Anton thought of the fact that he didn’t have any experience in performing for a live audience and wondered how his first experience would be. Strangely, he was feeling only a little nervous but mostly excited. He didn’t care if he messed up since they were leaving the city the next day anyway.
“Are you sure you want to do this? I know how scary performing in public could be,” Fenix said while they were walking to the place where they could busk.
“I just want to experience how it felt like to be a busker.”
Anton almost mentioned that where he came from, there were a lot of talented people and that you could see them anytime over the internet so he would never think of performing in front of a live audience but remembered that he was in another world and that he was just a farmer’s son that grew up in some backwater.
When they arrived in a city square, Fenix talked to one of the performers who had a space beside them. The performers were a pair of acrobats and when Fenix gave them some copper coins, they relented and allowed Anton and Fenix to set up beside them.
The acrobats had some sort of blanket or carpet that they were using so Anton copied them and laid down a blanket. He then asked Fenix to find a chair that he could use to sit and after a couple of minutes, his city tour guide returned with a stool. Fenix then used some sort of hat to indicate where the audience could toss coins but Anton could see that Fenix didn’t have any motivation and was probably thinking that they would only embarrass themselves.
Anton shrugged at Fenix’s lack of faith. He practiced a scale for a couple of minutes to warm his hands and wished that the lute were a bit louder but it should be enough for their purposes. The first song that he was planning to sing was Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. It was a soft rock ballad that he would need to belt to reach the notes and the melody of the song was already a tried and tested crowd favorite. He actually planned to sing songs from the band Journey.
When his hands were ready, he let the first notes of the song Don’t Stop Believing rip from the lute. The first notes of the song from the lute already attracted some passersby. Then he belted out the first sentence of the song.
Anton was glad that the song needed to be belted out so it was very loud. He utilized all of his expertise in singing to make sure that the song reached a lot of listeners. He utilized all the things that he learned watching performers on social media sites like smiling and winking at ladies. It was a bit cringy but he was enjoying himself.
He saw that Fenix was staring at him with his mouth open and even the acrobat beside him stopped performing and listened to him. The crowd grew bigger and a lot of them were tossing coins on his hat.
After he finished the song Don’t Stop Believing, he stood up and bowed and there was loud applause from the audience. Anton then played the next song which was Faithfully by Journey.
The song was slower and since he was playing and singing with his eyes closed, when he opened them, he was a bit surprised that the crowd was bigger and there were a lot of ladies in the crowd.
The next song that he belted out was also one of the songs of the band Journey which was Open Arms. He was glad that he chose Journey songs since almost all of them needed to be belted out. Since this world didn’t have any microphone, he wanted a lot of people to hear his songs so he was belting his heart out.
Anton was a bit surprised that after three songs, he already felt a little tired, and more than likely it was because he was giving his all on every song so he activated his Vigor Aura.
After Open Arms, Anton belted the next song that he chose which was Anyway You Want It. While singing the songs, he felt that the lute couldn’t keep up with how loud he was singing. The lute’s volume was low and suited for an inside playing but he kept on singing.
Anton saw that some of the audience were already swaying to the songs that he was singing and Fenix was still wearing a flabbergasted expression that almost caused him to laugh out loud. He did see that Fenix had to empty the hat since it was already full and surprisingly, they were not only copper coins since there were some silver coins on the bunch as well.
A few more Journey songs and then Anton concluded his impromptu concert. He stood up and bowed to everyone and told the audience that he was done performing since he felt that it was time to rest his voice to avoid injury.
Although the audience was clearly very disappointed, they were surprisingly forgiving and calm. A lot of them did talk to him and praised him telling him that his voice was very beautiful. Some ladies asked if he was a bard and some invited him to their manors and some such thing which he declined gracefully.
The acrobat couple who were performing beside him went to him and told him how beautiful his voice was. After cleaning after themselves, Anton and Fenix went back to the inn since it was already afternoon.
“Your sister is correct Anton. You’re talented enough to become a bard. Your songs are truly unique and they are easy to listen to. I could also see that it would take great talent to sing your songs without butchering them,” Fenix said to Anton while they were walking to the inn.
“Did we earn a lot?” Anton asked while smiling.
“You did earn a lot of coins for that performance alone. I haven’t counted them yet.”
They headed directly to their suite when they arrived at the inn and saw that the only people there were Anna, Lunelle, Colin, Devon, and Budolf.
Fenix then transferred all the coins that they earned busking to the table.
“Where do those coins come from? Most of them were just copper coins,” Anna asked since she knew that if her brother sold something that he repaired, the coins would be silver and gold.
“Your brother performed in one of the city squares! He sang several songs and a lot of the audience couldn’t stop clapping once he was done with every one of his songs. I even saw some ladies cry while looking at him! There are the coins that the audience threw and he only sang about eight songs.” Fenix said.
Everyone was startled when they heard what Fenix said. Anton laughed and told everyone that he just wanted to experience what it would be like to become a street performer.
“You’re correct Anna. I could survive as a minstrel!” Anton continued laughing.
“Actually, a lot of the audience came to him and told him that he could become a bard and he also received invitations from some of the wealthy audience. Most of them were ladies who had nefarious intentions,” Fenix then laughed and the comment made Lunelle blush.
“What do you mean?” Anna asked.
Devon stopped Fenix from answering and told Anna to ask her father which made Anton and Fenix snort in laughter.