New Life, New Task: I'll Be A Mom Then!!!

"What is he doing…" As someone who was not familiar with sculpting, Evelyn looked at the rest of the women with a curious yet polite expression.

Outwardly, Max looked like he was trapped in something as he stayed unmoving while his eyes were focused on the four materials entrapped by something.

Randel remained calm, however, he wanted to give a light explanation that Max might still be in a trance because he was conceptualizing his work, but he didn't want to preempt everyone about what the young sculptor was doing."He's moving…" Finally, Randel detected a clear flash in Max's eyes as he uttered the words.

Max finally moved, stretching his hands to reach for the bronze material then he put in it the center to start working with it.

"Bronze? Isn't it hard to use the material with the time he was only given?" Grandpa Reuben couldn't help but comment in confusion.

"It would be hard if you don't use your very own aptitude. Suppose he had the constitution of a devourer, or a lightning or wind element that are best for piercing, even earth elements could do too." Deputy Chairman Bramwell replied.

"I see…" The Imperial women who were also interested in the sculpting process all listened intently to the discussion.

They remained like that for an hour, clearly watching the first stage of the process done by Raphael, Anna, and Max. After that, they decided to move to the testing of the other five of the group.

"Alright, while the artists were in the process of completing their work, we will now test the musicians with your abilities."

Bramwell stood up and looked toward the five remaining students. "First up would be Lainie Yseult, student for composing and arrangement. Please come forward."

Lainie took a deep breath and stood up. Walking towards the center she waited for the instructions as a faculty assistant handed out a musical score on her hands.

"Your task would be to arrange two interpretations of the Empire's march. You have three hours to complete the arrangement and then, the students behind you try to sight-read your first arrangement which is for a piano quartet. The second arrangement will be for a full-size orchestra which will be evaluated by the judges."

Lainie acknowledged the instructions before she followed the assistant to her workroom. As she exited the hall the students and even the judges could not help but sigh and comment on how stringent the selection procedures were.

Although the Empire's anthem is a piece that was familiar and known by all, it is also a piece that represents the history and glory of their Empire. To have this as the assignment for the selection would put great pressure on Lainie as she would even be judged by the royalties who were present in the hall.

"Well, the council had already not shown us mercy with the tournament format. It is better for the candidates to get used to this kind of situation, for their challenges in the tournament would surely be tougher and more ruthless than this." Grandpa Ben rubbed his long beard as he looked at the remaining four with anticipation.

"As for the four of you, we will assess you individually. But bear in mind that the tournament not only had an individual category but the grouped ones. So anticipate that you will all work together to create one great piece of music." Bramwell looked at them and remembered.

"Next up will be Student Marie, Viola. Come and show us the most confident piece you know." He announced.

As soon as Bramwell called Marie, she gracefully stood up and prepared her instrument. After checking her bow and fine-tuning her viola, she looked at the audience and the judges as she started to introduce the piece she will play.

"The piece that I will be performing for all is the Ballade of the Wanting Forest."

"Oh, isn't that a good piece!" Princess Consort Evelyn, who played the viola excitedly commented. Viola players were kind of underrated in their era because of the range that their musical instruments could do.

They said that those who played the viola were likely to be people who do not like to be in the limelight, as like the violins or the one who would be the backbone of the tune which would be the cello and the double bass.

However, Evelyn believed that there's beauty in every instrument, which is why even though she was an outgoing and sociable person, she chose to ignore the stereotypes of the personalities behind someone's chosen instrument and believed that she can make good music with the viola.

Seeing someone performing a solo piece using her instrument, she had an unmasked expression of anticipation. She wondered how Marie would play the piece which is actually about a forest's desire to survive.

Marie stood calmly as she placed her viola in position. With her elegant bow hold and an applauding posture, she started to play the first part of the music.

Vrr….

Starting from a hollow low tone that was added with such a haunting intensity by her bowing, the notes slowly painted a forest that was barren and burnt.

Devoid of life, not even the life of a weed.

Desolate solitude, dark like an abyss.

The listeners need not to even close their eyes to imagine the imagery of the forest that Maria was trying to paint with her music.

When the listeners were now on the verge of being carried away by the despair of the scene that they were experiencing, a series of swift, flowy notes came to caress their ears. It was like the gentle howl of the wind, hovering between the forest, sweeping away the ashes in the burnt ground.

Then the gentle and soft wind became flowier and more desperate as if wanting to ascend to the heavens. Soon the feeling of wanting to ascend turned into a cry… a call for heaven's mercy.

The sound became so intense and dramatic that the listeners were brought to a falling stop. Like dandelions carried by the winds high above the skies, only to fall down so suddenly.

However, the notes that came next were light and cool sounding, falling like little droplets of rain. It depicts the cleansing of the burnt forest and the answer to its cries. The rain nourished the ground and the wounds.

Soon an ascending harmony of the notes took the listeners high up again, denoting that the sun finally shines into the forest, and finally, after the cleansing of the waters, a small sprout of seedling emerged, gathering up the light from the sun.

…

Everyone was still in a trance even after they heard the last note. After a long pause, Evelyn was the first one to clap, followed by the rest of the judges and then the entire hall.

Marie was astounded by the amazing reaction. She never thought that she would be able to garner such a reaction to the piece.

"Well done Marie! It was a very lovely performance! The judges will be assessing your performance and the results will be announced after all the others are done." Bramwell applauded.

Marie happily went back to her seat, greeted by her mates cheerily. But before they were able to talk among themselves, Haley was already called.

"Student Haley, Cello. It's your turn." Bramwell announced.

Haley was more nervous as she had to immediately follow Marie's amazing performance. Even though they were not competitors at the moment, they were playing for the same listeners.

The longer this goes, the higher the standards would be, and so from Haley to the last performer, the bar will slowly increase as the judges listen to their music.

"The piece I wanted to play for today is  Suite for Cello by Maestro Nortag." Haley quickly introduced her piece which immediately gathered the curiosity of the elders who were in the hall.

"Maestro Nortag… that legendary composer. He was well acclaimed for his pieces that were beyond magical!" Queen Lucia, who was a cello player, commented in interest. "Although he only had one solo cello piece, this one requires a greater effort to play as it was written without accompaniment, I wonder if she could pull this through."

"I think that she could, she was not even faced by the sight of so many people watching her perform." Eli calmly replied. While in most cases, even a violin solo was usually accompanied by an instrument, there are pieces that were at their most beautiful form when they were playing alone.

The chosen piece Haley was about to play was one of those pieces, and so Eli could not help but firmly watch how the young petite cellist would perform.

Haley breathed softly, trying to focus only on the music she would create, what she needed was not only the stillness from the environment outside but also the stillness of her heart to be able to resonate with the music that she wanted to project.

And so with the slow movement of her bow, a crisp sound of the first chord rang that made everyone shift in their seats and finally looked at Haley intently.

She just announced her presence dominantly with her first chord!