Yoram Gweizdi was the principal musician of Innocent City's orchestra. Countless people praised his performances as glimpses of the Divine Kingdom, his music as beautiful and sweeping as an epic, brimming with poetry.
A man like that could certainly meet Annan's requirements. More importantly, he had offered the highest price.
Annan had told Dean Breichim he needed a master musician, and Breichim had indeed helped him look for one. He had simply notified every musician in Siltovis...
Innocent City might not have been a musical capital, but it had more than enough great musicians to reach double digits. They fought tooth and nail for the sole opening, bidding against one another until Yoram Gweizdi, whose reputation carried the most weight, secured the musician's position on Annan's new work for 350 gold coins.
Clink—
Francois tossed the purse onto Annan's desk. Golden little house-elves spilled from its loosely tied mouth.
"I'd advise you not to take this too far..."
"What did I do?"
For a moment, Annan thought some girl's family had come looking for him.
"You hired a musician, and the musician paid you?"
Annan relaxed. After all, he hadn't done anything...
"What's wrong with that?"
Francois stared at Annan in disbelief, wondering why the Blade of Freedom had overlooked him of all people. "You make someone work for you, and he has to pay you too?"
"Wasn't it the same before?"
Annan leaned forward, picked up the scattered gold coins, and stacked them one by one.
Apart from Let Magic Fly, the actors in his previous two Magic Films had paid out of their own pockets for their roles.
"That's different."
"How is it different? Here are two stacks of gold narls. Which one is nobler, and which one is dirtier..."
As Annan finished stacking them, he accidentally knocked