The Bard is Fantasizing Again

"What do you mean?"

"Please continue reading."

Ulasan had an uneasy premonition in his heart. He fumbled to turn to the next page, and then his breath caught—

[However, I understand clearly that the issue between nobility and commoners is a disease rooted in the very fabric of society.

What am I? At most, I'm just a bard singing inferior songs, with a head full of thoughts about adventures, girls, and dragons.

I could lead three hundred commoners to escape to Longgold City, but I have neither the ability nor the obligation to help them settle down there.

After arriving at Longgold City, they'll probably still have to figure out how to enter another noble's territory and create new profits for them...

But none of that matters.

At the end of the day, I never thought about changing this world, nor do I want to change anything.

That's too troublesome and too exhausting.

I don't have such lofty morals, nor am I inclined to scatter pointless kindness.

Everything I do is only for myself.

Leading them out of Starberry Town is also just for a more vulgar idea—

The history of this world has been forgotten, hasn't it?

That's why the Poet's Academy has value in existing: the Empire needs their mouthpiece to proclaim its glory.

And I won't become some opinion leader, making these commoners sing rebellious songs for the rest of their lives, raising some banner of justice. I won't make them do that.

But I will make them, make this moment, weave together into the backdrop of my magnificent life.

People will know me, draw close to me, even detest me because of everything I've done...

But I don't care.

Whether it's fame and glory, or notoriety and infamy.

They're all proclaiming me.

Yes.

What I want is no different from what the Empire wants—

Perhaps history will ultimately be forgotten.

But I will still make this world remember my name.]

[On my monument after I die, people will engrave this epitaph:

Tang Qi Weinberg, a legendary bard, recorder of the world, idea king of adventures, jack-of-all-trades of the team, renowned author, connoisseur of brothels, singer, etc. (omitting ten thousand titles)... he lived a magnificent life.

Of course, there absolutely cannot be 'friend of gay men' among them.

Absolutely not!

In the future, I can add 'dragon rider,' and I seem to have already glimpsed some paths toward that...]

"..."

Geya Yuexi watched as the manuscript slowly fell from Ulasan's hands.

There was no wind, so it swayed left, then right in mid-air, before silently falling to the ground.

And Ulasan stood there like a statue, motionless.

"Geya."

After a long while, he slowly picked up the manuscript from the ground, oddly calm.

"Come help me look at what these characters say.

I might have been too tired from creating recently, a bit exhausted and bleary-eyed, so I couldn't make them out clearly."

Geya cautiously walked to her instructor's side, looked at the characters he was pointing to, and hesitantly spoke:

"It says [Tang Qi Weinberg]."

"Look again?"

"Tang Qi Weinberg."

"Tang Ji Wenbot?"

"No, instructor. It's Tang, Qi, Wein, berg."

Geya enunciated each syllable,

"Exactly the same as my junior apprentice's name, your student's name."

The manuscript that had just been picked up slowly fell to the ground again.

Geya, who understood her instructor's temperament, quickly covered her ears.

But even blocking the path of sound waves, that earthquake-like vibration still penetrated her eardrums:

"Tang Qi!?!?

That fucking person is Tang Qi!?"

You're saying—

This bard who left the academy, drifted for a year, safely ran from one end of the continent to the other, composed rebellious songs, solved theft mysteries, evaded orc pursuit, and finally even fucking killed a noble's lackey and coerced a noble's young master.

Is the fucking Tang Qi—that autistic, dull, stupid Tang Qi Weinberg who only knew how to recite by rote and was all thumbs!?"

Ulasan could finally no longer maintain the dignity of a dean. Right now he couldn't care less about his wig, only pointing at the manuscript on the ground with wide eyes and bristling beard, frantically shaking his head,

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!

If he had this level of skill, this kind of improvisational ability, such a useful brain and methods, how could I possibly have driven him away from the academy!?

There must be some mistake!"

"But I did visit the Weinberg territory to see him and couldn't find any trace of him."

Geya didn't know how to explain either, and could only speculate,

"Perhaps in this missing year, Junior Apprentice Tang Qi... grew a lot?"

"You call this growth!? You call this a lot!?

This is clearly, clearly like becoming a different person!

Do you still remember the songs I once had him sing? He couldn't even replace 'sour and rotten' with 'burning'—

But this journal clearly records several song lyrics, several of them!"

Ulasan could hardly contain his emotions and began scratching his ears and cheeks, pacing back and forth,

"How could someone with this level of improvisational skill possibly be Tang Qi? Impossible, absolutely impossible..."

Seeing her instructor growing more anxious, Geya could only console him:

"Look at it from another angle—at least you can see Junior Apprentice Tang Qi's writing level has improved, right? At least, I couldn't write this kind of text..."

"But he happens to be my student! Mine!"

Ulasan stated the real reason for his anxiety,

"If this content gets out and the noble lords learn that this 'scum of poets' is connected to me, what about my position, what about our academy!?

Saying these words, these thoughts were all his own ideas and have nothing to do with me—do you think anyone would believe that?"

"Then just don't let the manuscript get out."

Geya blinked.

"Right, right."

Ulasan was too anxious and only then reacted.

He slapped his forehead and quickly picked up the manuscript, bringing it close to the candlestick on the table's edge, letting it burn to ash,

"And the previous records, burn them all!"

Geya quickly waved her hands and lied:

"That's all there is. The previous content was all irrelevant, so I didn't copy it down..."

"Good, good."

Ulasan let out a long breath, but his chest still heaved violently, clearly truly frightened,

"Recently, besides you, no one else has approached the monument, right?"

Geya thought of the two perverts who had followed her today.

Considering that turning them in would expose her privately kept notes.

After all, if someone reported it, even if the instructor trusted her, he would conduct a thorough investigation.

And they all had a common appeal.

No one wanted to be expelled from the academy because of this.

As classmates, she couldn't help but understand Bruto—no matter how unreliable he was, he understood the gravity of the situation.

She ultimately chose to shake her head:

"No, as far as I know, only me."

Only after several breaths did Ulasan finally calm down:

"This matter has shocked me too much, I need to calm down...

Geya, you're my student. If someone realizes what Tang Qi has done, neither of us can escape involvement.

You should understand the importance of this matter, right?"

Geya understood that her instructor intended to dismiss her, so she stood to leave:

"Rest assured, instructor, I promise I won't breathe a single word of this!"

Geya was a clever student who always made Ulasan feel at ease.

As the instructor shakily waved his hand to dismiss her, she quickly bent in a bow and withdrew from the room.

Somewhat anxiously returning to her single dormitory, washing herself and changing into nightclothes.

Only then did Geya quietly open a drawer and take out a deluxe notebook with a magical lock.

Then on the ruled lines of the notebook, she wrote down the full text she had already memorized.

Until the pen tip reached the last line of the passage:

[Oh right, I almost forgot to write down one supremely important matter—

Catherine's thighs are really so soft...]

When she stopped writing, her gaze lingered over the words for a long time.

Finally, she couldn't help but stroke her own thigh.

The sensation transmitted through her fingers was somewhat smooth.

Geya was extremely curious:

"To specifically record it in the journal, just how soft could they be?"

...

"They're really quite soft."

Straightening up from Catherine's lap, Tang Qi sincerely sighed.