The stage was set, and it was now time for the play to start. I still do not see how the lines in this play are only a few. The two females were the lead characters! With my demon queen costume on, which was nothing more than a pair of men's commoner clothing with a hat, I walked up on stage. This was the first scene where I had just arrived with a few of my subordinates in the kingdom undercover and was about to begin our stakeout.
"Your Highness, you did not need to come out and do this yourself. To think our queen will be walking around amongst these dirty people."
"Frederick, your words are a bit much, do you think not? While I wish for world domination, I do not wish for all of its people to die. This kingdom will fall and come under my rule. Then the people of this land will become my people. As a ruler, have I ever treated my people badly?" My words were dignified and followed the script to the last letter. Even all my movements were on point, causing the spiky haired young man to stare at me in disbelief. Go, acting skill level 1 mastery! I know for a fact that if this was before, I would not have done any of this and might have even stuttered during the process. I think if I were to become a spy in the future, I could easily make people think I was a frog and not a sentient being.
"It is true that Your Highness has always treated us kindly, but these people have killed so many of our demon kind." Spiky hair is not bad! While he was surprised at first, he quickly got back into character.
"They only started killing our kind after my initial attack. Did we not kill thousands of their own men? It is only natural while at war for people to fall on all sides. This is how war is. We destroyed cities and towns all the way here. Are you expecting them to not attack us back? Such foolishness!" I slammed the wooden table next to me and glared at spiky hair. "You will stay here. I will gather intelligence myself."
The scene came to an end, and we quickly ran off stage while people took off the props to prepare for the next scene. The way they were racing back and forth so easily replacing props showed just how skilled the people were at their jobs. I was truly impressed.
But the next scene was Sophie's scene. I walked over to her and held her hands. "I will be right off stage on the opposite side. Just look at me and follow the script."
"Okay…." Sophie nodded, her hands trembling. There was nothing more I could do. I could only say this much.
Sophie went up on stage, her movements slightly stiff, but she seemed to ease up as her eyes locked onto mine. A little maid ran up to her and grabbed her arms. "Princess, please stop going out to town. If his majesty finds out, you will be punished again."
Not good. Sophie seemed to have frozen up. I looked her in the eye and mouthed a few words to her. "It's your turn…."
Sophie was still frozen. The little maid seemed to be unsure of what to do. My eyes lit up with magic circles as I used whisper magic to whisper in Sophie's ears. "Sophie, do as I say. First, say: I am not going to sit around like a little bird in a cage. I want to go to town and visit the stalls like any other person."
"I-I am not going to sit around like a little bird in a cage. I want to go to town and visit the stalls like any other person." Sophie's voice cracked, but she was still able to say her lines.
"Now push the little maid off gently and hold up your skirt and march off stage." Luckily this part of the scene was small. She did not have to do much besides say her lines and run off stage. I watched on as Sofia did as I asked, and as soon as she reached me, she fell to the floor.
"I did it… I actually did it!" Sophia cried out softly as she buried her head in her knees. For someone not good with crowds, I think she just did a fine job.
"You did great. It's my turn next, then it will be our first meeting. So we will be on stage together, take a breather and drink some water." I smiled at her as she nodded her head before I walked back up on stage.
"What is with these streets? They are covered in filth. I am surprised there is no illness running rampant in this city." I pursed my lips as I looked at the trash all over the place. If this was a real city and the streets were covered in filth, then it would definitely end up getting many people sick.
I acted out as if I was walking down a long city street before finally stopping off at the cleanest food stand I could find. "Master, five grillers."
"Be ready in a jiff!"
I sat there looking around. My eyes narrowed as I looked out over the ground. I could hear the gasps coming from the crowd, which made me wonder if something had just happened, but I could not turn my head too quickly because the script said to look as scary as possible when scanning the crowd slowly.
"Food up! Here you go, lad." The stall owner dropped the food I ordered in front of me.
"Thanks, master."
"Don't mention it. Not many come down these streets anymore ever since the new king took over. He took away the reforms that kept our city clean, saying that we commoners do not deserve to be treated well. It's not like we do not know what he is thinking. But even so, we still try to clean up as much as possible, but we have no place to put it anymore. If we try to burn it, we will get arrested. If we try to store it elsewhere, we will get arrested. It's like he wants us to live in filth. Haha, look at me complaining. Sorry lad."
"It's fine. I just got into town myself, so I had no idea what was going on. I was quite taken aback by the way the town looked so dirty."
"Yeah, most travelers are. I suggest not staying long if you do not want your health to be harmed. Sadly for people like me, this place is our home. We can't just up and leave easily."
"I guess not."
The scene ended, but the set did not need to be changed. It was now time for Sophie to run up on stage and run into me. I watched as Sophie walked up on stage and suddenly ran at me at full speed. She was quick! Too quick! "Sophie, slow down!"
*Bang!*
I watched as Sophie, now in commoner's clothes, flew headfirst over the table and into me. I wrapped my arms around her trying to keep her from getting hurt while using magic to keep my hat on my head. It was not supposed to fall off just yet!
"My lady, are you alright?"
"Huh!?" Sophie looked at me in a bit of a daze before suddenly sitting straight up and placing her hands on my chest. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine. A pretty lady like you should not run like that. If you get seriously hurt, it will be a crime to all beastkin."
"Pretty!?" Sophie looked into my eyes and blushed bright red as she began panicking. "No, no, I am not pretty. I am…."
I placed my finger on Sophie's lips and smiled. "First, my lady, how about standing up. Our current position is kind of suggestive."
I watched as Sophie, frozen and clumsily, tried to stand up, almost falling a few times. To be honest, this was far from the princess in the script, but this matched her current state, which was why I went with it. It made the scene flow much better.
I stood up and dusted off my clothes before placing my hand on Sophie's head. "Since my lunch has been eaten by the ground, I will now be off. But my lady, be careful from now on."
Sophie's expression was perfect. She blushed and lowered her head. Good job, Sophie! With the scene now complete, I turned and began walking off stage. I used detection magic to see how Sophie was doing and when I saw her staring at my retreating back with blushed cheeks, I knew things had ended perfectly. Although it did take her a little bit to realize she needed to get off the stage.
Off stage, the older woman came over to me. "Girl, you really saved the scene. Just follow how you are acting with the princess, and the rest of us will follow up."
"I will do what I can to make sure we can make it through."
