Chapter 88
The imperial palace of the Empire was bustling with preparations for protocol.
Originally, the ideal person for protocol was someone good at diplomacy, good at social maneuvering, and as limber in the waist as the Samjeondo yoga monarch.
With age and gravitas thrown in, there was nothing better.
- Schneisen, what do we do... we've come all this way....
- Got it. Well, let's give it a shot.
The process of appointing the protocol officer could be summed up in just two lines.
On the diplomatic front as well, Duke Schneisen, a high elf by race, could hold his own anywhere.
And Duke Schneisen was also so adept at scheming that one might suspect he hadn't passed down even a single intelligence gene to his daughter—
he was busy receiving guests, based on the Holy Kingdom intelligence he'd wrung out of Kim Yul by grabbing him by the collar and shaking him, along with the Empire's own intelligence reports.
"What about the black mages?"
"At least within the imperial capital, there don't seem to be any subversive movements. Most of the remnants were also taken care of by that monster saintess──"
"You said she went into hiding, but she still handled the cleanup before leaving... what about the anti-religious faction?"
"They are said to be preparing to stage a protest."
"If they don't quit, tell them I'll go there myself and fold them in half. What's the schedule?"
"Starting with a welcome ceremony on the first day──"
Listening to the rest of the protocol schedule pouring out of his subordinate's mouth, Duke Schneisen fell into thought.
What was the core of protocol?
To drain them dry so they couldn't make a fuss, and to prevent any strange remarks from coming out in the first place.
The only variable was.
"A concert..."
One of the events scheduled for the second day of the High Priest's visit.
The second Beethoven concert.
Ulysses had also voiced the opinion that he wanted to invite the High Priest, and the High Priest's side had also expressed a desire to attend the concert.
In that sense, both sides were in agreement.
In fact...
That was the opinion that should have been refused.
A concert hosted by an author whom the Holy Kingdom suspected of subversive ideas would be visited by the Holy Kingdom's highest religious authority.
By common sense...
both sides should have refused.
This was the sort of matter even Chloe would have shouted, "Then that won't do, desuwa!"
However.
"Well, it's music. What's the harm? Go ahead."
"......Yes, Your Majesty."
It was not something he could decide unilaterally, so he had reported it for approval, only for the emperor to smile and grant it.
And on top of that.
"We can't send the High Priest alone, so I suppose it would be proper for me to sit in as well."
"Pardon?"
"I've heard the first performance got rave reviews, so I was already rather interested. It should be worth looking forward to, shouldn't it?"
"......"
Duke Schneisen, who had come to remove one nuisance only to have a tumor added as well, let out a silent sigh inside.
* * *
But professionals always do their best at the job they were given.
Duke Schneisen was an elf of chaotic times, and a pro at social maneuvering.
"So that's how it turned out."
"......Yes?"
Elf secret technique.
He deployed the classic pass-the-buck maneuver!
Kim Yul's head spun for a moment!
"No, why is the emperor suddenly involved?"
"Ahem, the Emperor, Your Majesty."
"......Why is His Majesty the Emperor showing interest?"
Looking at Kim Yul's wronged expression, Duke Schneisen asked back as if he truly couldn't understand.
"How can you criticize Napoleon's dictatorship so much and then say that? After all that, to think you'd expect no attention at all—aren't you a bit too shameless?"
The counterpunch landed squarely in Kim Yul's solar plexus.
"Hah, this is a matter of public optics..."
Kim Yul, wearing a bitter expression, led Duke Schneisen to the rehearsal room.
Normally, rehearsals should have been held right there in the concert hall they had rented, but.
"What, you even come all the way out here to rehearse?"
"Security is life."
"Hmm. That's quite dramatic."
Since he had repeatedly stressed that this performance must not be known to anyone else in advance, Chloe had prepared a secret rehearsal room on the outskirts of the city.
The performers were even eating and sleeping there, burning their souls.
When they arrived.
"You're here?"
Since it was break time, the contrabass player lounging nearby recognized Kim Yul's face and greeted him cheerfully.
Soon, the other performers around them swarmed over as well.
"Welcome, writer!"
"The person beside you couldn't possibly be?"
"Yep. This is Duke Schneisen."
"Aha! No wonder you looked like Chloe!"
"So that's why you were so beautiful—you take after your father!"
"Ahem, ahem."
For the performers,
if there was a muse of music, they could point to the peerless genius Historie, and if there was a muse of welfare, they could point to the peerless hapless elf Chloe.
