[The Silmarillion] Romimus

In the early morning of the second day, Romemos arrived at the place that Sauron had told him on time, and there were already people looking forward to it.

The waiter was a middle-aged man with two mustaches. He was only less than an inch taller than Romimos, but his arms were broad and he was hale and hearty.When Romemus appeared, he was inevitably stunned first, and then his eyes lit up instantly. He took out a handkerchief with one hand, wiped his forehead and put it in his bosom, and the other hand trembled slightly. Taking care of the hem of the delicately tailored purple-red robe that felt rather weird on him, he quickly walked towards Romemos.

"You must be Miss Romemos!" His voice was also very loud, "Welcome, welcome! Let me introduce myself, my name is Ocanom, and I am the director of the Royal Opera House of Arlando. You can call me directly. The name will do."

Romimos maintained a polite nod on the surface, but in his heart he had a lot of doubts because of the ridiculous smile on the other's face that was too bright.

This seemed a little different from what she had imagined at first.

In fact, Romimos had made psychological preparations in advance, and Sauron had reminded her that although this royal troupe sounds glamorous, it is actually used by the royal family and nobles to pass the time in their spare time, and most of the people in it are of common origin. Not to mention status, let alone power, to put it bluntly, there is no substantial difference from those servants who clean the house.

But Romemos thought that since he had a royal title, at least the most outstanding representatives in it should have some royal airs.High end?Elegant?serious?Expensive?Anyway, she didn't see any of these temperaments in this manager. If he was the head of a juggling circus in the folk country, Romimos thought it would be perfect.

Okanomu knew nothing about Romemos's mental activities, and still greeted her enthusiastically: "You are here for the first day, but please don't be cautious, how about this, I will show you around now Turn around, familiarize yourself with the environment, and introduce the situation and history of our theater by the way, what do you think?"

Romemos hesitated for a moment, but nodded: "Alright."

The Númenorians love music and art, whether it is the royal family or the common people, they are happy to watch performances in their free time, and the Royal Opera House of Alando is the performance unit with the longest history, the largest scale and the largest number of people in the entire Númenor Empire. , has always represented the highest level of musical art in the Númenor Empire (Romimos is temporarily skeptical about this).

According to the narration of Ocanom, the construction of the Arlandor Theater began during the reign of the first king of the Númenor Empire and the son of Erendil, Erros Tar-Minyatur, and her history is almost As long as "City of Kings" Armenelos.

However, when the first few kings of Númenor were in power, the Royal Opera House of Alando was not as "royal" as it is now (really, are you "royal" now? Romimos thought to himself), in the second era In the first 1000 years, the Alando Theater was not only open to the royal family and nobles, but also common people were free to visit the theater and watch performances at any time. The king encouraged more people to appreciate these arts. Noel people even have special subsidies for them to come to watch the performance.

In addition to treating audiences of different classes equally, the Alando Theater was also very tolerant to performers at one time. All kinds of performances were regardless of elegance and vulgarity, no matter opera, drama, large-scale chorus, comedy, folk songs, or juggling, as long as they were recognized and welcomed by the audience. , the performer can apply for a formal performance in the Alando Theater, so the forms and themes of the performance are very rich.

At that time, the Arlando Theater was crowded with people day and night, singing and dancing, and dusk was usually the golden performance time of the day. At this time, most people finished their hard work for the day, and there were many people who would rather spend more time on the way home. Take a short walk around the Arlando Theater, even if you don’t go into the theater, buy a large glass of cold beer in the tavern outside, sit on the ground, and enjoy the lively music from the open-air theater, or Enjoy it quietly, or beat the beat and sing more happily than the performers inside.

That glorious time did not gradually decline until the No.12 king of Númenor, Tal-Ciryatan, succeeded to the throne. This king was a powerful monarch, but he had a strong desire for gold and silver wealth. It was during his reign that the Numenorans began to deliberately oppress the Men of Middle-earth.

After Chiryatan took office, he cut many benefits provided to the people at the bottom, including the "performance allowance". However, he did not prohibit civilians from entering the Arlando Theater. As long as they can pay enough tickets, ordinary people still It is possible to watch the same performances with the royal family, but this move of his has undoubtedly greatly reduced the frequency of poor people entering the Arlando Theater.

