Chapter 86
Today's diary, written in advance!
Music isn't fun anymore. Especially the violin! It's way too boring!
And the piano isn't fun either; I'd rather play with Yuri during that time. That would be more fun, ugh.
But they say we're going to a concert today.
Beethoven? People talk about him a lot, but I don't really know. Taking lessons is boring enough already—how boring must it be to keep listening to music…….
So yesterday I ran around and played a ton with Yuri!
I got scolded by Mom, but it was fun!
I'm tired, hehe. If I listen to music, I can sleep well, right?
What if I get scolded?
Umm. I don't want to get scolded…….
.
.
.
“Miss Belka, it’s time.”
“Yes──”
After closing the secret diary she’d been diligently writing, Belka hid it tightly under the bed where Mom, Dad, and Maid Granny couldn’t find it.
She’d already finished getting ready to go out; she’d simply been trying to turn her boundless reluctance into a diary entry.
But in this world, there was nothing a thirteen-year-old girl could decide on her own.
Holding Maid Granny’s hand tightly, Belka stepped neatly into the yard, sealing away the soul of a little troublemaker.
Her mom and dad were already waiting for Belka, dressed far more elegantly than usual.
Why do adults dress up so hard when they go to concerts and places like that? Listening with a relaxed heart already feels heavy enough.
Still too young to understand the sinister scheming that unfolded in social halls, Belka pouted and climbed into her father’s arms.
A moment later.
When they arrived in front of the music hall by carriage, Belka gasped at the sheer number of people.
But Belka’s mother frowned.
“There are many commoners here as well, Belka. Be even more mindful of your conduct.”
“Hmph.”
Ugh, commoners again, nobles again—there they go talking about that again!
Sometimes Mom really does obsess over the strangest things.
Ms. Iola, who teaches violin, is a commoner too, um, and she’s scary when teaching music, but she’s a very nice person normally, and she teaches me things like the Enlightenment and stuff too.
“Let’s go, Belka.”
“Yes!”
Belka’s thoughts didn’t continue for very long.
Belka’s mother clasped her hand tightly and, as if afraid something filthy might get on her, carefully wrapped an arm around her as they moved toward the nobles-only entrance.
Unlike the long line at the commoners’ entrance, Belka’s family was soon able to go inside with ease.
They settled comfortably into good seats on the second floor, where they could look down over the stage.
“Hmm…….”
The concert’s uniquely hushed atmosphere was already making her sleepy.
“I heard a rumor that the person who wrote that novel also composed the music. Is that true?”
“Gossipmongers say such things, but... I don't think it's possible. Still, because the life of the musician portrayed is so vividly realistic, we're speculating that he may have collaborated with an obscure musician from the Republic.”
“From the Republic, then, so its ideas felt a little radical. We should keep Belka from reading that novel.”
“Would it really go that far? I hear His Majesty the Emperor just laughed it off, so I don't think there's any need to overreact.”
“These days... things are a little unsettling. They keep saying commoners and nobles should receive the same treatment, and so on.”
Belka gave a slight nod and let the conversations her mother and father were having—still a bit too early for her to understand—wash over her ears.
As she listened,
the stage gradually grew lively.
Belka’s eyes went round.
Normally, it was always the violin—or the piano.
She had only ever encountered pieces performed solo, and in truth she had thought it would be the same today.
But on the stage...
Countless musicians.
And even strange instruments Belka had never seen before were being prepared there together.
“Dad, are they all going to play the same song?”
“Hmm... for an orchestra, the scale is very large.”
Her father also tilted his head slightly, looking doubtful.
The musicians in the other seats were no different.
Until now, orchestras rarely had more than ten players, and the brass instruments were not usually arranged so diversely either.
But now, on the stage.
To put it only a little exaggeratedly, it would not be an exaggeration to say that every instrument still surviving in the Empire was on display.
Could all of them really produce a complete harmony?
That curiosity swept through the audience.
Bam── bam──
The two opening strikes against the eardrums instantly blew away their doubts and invited everyone into Beethoven’s world.
Belka inhaled before she realized it.
An elegant greeting, a slow prelude, emotions gradually rising.
As if all those lessons were meaningless, the fierce melody began to swallow the entire hall like a beast, creating a strange harmony as it danced offbeat.
Less a gentle whisper
than a blood-boiling cry, like a human struggle against fate.
Even in Belka’s mind, which still did not fully understand such concepts, it felt as though a prince on a white horse were fighting enemies for victory.
