Goddess Kaleidoscope

Although Lude did not explicitly state why he did this, some discerning people knew that it must be related to the script leak incident a few days ago, so no one objected.

After the leak, Servis initially thought the most urgent task was to catch the mole, but Ludwig thought that the mole could be found first and then put to good use.

On the first day of the training camp, Lud gathered all 120 members of the troupe in front of the stage. He first gave a speech of encouragement to Servis, and then had the stage curtain drawn back, revealing a statue of a god and many offerings that had been set up beforehand.

In front of everyone, Lud first respectfully bowed to the statue before addressing everyone.

“Every country has its laws, and every profession has its rules! We in this line of work travel the world just like mercenaries. Even if we’re not in a life-or-death business, we still have to be loyal and not betray our own people! I bet many of you know what happened a few days ago. The person or people who did this are probably listening to me right now.”

Lude's words caused the hundred-plus people present to exchange glances and whisper among themselves. Marvin, sitting in the back row, subconsciously shrank back. Whenever Lude and Servis's gaze swept across the room and landed on him, he couldn't help but want to look away out of guilt.

After the script leak, Marvin was on tenterhooks for several days. He didn't dare to do as Katie had instructed, to give the third script to a colleague to frame someone. Instead, he put it in a storeroom in the theater.

However, afterward, Captain Servis did not thoroughly investigate the mole, which made Marvin secretly relieved, but also felt a little guilty.

At this point, Ludwig on the stage continued speaking.

"The damage is irreversible now. Director Servis and I have decided to let bygones be bygones. We believe that the man was just temporarily blinded by greed, so we have decided to give him a chance to reform. However, we still need to take precautions. Therefore, I want everyone to swear an oath before the statue of Hume, the god of thieves, that you will never harm the interests of the troupe again, and that you will never betray your family. Anyone who breaks this oath will be struck by lightning! Those who can do it, please step forward and swear. Those who cannot, you may leave."

After Luther finished speaking and set an example, the captain, Servis, followed. Everyone was momentarily puzzled: did swearing to the gods really work? And why swear to the God of Thieves?

Regardless, Ludwig and Servais took the lead, and the long-time members of the troupe who had followed Servais for many years followed suit without hesitation. Considering that the Rainbow Circus offered really good wages and promised many benefits in the employment contract, everyone hesitated for a moment, but in the end, no one withdrew.

Among those who swore an oath, Marvin, who had a guilty conscience, was undoubtedly the most guilty. Therefore, when facing the statue, he deliberately muttered to himself at the end, "I will definitely not do it again in the future." "Teacher Hugo" was watching him with a gentle gaze the whole time, which made him feel ashamed.

End of this chapter

After the closed training camp began, it was clear that Romeo and Juliet, which was supposed to be performed twice a day, could no longer continue, and all members of the performance group devoted themselves to the rehearsal of the new play.

Fortunately, Marilyn, who runs the Sky Theatre, is a capable person and immediately found other second- or third-tier opera companies to fill the gap.

Servis was grateful for the old man's previous help, so after consulting with Rudd, she revealed some information about the new script to him. The experienced Granny Marilyn immediately saw that the new play had the potential to be a huge hit, and therefore fully supported the Rainbow Choir's decision.

However, she also made three requests to Servis. First, the hit play "Romeo and Juliet" could not be completely stopped; it had to be performed at least every two days. Second, the premiere of the new play had to be at her Sky Theatre. As for the third condition, she also needed to be given a role in the new play "The Count of Monte Cristo," whether it was a protagonist or antagonist, but it couldn't be a minor role with few lines; it had to offer some room for her acting skills to shine.

If Servis agrees, Marilyn is willing to forgo her performance fee and even make concessions on ticket revenue sharing.

Servis thought about it and then agreed to everything.

After the closed training began, Servis herself led all the actors in the performance group to start intensive rehearsals, while Ludwig, under the pseudonym Hugo, showed his amazing talent and many imaginative and trendy ideas to the members of the troupe.

To everyone's surprise, Hugo was practically omnipotent!

Everyone originally thought he was just a screenwriter who could write scripts, but during rehearsals he was able to provide a lot of professional guidance that amazed even the veteran actors. His superb makeup skills made their makeup artists wish they could become his apprentices on the spot.

The Servis he found could switch freely between the face of an eighteen-year-old girl and a forty-year-old mature woman, perfectly matching the appearance of the character Mercedes at two different stages in the play.

