Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “What if he dies?”

  The Robin glanced at him. “Does it matter if he’s alive or not if we get the result?”

  “Fine, hand this over to me. No dark musician is more knowledgeable about drugs than me.” Naberius nodded and changed the topic. “However, Holmes is a bit more difficult. I’m worried that he might be planning something. He hasn’t appeared in a while.”

  “Just do what you need to do,” the Robin said lightly. “Don’t take your work lightly. It’s easy for God to punish you for sixty more years.”

  “Don’t say those scary things. I’m already scared.” Naberius sighed in disappointment. “I had wanted to hear some encouraging words from you. But what if I can’t do it?”

  “I have plans.” The Robin turned around and left, disappeared into the darkness.

  -

  It was the afternoon three days later by the port. Rotten leaves flowed through the sewer with the dirty water into the sea. Amidst the scent of fish and sounds of hawkers, a cargo vessel stopped by the bank. The second shipman Bonin directed the two sailors to move a wooden box to land.

  “We’re finally here.”

  They had sailed for three days and nights. During the entire trip, people had handed items to him continuously. When they finally reached Avalon, the wooden box was already stuffed completely.

  The items were covered in wax paper and seemed to be iron. They made him curious but Bonin did not dare to open them. Having lived off the sea for so many years, he knew well what happened to the guys who did not follow the rules. It would be okay if they were other smugglers but this was what the Shaman asked for. No one dared to try anything. Those who had were all dead.

  Furthermore, who knew if it was something troublesome or not? Sometimes, one could lose their life just for a glance. It was stupid. As a small smuggler, Bonin had been forced to take this tricky job. Of course he felt anxious.

  These past few days, he had imagined countless scary schemes and evil plans. He had been nervous the entire trip. Now that he was in Avalon, he just wanted someone to take the things off his hand. But why was the connection not here? Did they…

  For some reason, he was nervous. He was standing under the blazing sun but he felt an eerie chill haunting him.

  God bless, did I really get dragged into some untouchable mess? He swallowed thickly and glanced fearfully at the crowd. He was not sure if he should remain here anymore.

  “Bonin?” a cool voice sounded in his ear.

  Jolting, he spun around but saw nothing. A blurry shadow looked at him from the distant.

  “Come see me,” the voice said.

  Bonin looked up instinctively and saw a pair of cool eyes. The eyes were pure black but felt like they were made of colored glass. They were bottomless as if an invisible vortex was hidden within them. One could not look away.

  When Bonin snapped out of it, he was standing in the middle of a busy market. A youth sat on the steps, leaning against the corner before him as if sunbathing. He was squinting his eyes and humming an unclear and distant song.

  Beside him, the hawkers yelled loudly. Sailors had taken over every bit of the dock to transport the goods. Passersby came and left; some crude sailors had already started to fight, filling the air with cheers and insults. But for some reason, no one noticed the youth. It was as if he did not exist in this world. Then what was there? An angry spirit?

  Bonin was covered in cold sweat and he trembled. However, the youth tossed a strip of paper into his arms and pointed at the empty space at the front. As if freed, Bonin threw down the box and ran away without looking back.

  After going far, far away, he finally had the courage to turn around and look through the crowd. This entire time, the youth had never opened his eyes. It seemed that he was napping in the afternoon sun.

  Bonin looked away, not daring to look anymore, and ran to the port. No matter what, this creepy job was over.

  After a long, long time, the youth finally woke up from his nap. Rubbing his face, he climbed up from the ground with a troubled expression. “How did I fall asleep again?” he muttered. “I knew I shouldn’t have spent the whole night playing cards. I lost so much too. Ah…I hope Auntie won’t be mad.”

  He jogged into the bakery on the side of the street. Soon, angry scolding came from the store. The youth ran out while bowing submissively and brought a fresh loaf of bread to the inn across the street.

  The box had been tossed onto a carriage by the workers transporting vegetables. The carriage galloped down the street and stopped before a restaurant. Workers unloaded the fresh vegetables, meat, and seafood.

  The wooden box that was mixed in was taken by the workers to an Indian restaurant. A man with a turban and a hookah pipe ordered a few kids to bring the things into the kitchen.

  “Boss, isn’t there another box?” a child worker asked in confusion.

  “What box?” The boss glanced at him. “This is how much we order every day. Why would those stingy Angloians give us an extra box? It’s already a feat for them to not cheat us ten pounds.”

  The child glanced back in confusion but the wooden box was already gone.

  Just like that, the wooden box was accidentally taken around Avalon the entire afternoon. Finally, it was tossed into the postal carriage as a regular package and brought to the Academy.

  “Three hours and twenty minutes.” Ye Qingxuan sat in an open air seat of the café across from the school. He stopped his stopwatch. “I’ve already calculated but there’s still a ten minute difference. There’s still room for improvement.”

  283 The Governor

  “Three hours and twenty minutes.” Ye Qingxuan sat in an open air seat of the café across from the school. He stopped his stopwatch. “I’ve already calculated but there’s still a ten minute difference. There’s still room for improvement.”

  He went through the process again and finally found the problem. Then he picked up the coffee before him and drank it up with a smile. For the first time, he realized the power of the School of Mind.

