I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Startled by the sudden clashing of weapons, I woke up and looked down at the yard.

There, the Skull Captain and the Headless Knight were duelling.

The two aimed their strikes at each other’s weapons rather than their bodies.

Each clash produced a thrilling resonance.

They continued their fight by dodging and countering with exaggerated movements that seemed more like a disadvantage in a real duel.

The Ratmen, sitting around them, clapped and squeaked in admiration whenever a remarkable move was displayed.

The one dressed as a pirate was Sven.

However, I couldn’t tell who the Headless Knight was.

Did anyone in our group dress up like that for Halloween?

It didn’t take long for me to realize that the Headless Knight’s head wasn’t hidden by a costume but was made ‘invisible’.

Whenever the knight’s breath became ragged, the space where his head should have been wavered.

It was undoubtedly the power of Maya’s reward item, the ‘Invisible Paint’.

After fighting for a while, the two declared a draw as neither could secure a victory.

There was no way a fight would end when they only clashed swords.

They complimented each other’s skills in a theatrical tone.

“Haha, your well-honed traditional swordsmanship has no flaws!”

“Your unpredictable practical swordsmanship was also impressive!”

When the Headless Knight took off the invisible helmet, red hair blossomed out like flowers.

The knight was Karen.

It reminded me of her pestering Maya earlier to help with her costume.

“Squeak! I’ll be the pirate!”

“Squeak! Knights, gather here!”

Inspired by their fight, the Ratmen picked up wooden sticks and divided into pirate and knight factions.

They began playing war games, with Sven and Karen as their leaders.

Initially, the two seemed taken aback, but soon they were shouting commands like, “Charge, everyone!” and “Make them all shark bait!” as they ran around the yard.

They must have been restless for days.

The constant presence of reporters nearby made it hard to relax.

Fortunately, today Lumie created an illusion of the fake ‘Frank 10’ to lure the reporters to the other side of the city, making the area around the lodge peaceful.

The castle walls made of stacked boxes crumbled, and the ship made of boxes sank.

I watched as the pirates and soldiers met their dramatic end and then sank into my armchair.

At that moment, I met the eyes of the person sitting next to me.

A silver-haired girl was staring at my face.

“Oh… Maya, have you been there the whole time?”

“Yes.”

Her expression was, as always, emotionless and cold.

I soon realized that she had been giving me a massage.

“Oh, quite a bit of time has passed. You could have woken me up.”

“I thought it was better to let you sleep since you fell asleep from spiritual fatigue.”

Upon hearing that I was unable to move my limbs due to a damaged spirit, she attempted a simple treatment based on the basic theories she learned at school.

It wasn’t anything grand, just infusing magical power into the injured areas to promote the recovery of my spirit.

“How are your injuries?”

“Thanks to your massage, I feel a bit better.”

I lightly moved my arms and legs.

She slowly nodded and then got up and left the room.

Could it be that she sat next to me for an hour just to ask that one question?

I shook my head.

Even if she seemed absent-minded, she was likely fitting complex magical theories together in her head.

She was probably conducting her own research.

She always spent her time finding new subjects to explore.

Earlier, she mentioned that she was re-examining the Tettromino Plaza puzzle I had told her about last time.

I wiggled my hands and feet.

It felt like I had regained some sensation compared to the first day, but it was still impossible to move around without a wheelchair.

My life after returning from Wonderland had changed a bit.

I constantly needed someone’s care.

Moving around the villa without help was difficult.

Ironically, this kind of life was familiar to me.

At least in Wonderstein’s body, I was free from biological needs, so no one needed to feed me or take me to the bathroom.

I consumed Debulroots so I could provide the necessary energy myself.

I only needed help from others when I had to move.

I watched as a small dot in the distance grew larger and landed on the window sill.

A hawk pushed the window open with its beak and entered.

“You’re flying quite well now. What’s that?”

I noticed the blood and flesh on the hawk’s claws and asked.

“I shook off an owl that tried to cling to me.”

“You even had an aerial battle. It seems you’ve fully adapted to your body now.”

The hawk was Chen Hawk, a persona I brought back from Wonderland.

Creating life was one of Wonderstein’s greatest powers.

However, I had never dared to use it before.

Creating a living being came with immense responsibility.

I had tried various experiments using Debulroots, but I never dared to attempt creating life.

But just in time, a lost soul came to me.

I thought I could at least create a body for his soul to reside in.

The hawk cleaned its claws with its beak.

I originally planned to create a human body for him.

However, he refused.

He thought it was an insult to Chen Hawk having a faint memory of himself while living in his shell, pretending to be him.

“Thank you for giving me a second life. Of course, I will keep your secret and cooperate with what you’re trying to do. But it doesn’t seem like I’ll be living as a human anymore.”

I respected his thoughts.

So, I created the body of a hawk for him.

There couldn’t have been a more suitable body for someone who was once an acrobatic pilot.

“Then, what about a name?”

“You come up with one.”

After thinking for a moment, I called our circus’s animal tamer.

I made up a story that I had found an injured hawk and saved it, and now it wouldn’t leave my side.

“Oh, our Director is something else, finding a hawk!”

She was very excited about me raising an animal.

And when I asked if she had a good name, she replied,

“Hawky!”

“Squawk!”

The hawk let out a loud cry, almost as if in complaint.

I had momentarily forgotten her knack for naming.

I just gave him the most straightforward name.

“How about Hawk?”

“That’s so plain!”

I watched Hawk grooming his feathers.

They say the mind follows the body.

Looking at his actions, he seemed completely like a bird.

I picked up a few pieces of dried meat and offered them to him.

He perched on my arm and ate them.

