Once the singing ended, a terrifying amount of votes, twenty-three thousand three hundred and twenty-one, appeared on the projection behind the stage.
Moreover, all the audience seated in the theater stood up to applaud the ordinary girl.
This included Joshua... Joshua’s was applauding the nun lady’s choice in persona.
Before her performance, she answered Joshua’s questions using the persona she created for herself. Through her answers, she successfully created an image of an ordinary yet hard-working girl to the audience.
She was from the borders of the Nation of the Holy Church. When she was still a child, her mother taught her a song. Ever since then, she became fond of music and followed after her mother to learn music.
Regretfully, the plague brought forth by the war caused her mother’s death when she was only five. And now, she wandered to Norland with her father in hopes of allowing more people to be able to listen to the songs created by her mother.
If the ‘World’s Singers’ was to be compared to a game, this nun lady had, without a doubt, grasped the strategy to clear the stage. In fact, she even went as far as to write a ‘cheat code’ for the game.
That is, the song she sang was not a hymn from the Nation of the Holy Church. Instead, it was a song a mother sang for her daughter.
While hearing her performance, Joshua inquired Gallolie about the song. Gallolie replied that she has never heard of that song before.
In other words... that song was written by that nun lady herself!
Both the melody and lyrics were extremely deep and emotional. On top of that, that nun lady started choking with emotions mid-singing.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the champion of the competition was already determined, she might become a powerful competitor for the champion spot.
Her twenty-three thousand plus votes served as proof of her success.
The pitiful girl who loved her mother dearly yet can no longer meet her mother again had successfully won the sympathy from the audience of Norland.
Most importantly, her singing performance was simply flawless.
“Thank you... thank you everyone...”
After she finished her performance, she even covered her mouth with her hand. With tears emerging from the corner of her eyes from the shock toward the audience’s reaction, she bowed to them.
Her appearance of being endlessly moved once again acquired sympathy from the crowd. In an instant, her votes surpassed twenty-eight thousand.
Joshua had thought that the ‘cheat codes’ he provided for the Blackwood Elves would allow them to rise above all other contestants. But, this nun lady had managed to, without anyone’s advice, grasp the rules of this game, this battle.
“I hope that your late mother will be able to hear your singing.”
Joshua continued to cooperate with the nun lady’s performance. Tearfully, Herolia turned to express her thanks to Joshua. Then, Tylene guided her down the stage.
‘Is this truly fine? Her performance earlier is extremely... terrifying.’
Gallolie sent a message to Joshua.
As the Flower of Farucci had followed her mother to perform on stage since when she was a child and received coaching from Farucci’s best theatrical performers and singers, she was able to tell that the performance from the ‘girl from the Nation of the Holy Church’ had surpassed the level of ordinary competitors.
Even though the song she sang was a very ordinary song, Gallolie couldn’t help but use ‘terrifying’ to describe her singing skills.
‘As long as she managed to attract more people to pay attention to this program, that’s all that matters,’ Joshua smiled at Gallolie.
Even though the pamphlet for this competition stated that it was a competition for the contestants to pursue their dream, Joshua, the organizer, knew very well that this was nothing more than an instrument to acquire more audiences.
As long as there were more people willing to go out of their way to watch the ‘television’ for the sake of a certain contestant, Joshua would have succeeded on his goal.
‘Besides, do you think those Blackwood Elf priestesses will lose to her?’
‘The elf priestesses’ singing fundamentals... are not as good as her’s,’ Gallolie spoke of the thing she was truly worried about.
‘Don’t worry. Those elf ladies had the cheat codes I gave them... That being said, Miss Gallolie, I will have to excuse myself for a bit.’
After Joshua finished sending that message, he stood up from the judge seat. At this moment, the camera was focused onto Tylene on the stage.
No one would’ve noticed that Joshua left his seat.
“Mister... Mister Joshua... where are you going?”
Seated in a judge seat beside Joshua, Ynor noticed Joshua standing up and asked in a slightly scared manner.
