NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84
Festival of Drasha (1)
“Welcome, Sir Heinrich!”
As Saint Liesta greeted him with a twinkling smile, Heinrich couldn’t help but smirk wryly.
After a lengthy training period with the Radiant Defender Paladin Order, he had been unusually promoted from a low-ranking to a high-ranking paladin, and new duties were now assigned to him.
These duties were quite different from his previous tasks…
“I never thought I’d end up as the personal bodyguard of a saint.”
This was clearly due to the strong influence of the saint and her superiors.
Until now, the saint had only stayed at the Rosellia Temple within the holy site, so a bodyguard wasn’t necessary. However, with the Undead King resurrected, staying put like before was no longer an option.
“Of course, I didn’t choose you as my personal bodyguard just for that reason. I thought you needed more personal time than learning a new task now!”
It was true; while the saint remained at the shrine, there wasn’t really a need for protection, so his training time would surely increase.
“And after a certain preparation is finished, you have a task to complete.”
“A task for me?”
“Even if it’s been harmed, the Undead King won’t just sit quietly like this. He’s definitely plotting something behind the scenes.”
Even though he hadn’t existed in Auterica, Heinrich merely nodded seriously at her words.
“Right now, we must prepare to mobilize every means to counter him. And among those plans, there’s one quite important thing…”
The saint paused, took a gentle deep breath, and spoke with a determined expression.
“Obtaining the Holy Sword.”
“The Holy Sword… you mean?”
“Yes, to defeat the Undead King for sure, we absolutely need the Holy Sword’s assistance.”
She looked at Heinrich with sparkling eyes and assured him with a confident voice.
“You should prepare for the trial to obtain the Holy Sword.”
*
Whoosh— Thwack!
An arrow flew like a hawk, brushing through branches before piercing the target sharply.
“The individual has gained insight through repeated training. Skill「Fairy Justice」acquired.”
In tandem with the message flashing before his eyes, Harris, perched on a tree, let out a light sigh and slowly lowered his bow.
“Excellent! The human scent has completely disappeared from your justice. It’s incredibly challenging to break long-standing habits, and yet you’ve done it!”
The archery instructor, watching from a branch beside him, slowly clapped his hands.
“Thanks to your great teaching, instructor. I appreciate it.”
The instructor smiled gently and encouraged him again, as warmth flowed between the two.
However, as Harris attempted to return to the dormitory, fate had other plans…
“Harris! Let’s go practice!”
“Oh, Timer. I just want to go back to the dorm and wash up for a bit. I need to put my bow away too…”
“Huh? Oh, right. You don’t have a water spirit! I’ll help you! Come on, no time to waste!”
“Ah, ahh…”
Caught up in Timer’s exuberance, he was dragged along.
Upon arriving at the training grounds, he found the other female members of his group already there, waiting.
“Everyone’s here. Shall we start today’s practice?”
“…Hmm.”
With just two days left until the Drasha Festival, Harris realized one thing while preparing for the performance with his group.
The elves were far more serious about ‘music’ than he had anticipated…
“Is it really possible to do this in just three days? Even tuning it to match existing instruments?”
It was just astounding how much talent they had.
Given the tight schedule, he hadn’t expected them to perfectly recreate the original song.
Though Harris could sing, playing a piece on an instrument he’d never heard before within such a short time seemed impossible.
“Wait, they actually did it.”
He had wanted to be content with being able to introduce a new genre at this performance.
Even if his group helped, he thought their limits would only extend to matching beats with simple instruments, based on his demonstration…
“Hoo— this is sound enough.”
“Wow! This is all thanks to Miss Shapiron! The star of Drasha Academy, the best diva of this generation. I’d heard of her reputation but didn’t expect her to be this incredible!”
“…Certainly impressive.”
“Hmph, you can praise me all you want, but that’s a given. Hehehe—”
After their joint performance wrapped up with showers of compliments, Shapiron’s ears perked up with excitement, clearly enjoying the attention.
“But it really is amazing.”
Everyone in the group was fantastic, but Shapiron’s brilliance was especially striking.
She had been the first to lower herself to ask Harris for the recorded music magical equipment. Since then, she had been obsessively analyzing every detail of the instrument’s properties and scales to find the most efficient alternatives in just two days.
She looked more haggard by the day, questioning if she had even gotten any sleep, yet her eyes sparkled brighter than ever.
“Still, I’m disappointed we couldn’t perfectly recreate it. That ‘Zing~’ sharp sound is so tricky… I wish I could see the actual instrument just once.”
Nevertheless, the alternatives she suggested were incredibly high quality.
Using spirit magic to improve the instrument’s sounds created a similar yet distinctly captivating tone.
After going through various adjustments, the result was quite different from the original song, yet its essence remained intact.
“It feels like a collaboration between Earth and this otherworldly civilization, and I love it.”
He felt a pang of regret at being the only Earthling able to witness this.
He even considered how fun it would be to reveal this to Earth…
“Well, it might be a bit premature. Still, it would be exciting if I could do that later.”
Having secured a similar instrument and tuned the sounds, their first rehearsal concluded successfully.
“The individual has gained insight through repeated training. Skill「Harmony Melody」acquired.”
It couldn’t have gone better.
And the effect of the newly learned skill became immediately apparent in the next rehearsal.
“Whoa… Harris, what was that just now?”
Clap, clap, clap—
“Wait… how did you do that? Suddenly the nature energy in your voice felt… refined? And the effect is much stronger…”
As Harris reveled in the enthusiastic reactions from his group, he smiled contentedly.
