Not far from the uptown area, a luxurious carriage stopped in front of them.
A burly horse as tall as a man was pulling the cart in front, its long mane like a flame fluttering in the wind. The carriage is decorated with gilt patterns and reliefs, and is decorated with complex silver patterns, which almost shine in the sunset.
The door of the carriage was pushed open from the inside. In the carriage, someone looked at them and smiled.
"Good day, gentlemen, what a coincidence."
Ye Qingxuan originally thought it was Edmund who was looking for trouble, but he was stunned when he saw the people in the carriage.
In the carriage, a man who looked like a teenager stepped on the cashmere carpet. His sterling silver cane was casually thrown on the ground, and the ruby on the tip of the cane gave off a lonely light.
He has waist-length blond hair and looks like a girl, but most girls are not as beautiful as him, nor do they have that heart-breaking handsomeness.
In the past, Ye Qingxuan thought Charles was handsome, but he was not the same type as the face in front of him. Compared to his mean-spirited senior brother, there is always a sinister aura in his eyes that seems to come from ancient wells and ice cellars, which makes people dare not look down upon him.
Moreover, Ye Qingxuan only knows one person in Avalon with such a flashy and showy style, and such expensive clothes and clothes...
"boss?"
He looked at the man in the carriage in astonishment, not expecting to meet again here.
The mysterious owner of the clock shop, the imperial knight who had the same name as Hermes, the great artist from hundreds of years ago, smiled proudly after hearing Ye Qingxuan's surprise.
"It's been a long time since you were admitted to the academy, little Ye Zi!"
He waved affectionately: "Come closer, get closer, yes, is this your friend? He looks like a really handsome young man. You also have a new friend, which makes me happy."
Looking at the blank expressions of the two people, he smiled: "Are you interested in drinking a cup of coffee in the store? The store has been renovated recently and will be reopened soon. There are two visitors who may bring some for me. Popular. I have good products brought back from Burgundy. I guarantee you won’t find another coffee in Avalon.”
…
…
Half an hour later, in the renovated watch shop.
Ye Qingxuan and Charles sat behind the table like good babies, holding coffee cups in their hands.
"Oh? So that's it. You guys are doing well."
Hermes, who had understood the situation, nodded, "Is your teacher Mr. Abraham? I've heard of some, they seem to be musicians who have retired from the army, right? Musicians with military background are becoming rare these days, you Cherish the opportunity, Ye Zi."
Ye Qingxuan could only nod.
In front of this mysterious and somewhat psychotic boss, he always felt that his IQ was not enough. But once you get used to his strange way of thinking, you will feel that this guy is unexpectedly a good person.
Charles also became uncommonly honest and just kept drooling over the other antique clocks in the store.
After Ye Qingxuan coughed twice awkwardly, he lowered his head and drank coffee.
He doesn't know why, but he always feels that the coffee tastes weird, like a cat... Is this the taste of fine coffee? Something doesn't seem quite right.
"I thought you would definitely fail the exam."
Hermes sat on his big chair, put his feet on the table, found the most comfortable position without politeness, and said leisurely:
"The last time an Easterner entered the Royal Academy of Music was twenty years ago. But that guy was different from you. He was invited to be a professor. It's so interesting. In the heart of the Anglo Empire, where the sun never sets, the highest In the music school of the university, there is an Easterner of unknown origin serving as the vice-principal... "
"Vice principal?!" Ye Qingxuan was confused.
"That's right. Unfortunately, I left for a few years and he disappeared after I came back."
Hermes shook his head and sighed: "What a pity, I didn't even make it to that guy's wedding banquet. I heard that after getting married, he resigned and lived in his own world of two. It's enviable, enviable!"
"Boss, do you still remember his name?" Ye Qingxuan asked cautiously.
"Why should I remember a man's name?" Hermes rolled his eyes and looked at him: "Employee No. 1, don't underestimate your boss!"
"Uh. Boss, there's something strange about you being underestimated."
Hermes clicked his tongue and sighed: "Hey, anyway, that Easterner seems to have caused quite a big trouble in the end. Don't imitate him, Ye Zi."