After filling his stomach, he spread his wings and flew outside again.

To quickly adapt to his new body, he had been flying outside constantly.

Since I had made his body much stronger than a normal hawk, there was no need to worry unless a griffon attacked him.

Not long after he left, I called Clara to my room.

***

For the past few days, Clara had felt like she was wandering in a nightmare.

Though she had lost most of her previous powers, as a former Apostle of the Great Demon Cinepecus, she still retained the basic ability to gather and listen to surrounding stories.

This ability transmitted information to her regardless of her will.

She had never cursed her own power as much as she did now.

-They love promising newcomers. Must be bugs attracted to fame.

Ella and Reyna are one thing, but why is a six-year-old kid suffering?

-A thousand knives? That’s ridiculous. Everyone was hearing things. Were they hallucinating?

-Good for them. Backed by a major sponsor and connected with the Marquis.

-Hehe, it’s common in this field to be sponsored by nobles. I see a bright future.

When she was trapped in the bottle, the conflicts among people were just like lullabies to her.

She used to watch and mock the petty humans for tearing each other down.

But when those whispers were directed at friends she thought she was close to, the feeling was entirely different.

When she lived in her isolated world, she didn’t realize how sharp and painful words could be.

She used to think that belittling others was just a fun thing to do…

Now, she understood why the wizards of Cinepecus ended up wandering the back alleys, keeping their distance from people and living as nameless strays.

Anyone with a sound mind would inevitably fall into Papiflux due to the constant whispers around them.

The recent fake script incident was her mistake.

It caused trouble for her master and friends.

All the criticisms she heard felt like they were directed at her, just like she had done to others.

For the first time in her life, she felt guilty and couldn’t sleep for three days.

Every time she faced Ella and Maya, she flinched and avoided them without realizing it.

What tormented her more was her master’s attitude.

She thought he would say something to her.

Whether he knew about her mistake or not, she expected him to mention their trip to Wonderland.

What happened inside, who she fought to get her wounds.

But her master didn’t say a word to her.

She got the impression that he was deliberately avoiding speaking to her.

Did she lose his trust?

If he had scolded her for her mistake, it wouldn’t have been this painful.

She wanted to hear something directly from his mouth.

And today.

Finally, her master called for her.

***

“Clara, you don’t look well.”

When he heard about Clara’s strange behaviour from Ella and Maya, he had a rough idea of what happened.

She must vaguely remember what happened in Wonderland.

“Why did you call me?”

For the first time, Clara’s face showed hostility toward him.

Her sunken eyes intensified that impression.

Wonderstein hesitated for a long time, reading the emotions in her eyes.

When he saw her expression, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Just telling her that he had heard everything from Ella and Maya could make her feel humiliated.

Clara, unable to endure his hesitation, spoke first.

“May I ask what happened in Wonderland?”

Wonderstein swallowed hard inside.

He had made it too obvious.

He could have pretended not to know, but denying it now would be deceiving her after creating such an atmosphere.

“Do you not trust me?”

Clara muttered as if sighing.

“It’s not like that. It’s just that the mistake Clara made…”

“You knew, didn’t you.”

Wonderstein paused for a moment at her words, then nodded slightly, a little firm.

“Yes. I knew.”

Silence fell between them.

Clara was the first to speak.

“So you deliberately avoided me for a few days.”

“Well, yes… but it’s not because of what Clara did. Clara’s mistake made others a little awkward, yes. But it’s a misunderstanding to think that it changed my feelings towards you because of that.”

Wonderstein gestured to her while lying down.

She hesitated for a moment before approaching him.

He barely lifted his arm to hold her hand.

“Forget about Wonderland. I’ll pretend I don’t know either. I’ll talk to you about it later, after Clara gets a little stronger, physically and mentally.”

“Am I not capable?”

“I worry about Clara.”

Clara felt a little more at ease with Wonderstein’s words.

Her master wasn’t angry because of her mistake.

She wiped away her tears.

“Ha, I’m embarrassed.”

“Not at all. It was just a mistake made while trying your best, right?”

She nodded.

Then, with a somewhat petulant voice, she said, “I’m useless, aren’t I? Even joining the circus, I can’t help the Director and just seem to cause trouble.”

Wonderstein smiled at her words.

“The title of secretary seems to have weighed heavily on your shoulders. But that’s not a condition for accepting you.”

With her master’s words, she could finally lighten the burden in her heart.

Helping with the conspiracy, becoming his right arm, was purely her own desire.

Looking back, he never demanded such a thing from her.

He just wanted her to be alive.

She decided not to ask any more about Wonderland as he requested.

If she didn’t have enough strength, she would only be a burden to him in front of great powers like the apostles, the angels, and the sleeping chaos.

“I’m just glad for you to be with the circus. Okay?”

“…Yes.”

“Please answer more energetically and brightly. Like usual.”

“Yes!”

At that moment, the outing team conveniently returned to the dormitory.

In fact, Wonderstein and Ella had arranged the timing to coincide with the Sound Room beforehand.

As soon as they came in, they searched for Clara.

“Senior, come down! We’ve bought lots of snacks!”

“Clara unnie, I’m disappointed we couldn’t play together today!”

“What’s all this? You bought everything for Clara senior and left out Maya and me?”

“Hey, Ratmen, stop sneaking around! Where are you trying to steal cake from!”

Only then did she realize that her Master had prepared a surprise party to cheer her up.

“I want to go down too, can you assist me?”

“Yes, Director!”

With a big smile on her face, Clara wheeled her owner down to the lower floor where her friends were waiting.

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Chapter 249: Lekachep Circus School Exam – 3