"As my number one great believer, I have something for you to do right now."
As she spoke, Janna raised her head again, light shining in her eyes. In an instant, the faint gloom drifting through the air vanished without a trace.
She lightly pressed her lips together, looking rather reserved.
Hearing this, Luke asked, "What is it?"
"I am rather interested in that... hot pot you all had at noon." Janna blinked, a trace of anticipation flashing in her eyes.
Luke came to a slight realization. "That won't be hard to prepare. Give me a moment."
And so, in order to satisfy the gluttonous goddess's craving, Luke prepared another round of hot pot in the middle of the night.
At this hour, though, he also felt somewhat in the mood for a late-night snack.
If word got out that he had shared hot pot with Zaun's guardian spirit in the middle of the night, probably no one would believe it.
As the steaming hot pot churned and swallowed ingredient after ingredient, Janna sat in a chair like an ordinary woman, happily picking things up with her chopsticks and eating.
While eating, she also nodded in satisfaction and commented, "It tastes just as I imagined. Is this way of eating popular in Demacia?"
Luke replied, "It hasn't become popular yet. It's still a niche way to eat."
"I see."
Janna nodded, then continued eating.
Luke looked at her dignified eating posture and asked curiously, "So you can directly eat mortal food?"
"Of course I can. I just usually don't."
Janna answered casually.
As a wind spirit, she actually did not need to eat.
However, after some believers started offering her food, she began tasting it out of curiosity.
After that, there was no turning back.
Later, she discovered that the mortal world still had many delicious foods.
Janna was quite satisfied with the hot pot. After eating her fill, she let out a long, comfortable breath, then yawned. "I'm feeling a little sleepy. I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to catch up on some sleep."
As she spoke, a wind suddenly blew from nowhere. Luke's vision blurred, and Janna had already disappeared.
Looking at the pile of things still left for him to clean up, Luke sighed helplessly.
As he cleaned, he began thinking about how to solve Janna's believer problem.
Aside from the wind affinity she had given him, from every angle, winning over an ally on the level of a guardian spirit was also an extremely profitable deal.
At the very least, if he found a way to restore Janna's reputation, Luke would also have someone backing him.
In the blink of an eye, morning arrived.
The weather outside was bright and clear. Luke reclined in a chair, staring blankly like an old man.
Lux immediately noticed that something was off. She leaned in and looked him over. "Why are you zoning out so early in the morning?"
Luke came back to himself and said, "I'm thinking about something."
Lux looked quite curious. "What?"
"You'll know in a bit."
Luke looked toward Jinx and asked, "In Zaun, are there many people who know about Janna?"
Hearing this, Jinx tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Not exactly. Most Zaunites don't have time to believe in vague, invisible gods."
Having grown up in Zaun, she understood that place too well.
They racked their brains trying to make money. Every day, everyone was either doing that or on their way to doing that. It was a place where profit came first.
Under those circumstances, who would be willing to spend extra time wasting things to make offerings to a god who might not even exist?
Luke nodded slightly.
If Janna's fame was already like this in Zaun, then there was even less need to consider Piltover. Clearly, even fewer people in Piltover knew about her.
After all, the sharp drop in Janna's followers had begun the day Piltover was founded.
The birth of technology was, in itself, a blow to old culture.
Luke understood this well, because he had once witnessed similar things.
When technology occupied the new world of people's minds, in the eyes of most, aside from money, nothing else was worth believing in.
In other words, if he wanted Janna's situation to improve, the first thing he had to do was increase her visibility.
How could people easily believe in a god they had never understood?
Thinking about it this way, this actually was not difficult for Luke.
Judging by the current situation, many things could be done by throwing money at them.
And as luck would have it, the thing he lacked least was money.
For the first step, he could use novels and comics to bring Janna into the public eye.
However, relying on that alone to rapidly increase her reputation was unrealistic. After all, there would definitely be people who were not interested.
The truly important part was the second step.
Coming back from his thoughts, Luke said, "I've recently been thinking of preparing a band."
