MAEPG: Episode 84

Episode 84 Festival of Drasha (1)

"Welcome, Sir Heinrich!"

Heinrich smiled wryly at Saintess Liesta, who greeted him with a bright smile.

After a long training period with the Radiance Guardian Holy Knight Order, he was promoted from a low-ranking to a high-ranking holy knight, and a new task was given to him.

It was quite different from his previous missions…

‘To think I would become the Saintess's personal guard.’

This was, of course, the result of the Saintess and the higher-ups’ strong will.

The Saintess hadn't needed a guard until now because she only stayed within the Roselia Cathedral in the holy land, but now that the Immortal King was resurrected, she couldn't stay like this forever.

"Of course, it's not just for that reason that I made you my personal guard, Sir Heinrich. I thought you needed more personal time than learning the ropes!"

Certainly, he would have much more time to train since the Saintess didn't need a guard while she was only staying in the cathedral.

"And there's something I need you to do after you're somewhat prepared."

"Something I need to do?"

"Even though he was injured, the Immortal King won't just stay hidden quietly. He's definitely plotting something in the shadows."

He wasn't plotting anything because he wasn't even in Auterica, but Heinrich just nodded seriously.

"We need to prepare to face him, using all available means. And there's one very important part of that plan…"

The Saintess took a light breath and opened her mouth with a serious expression.

"Obtaining the holy sword."

"The holy sword… you say?"

"Yes, to surely defeat the Immortal King, we need the help of the holy sword."

She looked at Heinrich with sparkling eyes and spoke again, her voice full of conviction.

"Sir Heinrich, you need to prepare for the trial to obtain the holy sword."

_______________________

Whoosh— Thud!

The arrow flew like a hawk, grazing the branches, and pierced the target sharply.

《The individual gains enlightenment through repeated training. You have acquired the skill "Fairy Archery".》

A system message appeared before his eyes at the same time.

Harris, who was on top of a tree, sighed lightly and slowly lowered the bow he was aiming.

"Excellent. Now all traces of human habits have been erased from your archery. It's very difficult to correct habits you've had for a long time, you're amazing."

The archery instructor, who was sitting on a branch of a nearby tree and observing him, slowly clapped his hands.

"It's all thanks to your good teaching. Thank you."

The day's training ended in a warm exchange between master and disciple.

But Harris, who was about to return to the dormitory, couldn't fulfill his wish…

"Harris! Let's go practice!"

"Ah, Timer. I want to go back to the dormitory and wash up. I need to put my bow away too…"

"Huh? Ah, right. Harris doesn't have a water spirit! I'll help you! Come on, we don't have time, let's go!"

"Ah, ah…"

He was dragged away by Timer, who was full of passion.

The other female group members were already waiting at the practice location he was taken to.

"Everyone's here. Then shall we start today's practice?"

"Hmm, hmm."

Two days were left until the Drasha Festival.

Harris realized one thing for sure while preparing for the performance with his group members.

That the Elf race was more serious about ‘music’ than he thought…

‘To think this is possible in just three days? Even adjusting it to existing instruments?’

And that they had such overwhelming talent.

Actually, he didn’t expect them to perfectly reproduce the original song because they didn’t have much time.

He could sing, but there was no way they could follow a song played with completely unfamiliar instruments in this short amount of time.

‘But they did it.’

He had been content with just being able to introduce a new genre on stage.

He thought that even with the group members’ help, the limit would be just keeping the beat with simple instruments like he had demonstrated…

“Whew— This is decent enough to listen to.”

“Wow! This is all thanks to Shapiron! The most promising student at Drasha Academy, the best diva of this generation. I’ve heard of her reputation, but I didn’t know she was this good!”

“…As expected… amazing.”

“Hmph, there’s no need to praise me for something so trivial. It’s only natural. Uhuhu—”

Shapiron’s lips twitched, and her pointed ears twitched upwards playfully at the shower of compliments that followed as soon as the joint practice ended.

‘But she’s really amazing.’

All the group members were amazing, but Shapiron’s contribution was particularly noticeable.

After borrowing the magic tool with the recorded music from Harris, whom she had been looking down on, she delved into it with an almost obsessive passion.

It only took her two days to analyze the characteristics of the instrument and each note and come up with the most efficient alternative for them to play.

She became more haggard every day, to the point where he wondered if she was even sleeping, but her eyes were sparkling brighter than ever.

“But it’s a shame that we couldn’t reproduce it perfectly. That sharp ‘ching~’ sound was too difficult… I want to see the actual instrument.”

She said that, but the quality of the sound she suggested as an alternative was very high.

She used spirits, natural energy, and even magic to adjust the instrument sounds, creating a charming sound that was similar yet different.

It was quite different from the original song after going through various processes, but its essence remained.

‘It feels like a collaboration between Earth and another world’s civilizations, I like it.’

He felt it was a shame that he was the only Earthling who could see this.

He even thought about releasing it on Earth.

‘Well, it’s a bit early for that. But it would be fun to do that later.’

The first practice after obtaining similar instruments and adjusting the sounds ended.

The result was, of course, a success.

《The individual gains enlightenment through repeated training. You have acquired the skill “Harmony of Melody”.》

An absolute success.

And he was able to immediately confirm the effect of the newly acquired skill in the next practice.

“Wow… Harris, what was that?”

Clap, clap, clap—

“Wait… How did you do that? The natural energy in your voice suddenly… it feels refined? And the effect is much stronger…”

Harris smiled contentedly at the group members’ enthusiastic reactions.

“Ah, I realized something while singing.”

