✦ Chapter 40 – Wanderbühne Theatre (2) ✦
「Translator – Creator」
𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝𒋝
*Clap, clap, clap, clap!*
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. The crowd cheered, urging Fluffy on.
“Woohoo! Wanderbühne! Wanderbühne!”
“Start the show already! I can’t wait any longer!”
“Hear, hear!”
“Haha, everyone’s quite eager!”
“Haha! They’re a passionate bunch, aren’t they?”
In response, Fluffy cheerfully raised her magician’s staff, adorned with a purple crystal.
Then, with a playful demeanor, she glanced around at the audience and asked with a proud tone,
“That’s what makes Fluffy happy! But tell me, ladies and gentlemen, do you even know what makes our Wanderbühne so famous?”
Puppet shows! The best puppet shows on the continent!” came a shout from the crowd.
“Bingo! Correct! The specialty of our traveling troupe is performing easy and convenient one-act plays while on the move!”
Fluffy smartly replied to the response from the audience.
““And our Wanderbühne’s bread and butter is puppet shows unmatched anywhere in the Empire! A vivid and eerie puppet show!”
“Waaah-!!”
The crowd went wild, their enthusiasm washing over me in waves.
I blinked in disbelief at the frenzied excitement.
“…Are the Wanderbühne’s puppet shows really that good?”
“Good? They’re beyond ‘good!’ ‘Good’ doesn’t even begin to cover it!”
The atmosphere felt less like attending a puppet show and more like watching a top-tier circus.
Maurice, who was sitting next to me, giggled excitedly.
“Of course, it doesn’t have the superior scenarios or direction of Phantom’s works. But instead, Wanderbühne excels at pleasing the eyes of the spectators.”
“How would you know? When have you ever seen their shows?”
“I saw them once when my family went on vacation to the west. It was incredible! I never imagined a puppet show could be so thrilling!”
“I remember that. During our vacation, Maurice only wrote about Wanderbühne in his love letters and never even asked how I was doing.”
His girlfriend, Julian, who sat beside him, pouted at his enthusiasm.
She had a cute, freckled face framed by fiery orange hair, currently styled in a chic bob. A playful smirk tugged at her lips as she turned to Rosalyn, who was seated on my other side.
Julian and Maurice had been dating for quite some time, so she and senior Rosalyn were quite close.
“When we went to see <Farewell My Concubine>, he even said he envied Xiang Yu for dating such a docile woman like Consort Yu. He should just break up with me and go find another girl. Right, Senior Rosalyn?”
“He… he said what?”
“You messed up, Maurice. You should apologize to your girlfriend right now.”
“No… that’s not what I meant! I just wish you wouldn’t be so… high-strung. Men prefer someone more… Ow, ow, ow!”
Julian pinched Maurice’s arm, prompting him to yelp softly.
Despite their exchange, it was clear the couple were joking around, so the atmosphere wasn’t tense.
Watching this familiar banter, I could only chuckle.
“…Heh.”
“Senior? Are you okay?”
“Uh, uh-huh.”
In contrast, Senior Rosalyn blushed deeply at the mention of <Farewell My Concubine>.
She turned so red that I seriously worried she might have fallen ill.
At that moment, Fluffy raised her staff with the crystal towards the roof of the tent and shouted.
“Now, let’s begin! Welcome to Wanderbühne’s secret show!”
*Click! Clack!*
As if on cue, the magic lanterns illuminating the tent dimmed, shrouding the audience in a blanket of darkness.
After that, a high-pitched, exaggerated falsetto laugh of a child echoed around.
Suddenly, a spotlight pierced the darkness, illuminating a lone figure walking into the center of the stage.
[Greetings, everyone! My name is Jonah! I am a marionette, born from the very gallows where criminals meet their end! It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!]
A strange puppet descended, its limbs tied to strings from the ceiling.
It resembled a twisted, nightmarish version of Pinocchio, its painted-on smile at odds with its sinister introduction.
[But here’s the thing… I long to be a real boy! But for that to happen, I need to break free from these strings! Don’t you think I deserve to be free?]
“Of course, Jonah!”
“Cut those strings with your scissors!”
“You can do it!”
The audience cheered, their voices filled with encouragement for the marionette.
Meanwhile, I found myself losing interest and relaxing my tension.
‘Come on, really? Just a string-cutting performance?’
This kind of act was common even in puppet shows from my previous life.
They’d cut the visible fake strings with scissors while the puppeteer continued to control the puppet with transparent wires from above.
Ah, these naïve inhabitants of a fantasy world. They were making such a big deal over a cheap trick.
Feeling the arrogance of a modern genius, I smugly watched.
[Really? Can I really do it?]
The marionette Jonah danced joyfully, jingling and cheering.
Then snip, the strings attached to its limbs were all severed at once.
[I’m freee-!!]
The moment the last string was severed, the marionette let out a bloodcurdling laugh and vanished into the shadows.
Red and blue lights flashed one after another, causing the atmosphere to change abruptly.
