I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

I sighed inwardly as I listened to what happened to Clara.

I had thought that the fairies had hypnotized her and were feeding off her, but as it turned out, wasn’t she mostly to blame?

“So, in the first place, we were just executing a rightful contract!”

The fairy sitting across from me spoke in a thin, high voice, sounding somewhat irritated.

He was a young boy with a similar build to Lumie’s, wearing oversized pyjamas that dragged on the floor as they didn’t fit him well.

His nightcap, shaped like a hood, was significantly larger than his head, mostly covering his eyes and nose, with only his mouth barely visible.

“Even if it’s true for Clara, what about Ruelle…?”

Lumie’s attitude towards him seemed somewhat cautious.

While she addressed Oberon by name without hesitation, she used an honorific when speaking to this boy.

He introduced himself as a Assistant-Director and said his name was Puck.

“The twilight little one, that half-and-half, seems like a good kid. When our angry Director started to hypnotize her strongly, Ruelle ended up like that willingly saying that if we can half the dealing if both of them are together.”

“So she’s doing the servant’s work…? But why did Clara end up like that? I understand she started that, but still… wasn’t Oberon a bit excessive?”

Lumie glanced briefly at Clara sitting in the corner, licking the back of her hand, seeming to think she was a cat.

“We originally didn’t impose any particular sanctions on her. But she ignored the contract and tried to run away. And she even took a young fairy hostage. In the process, one gnome had his knee kicked and broke his leg, and one sprite got punched in the face and had his nose flattened. So our angry Director put a strong hypnosis on her, and she ended up like that.”

I swallowed a groan.

For Clara to do such a thing.

It was self-inflicted. There was no room for excuses.

“Uhh, Oberon! I’m scared!”

Clara, hearing his name mentioned, cowered behind her chair, trembling.

Puck lightly whistled towards her as her name was called.

She closed her eyes and collapsed onto the floor, sleeping.

“Anyway, since it was a request from the friendly little half-breed, let’s return her. As a reward, let’s hope she can help us with our show for a few days later. In a few months? We’ll send a messenger.”

“Thank you.”

Puck acknowledged her thanks and turned his head towards me.

“And the homeward traveller.”

“Um… you mean me?”

Puck’s way of addressing people was strange.

Instead of using proper names, he gave them nicknames as he pleased.

In my case, I was called ‘the homeward traveller.’

“You are a member of hers, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must also pay the price.”

“What do… you want me to do?”

“When our twilight little one comes to help us, come with her.”

I nodded without hesitation.

It was no problem to spare a few days for such a task.

“Okay. Then take her with you. Although the spell has been lifted, it will take a few days to fully recover.”

I carried Clara on my shoulders and left the room with Lumie.

She breathed a long sigh, seeming relieved, as if finally able to relax.

“Phew, I never expected Puck to be here.”

“What kind of fairy is he?”

Lumie glanced at me slightly, seeming to think that my tone was rude.

“Have you heard of the ‘Shaman’? He’s a fairy of sleep and dream interpretation. He’s one of the most powerful fairies with magical abilities.”

Puck exuded a strange sage-like aura despite his childish appearance and voice. He certainly seemed different from other fairies.

“If he’s so great… what did the nickname he called me mean?”

“What? The homeward traveler? Oh, that. He probably saw into your dreams.”

“Dreams? Could it be… he read my mind?”

I raised my voice without realizing it. Lumie smirked at me.

“Why? Do you have a lot of memories you don’t want to be found out?”

“No, it’s something anyone would worry about. Having their memories read.”

“Don’t worry. The Shaman’s dream interpretation is just reading overall symbolism. The nickname he calls you may change depending on the situation. Maybe he called you that because you’re striving to go back home right now?”

We headed downstairs to a large room.

Ella and Ruelle were waiting for us there.

As soon as the door opened, Ella stood up and rushed towards us.

“How did it go?”

“We got her back safely.”

I carefully laid Clara down on the bed as I spoke.

Ella sighed with apparent relief.

“Thank goodness.”

There was no anger or sympathy in her eyes as she looked at Clara now.

She seemed to view her with a hint of pity.

“But did they let her go without a fight? I heard everything from Ruelle. Clara-senpai caused quite a commotion, didn’t she? Did the people from the circus ask for something else from Uncle and Sister?”

“There’s nothing else. They just asked for a few days of help in the future from her.”

“It’s in half a year, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Ella let out a sigh of relief but also seemed embarrassed, kicking at the legs of the chair.

“I feel like I’m always just receiving help.”

“We promised to help Elphi, right? You’ve already paid the price for that.”

“Did I pay for it?”

I chuckled at her.

“It was fun, wasn’t it? Sharing the stage with Elphi.”

As I spoke, she too seemed to recall the memory of singing earlier and smiled brightly.

“Yeah, it was fun… Oh, wait, Senpai?”

“Ow, ow, my head hurts.”

Clara groaned, opening her eyes.

She held her head and whimpered, sitting up.

Ruelle, who had been the most worried about her, rushed to her side.

