Amelia hung her head, then she hesitantly looked up at me and asked, “May I really...?”
“Of course.”
“Then...” Amelia pursed her lips, hesitation marring her features. But it soon gave way to a bout of courage and a look of resolve. “I want more people...to hear me sing.”
“Understood. Leave it all to me,” I answered right away.
Amelia’s eyes grew wide yet again. She mustn’t have been expecting me to make the promise so readily.
I called Bruno within the day, and he came over in a hurry. An elven maid had reported to me that he’d rushed over so quickly that she felt bad for his poor horse, but by the time Bruno appeared before me he looked as composed as ever. He hardly looked like someone who’d just raced here on horseback.
“What do you need from me today, Your Majesty?”
“Well, I just wanted your advice on a certain matter.”
“Of course. I am all ears.”
Amelia had been shocked that I’d assented to her wish so easily, and now I knew how she felt. Bruno’s as reliable as ever, I mused as I went on to explain what I’d talked about with Amelia.
He listened quietly all throughout, then asked, “What may I help with?”
“Well, about the concert we’re preparing... I was wondering if we could hold it in other countries too,” I said. “I can always sneak in and prepare whatever we need with magic, but I want to know if the concert itself is feasible.”
Bruno fell silent for a while. “It’s...not impossible,” he said hesitantly.
“Is it hard to get ready right away?”
“Yes... Firstly, such a large-scale concert is unprecedented. Similar events such as circuses and competitions do exist, so I suppose holding the concert should be possible.”
“Then, why can’t it be held right away?”
“Because songs are a form of art that has been monopolized by people in power. It is hard to say whether the commonfolk would seek it out of their own volition,” he explained. “The citizens of this nation would gather with a word from you, Your Majesty, as would the people of Parta considering they are essentially under your rule now. You could easily coerce them into joining. However, as for the other nations...”
I wilted. “So, do I have to give up on the idea...?”
Suddenly, I heard Lardon chuckle. “You are like a different person whenever you’re outside your element.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m telling you not to jump to conclusions. Think back to what he said—it’s not impossible, yes?”
“Oh...” I turned to Bruno with a gasp. He looked serious and thoughtful, not cornered and pressed. “What do we need to do to make it possible, Bruno?”
“I would need your full cooperation, Your Majesty.”
“Of course. Anything.”
“Very well. In that case, I would need you to invent a spell—no, a magic item that can store and replay sounds.”
“Hmm? Just sounds?”
“Yes.”
“And it has to be an item, not a spell?”
“Correct.”
I nodded. “All right, then.”
A magic item instead of a spell... Yes, that made sense to me. Our goal here was to hold a concert in other countries, so a magic item that anyone could use was much better than a spell that needed to be learned. I wasn’t sure why he wanted it to store just sounds, but I trusted Bruno. He must have his reasons.
“I’ll start with making a spell,” I decided.
“Thank you. You may call me again once you—”
“I can do it now.”
“Huh?”
Rummaging through my memories, I recalled that a similar function was already in the Liamnet—I could actually just export it from there. Nice and simple.
The next step was to craft the spell. For this, I multicasted to my maximum capacity. Though I refrained from chanting an aria, it still turned out to be a bit overkill—since I was working from a preexisting feature, I didn’t even use up all my spell slots in the end.
I held my hand up and cast the new spell: “Phonograph!”
A whirling disc of light manifested in the air before me.
“Is...this it?” Bruno asked.
“Yeah. Watch.”
The disc froze, then began spinning the other way.
“Is...this it?”
“Yeah. Watch.”
Our voices played from the glowing disc, exactly as we sounded just a moment ago.
“Ohh! This is exactly what we need!” Bruno turned to me with sparkling eyes. “To have completed it in an instant... I should have expected no less, Your Majesty.”
“It was already in the Liamnet,” I told him. “So, will this do?”
“Yes.”
“Next, I’ll turn it into a magic item. Should be easy enough... But what will you do with this?”
“We will store Ms. Amelia’s song, then sell it as a product.”
“Sell it...?” I raised an eyebrow. “Will that help us hold a concert in other countries?”
“It will.” Bruno nodded, looking even more confident than usual.
I decided not to ask and just nodded back. “Then it’s all yours.”
After all, Bruno was talking about commercializing and selling—clearly not my area of expertise, so there was no need for me to know the details. Seeing him so confident, I felt it was much better for me to just trust him and let him do his thing.