Extra: The Bard and the Hymn of Hope

A traveling bard by the name of Tohne spotted a girl in the fountain plaza as evening approached. She was a skinny lass of about ten, with hair the color of polished copper, and she sat on the edge of the fountain, staring into space. There were very few people around, and it would be dark soon. Even in the capital of the prosperous Gracis Kingdom, it wasn’t entirely safe for a child to be out alone after dark.

Tohne thought of his younger sister back home and couldn’t help but call to the girl. “What are you doing here, miss?”

The girl jumped. She looked at Tohne, then immediately glanced away. “I can’t... be at home,” she muttered.

“But it’s getting dark. It’s not safe out here—you have to go home.” Tohne’s suggestion was met by silence. After a moment, he relented. It wasn’t unusual for a child to “run away” from home after fighting with their parents. “Then why don’t you hang out with me?” he offered, planning to walk her home once she had changed her mind.

The girl gave him a dirty look. “I’m not supposed to follow strangers... Especially not old men.”

“Old?! I’m still in my twenties!” Tohne sighed, rubbing his chin. “I guess I really do look old.” He tried to remain well-groomed for his job, but he was often thought to be much older than he was because of his well-defined, mature features. It had worked both for and against him before. “My name is Tohne. I’m a traveling bard. Can you tell me your name, little girl?”

“Jeanne...”

“What a pretty name.” Tohne flashed a smile as to not scare the girl.

Tohne brought the girl to a pub he frequented near the red-light district, where people had begun to pour in after their work was one. All of the tables were full, so they had a seat at the bar. After ordering a glass of juice and some soup, Jeanne hesitated at first but soon chowed it down, showing how hungry she had been.

Tohne watched the girl beside him as he sipped on his tea. She’s not very expressive, he thought. What a shame. While the girl seemed a bit too skinny, her face had attractive features. He imagined that, with good food, sleep, and clothes, she would look like a whole different person.

The owner of the bar came to him, saying, “What’s this, Tohne? You had enough of grown-up women?”

Tohne spat out his tea. Jeanne was looking to and fro between Tohne and the owner. “No!” Tohne denied. “That isn’t what this is about!”

“Oh yeah? Weren’t you crying that this gal you’ve been buying stuff for ended up with some other guy?”

“L-Leave the past in the past...” It was a fresh, painful memory for Tohne—a girl he had been showering in gifts had asked for his advice on wooing another man. The pain had subsided a bit after he’d drowned it in ale and music... Not that the fresh wound had completely healed yet.

“All right, my bad,” the owner said, without sincerity. “Oh, can I bug you for a song? The guy I had booked never showed up... Just one?”

Tohne reached for his violin. He normally had scheduled gigs at several bars, small theaters, and plazas depending on the day, but it wasn’t uncommon to see a few last-minute requests, either. No matter how small the gig, Tohne knew that word of mouth would ultimately lead to more work.

“Stay here for a minute,” Tohne said to Jeanne, and walked onto the small stage. He waved to the already drunk and cheering crowd and launched into an upbeat song. The engaged crowd kept him going for five songs in all, until Tohne finally managed to bow his way off the stage amidst raucous applause.

When he returned to the bar, he was greeted by Jeanne’s glimmering eyes. “Did you like my performance?” Tohne proudly asked, now that he had seen an age-appropriate expression on Jeanne for the first time.

“That was amazing!” she said in excitement. “It sounded so pretty! Can you play anything else?”

“Of course. This is how I put food on my table. I can play all kinds of songs on the violin, or the piano, or the guitar. Anything you like! You interested, Jeanne?”

After staring at the bard in admiration, Jeanne nodded. After that, Jeanne listened to Tohne talk about what songs or stories were popular lately, as well as his explanations about instruments.

After an hour or so, Tohne told Jeanne to wait at her chair while he went to the owner of the pub for his pay.

“Here it is, Tohne.” The owner tried to hand over five silver coins, but Tohne only took three, since he was only hired to do one song. He had played five of his own volition. Tohne explained this to the owner, and they settled on the owner covering his tab for the night in addition.

