Lucian was indeed busy. In his vision, the project required a lot of drawings, and even though he was only handling the drafts, it was still time-consuming.
In his room, Hu Tao, Cloud Retainer, Guizhong, and others were "working" for Lucian.
"Sigh, I'm supposed to be the boss here. How did I end up working for Little Lucian?" Hu Tao said softly.
Though she complained, her hands didn't stop moving. In fact, she was the fastest among the group in terms of drawing progress.
She was quite happy about it. Being naturally sociable and a bit of a "people person," the current situation suited her perfectly. While drawing, she was also chatting and socializing with everyone, yet she still managed to draw the fastest.
Hu Tao could draw, but she usually didn't take it too seriously.
"Huh? Come to think of it, aren't I also a boss?" Ayaka Kamisato said, tapping her chin. After all, Lucian was a guest retainer of the Kamisato Clan.
"What? That Lucian guy's been randomly picking bosses again!?" Navia chimed in with a playful jab.
She had already learned during Furina's performance that Ayaka was the "third boss," but now she pretended to be clueless.
"What are you talking about, Second Boss? If we're talking about randomly picking bosses, you're one of them too," Hu Tao teased with a grin.
The two were quite familiar with each other, often bantering back and forth when they had nothing else to do. Perhaps it was because they were somewhat similar that they enjoyed teasing each other?
"Well, how dare you say that!" Navia accepted Hu Tao's "duel" invitation.
"Hmm…" Ayaka Kamisato pondered for a moment but chose not to get involved in the bosses' verbal sparring.
Speaking of which, when they were "queuing up" earlier, they had agreed to write songs in the order of bosses. So how did Arlecchino manage to cut in line?
Well, they had agreed among themselves—Lucian hadn't even said anything yet.
"Being a boss comes with this kind of work? Then count me in too!" Yoimiya raised her hand.
As a "child leader," she naturally knew how to draw, so Lucian had roped her in as well.
Besides her, even Yae Miko hadn't escaped.
"Sigh, I was supposed to have Urakusai draw for me, but now I'm the one drawing for the little guy," Yae Miko sighed from the side.
"It's pretty fun to draw, isn't it?" Kitsune Saiguu said with a smile. Yep, she'd been dragged into this too.
The two fox ladies hadn't expected that, shortly after Lucian left, he'd come right back.
When he returned and said he needed their help, they naturally couldn't refuse. And so, they were whisked off to Fontaine to do some "unpaid labor."
By the way, the only one in the Plane of Euthymia who didn't receive an invitation was Ei, because Lucian figured she didn't seem like the drawing type.
Still, Lucian brought Ei along. At the moment, she was standing to the side, staring wide-eyed as everyone busied themselves.
"Please change your pose, thank you," Charlotte said, snapping photos of Ei like crazy.
Lucian: To show my gratitude to Charlotte, feel free to take as many photos as you want. I've given my approval.
With Lucian's approval, Ei wouldn't refuse either. If it had been the Shogun, though, you'd have gotten a glare to figure out for yourself.
"Ahem… I only know how to draw blueprints. Isn't this a bit too much for me?" Cloud Retainer complained.
While there were some similarities, asking Cloud Retainer to draw flat-color or semi-thick-coated character illustrations was indeed a bit challenging for her.
Fortunately, she was a quick learner and could manage to draw, albeit at a slower pace.
"Why don't I teach you? Call me 'Senior' first," Faruzan said with a smile. She'd been dragged into this by Lucian too.
She didn't know the identities of Cloud Retainer and the others. Judging by appearances, she thought Cloud Retainer was just in her twenties. Meanwhile, Faruzan was the "Centenarian Coral."
Though Faruzan studied "texts," she could draw too.
Or rather, everyone from Sumeru was multi-talented. Shake them up a bit, and you'd always uncover one or two unexpected skills.
"Senior?" Cloud Retainer found it amusing. "Alright then, Senior, teach me."
Outside of her mechanical arts, her competitive streak wasn't particularly strong.
Guizhong, on the other side, stretched her body, her long sleeves raised, and her small feet spread out as she yawned.
"Ugh, drawing is so tiring."
Drawing was, as expected, not as engaging as working on mechanisms.
She turned to Ping, curious about her progress. "How's it going? Is the melody tough?"
Ping shook her head. "It's not too hard, especially with so many people helping me."
By her side were Yun Jin, Xinyan, Kazuha, Nilou, Barbara, and… Venti.
"The drumbeat here doesn't feel quite right," Xinyan said, frowning.
The melody Lucian had given them was rather vague, making their task perhaps the most challenging of all.
It couldn't be helped—Lucian's musical skills were hard to pin down. You could say he was barely on key, but at least he'd given them a direction.
The rest—matching instruments, melodies, drumbeats, and so on—was up to them to figure out.
Because Lucian didn't really understand those either. He could only hum the tune.
Yun Jin nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Maybe we could shift the drumbeat a bit later?"
Seeing such a strong lineup, Venti started slacking off, sipping on the Fontaine wine Lucian had given him as "payment," chugging it down with a "glug glug glug."
But his slacking didn't matter much, because his mere presence was a buff.
Barbara, empowered, was giving 200% of her focus.
She absolutely, absolutely had to perform well in front of Lord Barbatos!
"You're right. Move the drumbeat back a bit, and then add some… hmm, bass? And here, the emotion… the guitar should be more intense," Barbara said.
Xinyan and Ping played their instruments according to Barbara's suggestions.
Lucian's house wasn't short on instruments. Though Lucian himself didn't play, his system could easily procure such props.
"Water," Noelle said, handing a cup to Barbara. Seeing how focused Barbara was, constantly talking and refining the music, Noelle figured she'd be thirsty.
Noelle admired everyone. She felt like she couldn't do much, so she stuck to serving water, cleaning, and zipping around to take care of everyone—instantly, like teleportation.
"Thanks," Barbara said politely, accepting the cup.
Noelle nodded with a slight smile, saying nothing more before moving on to serve the others.
As the "water server," she felt she wasn't contributing much, so she had to work even harder to meet everyone's needs.
"Water! Give me water! Someone get me water!" Furina called out. The Hydro Archon was running dry!
Noelle immediately appeared by Furina's side, handing her a cup. Furina grabbed it and downed it in one go, "glug glug glug!"
"Phew, saved," Furina sighed in relief. The Hydro Archon had nearly died of thirst.
As the lead singer, practicing songs naturally made her thirsty quickly, yet she'd forgotten to prepare water.
That's right—Lucian's idea was to make a short film for Arlecchino. Heh heh heh, she'd definitely love it.
===✧✦✧===
Character Voice · Zhongli: About the "Animated Short"
"An interesting way to record stories. I've learned a thing or two. Perhaps I could try making one myself?"