Despite his lofty status as a duke, they all offered greetings in unison as if they were meeting the father of the kind, foolish girl next door.
Duke Schneisen also smiled warmly, as if returning their warmth, and praised the performers for their hard work.
Before long, when the break was almost over,
"Oh-ho-ho! It's time to start practicing again... huh. Dad?"
"You look free, Chloe."
There was the trivial issue of Chloe's not particularly touching father-daughter reunion, but apart from that, the performers carefully began their preparations.
But among them were also people who weren't holding instruments.
"Chloe, who are those people?"
"Ah! They're the choir."
"The choir...? At an instrumental concert?"
"The human vocal cords are the most perfect instrument, desuwa!"
Chloe boasted, lifting her chin high.
It was a plagiarism of Kim Yul's phrasing, but Duke Schneisen couldn't help feeling moved by it for a moment.
My child...
that sort of race-harmonizing remark...?
Duke Schneisen had already built up one stack of emotion before the performance even began.
Barely holding back the feeling that his eyes might grow moist, Duke Schneisen checked the set list Kim Yul had handed him earlier.
This concert would also run for nearly two hours.
Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Fate.
Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor.
Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Chorus.
"Fate, Emperor, Chorus."
Duke Schneisen tilted his head, wondering what meaning might be hidden in the titles.
.
.
.
A little later.
At last, a rehearsal that seemed fit for real combat got underway.
Like his daughter Chloe, Duke Schneisen wasn't particularly interested in music, so he was a little underwhelmed.
At the start of the movement.
The instant he heard the sound of fate knocking.
Duke Schneisen had no choice but to sit up straight.
Surging and sweeping over him, with an almost piled-on intensity, the impassioned resonance wrapped around him, and the daring melody he had never heard before swallowed time itself.
By the time Duke Schneisen came to his senses again, it was already.
a piano was being set up on stage.
* * *
"Kim Yul. Are you all right?"
"Honestly... not really."
"Oh dear. Lady Roselyn will have to come back soon."
Lately, because he'd been pushing himself so hard, his condition hadn't been recovering easily.
The concert was worrying in its own way too.
The biggest strain on him was the main work, the novel serialization.
Preparing the concert to match the High Priest's visit to the Empire... no, his visit to the Empire, had been fine enough.
But what good was it if the novel itself couldn't keep up?
So he had been burning himself out, writing at least two consecutive chapters a day and sometimes three just to keep up.
And today.
He had finally finished writing the final chapter to be serialized the day after the concert.
Once this was wrapped up.
I should rest for about a month.
No one can stop me!
"Oh."
As he was cackling to himself, Historie, who had been looking over the final chapter manuscript, let out an impressed little sound.
"What's the problem?"
"No. Nothing like that. But is this the last chapter?"
"Yeah."
"I was surprised because that's not like you, Kim Yul."
"What's like me?"
"Naturally, I thought you'd include the scene where Beethoven fails to overcome his illness and dies in the end. And throw in a funeral on top of that."
It wasn't something he could really argue against.
If it had been the old me, I probably would have.
"Sometimes, an ending like this is fine too, isn't it?"
"Certainly. You'll get less flak."
If Historie was saying that much, it was safe to say my plan had almost succeeded.
* * *
Time passed and passed.
At long last, the day of the concert arrived.
Originally, they had planned to rent the music hall where the first performance had been held and hold it there, but given the status of the audience members.
"This is... the imperial palace..."
"Why are you acting like a country bumpkin? Relax."
"It's the detached palace, not the main palace, so whatever."
"To think His Majesty the Emperor is really coming to listen!"
"Hoo, hoo."
They had used magic to remodel an annex palace attached to the imperial palace so it could function as a music hall.
Because some Enlightenment-soaked rebel had gone straight to the empire's second prince and a duke and shoved this demand in their faces—"If only nobles are going to listen, it would be better to cancel the performance."
1. Lottery.
2. Ideological screening.
Though it was a somewhat troublesome process, commoners also got a chance to enter the imperial palace.
The upside was.
The venue could accommodate at least twice as many people as the music hall, so more people got a chance.
And.
The source of all this trouble.
Kim Yul was.
"Kim Yul, Ulysses, it is truly a pleasure to meet you, brothers."
"It is an honor to meet you, High Priest."
He was doing his best to keep his expression under control in front of the Holy Kingdom's High Priest.