Ye Qingxuan sighed and asked, "Isn't there anything more detailed?"
"It all depends on the records in your school. Don't most teachers have files backed up in the library?"
The young man shook his head: "It's a pity that the school library is not open to students."
"Actually, if you want to see it, there is a way."
Next to him, Ciel said: "As long as you can become the head of the grade, you can choose a day. Enter the library and check the information below the confidentiality level 4. This includes the introductory music scores of each school, notes and information numbered below the resonance level. … Of course, if your balls are so painful that you want to look at the school’s personnel files, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
Ye Qingxuan was stunned: "First grade leader? How to be?"
"Who is more handsome... That's weird." Charles spread his hands and said: "The first grade leader, of course, is the result of a fight. If you defeat everyone, you will be the first grade leader!"
"Are there no regulations?" Ye Qingxuan asked.
Ciel rolled his eyes: "Putting a flag in public to challenge, win all ten rounds. Note, it is ten consecutive rounds. This is a musician's method of dueling, don't think about it, Ye Zi. You have no chance now, right?" Let’s wait at least half a year before we talk!”
Ye Qingxuan thought for a long time and said softly:
"It doesn't sound very difficult. Just take care of Edmund and the others at once."
"...You are so confident, my friend!"
Charles no longer knew whether he was being whimsical or overestimating his abilities.
"If I don't challenge the chief, won't they be able to fight each other?"
“…”
"Oh, it's great that young people have fighting spirit."
Hermes clapped his hands, his eyes swept across Ye Qingxuan's chest, and he paused.
Suddenly, he stood up straight from the chair and stood on the table in such a weird way. Ye Qingxuan only felt that he was hallucinating, but Hermes stepped on the table, took a step forward, passed his fingers across his chest, and deftly hooked the pocket watch chain with his tail finger, pulled out the pocket watch from his pocket, and dropped it. into his hands.
Should I say that I am worthy of being the boss? Even if you step on the table and take something from someone else's arms, you can still do it as elegantly as if you were picking flowers for an aristocratic lady during a spring outing...
Hermes looked at the pocket watch in his hand, and his expression suddenly became complicated: "I miss it so much... Where did you pick this thing up?"
"Well, it was a gift from a friend."
Ye Qingxuan was a little embarrassed, so he took off his pocket watch and let him look at it. Hermes stroked the lines on it and smiled happily: "Little Ye Ye, if you like pocket watches, I will give you a few more."
As he said that, he pointed to the display shelf behind the counter, where there was a row of valuable antique pocket watches: "This is a belated meeting gift, you can choose whatever you want."
Charles was overjoyed: "Then I'm welcome!"
A cane hit him on the head, and he whimpered and shut up. Hermes looked at him with a smile: "This is an employee benefit, you don't count."
"How's it going? Have you picked it out?"
Hermes pointed to his collection: "These are all the good things I collected."
"No need for this."
Ye Qingxuan waved his hands awkwardly: "It's quite expensive, and besides, I haven't done much work."
"Tsk."
Hermes curled his lips and sat back in his seat.
He held the watch chain between his two fingers and watched the rotating pocket watch coil around his fingertips. He muttered in a low voice: "Then there is no way to recycle it... Such a bad work should be regarded as black history." Destroy it.”
"What?" Ye Qingxuan asked.
"nothing!"
Hermes forced a smile: "Since I happened to bump into it, I am in a good mood today, so I will help you change it."
With that said, without waiting for Ye Qingxuan to nod, he threw the timepiece into the air.
Ye Qingxuan opened his mouth to speak, but he snapped his fingers.
In an instant, faint whispers and chanting sounds came from the void, and in an instant they turned from extremely subtle to extremely brilliant. The sounds of countless musical instruments set off the sacred chants and turned into thunder, thundering past everyone's ears!
Among the countless chanting voices, there was an old male voice chanting softly: "Time, please stop, because you are so beautiful..."
Then everything stopped.
It's like everything is frozen in the sky, and a drop of "amber" falling from the sky encompasses the entire store. Therefore, all changes are forcibly stopped, and the flowing river of time stops condensing.
