Richard spent the rest of the day with Hans, the two went around the theatre planning for the new performance.
Using his knowledge of live music bars, Richard had planned out the new layout of the theatre.
The seats were removed, the amphitheater style seats were to be removed and multiple floors were set for viewing spaces instead.
The large stage would be made smaller and instruments were also checked.
Richard found a few interesting instruments, for one, he was lucky enough to find a few special guitars. They were powered using etherlite, using lightning based magic to create sounds similar to an electric guitar.
The instruments were unused, they were nothing more than experimental samples that many theatres were given but the company that produced them went bankrupt as no artist was willing to use the scratchy sounds for their music.
Richard took a few of the electric guitars home with him along with the amplifier.
It was already way past dawn when Richard reached home and when he did, only then did his mind calm down and when it did…
"WTF?!"
After he got out of his "confidence high", Richard found himself falling on his knees. He was shaking as he recalled how he acted.
Only when he got out of his stupor did he realize the kind of shit he pulled. It was like going around telling a lie and now he was knee deep and retracting his lies were just too shameful. In fact, for a moment, Richard had the brilliant thought of laying low and waiting for Hans and the others to forget…
"Like hell they would forget about such a huge plan…"
Before he left the theatre, Hans had already started remodeling, hell, Richard even helped with the historic removal of the first seat from the ampitheatre…
"Yeah… I'm fucked"
When he was still high with confidence, Richard had the feeling that he could do it all. But now that he was home, back to his safe space… his mind started to wander and think back. He started to doubt…
Pulling himself up, Richard turned to the "electric guitar" which had bolstered his confidence even more moments before.
"Nothing I could do about it now"
Resigned to his fate, Richard took the new instrument he acquire from Hans and started to test it out.
Thankfully, his home was not an apartment but a mansion, there was even a soundproof room made specially for his own use.
Richard took the new instrument into the room and began experimenting with it.
"Sounds like a regular electric guitar"
He commented as he strummed the instrument while tuning it. This took him a while but a few minutes and he was ready to play a song…
[IV-iii-vi-v-I]
Unintentionally, Richard began to play a familiar tune to many, although it wasn't exactly it, the chord progression he used as a base was the same one many modern j-pop hits use. The marusa chord progression is a variation of the royal road progression. It's a jazzy, groovy chord progression that gives a movement that "feels dark and bumpy".
In fact, Richard had unintentionally channeled his own negative thoughts into the tune which created a mysterious atmosphere that brings a sense of melancholy.
While Richard was playing with the electric guitar, a familiar elf woman appeared in front of his mansion.
"He really is some big shot huh?"
The elf woman, Alisa Drake muttered as she scanned the luxurious manor.
Although she was an elf, not all elves are rich, much like not all numen being poor or laborers. Talent, genetics and all that did not really matter in the face of generational wealth.
Richard was obviously one of the kids who grew up with a diamond spoon. He was naturally gifted with talents for performance and he treated it all like a game. Of all the people in the world, Alisa was particularly spiteful of the kids who grew up not knowing the harsh reality of struggle.
The sight of a large manor was enough for Alisa to have a negative view on Richard.
If his identity had been nothing but speculation before, now that she stood before his house, the background that she and the others believed was proven true.
Others may have sighed in relief to the revelation but Alisa was not one of them.
Unlike the numen who were physically gifted and had natural talents for the arts, Alisa was an elf whose talents were mostly in magic and yet, even in the field where she should shine, she was nothing but mediocre.
Fortunately, she didn't really like magical studies and she had instead jumped into performing arts.
In order to study she had to take up multiple jobs, it was just recently that she was able to land a spot in Hans theatre and now she was going to have to sleep her way up.
She had received countless offers for such "opportunities" but she declined them all knowing the kind of "sacrifices" she had to make. But what she never expected was that the one opportunity which she desperately needed was going to come to her in such a way.
Richard did not specify what she was supposed to do but she was named along with a few others.
It appears that Richard had planned to turn them into artists, although Alisa did not believe that her rough singing could attract people, she still couldn't resist the opportunity.
Unlike the "managers" who offered her "opportunities" to speak with executives, Richard was offering a chance to truly "perform".
It was not an empty promise to get a shot at performing, she was going to be set up as one of the main acts…
Though Richard did not really say anything about what he truly had in plan, nor did he talk to them about his ideas.
All he did was spend the rest of the day planning out the stage and remodelling plans for the theatre to turn it into a live music bar.
After he was done, Richard quickly left and returned home, unwilling to leave things as is, Alisa had secretly tailed Richard and found him returning to the lavish manor that stood before her. She had planned to just leave but…
The sound of music suddenly fell upon her ears, she followed the sound and reached a small window out at the back of the property.
Although it was a soundproof room, there were still windows which allowed for ventilation.
The house was not in the modern style that allowed for completely sealed off rooms after all. Moreover, the style of architecture resembled gothic victorian era mansions. With tall windows and walls made up of brick and stone, the lavish mansion took soundproofing as simple isolation of the room.
This made it so that the music room was situated at the back, some sounds would still escape the room but it was not too loud.
