Chapter 48: In the Hall

Since the success and reputation of a teacher was also directly related to the students, Lott and Felicia were also quite worried.

"Do something?" Felicia rolled her eyes, "Do what?"

Frowning his eyebrows, Lott answered thoughtfully, "A symphony is a quite long piece of music and usually consists of four parts. For a concert, four symphonies are enough. I don't understand why Mr. Victor insists on creating new symphonies, after all, he got so many good ones he wrote before to choose from."

"Mr. Victor did pick out the best one, and it will be one of the four symphonies." Standing beside, Athy joined their conversation, "But it is also the only ready-made one from the four symphonies. Mr. Victor felt all the others are nowhere close to the best one. In order to present an excellent concert, Mr. Victor has to make sure all the pieces of music are equally impressive."

Rubbing his eyes, Herodotus sighed, "Mr. Victor always want to be perfect. His previous works were actually very popular among many musicians and nobles, or he would never be qualified to give a concert in the Psalm Hall. If we try, probably we can persuade him." He looked at Lott and Felicia, while Lucien, a poor student who could only play the simplest music for now, was subconsciously ignored by him.

"What do you think, Mr. Athy?" asked Felicia. She knew that, among all the people in the sitting room, Athy was the one who knew Mr. Victor the best. After all, Athy had been taking care of Victor for almost thirty years.

"Unfortunately, I don't think so." Slowly, Athy shook his head, "The concert is of great significance for Victor. He wants to fulfill the wish of his late wife, which is to have a perfect performance in the Psalm Hall, thus he won't make any compromise."

"Probably... we can look for some potions that are helpful for him to relax." As an apprentice, Lucien's first idea was seeking the help of potions and drugs.

"No we can't. Those drugs will slow down one's mind and cause the inhibition of inspiration." Athy denied Lucien's proposal seriously.

"But we can't just let Mr. Victor torture himself like this," said Lucien with concern.

"Then what can you do, Lucien? Come up with a new masterpiece for Mr. Victor?" said Herodotus with clear sarcasm. He never liked Lucien, "If you cannot, please shut up."

Lucien didn't feel really offended, instead, what Herodotus just said gave him some new thoughts. Mr. Victor needed his help, Lucien knew.

When they were talking, Victor opened the door and walked downstairs, looking very tired. The students stopped their conversation instantly and looked at him.

Victor's hair was messy, and his eyes red. "I'm going to the association to practice the first three symphonies. All of you come with me to see how the different parts of the orchestra cooperates. "

Although all of them were a bit relieved to see that Victor's mood had returned to normal, they knew the trouble still remained unsolved.

............

On the fifth floor of the association, the orchestra was playing a magnificent symphony. The four parts of the symphony were integrated perfectly and together provided the audiences with a grand acoustic feast.

As soon as the orchestra finished playing the last part, a cold applause came from behind. All the students looked backwards.

It was Wolf.

"Good, very good. It looks like you're ready for the concert, Victor." Holding his chin high, Wolf still looked the same, arrogant and mean. Victor enjoyed a period of peaceful time when Wolf was out of town, and now apparently the happy time was over.

Victor's face instantly darkened since he knew Wolf must have heard something. Before Victor said anything, Wolf asked with a fake smile on his face, "I remember you asked for my advice before I left. Now I'm back, so let me see your work."

"You just heard it." Victor just wanted to cut the conversation short as much as he could.

"No, I mean... all the four symphonies." Wolf lifted his eyebrows.

"Wolf, you...!" Victor was very pissed off. Before his rage took over, two men walked into the hall. One of them was a white-haired old man, wearing a decent black suit and with a black cane in his hand; The other was the good-looking blond that Lucien met a few weeks ago, Mekanzi, who was Lott's elder cousin.

"Director." Putting their argument aside temporarily, both Victor and Wolf slightly bowed to the old man.

Victor's students also bowed following their teacher. It was Lucien's first time meeting Baron Othello, director of the association, who was also Mekanzi's mentor.

In the law among nobles which was constructed over a long time, those noble offsprings who managed to awaken their Blessing in their blood and thus became royal knights were more qualified to inherit their titles, but it was not to say that the rest of them who failed to awaken the blood power could not be the next head of their houses. As a gifted musician, Othello was also the only son of his house, thus he rightly inherited the title of his family and became the Baron.

"Victor, I heard that you're having a hard time with the fourth symphony?" Othello walked to Victor and asked him seriously.

Victor nodded his head, his eyes lowered, "Yes, sir..."

Othello slightly raised the cane in his hand along with his voice, "You must know how important this concert is. You're representing our association to play in front of Grand Duke and the princess, and you gotta make sure nothing will go wrong. Do you understand?"

"I do, sir. I will make sure every piece of work will be really impressive..." answered Victor in a low voice, "...at least I'm trying my best."

Wolf gave Victor a loud snort on the side.

"No, I'm not asking for everything to be that impressive, Victor," nodded Othello, "I'm asking for a safe and smooth performance. I understand your pressure, but you cannot keep delaying like this. You have to hand in all of your music as soon as possible to give the orchestra enough time to practice." Then Othello paused a bit, "Well... let me give you a deadline. By the last week before the concert, I want to see all of your work laying on my office desk. Any problem, Victor?"

Victor shook his head with great effort, "No... sir." He knew that if he still could not come up with the last symphony, someone else in the association would replace him very soon.

"I hope you understand why I'm pushing you." Othello looked less serious now, "I believe you can do it, Victor." The director nodded to show his encouragement and then walked out of the hall.

At this time, Mekanzi approached Lott with a smile on face, "My dear little cousin, I hope you won't have any trouble with the musician qualification test like your teacher is having here. Although I'll be one of the examiners in the next three years and I'm very looking forward to your violin performance, my integrity will never allow me to lower my standard."

"I don't need you to lower your standard." answered Lott, clenching his teeth.

Then Mekanzi turned to Lucien, "You know what? As a pauper, how lucky you are that you may have the chance to be a musician. It's not really wise wasting your time on fooling around with girls instead of practicing your skills."

Lucien was very confused when he just heard Mekanzi's comment, but soon he realized he was talking about Elena. Recently, Elena spent some time with Lucien in order to learn more about music.

Then Mekanzi left and caught up with Othello with a lovely smile on his face. In the family of Griffith, as the second-in-line to inherit the title, Mekanzi always spared no effort to please the house master.

"Oh my... Victor, you're still racking your wits about your last masterpiece?" Pretending that he didn't know the fact before, there was a smile of triumph on Wolf's face, "Enjoy, Victor. Enjoy your first play in the Psalm Hall, cause it may as well be the last."

Before Wolf left, he glanced at Lucien, "Is this your talented pauper student, Victor? Well... wish him good luck with his qualification test in the future. After all, your reputation is directly related to his. What a poor young lad!"

Wolf was amused by his own words. Laughing, he went out of the hall. While Lucien noticed that Victor's face was flushed and the blue veins on his hands stood out.