The natural disaster-level score—"Faust", the fourth act, begins here!
"Dear friends, all theories are gray, but the tree of life is evergreen."
Like Mephistopheles, the devil in the music score, Hermes smiled and stretched out his hand, tapping the pocket watch in mid-air. So in an instant, the pocket watch was disassembled layer by layer.
From the outside to the inside, from the watch case to the complex and delicate movement...
…
As if he had taken a nap, Ye Qingxuan blinked and saw the pocket watch falling from the air and back into Hermes' hand.
"No, give it back to you."
Hermes smiled happily as if he had succeeded in his prank: "It's just a joke, don't pay attention."
"...Can I say I'm used to it?"
Ye Qingxuan felt sad for a while.
"Ah, by the way, I almost forgot that there is something else here."
Hermes stood up with his cane, and then rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, leaving a mess all over the floor. Ye Qingxuan watched him blankly as he kept rummaging for something, until finally he kicked a heavy suitcase down from the attic.
The old suitcase seemed to have some thought, and it was covered with dust.
When he lived here before, Ye Qingxuan directly placed the bed board on top, without even thinking about opening it to see what was in this heavy box.
Now that the suitcase fell to the ground, a big hole was opened in the old and hardened leather, emitting a strong musty smell like neglected books.
"Hey, don't say the boss won't help you."
Hermes knocked on the suitcase with his cane, "You pick out a few books from this pile of rubbish and take them away."
"What's this?"
Hermes smiled: "What do you think?"
…
…
Ten minutes later, the burly Seton pushed the door open and saw the wind blowing through the room and the mess on the floor. Hermes was sitting among the piles of things, drinking coffee leisurely, "Hey, Seton." Dun, are you back?"
Seton's expression became even more ugly, "Did you do something weird again?"
"No, I just thought of some strange things I collected in the past, took them out, sorted them out, and then threw them away."
Hearing Hermes speak so calmly, Seton curled his lips, picked up a rotten book from the ground, and read stumblingly:
"Notes... equal temperament... record... what is this?"
"Oh, an old textbook that has been eliminated by the times."
Hermes was full of emotion: "Some records that should have been buried in the pile of old papers, or that are 'worthless' to many people today. The collecting habit is really bad. How could I be like a squirrel in the past? Look, Why don’t you move your things home when you get them?”
"speak English!"
"Alright alright."
Hermes sighed: "You know that the existing musician system is based on the foundation created by the 'Equal Temperament', right? Compared with the previous rules, the "Equal Temperament" built It is a brand-new open system. Well, both the operability and the ease of use are many times higher than before. Based on this, the systems such as the 'Musician's Ninth Level' that we are now familiar with are constructed. So, the question is... before the advent of the Equal Temperament, how did the musicians, or people who were still called 'wizards' at that time, cast spells?"
"Rely on it?" Seton looked at the completely moldy thing in his hand.
"That's right."
Hermes nodded: "In the late period of the Dark Ages, the theoretical basis of musicians was not perfect, and the seven major factions had not yet been formed. It was still the 'classical period', and there was no 'etheric induction theory'. The mainstream theory at that time was 'Chaos theory' is to adhere to the principle of 'ether is unfathomable'. Although it is unmeasurable, it can only be tried over and over again. Therefore, the group of wizards believed that the more records they collected, the better the calculated results would be. Close to reality. And this creates a problem. - there is no formula simplification to create redundant data."
"Can you imagine that if a new musician wants to learn a note to make a fire, he has to recite and try tens of thousands of different 'spells'? Of course, the classical school declined rapidly after the appearance of "The Equal Temperament". And The thing in your hand is one of the useless things they have left."
Just after he finished speaking, Seton saw a familiar look on Hermes' face.
It was like a child's innocent smile after succeeding in a prank, with a bit of pride and a bit of joy, and uncontrollable joy!
"Hahaha, I'm really looking forward to it."
Hermes looked in the direction of the window and murmured softly: "Twenty-six notes, at least more than 4,800 'spells'. To memorize so many syllables... I guess someone's brain will explode, right?"