I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 427

Apart from the fact that being a bard was a strictly existing profession, nobles didn’t particularly like bards.

It wasn’t because of their satirical side—criticizing noble policies through music or ruthlessly exposing dirty secrets that had leaked out from somewhere.

Then was it because a bunch of mere song-singing entertainers had gained wealth and fame? Not at all.

If nobles had oppressed them over something like that, they would have faced a backlash from the commoners.

In this world, social standing and class strictly existed, but that didn’t mean human rights were entirely nonexistent.

Not to mention, they were currently pouring effort into developing their own culture to keep Mephisto, whose culture had recently skyrocketed, in check.

Then why were there so many nobles—especially adults—who despised bards?

There was a surprisingly realistic reason for this.

Title: Sigh. Fuck, my daughter is driving me crazy

She listened to a famous bard’s song and is making a huge fuss about becoming a bard herself.

I could invest money, but honestly, it’s tragic because my daughter has zero talent.

Every single bard who instills useless dreams in kids deserves to disappear.

└ You too? My son ran away from home saying he was gonna become a bard...

└ The songs are nice and all, but sigh...

└ Don’t commoners do this too? There must be tons of people who listen to songs and decide to become bards.

└ Not entirely nonexistent, but commoners are usually too busy taking over the family business.

└ Besides, singing requires leisure time in the first place ;

Title: These arrogant bard bastards, seriously

I was trying to host a festival for once, but seeing the fees they quote makes my temper flare up.

I get that they’re famous, but is this amount of money even right? lolol

└ Still, it’s nice if you invite them...

└ As long as the territory’s residents like it, that’s enough...

└ I did it because my son said he wanted to see them...

└ Excuse me, you guys are nobles, right? Can’t you just push through with authority?

└ OP) Are you insane?

└ Do that and you’ll get beaten up by their followers.

└ Just beaten up? If things go wrong, the territory residents might protest saying it’s bullshit ;; If something happens, will you take responsibility?

In a single phrase: a chicken rib. Something inconvenient to keep, but a waste to throw away.

Bards clearly encouraged dreams and hope, but the consequences one had to endure because of them were far from minor.

Of course, this applied strictly to famous bards; those at the bottom didn’t even have that.

Title: Today’s income

(Photo of tearfully meager earnings)

This is what I made performing today. I can buy bread with this haha

└ Where did you perform?

└ OP) Played at a tavern.

└ At least you made decent money. Someone snatched my instrument and played it. But they made more money than me.

└ OP) ;;;

└ Can’t you join an adventurer party?

└ Joining a party is tough. Bottom-tier bards are basically just jack-of-all-trades inferior to rogues.

└ There’s a reason why bards sound versatile on paper, but most end up being jack of all trades, master of none.

Title: Revisiting

(Video of a bard playing the saxophone during the Spring of Eldorado)

Why a party needs a bard

└ lolololol

└ lolololol

└ lolololol

└ Mixing with the citizens’ shouting boosts morale fucking crazy lol

└ This will really be remembered as a legendary clip every time I see it lol

└ What is that bard doing right now?

└ I heard he blew up as soon as this video spread and joined a party.

Thus, even bards, who were culturally vital, harbored their own grievances like anyone else.

Wasn’t there already a famous joke that music is the only drug permitted by the state?

It was destined only to advance as time passed, never to regress.

The trend had existed before, but it grew even stronger after Grylls’s stream.

Title: But usually bards perform with just one instrument

The song Grylls played with that Jukebox? It sounded like all kinds of instruments were mixed in?

└ Yeah, sounded like that to me too.

└ Seems like quite a lot of people worked on each song?

└ Is that even possible without an orchestra?

└ Didn’t he say the gods sang them? Must be something like that.

└ If we were to perform those songs, how long would it take us?

└ Didn’t you see Pheus playing earlier? He imitated it pretty closely lol

└ That guy is just an anomaly lol

Title: I’ve decided

I’m gonna play along with the songs from Grylls’s video.

A lot of people will gather if I do this, right?

└ As long as you can actually replicate it

└ Can you alone do something that requires at least three people playing? lol

└ OP) Dunno, practice should work lol

└ If you could do that, you’d be able to do other things easily too ;;

└ You think people tease it as a drug for no reason? It’s a drug because there are so many guys like that lolFind the original chapter at novelping dot com.

More and more bards stepped up, claiming they would replicate the songs Grylls had shared.

It was natural for bards to have fire in their eyes—these were songs of the gods, no less.

Whoever picked them up piece by piece and made them their own was the ultimate winner. That was the judgment of quick-witted folks.

Title: No copyright issues?

