A Request from Lady Anatia

A charity event, isn't that a wonderful idea?

That was practically written on Lady Anatia's face as she beamed at everyone.

An adorable smile. The kind that made any man want to do whatever she asked, no questions asked.

Having known her for a while now, he could tell this was genuine.

The basic problems of food, clothing, and shelter had mostly been solved, so it made sense that she'd moved on to thinking about how to lift everyone's spirits.

There was no trace of the typical aristocratic arrogance about her.

He found himself naturally wanting to help.

That said, she'd brought quite the challenge.

Queen Tianis's problems were often outright impossible, but Lady Anatia had a way of bringing tricky requests of her own.

She had a playful streak, you could say.

Between waitressing at the Cat's Paw Inn and all the rest, she might actually be more of a tomboy than Queen Tianis.

And yet she had the education to be called a true woman of talent. Quite impressive.

"Will you be organizing this yourself, Anatia-sama?"

"Yes. If Tianis does it, her position means it inevitably becomes a bigger production. That takes time and adds paperwork. Someone like me who can move more freely needs to handle things like this."

"You don't need to handle this yourself now that you're chancellor, Anatia-sama. Wouldn't Yupe-sama be well-suited for this sort of thing? Her workload should be cleared up, so she'd have the time."

"Absolutely not. That girl does have artistic sense, and she sings beautifully. She can even play instruments reasonably well. But if you put her in charge of an event like this, she'd forget the whole point and blow the budget trying to make it flashy, and the council would be in an uproar. She's best used as a guest who gets to enjoy herself singing a song or two."

He could picture it perfectly: Princess Yupe laughing haughtily while spending money like water.

Lady Anatia was right. She was not the person to put in charge of an event.

Best to use her as a figurehead.

Her status was low at the moment, so she was treated rather dismissively.

"I understand the situation. You'd like to borrow my group since they don't need the overhead of security escorts. Though I should say, from what I've seen, I can't guarantee results."

"It won't be that difficult. With practice, they'll be able to play properly. The performance this time isn't meant to be professional-level. I want it to be the kind of thing where the audience feels just a little brighter for having heard it. A bit of awkwardness might actually work in our favor."

"Is that so?"

Unlike the banquets that nobles attended, it sounded like this would be quite casual.

If that was the case, even a few mistakes wouldn't be a big deal.

Honestly, he'd rarely been to concerts, so this was unfamiliar territory.

The closest experience he had was watching traveling performers play in the plaza for tips.

Still, he owed this woman a great deal, so he wanted to help where he could.

And this would be a good experience for Azu and the others.

Young girls, all of them… though calling Alexia and Elza "girls" was a stretch.

As the master looking after them, having them spend all their days on nothing but adventurer work and fighting might not count as fulfilling his responsibilities.

There was nothing wrong with them having experiences that didn't involve danger.

"Understood. I'll take you up on it. They've been busy with back-to-back commissions lately, so this should be a nice breather for them."

"Oh, really?!"

Lady Anatia sprang up from her chair and seized both his hands.

A startled sound came from behind him.

"Tianis told me to give up if I couldn't find anyone to help, so I was actually quite nervous inside. But you really are dependable, Yohane-san."

"Please, it's nothing. The ones who'll be doing the hard work are Azu and the others."

"Even so."

She was clearly delighted that she'd found people to participate.

Her excitement was palpable.

This kind of behavior was rare for her.

It really drove home how much she'd invested in this event.

"As for compensation… I'll pay a performance fee, of course, but given the nature of the event, it won't be a large amount. I feel bad about that, though, so…"

She seemed to be struggling with the compensation.

Since it was a charity event, profit wasn't the goal.

Paying the performers a large sum would go against the whole purpose.

"How about payment in kind? After the performance, I'll let everyone pick an instrument they like as a gift."

"That's… wouldn't that be too much?"

Proper instruments, pianos, brass instruments and the like, were extremely valuable and expensive.

They were handcrafted by skilled artisans, so of course they were. Not the kind of thing you could just casually hand out.

If anything, the performance fee would feel like the afterthought.

"They're mine, so it's no problem. I hope you don't mind that they're secondhand."

Then Lady Anatia turned to face Azu and the others.

"I'll handle everything, booking the venue, all the logistics. Don't worry about a thing. I'll provide the instruments too. When you come to practice, just come to the castle empty-handed."

"Understood. If Master has agreed to it, I'll give it my absolute best!"

"I'm counting on you. As for which instruments everyone will play… let's decide that after you've had a chance to try them. There are plenty of types, so I'm sure something will suit each of you. Now that that's settled, I have a mountain of things to take care of, so I'll excuse myself, much as I hate to leave. Yohane-san."

She drained her tea with graceful composure, then rose to her feet.

She left with her maid in tow, looking even more pleased than when she'd arrived.

The moment Lady Anatia was gone and silence settled in, Finn slammed her hand on the table.

"Seriously, why did you agree to something that annoying?! I thought I made it pretty clear I wasn't on board!"

"She's a major client. There's no way I could turn her down."

"Sure about that? Looked to me like she batted her eyes at you and you went along with it."

"Hey, what do you take me for? I also thought it'd be a good opportunity for all of you. A concert means dressing up and performing in front of people. Wouldn't hurt to do something like that once in a while."

"Easy to say when you're not the one doing it."

"Now, now, Finn-chan. Calm down. There's no question that music heals the heart. People gather just to hear the piano at church, you know."

"Afraid I haven't had the kind of life where I got to listen to music."

"Then all the more reason. Right?"

"Fine. It's already decided anyway."

Finn backed down reluctantly after Elza spoke to her.

He could tell she was a little anxious.

Finn always tried to handle everything flawlessly. Maybe she was afraid of failing.