Chapter 60: Lucien in Formal Attire

  Lucien's original intention was to use the piano version of the Symphony of Fate to inspire Viktor, even letting him directly complete the melody and refine the details before adapting it into a symphony. This way, the surprise he triggered would be limited to only a few people, including Viktor, Lottie, and Rhein, and wouldn't be known to the vast majority of people, making himself appear as an oddity in their eyes, thus drawing attention from others. After all, being able to compose such a piece after studying music for less than two months was unprecedented, according to the "Continental Music History" that Lucien had read.

  It was at this point that Lucien had no way of dodging it and replied without hesitation: "Alright, Mr. Viktor."

  Just as Viktor said before, a genius doesn't need a reason, and in this matter, others would at most suspect themselves of plagiarism, but they wouldn't think about their own magician identity or associate themselves with devils or demons, because these seem to be two completely opposite things.

  In the vast religious literature of music libraries, music is described as a precious treasure bestowed upon humanity by the God of Truth, an inspiring weapon to move forward in times of difficulty. It's said that magicians and devils have granted people great power, beautiful voices, and masterful playing skills, but never directly given them the musical talent to compose songs, especially not one that carries such uplifting energy in its struggle against adversity and darkness.

  And Lucien vaguely realized from this period of time that there was a layer of estrangement between the church and the nobility, although Lot and others were still devout and full of reverence for the God of Truth, but in their unintentional words, they would often appear to be similar. The meaning of "religious affairs belong to God, and noble affairs belong to the king", is this the case in other countries besides Altoros where divine power is strong?

  Lucien therefore judged that the church could not possibly see a person of standing exercise divine magic without evidence, especially since the musicians' association was closely related to the nobility and the church.

  The only thing to worry about is that in the future, when invited to perform or attend a banquet, if there are important figures present, in order to prevent assassins, it will be unavoidable to receive checks.

  However, if the musician already has a high status and reputation before that, the inspection will definitely become superficial and lax, easy to deal with. Of course, if the important person's own strength is very strong, the inspection will also be very simple, or even non-existent.

  Laine picked up a quill pen and a stack of white paper from the desk and walked over to Lucien, handing them to him in front of the piano.

  Lucien placed the white paper on the music stand, picked up his quill pen and was about to start writing when he suddenly let out several loud sneezes. His frail body felt a wave of coolness, and he couldn't help but shiver. The rainwater in his hair splashed onto the white paper with each sneeze, creating small water stains that spread outwards.

  Victor only then noticed Lucien's state, drenched from head to toe: "Lucien, didn't you bring an umbrella?" Phyllis blushed slightly because Lucien's linen shirt was clinging tightly to his body, showcasing the lean yet athletic physique he had worked out over the past few months.

  "I ran here, but it's raining heavily outside and I got soaked." Lucien didn't say he had run all the way in the rain.

  "Lucien, I have several sets of clothes in the locker room. You and I are about the same height and build, go change into them quickly, you look like you're about to get sick."

  "Go ahead, Lucien. I'll take care of writing down the melody. Let me see if I can restore it completely." Rhein also urged Lucien and took the feather pen from his hand.

  In this action, Lucien's fingers had a brief contact with Laine's, and it was slightly strange to find that Laine's body temperature was actually colder than his own, who was drenched from head to toe. Did he have some special physical constitution?

  …………

  In the other room of the rest chamber, Lucien dried his hair and body, put on Victor's white shirt, black suit jacket, black slim trousers and leather shoes, instantly having a dry and refreshing feeling.

  Then Lucien adjusted his clothes in front of the mirror and unexpectedly discovered that he looked quite handsome when dressed up for the first time, although he was only average height, with black hair and eyes, he had a refined and elegant appearance, but not a weak feeling, rather a quiet and steady beauty.

  Lucien opened the door and walked out, while Rhein was immersed in music, restoring the recorded song, without any reaction. Viktor turned around, looked Lucien up and down from head to toe, nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, really a handsome young man."

  Seeing Lucien like this, the last bit of doubt that remained in Phyllis', Lott's and Hierodeus' hearts also completely disappeared.

  Judging people by their appearance is not a privilege of earthlings.

  "Lucien, come take a look at this piece Mr. Rhein wrote in front of us." Victor called out to Lucien.

  Lucien brushed past Lot, who smiled nobly, politely and elegantly, saying in a low voice: "Lucien, I hope to discuss music with you often in the future."

  "No problem." Lucien replied just as politely.

  Phillis heard the conversation between the two, her snow-white teeth biting her plump lips, and then said in a low voice with a faint blush: "Lucien, I apologize for my previous prejudice towards you. I hope we can get along well from now on and have good discussions about music."

  Although Lucien's unyielding performance and touching melody deeply moved Phyllis' heart, it wasn't enough to make her like him. The blush on her face was more a sign of shyness and indecision.

