Ting! Ti-ding~
The cheerful melody of Up, Up Goes the Airplane rang out from Benereton's piano. Before he knew it, 3 hours had passed since Dason set the spirit to practicing.
But as time went on, an awkward silence settled between the two.
'The completion isn't rising as well as I thought.'
Dason frowned and checked the gauge.
[Piece currently in practice: Up, Up Goes the Airplane]
[Practice completion: 50%]
The completion the system reported was still stalled at 50%.
Benereton's skill had improved noticeably, but that alone was not enough.
"Hmm...... So simply memorizing the notes isn't enough?"
Deep in thought, Dason soon nodded as if he had realized something.
Thanks to his teaching, Benereton had learned both the pitch and the beat of the piece exactly.
But that alone could not complete a true 'Up, Up Goes the Airplane'.
"From here on, you need delicacy."
Dason went on as he sat back down at the piano.
Having realized that the system demanded a perfect performance, he made up his mind to teach Benereton the depth of music.
"Now, we're going to try putting emotion into the piece."
With a kindly smile, Dason began to explain to the spirit.
How to breathe life into each and every note, and how to hold a story within a melody.
That was the very secret of a true performance that moved an audience's heart.
"Up, Up Goes the Airplane is a light, happy song. You have to express things like the flutter of soaring into the sky and the thrill of walking on the clouds."
Dason guided Benereton so that it could feel with its whole body the hopeful message held in Up, Up Goes the Airplane.
The feel of the wind brushing past as one struck the keys, even the merry laughter carried on the melody.
He taught it, one by one, how to melt all those fragments of feeling into the notes.
"Try playing while you imagine the feeling of cutting through that blue sky and soaring freely."
To be more concrete, Dason explained with comparisons and examples so that Benereton could picture the image of the piece in its mind.
"You probably don't know what an airplane is, but...... you have to express the feeling of flying through the sky."
Now the spirit had to learn not simply to memorize notes but how to melt a sensibility all its own into them.
"You understand what I'm saying, don't you, Benereton?"
Dason looked at the spirit with eyes full of expectation.
"Ku."
Raising its small hands and laying them on the keys, Benereton gave a gentle nod in answer.
"Kururung......."
Having gathered its composure, Benereton soon closed its eyes and took a deep breath.
Calling up in its head the scenes Dason had described, it steeped itself fully in the mood of the piece.
As if spreading wings in its imagination, the spirit gave itself over to the new challenge it had been set.
'You can do it, Benereton. If it's you, you can definitely pull it off.'
Struggling to hold down his swelling emotion, Dason sent encouragement inwardly.
He felt certain that this small pianist, with its genius talent and pure passion, would before long be reborn as a true musician.
Ding-ding-ding~
Benereton's playing rang out across the 5th floor once more.
And yet. This time, something was different.
With its eyes closed, the spirit pressed the keys in an earnest posture.
There were still clumsy, awkward parts, but even so, the emotion dwelling in the piece came across more vividly than ever.
A lightness like flying among the clouds and the thrill of cutting through the sky colored the melody.
This was clearly the result of Benereton pouring its own imagination into the piano, just as Dason had told it to.
"That's it...... That's right!"
It was a performance that drew an exclamation out of him. It was by no means perfect, but it showed ample progress.
Ding!
The completion figure the system reported was rising little by little as well.
[Piece currently in practice: Up, Up Goes the Airplane]
[Practice completion: 70%]
A completion that had, objectively, improved by about 20%.
But for Benereton it was enormous progress. It had grasped, for the first time, the subtle joy of breathing life into music, after all.
The emotion Benereton had put into its playing was not that of a beginner. Its technique might be lacking, but the heart held within was as deep and true as any player's.
It also meant that Benereton had begun to understand music fully.
"......."
Dason listened to Benereton's playing and was deeply impressed.
Thump...... thump.
The heartbeat sounding in his chest grew faster and faster.
This was something more than mere excitement or surprise.
A passion for music, and an artist's instinct for recognizing talent.
Dason's intuition was sensing something special in Benereton.
'A musical genius.......'
A powerful premonition flashed through Dason's mind. Benereton was by no means an ordinary being.
It was a genius with not only a passion for music but tremendous potential as well.
A maestro knew a maestro in the making.
Dason sensed that Benereton had been born with the same talent as his own.
***
When a week had passed since Benereton began its lessons.
Snap-snap! Snap! Snap-snap!
Early in the morning, the maids gathered behind the building and worked through the laundry for a good while. There was more lightness than usual in their touch as they took clothes from the basins and shook them out.
"The piece coming from the 5th floor these days, isn't it getting really good?"
"Right. At first it was just monotonous, but it feels like something in it gets deeper by the day."
One maid spoke up with a smile.
When Benereton first played Up, Up Goes the Airplane, they had not paid it much attention.
But as the same piece was repeated over and over, before they knew it, it began to seep into their daily lives.
"Honestly, these days I'm hooked on the fun of working while I listen to music. I don't even notice the time go by."
Another maid showed her agreement.
Whether they were doing laundry, preparing food, or cleaning the corridors, Up, Up Goes the Airplane always lingered in their ears.
Thanks to that, their tedious daily routine felt a good deal lighter.
