The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 108 What kind of reward is this? (Please subscribe!)

"Rumble, rumble!"

"stop fighting……"

"Rumble, rumble!"

"Can you please be quiet?"

"Rumble, rumble!"

"I finally get to sleep in, why do they keep shaking from morning till noon?!"

Disturbed from her sweet dreams, Goya could no longer suppress her irritation.

She lifted the silk quilt, her delicate bare feet stepping onto the wooden floor, and slammed the window shut with a creak.

The roar echoing in her ears lessened, but the vibrations remained unabated, causing her chest to heave uncontrollably.

She likes the feel of silk against her skin and doesn't wear pajamas to bed.

Morning grumpiness drove Goya to hysteria:

"I hate National Day!"

The vibrations from the soles of her feet, combined with the sounds lingering in her ears, coursed through her veins, giving her the illusion that she was in the [Terren Royal Theater]—

The theater is located in the very center of the entire royal city of Sotoma, the city of the dying.

In Tyronn's language, 'Sotoma' actually means 'molten gold'.

It is the residue remaining after the refined gold has been extracted from the gold.

As commoners in the capital, they did not consider themselves any more noble than people in the border regions.

They make up 90% of the city's population and maintain the city's most basic operations.

While earning higher salaries, they also incur similarly high expenses.

It's even less likely that he'd be able to hold his head high in front of the other 10% of noblemen—

So much so that I often doubt the meaning of my lingering in this city and my reluctance to leave.

Therefore, even though the nobles of the Terran Empire still refer to this land as 'Sotoma,' it is inevitably defined by commoners and travelers as 'the City of Dying.'

The entire Royal Theater is constructed from "Steel Rock," a fusion of seven different types of minerals, including the "Grey Stone" from Weinberg's territory.

The four-tiered stone walls enclose a huge oval shape, and the hundreds of arches on the ground floor serve as the theater's entrance, connecting every street leading to Sotoma.

Stepping in from here leads directly to the tiered, bowl-shaped seating area.

The saying "You can reach Sotoma by taking any road" originates from this.

Goya was fortunate enough to sit with her mentor, Ulasang, at the very bottom of the theater—

That area was reserved for nobles of high status, such as emperors and members of parliament.

The marble-carved chairs were covered with soft, warm cotton padding.

Depending on the season, consuming alchemical materials can change the required temperature.

She still remembers how she felt sitting in the soft chair.

On a cold, snowy December night, her 'moon tide' was writhing around her delicate lower abdomen, yet she still had to put on a smile and attend the New Year's celebration in the early hours of the morning.

But all the pain dissipated in the wind with the warm cotton cushion beneath me, as comforting as drinking a mouthful of steaming hot oatmeal.

Of course, the audiovisual feast that followed shattered everything she had felt before into nothingness—

Last year's New Year's celebration featured a performance of "Reincarnation of Sotoma".

Compiled with passion by the Academy of Bards, led by mentor Ulasang.

The story tells of a world-ending crisis brewing beneath the abyss of the Endless Sea, where the beloved Emperor, after 1400 million cycles of cataclysm, found the only solution and sacrificed himself to save the world.

Of course, the final outcome will definitely be the emperor's resurrection.

After all, no one has the guts to write about killing off this ruler who has existed for over a century.

The initial script wasn't actually that complicated; it was simply a grand war drama about "the emperor leading nobles and the army to stop the crisis in the abyss," with the magnificent battlefield scenery being the selling point.

"But ridicule has already spread among the noble lords, saying that our Poet Academy is just a bunch of 'mages who like to use formulas' and has no sincerity whatsoever!"

This year, we're determined to break free from this boring framework so they'll look at us with more respect and we'll get more sponsorship!

Instructor Ulasang gave these instructions at the meeting.

So Goya introduced the selling point of 'reincarnation'.

The original grand narrative was enhanced with the oppressive feeling of reincarnation and the emperor's personal sacrifice, which ultimately won unanimous praise from the academy and became one of the reasons she was invited to participate in the celebration.

And when she realized that the actors standing in the center of the theater were all genuine spellcasters, she truly understood why [Terren] could be the only one to bear the name of 'Empire'—

Every spell that explodes before your eyes is the result of the casters taking turns going through a cycle of exhausting their rings, drinking pressure potions, and exhausting their rings again.

To maximize the auditory experience, the Empire also used a large number of magical artifacts, operating simultaneously, to surround the eardrums of every audience member in the theater.

The three-hour show almost turned the whole world upside down.

Only the Terran Empire, ruled by spellcasters, could afford to use spellcasters on such a grand scale, providing them with entertainment and dance.

She couldn't help but be shocked...

"Now I finally understand how those ordinary people who couldn't participate in the celebrations and had to stay home to spend the New Year felt—"

They must be having trouble sleeping because of all this noise that has nothing to do with them!

