Silent Crown

Chapter 218 Routine Meeting

It was afternoon at the Royal Academy of Music. The school board held a routine meeting every week. The large conference room was silent. Draping red curtains blocked the blinding sunlight and the weak light illuminated the dim room.

Other than the coaches of the major schools, there were also some guests sitting on either side of the long table. They did not belong to the Royal Academy of Music, but what they represented could not be overlooked—they were all agents of important figures of the board. They represented the will of the families, institutes and grandmasters behind them. These lawyers, personal secretaries and housekeepers were all responsible for solving the trivial matters for the masters, ensuring that their ideas could be realized smoothly.

Before them, Sydney could only sit in the lower-ranked area. Beside him, there was another seemingly young representative at the meeting. His eyes were steel gray and his features were handsome yet determined. He looked like a twenty-something student.

It was Gavin indeed. He had used his skills and performance in the student council to receive the board’s recognition. As the Adrian family rose once again after their decline, he was absorbed by the school board and became a member. Now, he finally expressed his thoughts on the recent troubles of the school board after a long silence.

"Gentlemen, we must admit that we’ve mismanaged the academy recently. We’ve used the wrong countermeasures, especially in some areas." He paused and stated gravely, "We are creating enemies for meaningless reasons and baffling purposes." Here, he gazed at Ingmar, coach of the School of Revelations. Ingmar did not say a word, but his expression turned ugly.

One representative looked at the report. "Are you speaking of the matter with the history department?"

"Correct." Gavin nodded. "To be honest, I still do not understand the strife between the school board and the history department, as well as why the department must be abolished. They have not wasted money or gone against our decisions. They have not disturbed us, or even participated in our arguments with the principal. Why must we turn them into our enemy? Are we not trying to unite any force we can to protect the glorious tradition of the academy?"

"Gavin, you are still young. Do not question the school board’s decisions," Ingmar said coldly. "Cutting a meaningless department from our overly bureaucratic academy will increase our efficiency. This is also part of our job."

"Meaningless?" Gavin furrowed his brows. "Excuse me, but are you saying that a department that can produce a concertmaster and receive such an impressive score at the school day trials without any funding or support is meaningless? Then what about the four schools that make up more than ninety percent of the budget? Are they tumors? Then what about the School of Revelations that was completely destroyed by the history department this year?"

"Watch your language, Gavin!" Ingmar’s expression darkened even more. "Even if you’re about to become a royal musician, you have no right to point fingers at my school!"

Sydney began coughing violently and kicked Gavin secretly, telling him not to confront Ingmar, but Gavin did not stop. He just looked into Ingmar’s eyes and stated, "Furthermore, do you insist on abolishing the history department to raise our efficiency or because of your personal grudge? I hope you won’t bring your feelings into this meeting."

"Blasphemy!" Ingmar spat in fury. Images of stars, the sun and moon, and black holes flashed past his eyes. The air of the entire conference room seemed to thin. The angered Starry Eyes disturbed the reality and vaguely changed the environment. He glared at Gavin and said in an ice cold voice, "How dare you question me? Gavin! Do not forget that you are here because the school board appreciates you. I see that you’ve become arrogant and proud recently!"

"I’m just speaking the truth," Gavin stated and turned toward the representatives. "I’m sure you all will see that this suggestion is illogical, based on my report. Perhaps the history department itself is not enough for us to place importance on, but what Abraham once represented, and his student’s letter of recommendation…I hope that you all will consider it more carefully and not push them to the other side."

In the silence, Ingmar was too angry to speak. The other representatives flipped through Gavin’s report and began discussing with each other quietly. Finally the secretary that was chosen looked at him carefully. "We’ve heard of related rumors but they are not credible enough to be proof."

"If you don’t know if it’s true or not, why don’t you treat it as if it’s true?" Gavin asked in reply. "If we settle things with the history department, then even if the rumors are untrue, all we need to give in is a bit more budget. They only have four people and one dog in total. How much can they spend even if they feast every day and spend lavishly? But if the rumors are true…"

The representatives understood before Gavin even finished speaking and began pondering. If the rumors were true, what more needed to be said? They would have hit jackpot!

After a long pause, the old housekeeper looked up and nodded slowly. "Perhaps this is a mistake."

"We must reconsider our actions toward the music history department."

"At least, we should not push them to become our enemy…"

The representatives quickly exchanged their opinions. After reaching consensus, the housekeeper looked to Gavin. "This is your suggestion and I’m sure you have already made the necessary considerations. How do you think we can express our good intentions?"

"It’s simple." Gavin smiled. "I am about to graduate and enter the Royal Musicians. I will unfortunately be unable to attend the board’s routine meetings as the transcriber for five to six years. Before leaving this position, I recommend Ye Qingxuan as my replacement. His abilities and talent are comparable to mine. I believe he will bring much to the school board."

