Amphitheater (1)

“It’s like you’re in love. Huh? It’s a waste to say something like that, right?”

“Huh? Where would you get that sort of idea from?”

“It’s the result of close observation. I’ve been suspicious of it before, but I think your taste is for older women. Lady Dione makes sense, but isn’t Archbishop Istoria too old?”

“Stop the bullshit and go get some water.”

“Hey, you seem like Lei now. Yes, I will remember. Water!”

“Hold on. Canteen?”

“Oh, I think I brought it.”

Arthur searched through his backpack and struggled to find the canteen.

“It’s dark. Do you need some more light?”

“No, it’s not that. I think it’s caught on something…”

Vwoooom.

The Door of Mnemosyne resonated. Ancient numbers rose above the broken wall, and a barrage of light rays overwhelmed the two.

‘What is this…?!’

.

.

.

The sense of endless falling stopped as they hit cold water.

“Hack, kah.”

Kleio knelt for a while with water clogging his eyes, nose, and mouth. As he struggled wildly, his knees and hands finally came into contact with the hard floor. With a desire not to be embarrassed like last time, Kleio jumped up. When he put his feet under him, he saw that the place that was submerged was a knee-deep ditch carved out of stone.

‘Ah, it’s like a drinking trough. Well, I did ask for some water.’

Kleio sat down on the edge of the canal and quickly identified where he was. He knew this place and had even been there before.

‘It’s the amphitheater.’

It was the same dungeon that gave Arthur his skill in the last manuscript. A moment after he realized it, the Words appeared in front of his eyes.

[Remembered World: Amphitheater]

[―A piece of space and time formed by the broken jewel of the goddess Mnemosyne.

―Stop the Master Clock to stop history from repeating. When temporal concurrency is lost, space will be disintegrated.

Note: When the time limit expires, all elements are reset to the starting state.]

[―Time remaining / Time limit

119:59:51/120:00:00

*The play is randomly performed every 6 hours.]

Vwoom!

Vwooooom!

At the same time, a low but threatening sound vibrated his body. It sounded like dozens of voices were overlapping. Kleio looked back, seeing thousands of seemingly transparent spirit bodies crying out. Arthur, who had fallen to the other side of the semi-circular stage, traversed half the stage in a few moments. With a determined attitude, he intervened between the spirits and Kleio. The body of the 6th level knight, strengthened with ether, shone like it was made of gold. As if unafraid of the thousands of spirits, the boy tried to reach out with his sword.

Kleio realized the situation a beat later. They had rolled out of the waterway between the stage and the first row of auditoriums, in front of the spirit spectators.

‘Wow… big audience.’

How did it look like this every time he went to the theater?

“Arthur, let’s quit and quickly go to the backseats. Hurry.”

“What?”

“Don’t talk; follow me.”

Kleio dragged Arthur along. The spirits only made sounds, but they didn’t harm the two. With about ten question marks on his face, Arthur walked along with Kleio through the stony seats. The further they went up the stairs, the more the protests of the spirits subsided. By that time, Arthur had figured out what was happening as well. He pulled back his ether and let go of his sword, lowering his voice.

“Were these ghosts protesting that we obscured their view?”

“Yes, because the play will start soon. Uninvited guests like us have to head to the back row.”

Jungjin was able to recall the contents of the manuscript, which he had searched many times. He also had some memories of an academic book project, -Ancient Theater Architecture-, that seemed applicable.

‘…Even if the best academic books weren’t selected, I know the rough structures I read about.’

It was a theater shaped close to the Roman-style. The front row of the theater, with back and arm-rests, was most likely the seats reserved for priests and officials. Since Kleio and Arthur had been lingering there, the spirits had been angered. Kleio quickly regained his usual calm after recovering from the sudden shock of suddenly being brought into the dungeon.

‘It’s early, but… anyway, the last manuscript is now gone. It’s not the time to worry about that.’

The two could find an empty seat only after reaching the highest floor, under the pillars at the edge of the theater. The boundary of this dungeon was also that outer wall, and the sky above it was the setting sun. Once again, the world outside the boundary was a void of nothingness. How long had time repeated here? However, the stone structure was as smooth and shiny as if it had been carved out yesterday. Not even a single blade of grass was growing between the paving stones. This was what Arthur’s Foreground skill was when it was ruined.

“What, Lei, you seem to be familiar with this place. Did you even predict this?”

“Yes, but this isn’t our first time here.”

“What?”

“Have you not noticed?”

“No, it’s just ruins there.”

“It was originally like this.”

