On Ellunes, when people spoke of their dreams or ideals, especially if it came to lofty matters, it was usually somehow connected to deities, or sometimes outright dogmas of some church.
Various doctrines deeply influenced the worldview, values, and views of believers, as well as all aspects of their lives.
Viola's words immediately reminded Reyn of one deity.
And indeed, Viola didn't hide anything and openly admitted:
"Besides the Goddess of Magic, I am also a devoted follower of the Long-haired Lady."
"I see," Reyn nodded, showing he understood.
The Long-haired Lady was another name for the goddess of art and love, whose true name was Freya.
This deity patronized "art," "love," "beauty," and "goodness," so she was often called the Goddess of Love or the Goddess of Beauty and Goodness.
Legends said she was the most beautiful being on Ellunes and maintained good relations with many deities, including numerous admirers among them.
The number of Freya's followers was large and diverse: among them were painters, musicians, artists, dancers, actors, and many others.
Virtually everyone involved in art were her believers.
Since she also patronized beauty and love, Freya enjoyed immense popularity, especially among lovestruck youth and those striving for beauty, regardless of age or gender, with women in the majority.
In the Empire, there were many open Freya worshippers, but they had no strict church organization.
With age, believers gradually lost beauty or love, aged and weakened, could no longer engage in art, and their faith began to waver; eventually, they turned to other deities.
In general, she was a harmless and kind goddess.
Reyn had noticed last time that Viola believed in another deity, and this faith was even stronger than in the Goddess of Magic. Now, learning it was the goddess of art and love, he found nothing special in it.
Viola was so beautiful that her faith in Freya seemed perfectly natural.
She almost perfectly matched Freya's precepts: possessing incomparable beauty, outstanding musical talent, and could even become Freya's earthly emissary, her chosen one!
Understanding this, Reyn easily explained to himself why Viola wanted more people to hear beautiful music.
Music was also art, one of the most accessible to ordinary people, and perhaps the most capable of expressing feelings and resonating in hearts.
It wasn't like painting, sculpture, or dance, where viewers needed certain preparation to understand what the artists wanted to convey.
Any person with normal hearing would be touched by a flowing melody or enchanted by a beautiful song.
Even if people didn't understand the song's lyrics, even if they were illiterate, they could still feel the beauty of music.
If beautiful music could be widely disseminated, so people could hear it anytime, the number of Freya's followers would grow geometrically, significantly increasing this goddess's divine power!
However, on Ellunes, aside from live performances, people didn't hear music and songs that often.
Reyn immediately came up with an excellent method. If it worked, he would not only win Viola's heart but also make a fortune.
However, this method involved some difficulties and needed testing before implementation.
He looked at Viola, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
They chatted a bit, and Reyn deliberately steered the conversation to music, feigning curiosity and asking about the keyboard organ's workings.
Viola opened the instrument's lid and patiently began explaining.
Reyn listened attentively, comparing the instrument to the piano from his past life. It had to be admitted that people of any world had much in common in music; at least, there were no differences in crafting musical instruments.
This keyboard organ was an exact copy of a grand piano, identical down to the number of keys.
Seeing his genuine interest, Viola asked:
"Reyn, do you play? I remember you chose the arts faculty at Kleyden Academy."
Reyn felt slightly embarrassed.
Kleyden Academy, besides training superhumans, offered many courses, and every student had to choose one as their major.
The former Reyn, either due to his inherent stupidity or some other reason, chose the arts faculty but didn't attend a single class and knew absolutely nothing about the field. If he hadn't awakened his superhuman gift, he never would have gotten the academy diploma.
This was one of the reasons for his father Bad's dissatisfaction.
At the time, Bad wanted Reyn to enroll in law or accounting, get a diploma, and find a good job in the city, becoming a higher-class person. Even if that didn't work out, returning to his hometown, he would still be educated and respected.
Unfortunately, the former Reyn hadn't lived up to those hopes.
Reyn looked at Viola and noticed a sly smile on her face. She seemed to be teasing him. She had sent people to the academy to inquire about him, so she obviously knew all this.
He coughed to hide his embarrassment and said:
"I didn't study music and don't know how to play; I've only heard the teacher sing a few songs."
In reality, he could play the piano, having learned since childhood, and though not brilliantly, better than many laymen.
Of course, he couldn't admit that now and had to pretend to be a beginner.
Viola giggled softly. She thought that if she taught Reyn to play, he might also become a follower of the Long-haired Lady, and with enthusiasm proposed:
"Want to learn the keyboard organ? I can teach you."
"Really?" Reyn's face showed genuine delight.