  The power of ‘free transformation” had been imperceptibly and cleverly inserted into the gap between thoughts. The musician could use others as tools to push the matter toward their desired direction. Those involved were often dragged in without realizing. They would not even know why they died.

  No wonder Mind musicians were often feared by others. Once this kind of power was abused, it would destructive enough to destroy any kind of relationship between people. After all, there was no way to ensure that a close companion had not been planted with a hint.

  Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan also became alert. He began planning how to prevent others to use this trick on him. Actually, the easiest way was to strike first and to plant an automatic hint in everyone’s mind.

  Lola used to enjoy doing this kind of thing. She planted several layers of hints into each of her follower’s minds. It was a ring set and each one’s trigger was different. Those guys who wanted to betray her or had evil intentions would often fail at this time and be fooled by her.

  Lola had many tricks that were worse than that, especially from the book she had given Ye Qingxuan. She was not a dark musician but was more evil than them.

  Every skill was terrifying. If someone could learn all skills in the book, it would be a pity if he did not try to destroy the world and retaliate against the society.

  Ye Qingxuan shook his head and got up to pay the bill.

  At the end of the street, a black procession came silently under the afternoon sun. The black line of cars was branded with the Royal Music Division’s heraldry. The car’s windows were blocked by curtains. One could not tell how many people there were.

  There was a truck among the procession. It carried dark iron boxes seals sealed in red wax. It seemed to be transporting something.

  “Bench Guy?” Ye Qingxuan, looking at the head of the team, found that Gavin was with several royal musicians on horseback. Gavin seemed to have found him too and looked
over.

  Ye Qingxuan waved. He did not expect that Gavin would ride over quickly after hesitating and whispering to the person beside to him.

  “Bench Guy, you’re looking impressive,” Ye Qingxuan teased, seeing him riding on the dark horse and dressed in uniform with a grim look.

  Gavin managed a smile. He seemed to be very worried about something and whispered, “Ye Qingxuan, some bad things will happen in this city. The Royal Music Division has imposed martial law. Don’t go out if you don’t need to and just stay in the academy. It’s best if you can leave Avalon for one month and come back after it passes.”

  Hearing his words, Ye Qingxuan paused then nodded with smile. “I see. Rest assured. And please just call me Yezi. “

  “…Yezi, take care.” Gavin took a final look at him and then turned the horse’s head to catch up with the rest.

  Ye Qingxuan stood still, watching the convoy gradually disappearing in the sunset’s residual light. He finished the coffee in his hand and threw it into the wastebasket.

  “Big event?” the teenager youth murmured. “It seems that I have to be faster.” He turned and walked into the academy.

  -

  Late at night, the study’s door was pushed open. Abraham raised his head and saw the white-haired youth at the door. He took off his glasses. “Yezi, what’s the matter?”

  Ye Qingxuan grinned. “Sir, about the interpretation…I have some questions.”

  Abraham immediately understood. Pressing down with his prosthetic hand, the requiem enchantment silently covered the whole school district, blocking all the aetheric fluctuations.

  Ye Qingxuan closed the door. Sitting behind the desk, he respectfully handed over a stack of manuscripts. “Professor, I’m interpreting an ancient movement but I am confused by some of the music theory. How should I interpret this paragraph?”

  Abraham looked at the manuscript. A startled look flashed through his eyes. Soon, he smiled. “It’s quite simple.” He picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the blackboard behind him.

  “This interval is a relatively rare form of continuity that is the key to the whole ‘musical phrase.’ You should take this as the theme and start from here. As for the notes’ deconstruction, you can refer to the writings of Bach, the sixth generation saint.”

  The first question about ‘interpretation’ was so easily solved. Ye Qingxuan understood it quite well. After a long while of thinking, something flashed past his eyes. He handed over another manuscript. “I don’t really understand this part.”

  Abraham took it and stared at the broken passages and questions. After a long time, he laughed. “From the perspective of interpretation, you should…”

  It took a total of five hours until three o’clock in the morning. The questions Ye Qingxuan had accumulated over the past few days were finally completely solved.

  Throughout the whole process, the two only communicated about the interpretation of the movement, just like the teaching between the scholar and his student. Ye Qingxuan did not mention that the Abstinence score had come from the School of Stone Heart. Abraham also did not mention any of the School of Abstinence’s terms.

  One asked and the other answered. There seemed no logic in the questions; the answers did not sound like answers.

  But in the end, Ye Qingxuan was so excited. After the final question was solved, he closed his eyes and thought for a long time. The aetheric fluctuations in his body suddenly soared and collapsed. After a strange change, the fluctuations calmed down again.

  “I see.” He opened his eyes and smiled. “Thank you for your guidance.”

  “You can ask me anything about interpretation.” Abraham waved his hand to undo the enchantment. “When are you going to attempt to become an official musician?”

  “To tell you the truth, I have no idea yet.” Ye Qingxuan’s expression immediately became troubled.

  Abraham frowned and patted the young man’s shoulder. However, he was soon startled. “How can you have not yet advanced yet? Your resonance with the aether has reached far beyond mine when I was your age.”