“So, you know who that girl is, right?”

“You mean Jeanne?” Tohne shook his head.

“You don’t know?” the owner said, incredulous. “Not that I’m aware of all the details... But her mother works in the red-light district. Used to work in a noble’s manor, from what I’ve heard. Apparently she was of decent birth. Then the noble got his hands on her and she had the kid. Chased out of the noble’s place and cut off from her parents.” The owner explained that he knew as much because his wife had helped Jeanne’s mother while she was still pregnant. The single mother with copper hair and good looks was the talk of the town for a while. “That poor woman. And that poor girl. Just another life ruined by a rich bastard.”

Tohne then asked for the girl’s address and left the bar.

He led Jeanne through the red-light district by the hand, which Tohne imagined was met by inquisitive stares that silently accused him of unspeakable deeds, but he gritted his teeth through it all.

They eventually arrived at a rundown house, and Tohne knocked on the door. After a cough or two from within, the door opened to a woman with the same color hair as Jeanne. Tohne guessed the woman to be Jeanne’s mother. Just as the bar owner had said, he found her on the thin side, but beautiful. The mother gave Tohne an inquisitive look before spotting her daughter hiding beside him.

“Jeanne! Where did you wander off to, staying out this late?!” she angrily demanded.

“M-Mom...” Jeanne’s shoulders shook, and she let go of Tohne’s hand. “I-I’m sorry...”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to make me worry—” The mother’s scolding was crushed into a fit of coughing.

Jeanne ran to her. “Mom, are you okay?!”

“Shut up...! Get inside already!” She pulled Jeanne into the house and shooed her away. Jeanne looked back for a moment before retreating into the house, leaving the mother and Tohne to stand awkwardly at the door. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” the mother said, breaking the silence.

“No, it’s my fault for keeping her out this late... Oh, not that I was doing anything—” Tohne rushed to explain.

The mother chuckled at this, graciously smoothing over the misstep. Then, a shadow crossed over her face. “I’ve been ill, and told her not to come near me. Apparently, she took that to mean she couldn’t be in the house...” she woefully explained.

Tohne wondered if the mother, a prostitute, was just playing a part to garner sympathy. However, if that were the case, she likely would have played it from the moment she opened the door. If her health prevented her from going out to look for her daughter, Tohne could imagine how the mother could have been driven mad with worry. And if what the bar owner had said was true, they had a complicated history. He doubted that their relationship was solid. Recalling how Jeanne ate her soup and how both of them looked, Tohne could imagine how much they were struggling.

“My name is Tohne. I’m a traveling bard, and I may not look it, but I’m only in my twenties.” Tohne’s sudden introduction was met by a curious look from the mother. “If you don’t mind, can Jeanne accompany me while I’m in the capital? I could sure use an extra pair of hands to take care of the extra work that comes with the job. I’ll pay, of course. Oh—and I’m not into little girls or anything! Don’t worry about that! I’ll walk her home every day too!” Tohne had rattled on without giving the mother a chance to even ask a question.

The next day, Tohne went out into town with Jeanne in tow. He asked her to collect coins thrown to him while he played in the plaza and run messages to the bars and theaters where he was scheduled to play. At night, they ate at cheap bars and diners before Tohne walked Jeanne home with a meal for her mother and a bit of pocket money.

Even for a humble bard, this wasn’t too much of an expense for Tohne. Every time he walked Jeanne home, the mother would watch Jeanne retreat into the house before thanking Tohne over and over. She always thanked him for looking after Jeanne, too, which had led to Tohne hoping that Jeanne’s relationship with her mother would improve.

“You can’t not butt your nose in things, can you?” the bar owner had said to Tohne.

A few days later, after a gig at a small theater, he noticed Jeanne looking at him like she wanted to ask a question. “Uncle Tohne...”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Can I play music, too?”

“Of course. You’re interested?” he asked. Jeanne nodded after a beat. “I’ll teach you, then.”

Jeanne smiled for the first time since he had met her.

