The greatest impact of "Everyone's Singer" was that ordinary people felt they were taking part in a celebration on a world scale.
Every contestant in the top ten had millions of votes, and their totals were still growing by hundreds of thousands each day.
Even nobles who were deeply prejudiced against Free City and dismissed the competition as a celebration for the lower classes had to grudgingly admit it: if that didn't count as a champion, what did?
The Singer Competition next door had taken a different path.
Knight Tarkinson had something going for him. He had copied Annan's idea, but made it his own.
Annan had given everyone a vote. Tarkinson had instead selected a hundred judges from the wealthy and powerful of the City of Art to decide which contestants advanced.
As for broadcasting, Knight Tarkinson, who held all the power, ordered the performances recorded and sent the Magic Stones to theaters.
Opera singers renowned across the land appeared one after another. Opera lovers couldn't resist, and theaters everywhere were soon packed.
The nobles who had been full of complaints about Knight Tarkinson just days earlier became his supporters. Even the old nobles of the Hall greeted him with smiles.
That was how nobles worked. As long as there was something to gain, what did reputation matter? Slap one cheek, and they would ask if you wanted to slap the other.
Then there was the arrangement Governor Borgant had mocked as "Annan makes one move, and you panic." The governor had complained, but he still led by example: he appeared in the Art Capital, watched a performance, and cast a vote for a contestant he liked.
Notably, the Singer who received the governor's vote was not Madeleine Jenkins.
Governor Borgant's participation prompted the Orr Empire's upper ranks to