music coming from the stage became.
“This sound is...”
Hearing the accompanying music coming from the stage, Messai’s footsteps slowed down.
This knight lady does not have many opportunities to enjoy music in her daily life. Before the appearance of that Chaos Demon, music was a luxury that only the upper class could appreciate.
All the songs Messai had ever heard were the chants and hymns from the Holy City.
Even the song Herolia performed on stage was in the style of a hymn. It was melodious yet tranquil.
Messai didn’t bother to pay much attention to the songs sung by the other competitors. But, the music that was playing on the stage was simply something she had never heard of before.
It was not an operatic style symphony at all...
“I’m... hearing some musical instruments I’ve never heard of before. All new musical instruments...”
Herolia stopped her footsteps. She did not proceed toward the backstage contestant resting area. Instead, she started proceeding toward the direction of the accompanying band.
“Lady Saintess... that place is very dangerous.”
Messai wanted to stop Herolia’s rash behavior. Her ‘Third Eye’ was telling her that she must not approach that place.
Even though Messai had no idea what was over there, she was certain that it was a terrifying and dangerous existence.
But, when Messai was trying to stop Herolia, her ‘Third Eye’ faintly sensed something else.
Following her senses, Messai looked toward an area to the back of the stage — the place where the contestants were gathered. Messai saw a familiar silhouette among those competitors.
It was a grizzled-haired yet still robust old man. Kroger Moral, the Ecclesiastical Templar Army’s Third Legion Commander!
He was also one of the oldest Legion Commanders.
Messai does not know this legion commander well. From Herolia’s descriptions, he was a faithful supporter of the Pope.
“Follow me.”
Herolia did not wait for Messai to greet that legion commander and pulled on her clothes to drag her away.
“Lady Saintess, his mission should be the same as Vulture — protecting your safety. But, I’ve not seen Legion Commander Kroger all day yesterday.”
Messai noticed that Herolia was acting strange. But, as she was given orders by the Saintess, she could only follow after Herolia toward a different direction.
“Protect? You mean surveillance. He’s sent over by the Pope... You should be able to understand now right, knight Messai?”
Herolia lowered her voice and quickly led Messai away from the contestants. They rushed toward the location of the accompanying band.
“But... Lady Saintess, even if you wanted to evade him, you shouldn’t...”
Messai wanted to remind Herolia that she was proceeding toward the place where an extremely dangerous...’monster’ was. The female knight could only describe the owner of that dangerous aura to be a ‘monster.’
She was unable to understand why such an existence would be present in a human theater. But, upon recalling that this theater was owned by a Chaos Demon, everything made sense.
“Start running, Messai!”
Herolia interrupted Messai. She dragged Messai by her hand and started running toward the backstage band area.
Legion Commander Kroger, who was searching among the contestants, finally noticed Herolia and Messai.
When Herolia dragged Messai into a pitch-black room, Messai noticed that there were other people accompanying Legion Commander Kroger.
The door of the room closed shut. When Messai got used to the darkness of the room, she discovered that this was another theater, a theater next to the one used for ‘World’s Singers.’
At the same time her ‘Third Eye’ warned her to quickly leave this place, she felt a powerful magic formation inside the theater.
That magic formation’s function was most likely... to shield the terrifying existence inside it.
As she heard the strange-sounding music reverberating through the theater, Messai looked at the stage at the center of the theater. She discovered that there was an entire ensemble performing music on the stage.
And... the members of that ensemble were all undeads.
A portion of them were skeletons. Those skeletons were all wearing formal attires and holding and playing musical instruments. As for the others, they were semi-transparent specters.
The accompanying music for the contestants of the World’s Singers were all performed by these undeads!
Even... during her own performance... it was these undeads that played that beautiful music for her!
Learning the truth, Messai felt a sense of discomfort. But, the discomfort of her mind only lasted for a short moment before she felt her heart being grasped by someone.
“There’s a loathsome odor from your bodies...”
A voice creeped up next to Messai’s ears. Messai looked at the stage, the silhouette that was conducting the ensemble had disappeared.
Black mist gathered before her. Then, an undead with crimson soul-fires burning in its eye-sockets appeared before her.
“The scent of those believers.”
A voice enough to make one cover one’s ears came out from that undead’s mouth.
The instant Messai’s eyes met with that undead, she knew that undead was extremely dangerous!
Messai immediately shielded Herolia behind her. She drew her sword in preparation for a battle.
“You two have disturbed my performance.”
The undead extended its skeletal hand and gently grabbed Messai’s sword. The sword suddenly withered away from that undead’s touch. In the end, the sword was reduced to dust that dissipated into the air.
At the same time, Messai suddenly discovered that she was unable to move. Fear gathered in her heart. Messai resisted that fear with sheer willpower.
However, she was still incapable of moving her body.
“As punishment, perhaps I should turn you two into... strawberry paste?” Using that ear-piercing voice, the undead spoke of a cutesy phrase. Regretfully, Messai was incapable of smiling at all. Cold sweat had soaked her back.
The aura of death had shrouded her. At the moment when Messai was planning to risk it all by gathering and mobilizing the Holy Light energy in her body, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind her.
“Duke of Bones, stop bullying this pitiful female knight.”
Messai turned around. She saw the Chaos Demon walking past her. As he walked by, he even patted her shoulder.
At that very instant, the heaviness of her body disappeared. The fear in her heart also disappeared. Only her drenched back served to prove that all she experienced earlier was no hallucination.
“Two contestants, allow me to have the privilege of making introductions for you. This person here is the conductor for the competition’s accompanying music and soundtrack director... You can address her as the Duke of Bones.”
Joshua introduced the Lich Overlord standing next to him. Then, he looked at the female knight and calm Saintess Herolia, the two girls who rashly intruded into this theater.
“Nice to meet you,” Herolia calmly and courteously greeted the Lich Overlord.
“I believe I have clearly indicated outside the door that this theater is off limits. Miss Herolia, could you provide me with a reason as to why you decided to intrude into this place?” asked Joshua.
“Mn...” Herolia pondered for a moment before confessing, “I encountered some trouble.”