It is Numenor's No. 16 king Tar-Vanimeld who really made the Alando Opera House a royal opera house.During the queen's tenure, the classical music art of the Númenor Empire reached an unprecedented peak, but it also completely separated the distance between the nobles and the common people, because Vanimeld didn't like to worry about political affairs, and let her husband Acting in power, she herself loves music and dancing more, and can stay in the Arlando Theater for four to five days out of seven days a week, unwilling to leave.

Before Vanimelde, the emperor of Númenor could not interfere too much with the performance content of the Alando Theater based on his personal wishes. This customary principle was broken here, and Vanimelde relied on his powerful position , to vigorously promote opera and other performing arts with a high threshold, while the performance space of relatively less solemn folk ballads and ditties in the Arlando Opera House has been greatly squeezed.In the later period of Vanimeld's administration, this phenomenon intensified, and all "unappealable" folk art disappeared from the stage of the Alando Theater. The Queen even ordered that, unless a few specific periods of the year, The theater is no longer open to common people.So far, the Arlando Theater has completely changed its name to the Royal Opera House Arlando.

However, this was far from the worst time. During the reign of Al-Kimizor, the No.20 third king of the Numenor Empire, which was 200 years ago, the Numenor continent completely banned the use of And teaching Elven language, as expected, the Alando Opera House has since been strictly prohibited from performing in Elvish language. All Elvish songs and music are not allowed to be played on this continent, and at the same time, the use of Numenor is not allowed. Praise and extol the elves and the gods of the West in their own language, even if it is only a very veiled mention, once it is heard as a report by the king, at least they will be expelled from Armenelos and never allowed to sing again, and at worst It is possible to sit in prison for decades or even lose your head.Under such strict laws, the creators and performers of the Alando Royal Opera House are all trembling. The first point of the work is not beautiful words, novel themes, or profound ideas, but to try to avoid those things. Sensitive boundaries.

This situation improved a little after the former emperor Tar-Palantir succeeded to the throne, but the good times didn't last long. After the death of Palantir six years ago, Al-Falazon became king, and everything quickly returned to the original state.

All of the above are, of course, straightforward statements distilled by Romimus himself in Ocanom's heavily embellished euphemisms.Ocanom is a very enthusiastic and even a bit talkative person. Despite this, Romemos can feel that every word in this talkative man's eloquent speech is not spoken without thinking. He used a very Clever tone and rhetoric, even when talking about the most serious situation facing the Arlando Opera House - that is, now - will not make you feel that he has any complaints and dissatisfaction with the king's policy, unless the other party is like Luo Mimos is a person who is good at observing words and expressions to the extreme.

A very smooth and astute person, Romemos made a judgment on Ocanom, which is not good news for her, and she didn't really come here to be a song and dance actress, and there is such a guard around her A strict and wise boss is not good for her, but it is not difficult to call, after all, after the battle of wits with Morgoth and Sauron, everyone is nothing compared to them.

"What else do you want to know? You're welcome, just ask! I'm sure I'll know everything." Okanomo looked at Romimos eagerly, like a salesman chasing someone on the street A peddler of his own goods.

"It's nothing for the time being. I think I still have a lot of time to slowly understand everything here." Romimos smiled. "The question I am more concerned about now is, what is your plan for me in the future?"

"Ah..." Ocanom was fascinated by Romimos's smile, and he was stunned for a few seconds before he came back to his senses, "Oh! Of course. I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind, because you are really charming Four shots, I can assure you that you will become the most dazzling pearl in our place within a few years, no, not a few years, a few months will be enough. We are rehearsing a newly written play here, I I sincerely hope that you can come to participate in the performance."

"You are being polite," said Romemos.

"It would be great if you agreed." Okanomo said, but Romemos always felt that he was not very happy, or that the happiness was not as strong as it showed on his face.

But in fact, this is really not something to be happy about, is it?After all, he is the manager, and asking her wishes in a seemingly polite manner is just a gesture. Does she really have the right to refuse?

"It shouldn't be too late, I'll take you to see Naquili right away." Okanomu said.