"Of course," Viola nodded, and it didn't seem like a joke. She glanced at the wall clock and said seriously: "There's still plenty of time; we can start right now."
With that, she sat at the instrument, patted the seat next to her, inviting Reyn to sit.
Reyn obediently sat beside her. The bench wasn't very long, barely fitting two, so their bodies inevitably touched, arms brushing against each other.
A sweet, subtle aroma entered his nostrils, making Reyn's heart flutter.
This scent came from Viola, light, unobtrusive, with a faint sweet note. It reminded Reyn of violets, and he thought it wasn't for nothing she named her shop "Violet House" – evidently her special attachment.
He turned his head and looked at Viola, so close. From under her golden hair peeked the pointed tips of her ears, slightly flushed and very alluring.
In the "Eye of the Soul," her aura's color shifted between green and blue-green, indicating her uplifted mood and slight embarrassment.
The "Voice of All Things" caught that her heartbeat had noticeably quickened, betraying light excitement.
Reyn immediately understood: Viola felt sympathy for him.
Though it was only their third meeting, as the saying goes, first meeting is acquaintance, second is friendship, and third and fourth... anything is possible!
He was the result of a perfect soul transformation, occurring once every hundred years; a brilliant future awaited him, and besides, he was so handsome. Viola, a follower of the Goddess of Love, striving for beauty and love – wasn't it natural for her to take notice of him?
Reyn mentally let out a joyful whoop and grew bolder in admiring the beauty before him.
Viola noticed Reyn's gaze and instinctively shifted a bit away, as if embarrassed.
She took several deep breaths to calm down, picked up a music notebook from the instrument, and said:
"To learn to play, first you need to understand notes, learn to read sheet music. This is the simplest collection..."
Viola quickly got into the role and began teaching Reyn music basics from scratch.
Reyn already knew all this and didn't want to drag it out, so he deliberately demonstrated musical talent: grasping everything on the fly, understanding at once, and quickly mastering the basics of keyboard organ playing.
When it came to hand positioning, fingering, and key recognition, their hands inevitably touched.
At first, Viola was a bit embarrassed, but as Reyn showed more and more talent, she, surprised and delighted, quickly got used to teaching him hand-in-hand, and sometimes their close proximity felt completely natural.
One taught with inspiration, the other eagerly absorbed the basics. Fully immersed in the activity, they noticed nothing around them, and thus, in musical exercises, the rest of the day flew by unnoticed.
Music sounded in the room.
A simple rhythmic melody flowed from under Reyn's fingers. He played a bit hesitantly, the sounds slightly harsh, but the melody was coherent, and it could already be called a full performance.
When the music faded, Viola, sitting beside him, clapped joyfully.
Her eyes shone. She looked at Reyn and said admiringly:
"The melody is still a bit raw, but in a few hours, from complete novice, you've reached this level – it's simply magnificent! Reyn, you really never learned keyboard organ before?"
Reyn, without batting an eye, replied with some self-satisfaction:
"Today I touched a keyboard organ for the first time."
In reality, he noticed his playing skills had significantly improved compared to his past life, thanks to the precise control from his phone's gyroscope. Still, he had to pretend to be a beginner.
Sometimes pretending to be a novice is much harder than it seems. Several times he nearly gave himself away.
Viola still couldn't believe it. Reyn's musical talent surpassed her own, at least in performance skill. A bit more practice, and he'd play almost as well as her.
She supposed that in the demonic soul Reyn fused with, there might have been an element enhancing hand control, like "Nimble Hands," but it didn't quite fit.
The changes in Reyn after soul fusion were clearly comprehensive, not limited to hands.
"Probably that's what a genius of perfect soul transformation is like!" – Viola thought admiringly and said with a smile:
"Now you've basically mastered the basics. But to improve mastery, you need lots of practice. In the future, if you have time, you can come play with me anytime; I'll continue teaching you from known music collections."
"Good, I'll come often to learn, Teacher Viola," Reyn agreed without a trace of embarrassment, teasing her lightly.
How could he miss such a chance to be near the beauty more often?
Viola blushed a bit at the address. At that moment, one of her employees knocked and reminded:
"Mistress, the fair starts in an hour; some guests have already arrived."
"I know, I'll be right there," Viola snapped out of it and glanced at the wall clock, thinking how fast time flew.
Reyn stood too, finally remembering today's important matter.
He met her gaze and understood they had both completely forgotten about the fair. Spending hours in the room, they hadn't mentioned it once, even forgetting dinner.
Viola straightened her dress and said very calmly:
"Reyn, I'll go down first to greet the guests, then return and tell you everything."
"Go ahead, I'll practice a bit more," Reyn sat back down and placed his hands on the keys.