*Ssssshh!*
A sinister fog flowed out, casting an eerie hue across the stage.
And then…
a spectacle unfolded before my eyes, one I could never have imagined—a Hyakki Yagyō.
“What… What… What is this?!”
Twisted, grotesque figures, ripped straight from a Guillermo del Toro film, filled the stage.
Accompanied by unsettling and eerie music, each one emerged to perform a one-act play in their own unique style.
…And each method of performance far exceeded my wildest imagination.
Kya-ha-ha-ha-!!
Ki-ri-ri, Ki-ric, Ki-rit!
A gigantic rat puppet, easily twice the size of a man, swooped across the tent, narrowly missing the audience’s heads.
Behind it, a ghostly figure with tattered white robes glided silently, a haunting melody trailing in its wake.
There was no visible space for puppeteers to hide, so I couldn’t fathom how they were flying.
But that was nothing compared to what came next.
*Ching! Cha-chang! Kang, Ka-ga-gak-!!*
*Ge-he-he-he-!!*
Human-sized puppets, resembling Japanese oni and hannya, dashed around the stage engaging in actual sword fights.
These Eastern asuras had impeccable martial arts movements, and the sight of bright red blood spurting everywhere each time they were slashed by swords or crescent blades made it hard to believe they were indeed puppets, not humans.
*Kya-ha-ha-ha-!!*
Finally, the last puppet, soaked in blood, laughed maniacally, ending the act.
The ventriloquist’s performance that followed was even more spine-chilling.
[Oh dear, Lani! You seem hungry! What would you like to eat?]
[I’m a ghoul craving human flesh! Lani wants to eat people! Fresh human meat is the best!]
[Really? You want to eat people? How exactly do you want to eat them?]
A beastman ventriloquist, holding a small puppet, engaged in a macabre dialogue while seated on stage.
The ghoul puppet, with its crimson maw agape, shrieked.
[Ha-ha! Let’s cut them! Slice them! Chop them! Shred them! Let’s bite into the fresh flesh!]
If that had been all, it might have been somewhat tame compared to the previous acts.
But in reality, it was the scariest performance so far.
[Ha-ha! Let’s cut them! Slice them! Chop them! Shred them! Let’s bite into the fresh flesh!]
[Ha-ha! Let’s cut them! Slice them! Chop them! Shred them! Let’s bite into the fresh flesh!]
[Ha-ha! Let’s cut them! Slice them! Chop them! Shred them! Let’s bite into the fresh flesh!]
Identical ghouls emerged from various spots on the now dimly lit stage; dozens of ventriloquist puppets, all perfectly synchronized, shouted in unison.
It was like a horror a cappella, and for a moment, the resonating echoes drove me nearly insane.
‘What is this? How are they doing this?’
Are there dozens of twin ventriloquists? Or is it just an illusion spell at work?
The various types of one-act puppet shows continued ceaselessly, each one displaying a unique and captivating style.
It was then that I realized where Wanderbühne’s reputation came from.
‘This is a Grotesque show?!’
Grotesque.
A term born from the bizarre and alien imagery found in ancient Roman ruins discovered in the 16th century.
Artistic images that instill a simultaneous sense of horror, revulsion, and alienation are what can be called Grotesque.
Grotesque developed as an artistic movement, branching from the Middle Ages’ visual arts into literature, music, and beyond.
It wasn’t until the 20th century that visual arts like film and theater began to actively employ these dreamlike, repulsive materials.
‘Who would have thought I’d see this in a medieval-esque fantasy world’s traveling troupe?’
Perhaps it’s because the Church doesn’t heavily interfere with the development of the arts here? This show was intense; a bizarre blend of artistry and horror, yet it didn’t seem to face any censorship.
Ironically, its highly stimulating nature might be why it’s so optimized for short-term gains in a wandering troupe.
After all, well-crafted horror is universally popular across ages and cultures.
“Sc-Sc-Scary! What do we do, Maurice?!”
“I-I’m scared too! Hold me, Julian!”
“But it’s so cool! I can’t tear my eyes away!”
“Damn it, me neither!”
What a scene.
The couple beside me was clinging to each other for dear life, their fear palpable – yet their eyes remained glued to the stage. Even senior Rosalyn was trembling, her grip on my arm tightening with every passing moment.
“Eek! Balthazar…!” she whimpered.
Although I was desensitized to horror from my previous life, it was clear that my senior, a native of this world, wasn’t quite as resilient.
But the final highlight of Wanderbühne was enough to nearly give even me a heart attack.
*Creeeak!*
*Ggrk, ggrrk!*
“Whoa!”
“Oh my god! Look at that!”
Gasps and cries of alarm rippled through the audience.
A colossal shadow stretched over the audience, reaching up to the tent’s ceiling.
An enormous puppet, fit for a street parade, had emerged.
The grotesque figure of a legendary giant, brought horrifyingly to life, approached.
I couldn’t even begin to guess how they were controlling that monstrous puppet.
Its giant hand swept over the heads of the audience.