They could overlook the entire theater from where they were. On the orchestra stage, spirits dressed in white were singing songs that started off the play. The main stage, located between the orchestra stage and the background, was covered in tapestries. All the spirits in the audience looked toward the stage, waiting for the curtain to drop.

‘Looks like there are a few thousand of them.’

Right now, they didn’t care about the intruders. But when they tried to break the clock, they would face resistance from those spirits.

‘It would be nice if Isiel had been with us.’

However, only the two of them had entered the dungeon. Kleio was worried about the sudden opening, as its timing was too perfect for getting Arthur and him.

‘The dungeon’s rewards have already been paid too. How is that going to be fixed? Will it be replaced by another skill?’

What point was there in thinking about it? It would be revealed if the author had a plan or not once the dungeon was broken.

“Anyway, stay still, so you don’t draw their attention to nothing. They aren’t aggressive, but what we’re trying to do is enough for them to get in the way.”

“If you say so… Well, we must be looking for the clock, but where the hell is it?”

Kleio pointed at the structure that stood tall between the stage and the orchestra seat.

“There is a round pillar with a scale mark on the stage. You can see the angel and bird-shaped carvings next to it.”

“Huh.”

“That’s the clock.”

“That’s a clock?!”

“You have to take a good look. The squares on it mark the time. The angel marks the current time. The shield is neutralized only when the arrow points forward six spaces at midnight. Otherwise, it won’t break.”

“What if I can’t break it in time?”

“Nothing happens. The time goes back to 6 P.M. when the first dungeon was opened, and another play begins.”

“…No way. All 120 hours?”

“Seems likely.”

The dungeon’s insanely long time limit wasn’t an advantage. The stage and background would be restored every six hours, no matter how much they damaged it.

‘In the last manuscript, Isiel and Arthur almost went crazy. Not because of the difficult monsters, but because they had trouble finding a strategy.’

It was a troublesome dungeon because the two, who had no interest in drama, had to watch the play for five days without a clue on how to leave.

‘I hope their strategy works again.’

The choruses quieted down as the curtain lowered, and two men in Roman costumes stood atop the stage. The translucent spirits, through which the stage background could be seen, were performing an unknown play. It was the first time he heard their language, but he could understand the meaning.

‘It feels similar to using Understanding. It must be a function of the dungeon that is being applied to me.’

One of them, a young man, screamed about the queen he loved and her lover. Arthur’s face was already hot.

“It’s a dungeon that Lady Dione would like.”

“I agree.”

.

.

.

Arthur had fallen into a state of concentration after complaining about the play. Growing up in a country where no theater company went to meant he didn’t know the beauty of the opera. Seeing the 17th-century passionate tragedy in this wonderful theater straight out of Rome was an experience that Kleio had been hoping for.

The content of the play was that of -Berenice- by Racine. Titus, Emperor of Roma, was frustrated by a law banning marriages to strangers. It was a law that even the emperor couldn’t break, preventing him from marrying a foreign queen. Titus had to choose whether to be expelled from Rome so he could marry Berenice or choose Rome and dismiss Berenice.

‘Write an original story with some sincerity… Does this world ignore copyright laws?’

Kleio clicked his tongue at the author.

‘Can you not match the background and the times? What sort of standard with which do you consider the worldview’s consistency?’

Such accusations against the author might be somewhat inappropriate. Nevertheless, one thing was clear:

‘The author’s experiences and views dominate this work. In this world, the author is a literal god.’

Wasn’t this a deformed text that didn’t account for the reader’s existence at all?

‘At this point, I think I know why Melchior hates the author so much. If only the author had looked back for the development he wanted…’

The play continued while Kleio was lost in thoughts. Titus eventually chose the Roman empire over his lover and refused to accept Berenice’s pleas for his love. Berenice bid her lover farewell as she left Rome forever. The two would never see each other again. Arthur, now immersed in the play, was energetic.

“Hey, isn’t it so sad that the emperor abandons the queen?”

“It’s just a play, don’t get mad and just watch it.”

“That emperor’s got a big mouth. He said he would die without her, but he still asked her to leave?”

Kleio looked at the darkened sky once more, controlling his expression. As Charlie Chaplin put it, ‘Life is a tragedy when viewed up close, and a comedy when viewed from a distance.’ So too was the tragedy of the queen and the emperor.

“Are you saying you would give up the throne?”

“No, but why do you have to choose between the two? You can persuade the citizens and the Senate. This Titus guy lacks the will.”

Arthur didn’t understand the choice between love and rule. The arrogant innocence believing in the power of will shocked Kleio enough that he began to laugh.