A beautiful melody echoed through the dining room. The tranquil, serene notes settled the heart almost involuntarily, yet there was no small chamber ensemble in sight—only an arcane phonograph sitting on a table against the wall, its shellac disc slowly turning.
After a few minutes, the music gradually faded as the disc finished its rotation. The servant stationed nearby hastily swapped in another.
Hearing the music resume, John set down his knife and fork, remarking with mild sentiment to Lucian: "Ordinary shellac discs can only record a few minutes of music—it's difficult to present a complete symphony unless you use a higher-grade pure arcane disc. But that's something ordinary people can't afford."
He had not forgotten his former life, and so he paid considerable attention to the lot of common folk.
"The problem is, ordinary people can't even afford an arcane phonograph," Lucian quipped as he carved his foie gras. "Though to be fair, pure arcane discs really aren't cheap—they're roughly equivalent to a second-tier alchemical artifact. Minor nobles can only buy one on occasion and have to use shellac discs most of the time. But I doubt that's a problem for Viscount Wellesley's household."
Because this involved a simplified integration with Arcane Magic and Lucian himself had no mature solution yet, he could only redesign and arrange the Magic Circle from the ground up based on the concept. It couldn't be accomplished overnight—it had to be done step by step.
After becoming a director of the Runtat Musicians' Association, Joel had grown noticeably more spirited, as though even his aging had been slowed. "But minor nobles far outnumber the great nobles, and considering the vast majority of restaurants, shellac discs have undeniably become the current mainstream. They're an important source of income for most musicians. That's why I've noticed them increasingly leaning toward composing simple pieces lasting only a few minutes—easy to produce and lucrative."
Musicians in Runtat weren't like those in Altor; opportunities for concerts were fewer, and their income had primarily come from serving nobles as music advisors or chief musicians. After the invention of the arcane phonograph, they gained another vital channel: "music usage fees," calculated as a percentage of sales from shellac and arcane discs infused with their compositions.
Because there was precedent in the form of "royalty fees" for the exchange and use of Arcane Magic, and because Lord "Atomic Mastery" himself was also a great musician, the mages had no objection to "music usage fees." Aside from categorizing musicians into tiers and stipulating different percentage shares, the whole system was carried out in accordance with the "Intellectual Property Act" passed by the Noble Assembly and signed into law by the Queen.
Although arcane phonographs at present were merely an indulgence for the nobility, their hefty prices meant musicians earned handsomely from them. Under this financial stimulus and the influence of the "light music" trend, most musicians had grown increasingly accepting of the short, few-minutes-long musical form. And this simple, uncomplicated "leisure music" was also well received by the broader citizenry, causing Runtat's musical development to diverge ever more sharply from Altor's trajectory.
In Lucian's words, Runtat would sooner or later become the birthplace of pop music and popular songs.
Hearing Uncle Joel's concerns, Lucian smiled: "Sometimes, innovations in instruments, changes in how music is disseminated, and transformations in the medium that carries music will all influence the direction of musical development. Think of the music of the seven-stringed lyre era, the music after the invention of the violin, the music after the invention of the Piano—it's only through this constant process of transformation that music can remain vibrant instead of gradually withering away. So don't worry, Uncle Joel, about shellac discs' small capacity creating a trend toward brevity. It lets us see more different kinds of music—music beyond what we currently imagine."
The most celebrated living musician had spoken with such conviction, and Joel himself was a former Bard and street performer who had a natural fondness for short pieces. His doubts vanished entirely, and he shifted the topic to the food itself: "I didn't know you had such talent for cuisine, little Evans! This sweet-and-sour meat is absolutely delicious!"
"Mm-hm," Aunt Elisa nodded with her mouth full. She, who was normally the talkative sort, had become completely absorbed in the food after tasting it.
On the table, apart from a few Triaria-style dishes such as the foie gras, most of the food was something she had never seen or experienced before—utterly unlike the cuisine of any existing nation. For a woman of generous build who loved nothing more than eating, once she started, she simply couldn't stop.
"Thank you. Natasha is also very fond of these dishes." Lucian accepted the compliment without false modesty. Chinese cuisine was vast, but not every dish would please people of another world. The items on the table had been carefully selected as part of a trial-and-error process with Natasha serving as the "guinea pig," so of course they gave Joel, Elisa, and John the sensation of almost swallowing their own tongues.
Moreover, Lucian was skilled in Arcane Magic and adept at identifying animals and plants, and this world had countless strange and exotic things that Earth did not. As a result, the "hunting range" for his Chinese dishes had expanded once again—the varieties had at least tripled, ranging from salt-baked sub-dragon meat to braised thorn-tree demon wood, and everything in between.
When Lucian mentioned Natasha, Joel asked with some puzzlement: "Why didn't Her Majesty come tonight?"
Normally, as long as Lucian was in Allinur, he visited Joel's family at least twice a month, and Natasha accompanied him most of the time.
Before Lucian could answer, John spoke up first: "Runtat is undergoing a major urban renovation recently—expanding its boundaries and repositioning the defensive Divine Arts formations and Magic Circles. Since it involves the villas, properties, and estates of numerous nobles, the Noble Assembly has been in constant arguments. Her Majesty has been very busy mediating and keeping everyone in line."
"Runtat has changed so fast," Joel said with a touch of wistfulness. "In the twenty-odd years I lived in Altor, I didn't see half as much change as what Runtat has undergone in the past few months. I wonder what Runtat will look like in the future."
After dinner, Lucian and John each took a glass of red wine and stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the second-floor sitting room.