“W-what is it? How can I do that…”

Shapiron, who was hurriedly asking, paused for a moment.

She had come to acknowledge him while practicing together and her attitude towards him had become more cautious, but she was embarrassed because of how she had treated him before.

“I can’t explain it well either. I just do it by feeling. Haha…”

He vaguely brushed it off because he couldn’t tell her it was thanks to “Harmony of Melody”.

He couldn’t teach her the skill.

“…”

Her face momentarily fell at his answer, then returned to normal.

She maintained her usual haughty expression because she didn’t like showing weakness, but her eyes were clearly subdued.

‘Did she think I didn’t want to teach her?’

Or maybe it sounded like he was mocking her about the difference in talent.

From what he had observed for the past few days, she seemed to have a strong competitive spirit towards him.

Perhaps even an inferiority complex.

“Whew, you all know where you made mistakes, right? Let’s focus more. You too, stop standing there and get ready!”

But she quickly recovered, as if she had strong self-esteem, and led the practice with even more vigor than usual.

Their practice, which was conducted with soundproofing to surprise everyone at the festival, continued late into the night.

And Harris’s “Harmony of Melody” not only affected his singing but also had great synergy with his original purpose, communication with spirits.

Not only did the fire spirit ‘Callie’ and the wind spirit ‘Pascal’, who were lowest-ranking spirits, evolve into low-ranking spirits…

“Wow… th-that…”

“Shh! Be quiet!”

Harris stared straight ahead as his group members watched.

A small spirit, constantly emitting waves of energy, was floating in front of him.

‘This is, don’t tell me…’

It was a ‘Sound Spirit’, a phenomenon spirit, not an elemental one.

He had never seen a non-elemental spirit in this Elven Kingdom, even though his experience as an Elf was short.

‘Well, it’s also because I haven’t been out much.’

As he learned in spirit summoning class, non-elemental spirits were very rare.

They were beings that could only be contracted with if you had a talent separate from affinity with nature, and it had appeared before Harris.

As if it was a cat choosing its owner, it was circling around him, wanting to make a contract.

‘A Sound Spirit… What an unexpected gain.’

Harris, who had no intention of missing this opportunity, cautiously extended his hand towards the spirit.

And as their intentions aligned, the contract was made in an instant.

“From today on, your name is Decibel.”

Harris’s fourth spirit was ‘Decibel’, the Sound Spirit.

_________________

Shapiron was able to break free from her prejudice against Harris while working with him in the same group.

No, actually, she had been clenching her teeth and trying not to acknowledge him.

But now she had no choice but to acknowledge him.

‘…His affinity and his skill in handling natural energy. And he said he just learned spirit summoning, but he already has four contracted spirits? And one of them is a Sound Spirit?’

She had guessed it from the fluctuating natural energy and affinity around him when he sang, but his growth rate was phenomenal.

It was enough for her to understand why the World Tree was interested in him…

‘Ugh… It can’t be helped. If he’s at that level, I can’t deny that he’s my rival…’

After her one-sided declaration of rivalry, she had been subtly observing him, circling around him.

The importance of information in facing an enemy was obvious.

Murmur, murmur—

It was the same in the waiting room behind the stage set up in a plaza, on the second day of the three-day festival.

But there was one thing that particularly bothered her.

“Whoa! It’s right next to the central plaza? We can really get a lot of attention here! The High Elves might even see us!”

“…”

Timer, who was excited despite the situation, and Curie, who was quietly biting her nails, were a stark contrast.

‘She doesn’t seem to be in good shape.’

Shapiron’s gaze, which had been observing Harris, turned to Curie.

She hadn’t paid much attention to her because she had been perfect during practice, but now she was faltering as the actual performance approached.

Just as Shapiron was about to talk to her…

Harris, who had been leaning against the railing with his usual listless expression, approached her.

“Are you nervous?”

“…”

Curie nodded quietly, taking deep breaths repeatedly.

Seeing her not saying a word and just gauging the surroundings, as if she had returned to the day they first met, Harris just scratched his head and looked at her.

“Well, what do you think of the song we prepared? It’s good, right?”

She still didn’t answer, but Harris continued speaking nonchalantly.

“What did you think when we were practicing? Were you nervous then? Worried about making mistakes?”

This time, she shook her head quietly.

“I was just excited when we were practicing. It was fun. And I was looking forward to seeing how other people would react to this song.”

A smile slowly spread across Harris’s face as he spoke to her.

“It’s an exciting song, the one we prepared. Don’t you just get lost in the music and have fun, and then all other thoughts disappear?”

The strange resonance in his voice created ripples in Curie’s heart, which had been hardened by tension.

“Don’t think about anything else, just try to remember how you felt during practice. Just go out there and have fun like we did back then.”

It wasn’t exactly a sophisticated encouragement, as if he didn’t have much experience comforting others…

But his voice, which sounded strangely like lyrics even though he was speaking normally, had the power to make you focus on it unconsciously.

As if immersing her in the music like when they were engrossed in practice, it made Curie recall the emotions she felt back then, as he said.

Her expression gradually softened, and the corners of her lips curved slightly upwards.

Her eyes sparkled, and her cheeks flushed red, as if she was remembering that time.

And Shapiron, who had been unconsciously drawn into his voice, came to her senses belatedly and looked at Harris anew.

‘He’s unexpected.’

He didn’t seem like someone who was good with words, but there was a strange persuasive power in his voice.

Seeing him taking care of a nervous group member made him look different.

“Next group, please come on stage~!”

Of course, such thoughts quickly disappeared.

It was their turn next.

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