Chapter 921

Anton had experience performing in front of an audience. He had done it before in the merchant city of Ruandelle back in Rendindura when they were fleeing from the Undead Coalition.

Just like then, he decided to sing his favorite rock ballads by some of the bands from the 1980s, such as Journey, Chicago, America, and others. He also decided to limit himself to singing only ten songs. He wasn’t a professional, after all, and he knew that performing more than that would probably cause him to make mistakes.

He didn’t want to embarrass himself by suddenly singing some pitchy or badly bent notes. Since he wasn’t a professional singer, he proceeded with the first song he had chosen, which was Faithfully by Journey.

He understood why the famous show Glee had chosen Journey songs to perform. Most of the band’s songs were catchy and allowed the singer to fully utilize their vocal prowess.

The spot where Anton had chosen to set up his act didn’t have any other singers. The performers beside him were an acrobat and a dancer. They did have music accompanying their performances, but they mostly used drums.

That meant Anton could sing his heart out without interfering with any other singers.

Just the first verse was enough to make some pedestrians stop and listen. The good thing about songs from Earth was that they were mostly unfamiliar to the locals, making them a novelty. It was inevitable that some people would become intrigued.

Most local songs followed the old tradition of telling epic stories, but songs from Earth, especially modern ones, were snippets of different emotions such as longing, heartbreak, joy, happiness, contentment, and more.

The funny thing was that Anton didn’t change any of the lyrics. Some words confused the listeners, especially those that referred to modern technology, such as telephones or videos. However, after a while, listeners were still able to understand their meaning through the context conveyed by the songs.

The second song he chose was Bon Jovi’s Bed of Roses. Anton knew that he needed a song that allowed him to belt his heart out if he wanted to attract a larger audience.

The third song he chose was Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, and by the time Anton finished singing it, the audience listening to him had grown considerably.

He was amused to see that a large portion of his listeners were young women. Anton understood the appeal of a good-looking and extremely talented singer to impressionable young women.

The fifth song he chose was Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer. After that, he sang Alone by the band Heart.

Alone was especially demanding since it was sung by a woman, and some of the notes were extremely high.

Afterward, Anton needed to rest his voice and throat, so he performed an instrumental piece on his guitar.

By that time, the hat he had placed in front of him to receive the coins that people tossed into it had become full.

The acrobat and dancer beside him were looking enviously at the amount of money Anton had received.

After finishing the instrumental piece, Anton paused briefly to gather the coins from the hat and put them into a small bag. He then placed the hat back in front of him.

After he sang his tenth song, Anton thanked his audience and announced that he was done for the night.

Almost all of his listeners complained, but he loudly explained that he couldn’t abuse his voice and throat too much, or he would lose his livelihood.

Because everyone had heard how demanding the songs Anton had chosen were, which was part of the reason they were so enamored with them, they understood that performing such songs placed considerable demands on the singer.

Many of his listeners, mostly the younger ones, asked Anton when he would perform again, but he simply smiled at them.

After storing his belongings in his inventory, he didn’t leave the plaza. Instead, he started roaming around again to watch the different acts.

He used the coins donated by his audience and tossed them to the performers he favored. Most of the performers looked grateful since he was generous with his donations.

The funny part was that wherever he went, he was followed by a large crowd consisting mostly of his previous listeners. The magic of Earth’s songs had been so effective that his listeners wanted to hear them again and were willing to follow him around to learn his supposed schedule.

Anton simply ignored them and enjoyed the various acts in the plaza.

The fact that his followers copied his behavior made the performers even happier. Whenever Anton tossed a coin to an act, most of his followers would follow suit.

After a while, a couple of middle-aged men approached him. They wanted to talk to him about becoming a bard for a well-known wealthy person in Remuth.

Basically, they were talent agents.

The realization highly amused Anton.

The two sleazy-looking men promised him an untold amount of wealth if he became a bard, but the way they looked at him as if he were some kind of tasty morsel gave Anton one of the greatest feelings of disgust he had experienced in his life.

Anton was highly tempted to incinerate the two men, but he decided to behave magnanimously. He insisted that he had no intention of becoming a bard and warned them that if they continued pestering him, he would report them to the authorities.

That threat seemed sufficient to drive the two men away.

He didn’t want to cause any trouble that might compromise his chances of applying to the Traveler’s Haven organization. He doubted that killing a couple of sleazy men would affect him in any way, but he couldn’t take the chance.

After the two men were gone, the minstrel whose performance Anton had been watching paused after finishing the epic love song he was singing and warned Anton about the evil intentions of the two creepy men.

Anton stayed in the plaza until it was very late.

He had thought that there would eventually come a time when all the performers would stop for the night, but it appeared that the acts would continue until morning. He saw that most of the performers had been replaced by new ones, yet there were still huge numbers of people walking around.

He noticed that some of them were eating street food, so he followed his nose and arrived at another street filled with food stalls.

Anton purchased several dishes and gorged himself before returning to the plaza to continue watching the performances.

Because the artists came from different continents, their acts were unique, and all of them were extremely enjoyable to watch.

Anton decided that he would show the performances to his family. Since his Globe of Browser Sharing had been active ever since he entered the plaza, he had a recording of all the acts he had watched.

Anton decided to return home when he began feeling a little tired.

When he checked the time, it was already around three in the morning.

Still, the streets seemed safe since magic lights illuminated the entire area. Not that Anton was afraid, but the fact that the streets were so well lit made him feel as though he were back on Earth.

Once he was well away from the plaza, the number of people on the streets dwindled until there were almost none.

Anton remembered the way to his cottage, so he simply followed the route home.

After a while, however, a few rough-looking men appeared in front of him.

The presence of the two sleazy middle-aged men among them told him that their desire to acquire him was strong enough for them to send people after him.

Anton internally snorted.

Some people really did their best to get themselves killed.

Anton knew that if he killed the two wannabe talent agents and their group, the authorities probably wouldn’t blame him.