Hearing this, the representatives fell into deep thought.

"Would this be too deliberate? The school board might lose its dignity…"

"There won’t be any big problems at the routine meeting, correct? It is just the position of a transcriber, without any real power. It’s just to show the board’s well meaning. You need not worry about qualifications. As a concertmaster, he naturally has the right to take on the position. If we prove the rumor during this process, we can reward Ye Qingxuan’s phenomenal contributions to the school board and bring in the entire department…" Gavin shrugged and continued with a smile, "From the beginning to the end, all we need to put in is some kindness."

Hearing his words, the representatives were all moved, but Ingmar exploded in anger. "What are you saying?" It was rare for him to lose his temper. He slammed a fist down on the table and rose, demanding from Gavin, "Abraham? It’s the limit of my tolerance for that cannon fodder and quick product trained for a few months in the army to stay in the academy for retirement. How dare you let him be our equal? In your dreams! No music academy in the world will let this defective mass produced product become part of the school board! Those guys are a disgrace to musicians! Do you want our academy to become a laughing stock?!"

The furious Ingmar stunned all of the representatives. They stared at each other, but Gavin remained silent, not saying a word.

Ludwig, who had been yawning and spacing out the entire time, finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Ingmar. "You can’t say that, Ingmar…" Ludwig asked lightly, "You should know if he really is a quick mass produced musician, right?"

"What do you mean?" Ingmar’s expression changed.

"He means that there’s something wrong with your brain." Egor tossed a file to Ingmar with a cold expression. "I’m sure you’ve seen this file long ago. I went to the library to check. It had been destroyed, but the backup attachment was still there. If not for Gavin’s reminder, I would never have known that you’ve done something like this before!"

Seeing that Egor had thrown down that file, Ingmar froze, but expressions flitted past his face—that was Abraham’s file. When Abraham had reported to the School of Revelations to become a miscellaneous teacher, Ingmar had personally destroyed the file. He saw Abraham as an eyesore since that day, but he had never guessed that there was a backup file…F*ck!

Indeed, the incomplete remains of the file recorded that Abraham had voluntarily joined the military as an engineer. Because he learned quickly and was agile, he joined the military’s program for quickly producing musicians. When the training ended four months later, he became a military musician. The next thirty years of files were incomplete, but merely the first part of his resume was shocking enough.

Yes, the musicians trained by the military were mass-produced defective products, discriminated against by mainstream musicians and seen as amateur students…But the musician title that Abraham received after training was not the one irresponsibly given by the military—the ones who were given that training could go no further than the Student level.

But what Abraham received was the official Musician title, recognized by the Sacred City. He was an official third level musician and had been given his own title by the Sacred City!

In other words, a quiet engineer soldier had become an official third level musician within three months of the military’s crude training…Who knew what he could achieve in the future?

When Egor and Ludwig saw this file, they finally understood that they had been tricked by Ingmar—the man had used the school board’s power to suppress talents. He had even encouraged the other two to charge to the front and act for him!

Thanks to Ingmar, so many years had passed and Abraham was more than fifty years old. He had long passed the golden period for musicians and might never reach the Scepter level now…

"You hate him?" Egor scoffed and said directly, "No, you just fear him. With his talent and the support of the Royal Academy of Music…you would have no place in the School of Revelations."

Ingmar was silent for a long time before spinning around in anger and leaving.

-

Sparse sounds traveled from the bedroom. Through the door, it sounded like the sticky air blown through a rubber tube. The sound of a hookah was also thrown into the mix, as well as occasional coughs. The coughs were low and wet.

In the late night, Gavin walked down the quiet hall and exhaled a breath of cold air, feeling the slight chill. He reached out and wiped away the dust gathered on the windowsill. It finally looked better.

He took a deep breath and lightly rapped against the door. "Father, I’m back."

He pushed the door open and the hinges creaked. The man with thinning hair sitting on the patient’s bed behind the door looked up. His hair had practically all fallen out; age spots and wrinkles covered his face. He was only around fifty years old, but he looked like a withered skeleton—it was the backlash of the music theory. He was the head of the Adrian family.

Six years ago, he had tried to complete the levels without care for anything else. In the end, the shaking of the Originator broke down his heart of sound and he could no longer use aether.

Now, he could only survive with the help of machines and medicine. From then on, the Adrian family began to fall, but miraculously started reviving in recent years.

It had been six years…the years were so long and dreary. Gavin became lost in his thoughts.

A scoff sounded. Before the window, Banner was holding the old man’s hand. Seeing that Gavin had come, he glanced over in distaste. The old man murmured something and Banner nodded. He rose, brushed past Gavin, and left.