“Oh, I discovered something while singing.”
“What, what was it? How did you…?”
Shapiron, who hastily asked, paused for a moment.
Having been more cautious toward him lately, she found herself embarrassed as the memories of her previous attitude lingered.
“I can’t really explain it well. It’s just intuitive for me. Hahaha…”
Not wanting to claim it was thanks to「Harmony Melody」, he fumbled his words.
As for teaching them the skill, that wasn’t something he could share either.
“………”
Whether her expression reflected her understanding of his answer or not, her face briefly showed a frown before returning to its usual confident demeanor.
Perhaps she thought he was unwilling to share his secret?
Or maybe she had thought it was a talent gap, given the competition she seemed to harbor against him.
Over the past few days, she was showing signs of rivalry or perhaps even inferiority.
“Hoo, did everyone note where things went wrong earlier? Let’s focus a bit more! You, don’t just stand there—hurry up and get ready!”
Yet, her self-absorbed nature had her recharged quickly, and she surged into an even more dominant role in leading the practice.
Their rigorous practice—as they set up soundproofing to keep everything under wraps for the festival—continued late into the night.
And Harris’s「Harmony Melody」not only improved their singing but also boosted the spirit connection that initially motivated him.
Harris’s lowest ranked fire spirit, Kali, and the wind spirit, Pascal, evolved to a higher rank…
“Whoa… I… I see that…”
“Shh! Keep quiet!”
While other members watched eagerly, Harris fixed his gaze ahead.
A tiny spirit radiating waves continued to hover before his eyes.
‘This is, perhaps…’
It was the ‘Sound Spirit’ from the phenomenon realm, not from the elemental realm.
Despite his limited elven experience, this was the first time he had witnessed a spirit not bound by the elements in the Elven Kingdom.
‘Well, I haven’t explored much, so…’
Though he learned in spirit magic training, non-elemental spirits were extremely rare.
Only those with particular talents separate from nature affinity could forge contracts with such beings, and one was fluttering before Harris now.
Like a cat choosing its prey, it circled around him, expressing its desire for a contract.
“A Sound Spirit, huh… What a surprising find!”
Of course, Harris had no intention of letting this opportunity slip by, so he cautiously extended his hand towards the spirit.
As their intentions aligned, the contract was swiftly formed.
“From today, your name is ‘Decibel.’”
Harris’s fourth spirit was the Sound Spirit, Decibel.
*
Shapiron, working alongside Harris, managed to cast aside her prejudices against him.
Actually, she had been stubbornly refusing to acknowledge it until now.
But now she had no choice but to recognize him.
’…His affinity and skills at handling nature energy. Although he’s only just learned spirit magic, he already has four contracted spirits. And one of them is a sound spirit?’
She had suspected as much from the way nature energy stirred around him when he sang, but his growth was exceptional.
The way the World Tree had shown interest in him finally made sense…
“Ugh… I can’t help it. At this point, I might as well acknowledge him as my rival…”
After her one-sided declaration of rivalry, she began lingering around Harris, observing him carefully.
When battling an opponent, the importance of information certainly couldn’t be overstated.
Amidst the bustling excitement of the festival’s second day, the waiting room behind the stage set up in a square was no exception.
However, one thing particularly irked her.
“Wow! We’re so close to the central plaza! This means we could really get some serious attention! The High Elves might be watching us live!”
“………”
Amidst this intensity, Timer was bubbling with excitement, while Quri quietly chewed on her nails, showing a stark contrast.
‘She seems to be in not-so-good shape…’
Shapiron’s gaze shifted to Quri, who had been spot-on during practice but looked shaken now that the real event approached.
Just as Shapiron was about to step in and chat with her…
As if on cue, Harris, lounging against the railing with his usual lazy expression, approached Quri.
“Are you feeling nervous?”
“………”
Quri nodded silently as she took deep breaths.
Just like when they first met, she didn’t say a word, only scanning the surroundings. Harris scratched his head awkwardly as he observed her.
“Hmm, how do you feel about the song we prepared? It’s good, right?”
She still didn’t respond, but Harris rambled on regardless.
“How did it feel during practice? Were you nervous then? Worried about making mistakes?”
This time, she slowly shook her head.
“I felt just excited during practice. It was fun. I wondered how people would react after hearing it.”
A smile gradually appeared on Harris’s face.
“It’s exciting, right? When we prepare a song like this, immersing yourself in the music while having fun makes all those other worries fade away.”
His voice had an unusual resonance that began to ripple through Quri’s tension-bound heart.
“Let’s not think about anything else and just recall that excitement from practice. Just like back then, let’s go enjoy ourselves!”
Although it wasn’t the most polished piece of encouragement—given his lack of experience in reassuring others…
Yet, for some reason, his ordinary words felt almost lyrical; they had an enchanting quality that naturally drew focus.
As if she were immersed in the music during practice, Quri found her feelings unwinding, a soft smile creeping onto her lips.
As she recalled those moments, sparks twinkled in her eyes, and her cheeks flushed pink.
Meanwhile, Shapiron, caught up in Harris’s captivating voice, took a moment to refocus and glanced toward him again.
‘That’s unexpected.’
He didn’t seem like a particularly articulate person, yet his words held a strange convincing power.
Seeing him care for his nervous teammate made him appear different.
“Get ready for the next stage~!”
Of course, such stray thoughts quickly faded.
Their stage was about to begin.