His words instantly drew everyone's attention in the room, and the girls all looked over.
"A band? Like one of those orchestras with a big ensemble?"
Lux blinked, looking quite interested.
"Not exactly." Luke thought for a moment, then explained, "It's more like a music group made up of four to five or six people, with a lead singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer... and so on. Each person has a different role, and together they complete a performance."
This explanation was not hard to understand. It was basically equivalent to shrinking a large orchestra into a small team.
"After careful consideration, I've decided to have you serve as the lead singer."
As Luke spoke, his gaze turned toward Seraphine, who was listening from the side.
When Seraphine heard this, she froze in place and pointed at herself blankly. "Me?"
"That's right. You."
Luke nodded affirmatively.
"I, I, I can't do that."
Seraphine immediately panicked, shaking her head so hard it was almost like a rattle drum.
"How will you know you can't if you don't try?" After Luke said that, he paused and added, "By the way, Sona will also be in the band as an accompanist. If you don't want to be the lead singer, then I'll have to find someone else."
His tone carried a trace of regret.
It was as if there were another layer of meaning hidden beneath his words.
If she refused, she might lose the only chance in her life to work with Sona.
This left Seraphine frozen on the spot. Her gaze could not help turning toward Sona.
Sona merely smiled gently at her.
Just that smile alone suddenly filled Seraphine's heart with energy. She looked at Luke. "Okay! Lead singer it is!"
If she agreed, she might regret it for a while.
But if she did not agree, she would regret it for the rest of her life!
"Very good. You're quite motivated."
Luke smiled. "Next, we still need the other members. We'll choose them from among us too."
Lux actively raised her hand like an elementary school student hoping to be called on in class. "Me, me, me!"
"You..."
Luke hesitated slightly as he looked at her.
Miss Crownguard immediately grew unhappy. "What's wrong with me? My musical instincts are very sensitive too, okay?"
Luke spoke first. "Once you agree to this, you can't give up halfway through."
Lux immediately said, "When have I ever given up easily?"
Seeing her full of fighting spirit, Luke thought for a moment and said, "Then how about you be the guitarist?"
"Guitar? I can, but I've never learned it."
Lux looked confused.
"The guitar... If I remember correctly, it was an instrument that was only invented recently. Yes, the bass was released at the same time. I didn't expect Your Highness to know about them so soon.
"I happened to be at a launch event back then and saw both instruments. But there didn't seem to be many people optimistic about them.
"The person who released them seemed to be someone named Porter."
Caitlyn seemed to remember something at this point and sank into recollection, her brows slightly furrowing.
After she finished speaking, everyone nodded in realization.
"Seraphine, what's wrong?"
Orianna noticed that Seraphine, who was standing to the side, had a strange expression, and asked with concern.
Everyone looked toward her.
Seraphine said weakly, "Porter... is my father."
Even she had only just suddenly noticed that among the instruments Luke had mentioned earlier were the guitar and the bass.
And in Piltover, the person who had brought the guitar and bass into the public eye at the music festival launch event some time ago was precisely her father, Porter.
Her father and mother had jointly founded a music workshop, helping people repair all kinds of instruments. But they were also musicians, and with their exquisite craftsmanship, they often tinkered with novel instruments.
She had always felt that the guitar and bass were two very good instruments. It was just that the people at those launch events did not know how to appreciate them.
She had not expected Luke to mention them here.
"Then that works perfectly."
Luke was also a little surprised. In his memory, he had seen guitars appear in Piltover and had assumed they had existed for a long time.
"Since your father made the guitar, you should know how to play it, right?"
"So I'll be the guitarist, and Lux will be the lead singer?"
As soon as Seraphine heard this, her eyes lit up.
The thought of serving as the lead singer terrified her. For someone with social anxiety like her, being the lead singer was practically scarier than dreaming about ghosts.
But now, there happened to be a chance to avoid being the lead singer while still continuing to work with Sona!
Luke's tone was firm. "No. Next, you'll teach Lux how to play guitar. Your position as lead singer cannot be shaken by anyone."