“Clara, do you recognize me?”

Clara frowned and looked at her.

“Uh huh, Ruri? What, why are you here? Oh, wait, Boss?”

Seeing herself being recognized, Ella let out a sigh of relief.

“She seems to be coming to her senses. Thank you for your hard work, Senpai.”

However, Clara’s reaction was beyond our expectations.

“Wow! My plan worked! Finally met! Boss! Boss!”

“Uh, Senpai?”

Clara, who had gotten out of bed, suddenly rushed at Ella, burying her face in her chest and rubbing against her.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

“Pet me!”

“What, what…?”

“I exist, you know. I tried to protect Ruri! Say I’m good!”

Looking at Ella with a puzzled expression, I shrugged my shoulders.

“It will take a few days for her to completely return to normal.”

Clara was no longer walking on all fours.

But she still seemed to think of herself as a pet.

She tried to lick Ella’s cheek like a dog.

“Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!”

“Oh, Senior, please, stop…”

Ella tried to push her away.

But Clara’s sudden rush made it difficult to easily push her aside.

“I like the Boss!”

“Oh, but… stay away… oh, seriously… stand properly!”

A thunderous shout erupted from Ella’s mouth.

It was a firm and chilling voice.

Even we could feel a chilling aura from her eyes, expression, and voice, demanding submission from her opponent.

I had seen that expression on Ella before.

One of the tasks in the entrance exam for the Lekachep Circus School was ‘Taming a Beast.’

There, without even using the whip provided by the school, she made a tiger bred at the school lie down and show its belly in just five seconds with a single word.

Just as people say that dogs urinate when they see a dog trainer, ‘intimidation’ was a specialty of a trainer.

Clara quickly backed away and tried to hide behind Ruelle.

“Boss, scary. Ruri, please protect me.”

“Uh, sister, don’t grab my hair…”

“Does the Boss hate me?”

Clara looked at Ella with teary eyes.

Feeling sorry for her changed attitude, Ella quickly softened her expression.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. I unintentionally intimidated you.”

Clara looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“…Boss isn’t angry?”

“Huh? I’m not angry. I really like Clara Senpai.”

“You… like me?”

Clara cautiously came out from behind Ruelle and then hugged Ella tightly, crying loudly in her arms.

“I was scared!”

“I know, I know. Was it bad?”

“Yeah! It was bad!”

As Ella comforted her like that, Clara suddenly smiled brightly and pulled Ruelle’s arm, asking her to come and play.

Ella watched the two leaving the room with an embarrassed smile.

I realized that it was her emotions towards us.

“Um, I have a favour to ask…”

She said that and hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“Could you help take care of them while we are here?”

“Can we?”

Ella plopped onto the bed, scratching her head with a puzzled expression.

“I’m okay with going along with this plan… But what if our senior remembers later? How embarrassing would that be?”

I nodded in understanding.

Being treated like a pet by someone younger was incredibly humiliating.

It wouldn’t be surprising if she wanted to disappear later.

Hasn’t she already attempted that in the past?

“Understood.”

Before long, Clara and Ruelle entered with a bunch of peculiar gadgets made by gnomes.

“Let’s play with these!”

“Senior, they’ll take care of you until you recover.”

“Wow, I like being a boss. Who are these people?”

“This is Lumie, and this is Oz. They live here and agreed to guide us.”

Clara stared at us intently.

She cautiously approached us, sniffed me, then wagged her tail, looking at me with a grin.

“Is this you Master?”

I nodded as I petted her head.

“Just play along for now.”

“Yes. That’s right, Clara.”

She hugged my straw body tightly with excitement.

“Wow, you’re the Master! But you look strange?”

“That’s how personas are.”

“Hehe, true!”

Before we knew it, a day had passed.

After having dinner provided by the inn, we summoned the Ticketer to examine the invitations that had arrived for Ella.

Within a few hours, she had received a considerable number of tickets.

We left Clara and Ruelle to play in the room and gathered in the living room to inspect them.

However, none of them met our desired criteria for a theatre.

“Is this it? Is this the end?”

“It’s really hard to find an empty theatre.”

As the confirmation of the invitations was nearing its end, the Ticketer appeared before us again.

He pulled out another invitation from his pocket.

Ella tried to accept it with little expectation, but the Ticketer handed it to me instead.

“This is an invitation sent to Mr. Oz.”

“To me?”

“Oh, looks like someone became a fan of your singing.”

I shook my head at Ella’s teasing and opened the invitation.

It wasn’t from an impressed audience member; it was from the patrol leader I had met when I first arrived here.

The back of the invitation mentioned his final performance tomorrow evening and invited us to attend.

It was only then that I remembered his situation, and I explained it to Ella and Lumie.

“A theatre of personas facing extinction?”

“Leaving the theater empty?”

“How about we go tomorrow and ask if we could use it for a few days?”

They both nodded in agreement with my suggestion.

We decided to try our luck at the square again tomorrow for better persuasion and called it a day.

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Chapter 227: Wonderland – 30