“After the recruitment was finished, I had Juna scout these girls for me,” I explained. “Come on, I’ve told you about how I wanted to make entertainment programs for the Jewel Voice Broadcast before, haven’t I?”
“Oh, yeah… You did mention that,” Liscia said as if she’d suddenly remembered.
I continued on, relieved that she had now mellowed out a bit. “Now, when it comes to entertainment programs, I was thinking we’d start with a singing program. There’s no one who dislikes hearing a beautiful singing voice, after all. These girls are the candidates to become singers on that program. From the day we scouted them up until today, they’ve been training to improve their singing and dancing at Lorelei, the singing cafe where Juna works.”
Though, really, the order of things had been mixed up a bit.
Honestly, I’d wanted to start with a program like Nodo Jiman, the amateur singing contest, to get the people used to the idea of a singing program, then have these girls debut as idols.
By the way, when I use the word “idol” here, I mean it in the sense of “A pretty woman who sings well.” The sort you would have seen a few decades ago in the Showa Era. If I tried to introduce a modern-style idol group to a country that didn’t even have the concept of an idol, they weren’t going to understand.
If I went with a single singer format, however, they would likely recognize it as an extension of the traveling minstrel, the busker on the street corner, or the songstress in a singing cafe or bar.
“I see, so that’s Project Lorelei, huh,” Liscia said. “But is that something you really ought to be doing now? When there’s trouble over the fact that we’re occupying Van?”
Liscia looked perplexed. She probably didn’t see the point in starting an entertainment program now, right after we had just seized the capital of Amidonia. However, she was wrong.
“This is precisely the time for it,” I said. “Now then, Juna, could you do the introductions?”
“Yes, sir,” Juna said with a bow, then began to introduce the girls.
She began with the one standing furthest to the right, the light elf girl who wore her hair up.
In this world, fair-skinned elves like her were called light elves, while brown-skinned elves like Aisha were called dark elves. In the country I came from, elves were usually imagined as blonde-haired, but now that I thought about it, I had seen elves with hair like hers in foreign films. She had pale skin and orange eyes. Judging by her appearance, she looked to be in her mid-twenties, perhaps. She held herself with a certain dignity, like a career woman.
“This is Chris Tachyon,” Juna said. “She’s a light elf, as you can see.”
“Hello, Your Majesty. I’m Chris Tachyon.”
Chris put her hand in front of her belly, bowing to me at a forty five degree angle. That gesture and the mature vibe she gave off made me think of an airplane cabin attendant from my old world.
Juna went on to explain Chris’s talents. “She is a former minstrel and has a beautiful singing voice, but her poetry reciting is especially marvelous. She has a pleasant voice and is able to read smoothly, so her poems are as vivid as if she had cut out a piece of the scenery. In my personal opinion, rather than have her debut as a singer, she would be better suited to a program for disseminating information like the one we broadcast before.”
“I see,” I said. “You want her as an announcer, not a singer.”
It was true that, from what I could hear, she seemed to have a clear voice and speak smoothly. A female announcer could have an idol-like presence on a news program, and there was no problem with the way she looked. I had Hakuya prepare a pen and paper, then I had him write down a certain short statement and hand it to Chris.
“Could you try reading that for me?” I asked.
“This? Let’s see… ‘This story is a work of fiction. The people, organizations, places, and events depicted have no connection to anything in reality.’”
“Yep, sounds good to me,” I said. “Let’s have you work on a news program like Juna suggested.”
“Thank you very much,” Chris said with a smile, bowing once again.
Liscia asked me in a whisper, “What was that statement you just had her read?”
“Some magic words from my old world,” I said. “If you say them, you can get away with practically anything.”
When I told her that, Liscia cocked her head to the side, looking like she didn’t get it at all.
While we were talking about that, Juna moved on to introducing the next person. This time, it was the adorable girl who looked not much older than Tomoe. That frilly lolita-style outfit she wore suited her well.
“Her name is Pamille Carol,” said Juna. “She is a kobito.”
“I’m Pamille. Nice to meet you.” Pamille bobbed her head. It was a cute gesture, but…
“What’s a kobito?” I asked. “A little person?”
“No, she isn’t a hobbit, she’s one of the ever-young,” said Juna. “Not many races stop aging like the elves, but that trait is especially pronounced in the kobitos. Even once they reach full maturity, they only look like twelve-year-old children. Pamille may not look it, but she’s far older than I am.”
“Seriously?!” I exclaimed. “To think there’s a race like that in this world…”
It’s like the ultimate race of lolis and shotas, I thought. I dunno… I feel very concerned for their entire race. Maybe I should create a protected district for them, put up a sign that says “Yes, loli-shota. No, touch,” outside it, in order to protect them from a certain type of gentlemen and ladies out there.
Also, I nearly missed it, but I guess there are hobbits in this world, I thought. Here’s hoping there aren’t any strange rings out there, too…
As I was thinking about that, Juna continued her explanation. “She has a voice as clear as a bell. She’s especially good at singing cutesy songs in a way that makes them even more adorable…People always see me as being older than I am, so I’m ill-suited to singing songs like that myself. I envy that gift of hers a little.”
“Well, I envy you, too, Juna,” said Pamille. “When I heard we would be appearing before His Majesty today, I wanted to wear a sleeveless dress, but I have nothing for it to hang on, so I was told I couldn’t.”
Juna and Pamille both seemed to be staring off into the distance.
It makes sense for Pamille to feel that way, but is Juna bothered by the fact she seems older than she actually is, too? Setting her appearance aside, with the mature way she acts, it’s hard to believe she’s nineteen years old, after all.
Now that I thought about it, I remembered a line in a movie I had watched a long time ago that said, “Treat an older woman like she’s younger than you, and a younger woman like she’s older than you.”
Juna’s a year older than me, so rather than having her indulge me all the time, I need to find ways to let her rely on me once in a while, I thought.
Juna cleared her throat in an attempt to get us back on track, then continued with the introductions. “Now, last but not least, this is Nanna Kamizuki. As you can see, she’s a beastman.”
“Heeeey! ♪ I’m Nanna! ♪” the cat-eared girl cried with a toothy grin.
She looked to be around fifteen or sixteen. Compared to the other two, she had dressed up less, wearing a simple tube-like outfit. On her face she wore face paint, like a soccer fan. If I were to judge solely on her appearance, she looked like a girl from a tribe that made their living fishing.
Glaive was about to tell her off for the simple and innocent way she was behaving while before the king, but I gestured for him to stop. That was because I detected an odd accent.