"The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style," "Little Apple," "Ragunna Welcomes You"... One explosive hit after another was thrown out like they cost nothing.
The power of cultural invasion was something the people of Ragunna could not resist at all.
"Damn it, why hasn't the Laureate come down yet?"
Noah, who had been belting out nine songs in a row with all his might, felt his throat going dry, but the Laureate still refused to descend.
"It seems we have to use the ultimate move."
Noah let out a long breath and turned to look at Brant, whose face was full of excitement beside him:
"Captain, use that move!"
"Are you sure this will win the Laureate?" Brant hesitated a little.
"Guaranteed!" Noah answered with absolute certainty.
...
The cheerful singing on the flower boat Echo forcefully mobilized everyone's emotions in an unstoppable manner, dominating nearly an hour of Ragunna's time.
In this nationwide concert, everyone sang to their heart's content, so much so that even after the performance ended, the crowd still felt unsatisfied.
However, some small bands or family ensembles that had prepared for this Carnevale for a long time breathed a sigh of relief.
Although their performances could no longer surpass this chorus that had united all of Ragunna, they had still poured a lot of effort into their shows for this day.
What if—what if the Sentinel preferred their performance and bestowed the Laureate upon them?
Meanwhile, Leviathan, influenced by the empathy brought by the atmosphere of Carnevale, successfully projected a wisp of consciousness into Ragunna, observing the various performances and occasionally letting out scornful sneers:
"Heh—performances of ants, ridiculous and laughable."
When Its consciousness inadvertently passed over that massive flower boat Echo, Its emotions suddenly turned furious, then shifted to even greater disdainful arrogance:
"Ridiculous, even more ridiculous."
Leviathan had of course guessed that Noah wanted to claim the Laureate and inferred that Noah was trying to find Imperator.
But—Imperator had long since fused with It. There was no longer Imperator in the world, only It, Leviathan.
If Noah wanted to obtain the Laureate from Its hands, heh—
Hilarious. Even if It bestowed the Laureate upon a dog, It would never give it to Noah.
It wondered what kind of wonderful expression would appear on Noah's face when he discovered the Laureate descending upon a dog's head.
Thinking of this, Leviathan even felt pleasantly inclined to hum.
Suddenly, Its consciousness inadvertently glanced at a street-side screen and saw Roccia on stage leading the troupe members in carrying out a massive spinning top.
The top was over a meter tall, carved from yellow wood, with a cartoonish large fish painted on it swimming in black tides.
Even in cartoon form, Leviathan could tell it was meant to depict Itself. In an instant, an ominous premonition rose in Its heart, and It spoke in shock and anger:
"What are these insects trying to do?!"
In the next moment, Noah slowly drew out a vine whip.
Seeing the whip, Leviathan immediately and involuntarily recalled the humiliating scene from over ten days ago when Noah had hung It up and beaten It.
The vine whip let out a piercing whoosh as it heavily struck the top, making it spin in place.
He was actually whipping the top!
No—what he was whipping wasn't the top at all; he was clearly slapping Leviathan's face in front of all of Ragunna!
The upside-down tower high in the sky and this wisp of Leviathan's consciousness simultaneously let out a furious roar:
"Scoundrel!"
How dare he? He actually dared!
That damn Noah—bullying It too far!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
With each piercing crack of the whip, the top spun faster and faster. Leviathan's eyes nearly split from rage, and the humiliating memories It had tried so hard to forget became clearer in Its mind.
Once upon a time, It had been just like this one-meter-long top—utterly powerless as It was hung and beaten. And that despicable insect had even found an ordinary person to do the beating!
Almost the instant this thought arose, Leviathan saw Noah pull out several more vine whips and hand them to the people beside him.
Those people unanimously raised their whips, striking the top again and again, making it spin frantically fast.
"Stop! Stop it! No more hitting!"
Leviathan roared in fury, but It only had a wisp of consciousness—Its voice could not be heard by anyone. It could only watch powerlessly.
Noah stepped back a few paces and spoke softly to the air:
"Imperator, I know you're watching."
One sentence made the enraged Leviathan laugh in extreme anger.
Well, well, well—to attract "Imperator" and obtain the Laureate, he had gone this far. Fine, It would descend the Laureate right now and inform him that Imperator was already dead.
When Noah learned Imperator was dead, the expression on his face would definitely be marvelous!