A month had passed since he first met Jeanne. After seeing that her mother had recovered and gone back to work and their normal lives had returned, Tohne decided to finally leave. He was a traveling bard, after all—a musician in search of new songs as he traveled from city to city and country to country. On occasion, he stayed longer than usual in a capital or other large city, but never for good. Besides, he had to keep learning new songs to keep the audience engaged. He had already told the bars and theaters as much, and even Jeanne’s mother the previous day.

Today, before leaving, he finally came to tell Jeanne. He had waited so long because, truth be told, he didn’t want to leave Jeanne.

“Mister Tohne... When will you be back?”

Tohne thought about that. After touring several nations, it would at least be a few years. Nowadays, there was always the chance of dying somewhere along the road, too. “I’m not sure... Oh, don’t cry! Don’t cry!” Tohne hurriedly said, then proposed, “Let’s make a deal. I want you to write a song before I see you again. Something that will warm people’s hearts.”

“Warm... their hearts? What kind of song is that?” Jeanne blinked a few times, trying to process the figure of speech.

Tohne saw musical talent in her. In writing songs and lyrics, in particular. After teaching her how to read and write music as well as play a few instruments over the past month, she had created a few compositions of her own that were still too unrefined to call songs, but promising nonetheless.

“That’s something that you have to figure out,” Tohne answered. “Once you do, I’ll sing it all over the world. Then we’ll always be together through that song.”

“Okay...!” Jeanne said with a smile.

As Jeanne saw him off, Tohne left the capital. It was the last time they ever met.

Tohne placed a bouquet of flowers on a tombstone within a cemetery on the grounds of a certain church. The tombstone read “Jeanne Barbosse.”

“We promised...” Tohne muttered, touching the top of the tombstone.

Three years after they parted, Tohne had returned to the capital—to Jeanne’s home. However, the house was occupied by someone else, and he was told that the previous tenant had died. He returned to the pub to hear that Jeanne’s mother had passed half a year or so after he left the capital, and that Jeanne had been taken in by her father, the noble. While he regretted not staying in the capital longer, he was relieved to hear that she was living in an aristocratic household, not starving. That time, he remained in the capital for a month.

When he returned again in the spring three years later, he discovered that a marquis’ daughter had been killed. When he asked for a name, he discovered that it was the same girl with the copper hair.

Tohne painfully regretted parting ways with her six years ago. Then, he heard footsteps on grass and turned around to find a noble child with golden hair and green eyes, accompanied by a young man who must have been his bodyguard, judging from the sword on his belt. The boy held a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“You are...?” the child asked, and Tohne told him everything. How he was a traveling bard, how he was an old friend of Jeanne’s, and about the promise he made to her. He didn’t know why. Perhaps he wanted to share those memories with someone who knew her.

“Jeanne’s song...” The boy closed his eyes for a moment before asking, “Mister Tohne, can I be the one to fulfill that promise?”

The bard was playing his last song of the night in a bar by the red-light district. It was a heartwarming song that reminded people of a warm spring day. While the rest of his repertoire was usually met with cheers, jeers, or whistles, everyone in the bar quietly listened through the song and applauded when it concluded. Tohne politely declined an encore and walked off the stage.

“Hey, Tohne. Was that a new song? Where’s it from?” the owner of the bar asked.

Tohne only vaguely nodded with a smile.

He had finished the tune that the blond-haired boy had taught him. The boy had said that Jeanne was the one who had written the tune. In the end, Tohne had a good guess as to who the boy was. He knew Jeanne, the Marquis’ daughter, had possessed extraordinary beauty. Combined with the stories of the Prince of Light he had heard in his travels, as well as the news of who had solved the incident at the Cathedral...

But Tohne decided that he didn’t need to know who the boy really was.

“It’s a good song,” the owner said. “No lyrics? Or a title?”

“There are no lyrics... But, let’s see...” Tohne pondered for some time. “How about the Hymn of Hope?”

The lyric-less Hymn of Hope went on to spread throughout the world, without anyone knowing who wrote it to begin with. It has been noted in history that the famous hero Herscherik would often hum the Hymn of Hope to himself.

The Bard and the Hymn of Hope — Fin