Ascendant Path of a Lustful Vampire

Chapter 380: Innovations can be ridiculous...

Caius had actually been giving this some thought for a while. There is such an untapped market in this world in regard to music. A completely different reality from the world of his old life.

In Caius’s old world, while music might not be everyone’s thing, it was still a thriving industry worth multiple billions. Because music can be for so many things;

It can be a momentary enjoyment with no deeper meaning beyond a thrill.

It can be introspective.

It can be spiritual.

But above all, music is relatable.

There are still Musicians in this world. They are invited to various occasions for sizable sums where they dazzle with their voice and artistry with various instruments. If one is established on this career path, they are privy to a steady income because Elites all over the Acheron Empire always have some kind of event. Some families have multiple occasions in a single week.

It is a very popular pastime to have parties and balls where the Elites meet and intermingle to converse about whatever. Eloise herself was sure to be attending a good number of said events once she was back home.

In fact, besides growing up learning about the founder of Sound Magic and her ancestor, Seline Nightingale, it was while watching musicians perform at these events that Eloise decided she knew what she wanted to become.

Anyway, while music does thrive in this world, it is not at all on the same level as Caius’s old world. Not even close. Because it hasn’t been leveraged to its true potential.

And Caius believed he could take advantage of that and not just help Eloise become a musician who dazzled at events but also help her become the greatest star whom the Elites would fork out an obscene amount just to hear sing.

This isn’t really an easy task.

As already mentioned, there have been musicians in the Empire for centuries and there currently are many but they are often seen as less by the Elites who mostly employ their services so the music can simply be in the background while they gab about whatever.

While they insist on getting the best musician they can—because they’re rich and believe they deserve it—the music is never the highlight. Musicians receive as much attention as the decor. Often even less.

This is actually one of the reasons the Nightingale family has shifted gears from music. Because for a long time, they were mocked as being less than their fellow Noble families. And they were believed to provide no value besides entertainment.

They spent over a century changing how they were viewed and so Eloise wanting to return to that, to an identity of mockery, was particularly worrying.

But Eloise was right and the Nightingales weren’t thinking of the possibilities. The mockery never should have happened—the Nobles are a bunch of assholes—but part of the reason it did was that music had stagnated and the Nightingales were champions of that stagnation.

They indeed only sang to entertain. They hardly even included their magic in their music, the very foundation of their unique identity.

Entertainment is perfectly fine on its own but if the masses are not really buying it, then you diversify. The way Eloise had used Sound Magic to pacify the Bullcrock was an example of other aspects of Sound Magic that could be infused into music.

Lea Gilligan herself had said that there are many beasts who have a weakness to sound and Adventurers can be known to travel with devices to produce sound to combat said Beasts. But what if the sound is already pre-recorded with magic? Well, many adventurers would be delighted to cop one. And if the Sound is actually beautiful music, all the better.

Music in its natural state can inspire so imagine what can be accomplished when it’s infused with actual Magic.

In wars, music that inspires one side and destabilizes the other can be incredibly beneficial. Hell, in Caius’s old world, drums were beaten during more ancient wars and were used to rally troops and intimidate the enemy. The magical equivalent of this could be phenomenal.

But the Nightingales thought of none of that. They simply took the mockery to heart and turned away from music. Caius didn’t blame them. He just knew a willing mind behind Eloise could steer her dreams right.

In the original canon, when Eloise proved stubborn, her family seemingly let her do as she pleased. She was promptly mocked and relegated to the background like many others before her.

It was even worse for her actually because she faced competition from ’established’ musicians before her who were threatened by her talent and natural acclimation to music as being a Sound Mage and did whatever they could to undermine her.

As it turned out, even in a world where music is not a cultural highlight, it’s still a difficult industry.

But Caius believed he could change it.

He knew the potentials of music, he knew the potentials of celebrity and if he could get this world to accept the two, he’d not only be rolling in lucrative returns but Eloise would hold a powerful standing beyond the Acheron Empire that could be leveraged.

But he didn’t tell her all this. It wouldn’t do to sell it so high. This was a tricky business and he needed to keep her on a need-to-know basis at the moment so as not to overwhelm her.

But he could make her a promise. A solemn one.

”Put your faith in me, Eloise. And I’ll make sure you are not shunned, mocked, or ignored. You will dazzle all with your music just as you desire and they will rightfully be in awe of your talent.”

Eloise flushed. Whatever anger she had been feeling earlier was gone. Now she was just feeling struck by such fervent solemnity.

”I— That’s a massive promise to make. I don’t know what to say,” she said.

”Don’t say anything,” Caius said and retrieved something from his Storage Ring which he held out to her.

”A Loqui-Link!” Eloise said as she snatched it from his hand, her beautiful naked breasts jiggling at the motion.

”Kaya wasted no time flaunting hers to me,” she added mostly in jest.

Caius smiled at her enthusiasm and humor but there was a good bit of seriousness in his tone when he spoke,

”I will relay the details to you through it. Obviously, we’ll be apart, separated by a good deal of distance so I won’t be able to be with you in person. However, I’ll have a representative sent to you...”

Eloise looked up from the device then and looked at him with a brow raised.

”You can trust them,” Caius assured her.

Obviously, he was going to be sending a member of ’Ophiuchus’ over. When next he spoke to Arlette, Caius was going to make sure to inform her of his plans to separate a part of the organization so it could be dedicated to this task. Sort of like a Recording Company. Which is almost ridiculous to even imagine in this world as it is. But then, innovations can be ridiculous until actualized.

In any case, there is so much to be done. First, he needed to invest in Audio Recording Devices that can be imbued with magic. Sound Magic to be precise. That was vital to the success of this endeavor. It was the most important hook to grab and retain attention in a world that dismisses Music.

They didn’t have decades to slowly correct the ideology of the masses so Caius was intent on speeding things up. He was already coming up with strategies and certain markets to focus on at the start.

Eloise wasn’t privy to what was going on in Caius’s head especially because he was keeping his expression very controlled. But she had a pretty good idea of how much responsibility he was about to shoulder.

”You said I didn’t have to say anything,” she said, ”But I disagree because I do;

Thank you.”

With that and before Caius could even respond, Eloise sent the Loqui-Link into her storage ring and pounced on him.

Caius chuckled as a deep growl sounded deep in his chest. He turned them around and the make-out session heated up until they let themselves go into the moment, resuming a connection that had been paused for conversation.