He even had extra energy to guide other departments with ease, and took on most of the preliminary preparation work himself.

He could provide the music team with a whole set of new scores, even develop new instruments, and draw stunning concept art. He could also teach the prop team's craftsmen to make various props to achieve the stage effects he desired. He even drew three versions of posters for the publicity team to put up on the streets.

What's most incredible is that this master seems to be a genius alchemist as well, always able to produce many strange and interesting alchemical tools. That little prop called a camera even impressed the well-informed Granny Marilyn, who lamented that she didn't have such a thing when she was young, otherwise she could have preserved her most beautiful moments.

Seeing that this young, wealthy, and incredibly talented master Victor Hugo was also quite handsome, everyone was convinced of his talent. Some of the older members of the troupe who had always been concerned about Servis's marriage also privately approached the troupe leader and "hinted" that she should hurry up and win over this golden prince who had fallen from the sky. Servis, who knew the truth, was both amused and exasperated.

It turns out that once people get busy, time seems to fly by, and a week can feel like it's over in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, with the all-powerful Victor Hugo overseeing everything, the troupe, though busy, operated in an orderly manner without any sense of chaos. Many people, however, were unaware that they were dreaming much more frequently during this period.

Regarding the mole, Lu De openly declared that he would not hold it against them, but in reality, he secretly instructed the two female ghosts, Elijah and Lacey, to conduct an investigation.

They made full use of their necromancy skills, infiltrating the dreams of each member of the group one by one, and in just a few days, they uncovered the mole planted from the outside. After learning about the situation, Lude did not make a fuss, but pretended not to know and continued to prepare for the new play.

As for the Black Hand Brotherhood, Rudd is still observing. The "bullets" he fired earlier are still flying. Thanks to him, Snake Lady Sherry can no longer remain uninvolved. The other elders want to know what the necromancer said to her when he came to the Silver House that day, and this is clearly not something that Sherry can simply tell the truth to convince everyone else.

While these guys were focused on their own people due to the chain of suspicion, Ludger was busy at the Rainbow Dance Troupe preparing a real "killer move" to deal with the fake Thief God!

Meanwhile, news of the Rainbow Dance Company's preparations for a new show also reached Katie's ears. At first, she didn't pay much attention, assuming that the so-called new show was the one she had asked Marvin to take back. However, when the Sky Theatre put up the promotional posters, she realized that Servis had a backup plan.

"The King of the Cave? It's Shakespeare again!"

Katie frowned as she held the flyers her men had brought back, while Kyle, who had come to report to her, continued to recount the new intelligence he had just acquired.

“I heard from our people that a young playwright named Hugo has recently arrived at Rainbow. He’s supposedly a protégé of Shakespeare, both talented and wealthy. He brought his script and several thousand gold coins with him when he joined the production. He immediately took over all the affairs, and even the production manager, Servis, listens to him.”

"Hugo? Male or female?"

"Uh...it should be a man, and he's said to be very young, only in his early twenties."

"Early twenties, male... just right!"

Upon hearing that the powerful new ally of Servis was a young man in his early twenties, Katie couldn't help but reveal a meaningful smile. She had seen many men of this age; they were stronger than older men, but also easier to deal with.

"Kyle, have our men keep a close eye on Hugo. I need detailed information about him and his whereabouts in Flamewood City. Unless he leaves the Sky Opera House, we'll have a chance to meet him."

"Commander, what are you going to do?"

“Sans has fallen out with us, it’s time to find a replacement. I have to thank my good sister for this, she always brings me what I need most at crucial moments.”

Katie chuckled smugly to herself, already imagining how she would boast to Servis after she had won over Hugo.

Over the years, Katie has never forgotten being adopted by Servis's parents when she was young, and the childhood she spent with Servis. However, Katie feels no gratitude towards her adoptive parents and Servis, who once treated her like a younger sister. Instead, she is filled with twisted resentment.

She hates Servis simply because the other woman once had everything she wanted, so now she wants to take everything from Servis.

End of this chapter

After falling out with the Feixia Dance Troupe, Sans did not leave Yanmu City, but instead continued to live a leisurely life as before.

