Chapter 356: Divas and Devils are not mutually exclusive
=Yeah…=
=Same, it’s only logical.=
=We’ll find out as soon as the kaijin stop the bleeding.=
________________________________________________
The Royal Reef Hotel was famous for quite a number of reasons in Pearl Tusk Harbor.
For starters, it was the only “hotel” in the area.
If one were to go to the busy metropolises of the continent, one could find more hotels, but the nearest metropolis from where they were was at least three weeks walking, not including the aether beast attacks.
Second was the unusual architecture.
Not many people were willing to work with coral, but apparently the founder of the hotel, Thaddeus Hickerbottom, insisted on it after a, to quote, “life changing experience with an undersea palace with sea nymphs.”.
People didn’t know if this was hyperbole, or the founder actually did find an undersea palace filled with sea nymphs in a wandering ruin or something.
Speaking of nymphs though, the third and most important reason for the Royal Reef Hotel’s fame: live performances.
From exotic wing dancers from Soaring Gryphon to mysterious magicians from the Umbral Spider continent, Thaddeus spared no expense to attract the most unusual, most beautiful or most talented performers from all over the globe to perform in his hotel.
Unfortunately, this focus on talent had lead to the hotel’s owner to occasionally hire acts and performers that had more dubious histories and/or side activities.
It didn’t happen all the time, but it happened enough times that people with connections to the criminal underworld actually kept track of the Royal Reef Hotel’s programming schedule.
And now on this ordinary evening, one such performer was about to grace the stage of the Royal Reef Hotel.
________________________________________________
“Ladies and Gentlemen, beloved guests of the Royal Reef Hotel, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to all of you, your entertainment for this evening.”
“Please, put your hands together and give a warm welcome to the illustrious, the magnificent, the beautiful, Madam Venus!”
________________________________________________
Interior: The dressing room of the Royal Reef Hotel.
Situation:
“Hmmmm, hmmm, hmmmm,” a middle aged woman hummed while applying lotion to her face. As she did, the woman made sure to use the room’s cabinet mirror to not miss any spots on her face.
As she continued to apply lotion to her face, a sudden knock at the door caused her to momentarily pause.
“Que?”
The woman was about to tell the knocker to come in, but the voice turned out to be just a simple reminder.
“Madam Venus, showtime is in fifteen minutes.”
“Ah, gracias senior. I will be ready soon.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
Madam Venus waited a bit, listening to the sound of the stage hand’s feet growing soft and softer as he got away from her room. Once he was gone, Madame Venus proceeded to lightly complain.
“Tsk! Everyone on this continent is so timely. They all need to learn how to go with the flow more.”
This middle-aged woman happened to be none other than the one and only Madam Venus, a famous opera diva from the Azure Ember Empire of the Dozing Salamander continent, who made it a point to travel around the world to spread the influence of opera to the masses.
Madam Venus was, of course, simply a stage name that she used when performing in the public eye for all to see and hear.
In reality, her name was… unknown.
It’s not that the people didn’t know her name, there were several thousand who did, it’s just that multiple people knew her by multiple names.
Stranger still, each of those names were accompanied by a different backstory and set of mannerisms.
The only commonality they seemed to share though, was that all of this took place in the Azure Ember Empire.
On the Roaring Tide continent, people knew her as “Saphina”.
She was the bastard daughter of a prince of the Azure Empire’s ruling dynasty, who through a quirk of fate, was adopted formally by the prince and was given the opportunity to attend a prestigious college where she discovered her talent for singing opera and proceeded to pursue this gift to the fullest extent.
A story of chance, privilege and class that inspired noble children of dubious origin everywhere.
On the Stampeding Bison continent though, she goes by the name of “Fia” and her backstory had a touch more…tragedy involved.
Fia was a street urchin orphan, abandoned by both mother and father not by choice, but by the cruel machinations of politicians who saw people like her and her parents as nothing more than pawns to a grand yet pointless game.
For years, Fia’s life consisted of begging, crying, starving, sudden illness and questionable people, until by the same quirks of chance, she met someone.
This someone was a travelling musician who, through mercy or whimsy, decided to adopt the girl. He had initially planned to just use the girl for labor, maybe leave her with a friend of his, until he heard her sing.
Raw talent, but not refinement, meant that Fia was the perfect student to which he could pass on his teachings.
And from there, the rest is history.
A story of rags to riches, one that warms the heart and show that even the finest of diamonds can come from the roughest of circumstances.
An elaborate backstory to be sure, but still a story nonetheless.
Umbral Spider has a version of her story that’s a touch more sinister and touch more fantastical.
There she goes by the name of “Helena” and if you believe the rumors, she was born the child of a slave and a cruel master, forcibly given to an order of assassins to be trained in the art or subterfuge and murder, but gave that life up when she fell in love with a lady of the performing arts who taught her the beauty of song and dance.
Unfortunately, such things are not easily given up, and so, Helena first lost the love of her life by a vengeful order, then she in turn destroyed the order that had oh so generously raised her to be a killer.
But when it was all said and done, Helena left that life behind her, and took up the title of diva in memoriam of her dearly beloved.
A story of tragic love and hope…appropriate for the land of shadows.
Each and every story of Madam Venus seemed almost tailor made for the places she visited, each appealing to some known sensibility that many natives to the area happen to share.
But, what was the point of all of these elaborate backstories?
To generate mystique?
To increase her relatability and therefore her popularity?
Just for fun?
Why the answer to this question is much simpler than one could imagine: a web of lies can support much more sinister activities than an honest back.
Madam Venus had just finished applying the last of her facial lotion and was about to wear her performance dress for the evening, when she suddenly paused once more.
Madam Venus turned towards a particularly dark corner of her room, her eyes turning sharp and angry.
“How many times have I told you, not to enter my dressing room whenever we travel?,” she asked the darkness.
From the shadows though, exited a figure dressed in black and wearing a simple, blue mask.
“Many times milady,” the masked man spoke in a deep, melodic yet altered voice, “but I thought it’d be better to inform you have this sudden piece of news. Remember that ‘shipment’ from some time ago? The one that was incomplete?”
“Tsk, don’t remind me,” Madam Venus clicked her tongue in disdain, “I remember having to correct the management issues of that idiotic orphanage myself. Bastards even gave my darling Snookumd a stomach ache.”
“Well, madam,” the blue masked man continued, “it appears through sheer luck and happenstance, that a pair of opportunists happened to come across one of the lost pieces of cargo.”
“What?!”
When Madam Venus heard the news, she went from angered annoyance to surprised elation at the drop of a hat.
“Where did they find it? When? What was the condition?”
“Relax madam, I have informed the two of them that you shall be meeting them after your performance here in the hotel.”
“Did you make sure to arrange the meeting location to be somewhere private?”
“Of course, milady. The opportunists were the rough and tumble sort, so we made sure to set up this meeting some place more suitable to their inclinations.”
“Good, good,” Madam Venus nodded to the news, “now get out of my dressing room. It’s rude to watch a lady change and I have a show to put on.”
“Of course, milady.”
The blue masked man disappeared into the shadows once more, leaving Madam Venus alone to change at her lesiure once more.
Once she confirmed that her shadow was longer present though, a simple smile smile began to form on her face.
“It’s not everyday a pair of brats humiliate me in such a manner…but alas, profits trump the desire for retribution,” is what Madam Venus told herself, but if one were to observe the dress in her hands, they would notice that she was gripping it just a touch harder than what was necessary.
________________________________________________
“Alright, Zhen Liu, why did you act all friendly with that guy?”