The room fell silent. The old man with the respiratory only stared coldly at the ceiling.

"Father, I’m back," Gavin raised his voice. There was no irritation in his features.

The old man’s chin trembled, showing that he had heard. Gavin moved forward and lifted the bed’s headboard. The old man was raised up in this way.

He gazed at Gavin in silence for a long while. Gavin looked down, his expression tame. Bits of the majesty and coldness from before remained on his face, but before the old man, this genius musician respectfully lowered his head and waited for the expected scolding.

"Today…" the old man uttered. His voice was like wooden chips trembling, mixed in with the sound of blisters popping. It was both piercing and scratchily unclear. Gavin stepped forward and put his ear closer to listen carefully. But then he froze.

"Today, the Royal Musician Division brought over a musician robe. You already have one, so I decided to give it to Banner." The man looked at Gavin. "Banner was treated badly outside. As family, we should care for him. There will be no second time, understand?"

Gavin looked up in shock. He knew about that robe. It was a musician’s armor and what gave the performer the prestige. The robe that the Royal Musician Division had brought over was one-in-a-million alchemy equipment. Many music scores were inlaid in the inside and it was practically like an instrument on his body. It ensured that the musician would not be in danger in any situation.

"But, Father…" He opened his mouth to speak, but the old man was suddenly angered. The withered hand hit his face weakly, but it cut off his voice.

The man glared at Gavin and panted. With a turbid and hoarse voice, he said, "You’re the elder! Why are you fighting with your younger brother?" he reprimanded harshly. "The decision has been made."

Gavin was stunned but he quickly lowered his head. Rubbing the corner of his worn robe, he replied quietly, "Yes, Father."

"I heard of what you did at the school board meeting." His expression was extremely displeased, but he did not continue. He just said, "You’re leaving the school soon. Don’t interact with those lowly people and ruin the good tidings for no reason, understand?"

"Yes, Father."

"And when you join the Royal Musician Division, do not do stupid things and disgrace the Adrian family. Remember, mention your brother when you have the chance. Don’t just think about yourself."

Gavin hung his head. "Yes, Father."

"Good." The old man’s angry expression softened a bit. He said coldly, "You can go now. I want to rest."

Gavin nodded and left politely without arguing. But when he looked back, he glanced at the old man, seemingly without meaning too. Seeing the aged face, rheumy eyes and rheumy irises that were totally unlike his…

"We’re really not similar." He sighed inwardly, closed the door and left.

-

The old man on the patient’s bed closed his eyes and fell asleep.

After a long while, the sound of a bird flapping its wings traveled from outside the window. Something had come in the night and appeared out of thin air. In the heavy darkness, one could vaguely make out its blurry silhouette and white color. It was a white raven.

-

-

"Professor, are you here?" Bart knocked on the door, but there was silence. He waited for a long time and called again.

Finally, a cold voice sounded from the office. "Come in."

Bart pushed open the door, but he froze—the room behind the door was nothing like the elegance and finesse from before. It was in ruins, as if a tornado had swept through. Even the porcelain that his professor loved had been shattered to pieces.

"What are you waiting for? Come in." Behind the office table, Ingmar’s expression was dark. He was dignified as always, without a single strand of hair astray, and was fear-inducing.

Seeing that his teacher was in a bad mood, Bart did not ask or look. He lowered his head and stood before the table, saying politely, "Professor, do you have any tasks?"

"Go to the history department for me in a few days." Bart could not believe Ingmar’s words. "Ask Abraham if he’s willing to return to the School of Revelations. I can give him the treatment of an associate dean."

Dumbfounded, Bart gaped at him. "But…but…"

"I told you to go, so go! Why do you have so many questions?"

After hesitating for a long time, Bart finally said, "Professor, aren’t you afraid of leading the enemy in. If he accepts…"

"Then wouldn’t it be great news?" Ingmar sneered. "The history department is too influential now. We need a new plan…If he knows his place, he’ll be obedient. Otherwise, I have one million ways of dealing with him in the School of Revelations!" He looked down and said lightly, "Genius, so what? Once I publish my findings, he’ll have to look up to me for his entire life! Even if he returns to Revelations!"

Bart froze, but then happiness appeared in his features. "Professor, did you make a breakthrough in the explanation?"

Ingmar looked down at the drafts on his table. After countless years of blood, endless hours, and even setting aside the breakthroughs and research in music theory, he had finally completed this masterpiece. Once this was published, Abraham would never be able to compete with him. An amateur from the School of Abstinence should not even dream of being equal to Ingmar from the School of Revelations!

"So what if the school board fosters him?" Ingmar muttered. "After two months, when the Sacred City Summit is held, I’ll become an internationally recognized grandmaster. Abraham can only be forced under my feet!"