And in the next moment,
“Kyahhhh!!”
Senior Rosalyn, her face completely drained of color, practically threw herself at me, burying her face in my chest.
“Ba-Balthazar….!” she sobbed.
“It’s okay, senior. I’m here with you. The show will be over soon. Just hang on a little bit longer.”
Senior Rosalyn buried her face in my chest, trembling uncontrollably.
As I held her close, patting her back gently, I whispered words of comfort.
That reflex action allowed me to swallow back the string of curses that were about to escape my mouth and regain my composure.
‘Damn… I thought it was a titan from Attack on Titan!’
The eerie texture peculiar to puppets, combined with the lifelike vitality of a real creature, created the illusion of a living giant.
Had I encountered it without prior knowledge, I might have believed it to be a mindless titan from a certain Japanese anime.
The experience of such a thing lumbering towards me with an open palm was beyond frightening—it was a dimension-shattering shock.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I struggled to catch my breath…
…But simultaneously, a brilliant idea flickered to life, and I smiled with genuine admiration.
‘If it’s a troupe of this caliber, they might just be able to pull it off.’
The ancient fear of an unknowable entity, which could neither be communicated with, interacted with, nor understood.
The blend of grotesque visuals and a dreamlike atmosphere that creates the essence of mystical horror.
“…The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.”
And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown!
Reflecting on an author who pioneered the genre of Cosmic Horror, I monologued internally.
The deep-rooted fear codes of Western society, spanning eras, included a revulsion for cephalopods, curiosity about the abyss, and fear of demons.
A man who, though he was tarred with the brush of racism and fascism, nevertheless used these elements to carve a dark niche in genre literature.
Thinking of the modern ‘mythos’ he and his followers created, my mind whirred with inspiration.
If <Chaplin’s Comedy> slapstick antics could represent the absurdity of the external world, then this…
This time, it was a moment to display the grim inner world that shadowed a lifelong lonely writer, to evoke horror.
✧❅✦❅✧
Meanwhile, in an ominous and dark location whose exact position couldn’t be identified…
….someone was being dragged, chained to a cot on wheels.
The grotesque creatures that seemed to be stitched together from numerous lumps of flesh moved towards a dimly lit, isolated room.
“Let me go! Release me right now! Aaaaargh!”
A man struggled desperately, trying to free himself from his bonds.
But firmly bound by ropes, it was impossible to escape no matter how much he tried.
As the creatures quickened their pace and the mysterious room drew closer…
*Screech! Screech!*
*Sssshh, ssck, ssshh…!*
The sound of flesh being sliced and bone being sawed was chillingly vivid.
“Eek, argh!”
The monsters flung open the door and brought the terrified man to the center of the room.
As they stumbled back, someone with glasses emerged from the shadows.
“What’s this? A new test subject already? Well done. Bring him over here quickly.”
The figure, with a bone saw stained with blood and flesh, casually dusted off the residue from their surgical gloves and spoke nonchalantly.
“And then go out to find two more people to serve as test subjects. With those, we’ll wrap up today’s tasks.”
“What is this? Kidnapping a passerby in broad daylight?!”
The creatures obeyed the commands and withdrew, leaving the bound man thrashing and shouting in terror at the horrifying scene.
“You! Don’t you know this is a crime?! What grudge do you have against me to do this?!”
“Grudge? Oh, you seem to be misunderstanding your situation a bit.”
Giggling, the bespectacled figure sneered as they spoke.
“There’s no grudge involved. We simply needed a test subject. A fresh one for the research on immortality, to be exact. Unfortunately, you were just unlucky to get caught.”
“Unlucky? You just caught me by chance?!”
“Yes. But there’s no need to feel so upset about it.”
*Click-!!*
The sound of a lancet, designed to draw blood and administer medications, filled the air.
As the anesthetic inside was injected, the bespectacled figure added,
“From now on, you’ll be contributing to the advancement of humanity. A noble sacrifice for your otherwise useless body that would just rot away after death.”
Confronted with a string of ominous words, the man turned his head to survey the room’s interior.
In the next instant, his face, already pale, turned even whiter.
“U-uhhh…!”
Everywhere, scattered limbs and organs of dissected humans lay in disarray.
Jars filled with eyeballs and hearts lined the shelves.
Flayed skin, stretched taut, hung from the walls like macabre tapestries.
Alchemical flasks bubbled ominously, filled with unsettling concoctions.
“Now, now, hold still,” the figure chuckled, approaching with a gleaming scalpel. “Struggling will only prolong your suffering.”
As the man stared at the glinting lenses of the bespectacled figure, reminiscent of a demon’s gaze, he lost control and wet himself.
With nerves paralyzed by terror, his tongue stiffened, but he mustered all his strength to voice the question that haunted him most.
“Wh-who… who are you…?!”
“Me? Names are unnecessarily grandiose, so there’s no need for you to know.”
The bespectacled shadow laughed, the sound sharp and chilling.
“Just call me… ‘Doctor’.”
— End of Chapter —
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