  Only Herodotus stood on the other side with a complicated mood, his head lowered, looking at his toes, without saying a word.

  After accepting Phyllis' apology, Lucien walked over to the piano and began discussing the music with Rhein and Viktor.

  …………

  At three o'clock in the afternoon, Phyllis saw through the much smaller rain curtain from the window that Baron Osero's carriage drove into the association.

  "Actually, the part of the melody you couldn't write down has almost been expressed in your emotional performance just now, so I was able to fill in most of it quickly. It seems that music really needs emotional resonance, and devotion and gratitude are among them, so music with religious themes always touches people's hearts more than music that simply expresses musical beauty."

  "Alright, although this piece of music still has some parts that are not perfect, it's just some minor details, we can register it with the association first. As for Osairo's committee, I think he won't be able to resist such a great piece of music, and I believe Her Highness the Princess won't mind changing the program either."

  Lucien's playing just now was under the emotional turmoil and unwillingness, bursting out the emotions that had been suppressed in his heart all along, incorporating his thoughts of loved ones, the pain of losing everything in the past, the struggle against various setbacks and difficulties he encountered, and the idea of not giving up and never giving up into the piano playing. If it weren't for the fact that some of the intentionally imperfect melodies hadn't been practiced before, Lucien might have played them out smoothly in one breath. Even so, many melodies were naturally produced under his hands, they were not fine enough, not perfect enough, but enough to give Viktor the inspiration to complete them.

  Under Victor's lead, Lucien followed him to a room on the third floor where an old man with glasses and white hair sat. He looked at Victor and Lucien with his light gray eyes and said calmly, "Victor, have you finished your symphony?"

  "Joseph, it wasn't me, but my student Lucien here who wrote an excellent piece. I brought him to register." Victor replied, then introduced Lucien: "This is Mr. Joseph, a seasoned music critic who has listened to most of the songs, including elven music, and also a probationary pastor. He will initially determine whether your song plagiarizes others, then use the power of the Lord to leave a mark of time on it, so that similar melodies appearing after this time will be considered plagiarism of your work."

  Joseph looked at Lucien with a puzzled expression and said, "How long have you been studying music? You can write a piece so quickly, your talent is quite impressive." Then he took the score, pushed his glasses up, and began to study it seriously.

  "This is three months," Viktor said, wiping away nonexistent sweat and rounding up the time it took Lucien to learn to read.

  Joseph let out an "ah" and lifted his head from the score: "Three months?" Then, disbelieving, he quickly buried his head in the score again, with a half-amused, half-angry attitude, Viktor, are you kidding me?!

  Victor didn't answer, just stood by with a smile, waiting for him to finish reading.

  The smile on Joseph's face slowly faded away, becoming increasingly serious, then he clapped his hands and hummed a tune silently.

  His expression quickly became vivid, as if immersed in the world of music, and his hands couldn't help but clench, release, wave, and tremble, just like a conductor with a fierce style.

  He hummed to himself for over ten minutes, then let out a long sigh of relief, with a mix of consolation and excitement, and said to Victor: "It's truly a great work, it reminds me of the past when I was in the Dark Mountain Range assisting the Knights' Regiment against dark creatures and evil beings. In those extremely dangerous times, if we hadn't remembered the Lord's teachings and given up on ourselves in desperation, you wouldn't have known me, Victor. This is a magnificent melody that never compromises with evil, never gives up."

  "Wait, you said it was written by your student?" Joseph suddenly remembered the previous conversation, stood up abruptly, his glasses falling from the bridge of his nose and landing on the table with a loud shattering sound: "He's only been studying music for three months?!"

  His face was twisted in shock.

  "As you see." Viktor recounted Lucien's life experience in his own understanding, barely making Joseph accept. He picked up his glasses and waved them around: "Alright, the emergence of a genius is always to shatter our common sense, faith, uh, and glasses. At least I think it's not plagiarism, except for the lack of melody, it matches the spirit of determination and struggle you showed, Lucien."

  "But to avoid being questioned by others, Lucien, you need to produce a piece of music every one or two years that is not inferior to this one, and also show talent worthy of your genius in everyday life." Joseph, who had his own experience with this piece of music, thought there couldn't be better music than this.

  "In a year or two, I won't be here anymore, so it doesn't look like I'll have to copy much..." Lucien watched as Joseph executed the divine art of copying sheet music and making temporal records.

  "After Joseph had finished, he asked casually: "Is there a name for the tune? Now it's customary to give one's own compositions a name."

  "Let's just call it fate."

  …………

  After registering, Viktor left Joseph, who was still admiring the score, and took Lucien to the outer office of the Osorio agency.

  "Perhaps Osorio's expression won't be much better than Joseph's later on."

  As he knocked on the door, Viktor suddenly burst out laughing with a lightheartedness and humor that had been absent for several months.