She Becomes The Hero In Another World 55 She Performs-It's A Secret-Part 1

"Cheer up, Hero Robin! I can be your younger sister!" One of the young ladies said.

"Me too!"

"And me~!"

"Do you have an opening for an older sister?"

As soon as Helen left, Robin was once more surounded by the ladies. But, this time, instead of it being about who would be dancing with him, it was about who would become his cherished younger sister. Robin shook his head.

"Nonsense! She was my cherished little sister, after all! How can I even think about replacing her?" While many of the ladies were disappointed, they were also touched at Robin's display. To become the little sister of the Hero was to become an irreplaceable existence to Him. Many young ladies envied little Helen for her place in Robin's heart. But, they all agreed that they would keep the touching scenes that night within their hearts to treasure.

It wasn't long afterwards that a book began making its way around the group of young n.o.blewomen, containing a detailed, and exaggerated account of that night. Of course, fiction would differ from reality. But, even with the altered ending, it was the best-selling novel within the capitol.

Nearby, Prince Christian chuckled. "That sly man." Not only had Robin avoided dancing with anymore of the ladies and managed to get away with it; he also managed to fend off the ladies vying for his favor. Robin surely was a man who was full of surprises.

And here, Christian had worried about him. Now he felt relieved, and also a bit jealous. Robin's abilities in handling the situation were more skilled than the kingdom's diplomats.

"Jealous?" Jasmine asked. "I heard Robin's family used to be a great merchant family. And here, I thought they were all greedy no-good toads. Now it seems that I'll have to change my opinion, if they are even half as good as Robin, over there." She sighed and absentmindedly twisted a lock of her coppery red hair.

"Hmm." Christian didn't say anything. But, he did notice Keith approaching Robin dodging skillfully through the melee of girls surrounding her. When he finally arrived at the back of Robin's seat, Robin didn't even turn back to look at him.

"Is it done?" She asked, surrounded by colorful hair and blus.h.i.+ng cheeks.

"It's done." Keith replied.

"Good." Robin smiled a bit. "You have my thanks."

Keith was about to say something else, but he was b.u.t.ted out of the womens halo surrounding Robin's chair quite harshly. As the topic was nothing really important, Keith decided to wait until later. He smiled, ruefully, and made his way away from the whirlwind of skirts, lace and bows.

By now, the moon had risen to its highest height that night, and was beginning to descend. It was late into the evening at half past eleven. Yet the party was still going on.

"But, really, Hero! We can all see that you don't have the heart to dance anymore with anyone, but don't think, just because you have a broken heart, that we can let you go so easily." One of the more charismatic women announced, while fanning herself. The ladies all agreed. No one wanted to see the hero dancing with anyone else.

"Oh? Then what would you suggest?" Robin asked.

"A performance! It can be singing, dancing, reciting poetry, playing an instrument, or telling a story. We won't let you go if we're not satisfied, though~." The charismatic woman smiled.

"A performance?" Robin asked. The ladies all around nodded quite enthusiastically, all in agreement. Robin turned to Christian and raised a quizzical eyebrow to ask if such things were common. Christian nodded, indicating that it was fine.

"...Very well, then. But, what shall I do?" Robin thought to herself. The typewriter performance was definitely not possible. And Robin hadn't learned an instrument. Although her voice was okay, she couldn't think of any songs that seemed appropriate for the current venue.

"Ah, there was that!" Robin remembered. It was something she and her brother cooked up for a school performance for the talent show night during her senior year in high school. Of course, she needed to change a few parts, but on the whole it should do nicely.

"All right, I'll perform something you've probably never seen before. But I need to prepare a bit, first." Robin said, as she headed over to the orchestra, to talk to the musicians.

"Is he going to dance?"

"I think, rather, that he's going to sing."

"He could also be asking to borrow an instrument."

The girls chattered amongst themselves as they wondered precisely what it was that Robin was going to perform. After speaking with the maestro for a few minutes and looking through some sheets of music, Robin pointed out a few of them, and they agreed upon the arrangement. Then Robin turned around to face the crowd that had gathered about.

"h.e.l.lo, there! Can everyone hear me?" Robin asked. The chattering audience applauded, but soon became quiet to hear what she had to say.

"This being the first ball that I've been to, I have had quite the night. Dancing, getting lost in the castle, gaining a new sister...losing said new sister." At this, the audience chuckled. The two children involved earlier had already fallen asleep on a couch, so they were blissfully unaware of anything that was happening.

Robin shook her head. "And now, I have been told I won't be let off by the ladies without a performance. Now, I'm quite sure a lot of you still would like to dance the night away." Another echoing round of chuckling rose from the audience.

"But, I beseech you, for this next twenty minutes, could you lend me the orchestra for my performance? If I have your permission, please give me your applause."

The sound that rose up in the ballroom was deafening like thunder. But it was not thunder. it was the sound of every single hand in that room applauding.

Robin waved at them, trying to get them to stop. "Are you trying to sprain all fo your hands? No need to clap so hard, I can hear you loud and clear." Then put a hand to her ear and grimaced. "...Well, I COULD." At this, the audiences laughed.

"Oh, you think this is funny, don't you?" Robin looked about, an incredulous expression underneath her mask. "Well, I can say that my ears don't!" Another round of laughter broke out.

"Well, let's just see how this night goes. On to the performance!" Robin announced and turned around.

However, off to the side, one of the ladies interrupted.

"But, Hero Robin! What exactly are you performing today? You haven't given us a name, or even what kind of performance it is!"

Robin turned back about, and looked at her, then sent a sweeping gaze at the audience.

"You want to know the name of my performance?" She asked.

"Yes! Very much so!"

Robin smiled and leaned forward as if she were going to whisper it.

"IT'S A SECRET!" Robin's voice boomed out. Then Robin once more turned around and jumped onto a small raised platform behind the orchestra and turned to face the audience.

"Now, I am going to tell you a certain story about an entire kingdom that had been put under a spell for one whole day, and one very strange occurence that also happened during that one day." Robin began to narrate. The young ladies in the audience all realized. 'Ah, he's going to tell us a story!'

"The king of that kingdom was not as wise as our king. Nor was his son, the prince, even half as beloved as our prince. That prince was very mischievous. How much? If he did not do at least three hundred acts of mischief in a day, the castle guards and maids would think he were falling ill. That was how mischievous this prince was. Everyone learned to beware when they heard the rat-tat tapping of his shoes on the floor."

At this, the orchestra began to play. Everyone in the room knew the song. it was usually played long and slow, like a dirge. But, this time, by kicking the tempo up, it had turned from something boring into something light-hearted and jumpy.

Alongside the music, Robin started tap-tap-taping her boots, and suddenly broke out into tap-dancing around on the stage. While she danced, she periodically called out in different voices about the things the prince had done that day.

"Argh! Someone has switched the salt and sugar pots!"

Aiyaah! What tripped me? What's this? The linens have been stretched across the dorway like a rope!"

"The royal horses have escaped the stables!"

"Who switched my beer out for lemonade?"

"Hey, who stole my pie-wha! Hey, who THREW my pie at me!"

She continued to call out. The geese stampeded, the cats ran about with firecrackers tied to their tails; the dogs were herded into the chicken coop, and the chickens went to nest in the soldiers barracks. It was a mess. The audience also had its fair share of chuckling.

"Prince!"

"Prince!"

"Prince!"

At the last time, she waved at the audience to get them to say it along with her.

""PRINCE!"" The audience was only too happy to oblige.

The song soon ended, and Robin stopped tap dancing, returning to her naration.