Seraphine fell silent.
She kind of could not understand why this prince was so determined to make her the lead singer.
Lux patted her chest at this point and guaranteed, "Don't worry. I'm super talented. I definitely won't trouble you."
As the treasured daughter of a top noble family, Miss Crownguard had learned instruments before. Although she had not studied for long, she did possess some basic knowledge of music theory.
Seraphine's little face crumpled bitterly. Naturally, that was not what she was worried about.
"Now three positions have already been confirmed. We're still missing a drummer and a bassist."
Luke looked around. "Is there anyone who wants to volunteer like Miss Crownguard?"
Caitlyn lightly shook her head. "I can listen from the side, but personally taking the stage is better left to someone else."
She could absolutely become a qualified audience member, but she would never be a qualified performer.
Besides, her interests were not in this area.
Poppy and Quinn were the same. Needless to say, Yurna was too. Annie was too young.
After narrowing it down like this, there did not seem to be many candidates left.
At this moment, Jinx seemed to think of something and asked curiously, "A drummer, is that like those bands where they hit a big drum?"
In her memory, there was a kind of big drum that went "boom, boom, boom" when struck heavily.
Or maybe the kind held in front of the stomach and hit with two little sticks.
Luke shook his head and said, "Not that kind. It's a new kind of drum kit. I'll draw it for you."
Piltover did not have drum kits yet, but Luke did know a little about them, so drawing one would not be difficult.
After getting paper and a pen, his hand moved quickly. In just a few strokes, he roughly sketched the appearance of a drum kit.
Jinx leaned in to observe, and her eyes immediately lit up. "That looks pretty cool."
Clearly, she was very interested.
Luke smiled. "A drum kit is probably made up of a bass drum, hi-hat, snare drum, toms, and cymbals. It would be best if we could make a real one."
Hearing this, Seraphine took the initiative to raise her small hand. "For that, my parents should be able to help."
Luke looked toward her and smiled slightly. "Good. I'll go with you to meet your father and mother later."
"Okay."
Seraphine's little face reddened. Why did the way he said "meet your parents" feel strange?
"As for the final bassist candidate..."
As Luke spoke, his gaze turned toward Orianna.
Orianna counted it out at this point and realized only she was left. She hesitated, then said, "I haven't really learned any instruments. If I'm going to be the bassist, I'll have to start from scratch."
Luke nodded. "That's fine. Seraphine will teach you."
Seraphine suddenly felt that her task was very important, but deep down, she was actually quite interested in this band that was about to be formed. Her small face turned serious, and she said, "Believe in me!"
"All right."
Orianna nodded as well, agreeing.
Just like that, a five-person band was born.
Luke had once had the idea of forming a band for Sona. Now, it was the perfect time to start putting it into practice.
And judging from Sona's expression, she was also very interested at the moment.
Luke continued, "Now that the band's rough structure is in place, we still need a name. What does everyone think of Jan'ahrem?"
Lux asked strangely, "Why does it sound so much like a person's name?"
Jinx glanced at her from the side. "Idiot. Because it is a name."
"Getting bold, aren't you? Who are you calling an idiot?"
Lux directly reached out and pinched her little face, using force to oppress the poor blue-haired girl.
Even so, Jinx remained quite unconvinced and mumbled through her puffed cheeks, "You don't even know the name of the goddess you worship every day, and you still have the nerve to ask her to protect you."
Hearing this, Lux let go and asked in surprise, "What do you mean by that?"
Jinx raised her head, snorted, and explained confidently, "Jan'ahrem, in ancient Shuriman, means 'guardian.' Later, the name was gradually shortened by people into Janna."
Lux came to a realization and looked toward the bluebird statue. "So it means the wind goddess."
A smug smile curled at the corner of Jinx's mouth. "That's right! Now you get it, don't you?"
Seraphine looked at her, her tone filled with a little admiration. "Jinx, you're amazing. You even understand ancient Shuriman?"
Jinx's eyes became clear again in an instant. "Nope. I saw it in a book when I was bored once."
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