Won’t the gods fly into a rage seeing this shitshow?

└ Wild Grylls) Those folks have been dead for hundreds of years. Bring it up as a problem when they pop out as undead.

└ lololololol

└ lololololol

└ lololololol

Title: What’s for sure is

Even nobles can’t say shit about those songs lol

They warn you not to? You can counter with: "Did you just tell us not to listen to songs the gods enjoyed?" lol

I can state with confidence that Grylls dropped a giant load of shit in many ways lol

└ Wild Grylls) I suddenly became a poop-machine ;;

└ Better than a drug dealer.

└ Wild Grylls) That’s true.

└ But doesn’t this guy drop meteors whenever he gets the chance?

└ Just accept it and move on at this point.

They were endlessly free from copyright issues as well. On top of that came automatic translation.

Of course, automatic translation was only available during live video transmissions, not standard videos.

Therefore, bards consistently watched Grylls’s broadcasts to copy magnificent songs.

’Though it’s meaningless if you lack skill anyway.’

Asella monitored the current situation while eating bread.

Whenever Grylls dropped a meteor, she was the person who became busy—both in the Gallery and in reality.

Whenever public opinion regarding Grylls soured in the Gallery, she cracked down as much as possible, while in reality, she steered public opinion in the opposite direction.

Framing it along the lines of: "The Holy Kingdom was restored to normal thanks to Grylls, so how could anyone criticize him just because he dropped a few meteors?"

Perhaps because such efforts paid off, public opinion toward Grylls in Avalon was exceptionally favorable.

’Even if public opinion were bad, everyone would hush up about it since it’s the Forest of the Four Seasons.’

For that reason, this experiment—that is, Selena’s summoning ritual—was best kept secret for as long as possible.

If this fact became known, everyone without exception would surely swarm in.

If things became that chaotic, people would try to block and halt each other’s experiments.

’At least it’s a good thing we won’t run out of money.’

In truth, not only money, but the materials required for the summoning were overflowing.

Because every time monsters were subjugated, precious materials and Inner Cores dropped.

In particular, Inner Cores were troublesome to deal with immediately, so they were being funneled in as summoning ingredients.

’...Can we really summon Grylls-nim?’

Asella recalled Grylls’s martial prowess she had watched in the video. For starters, his physical strength had long since surpassed human limits.

An Ogre, and a mutant Ogre at that, which even used Aura.

Winning a head-on contest of strength against such a entity was nonsense in itself.

’There have been many powerhouses famous for their strength. But even they avoided a direct confrontation with an Ogre.’

Just how strong was Grylls’s muscle strength? As a fellow martial artist, she was genuinely curious.

If they arm-wrestled, she would probably be easily defeated. And Grylls was currently inside the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Which meant if he came outside, he might harbor even greater strength than that. It was terrifying just to imagine.

Knock, knock, knock—

It was while Asella was looking at the Gallery. Someone knocked.

At first, she guessed it was someone from Selena’s party. It was about time to head off for the summoning ritual.

"Who is it?"

["It’s me. Are you busy by any chance?"]

"Reyna eonni?"

It wasn’t them. Asella’s eyes widened at the familiar voice.

Asella’s confidante, Reyna, was currently extremely busy.

Since Asella had even asked her to investigate information regarding Heavenly Demon, Reyna shouldn’t have had any spare energy.

Yet her coming over meant that quite a troublesome issue had arisen.

"Come in first."

Clack—

As soon as Asella granted entry, Reyna came in.

Her face looked utterly exhausted, perhaps due to the work piling up recently.

Currently, in Avalon, all kinds of tasks had piled up to the brim, so everyone was busy.

"What’s going on?"

"Take a look at this first, would you?"

Asella accepted the paper Reyna handed her.

If it was a paper that reached all the way to Asella, it was bound to be something extraordinary.

She glanced at Reyna, then slowly began to read the report.

[Alfheim’s Request for Mediation Following Repeated Border Provocations by Mountain]

"...."

An official letter, and one sent from the Elf nation of Alfheim at that. She read it slowly.

Though it contained all sorts of diplomatic rhetoric, Asella understood every bit of it.

Roughly summarized, it requested mediation for an issue that had erupted along the border with Mountain, the nation of dwarves.

’...Isn’t this a signal of war?’

In other words, signs of war breaking out were appearing, so they were asking to hurry and mediate.

The reason they requested Avalon, of all places, was likely because Avalon was neutral.

Furthermore, Alfheim and the Holy Kingdom were nations that had once opposed Demon King—that is, Mephisto.This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.

It was possible because they were historically close, and Avalon’s prestige was high enough to warrant requesting mediation.