Naquili is the deputy director of the Royal Opera House of Arlando, as well as a playwright, composer, conductor, and according to Ocanom (with pride), Naquili is the most famous in their theatre. A young and talented artist, only 63 years old this year, nearly ten operas and dramas created by her have been officially performed at the Arlando Opera House. The new work that Ocanom just mentioned is also her s work.

But they were stopped by a crisp "Master Ocanom!" on the way.

Romemos noticed that Ocanom's body froze obviously when he heard this sound, and then he immediately put on a smile, although there was a bit of a wry smile in that smile, and turned to look at the woman who called him: "What's the matter, Vespa?"

This woman named Vespa has a very beautiful appearance, with thick eyebrows and bright eyes, plump lips, and long reddish-brown hair curled into delicate waves, all scattered on the right shoulder. It is winter at this time, and most people wear She took off her thick clothes, but this woman was still only wearing a bright red low-cut long dress, her neck and collarbone were all exposed to the air, she had a big ruby ​​earring on her left ear, but nothing on the other side , although she was obviously carefully hiding the ear on the other side under her long hair, but Romimos's eyes were very sharp.

"My God, why are you wearing so little?" Okanomu exclaimed, "Don't you feel cold? What if you get sick from the cold?"

Vespa must have felt the cold, and Romemos could see that she was desperately suppressing her body's instinctive trembling against the cold.

"So what if I fall ill?" she cried to O'Kanom in an angry cry. "The theater doesn't need me anymore anyway!"

"Don't be self-willed." Okanomu sighed and comforted her, "You are the most dazzling pearl of our Alando Royal Opera House. How can you not be needed here?"

"Really?" Vespa screamed, "Then why is there news that the heroine of Miss Naquili's new play has changed from me to someone else?!"

"This... who did you listen to?" Okanomu lowered his head guiltyly.

"So it's true?" Vespa's tears fell all of a sudden, and he was incoherent with anger, "How could you do this, you obviously said it was me...I waited so hard..."

"I promise you will play the heroine next time there is a new performance, Vesper." Okanomu persuaded her earnestly, "But this time it is really a special situation..."

"Ha, I heard about this 'special situation'!" Vespa said sharply, "Your Majesty brought back a female prisoner from Middle-earth this time. It is said that she is very beautiful and arrogant, so His Majesty asked her to come here on purpose to let She sings and dances like a juggling monkey for people's entertainment!" She wiped her tears again: "But I'm not convinced! I've been here for five years, you go ask other people, rain or shine, When did I ever get lazy for a day? I finally had a chance to sing the heroine, why was she snatched away by a clown—wait, who is behind you?"

"Oh, that's..." Afraid of a conflict between them, Okanomu raised his arms subconsciously to stop them, but Vespa was so excited that he walked around behind him with one stride.

"It's her, right? That prisoner." Vespa said bitterly, "I want to see—"

Her voice stopped abruptly, and she retracted her outstretched hand as if being burned by fire. Tears were still in her eyes, and she seemed to be looking at the opposite person through a transparent magic mirror. Woman, because otherwise, she cannot explain how the image before her could be real.

Romemos looked at the fiery woman in front of him with a half-smile, stretched out his hand to untie his coat, and put it on her body—as Maia, she is not afraid of the cold—then turned her head to look at Okanom: " I think Miss Vespa has no objections, can we go to Deputy Naquili now?"

Okanomo glanced at Vesper, and sighed with a complicated expression: "Continue to follow me, Miss Romemos."

After Romemus left, Vespa remained where she was, her body still shaking, but not from the cold, until her legs were shaking so much that she had to kneel on the ground.Vespa covered his heart with his hands, as if this would stop his heart from beating violently.

How can there be such a perfect and flawless human being?This is so unfair, no matter who it is, if they can have that kind of appearance, they should be surrounded by stars and make the whole world bow at her feet.

But what does this make her do?Vespa has always had some confidence in her appearance, but compared to Romemus, she feels like a candle in the sun, a duck beside a swan, or a weed beside a rose.Jealousy is meaningless, and to the embodiment of beauty all praise does not add to her, and all envy does not detract from her.

Help me, Vespa thought desperately, I will die under this torment, and every time I see her again, my heart will ache as if pierced by a rose's thorn until my heart She burst completely because she couldn't bear her beauty.