But Katie was clearly not the kind of woman who was willing to "break up peacefully." After Sans left, she spread the word that she would completely blacklist him in the entertainment industry of Yanmu City. At the same time, she sent her subordinates to secretly monitor him, not wanting to see this writer, who had provided more than a dozen high-quality scripts for the Feixia Dance Troupe, go to work for another dance troupe.

The men Katie sent to keep an eye on him were all thugs and henchmen from the underworld. They would squat outside Sans's place every day, and as soon as they saw him go out, they would silently follow him to see who he met with, and if necessary, they would jump out and cause trouble.

However, what frustrated the thugs was that this Sans, who seemed to be a skinny and weak scholar, was surprisingly good at physical fitness. He spent most of his time outside eating, drinking, having fun, and traveling, just like a husky that had broken free of its reins, exhausting the thugs until their legs were weak.

Fortunately, this guy insisted on watching operas and listening to music every night without fail, which gave the guys who were tracking and monitoring him a little chance to catch their breath.

That evening, Sanz, as usual, went to the Sky Theatre to see his favorite production of "Romeo and Juliet." Since the Rainbow Company also announced that it would be producing a new show, the frequency of performances of this show had been reduced from twice a day to once every two days. However, Sanz, who had already seen it no less than ten times, was still not satisfied and attended every performance.

The thugs responsible for tracking them had no choice but to buy tickets and go in together, then seek reimbursement from Katie afterwards.

As usual, the thugs spread out a little and entered the opera house, found seats directly behind Sanz, and tried to relax their legs that had been running all day.

After nearly a week of surveillance, the leader of the thugs had a feeling that their movements had been discovered by the other side, who was just pretending not to know and taking them for walks around every day. Several times, when the two sides met from a distance, he felt that Sans seemed to be watching them and smiling.

Shortly after the group took their seats, most of the audience followed, and the theater was almost full, with an occupancy rate exceeding 90%. This was mainly because the beggars who had been causing trouble at the entrance had suddenly disappeared in the past few days, and the Sky Opera House's business had immediately returned to normal.

Compared to the Heavenly Melody Opera House, the premier opera house in Yanmu City, the Sky Tower Opera House is less than half the size. The former has a main hall with two thousand seats and ninety-nine private boxes across three floors, and its stage is equipped with a complete set of amplification symbols created by a high-level mage. The latter, on the other hand, has only eight hundred seats, forty private boxes across two floors, and no amplification symbols on its stage; it relies entirely on the actors' own voices.

However, the difference in scale makes the tickets for the Sky Theatre much cheaper than those for the Sky Theatre, making it very suitable for the "slightly wealthy" class who like to watch the theatre but want to save a little money.

Thanks to Sanz, the henchmen had watched "Romeo and Juliet" three times in a row these past few days. They all admitted that the play was indeed good, but watching it three times a week was getting a bit tiresome, so they couldn't understand Sanz's fanatical fandom of watching it more than ten times.

A short while later, the announcer appeared on stage and rang a bell to remind the audience to be quiet, as the performance was about to begin.

Unlike previous times, the announcer added a few more words after introducing the play, saying that after the main play ended, the audience should not rush to leave, because there would be a trailer for a new play as an extra "mini-performance" tonight, so please look forward to it.

The audience members whispered among themselves, as it was the first time they had ever heard of a performance with a "trailer," and their curiosity was piqued.

Soon, the performance began, and the thugs, bored, passed the time in their seats, some resting with their eyes closed, others looking around. For them, who lacked any artistic talent, the nearly three-hour performance was quite unbearable.

Sans, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying the performance. Even though he could recite all the lines by heart, his interest remained undiminished. Most of the other audience members were seeing the show for the first time and were full of praise for the wonderful performance on stage. The final "knife-wielding" ending brought tears to everyone's eyes, and the actors who went on stage to bow to the audience received the warmest applause.

At this moment, Servis, who plays Juliet, stepped forward and announced to the audience that the Rainbow Dance Company would be premiering their long-awaited new play, "The Count of Monte Cristo," in a week. The title of the play would be officially announced tonight, and a "preview performance" of the play would be offered to the audience free of charge. Please wait a moment.

As hundreds of audience members eagerly awaited the play, the stage curtain slowly closed, and then many theater staff rushed out, distributing flyers for the new production to the audience. Sans, upon receiving a flyer, was immediately struck by the poster.