  “But I don’t show signs of Deva sensing yet.” The youth smiled wryly. “I can feel that recently my strength has raised more than in past months. Logically, I should be a formal musician now, but nothing has happened yet.”

  Abraham mused for a long time and said, “Probably because you haven’t reached your limit yet? You study the theory of Abstinence, Illusion, and Mind at the same time. I’m afraid the difficulty is much higher than for the average musician.”

  Hearing him say so, Ye Qingxuan immediately became a little embarrassed. “In fact, I also study Revelations. It seems that learning too much isn’t good.”

  “It’s your gift, Yezi.” Abraham laughed. “You started learning music theory less than six months ago, right? You are a real genius.”

  “Compared with Charles, I’m not a genius all.” The teenager shook his head and stood up to say goodbye.

  “Yezi,” Abraham called him.

  The youth turned. “Yes?”

  “When you become an official musician, what’s your research direction? Have you decided yet?” Abraham asked, “What about the transfer? If you want to work as a Mute, I can find some former colleagues to help you.”

  “Well, actually I’ve already made my decision.” Rubbing Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, Ye Qingxuan recalled the name that had been lingering in his ears these days and smiled. “Maybe the Dreamweaver?”

  -

  Three days later, Charles and Ye Qingxuan were in the basement.

  On a pile of discarded parts, Charles, with heavy dark circles, yawned. After drinking a bottle of beer, he pointed to the things on the table. “It’s done, try it on.”

  Ye Qingxuan looked in the direction of his finger but only saw a bunch of strange parts placed on the Sigh armor. He did not see the alloy skeleton he had expected.

  He looked at Charles, but the man was busying drinking. Ye Qingxuan could only pick up the arm shield suspiciously and wear it on his left arm. With a crisp snap, the metal armor fit tightly on his body. Then, the notes on it lit up one by one with a buzzing sound.

  Shocked, Ye Qingxuan heard the scattered parts on the work table behind him began trembling and colliding with each other with crisp sounds. This was like…Resonance?

  Faint electric light flashed from Ye Qingxuan’s arm. In the blink of an eye, the machine parts on the work table were pulled to the teenager by invisible magnetic attraction. Ye Qingxuan reflexively raised his arm to defense. However, the parts connected together on the armor with a snap.

  The electricity made the scattered parts evolve around Ye Qingxuan. In a twinkling, a series of crisp sounds could be heard. The attraction of the magnetic force pulled the parts and rivets together. Metallic color expanded rapidly on Ye Qingxuan’s body. In the end, it covered his limbs and back, forming a strange metal skeleton.

  With Ye Qingxuan’s actions, the runes on the metal skeleton constantly extinguished and lit up again. They supported his movements lightly and flexibly without any resistance. The weight was only one-third of the original one.

  “There’s no power system?” Ye Qingxuan was shocked.

  Charles finished the beer and wiped away the wine from the corners of his mouth. He grinned. “The aether is the best power. Innovation is the life of the designer. It’s not my style to work on the original plan.”

  Ye Qingxuan nodded. He tried to move forward but did not expect to create a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, he moved a few meters forward and almost hit the wall. With cold sweat, he looked down at his feet. He tried to bend his knees slowly but felt a repulsive force between the metal bones on his legs. It suddenly dawned on him.

  “It’s the impetus and repulsion of magnetic forces?”

  “That’s right!” Charles whistled. “I was inspired by Newton, that old man. Electricity can be used as the power so the repulsion and attraction between magnetic fields should also be useful.


  “If you don’t want to break a hole in our ceiling, you’d better not jump here. Theoretically, you can jump around ten meters. Both the power of a single thrust and stability are more than twice as strong as the original skeleton!”

  “It’s more than that.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. He looked down at the iron rod that he had twisted into a mangled mess. Charles had definitely made a conservative estimate. If he did not take his endurance in consideration and went all out, he could even fight with the Butcher for a short period.

  And…

  Moonlight lit up in his eyes. He looked up and could sense the stars and aetheric clouds in the heavens through the ceilings. He could even look through the surface and vaguely sense different rhythms and beats. The feeling was fleeting, but there was a kind of intoxicating beauty.

  That was probably the Sea of Aether. One could only sense this after becoming a formal musician.

  “The aether resonance…has been strengthened?”

  “You don’t think that something as dangerous as the ‘archangel armor’ can be played by most people, right?” Charles laughed. “It’s a musician’s armor. The fragile musicians used it to become destroyers on the battlefield. Many of the alloy formulae were the product of alchemists. They naturally enhanced the power of musicians. All I did was just to lead them out.

  “You can’t store any movements after my simplification and modification, but it’s not inferior to any of other robes at the same stage. You don’t have your own robe yet, right?” Charles patted him on the shoulder. “Take this as a gift before you become a formal musician.”

  Although what Charles said sounded very simple, Ye Qingxuan had learned some mechanical engineering principles before. He obviously knew that to modify archangel armor into this and to retain the original function was very difficult. Thinking of this, he could not help but feel moved.

  “Senior, you are really a good person!” He said earnestly and patted Charles’ shoulder. “I’ll remember you my entire life.”