With all these people present in the audience, it was Joshua’s presence that gave Ynor the courage to sit tight on his seat.
“To confirm that nun lady’s identity. Ynor, you must sit here. After all, a lot of the audiences that came here today are here for you.”
Joshua was not well-known in Norland. Apart from being the times when his name appeared on the movie credits, he held a much more low-key profile than the succubus.
“Soon, Sir Weissenasche will come and take my spot.”
Joshua waved his hand at Gallolie and Ynor. Then, he proceeded toward the backstage. Seated in an audience seat, Ciri grabbed her staff and stood up to follow after Joshua.
“Going to a fight again?” Ciri seemed to have guessed the reason why Joshua was leaving in the middle of the competition.
“Of course not. It’s only going to a small talk.”
Joshua gently waved his hand. A message he received on the magic network was sent to Ciri.
Ciri tapped open the message and discovered that it was sent to him by a person called ‘Herolia.’
‘Joshua Annerlaude, Demon Realm’s Third Prince... is it possible to schedule some time for a meeting? I have some things that I wish to discuss with you about.’
“This guy... knew about your true identity?”
Ciri tightened her grasp of her staff. Even though that message was written in a friendly and courteous manner, Ciri could sense the provocation in the message. Or perhaps, it would be better stated as... threatening.
“Not only that, she seemed to know about the Demon Realm very well too,” said Joshua.
“Could it be those Ecclesiastical Templars?” Ciri immediately thought of the templar squadron they encountered at Squirrel Street.
“Her identity surpasses that of the templars by quite a bit. If she was to come to Norland openly, it would not only be a little templar squadron escorting her. Instead, it would be an entire templar legion. It will develop into a matter of diplomacy between two countries.”
Joshua continued toward the backstage. Norland Nation Theater was over two times the size of the Weissenasche Theater. There were numerous rooms, enough for this theater to be considered as a luxurious hotel.
Because of that, Joshua had especially arranged separated resting areas for certain contestants.
While chatting with Ciri, Joshua had arrived at the room of a contestant.
“I guess it’s that girl talking about her dead mother on the stage earlier, right?” said Ciri.
“You’ve guessed correct, Miss Ciri.”
Joshua did not knock on the door. He directly placed his hand on the door knob and pushed it open.
The moment the room was pushed open, a sword thrust toward Joshua. The person aiming the sword at Joshua did not hold any killing intent. The sword was purely there to deter Joshua from entering the room.
When the sword was about to reach Joshua, pure white runes emerged from the staff held by the mage lady behind Joshua. The runes of order successfully blocked the sword.
“Is this the way you templars welcome guests?” Ciri was able to catch sight of the person who thrust the sword at Joshua. It was none other than the female knight Messai.
“...” Messai also noticed that it was Joshua who came over.
The female knight did not expect for Joshua to appear here. She stood startled for a moment and ended up swallowing the words she wanted to refute Ciri with.
Soon, Saintess Herolia’s voice emerged from behind Messai.
“Messai, cease your hand. They’re guests invited by me.”
“But... Lady Lia!” Messai’s voice sounded irritable and restless. Even though she was given a new order, she was still not planning to move aside.
“Go ahead and make way for them. I don’t mind.”
After being ordered by Herolia again, Messai finally turned around to enter the room. With this, Joshua and Ciri were able to see the inside of the room.
Joshua noticed the ‘Lady Lia’ seated in the room. He pondered if he should find a camera to record this scene.
The reason for that was because she was changing her clothes. Her fair skin appeared rather dazzling under the light.
But, before Joshua could appreciate the alluring sight for long, a warm and soft sensation came from behind him. The next moment, his eyes were covered by the mage lady’s hands.
Sure enough, was it time to deduct Ciri’s wages?
Joshua sighed and allowed Ciri to keep covering his eyes. After a dozen seconds or so, she finally released her hands from his eyes. The nun lady has finished changing her clothes.