THE KENSHI FAMILY ARRIVED AT THE AOTOSHI OPERA HOUSE fifteen minutes before the performance began. Once they parked a few blocks down the opera house because the crowd in attendance was incredibly large, almost a completely packed house. As a result, the four of them walked together toward their destination.

“There are so many people here,” Ite, the queen of the Joined Nations and Yukan’s wife, remarked. “And to think that the opera house is going to be packed to the brim for something you wrote. We’re all very proud of you, Yukan.”

“At least those three years of work are finally paying off,” Yukan replied. “I just hope that these people are alright with a five-act work taking up four hours of their day.”

“We’ve had more ambitious works before Dad,” Musuko responded matter-of-factly, “a lot of operas during the Romantic period were about four hours long.”

“I know, Musuko,” Yukan answered, “but four-hour operas aren’t all that common nowadays. Most run for two-and-a-half hours at most. This is the first one longer than that in seventy years.”

“If I’m not mistaken,” Lanya interjected, “Musuko was trying to say that the runtime of Cu Chulainn will not be much of a hindrance. He was trying to say that people are going to love it. From what we’ve seen at rehearsals, it’s a great opera.”

The four of them walked up to the ticket booth. Once they arrived, they showed the box office clerk their VIP passes. Directly afterward, they were let in and escorted into the opera house.

Although the four of them had been there many times before, they were still awestruck as soon as they entered the main hall. The opera house was made with three stories, one on the floor and two levels of balconies. The original building was commissioned for Emperor Johann Ehrr, who was a well-known music lover and baritone singer of the time. After seeing the pristine craftsmanship of the house, he promptly declared it the primary opera house of the entire nation, arguing that no other establishment could ever top its beauty and sonority, bragging that it possessed the power to make even the worst singers sound like trained professionals. Its quality began to deteriorate after the end of the Ehrr Dynasty, however, and its beauty was a shell of its former self for a long period. When Kunshu heard of this, he commissioned an expansion and renovation of the Aotoshi Opera House, increasing the capacity by 400 people with the addition of another level for balconies and boosting the sound quality to amounts that would make the old opera house sound like it was being played into a tin can in comparison.

Just as the four of them sat down in their reserved seats, the orchestra began tuning. During this time, the entire orchestra could be heard with all of its marvelous timbres. Each tone produced felt rich and full in the hall. Even the coldest and most artificial instrument would become warm and sing just as the people on the stage would. A minute after the tuning ceased, the opera’s overture began to ring out through the hall. By the end of Act 1, the story was well on its way. The hero of the opera, a figure of Celtic myth named Setanta, was born. The young child ends up killing Chulainn’s hound and becomes a substitute until he can rear a new guard dog for him. At the end of the act the boy, now referred to as Cu Chulainn, has caught himself in an epic prophecy where he will become famous at the cost of a short life. It also demonstrated how the production would present his ríastrad by having the person in the role of Cu Chulainn being replaced by a bass-baritone vocalist until he turns back.

During the third act, Ite began to feel that they were being watched. She looked into the balconies and saw a booth filled with people, all in similar attire. They wore robes that appeared to be made of pure amethyst and had face masks that covered all but their right eyes. The six men in the booth appeared completely still as they watched Yukan, unaffected by the events of the opera. No doubt these individuals were peculiar. Why had they gone to an opera if they were just going to watch a person in attendance? No, these people were planning to do something with Yukan.

After the third act of five ended, Ite went outside of the hall for a moment and called the king’s guards. A few seconds later they answered.

“Mrs. Kenshi!” one guard answered. “How’s the show?”

“It’s great, but that’s not why I called you,” Ite responded. “Look, there’s a bunch of people watching Yukan from a booth. They’re all wearing the same clothes and it isn’t normal in any regard.”

“Were they wearing robes of amethysts and masks that covered all but their right eye?” Zero asked.

“Yes, actually,” Ite recalled. “Exactly that. How did you know?” Zero briefly turned away from the phone to say something to the guards before returning.

“Somebody wearing that same attire was walking down the street earlier today,” Zero stated in response. “He ran away after we locked eyes and tried to stab me before taking a garnium pill and killing himself. His name was Engel Collingwood and he was a member of a group called the Saisei Coalition. He was supposed to assist in the getaway of an assassin tonight in something called Operation Coda. Yukan may likely be the target of this assassination.”

Ite found herself in a state of fear for the fate of her lover. Her intentions were thus summarized in a single sentence.

“I want you outside of the Aotoshi Opera House before the end of the show with the Nukenai Bow in the back seat.”

“As you wish, your Majesty.” The call ended and Ite returned to her seat for the last two acts.