Before they knew it, the music had become their tonic.
Benereton's playing, which offered hope and comfort even within a simple melody, enriched everyone's hearts.
"When I see things like this, the world really is full of fascinating things. To think the sound of a little spirit's piano would change our lives like this."
One maid voiced her admiration and looked up at the sky.
At that, the other maids nodded in agreement as well. Until only a short while before, they had not believed the spirit existed at all.
"A spirit attached itself to him? That makes no sense. There's no way the youngest young master would have luck like that."
"Right. Not someone who goes around drunk every single day causing nothing but trouble."
When the rumor about Dason went around, cynical reactions had poured out. However earnestly Kemen explained, it had not been easy to open the maids' hearts.
These were maids who had watched the young master's every move and clicked their tongues at his conduct. That a beautiful spirit would hover around such a person was something they could not even imagine.
But as time passed and they kept hearing the piano that rang out endlessly from the 5th floor, their thinking slowly began to change.
What was more, the playing went on even on days when Dason was out, so they could no longer deny the spirit's existence.
"I guess we judged too quickly. The youngest young master was changing, too."
"Now that I think of it, there's been a bright glow about the Young Master's face lately."
The maids spoke in voices mixed with regret. They grew ashamed of themselves for turning away from the truth, caught up in prejudice.
"By the way...... about Young Master Dason."
The talk of the maids folding laundry drifted naturally to Dason.
"Doesn't he look a lot more dashing these days?"
"Right. He quit drinking and he's been exercising hard, and he's changed completely."
"To be fair, he was handsome to begin with. Now that he's tending to it and polishing it up, he's become truly splendid."
The maids murmuring in low voices. In their tone was an awe that had not been there before.
Dason's looks had been outstanding from the start.
He had simply been pickled in drink and had not looked after himself.
But after meeting the Spirit of Music, he had become a completely different person.
So it seemed to the maids.
The cheeks that used to be flushed with drink now had a healthy color, and his sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks had regained their firmness.
His once-disheveled hair was always neatly in order, and his gallant bearing, as if he had shot up in height, drew admiration from all who saw him.
It was not only his appearance.
In his every word and action, there was a maturity unlike before.
Absorbed in music, Dason had become as diligent as could be, and his manner toward those around him had grown kind as well.
"I hope the Young Master...... keeps on changing."
They hoped the youngest young master would keep showing this changed self, just as he was now.
"If he goes to the Demon Realm Forest, he'll die."
"I hope things work out......."
For only then could the Count, furious to the roots of his hair, be brought around.
***
While the maids' cheerful laughter was ringing through the estate, Dason was alone at the drill ground, sweating as he ran.
Having started his exercise in the early dawn, he now looked as worn out as he could be. Beads of sweat ran down from Dason's forehead, and his breathing only grew rougher.
Unlike usual, he was dressed not in a young master's finery but in clothes that were easy to move in.
Against the backdrop of the empty drill ground, Dason silently carried on his fight with himself.
Tap-tap! Tap-tap!
In the wide, deserted space, only the sound of his footsteps echoed.
"Huff...... hoo!"
After 1 hour of unbroken hard exercise, his legs were shaking and he was gasping for breath, but he could not stop.
Creak.......
The sound of the door opening echoed through the quiet drill ground. The one who appeared was none other than Kemen, Dason's faithful butler.
Early dawn though it was, he was neat, without a hair out of place. His crisply pressed black butler's uniform showed his pride in his role.
"Young Master, it has been nearly 2 hours."
Dason, too focused on his running to notice any change around him, started at Kemen's voice and came to a stop.
He looked at Kemen with a sweat-soaked face, and soon let out a sigh of relief.
"Has it been that long already......?"
Heavy fatigue showed on Dason's face. His body, strained to the utmost by the hard exercise, seemed to have reached its limit.
Dason, who arrived at the drill ground early every morning, before day had even broken, and dripped with sweat.
To attend such a young master, Kemen stayed at his side without fail.
"Please have this first."
With a kindly smile, Kemen held out a silver tray. On it sat a glass of water beaded with moisture and an appetizing sandwich.
"Thank you, Kemen."
Dason took the glass gratefully. Life came back into him as he drank the cool water.
"There is something more that I have prepared."
Kemen took a small towel from inside his clothes and handed it over.
"Thorough as ever."
Dason wiped the sweat from his forehead with the towel. Its damp fabric was refreshing.
Without this time with Kemen every morning, it would have been hard to hold out alone. Thanks to his attentive care, Dason had been able to grow stronger.
But he did not want to leave all of this to a maidservant. He did not want anyone to feel burdened on his account, so he had decided to ask only Kemen for help.
"I'd better hang in there a little longer."
Having caught his breath for a moment over the water and the sandwich, Dason muttered.
Tap-tap!
And he began to run around the drill ground once more.
Ding!
[Cardiopulmonary capacity has improved through running.]
[Your stamina is strengthened.]
The system announced the fruits of his effort.
"Young Master. A letter has come."
And when the running was over and afternoon had come.......
[To Lord Dason of House Arhan.]
[Your attendance is required at the Sheet Music Association of the Montere region.]
[An examination for the release of sheet music will be conducted upon your attendance.]
A single letter arrived.