"An interesting composition. The three with dark circles under their eyes at the top must be the villains. The ones with different expressions at the bottom are the supporting characters. The main characters should be the two profiles of the old man and the young man in the center. Could it be a dual male lead setup?"

Looking at the poster on the flyer, Sans felt that just this one picture was enough to make him think of a lot of plots. The text below consisted of several short sentences that were not connected one after another, using artistic fonts. In particular, the word "revenge" was highlighted in large red and even had blood seeping down, making it particularly eye-catching on the entire flyer.

Sans had to admit that although the flyer was vague, the cryptic atmosphere, combined with the well-designed and innovative poster, had subtly heightened the viewer's anticipation, making him increasingly curious about what new tricks this "preview performance" would have in store.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the staff quickly left after handing out flyers, and the lights in the hall dimmed. Then, a deep and solemn piece of music suddenly began. To the audience's surprise, the sound did not come from just the stage, but from all directions, surrounding the entire audience and making everyone's hearts beat in unison with the drumbeats.

As the music played in a three-dimensional style, a husky yet magnetic male voice entered the audience's ears, telling the opening narration of "The Cave King" to everyone. At the same time, the closed curtain was opened again, and a prison appeared on the stage. A ragged man knelt towards the audience with his head bowed and his hands tightly gripping the iron bars of the prison.

The man in the cell slowly raised his head. His scarred face still faintly revealed his once handsome features, but his expression was like that of a wounded wolf, his wide-open eyes seeming to spew out tangible fury.

Before he even spoke, his gaze alone sent a chill down the spines of the audience.

End of this chapter

Three minutes and twenty seconds—that's the total length of the preview performance, but the impact it had on the audience far surpassed the three-hour main show. After all, for these natives of this other world, it was the first time they had ever witnessed a stage performance of this kind.

The template for the entire performance is essentially that Lude references trailers for new anime and movies on Earth, edits together exciting clips from the main drama, and puts them into a cool short video. There's no need to explain the plot clearly; as long as the audience's adrenaline is pumping, that's a victory.

However, there are neither computers nor "iMovie" here, so the entire trailer performance must be carried out by live actors on stage.

To achieve the desired effect, Lude went to great lengths to prepare, even personally renovating the lobby and stage of the Sky Opera House, all in order to capture the audience's attention with the trailer within those three minutes and twenty seconds.

The actual performance was absolutely perfect. They truly achieved the effect of "rapid scene switching" on stage using real people and props, showcasing seven "famous scenes" in succession.

All props were prefabricated in modular form, with wheels added to the bottom for rapid movement. Scene transitions were achieved through the brief pauses during which the stage curtain moved horizontally from side to side. Furthermore, the increased volume of stereo sound was cleverly used to mask the sound of the wheels rolling on the stage.

As each scene was quickly set up, the actors ran up to their positions, then got into character in less than a second, struck a pose, recited a few lines, and completed their performance, which lasted only ten or twenty seconds.

Finally, with Hiroyuki Sawano's soundtrack, the sword-drawing theme song came on, and the scene, which was originally a bit chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), instantly felt right.

Damn it! It's getting exciting!

It's worth mentioning that, in order to ensure the male lead could perfectly portray the envisioned "Avenger's gaze," Lu De went to extreme lengths, having him kick a cabinet barefoot before going on stage. The male lead really went all out, doing it on the spot without hesitation, resulting in the scene shown at the beginning of the trailer.

Everyone thought the male actor had great acting skills and excellent emotional control, but actually... it really hurt!

It's no exaggeration to say that this preview performance completely stunned the audience. After a brief silence, a deafening roar erupted. Although they still didn't quite grasp the plot of "The Count of Monte Cristo," their adrenaline surged, leaving them only with the burning desire to see the full film. Their anticipation soared to unprecedented heights. It felt like the next seven days would be as long and agonizing as seven years.

"Damn it, I'm not going to be able to sleep for the next week."

"Hey! Can we have it performed again? I'll buy a ticket right now, I want to see that one!"

"I want to see it three times!"

Backstage, Ludwig and Servis peered through the gaps in the curtain at the enthusiastic audience outside. Most of the other actors and crew members were slumped on the floor, panting heavily. The three-minute preview performance had exhausted them all; each scene change had to be swift and precise, the pace as fast as a battle. But the unwavering cheers and applause outside the curtain made it all worthwhile.

At this moment, Grandma Marilyn came up to Rudd and praised him with a smile.