SSS-Class Suicide Hunter

, it was terrible.

Fire plays were [plays that used aura].
When acting out a scene, the actor not only had to recite the lines, but also had to create a flame-like aura with their body.
To express passion.

If one was proficient at using aura, then they would naturally be good at acting, and if they were good at acting, they would naturally become proficient at using aura.
For this reason, the actors of the fire plays became great warriors and excellent aura users.

Or that should be the case…

“Why are they so stiff?”

I muttered subconsciously.
They were words that came out unintentionally.
Maybe my words reached the ears of the theater owner, because he turned to look at me while instructing the actors.

-What are you talking about?

“Uh.
No.
I just feel like they’re using their aura in a specific way….”

The scene where Kekerkker recognized the Flame Emperor’s true personality.

The actors in front of me were too focused on [anger].
No, it wasn’t focused at all.
If they were really expressing [anger] with their aura, it would be like a forest fire.
And if they expressed [sadness], it would dim and droop.

Instead, it was as if they were following a guide for using their aura.

‘But it’s flashy.’

The aura of the people in front of me went on and off repeatedly.
It was incredibly flash.

But that was all.

‘There’s no point to it.
Really.’

I opened my mouth.

“Fire Painting is an aura art.
And the pattern and power of the aura depend on a specific emotion, will, or image.
Emotion comes first.
If you focus more on arm movements and lines then your aura will lose its vitality.
How should I say this? It, it’s not pulsating.
Ah, that’s right.
It has no energy.
It’s limp.”

The theater owner frowned slightly.
From his expression, he looked like he used to be a gangster.

-What in the Kekerkker are you barking about?

“Is that some kind of goblin saying?… No.
Anyways.”

I went up to a corner of the stage.

The actors had stopped practicing and were looking at me.

“Now then.
You have a set motion for anger, and a set motion for sadness.
But you can’t do that.
Do people always cry when they’re sad? They don’t.
It depends on the situation.
Being able to react immediately even in completely different situations is one of the advantages of aura.”

The seniors smirked as if they found it interesting.

-The boss said that he brought in a junior, but it’s more like he brought in a teacher.

-Teacher! Show us an example!

“Umm.”

I wondered what I could do to make the actors understand.

I looked around.

“First of all, having all of these torches is not good.
Let’s put them out first.”

I bent over and grabbed a handful of dirt from the stage floor.
Then, I poured my aura into the dirt before throwing it out.
The torches on the walls went out one after the other as small arrows of dirt hit them.

The hobgoblins were surprised.

-What?

-What in the…….

The surroundings suddenly became dark.

“Okay.”

All the Fire Painting theaters resembled snail cities.
The great caverns.
A cave surrounded by walls on all sides, but with a hole in the ceiling.
The goblins had long since forgotten their days of slavery, but the traces of it could still be seen in their architecture.

“Please be quiet for a moment, everyone.”

With the torches snuffed, the only source of light was the hole in the ceiling.
The light of dawn.
The stage was shrouded in bluish shadows.

“You don’t need to do unique actions.”

The quiet carpet of dawn.

“You don’t even need lines.
Aura isn’t magic, but… I’ll just show you.
Let’s say, for example, you want to express anger.”

I started doing pushups on the stage.

“The more familiar an action, the better the effect.
This is an action that anyone could recognize.
You don’t even need facial expressions.
Hup!”

I slowly lowered my chest and waist.
Then raised them.
Before lowering them again.
Like this, I went up and down in a specific rhythm.

“Now, normally, this is the speed when you do pushups.
This is normal, but this.….”

I raised my aura.

It was almost as though red flames had engulfed my body.
In the middle of those flames, I began to do pushups faster than before, to the point where it seemed strange.

Quickly.

Mechanically.

Expressionlessly.

“…….”

It became extremely quiet.

I continued to look straight ahead.
Without the sound of heavy breathing, I continued to do pushups at a high speed.
My entire body moved.
And around me, blood red aura burned fiercely.

“…Huu.”

30 seconds later, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my hands.

“See? Those were just pushups.
It’s a familiar movement.
However, how did it feel? It’s the same movement, but if you change the speed, the feeling changes completely.”

-…….

“What if I was doing pushups at an unstable speed while sweating profusely? The feeling would change again.
If the first was refined anger, then the second is furious rage.
That’s what I meant.
You don’t need unique movements or special lines in order to express emotion.”

The hobgoblins seemed to have an idea about what I was talking about, but they couldn’t completely understand.
It was only then that I realized that I was talking to [kids who might not be very talented at aura] for the first time.

“There, senior.”

I pointed to the one eyed actor.

He was the one who played the role of Flame Emperor in the play.

-A-, are you talking to me?

“Yes.
The Flame Emperor was an incredibly narcissistic man.
If it were senior, how would you express the Flame Emperor’s narcissism?”

-Uh….

“What kind of aura would you use to express narcissism?”

The one eyed actor seemed to be confused, but he thought about what I said.
Then he took out a mirror from the nearby pile of props.

-Probably something like this….

The one eyed actor looked at himself in the mirror.
A faint aura slowly rose up from the actors body, wriggling like a snake.

Indeed.

“It’s not bad.
But it’s weird.
It’s not right.”

-It’s weird…?

“Look.
The Flame Emperor called himself a real man.
Would such a person stare at himself in the mirror? Do you think the Flame Emperor carried around a small mirror? Why would he do that?”

-Uh….

“Senior is too focused on the thought that [narcissistic people often look into mirrors].
On top of that, your idea of narcissism is too shallow, that’s why your aura was so faint and weak.
Don’t do that.
You’re just copying something.
Can’t you have an example from your own feelings, senior?”

-Th-, then how would you do it?

“The same way.”

I took a deep breath and controlled my aura.

I controlled my aura like Uburka had in the past.
Virtual muscles.
My entire body was covered by my aura, as if my body was filled with bulging muscles.

“Hup…… huu, hup…….”

Then I started doing pushups again.
Only this time, I was doing them very slowly, as if to appreciate my muscles.
I also intentionally added the sound of my breathing.

The wasn’t [an act to make my body better], but [an act to show off how good my body was].

“Get it? It’s simply, right?”

-……no… I wanted to point it out early, but the way you’re using aura…….

“What if I wanted to use this to emphasize the narcissism? It would be good to add small props here.
For example if we spread several chairs around.
But the Flame Emperor, that crazy bastard would never sit even if there were chairs.
Instead, he would keep doing pushups.
Without rest.”

-…….

“Then, people would recognize you even if you didn’t say any lines.
Ah, that bastard is crazy.
He’s a crazy bastard who’s only obsessed with himself and doesn’t care about anything around him.
Can you feel it a bit better now? I suppose I should show you since I mentioned it.”

I easily picked up a few log chairs and brought them to the stage before placing them randomly.

Then, in the middle of all the chairs, I once again started doing pushups slowly while also breathing as heavily as before.
Huff, huff, huff.
Of course, I used my aura to give the illusion of burning muscles.

“How is it? Isn’t this easy?”

-…….

After a moment of silence, the one eyed hobgoblin opened his mouth.

-Who are you?

“Aren’t I a rookie actor?”

The hobgoblins all looked at me as if I was crazy.

No.
Why?

~~~