"...How have Mountain’s recent movements been?"

"It’s true that things are gradually becoming unstable. Alfheim is saying they didn’t encroach, while Mountain is claiming that Alfheim crossed the line."

"Mmm..."

Border disputes between the two nations were an annual event that happened as a matter of course.

So she had mostly ignored it if possible, but recently it had turned strange.

’Judging by how they directly requested mediation, Alfheim really seems to know nothing about it...’

No matter how shameless Elves could be, they were a race far removed from lying.

In other words, they were genuinely wronged and thus requested mediation from a foreign nation.

Asella couldn’t just ignore it. If a war broke out at a time like this, it would be troublesome.

Not only did they have to steadily carry out the summoning ritual, but there was also no telling how Grylls would react.

’Although I didn’t like how they’ve been planting trees until now...’

She could tolerate it for Grylls’s sake. Besides, this was a matter Alfheim requested first.

She intended to wring out as much benefit as possible.

"I’ll accept the request for now. There might be a misunderstanding between both nations."

"Got it. When will you write the letter?"

"I’ll write it right now."

Things like this were best handled immediately. She’d just have to tell them to conduct the summoning ritual on their own.

She let out a sigh at the piling work and logged into the Gallery.

Various people lived in the Gallery, and there were bound to be people stationed at the border.

However, such posts usually didn’t make it to the Recommended Posts. Especially if it concerned Alfheim and Mountain, whose disputes were practically an annual event.

’As long as there’s no talk of deploying armies, it’s fine.’

Deploying troops at the border was equivalent to signs right before a war.

At this, Asella meticulously searched through posts to see if there were any abnormal signs at the border.

And sure enough, she realized there were quite a lot of posts related to the border.

Title: Fuck, these dwarf bastards

(Photo of a severely injured hand)

I didn’t even do it this time, but they’re throwing a fit saying I planted trees

Maybe before, but this time I really didn’t do it, fuck

└ Never trust a damn knife-ear’s lies.

└ Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? lol

└ OP) It really wasn’t me this time, fuck, I don’t even have time to care because of the Ghost Ship right now.

└ Come to think of it, I heard they fought pretty badly this time.

└ They were always like that, yeah.

Title: The knife-ears and dwarfs are acting weird

(Puzzled emoticon)

Originally, whenever a border dispute broke out, dwarves posted a lot, right?

But this time knife-ears are posting way more. Plus, every single one of them claims dwarves launched a preemptive strike.

This feels like it’s taking a bad turn, is it just me?

└ Isn’t it just the usual staged drama?

└ OP) Seems like it, but something feels off.

└ As long as they aren’t sending troops to the border, you can rest easy.

└ If they really did that, it would be a signal for war ;;

└ But honestly, wouldn’t those knife-ear bastards have no room to complain even if they got beaten up? Considering what they’ve done so far lol

└ True, it’s about time they got their asses kicked anyway lolol

Perhaps because of feelings accumulated over time, public opinion toward Elves was not good.

It was natural; dislike had stacked up so much that they were treated like the boy who cried wolf.

However, Asella was the Hero. Even if Elves were untrustworthy, she judged as objectively as possible.

’If Mountain really lied... What if they are trying to provoke Elves and pose as the victim?’

If that happened, there was a high possibility Grylls would help Mountain. He would definitely deliver various minerals.

Mithril and Orichalcum were minerals worth pulling off a staged scheme for.

Of course, this was strictly within the realm of speculation, and further investigation was needed.

Just as Asella was about to log off the Gallery—

[Seriously, what the hell is this guy?]

A post Grylls had made caught her eye. It was posted just now.

What kind of post had been uploaded this time? Half in expectation and half in curiosity, she opened it.

Title: Seriously, what the hell is this guy?

Wild Grylls

(Video 1 of Lackey brilliantly playing the guitar)

(Video 2 of Lackey brilliantly playing the guitar)

(Video 1 of Lackey singing while playing the guitar)

(Video 2 of Lackey singing while playing the guitar)

I gave him the guitar I bought from the auction house and he plays fucking amazingly ;;;

When I asked why he plays so well, he said his pitch developed back when he was blind. Is that even possible?

└ Heavenly Demon) It is an entirely plausible tale. Thus, martial artists with impaired sight mostly possess talent in Sonic Arts.

└ Sword Matstar) Most of human perception is naturally concentrated in vision. It’s likely very possible, you know?

└ But playing the guitar is a separate matter from that, isn’t it? ;;

└ Fuck, for a gorilla, his voice is deep and nice to listen to lol

└ Look at the kids crowding next to him lol

"...."

She was relieved that he seemed to be having a genuinely good time.