I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

“Before, you must have fooled me so well! You wench!”

“What did I do? You’re the one who decided to let loose!”

Ella ended up wrestling with the security chief who had missed her last time and got caught.

Maya seemed to think resistance was futile, so she remained quiet, while Reyna asked the guards to handle Ruelle well and accepted capture without resistance.

“Come on! Come on! You brats! Maya, come behind me!”

Karen bravely swung her fists while shielding her friends, but she couldn’t overcome the fierce hands and was subdued.

“Sorry about this.”

Hawk said as he clapped me on the shoulder.

“Hahaha! Let go of this! Master! Mast…ugh!”

Watching Clara, who had been resisting, get knocked out by a club, I shook my head.

“How did we get caught?”

“A duet singing contest.”

I sighed lightly.

That was what happened on the first day we entered the card sequence.

“…We were in the palm of your hands.”

I had guessed why they hadn’t arrested us immediately. They probably waited until we gathered all our scattered comrades.

“It’s the song of the mountain. Haha, wouldn’t it have been great to hear it directly? I understand you. It must have been a temptation that was hard to resist.”

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to realize that I was part of the same group as them.

He just seemed to regard me as a resident who succumbed to the persuasion of the mountain man.

So, the quest wasn’t over yet.

Lumie, who had been dragged down from downstairs, seemed to have thought the same thing as me, nodding at me with a similar thought.

The guards who had subdued all of us tore up our tickets.

Then we were escorted under the grand staircase of the courthouse.

They hoisted us onto their shoulders and ascended the stairs.

Unlike last time, there were no spectators in the theatre.

The guards placed us all on the stage and then exited the hall together.

Once they left, Ella hopped over to me with her legs still bound.

“Sir, are you okay? Was it too severe?”

It seemed she was worried about me, seeing my sprawled figure.

I put on a nonchalant, carefree smile and tried to get up.

“They didn’t do anything because I surrendered right away.”

She smirked as if she found my words amusing.

“What? You didn’t resist at all?”

“I’m too scared. What if I break an arm or leg?”

“Pfft, yeah, fighting with that body would be impossible.”

She said that and glanced around the inside of the theatre. There was a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

I guessed what she was worried about. It must be about the punishment we saw four days ago.

At that moment, the door on one side of the hall opened, and familiar faces entered after a long time.

They were the Directors who had been arrested earlier.

“What? You guys got caught too?”

“Oh, Ruelle! My daughter! Are you okay?”

“We’re fine, but did they do something?”

Their demeanor seemed more relaxed than I expected.

They didn’t seem to have received rough treatment.

As they entered, the ropes that bound us all loosened.

“Are you okay?”

“We’re fine. And you?”

“We’re okay.”

Hopps and Karen chuckled and lightly bumped their fists together as they checked on each other’s condition.

“Ruelle! Hey! Missed your dad?”

“You, you’re so clingy…embarrassing…”

“You brat! You devil! Our Ruelle wouldn’t refuse her dad!”

“Ugh…stop it…”

Ruelle seemed embarrassed by her dad’s clinging.

She had been spending less time with her dad since she started living with her sisters.

From Minova’s perspective, who had been nursing her since she was a baby, it might have been disappointing, but it was natural for a child to behave that way.

Although there might be some tension between them, they wouldn’t become like Lord Fantastic and Reyna.

“Father…”

“Who are they?”

“They’re the guides Ella hired.”

“Seems like a bunch of weaklings.”

Simon spat out coldly and ended the conversation. He didn’t even ask how his daughter had been.

Anyway, that temperament.

But is it good to have such a family?

Reyna’s expression softened more than before as they shared family greetings.

While they were exchanging post-capture news, three more people entered through the door on the stage.

“Is everyone here?”

The man dressed in magician attire with layers of hats on top of each other spoke first.

“I am Saint Crazy Hatter.”

Next to him, a chubby man with a belly that protruded like a violin waved a baton and spoke as if singing.

