Victor was quite upset. He knew that without an improved harpsichord, those picky nobles, musicians and critics would by no means be satisfied with his performance. What was worse, he would also receive a bitter comment from Wolf on Music Criticism, and then he’d never have a second chance to play in the Psalm Hall again during his life.
He had seen many excellent musicians fail to perform perfectly in the Hall and suffer lots of setbacks afterwards. Every two or three years there would be a desperate musician among those committing suicide because of his failure. Indeed, most musicians could be quite sensitive and vulnerable.
Although he understood Lucien was just trying to help, Victor still felt a bit annoyed by Lucien’s groundless guessing. Controlling himself, he answered with his low voice.
“Thank you, Lucien. But it’s more complicated than just combining the two.”
“Such an arrogant fool from the slum…” The noble students were angry about Lucien’s interruption. While Lott, Herodotus, and Felicia were glaring at Lucien with distaste, Rhine was standing to the site, with an almost undetectable smile on his face, as if he was looking forward to Lucien’s answer.
Although Lucien hadn’t got a full understanding of the two books, he still had some overall ideas. By observing the inner structure of the harpsichord in front of him, he was ready to share his thoughts.
“With the help of a certain… unit, the finger movement might be enlarged through the process of conduction, so the striking from the hammers inside could be louder.”
Lucien explained it vaguely on purpose, carefully choosing his words to match those of a common lad living in the slum, to avoid suspicion. Terms like ‘amplitude’ were definitely not supposed to show up in his vocabulary.
“Enlarge? Like what?” Shavell’s eyes were still stern and his white eyebrows twisted together. He had heard similar ideas before, but after several attempts failed, they all gave up in the end.
Under their gaze, Lucien took down a flute from the wall. “Once, I saw a farmer who lifted a big rock with a wooden stick and a small rock, like this…” He grabbed a ink bottle and put it under the flute and started doing levering.
“I see…” Instead of refuting, Shavell started thinking. Soon he noticed the disadvantage. “But like this, the striking speed would be slower.”
“Impressive, Lucien. You are showing us the Lever Principle.” Rhine watched Lucien’s model carefully and took a step closer to him.
Pretending confusion, Lucien was actually very surprised. How come Rhine knew the Lever Principle? People here called it the same way? But the rest of them seemed really confused.
“You may all have seen it before in your lives. I heard the principle when I was traveling to Holm. Actually local scholars there already discovered it hundreds of years ago. But here, people worship divine power and the Blessing in the blood, so science doesn’t pervade very fast.” Rhine explained.
“Have you noticed that the longer the stick is, the easier you can lift something on the other end, Lucien?” Rhine asked.
“Obviously,” Lucien thought, but his face put on a confused look as he said, “Really? Then can we put more than one lever together?”
Lucien stopped himself here. He could not go any further talking about stuff like multi-lever transmission.
Rhine’s eyes were lightened immediately. “Connection! Multi levers!” He walked close to Shavell and talked to him in a low voice. He was drawing on a paper.
“Rhine… He’s more than a bard. I’m almost sure.” Lucien thought while Rhine talking. The bard’s hands were waving in the air explaining the principle.
Soon Victor joined their heated discussion.
“Lucien, how did you connect them together? I mean, yes, I saw it before several times but I never thought it could be used on this.” Surprisingly, Lott started talking to Lucien.
But he was stopped by Felicia, “Be quiet. Go downstairs if you want to chat.”
Lott did not want to miss their discussion now. He nodded and remained silent.
The rest of the students were pretty annoyed by the factor that Lucien, the nobody who just recently arrived there, somehow got the spotlight. They were hoping his idea wouldn’t work out.
Understanding that there were still many more differences between a harpsichord and a modern piano, Lucien once again started reading his two books, to see if there was more he could help with.
……
An elegant melody came out from the room, resonant and rich at the beginning, gentle and soft in the end.
“Awesome!” Victor’s face was glowing with excitement, “Thank you, Rhine. Thank you, Mr. Shavell.” Although there was still a way to go, the key problem had been solved.
“It’s my pleasure.” Rhine smiled elegantly.
After hugging both of them, Victor came to Lucien with his open arms. “Thank you, Lucien. You gave us the direction. Thanks God for bringing you to me.”
“It’s nothing, Mr. Victor.” Being hugged by a man, Lucien felt a bit awkward. “I didn’t expect I could actually help.”
Victor laughed and thanked Lucien again sincerely. “Anyway, from now on, if you need any help, just ask.”
The rest of the students started being envious again. The newcomer earned Mr. Victor’s favour so quickly!
Lucien was very glad as well.
“Yes… Yes, Mr. Victor.” He asked shyly, “I do need help with something…”
“Yes?” Victor was waiting for his request, smiling. In his eyes, Lucien was genuinely a good-hearted and promising young lad.
“Can I borrow your common tongue dictionary?” Rubbing his hands, Lucien was pretty unsure.
“Ah?” Rhine couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Lott, Felicia and the rest people there were amused as well.
“Sure, no problem. My good boy.” Mr. Victor nodded instantly, “Anything else?”
“Um…” Lucien was even more nervous now. He felt he was asking for too much.
Noticing Lucien’s hesitation, Victor tried to encourage him. “It’s okay. Don’t be shy. Just ask.”
“Um… Mr. Victor, can I… can I study here for free…?”
“Hahahaha!” Rhine could not hold back anymore.