#85
Festival of Drasha (2)
Harris moved toward the stage and surveyed his team.
‘Alright, the preparations are flawless.’
Thanks to their enthusiastic efforts, everything was ready.
The timid female team member, Quri, showed a moment of nervousness, but with the newly acquired Harmony Melody, they had already overcome the immediate hurdle.
As long as they didn’t make any mistakes at the start, they would naturally immerse themselves in the music afterward, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
‘I tried it just in case, and thankfully, the skill applies to my voice too.’
Harmony Melody was a typical bard skill that granted all sorts of positive effects to music.
It wasn’t limited to just making things sound more pleasant; it amplified the energy contained in sound and provided various buff effects.
It seemed that the traits of the elf race had indeed shone through this time as well.
Harris’s voice, now that he was an elf, sounded almost like singing even when he was merely talking.
[Individual Information]
– Entity Name: Harris
– Race: Elf
– Common Traits: Mind Hub, Persona, Super Recovery, Clear Mind
– Unique Traits: Child of the World Tree, Spirit Magic, Nature Affinity, Fairy Justice, Harmony Melody
– Special Notes: Contracted with spirits of lightning, fire, wind, and sound. His natural energy is rising steeply due to various factors and high affinity. Influenced by the nearby World Tree, he is excessively in tune with nature.
He realized something after several days of practicing singing.
As long as he was next to the World Tree, he couldn’t shake off his lethargy.
‘It must be because of Child of the World Tree.’
As learned in Spirit Magic class, singing had some effect, but it didn’t last long.
Without the stimulation of music, he tended to droop like a plant, which was a bit of a hassle, but it also accelerated his growth and provided various benefits, so it wasn’t too bad.
He could still move his body freely like now with just a little effort.
“Next! Please go up to the stage.”
Just then, the academy students who were next in line went down from the stage, and the stage manager called them out.
“Great! Let’s go!”
Timur, floating a heavy drum set in the air, excitedly went up onto the stage.
Quri took a deep breath and followed him calmly, while Shapiron walked toward the stage with her usual elegant stride.
Harris watched them and smiled.
‘Alright, then… should I use Harmony Melody at maximum to smash the essence of modern earth music into the heads of these world elves?’
The moment began when the incursion of his home culture into the capital Drasha of the Elven Kingdom commenced.
*
Murmur—
~♪
The festival was lively, with colorful attractions all over the capital.
As proud inhabitants of the Elven Kingdom of their culture, the elf residents exhibited what they had prepared without holding back.
There were not only artworks like paintings and sculptures but also practical items like clothes and carpets.
“Ah! Laforey, Cecily, you’ve come!”
“Hello. We came to see the performance of Drasha Academy being held here.”
“Welcome! Shapiron’s performance will be up shortly. Please follow me.”
“Oh, it’s not that I specifically came to see my daughter’s performance… It just so happens that a friend I sponsor is also performing. It’s a friend connected with Cecily here. Hahaha…”
Cecily, with shimmering star-shaped pupils, followed Laforey, looking around here and there.
Having awakened from the effects of opened eyes, she was enjoying the festival with Laforey.
For someone born in a small elven village on the Ion Continent, where she only lived in nature, such a splendid event was her first experience.
Moreover, wasn’t this festival held to celebrate her?
Even though it was the second day, the place was overflowing with awe-inspiring sights.
~♪
Clap clap clap—!
As the students showcased their dances and songs and left the stage, an excited Cecily clapped her hands continuously.
“Truly, this is the Elven Kingdom. Back in our village, we had simple dances and songs. This is wonderful!”
Just then, the next team went up onto the stage.
Floating in the air was a huge something, accompanied by Harris’s team, each holding an instrument.
“What an unusual instrument… Ah! It’s Harris!”
She spotted Harris while curiously gazing at the drum set intertwined with plant branches and exclaimed with delight.
Having spent enough time together, seeing him after a while made her happy.
“Wow… but Harris, you’ve grown tremendously! If I hadn’t become a High Elf, I would have been surpassed by you ages ago.”
Laforey nodded slowly at Cecily’s admiration while watching Harris prepare on stage.
Certainly, Harris’s growth was remarkable in his eyes.
‘His acceptance of natural energy feels exceptional; he has become stronger while I wasn’t looking. He has already contracted four spirits, one of which is quite rare…’
However, such thoughts vanished as soon as he laid eyes on Shapiron on stage.
Seeing his daughter diligently preparing for something, only a gentle smile remained on his face.
At that moment, Harris stepped forward and spoke, exchanging glances with his teammates.
“We have prepared a somewhat different song. It’s a song I used to sing back in my hometown, so it might be quite unfamiliar to those here…”
His soft voice spread in all directions, aided by the wind and sound spirits, capturing the audience’s ears even before the performance officially began.
“…Let’s begin.”
As their stage began amidst surrounding anticipation.
~♪
The start was marked by the heavy sound of strings, followed by a thumping drum and sharp instrument sounds that seemed to pound the heart.
The unfamiliar music caused the audience to tilt their heads in confusion.
‘What is this? What music is this?’
Until now, most of the elven songs were lyrical and gentle.
Their fundamental disposition of disliking loud noise influenced the development of their music.
Though they had encountered lively songs, none ever quite satisfied them.
The boisterous songs of the dwarves were almost detested, making the fixed perception even stronger over time.
Yet the music being showcased on stage was different from the indiscriminate noise they had heard before.
