Chapter 957: Entering the Venue
I could see what was behind the curtain with my God’s Eye, but so far, it was just a very normal setup with nothing suspicious.
“In that case, I’ll sit in the middle, Older Brother Jayad and Miss Leo Man can sit on either side, so if anything happens, they can protect me,” I said, looking at the three seats placed close together.
“That won’t do. You might need to interact with that mysterious cultist. He might sit next to you. As a Catholic priest, me sitting beside you would definitely affect your interaction with him, and he might even think it’s a trap. So I’ll sit on the other side, it’s best to be separated from you,” Leo Man analyzed.
That seemed to make some sense. Although I didn’t know how the other party would contact me in such a crowded place, having a priest sitting next to me felt wrong. I needed to leave a space on either side for contact.
And I didn’t want to be separated from Older Brother Jayad, as that would make me uneasy. So, it had to be this way: Older Brother Jayad in the middle, with Leo Man and I sitting on his left and right respectively. That way, everyone was satisfied.
However, I suspected Leo Man’s true intention was to be close to Older Brother Jayad, to discuss plays and life with him. A part of her mindset was that of going on a date with Older Brother Jayad. Otherwise, why would she care about meeting a Yellow King believer?
People entered through the doorway, and the theater gradually filled up. Even the VIP boxes on the upper floor were crowded, where guests could enjoy better service than those in the lower seats, such as watching the play while drinking red wine and eating snacks.
Even among the general seating downstairs, there were vendors with cages hanging from their chests, selling popcorn, soda, and other snacks and drinks as they walked back and forth. The audience chuckled, discussing the play that was about to begin.
This was completely different from my previous notion that theater was a high-class art form that required the audience to sit and watch seriously and quietly.
But thinking about it, theater was originally an entertainment activity. The main goal was to make the audience feel happy and entertained. It was normal for a play to last for one or two hours; how could people not drink water or speak at all?
After all, theater was not a concert, and this was not Vienna. In Iberian, the atmosphere of theater was quite strong, and it had produced many famous plays.
It was time for me to do my real work. I needed to finish it before too many people arrived, otherwise, it would be difficult for me to act once the crowd grew.
I gave Older Brother Jayad a look. He understood and took out the Yellow Seal, stamping it on the back of the seat in front of us, leaving a mark. This spot was not easily visible or conspicuous, but if there were any Yellow King believers, they should be able to sense it.
Then, Older Brother Jayad handed the Yellow Seal to me. It was a token, and I still had to hold it. I asked Leo Man, who was sitting to Older Brother Jayad’s right, “Can you see the mark on the seat?”
“I can’t see it,” Leo Man said directly. Her eyes also emitted a faint holy light as she carefully examined the newly imprinted backrest. “I still can’t see it. It seems this Yellow Seal is indeed something special. Ordinary people definitely wouldn’t be able to see it.”
However, in my eyes, behind the back of the chair in front of me, there was a mark emitting a dark yellow light. Moreover, the pattern on it kept changing – sometimes it was countless thorns, sometimes it was a towering building, and sometimes it was an old man wearing a hooded robe, but all were drawn very abstractly.
“I can see it. It’s a constantly changing mark, and I can also sense it. I know it’s right in front of me even with my eyes closed, like a yellow sun in the night sky,” Older Brother Jayad said, using a very strange metaphor.
Older Brother Jayad could naturally sense it because he himself was favored by the King in Yellow. At the same time, I was relieved. This proved that as long as there were Yellow King believers in this theater, they would be able to sense the existence of the Yellow Seal and wouldn’t miss it due to oversight.
“Miss Leo Man, although you cannot see it, the Yellow Seal will still remain in your mind as a general impression. If a Yellow King believer guides it, the Yellow Seal may restore its original shape from your memory at any time, causing a significant impact on your sanity and spirit. It would be best to prepare some divine spells for mental protection,” I reminded her.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?! If I had known, I wouldn’t have looked!” Leo Man said somewhat angrily. Although she didn’t understand the King in Yellow well, she was fully aware of the destructive effects of the Outer Gods on the spirit and sanity.
“It’s okay. Older Brother Jayad will help you. I’m just telling you as a precaution. Besides, if the Yellow King believers really intend to cause trouble during the play, you’ll have to face their mental impact sooner or later,” I said.
“Alright, I hope what you’re saying is true,” Leo Man said. A white, sacred light flashed across her head. Reinforcing mental defenses was a specialty of priests. She also applied one to both me and Older Brother Jayad. It felt very strange.
I had verified this before: I could see the relatively safe image of the Yellow Seal, while Older Brother Jayad could directly activate or alter the memories of the Yellow Seal in others’ minds. It was precisely because Older Brother Jayad was present that I felt at ease giving the Yellow Seal to Leo Man to see.
At the meeting of the Church of Gluttony, others suggested I stamp the Yellow Seal everywhere like posting small advertisements. That way, Yellow King believers who saw it would naturally come to contact me. But this would be equivalent to planting a time bomb in the minds of all passing commoners.
The activation of the Yellow Seal did not necessarily cause a person to fall into madness or die immediately. On the contrary, it was more like brainwashing, subtly altering a person’s worldview until they eventually became devout Yellow King believers.
Therefore, I rejected this simple yet treacherous plan. Instead, I found this theater where Yellow King believers were likely to appear and carved it in an inconspicuous place.
To be honest, these tickets were obtained from the Old Day Imprinters. The reason we deduced they were related to Yellow King believers was that the tickets were found together with a fragment of Carcosa, plus the intelligence I gathered that Yellow King believers favored comedies.
Whether there were indeed Yellow King believers here was still debatable. Although I didn’t think the Old Day Imprinters would go out of their way to place a few unimportant theater tickets in their secret rooms.
Moreover, the Imprinters sought the power of the Outer Gods, and their relationship with the Yellow King believers might not be good. I had to be wary of encountering danger through their channels, and also be cautious if any remaining Imprinters were lying in wait here.
Therefore, I carefully observed the guests sitting around us, in front, behind, left, and right, and then used my God’s Eye to examine them closely, confirming that they were not carrying any suspicious items.
At this time, most of the guests had entered. Suddenly, the lights dimmed by half, indicating that the play was about to begin.