“Saint Strauss!”

His name I had seen on banners. The winners of the five stages held at the central square were supposed to perform his new piece together.

“Saint Diamond Queen.”

Lastly, the woman dressed in white magician’s attire with a white cloak introduced herself.

Instead of eyes, a red diamond-shaped jewel was embedded in the centre.

“Diamond Queen?”

Simon, who always maintained a mocking expression, seemed greatly surprised and looked at her.

Diamond Queen.

Her relics had also been auctioned off at the Vegas auction along with Crazy Hatter’s.

She claimed to have developed a considerable number of card magic tricks in her hands, and much of the deception in existing card magic was said to have been developed by her.

Her reputation was enough to take the seat of a Apostle of Kirku.

Above all, she had one peculiar background that caught my eye.

It’s none other than…

“Master?”

“Long time no see, Simon.”

It was Lord Fantastic’s Master.

Simon looked at her with a bewildered expression.

Anyone would be surprised.

Meeting someone who died over twenty years ago.

“I heard you got caught. I wanted to rush over, but I cant leave my place empty.”

The jewels that replaced her eyes emitted a red light.

It was like the eyes of a machine lens.

But because of the affection felt in her voice, it somehow seemed warm.

“Yeah. I heard that Fantastic Boy is now the respectable director of a circus? Has my disciple grown up a lot?”

It was a posthumous reunion.

Could it be that even ordinary words come out of his mouth now?

We looked at him with expectant eyes.

But instead of giving a heartwarming response, he laughed heartily, tilting his head back.

“Hahaha.”

He laughed for a while, ignoring the gazes directed at him.

Then, suddenly stopping his laughter, he looked around with a cold expression.

“Now I understand what’s going on. Arno of Silver Veil!”

Thinking he was calling her, Lumie jumped up.

I patted her shoulder to calm her down.

He wasn’t talking to her; he was just staring aimlessly around.

“Whether it’s the Duke’s request or whatever, stop fooling around now.”

He shouted, then abruptly slapped Reyna’s cheek.

Smack.

“Ugh… Father?”

Reyna looked at him with astonished eyes.

“Wake up, Reyna! This is all an illusion! No, are you an illusion too? Haha, it was all fake. Wonderland and everything.”

He said that and this time tried to strike Reyna with his staff.

Noticing, I pulled Reyna back.

The staff made a swooshing sound as it passed in front of her nose.

Simon clicked his tongue once and then looked away from her, shouting again as he looked around.

“Clearly, a vivid illusion. But the investigation was a bit lacking! Master. She is not such a warm person. If you had seen the hysteric spinster yourself in her final years…”

Then, a crimson flash occurred.

Thunk.

Simon’s neck twisted, making a cracking sound, and his body flew out of the stage into the air.

Where he had been standing, a white cloak fluttered.

Diamond Queen must have slapped him across the face at lightning speed.

She must have struck him so hard; with one blow, Simon’s eyes rolled back, foam dripped from his mouth, and he passed out.

“Oh, this brat still can’t hold his tongue, huh?”

She sighed, rubbing her forehead, then looked at us.

“Is he stubborn and foul-tempered?”

Her red jewel eyes emitted a cold light.

Hopps and Minova quickly nodded.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Alright then.”

She patted the spot where she had struck him, then looked at the stunned Reyna and clicked her tongue.

“I should have disciplined you more severely, but you were my only disciple, after all, I raised you too gently.”

She explained the ‘gentle discipline’ she had given him, interspersed with rough curses.

We could somewhat understand why Lord Fantastic’s personality had turned out like that.

It seemed that growing up under such a mentor was the only path to having such a twisted personality.

As her story was coming to an end, Crazy Hater began to tidy up and leave.

“First of all, let me apologize for what happened in the past few days, Mountain acrobats.”

He bowed to us.

“We arrested the three directors, but we realized that you were not intruders.”

“Better late than never!”

Strauss shouted, waving his baton.