There was a moderation that wasn’t excessive, and a thoroughly calculated ebb and flow.
Moreover, the natural energy contained in Harris’s voice compelled the listeners to resonate, gradually making their hearts begin to beat excitedly.
“Wow…”
And even High Elves like Laforey and Cecily felt that emotion.
‘Amazing. To have such resonance. I didn’t realize he had such talent.’
While Cecily looked on with sparkling eyes, her shoulders bobbing along, Laforey enjoyed the music but analyzed the song calmly.
‘The theme of the lyrics seems to be… a journey to find oneself.’
Having wandered the continent alone since childhood, living as a mercenary, Harris had faced all kinds of hardships to reach the Elven Kingdom, but his essence was freedom.
Was it not strange how similar the lyrics felt to Harris’s current situation?
~♪
As everyone immersed in the music, a thick haze had settled over the stage floor.
The white mist that pooled around the feet of those on stage made it look as if they were standing atop clouds.
“Ooh, using spirits in such a way…”
But that wasn’t all.
Above them, various spirits sparkled dramatically, along with a column of flame shooting up from the ground.
It was the epitome of splendor.
“Wow!”
“Oooh—!”
Elves, who had been quietly nodding in appreciation during prior performances, found themselves unconsciously swaying with the atmosphere.
“I will find my dream~♪”
The spirits resonating with them exuded an intense presence, and the natural energy infused within the music surged wildly.
Those leading and witnessing the performance, along with the resonating spirits, were all drawn into the emotions of the song.
‘To have such a degree of resonance…’
Laforey gazed at the scene in awe once more.
Resonance continued to rise centered around Harris on the stage, influencing the spirits they had.
Something was distinctly different from the resonance of others.
~♪
And with the last note of the performance, the stage came to a close.
Clap clap clap clap—!
“Waaah—!”
“O! This is something different, and I like it!”
A multitude of applauses and excited cheers rained down on the stage.
They had been completely immersed in the music, unable to feel any aversion to its novelty.
“Wow! This music! Truly, the Elven Kingdom is amazing! I’ve never experienced anything like this!”
Cecily, her face flushed with excitement from the music, chattered to Harris.
“Um… actually, this is my first time hearing it too.”
“Really?”
“Hahaha—”
Seeing Cecily tilt her head in confusion, Laforey couldn’t help but chuckle.
The person most curious about that music was indeed him.
‘Having lived for quite a while and experienced much of the music of Ion Continent, I’ve never encountered something like this before.’
With its structure, it was clear this wasn’t something created in a short time, leaving him utterly bewildered.
‘It’s not like it just dropped down from another world.’
He shook his head as he watched them take their final bows on stage before disappearing into the background.
What’s more, it seemed that the others hadn’t yet realized it, but the performance they had just witnessed wasn’t just extraordinary for its resonance.
‘Listening to and enjoying the music… The internal flow of energy has become smoother. Though still mild level, it’s astonishing how music alone can affect such a multitude.’
Laforey smirked.
He had considered him a friend with potential, but this was beyond his expectations.
‘This might have quite an impact.’
Given the plaza’s central location, where the population was dense and the sound spread wide and clearly, those enchanted by the music continued to gather.
All of them had forcibly hammered new music into their heads.
As a result, even now, the venue was bustling with crowds who hadn’t noticed the end of the stage performance.
Thus, as planned, the cultural incursion successfully made waves in their hearts.
*
Southern Ion Continent.
Deep underground in an unvisited wasteland, a certain hideout was located far from the Tribal Federation state, Calcos.
Inside an unfathomably large stone chamber, formed by digging into the earth, all sorts of incomprehensible magical arts crowded the space.
Magic circles and barriers etched into the floor, walls, and ceilings, including altars and magical tools for rituals.
In that bizarre setting, a hooded group of a dozen appeared and quietly surveyed the surroundings.
“Is the preparation done?”
“Almost finished.”
A large man’s voice replied to the haunting voice of a tiny old man.
“Fortunately, we managed to avoid the church’s gaze. Those who have been snooping around recently have been quite a nuisance.”
“…It certainly was a lot of trouble.”
The sudden appearance of the Undead King had stirred the Holy Church Order like a disturbed beehive, making it challenging to proceed with their operations.
They had nearly exposed their grand scheme that had taken decades to craft.
It was only natural, considering that the current Undead King had penetrated even the shrine of the holy land.
While they managed to injure and repel him, that fact alone was sufficient to agitate the Order’s sense of crisis.
Of course, the Holy Church Order kept such details under wraps, but they were able to find out due to a colleague with special abilities.
“No regrets?”
“Of course. If I can destroy this world, I won’t care about anything anymore.”
The old man, the entity initiating the ritual, would become worse than dead when the ceremony began, but his rage against the world rendered such matters insignificant.
“Now that the Undead King has been revived, if we lend a hand just a bit, he will handle the rest. Hoo hoo heh…”
“Hmm… Indeed, he seems competent. I don’t know where he is hiding or what he’s doing right now.”
The large man watched the cackling old man, grasping the status of progress.
Once this old man completes the ritual, the peace will be shattered, and a more chaotic world will dawn.
The perfect opportunity; the Undead King, who seeks to envelop the continent in death, would not simply sit by.
And his actions would considerably assist them in carrying out their plans.
The hooded individuals exchanged glances.
The remaining time was truly limited.
“To defy the heavens.”
“For the oath.”
The true forces of evil quietly stretched in the shadows.
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