Thinking this, Leviathan no longer hesitated.
Under the gaze of tens of thousands, a crown made of thorns descended from the sky.
"Mommy, look! It's the Laureate!"
A sharp-eyed girl loudly pointed out the Laureate's location. Her small childish voice silenced the entire Ragunna.
The thorn Laureate slowly drifted down, steadily landing on Noah's head before turning into specks of starlight and dissipating.
In an instant, all of Ragunna erupted!
"The Sentinel has bestowed the Laureate, ahhhhh!"
"That person got the Laureate!"
"Who is he? I need to know everything about him right now!"
"By Imperator the Sentinel above!"
"..."
After ten years, the Laureate had appeared again at Carnevale. All the people of Ragunna who witnessed this moment were overwhelmingly excited, letting out unanimous cheers to celebrate the birth of a new Laureate.
The bell tower rang with deep chimes, the massive octopus Echo blew its horn, and street performers' saxophones, violins, guitars, and other instruments unanimously played festive melodies.
Admiration, respect, worship, longing, envy, curiosity... Countless gazes filled with different emotions carried praises and cheers toward the protagonist of the Laureate.
Amid the grand celebration, Leviathan could finally descend the "heavenly sound" to speak with Noah.
In just a few seconds, It had thought of the best strategy: first trick Noah into believing It was Imperator, then cruelly reveal that Imperator was dead.
This way, It would raise Noah's inner joy to the maximum before delivering a heavy blow. Just thinking about it made Leviathan excited beyond measure.
It forced itself to speak calmly:
"Claimant of the crown, I am Imperator."
"Leviathan, who the hell are you pretending to be?"
One sentence tore through all of Leviathan's schemes and disguise, instantly freezing the excited smile on Its face.
Noah activated time stop, temporarily halting the boiling cheers of all Ragunna, then continued with a face full of disgust:
"After giving the Laureate, you can leave. I'm in a good mood today for Carnevale—don't force me to curse at you."
Leviathan was speechless.
Leviathan's anger surged wildly.
Leviathan went red-hot and broke defense!
It did not understand how Noah knew It was not Imperator, but It knew—It had become the clown.
The upside-down tower high in the sky shook violently in rage. Leviathan transmitted a thunderous heavenly sound:
"Insect, you bully me too much!"
"So what if I bully you? Deal with it!"
Endless fury nearly swallowed Leviathan's rationality:
"Dare to come up to the upside-down tower? You and I, a battle to the death."
Hearing this, Noah's mouth twitched.
He had never seen anyone make such a request in his life.
Was it that he didn't want to go to the upside-down tower? If Cantarella hadn't been away from Ragunna, he would have gone up long ago to solo Leviathan.
But fortunately, according to the original plot, Cantarella should return once Carnevale ends.
Thinking of this, Noah snorted coldly:
"Leviathan."
"Hm?"
"You're fucking waiting to die."
"Hm!"
Leviathan flew into a towering rage, opening Its mouth with flowery profanity, but Noah felt no aggression at all—instead, he almost wanted to laugh.
Its cursing sounded like pouting.
Gradually, Leviathan's voice grew lower and lower until it completely vanished.
After descending the Laureate, Its empathy with Ragunna would end in a short time. It could only return to the upside-down tower that had imprisoned It for ten years, digesting Its full cavity of anger alone.
Noah finally released the time stop over all of Ragunna. The fervent cheers unique to Carnevale flooded his ears—everyone at this moment spared no applause or shouts.
"Laureate!"
"Laureate!!"
"Laureate!!!"
"OHHHHHHHHHH!"
Looking down from the stage of the flower boat Echo, one could see countless hands waving enthusiastically, countless smiles from the bottom of hearts.
The members of the Troupe of Fools stopped whipping the top, surrounded Noah in a circle, tossed him into the sky, caught him, and tossed him again!
"Tall Chestnut, you did it!"
Carlotta cheered in delight:
"We claimed the Laureate!"
Noah laughed loudly in mid-air and shouted:
"Yes! We are the Laureate!"
The members of the Troupe of Fools shouted in unison:
"We are the Laureate!"
[Main Quest: [What Yesterday Wept, Today Doth Sing] has been completed.]
[Currently possess Radiant Tide *40, Lustrous Tide *15, Astrite *84840, Shell Credit *7.77 million.]