I walked to the large stage where the talent show would be held. Along the way I saw many small open tents selling various kinds of goods such as handicrafts, jewelry, daily tools to snacks and drinks. Many of the tents were busy with visitors.
When I arrived, I approached one of the crew members and said that I was a friend of Sherubiel and Mendicore and mentioned the name of the woman committee earlier.
The crew escorted me backstage where there were many fairly large closed tents. I estimated these were tents used for talent show participants. We arrived at one of the tents and the officer invited me to enter and then left me.
I entered the tent and inside there were indeed Sherubiel and Mendicore. The room was more like a living room with one bed, a dining table with four chairs and a refrigerator. Both of them approached me.
"How is the preparation? Have you decided what you want to perform?" I asked.
"The woman earlier said that we can perform together, Johann." said Sherubiel.
"That's correct, we have planned what will be shown later. You just watch later, Johann." said Mendicore.
"Alright... Give your best performance later!" I said while encouraging them.
"Eehh... will I become famous later??? I'm actually afraid that later they will look for me. Especially when walking to the stage earlier, many people looked at me with adoring feelings..." said Sherubiel in a worried tone.
"Your appearance alone is enough to make you famous, Sherubiel, especially if you can perform your talent well. Indeed if you are still shy this will be difficult, but there is nothing wrong if there are people who can finally acknowledge your existence." I advised.
Sherubiel just smiled while glancing and tilting her head to the side.
After a while, one of the crew asked permission to enter. At first I thought he would call Mendicore and Sherubiel to get ready for the stage.
But suddenly, someone I didn't expect entered our tent.
That person was Commander Tiberos.
I was shocked by that very unexpected visit. What would he do here? What did he want from us?
I became afraid because Tiberos might ask me if I already knew the dark history of the Grivendal empire.
"Sorry if I suddenly came here without notice. I think this is a good opportunity to meet you. I have not chatted with Mendicore and Miss Sherubiel when we were still on planet Grohn earlier..."
"Would you mind if you give us some time, Johann?" asked Tiberos while glancing at me.
"O-Okay, commander..."
I together with the crew left the tent leaving the three of them and stood outside while waiting. Several guards and his aides were also outside the tent with me.
I thought Tiberos might be quite curious about the existence of Mendicore and Sherubiel as "former" inhabitants of High Heaven. He seemed to want to ask why they were "discarded" by them. But in my opinion Mendicore and Sherubiel would not tell the truth to anyone except me.
My suspicion appeared again. From his argument with Gruzhnil earlier and Tiberos' desire for the Grivendal empire to be free from High Heaven, would Tiberos use Mendicore and Sherubiel as real proof? But this is a quite dangerous step because it would trigger a widespread conflict like in The Mayhem lore.
I tried to calm my suspicion by walking around the tent stalls in front of the stage. There was one stall that caught my attention because it sold various kinds of souvenirs and had quite a lot of visitors. I went there.
I looked at the souvenirs in the form of keychains, necklaces, table decorations and wall decorations. My eyes carefully saw a wooden carved keychain shaped like a sleeping cat.
Indeed in Grivendal there were animals looked like cat roaming in the cities and they were truly taken care of by certain staffs. Maybe they considered that animal to be related to the existence of Groth which they highly revered. I knew from my world that lions and cats came from the same family.
Suddenly I remembered Hellraider's beginning background story where he was a cat lover. I took the keychain and looked at it.
Could I give this to Hellraider as a souvenir from this event?
Without thinking too long, I immediately bought it to show later to Hellraider.
I heard people shouting from the direction of the performance stage. It turned out the event had started. I immediately rushed there to see the participants' performances.
When I arrived, one of the crew informed me that all participants were already backstage waiting for their turn. I was escorted to a special audience seat provided for me. Oh... I was really grateful to be able to watch it freely.
I watched various performances ranging from singing, quite extreme attractions, dancing, and musical drama. In my opinion all performances were quite impressive. It was time for Sherubiel and Mendicore to perform.
Sherubiel began to spread her wings and floated up into the air, so did Mendicore. The audience began to shout happily, it seemed because it was the first time there were participants who were not human. Sherubiel began to perform flying actions above the sea of audience with various unique styles. Occasionally she glided near the audience to give high-fives.
After that Mendicore began to perform, it would play with the audience to catch it as much as possible. I could tell this was similar to my Bous Ball training yesterday. Mendicore began to glide above the audience. Many of them tried to reach it and as I expected, Mendicore immediately darted quickly into its small portal. I laughed seeing some audience starting to get annoyed because they could not catch Mendicore who was so agile.
After some time, finally one of the audience managed to hold its disc and Mendicore went still. I knew what would happen next. The disc body immediately unfolded quickly and the audience looked very shocked. Most of the audience fell silent. I immediately glanced at Sherubiel who was still in the air.
From behind Sherubiel, suddenly Mendicore appeared and flew towards the audience who managed to catch it.
"You are truly great, sir! Congratulations you are the winner! Thank you everyone who has played with us!!!" said Mendicore.
Instantly all the audience shouted happily and applauded. The event finally ended. I was proud of both of them who were able to deliver a performance that in my opinion was the best because it directly interacted with the audience.
In the afternoon, the talent show announcement was made. Unexpectedly, Sherubiel and Mendicore won 2nd place. I was very happy with their achievement even though it was planned suddenly.
"I told you, right? If Sherubiel can be confident, your performance can be optimal like earlier. As for Mendicore, I believe and am sure you prepared it quickly and well." I said while smiling at them.
"Thank you for encouraging me, Johann. Now I'm not easily shy anymore." said Sherubiel while returning my smile.
Suddenly Mendicore floated forward above again, paused for a moment and returned to us. I wondered what Mendicore saw.
"I saw Sir Hellraider standing at the place where we got off earlier, it seems he wants to go home." said Mendicore.
I immediately took the walkie-talkie and contacted Grelmure to pick us up. We continued walking to where Hellraider was.
Actually I was still very curious about Tiberos' sudden visit earlier. Of course I could not ask about it in a situation like this. But from their expressions, it seemed the private meeting earlier was not something worrying.
Without waiting long, Grelmure came driving his go-kart. We sat according to the same positions as earlier. I then thought about the souvenir I bought earlier.
I immediately took it from my pocket and showed it to Hellraider. He then glanced at me.
"I know that you once kept a cat and loved it before everything became like this, sir. This is a small gift from me for this celebration day." I said in a rather soft voice while smiling.
If Hellraider was reluctant to take it, I thought it would not be a problem. Showing this to him was enough for me to remind him that Hellraider once lived as a normal human.
However, unexpectedly, Hellraider took the carved cat keychain. He looked at it then held it on his lap and finally looked forward while closing his eyes for a moment without saying anything.
I looked forward again while smiling. The evening sky with its unique cloud patterns was truly beautiful for a moment like this.