Chapter 103: Chapter 14: Mythrill For The Masses, Part 1

“MYTHRILL isn't excellent, he said!" Wolfgang was frothing "MYTHRILL is too aggressive, he said. MYTHRILL is bad for Greenskins, he said! MYTHRILL is vulgar, he said! No one should play or listen to MYTHRILL, he said! He won't allow anyone to play MYTHRILL, he said!"

“I take, your presentation didn’t go well? What happened?”

“Oh, we did the hour-long presentation, as you suggested, and everything went just fine, a few of the masters obviously liked it. That was until the not-Guild Leader started shouting, how vulgar, aggressive, bad, and so forth MYTHRILL is. He declared, playing MYTRHILL was forbidden, and we were thrown out of the not-Guild House.”

“That's just an ass move! I happen to like MYTHRILL! We should feed that old geezer to Binky! The poor boy hasn't had good food for a long time!" Mini immediately started planning. "We will assault the headquarters through the servant entrance, Bianca will block the corridor at the stairs, while Sharpclaw assassinates that shitstain. Binky will eat the corpse, and no one will know, what happened. Just like magic! Guild Leader's gone!"

“Wait, wait, wait!" Prof wasn't prepared to kill a high-level official because of music "If they don't want to make Mythrill public, just bring it out forcibly. If everyone knows the new music, there won't be any possibility to suppress it anymore. Wait, we were playing it all the way from the castle. Won't there too many witnesses already?"

“There weren’t that many witnesses, even the musicians participating were just a small minority of all musicians in Greenskin lands. If the not-Guild forbids playing MYTHRILL, they won’t be able to play it. But what do you mean, bring the music out forcibly?”

“Just make a concert somewhere. A big one. The best, grandest, and most mythrill one, we can think of. You will need effects, a whole band that is playing well. You may even sell shirts and paintings and music sheets. Oh, do you have a name for your band and a mascot? A symbol?"

“With the not-Guild forbidding to play MYTHRILL, no one would rent out a concert hall to me…”

“Take an empty plot of land somewhere. That would be even better, more people would fit. You just need a stage at one end to play on. Wait, do you have any means to play loud enough to be heard at the other end? The Elves could make these visual effects at a concert I saw. You will need someone with light magic, or illusions, or whatever. Maybe a fire mage."

“Wait! Too much information! Do you have a notebook? I have to take notes!”

Prof handed his notebook over and started listing, what Wolfgang needed to make an epic open-air concert and bring Mythrill to the masses. It was actually an interesting situation: Arkadia was obviously more-or-less infested with Travellers, they have even brought rock and metal to the world, but no one had told the Locals, how to make an Earth-style concert, although, the one in Willowflower came close. How was it possible, when every last Earth Human knew how an epic concert looked and sounded? Not necessarily by first-hand experience, but who hasn't heard of Woodstock, or one of the big stadiums, full of music and masses?

Oh yeah, they needed someone to sell booze, too.

“All right, let’s see” Wolfgang looked through the list “The band. Now I only have myself and a drummer, I probably could find another guitarist and maybe a singer.”

“All right, you would still need a third guitarist and a few chicks for the background.”

“Me, me, me! Pick me!” of course, Mini could be ideal as a barely-clothed female squirming in the back. She probably also already had clothing fitting for the role.

“As for the name, I pick Mythrillhead!” Wolfgang declared “But what about this symbol and mascot you talked about?”

“Your family crest works just fine. Wear it on the back of your jackets, make some shirts with it too, with the band name above it, and you can sell it to fans. Is it possible to print a picture on a shirt, or do you need to embroider everything by hand?”

“Yeah, I think, printing pictures on shirts is possible. They do it for books, after all. But why sell shirts with my family crest? Who would buy it, to begin with?"

“It's not your family crest anymore, it's the mascot of your band. Do you want to bring Mythrill to the masses? You need everybody talking about Mythrill then. What better way to do that but with the symbol of the very first mythrill band on the whole of Arkadia?"

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“It’s the same with paintings and music sheets?”

