Chapter 63: Swan Lake (3)

"Now!!" Don Chiik screamed, he raised a button in his hands. "Go off! My bombs!!"

And he pressed the button.

Silence filled the venue.

And in the next moment—

—BOOOOM!

An explosion rang out.

Then another, and another.

Sky-shattering, earth-shaking explosions rang out one after the other a total of ten times.

"Come forth! Saviors of Dienin!" Keith's voice filled the air again as the audience broke into cheers. In the distant sky, tens of streaks of colorful flames spread through the air forming some of the most beautiful fireworks the people had laid their eyes on.

Sophia too, raised her head and looked up at the fireworks. Her stressed heart full of nervousness broke out into a giggle, and then into a full-blown laughter.

He fell for it.

That bastard fell for it.

The shields, the lights, all those efforts had paid off just well.

He couldn't see the future over and over, even if he did, it wasn't a big problem.

They switched out the bombs and handed the people a different one. They then made sure those people and their fake bombs stuck out. And to put the cherry on the cake, the bomb still went off.

Even if that demon saw the future, he wouldn't be able to tell anything wrong unless he saw this specific moment. The streets were empty, the skies were filled with lights, the people were screaming for the show.

The demon had already very recently seen far into the future if it changed the way it would attack the city. There was no way it could have the strength to hide from the gods' eyes and change things too greatly. Watching short spans would be its limit, and if it went long, then people from the Church of the Sun would have come here already.

Eugene had foreseen any possible problem that could have come up.

Lady Sophia sighed and turned to see the people running about. The intense beating in her chest would take a while to settle down now.

The people who were covered with the shields started running toward Keith, the fireworks still going off in the skies.

One after the other, more squirrels came in their way but were promptly defeated by the ones who could fight with a smile on their faces. They gathered near Keith and started punching the squirrel. An elaborate impromptu show began where Keith and some knights helped the newcomers on stage defeat Buhini and his gang of squirrels.

People watched the show with hearty smiles.

At last, the squirrel was defeated and thrown into the air.

"We did it!!"

"Take that, Don Chiik!"

"Nooo! My nuts!"

Sophia watched the events, her face breaking into a wider and wider smile with each passing minute.

They had done it.

They had managed to avoid the worst.

People broke into many cheers as the event settled down. Keith went on a well-crafted humorous speech about the 'saviors' and the history of the city and the founding festival.

Since an event had already started, they were planning to keep the people for as long as possible. Hopefully till the time for Lady Vienna's celebration back in the castle.

"Now! To welcome the eve of the founding! We have a special piano performance coming right up!"

Vienna, who was also watching everything from the sidelines with a scrutinizing gaze, perked her ears at those words.

Her eyes fell on the piano brought up on the stage. It was the same piano that was in the room entrusted to Eugene.

A sense of excitement filled her.

"Played by the rose of our land! The most beautiful and noble, lady Vienna Hall!"

"Eh...?"

Vienna's eyes widened a moment too late.

It was her name that was taken instead of someone else's.

She was never even informed about something like this.

All eyes had turned toward her.

Since it was pushed on her, she wasn't going to embarrass herself in public.

Right then, a black-haired maid stepped up behind her and whispered in her ears.

"My lady. My liege had a message for you. 'Pay up for the performance that day,' he said."

Vienna understood everything when the maid said those words.

She nodded her head and gave the maid a sidelong glance, only to see her with a smile on her beautiful face.

"I was going to do it anyway," Vienna said as she took a step forward and to the piano.

The plan had changed.

She was certain that person couldn't see. But he figured out it was her anyway.

She thought as she sat in front of the piano. She would show him.

That melody of his. That lament.

Vienna's finger rose above the piano—

As a Hall. As a musician. She was aching to answer it.

—And the notes began.

***

"W-why! How! How did this happen...!?"

Down in the sewers of the city, a frustrated voice rang out. A black-robed figure scratched its face incessantly, cursing at the air.

"Fuck! It was all perfect! Lord Raum... I have failed! W-why this!"

Black smoke started to rise around the figure's feet as its voice grew increasingly hostile.

At that moment, the sounds of a piano rang out.

Fast and soft. Sharp. Welcoming yet foreboding. Like the call of a swan asking for a duet, the beautiful music reached the figure's ears, much to its chagrin.

And with the sounds of the piano, a screeching sound of metal rang out.

The figure, the demon's agent raised its eyes.

Tap. Tap. Footsteps, slow and steady.

Walking in from the corner with the tip of his blade running over the concrete of the sewers. A person walked in.

"Wow," his voice rang out all over the place as the music of the piano continued.

The intensity of each strike of the note made the figure's heart beat with nervousness.

"I heard it last time, but her Swan Lake Theme is beautiful."

The man came into view.

White hair the color of snow.

Eyes red like crimson blood.

And a smile reminiscent of death itself.

The man across him ran his hand through his hair.

"Eugene..." the demon's agent grit his teeth. "Hall... You... Because of you—"

"Shut up," Eugene ordered. He raised his sword and pointed it at the man. "The ramblings of a dead man are worth nothing."

"EUGENE HALLL!!"

With the sound of the piano as their beat, the dance of the two began.