Chapter 319
Translator: Yang_Wenli
Hol led Joshua to his residence. It was a shabby room located behind the tavern’s kitchen.
The room was very dimly lit. When Joshua entered the room, he could hear a faint breathing sound.
The infant girl described by the dark elf was lying on a bed made out of several folded shabby rags.
“Is there... sothing you need from ?”
Hol’s speech was a bit difficult to understand. After all, he had just been miserably beaten. Through the dim light, Joshua could see that his face and eyes were completely bruised up.
The bruises made Hol look like a comical clown. Hol seed to be concerned about the injuries on his face as he was lowering his head toward Joshua the entire ti.
“Sit down first.”
Joshua handed the only chair in the room to Hol.
Hol knew fully that the person standing before him was a ‘grand individual,’ soone he cannot afford to offend. Because of that, Hol obediently sat down on the chair.
Then, Joshua moved over a table before Hol. After that, he found a chair from the tavern outside and sat down before Hol.
“Mister... if you wanted to purchase that infant girl...”
Hol found the interrogation-room atmosphere difficult to bear. In the end, he spoke in a probing manner. He did not believe that this grand individual would co here especially for him, a little sewer rat.
Thus, most probably, he ca here to adopt that infant girl.
“Infant girl? Indeed, I am quite concerned about the infant girl you’ve adopted,” Joshua took a glance at the baby sleeping on her bed.
Even though the dark elf had reported to Joshua that her true identity was a Chaos Demon, Joshua did not sense the aura of a Chaos Demon from her...
“But, this ti around, I’ve co precisely for you,” Joshua’s gaze fixed onto the youth in dire straits.
Likely, he had just experienced the worst day of his life...
“For... ?”
Hol didn’t dare believe his ears. He raised his bruised-covered eyes and finally recognized who the grand individual before him was.
“I... rember you’ve helped during the audition, Mister.”
“No, I didn’t help you. You’ve obtained acknowledgent with your own performance. And now, I ca here to congratulate you on ascending to the semifinal. Furthermore, I wanted to know if you’re ready for the upcoming performance.”
When Joshua asked that question, Hol was montarily stunned. He clenched his scar-covered fists. His lips started to tremble slightly. In the end, he lowered his head, afraid to look at Joshua in the eyes.
“I... I plan to forfeit,” When Hol said those words, he felt like his throat was being choked. But, in the end, he still managed to speak those words.
“Forfeit? Why? You clearly have another opportunity.”
Hol did not answer Joshua. Instead, he quietly took out a shabby piece of paper from his back pocket.
It was a letter. But, the encounter from earlier had caused the letter to be soaked in sewage water. Nevertheless, Joshua was able to clearly tell that it was Sir Weissenasche’s writing.
More or less, it was a congratulatory letter telling Hol that he successfully entered the semifinal. Furthermore, it explained in detail the semifinal competition will be done through ‘dueling’ — two contestants will compete with each other and one will be eliminated.
The audiences will be the ones to decide on who will be eliminated.
“Was the contestant that you’ll be facing in the semi-final the opera singer from Farucci? He seed to be quite famous too.” After skimming through the letter, Joshua learned that Hol’s opponent for the next round of the competition would be a sowhat famous opera singer from Farucci.
“That’s why, Mister... it is impossible for to win. Besides, before I left, that opera singer told that if I am to withdraw from the competition... he will reward with ten gold coins.”
Even though Hol tried his hardest to make himself appear happy, Hol’s shivering voice betrayed him.
“Ten gold coins? If you are to defeat that opera singer, you will gain more than a re ten goin coins! Do you really look down upon your own music that much?” Joshua’s words managed to stab Hol’s sore spot in his heart.
“No, it’s not that I look down on my music... Mister! The people of Norland all look down upon my music!” Hol’s hands were forcibly pressed against his forehead. As he spoke, his voice was choking with emotions, “The things I sung about... in the end, they are nothing more than trash of the underground world not accepted by others. How could they possibly compare against the sung performances of those opera singers...? Simply no one in the entirety of Norland is willing to accept my music. No... it can’t even be considered to be music.”
“Then make them accept your music,” Faced with Hol’s sob-filled venting, Joshua only responded with a very simple sentence.
“Mister, didn’t you catch what I was trying to say?! The people of Norland are incapable of comprehending my music!”
“Then make them comprehend,” Joshua once again responded in a very simple manner.
But, to Hol, Joshua’s reaction appeared like soone who can’t understand his situation at all. Hol was preparing to say sothing in refute when Joshua suddenly stood up and grabbed Hol’s clothes collar.
“Listen properly, kid... I know what you’re trying to express. You want to say that your music is not popular in Norland at all, that the citizens of Norland, or perhaps the entire world, are all not interested in your style of singing! But! That is not a justification for you to give up!” Joshua lifted Hol up with his collar. Because of that, Hol was forced to look at Joshua’s pitch-black eyes.
“But, human’s taste is not forever unchanged. A real musician is not soone who follows the trend. Instead, they are the ones who create their own trends! Do you understand?”
Hol was choking slightly from being lifted by his collar. In order to make Joshua let go of his collar, he nodded repeatedly. Joshua released his hand from Hol’s collar.
“But... but, Mister, I... don’t believe I can accomplish such a thing.”
Hol’s confidence was already destroyed by the first round of competition. He had given his all to the performance. He swore that it was the best sung performance in his whole life.
Yet, all he received were the audiences’ hiss, boos and countless shouts for him to get off the stage.
“Indeed, it’ll be impossible for you now. But, that does not an that it will be impossible for you in the future. All you need is a bit of enlightennt.”
Joshua took out three pieces of paper and placed them on the table. Hol noticed that there were musical staffs on the papers. Furthermore... there were lyrics written there too.
“If those people doesn’t know how to appreciate your music, make them realize exactly how amazing that style of music is! The writer of this song is soone I admire. His life experience resembled yours slightly.” Joshua pushed the three pieces of musical papers to Hol, “But, it will not be an easy task for you to accomplish a complete interpretation of this song. Hol, I will only give you one chance. This is also the only chance you’ll ever have. You can either continue being a sewer rat in Squirrel Street or... have your na be rembered by the audiences of Norland.”
Hol quietly listened to Joshua’s words. He was at a loss as to how to respond. The two conflicting emotions of excitent and fear were fighting in his heart. Nervously, he picked up the three pieces of paper. From the first piece of paper, he saw the na of the song, ‘Lose Yourself.’
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