As she held her breath, before long the song had completely changed.
A tone that sounded like a flute, yet somehow didn’t quite seem to be one, spun out a sorrowful melody.
“Sob, sob.”
“Why...... are there...... tears......”
Quiet sniffles began to be heard from the seat beside her.
Though they didn’t know the concept of a funeral march, or even that it had been attached to the subtitle,
the melody itself swept over everyone and stirred their hearts.
Movement 3, after a relentless charge.
Movement 4, the victory fanfare came surging in like a storm.
Born amid chaos.
The tragedy faced, and the fast-paced progression.
All the way to the splendid finale.
In the concert that went on for nearly an hour.
Belka felt an exhilaration, as if a new soul were taking root in her chest.
.
.
.
On the way home.
Belka badgered her father into telling her about the novel, 'Beethoven,' that had been the basis for this piece.
Her mother frowned, but she too was still savoring the concert’s lingering resonance, so she didn’t stop Belka’s questions.
Belka’s father stroked her head and explained it to her in language she could understand.
And after the explanation was over.
“If I practice the piano hard too, could I make a piece like that……?”
At Belka’s shy voice.
“Hehe…… Belka…….”
Her father nodded and stroked her head.
Tonight.
Belka’s diary was going to be filled with completely new content, with new dreams.
Of course.
He had a bad personality and poor hearing, but he was a genius.
Compared to someone like that.
I’m kind, can hear well, and maybe I’m a genius? I’m not sure, but anyway, I’m cute!
* * *
Big bro Zhongyu.
I wonder if your departed mother is also doing well there.
I realize it now.
Putting on a concert is…….
could be dopamine in and of itself.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3.
And Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, the last concerto he premiered.
The concert, which had run for nearly two hours including intermission, came to an end.
The people of Fantasy Land, who had initially been put off by the boldness, eventually all answered with a standing ovation at the end.
I was the same.
Although, if you asked whether the performance level reached that of a top-tier orchestra, it was actually closer to a hobbyist amateur orchestra.
A piece cannot be judged by the completeness of its performance alone.
“If I had performed the piano concerto, it would have been perfect.”
“Hm?”
Beside me, Kkangtong suddenly blurted out some mood-killing nonsense, and I wondered if my CPU had burned out from the overwhelming emotion.
“But because it isn’t perfect, it’s human, and that’s why it reaches the heart more deeply. It was a fine performance.”
Historie added, a gentle smile curling at the corners of her lips.
The other specially invited guests also left me their own impressions.
“Aren’t those guys getting paid with my money anyway? Should I just kidnap them all and take them to the lair?”
“Please don’t, Nureong-ah. They’re all people with wives and children.”
“Hmm? Isn’t it enough to feed and support their wives and children too?”
To stop the deranged human kidnapper Nureongi’s attempt at mass abduction, I tossed him into the arms of his dedicated caretaker Historie.
“Saint, how was it.”
“It was sooo good…… Even though I couldn’t sleep, it was so good I could’ve listened to it even without sleeping!”
What kind of concert does this person come to just to catch up on sleep?
And by around the second movement, I’d already seen her nodding off.
Still, seeing you doze off at our house last time, Saint, it seemed like you live a pretty tiring, busy life.
Lastly.
“Hyaaah?! I-it’s over?”
“And you can still fall asleep in the middle of all that?”
Unlike Rozelin, who somehow held out to the end.
I tugged at the ears of the elf who had managed to sleep perfectly all the way to the end.
As I was even wiping away the drool with the handkerchief Historie handed me at just the right time, a slight wave of self-loathing washed over me.
Is this thing an elf?
This one, seriously... sigh.
I don’t know which idiot will take her away, but I suspect she’ll spend her whole life single, like a fool, going around saying, ‘I’ll die alone, desuwa……!’
.
.
.
After wrapping up the afterparty with the orchestra members, and after seeing Estea happily humming as she bestowed a cash bonus on the conductor.
Even though it was late, while enjoying the banquet that Chloe had prepared by mobilizing her family’s people.
Rozelin discreetly signaled me and pulled me away.
As we came out into the corridor, I first checked whether Rozelin had anything in her hand that could be used as a weapon.
Fortunately, there was no placard in her hand.
“What is it?”
Could this atmosphere be...?
I had hoped just a tiny, tiny bit.
The words that slipped out of the saint’s mouth completely betrayed my expectations.
“It seems like the High Priest will be making an official visit to the Empire soon.”