Chapter 132: Practice for the Performance

I made one interesting discovery regarding [Inventory Storage], the protection I received from Suetiara-sama.

I noticed it when I was putting things in and taking them out: it seems to retain inertia, or rather, things come out with the exact same momentum they had when they were put in.

As a test, I threw a bouncy ball I bought at the candy store as hard as I could and stored it, and when I took it out, it shot out with that exact same momentum.

I have to be careful not to put things in too forcefully when storing them… If I casually toss a cake in, it will come out as if it were thrown.

Well, it seems that if I directly reach my hand into the subspace and grab the item myself, the momentum is lost.

I was able to take out the thrown bouncy ball normally when I reached my hand in to retrieve it.

The usable range of [Inventory Storage] is about two meters centered around myself. Within that range, I can deploy it anywhere.

If I perceive something as a single mass, I can suck it into storage even if parts of it are outside that range.

For example, if I tried to store a train, as long as part of it is within two meters of me, I could store the rest of it together with that part. Well, not that there are trains in this world.

Thinking about it again, a storage-type ‘Gift’ is quite a dangerous ability… I mean, you could shoplift or smuggle things to your heart’s content…

When I asked Father about this, he said the God who bestows storage-type ‘Gifts’ is apparently quite strict, and if the ‘Gift’ is used for crimes, it will be taken away immediately.

I see. So it can’t be abused… Since someone with a storage-type ‘Gift’ can make a huge profit in business by working honestly, there’s no need to go out of their way to commit a crime and risk incurring the God’s displeasure. …I don’t know if Suetiara-sama would take away her protection, but I should be careful too…

◇ ◇ ◇

Having gone on the Year-End Visit, our house is now just waiting to welcome the new year, but even so, Pamela-sensei’s lessons continue.

Furthermore, believe it or not, Pamela-sensei dropped a bombshell that we’re going to perform another song.

Ehhh…? Even though I finally just became able to play Stand By Me without any mistakes…?

Our house’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’ isn’t held on New Year’s Day itself. That’s because the castle’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’ is on New Year’s Day.

The ‘New Year’s Banquet’ of a noble house is a party held a few days after that, inviting close associates. Therefore, you could say we have some leeway in time, but I still think the schedule is way too tight!

The song Pamela-sensei chose was The Supremes’ You Can’t Hurry Love. It’s a famous song, also known by its Japanese title, Koi wa Aserazu.

It’s not that I can’t play it, but… this is quite difficult…!

After the mellow tune of Stand By Me, isn’t You Can’t Hurry Love raising the tension a bit too much?

Well, maybe it can’t be helped since our playable repertoire is small.

More than that, it’s amazing that Pamela-sensei can normally play not only the guitar but also the bass, drums, and keyboard… I can somewhat understand the guitar and bass, but aren’t the drums and keyboard completely different genres?

This world has things similar to a piano, so I can somewhat understand her playing the keyboard. But there shouldn’t be any drum sets. I think what they have are things like timpani.

I guess there really are geniuses in every world…

Apparently, Pamela-sensei has formed a band with her fellow court musicians and they are practicing too.

Hearing that, Father requested that they definitely perform at our Ducal House’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’.

Of course, Sensei and her band’s performance will be after ours. Because no matter what, ours will pale in comparison…

“Alright, let’s take a break here for now.”

At Pamela-sensei’s voice, we stopped playing, let out a huge breath of relief, and sat down on the spot. I’m exhausted… This lingering tension of ‘I can’t make a mistake’ takes a bigger mental toll than I thought…

I took out a chilled sports drink using [Inventory Storage] and chugged it down in one go. Khaaa… that hits the spot…

I also took out plastic bottles of sports drink and handed them to Estelle and the others. Hydration is important, after all. I gave Pamela-sensei a plastic bottle of iced tea.

“Lady Sakuraile, let’s make your cutting strumming sharper. The pronunciation in your singing feels slightly off too. Lady Estelle, you’re playing almost perfectly, but please be more conscious of adding dynamics to the sound. Lady Bianca, please try not to be the only one rushing the tempo. Lady Ritsu, let’s listen a little more closely to the sounds around you, not just your own.”

I received a critique from Pamela-sensei for the umpteenth time. Pamela-sensei’s way of speaking is gentle, but she points out every little detail… Well, since her advice is always spot-on, I can feel myself getting slightly better little by little, though.

I didn’t think I’d get critiqued on my singing. Even though Pamela-sensei doesn’t understand English at all.

