9

"Do you not hear the deceit that reeks in your voice?" Aoide uttered. Her face was scrunched up in slight disgust like she had smelled something rotten.

This particular sentence made Arthur frown because how would you technically 'smell' a voice? Then again, the world of the divine was something that he could not understand.

Hearing this judgement, Emilio's heart chilled and he quickly tried to explain his innocence or even beg for mercy but then he realized no voice came out of his lips. Arthur saw the man gesture wildly but all he could hear was silence. Apparently, the goddess had done to the man what she did to them, she had stripped Emilio of his voice.

"Just like the plays, the heroes shall be celebrated and the villains punished," Aoide raised her arm and a golden lyre appeared in it. She plucked one of the strings and began, "How about a song to conclude this particular adventure?"

She started to play and Arthur felt himself almost physically buoyed by the most beautiful music he had ever heard in his lifetime. It was uplifting and joyous. The music seemed to possess magical powers because Arthur could feel energy returning to his limbs. He tried to move his fingers and they did not feel that tired anymore. The music was giving him the rejuvenation that he needed.

Arthur would have lost himself in the music if not for the show that was happening beside him. Emilio tossed and turned on the ground, his hands over his ears and his face a mask of trauma. It looked like the man was caught in some sort of horrible nightmare. His experience was a complete opposite from Arthur's. Arthur would have taken pity on the man if he did not just try to murder him and his friends earlier. From how Arthur saw it, Emilio deserved all these torment and more.

However, Arthur was not sadistic enough to take pleasure in the man's punishment. He turned his head away to look at his friends. Arthur was worried that they were going through the same punishment as Emilio.

Felicia was still unconscious and Billy had his eyes closed. His face was relaxed like he was in a soothing bath. It was then that Arthur realized they were fine. He sighed greatly in relief.

Eventually, the music stopped. Arthur turned to look at Emilio. He had no idea when did the man stop struggling but now he just laid there completely immobile with a hollowness in his eyes like his soul had been sucked dry. Arthur could not tell whether the man was already dead or not but then again, he didn't really care that much about Emilio's fate.

He got from the ground and bowed at the goddess. "Thank you for saving our lives."

Aoide chirped with pleasant surprise, "There's that voice again! So you're the one who has summoned me."

Arthur believed the goddess was referring to the loud scream that he elicited when he tried to stop Emilio and his gang from delivering the fatal blows to his friends. That was probably how he had accidentally summoned her.

Honestly, Arthur was at a loss for what to do. Unlike Emilio, he didn't have any intention of summoning the goddess in the first place. Arthur realized perhaps he should say something but he didn't know what would be the appropriate thing to say.

Thankfully, the goddess picked up the thread of conversation on her own, "As that man said, I am Aoide, the patron of song and voice. Since you've summoned me, what do you have to ask of me? What do you wish from the divine? Power? Money? Women?"

"No, no. It's none of those things. It is a complete accident that your grace has been summoned, at the time, I just want to save my friends," Arthur tried to explain. However, it didn't seem like Aoide was listening. She had her eyes closed when Arthur spoke. She had an expression that looked like enjoyment on her face. "Such untapped potential in your voice, it is just like a diamond in the rough," Aoide opened her eyes to say. Arthur felt like blushing being complimented by a living divine.

"Young man, tell me your name and a little bit about yourself," Aoide ordered.

"The name's Arthur and I'm here with my friends, Billy and Felicia," Arthur pointed at his mates before continuing, "We're on a quest to clear the cave when we accidentally stumbled into your grace's shrine. We have no idea we're being tailed by Emilio's gang and that led to the unfortunate situation earlier. I apologize if we have desecrated your grace's shrine in any way." Arthur bowed to apologize to the goddess.

Aoide sighed as she commented on something else, "Such potential in that voice of yours. Young man, do you know how powerful the weapon you're carrying?"

Arthur frowned, he did not realize he was carrying any sharp weapon. Then, it hit him. "Your grace, are you talking about my voice?"

"Of course. It is like a dull sword waiting to be honed. I've never come across such immense potential in a mortal's voice before. You are uniquely gifted, my boy."

Arthur could not help but frown at this assessment and he voiced his confusion. "But the village mage said I have no talent in magic."

"That's because humans have no understanding of our kind of magic. You shouldn't turn to other mortals to learn Voice Magic since the purest form of this magic occurs in nature. Voices are the precursor to human language but unfortunately, humans have abandoned this most basic form of magic.

"Today's mortals use their voices as a means to an end, where they use incantations to coerce the elements around them into submission but for Voice magic, the instrument, our voice is the end in itself."

Arthur nodded in understanding. In other words, it was not that he could not cast spell but he had not found the correct way, and said way could only be found in nature. "Then, does this mean I should stay away from other human beings if I want to master this form of magic?" Arthur really did want to improve his mastery of this Voice magic because it might be the ticket he needed to become an adventurer.

Aoide shook her head. "No, of course not. As I've said before, humans have evolved beyond the simplest usage of voices. In fact, mortals have the most advanced mastery of vocalization in this world. While you might not be able to get other mortals to teach you Voice magic but that doesn't mean you cannot learn anything from them. If anything, I'd say constant interaction with other humans is a crucial part should one wish to master the Voice magic."

Arthur couldn't say he understood fully what the goddess was talking about. It just sounded like a whole jumbled mess to him.

While he was processing the information, the goddess asked something that cut through his reverie, "Young man, would you wish to form a pact with me? Accept my blessing and change the world in the capacity of my disciple."