“Absolutely. The fans could hang the paintings on their walls and worship the band. I think it would be possible to print them too. Make a few different ones, for example about the band, the mascot, or some epic scene. Multiply it. Music sheets are self-evident. You want to propagate the style. You can also make mugs. The cheapest ones you can get, sell the beer in them. Everyone has to make a small deposit, and either get the money back or keep the mug. Make better ones to sell outright."

“I get it. However, I don’t think, that scheme would be excellent. That’s just fleecing the people! Handing the stuff out on self-cost would be better, no?”

“If you don’t want to make money, sure. After the first concert, I would even charge an entry fee. Selling the overpriced merchandise would actually net you more money than the entry fee.”

“I’m not doing this for money, but because MYTHRILL is an excellent new kind of music and every Greenskin would be better with such!”

“Besides, he’s also due a part of the loot from the Valley!” Mini added. She was correct in it – Wolfgang was actually already rich, why shovel even more money out of the fan’s pocket into his own?

Because more money was better than a lot of money, obviously.

“Yeah, I'm an entitled, rich Orc already! Being rich means, I have more rights, so I have the right not to be a money-hungry entitled twat!"

Circular logic at its best.

“What kind of effects do you mean, and what kind of magic user should I look out for?”

“Let's see… Pillars of fire are always a good idea. Maybe you could spew fire from your guitar or axe too. Or make lightning or fireballs fly at opportune moments. Since the concert should be at night, the stage has to be lit up, with as many colors, as possible. A beam of light scanning the crowd. Some illusions illustrating the lyrics. Such things. I don't exactly know, what is possible, only what should be there. The most important thing is to make sure, even those in the back hear the music clearly."

“No problem with that. I can do the magic for the sounds carry. I can make a battlefield hear me clearly, a simple field is no problem. As for the other effects, you will need to come with me to the Mage’s not-Guild and explain what I need there.”

“All right, can we do it tomorrow? What about a brewery selling booze?”

“That's not a problem, my cousin actually runs a brewery in the next town, I think, she will be able to provide the beer."

“Ah, that reminds me. You will need a lot of cute bartenders, preferably wearing band shirts! Short skirts and high heels! Fishnets!"

“I never understood, why females would wear high heels.” Bianca looked confused

“What do you mean?”

“High heels are worn by males…”

“No, they are not!” Mini rejected the idea immediately.

“Reptilesss not wearing sssshoessss.”

“Prof, I don’t understand. Greenskins, neither males nor females, won’t wear high heels, they are impractical. What would wearing a fishing net accomplish? That would be even more impractical! And wouldn’t cover anything!”

“All right, forget the high heels and fishnets. Can you do boots? Knee-high boots?"

“Yes, I think, we can do high boots to make our females look funny. I don’t know, where to find girls who would agree to wear so few clothes. We aren't Elves!”

“Good, good, see, what you can do. The getup would help, but isn’t obligatory…”

“Yes, it is about music, not scantly clad females!”

“Actually, you can sell everything better with scantly clad females. It is a proven fact!”

“Prof is right! People like to look at naked girls and boys! Isn’t that right, Bia?”

“No, Miss Minerva. I could do without it.”

“All right, we only need an empty field and some carpenters to make a stage. Any ideas, Wolfgang?”

“There is a hog-racing track outside the city, I don’t think, there are other fields empty anywhere near. We usually plant things on fields, not just leave them empty.”

“Do you use the three-field system?"

“Of course, we do, we aren’t barbarians! The fallows aren’t large, however.”

“Good, let’s try that. Carpenters?”

“My other cousin’s husband is one, I will contact him.”

Prof congratulated himself for a job well done. In less than an hour he managed to sell the idea of an Earth-style big concert to the foremost (and only) mythrill band of a new world. If, no, when the new music caught the masses, he planned to expand the whole venue into a week-long festival. Of course, with himself as the CEO and owner. He was lucky to have come to Greenskin lands. In every other country and with every other species, he wouldn't be able to pull off something like this, but Greenskins were addicted to music and already knew music, that was practically made to be played at festivals.

All that was needed was someone with an idea. Hopefully, no one started asking unpleasant questions.

“Say, Prof, how do you know so much about MYTHRILL and concerts?”

Yeah, questions like that…