Of course, this allowed Alisa to sneak to the back and peek into the music room.
There she found Richard playing an unfamiliar tune, not on the piano or any other instrument she was familiar with. No, he was playing it on the weird guitar that made weird sounds when played.
But, unlike the others who only made weird scratchy sounds that hurt her ears, Richard played a melody that was not enchanting but instead magnetic. He was mixing in various techniques that created a melody that was not made of simply strumming.
In fact, the chords he used were quite simple but what really stood out were the picks, taps and vibrato to create a harmony of sounds that brought about an image of light in a dark day. The tune brought about bad memories but it also gave one the will to push on.
Alisa did not believe that such melodic music could be created using one instrument but when she saw the movement of Richard's fingers, she felt anger rise up within her. He did not only have skill developed through years of practice, he also had talent.
Alisa could barely play the piano, even pressing keys at a slow pace was difficult for her and years of practice barely allowed her to play simple tunes slowly. Now she was watching Richard create a harmony of sounds with only one weird instrument.
The worst part?
She can't really say much about it… because she was attracted to the music.
Alisa did not choose to go down the arduous path of entertainment simply because she failed the standard road. No, she had a passion for music, she had a desire to make people feel the same wonder she felt as she listened to songs…
But where did that get her?
Listening in on others play their own tunes, acting out a script made by others, singing a song made by others. She can't even add her own flare without ruining the whole show. Yet, here is a man, with everything in the world and more.
Alisa had the urge to flare out but she held herself back, she didn't want to cause a scene, especially in this neighborhood. In order to stop herself from making a mistake she would regret forever, Alisa turned and was about to leave.
Then Richard started to sing…
🎵Whispers and scoffs, echo within this dimlit room~🎵
🎵A tale of the lost, sung in songs with an endless melancholic blues~🎵
🎵A wish in the wind is left by the dreamers seeking light🎵
🎵Running in dark, struggling so hard, yet their dreams could only take them so far…🎵
He reduced the complexity of the melody and used his voice as an instrument. Singing along to the song, the sudden loss of sounds created an empty shell filled up by his words.
Following the rhythm, Richard sang not about some fairy tail wonderland, nor about some fantastical tale of love and loss.
No, he sang about his own feelings, about how he felt and what his life was like.
As she listened to him sing, all the thoughts that would have distracted Alisa had vanished.
Although Richard appeared to be singing about himself, the lyrics and the melody resonated with Alisa and she pictured the song to be about her. About the struggles she felt, it was a tale of her own dreams being crushed.
🎵Forever we chase, we never wait🎵
🎵If there is no light then we'll shine our own path🎵
🎵All our dreams will fuel or light🎵
🎵All our struggles will mark the road that we've passed by🎵
🎵The dreams we share is right where it should be-🎵
🎵Carried by our melody🎵
The lyrics he sang had no poetic value, it carried no story with it. Everything was pure imagery and worked only when sung with the music.
Maybe an artist or a lyricist would have scoffed at the haphazard lyrics that were sang but Alisa did not feel any of such emotions.
The music brought the atmosphere and the lyrics guided the image. Through song alone, Richard had brought Alisa into a world where she could place herself in the shoes of the singer. The emotions Richard shared were not carried by any magic, no, it was pure music that made one empathize.
In a world where using magic to subtly manipulate others was a norm, the artistry of performance had long been lost.
But that same artistry is what made Alisa come into this twisted world of entertainment in the first place. Her dreams came from the fact that she could become a top performer is she could capture the hearts of the masses.
Yet, the reality of the world of entertainment had pushed her hopes down the drain, crushed them into dust and left her empty…
Until now…
Richard was unaware that his random song had an audience, instead, he was just vibing and "limit testing" his newfound talents. He had completely recalled the musical theory he had studied extensively in his past life.
The theories and the tunes he was never able to do without weeks of practice and refinement, now he was able to execute out of pure instinct.
In the past, he had to spend hours just to familiarize himself with the movements, but now? All he had to do was think of what he wanted to do and his body would automatically do it.
This was the kind of talent only a select few in his previous world had, though most of those with talent relied only on that which left the industry in a state where making one song would take months of work by multiple music producers.
In fact, Richard knew that many of the musical talents relied on music producers who studied harmonics and music theory to create new songs. The talented artist could pick up the newly created song in a week of practice but the creation of something new usually involved more than three people.
But Richard did not want to be like those people, he wanted to make his own songs and play it too.
He didn't want to be the guy who could only write songs for others. He would write songs for himself and maybe others too…
While he continued to play around, the confidence that he lost had come back and as he finished the song-
"Uwaaa~"
"Huh?"
The moment his song ended, Richard heard a loud wailing sound coming from outside. He looked towards the source and found a familiar elf lady crying outside his window.
"Alisa Drake?"
Richard asked, he was already given the names of the people who took an interest in and he recalled who this beautiful blonde elf was. Fortunately, his confidence had returned and the reaction Alisa had showed that she had been enraptured by his spontaneous performance.
Taking a deep breath, Richard calmed his mind as he asked the elf lady…
"What are you doing here?"