Danmachi : Shinigami Chapter 149 149 : Banquet

Before the banquet began, Rayleigh and Eleonora ca up with a plan.

Rayleigh would enter the banquet as a perforr and provide musical accompanint.

In other words, he would be part of the atmosphere.

"You're really sure this is all right? Court musicians are all top-class."

"I feel like there won't be any problem."

"You feel like..." The princess sighed, then asked, "Fine. What instrunts are you good at?"

'Instrunts?'

Rayleigh thought for a mont before answering, "Piano and violin, I suppose."

"Who taught you?"

"I taught myself."

"Hah? How could you possibly teach yourself sothing like that? Are you joking?"

"No. I really did learn by myself. If I had to say it, my teacher was sheet music."

"That does not make feel reassured." Eleonora felt utterly exhausted.

Just to be safe, she asked again, "How long have you studied?"

Rayleigh counted on his fingers.

Seeing him extend four fingers, Eleonora frowned slightly.

"Only four years?"

Music was a skill that required ti to mature.

Even a genius, without long study and guidance from a famous teacher, would quickly beco no different from the masses.

As for a self-taught musician with only four years of experience, they could not even be called third-rate.

Rayleigh shook his head.

"Not four years."

'Not four years?'

'Wait.'

'How old was this guy anyway?'

With that mask on, she could not see clearly. Could he actually be much older than she thought?

Was it just that his voice sounded young?

"Ahem. How old are you, sir... No, I an, are you saying you studied for forty years?"

"Four days."

Rayleigh gave an extrely calm answer that left Eleonora speechless.

Fo...ur—days!

FOUR DAYS???!

"Are you an idiot?! Four days? That ans you're basically a complete beginner! Tonight's banquet is very important. If your performance is terrible, they really might cut off your hands on the spot, or even kill you!"

Seeing how worked up she was, Rayleigh said, "But I think I play fairly well. My violin is decent too."

"Aaah, forget it! I studied for two years myself. Listen to my level first, then reconsider!"

Among the court education the princess had received was musical performance.

Coincidentally, she also knew how to play the violin.

She took a case out of the cabinet, then removed a violin and bow from within.

After a brief tuning, she began to play a solo piece.

The lody had apparently been composed by an elven bard.

'Mm.'

As Rayleigh listened to the lody, he nodded slightly.

His musical sensibility was fairly average.

One could even say it was a little ... bad. He was not especially sensitive to music and could only distinguish whether sothing sounded good or bad.

Faced with impressive techniques, the only evaluation he could really offer was the simplest and most direct kind of praise.

Eleonora's performance sounded quite nice.

It was simply pleasant to listen to.

But it did not give him a soul-stirring feeling.

This was the result of diligently raising proficiency. There were no techniques worth showing off, nor any particular emotion poured into it.

It was simply the product of hard work making up for lack of talent.

When the piece ended, the blond girl looked at him with violet eyes, holding her bow as though it were a teacher's pointer.

"Now do you understand? Even with my level, I can't even reach the heels of the court musicians. I'm only about one-tenth as good as they are! You've only studied for four days. You probably haven't even mastered the posture yet. I advise you to give up on this idea and switch to another plan."

"One-tenth, huh."

Rayleigh was sowhat surprised.

If that was the case, then this was more than enough.

Or rather, if court musicians were only at that level, then he was already far above them.

"Can I try?" Rayleigh pointed at the violin in the girl's hand.

The mont Eleonora heard that, she knew he still had not given up.

So, in order to make him abandon the idea, she directly pushed the violin into his hands.

Rayleigh accepted the violin.

Unlike Eleonora, he did not stand. He simply sat there casually, placed the bow against the strings, and began to play.

In an instant, Eleonora's eyes widened.

She looked at the man before her and could no longer look away.

This lody.

Its .. so precise.

Yet within that precision, it was so stirring.

Four days?

Don't joke with !

This was clearly master-level skill!

As Rayleigh controlled the violin in his hand, he could feel the effect of his skill.

[Gif Blessing: Minor]

In just four days, he had already obtained technique surpassing that of court musicians!

And his progress in painting was even faster.

With these two artistic skills, he had needed only four days to reach a realm ordinary people could never attain in their entire lives.

And this was not even the complete form of Alfia's skill, yet it already possessed this level of strength.

"What an insane skill i have." Rayleigh quietly sighed.

Unfortunately, the princess beside him heard it, and her face imdiately filled with black lines.

"Who praises themselves like that?"

"..."

"Well, it really is amazing, assuming what you said is true."

Four days.

No matter how she thought about it, that was impossible.

This was not learning ability that could be described with a word like genius.

It was simply monstrous.

Rayleigh, who had no idea how to explain, chose silence.

He picked up the sheet music Eleonora had studied before and morized the pieces, enriching his own "stock."

If the banquet went on for too long, the number of pieces he knew might not be enough.

...

After the sun set, in the corridor leading to the banquet hall, Eleonora had changed into a formal dress and looked extrely elegant.

She looked at Rayleigh, who was still wearing his mask, and asked with a strange expression.

"You're not planning to go in like that, are you?"

"Even I can't bring soone that suspicious into the venue."

Rayleigh paused.

Ah.

She ant the mask.

Because it was sothing constructed from Reiryoku, he felt nothing at all while wearing it.

After getting used to the narrow field of vision, he had almost forgotten the mask was even there.

He raised a hand, grabbed the mask on his face, and pulled it off.

The eerie mask imdiately broke apart into Reishi and scattered away.

His disguised appearance was revealed beneath it.

When Eleonora saw that beneath the mask was the face of a white-haired boy who did not look much older than herself, her eyes widened, and her throat went dry.

For a mont, she could not make a sound.

"..."

"Hm? What is it?"

Eleonora fell into conflicted silence.

This guy couldn't possibly be younger than her, could he?

She had been treating him with quite a bit of respect earlier!

But the mont she realized he might be younger than her, she felt as though she had been tricked.

Why was that?

"Haa, forget it. It's nothing, let's go in."

"Thank you."

Rayleigh knew that if not for her promise to him, the girl probably would not have attended this banquet that caused her so much pain.

Because of what had happened during the day, appearing here now should be deeply tornting for her.

Even so, she had honored their agreent.

The two stepped into the banquet hall together.

Almost instantly, the gazes of most of the people present gathered on them.

Rayleigh could feel the girl beside him go completely tense.