Volume 11, 18 : The Artist
Volume 11, Chapter 18 : The Artist
Translator: Zhaernon
Following the bird-like creature along the way, I soon came to a place that resembled a nobleman's private garden with Oyado.
As I looked around, the entire garden was surrounded by a very hardy evergreen plant that acted as a wall. There was only a wooden door in the middle of the place, where a few nobles dressed in distinctive clothes were standing there chatting.
"Oyado, what is this place… some sort of private gathering place?"
"Well... I don't know brother, but I can feel the sound of slight music in there and there's some strange smell, I haven't smelled it before so I don't know."
"The sound of music? Taste?"
I thought about it, and suddenly it dawned on me.
"Is it a concert hall? The sound of these instruments playing should be loud, yet even Oyado you can only hear a hint of it, which means that the other party may have directly used a soundproofed room... so it's a recital? But what did you say that strange smell was..."
I mulled it over, but didn't think it would help to think about it.
"Come on, let's go inside."
Saying that, I walked straight over to those nobles.
The clothes that these three people at the entrance were wearing... Well, they were indeed very distinctive, how should I put it, although the ordinary nobles wore gorgeous clothes, but that was only with various fabrics as well as decorations.
The few in front of us, however, besides the brilliantly colored material of the clothes, the various flamboyant decorations on them are also very eye-catching.
Have you ever seen a green dress adorned with a purple crystal ball on top? Have you ever seen a hat bigger than a basin wearing tights with extraordinary results underneath? If you didn't, these people in front of us were probably dressed like this.
However, under the influence of the magical aesthetics of modern artists, I have not been surprised at all. I recovered from the surprise in just a few seconds, and then walked to them and said:
"Hello, may I ask what's going on in here?"
"Oh."
The lady dressed like a grapevine looked at me.
"And what brings you here?"
"I... was just in time to see a beautiful bird hovering in the city, so I followed it here, while my sister heard the music inside."
"Oh, you can actually see the Chairman's painted bird?"
The grape lady was slightly surprised, then looked over at the person next to her.
"Interesting, then go in and get a feel for the art, you might be one of us someday."
"Modo, is that okay? He isn't ours..."
The lady in the white tights next to her suddenly said.
"It's just a weekly party anyway, no big deal."
"Well… okay."
Then the lady called Modo made a pose of invitation to us.
"You guys will just have a good look inside later, you might get a sense of it oh."
"En… okay."
I nodded evenly, then pulled Oyado and pushed through the door.
"Brother, what the hell are we doing here? We didn't come to see some kind of artist's party, did we?"
"I definitely wouldn't look at it if it were on a normal day, but don't forget that two of the three remaining students we have are in the art business. If I was right just now, that bird flying in the sky should be the one that Kenan guy drew, and according to what that lady just said, if that guy is the president of such a party, we might be able to recruit those two at once."
After a pause, I continued.
"By the way, I'd like to ask about the reason why this guy, Kenan, doesn't come to class even though he said he's coming to the event, could it be that it's because he wants to keep holding art exhibitions like this?"
"It's very possible indeed if you ask me, since I remember artists being defined as abnormal people." Oyado said with a nod.
"Just think about something like that, and don't say anything about it, or the guys around here will definitely want to beat us up."
"They can't beat us, yo."
"That's true."
Saying that, we started to walk around inside the botanical garden.
After coming in, I realized that it wasn't simply a courtyard, there were several different shaped huts spread out inside the courtyard, and if I'm not mistaken, those should be the places where the music that Oyado heard was coming from.
On top of the tree lined aisle in the courtyard, there were all kinds of paintings.
Well, although I'm not artistic, my discernment ability still tells me very clearly the different values of these paintings, above the price of course.
But what I cared about wasn't above that either, but instead, I just turned around inside the courtyard, looking for the names of Kenan and Geraldine in the crowd.
"I didn't expect that the teacher would have actually come to my party, it's a double honor."
Suddenly, a figure walked out from behind the easel nearby, wearing a black suit with a mask on his face.
Ordinary people would have thought it was a strangely decorated artist, but I could tell at once that this guy was just a shadow painted by Kenan.
It was actually so lifelike, and I was suddenly very interested in Kenan's magic.
Kenan's ability belonged to a type of summoning, but according to his family, they didn't know where Kenan learned it, but they just saw something he drew come out of the painting one day.
It sounded pretty weird, but it was a very powerful ability indeed.
And now he can actually speak through what he's drawn? That's really...
"So ah Kenan, we can finally talk, can you tell me why you're not coming to class?"
"...Yes, please follow me."
Saying that, he led me straight to a nearby stone hut.
Oyado and I looked at each other, nodded, and followed.