The noise outside the window is from National Day, and the military parade will last from dawn until dusk.

Meanwhile, the towering statues guarding the city would move along fixed trajectories at this time, each step causing the earth to tremble and the mountains to shake, to demonstrate the empire's power.

Goya stomped her foot angrily, then tucked her long, thin earlobes under her ears to block the sound as much as possible, and collapsed onto her bed.
"How can anyone calm down and rest like this!" There's only one month left until the academy's graduation week, when students will have to submit their graduation poems.

This is a crucial part of the coaching assistant election.

Once you become a teaching assistant, after a three-year internship, you can become a full-time teacher and start teaching, which basically means you've settled down in the Poetry Academy.

So during this period, Goya always stayed up late and didn't get enough sleep.

All this was so that at the end of the graduation week, they could submit a perfect report card and surpass Pluto, who had come from behind.

Perhaps because she had read too much of Tang Qi's diary, her mind inevitably wandered beyond the manuscript, sometimes hoping that she could also master the 'spell of cursing,' and sometimes fantasizing about wandering to the corners of the world...

This left her unsure where to begin in composing a magnificent poem praising the noble gentlemen.

The content I write is never satisfactory:

He must be held accountable for this!

When he returns to the academy, he absolutely has to treat me to a meal of "Sweet Orange Grilled Dragon Salmon" at Tianjing Restaurant.

Tell me everything about how you learned magic!

A pair of slender, snow-white legs thrashed back and forth on the bed until finally, she exasperatedly said...

"Can I go and take a nap outside the city?"

She decided to go to Moonlight Lake in Weinberg Territory.

Not only is it far from the city of the dying, but the moon vines that cover the lakeside are also incredibly soothing. Lying there until nightfall, you might even witness their magnificent display of light.

the most important is……

Perhaps we can find out about Don Qi Weinberg's past there.

Without thinking, she quickly dressed and put on her boots in five minutes, then spent an hour quickly applying light makeup before pushing open the door.

Amidst the deafening tremors, Goya prepared to leave her dormitory and walk out of the academy.

Wherever she goes, she is a striking presence.

So much so that the poets they encountered along the way would occasionally glance over and offer a congratulatory remark:
"Congratulations, senior."

"Congratulations for what?"

Goya was somewhat confused.

"Since Pluto publicly withdrew from the competition for the teaching assistant position, perhaps we should start calling you 'teacher' next month?"

This isn't something that can be discussed openly, after all, they weren't the only two vying for teaching assistant positions—

Otherwise it would seem like the decision was made beforehand.

Goya hadn't heard from Pluto for a while, which led her to believe that he, like herself, was engrossed in his creative work.

But I never expected to receive this news in the end.

More than a secret joy, I feel confused right now:

"why?"

Although Pluto is unpredictable and not very reliable, being reliable in itself doesn't prove anything.

Looking across the entire academy, it's actually quite difficult to find someone who isn't a poet—

Why are the windows in the dormitory so well soundproofed?

Because if they didn't do that, they wouldn't be able to stop the shouts from the silver party late at night.

If Pluto's abilities weren't outstanding, she wouldn't even consider him a formidable opponent.

But she couldn't understand why Pluto would give up his high-paying, stable job as a teaching assistant.

"Perhaps it's because he found another job? After all, lately he's been secretly gathering some poets together."

Goya asked curiously, "Why did you gather them?"

"I don't know—the poets he gathered were really strange, like Houston, and that Tifflin, you should know him."

The one who was publicly reprimanded by the entire hospital a while ago for 'abusing' [Susie with teeth].

And then there's Ashley, the one who spent a fortune getting her hair transplanted to pursue a male dwarf.

Of course, she was rejected afterward, and is now considering whether to ask a spellcaster to cast a [Long-lasting Shrinking Spell] on her.

I dare not associate with these people, lest my pet hamster suffer because of them.

"..."

Although she didn't want to comment, Goya felt that there seemed to be a reason why these people were able to come together.

This made her less willing to delve deeper into the topic.

"In short, giving up the election is a good thing for me. It seems I don't have to worry about writing a graduation poem anymore, right?"

Goya's heart was inevitably filled with joy at this.
"To celebrate this moment, maybe I should treat myself to a delicious meal?"
But the [Sweet Orange Grilled Dragon Fish] is too expensive, and I'm tired of the [Honey Berry Sorbet]...

What should I reward myself with?

……

You have obtained 'Relaxation Song'.

You have obtained the 'Spore Replicator'.

You have acquired the 'Specialty: Superhuman Energy'.

Tang Qi, exhausted and lying on the bed, looked at his latest reward and fell into deep thought:
"What kind of reward is this?"

(End of this chapter)