“But by the time we realized, you had already escaped. Originally, we should have brought you here politely, but considering the circumstances, we had no choice. There might be more meddling from the Voodoo in Wonderland. If they find out about our plans, who knows what they might do. So we had to bring you here by warrant and arrest.”

“Then are you going to send us home now?”

Ella asked, to which Strauss replied by straightening his baton.

“We can’t do that for reasons we can’t disclose. And those reasons are the same as why we shouldn’t.”

“Yes. From now on, I’ll explain those reasons. It’s related to what we want to ask you to do. It’s going to be a bit secretive.”

He looked at me and Lumie.

“You two, come along.”

“Us too?”

“Yes. Originally, we were going to ask only the Mountain acrobats, but Mr. Sandman specifically requested you.”

“Mr. Sandman?”

“Yes. But we also have conditions. This applies to everyone here. From now on, never speak about what we’re about to teach you to anyone outside this room.”

Ella raised her hand eagerly.

“Even to our other colleagues on the surface?”

“Yes, to anyone.”

“Hmm… Alright. Then please tell us what the request is.”

“First, let’s take a walk. You need to see with your own eyes to understand.”

Crazy Hater took the lead.

Reyna glanced down at the sprawled Simon beneath the stage with a worried look.

“There… What about father?”

Diamond Queen waved her hand reassuringly, as if to say not to worry.

“Ah, Simon? That kid used to take dozens of hits a day when he was young. He’ll wake up in a few hours. Come on, let’s go.”

Leaving the unconscious Simon and Clara above, we followed the apostles down into the depths of the judicial theatre.

The stairs seemed endless.

As we descended, we felt our bodies growing heavier.

A powerful pressure began to crush our chests.

“There’s something there.”

Everyone nodded at Maya’s murmuring.

They couldn’t see it, but they knew.

Some presence below was the source of this oppressive feeling.

The point where the stairs ended.

There was a huge common space.

Red pulsating walls surrounded the horizon far away, like looking through an endoscope.

Chains hung from the common ceiling, with large metal plates that could accommodate thousands of people lying down.

We stood above it.

I looked up at the ceiling, surveyed the walls, then looked down at the floor.

I had been here before.

This was where the final battle with Wonderstein took place in TT3.

But below.

On the common floor was something I hadn’t seen before.

In the game, it was where a sea of blood, flesh, and bones writhed. Now, some massive entity occupied that space.

It was a giant eye.

At least thousands of eyes, embedded in the flesh that filled the common floor, writhed and squirmed.

And most of those eyes were closed.

Only a few were open.

Crazy Hatter stood at the edge of the metal plate, looking down at it.

“That’s the Identity of our God.”

“Our God?… Do you mean Kirku?”

“Technically, what we call Kirku refers to only a very small part of the dreams he dreams.”

Diamond Queen muttered in a sombre voice.

“It has existed since the beginning of the universe.”

Apostle Strauss recited in a mournful voice.

“The sleeping chaos. When it opens its eyes, the entire universe, even the Masquerade itself, will be destroyed in the time it takes to draw a breath.”

Then, laughter echoed from below.

Hee-hee-hee.

Kee-kee-kee.

Chuckles.

The spirits of laughter, they gathered around the blinking eyes, chuckling by the thousands.

Various images flashed before the giant eye.

Clowns performing their tricks.

Singers singing.

Actors acting.

Magicians performing magic.

Some were earthly scenes, some were from Wonderland.

Dozens, hundreds of images passed by at rapid speed.

As we watched them, the irises gradually turned red. And when they became completely red, the eye closed as if satisfied.

Then, after a while, another closed eye opened.

It felt like lightning striking inside my head.

All the information I had gathered seemed to connect into one.

Crazy Hatter turned to us and said,

“We, you, our comrades above, and the acolytes of chaos who play lullabies to make him continue sleeping, all of us are the chaos’s minstrels, making sure he keeps dreaming pleasant dreams.”

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Chapter 231: Wonderland – 34