A full year passed after the queen cut their budget.
Aster and Astra were now eight years old.
They were still royal children—yet their lives were nothing like royalty.
The monthly allowance they received was far below what even an ordinary concubine's residence was supposed to receive. Some servants had to be dismissed. Their meals became simpler. Their living conditions quieter.
But Aster never complained.
Instead, he worked.
Every. Single. Day.
Because in that year, Aster did something no mage in the kingdom—no scholar, no noble, no royal—had ever considered.
He invented *recorded sound.*
***
The idea came to him after the birthday celebration at the plaza. The crowd had asked them to repeat songs, again and again, even days later. People wrote letters to the mansion requesting performances, begging for more.
Aster realized something:
*I can't sing everywhere at once… but sound can.*
He approached the merchant lady—Arlienne's friend—who had helped feed the massive crowd during the birthday event.
"I have an idea," Aster told her confidently. "But I need help from magic stone engineers. Do you know any?"
She blinked. "Magic stone engineers? Child, what do you want to do?"
Aster leaned forward and whispered:
"I want to **record** sound inside magic stones."
The woman stared for five full seconds.
"…Record sound? Like storing a voice? A melody? And then… replaying it?"
Aster nodded.
She burst out laughing.
"That's impossible!"
Aster simply smiled. "Not yet."
Something about his expression—his certainty—made her pause.
Eventually, she relented.
"…Alright. I'll bring someone. But if you shock me again like last time, I swear—"
***
Working with magic engineers at age eight was absurd.
Yet Aster understood frequencies, resonance, and vibration better than any adult in the room.
Because he remembered from Earth.
And he understood Sound Magic, because he already had knowledge about sound from his previous life .
Together, he and the engineers tested hundreds of stones.
They shattered many.
They burned some.
Astra once accidentally screamed into a prototype and made it explode in a puff of pink smoke.
But after months of trial—
They succeeded.
Aster held a palm-sized stone that shimmered with faint mana.
"Ready?" he asked.
Astra nodded.
Aster sang a short melody into the stone.
The runes glowed softly.
He tapped the stone again.
And the melody played back.
Perfectly.
The engineers froze.
The merchant lady dropped her basket.
Astra gasped. "Aster… that's *your* voice! Inside the stone!"
Aster grinned wide.
"We did it."
They had created:
**Sound Storage Magic Stones**
– able to record up to a few minutes of sound
– reusable
– durable
– affordable to make in batches
A revolutionary invention.
Aster didn't know it yet…
But this would shake the entire magic industry of Vornis.
***
When Arlienne heard about the invention, she couldn't believe it.
"You… made this? At eight years old?"
Aster scratched his cheek. "I had help."
The merchant lady, hands on her hips, added:
"He had help, yes. But this idea?" She pointed at Aster's head. "This was all him. I've lived fifty years and never once imagined something like this."
Arlienne looked at her son more carefully.
His intelligence.
His creativity.
His memory.
His voice.
"He's too smart… too unusual for his age."
But instead of fear, she felt pride.
"Aster," she said gently, "if this is what you want to do… then I will support you."
Aster's heart warmed.
"Thank you, Mama."
Astra hugged their mother tightly. "We'll work hard—together!"
***
Once the stones were perfected, Aster made an announcement through magical newspapers and posters across the entire country:
THE TWINS' FIRST CONCERT — OPEN TO ALL
Location: Royal Capital Plaza
Entrance Fee: None
Special Feature: New Sound Magic Stones for Sale
Hosted by: Prince Aster Wynfall & Princess Astra Wynfall
The announcement shook the entire nation.
"Concert?"
"What is a concert?"
"Are the singing twins performing again?!"
"New Sound Magic Stones? What are those?"
"Is this free? Completely free? Impossible!"
Posters plastered every wall.
Newspapers ran it as the front page.
Merchants spread the word themselves.
Aster and Astra practiced for weeks.
They perfected harmonies.
They prepared new melodies.
Aster wrote original songs, driven by the passion of two lifetimes.
This time, they weren't performing privately.
This time…
They were performing for the entire nation.
***
Finally, the long-awaited day arrived.
The plaza overflowed with people—so many that the guards had to block several streets to control the crowds.
Stalls sold snacks and lanterns.
Magic stones engineers displayed the newly invented sound-storage stones.
A large stage stood ready, brightly decorated with blue and white banners.
People gathered from dawn.
Some traveled from neighboring towns.
Some camped overnight.
Some had brought gifts, letters, flowers.
Aster peeked from backstage and felt his breath catch.
"Wow…" Astra whispered beside him. "There's… so many…"
Aster wasn't nervous.
He was excited.
This was the first step of his dream:
Not just to sing—
but to spread music to a world without it.
He turned to Astra and held out his hand.
"Ready?"
She squeezed it.
"Always."
The crowd roared as the twins stepped onto the stage.
Cheers washed over them like a wave.
"Aster!"
"Astra!"
"The singing twins!"
"Show us magic again!"
"Bless our ears, little prince!"
"We love you two!"
Aster inhaled deeply.
*This is it.
The moment we've worked toward.
The beginning of something much bigger.*
He stepped forward, the spotlight of mana shining on him.
"Thank you for coming!" he called out. "Today, we sing for all of you. For this country. For the future of music!"
Astra raised her hand.
"Let's begin!"
And as the mana stones activated…
The first concert in the history of this world began.