Does that mean she grasps the singing of the original song purely as sound? What kind of ears does she have, seriously…

Well, considering all the trouble Pamela-sensei has been through recently, I’m just extremely grateful that she’s taking the time to care for us like this.

“Has the harassment stopped since then?”

“Let’s see, I think visible harassment has almost completely disappeared. However, I am still being talked about in various ways behind my back by those who cannot accept new music.”

Pamela-sensei answered my question with a troubled look on her face.

It seems the younger musicians have shown some interest in music involving the electric guitar, but it’s apparently still poorly received by the older generation.

Even though it’s otherworldly music, is it a feeling like ‘classical is acceptable, but rock is a no-go’? I can imagine them calling it ‘music that’s just noisy’…

I suppose the longer their career, the more they have their own music backed by that experience.

They are the ones trying to protect what’s known as ‘tradition’. They believe ‘this is how it should be, and anything else is unacceptable’—they must be those kinds of conservative people.

I’m not saying tradition is bad. Passing down the techniques and spirit inherited from predecessors to the next generation is a very important thing, I think. Some things, once lost, can never be recreated.

I remember a senior back on Earth saying something like, for ancient Japanese swords, there are absolutely no records remaining of which region’s iron was used, in what ratios, or what the composition was, so they can no longer be made.

However, merely protecting old traditions is ‘stagnation’. Stagnation will eventually lead to ‘decline’.

There is no cultural development if you avoid new challenges.

I’d like them to accept it as one genre instead of rejecting new music out of hand. Though that might be difficult for rigid traditionalists.

I can’t say for sure that there isn’t another person like that Madame Bowron, but if they know how that incident ended, I don’t think they’ll engage in direct harassment.

I’m having the animals under Kohaku-san’s command keep watch just in case, so if any problem occurs, I’ll know immediately, but…

Because I don’t know the cause of Pamela-sensei’s death in the first place, it’s hard to respond…

Will it be a sudden accident, or a premeditated crime? Well, the Goddess said, ‘If you watch over her carefully, you’ll notice some kind of abnormality,’ after all. I won’t loosen the surveillance system!

“Will you be at the castle’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’ too, Pamela-sensei?”

“Yes. But since I have already removed my name from the noble registry, I will be attending as a court musician.”

I see, the castle’s ‘New Year’s Banquet’ is a party where the nobles gather. Since Pamela-sensei came of age and left the noble registry, she can’t attend as a noble. That means Jeremy-sensei will probably be in the same boat.

Basically, almost all the nobles who have come to the Royal Capital attend the ‘New Year’s Banquet’ held at the castle on New Year’s Day.

After offering New Year’s greetings to His Majesty the Emperor alongside their families, they are free to choose whether or not to participate in the New Year’s congratulatory party that follows.

I heard from Father that His Majesty the Emperor truly hates this event and is already fed up with it.

Yeah, being greeted one after another and turning into a machine that just replies ‘Ah, a joyous occasion’ every time… That would make anyone sick of it.

It seems Elliott is exempt from the greeting hell, but he’s serving as the host gathering the underage nobles at the party. Kukuku, taste the position I was in at the Autumn Cooling Party to your heart’s content…!

As for me, I don’t have any particular role at the New Year’s Day ‘New Year’s Banquet’ held at the castle. However, I was asked to supply goods through [Store Summoning]. Of course, I’ll receive a separate fee in addition to the money paid to the stores.

You see, the sweets and drinks served at the Autumn Cooling Party were so wildly popular that the nobles who heard about them from their wives and daughters have apparently gotten their hopes quite high. The men didn’t have a chance to eat them, after all…

Of course, our His Majesty the Emperor is not one to miss a chance to win over such nobles, so we’ve been delivering cakes, food, drinks, and alcohol to the castle for the past few days.

It’s fine with me since I just have to summon the stores, but are we going to do this next year too? He probably will, because he won’t want to be told ‘It got shabby compared to last year’.

Perhaps my magical power capacity has gradually increased, as the number of stores I can summon has increased too, so it’s not a problem, really.

Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind that if I were to die, all of this would become completely unobtainable. What a shame.

Perhaps all the previous people with ‘Gifts’ who summoned things from other worlds felt this way too.

“Now then, break time is almost over. We will continue practicing.”

“”””Yeees.””””

The hellish lesson commences once again. I can’t let Father and Mother be embarrassed. Anyway, let’s just do our best to become able to play it properly first.