“Magic Screen!”
The spell I cast from outside our national border layered over the Redline, instantly transforming the reddish view of the vast plains into an enormous bottomless pit. It looked just like it had when I first came here.
Er... Does it? We’d lifted the seal almost immediately back then, so I couldn’t really recall it in much detail. Fortunately, Scarlet was right here to provide me with a second opinion.
“Was this how it looked?” I asked.
“Impressive, Master. It’s as if I’ve been sent back to that day.”
I nodded. With Scarlet’s agreement, I could rest at ease—
“I may be nitpicking,” Lardon interjected, catching me off guard, “but it looked less like a pit and more like just pure darkness.”
“Like pure darkness...?” I turned back to Scarlet. “Well, that’s what Lardon said. What do you think?”
“Er... M-My apologies,” said Scarlet with a glum bow of her head. “I’m not quite certain as to the details...”
“Me neither.” I shrugged. “I remember there was a huge and dark pit... That’s about it.”
“Indeed. I did say I was nitpicking,” Lardon reiterated. “As a bluff against humans, this is more than enough.”
“True. No point in improving it. I’d be better off directing that effort elsewhere.” I shook my head. “If only I could already make photographs back then...”
A photograph was a product of the Liamnet—“a drawing made with light”—that recorded the caster’s view at the moment so it could be revisited at any time. If I had used that back then, I could have perfectly re-created the promised land’s appearance. But oh well—what’s done was done.
“Human memory is fickle,” Lardon mused.
“Yeah, we forget easily. I should take more photographs.”
“That would be good.”
“In that case, I shall take photographs of Ms. Amelia’s performance for you, Master,” said Scarlet.
“All right.” I nodded. That was for the best, considering how quickly we humans forgot... “No, wait... Photographs? That’s not right.” I shook my head. “I’d rather remember how her performance sounds.”
“The sound...? Oh!”
“You get it, right? Amelia is a songstress. I’d rather her singing voice remain in my memory.”
“You are most correct, Master. Sounds are also harder to remember than sights.”
“True.”
I could whip something up using the existing feature in the Liamnet. This idea hadn’t come to me till now, but I’d been working so hard to make this the best performance ever. If I could revisit these memories through the Liamnet, then what more could I ever ask for?
Back in the city, I met up with Bruno in one of the palace’s parlor rooms.
“That is all the intel that I have gathered,” he said, finishing his report. “From this, we can surmise that there is a ninety-nine percent chance that the performance day will be met with no external interruptions.”
“Hmm...”
Layering our borders with traps and countermeasures was just one step; I wanted to cover all my bases to prevent any unsavory accidents during the performance. Scarlet had the Duchy of Parta covered, and while Bruno didn’t actually have any power to hold any forces back—whether physically or politically—he was capable of gathering intel from routes inaccessible to both me and Scarlet.
“My apologies, Your Majesty... I wish I could report to you with a hundred percent confidence.”
“It’s fine, Bruno. Even I can’t be a hundred percent sure of something.” That was precisely why I was preparing all these safety measures. A perfect hundred might be impossible, but we could still get as close to it as we could.
“Your intel is a huge help. Thank you. Really.” I bowed deeply. I was genuinely grateful for Bruno’s intel. Anything that would bring us closer to witnessing Amelia’s finest moment onstage.
“It is my honor, Your Majesty.”
“Say, Bruno, would you like to attend the concert too?”
“May I?”
“Of course. You can just watch the recording afterward, but attending the concert in person is probably a more valuable experience.” Naturally, I was speaking for myself too. Just overhearing Amelia’s singing had left such a huge impact on me—what more if I could attend it properly? I just wanted to share the experience with Bruno too.
But his reaction was a little surprising. I’d been expecting him to thank me again, maybe say “It’s an honor” like he had earlier, but instead he suddenly had a contemplative look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Is that a spell of yours, Your Majesty?”
“What is?”
“You mentioned a recording that could be watched afterward.”
“Oh, that? Yeah, via the Liamnet. I’ve already prepared it, actually.”
Bruno’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Could that...be taken outside?”
“What?”
“I mean to ask if the recording could be viewed and listened to outside this land as well.”
“Well, yeah... Back during the war against Parta, I revised the Liamnet to make it usable outside.”
“What about without the Liamnet?”
“Without the Liamnet?” Bruno’s barrage of questions made me furrow my brows. What in the world was he trying to ask here? For now, though, I decided to just answer. “You’re asking if the recording can be viewed outside our country and without the Liamnet?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm... It should be possible, if I replace the Liamnet with Ancient Memoria.” Both theory and practice dictated it was possible, so I responded with a confident nod. “What’s on your mind, Bruno?”
“Perhaps...” Bruno muttered. “Perhaps we could...commercialize it.”
“Commercialize...?”
“We could make a magic item—a recording of Ms. Amelia’s greatest performance. There will surely be hordes of potential buyers.”
I stared at him in shock. That idea had never come to me, but it sounded like music to my ears. The thought of showing off Amelia and her wonderful singing to the rest of the world was beyond tempting.