I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

“Our god falls asleep when he sees something enjoyable!”

While he slumbers, this world remains safe.

But upon waking, the world comes to an end.

The scarecrow’s mind wavered in the face of the cosmic horror the apostles spoke of.

The looming figure below exerted a presence that weighed heavily on him.

Yet others seemed not as astonished.

They didn’t take the apostles’ explanations too seriously.

Ella, in particular, went as far as to make light of the situation.

“Our God seems to be the boss around here, right?”

Then they began making jokes about Kirku.

“Most of his eyes seem closed. Is the performance boring him?”

“Lord Kirku! Since we’ve met in person, can I ask a favour? Can you give me Inspira too!”

Whether intoxicated or chaotic, to humans, the gods were distant entities. Their god enjoying a performance was nothing new.

Except for Lumie and Maya, the rest of the group seemed satisfied with this optimistic conclusion.

How could they be so serene?

The scarecrow was taken aback by their nonchalant response.

Yet, observing their casual attitude, he sensed how they were internalizing this revelation.

“In a few hundred years, a solar storm will engulf the Earth!”, “If bees go extinct, global famine will ensue!”, “When the super-eruption begins, 80% of life will perish!” and so on.

The vague future catastrophes that scientists feared were akin to how the general public felt.

These people had grown up hearing tales of how the world would end if this or that happened regarding the gods.

The secret the apostles revealed to them was merely that “If Kirku finds the performance dull, he’ll destroy the world.”

The apostles nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the people’s reactions.

“It’s better to live with such thoughts. Anxiety, doubt, and pessimism only strengthen the connection between the Abyss and the world. That’s why this secret shouldn’t be casually shared with the living.”

“Then why tell us?”

Maya asked, her expression stern.

Before the apostles could respond, someone emerged from the edge of the stage.

“Echha.”

He was as massive as a wumon, covered in blue fur from head to toe.

“Oberon?”

Lumie recognized him and stepped forward. Ruelle hid behind her father recognizing him.

The scarecrow had heard of Oberon. He was the ringmaster who duelled with Clara in the Midsummer Night Circus.

“What are you doing here?”

He wasn’t around when they stayed at Midnight Summer Circus, so they negotiated with the assistant ringmaster, Puck.

But to think he’d be here.

Oberon shrugged, showing a pouch in his hand.

“I sprinkled Sandman’s dust over the sleeping chaos. Only I can defend against its mental assaults with hypnosis and illusions…”

Oberon tossed the pouch to the ground and pulled out a cigar from his pocket. Then, he looked at the apostles and spoke.

“Looks like these folks were the ones you brought. Have you told them everything?”

“No. We were just about to start.”

Crazy Hatter twirled several hats at once, pondering for a moment before speaking.

“First, we must explain the Circus Grand Prix. As you all know, the performances of the living are much more efficient than those of the dead. The dimension of ‘vividness’ is different. But the performances of the living also have weaknesses. They are far from Kirku.”

He stood on the edge of the stage, pointing downwards.

There, one of the eyes of the sleeping chaos pierced through the images before them. Performances set in Wonderland were clear, but those set on Earth were blurry.

“Nevertheless, we have maintained a balance. But in recent decades, the influence of Earthly performances on Kirku has greatly weakened.”

“Why?”

“That… we don’t know.”

Crazy Hatter looked a bit flustered as he stumbled over his words.

“Anyway, the cause isn’t important. The problem is that Kirku has been waking up more frequently because of it. So, Kirku created a tool to help him see the world better. You could call it a magnifying glass.”

Hopps seemed to have a realization.

“Eye of Kirku.”

“Indeed. However, we call that gem ‘Tril.’ Originally, ‘Eye of Kirku’ refers to something else.”

“Something else?”

The one to answer that question was the Diamond Queen.

She spoke, her only gemstone eye shining brightly.

“It’s a tale from long ago. Kirku, feeling frustrated watching performances from afar, selected humans to become his ‘eyes’ to observe for him. ‘Eye of Kirku’ originally referred to those individuals. Just a hundred years ago, there were thousands of Eyes of Kirku on the continent of Columbia.”

“Really?”

Saint Strauss waved his baton, writing numbers in the air.

“The number has drastically decreased in the past decade! The cause is unknown! We don’t even know who Eyes of Kirku are anymore! There’s absolutely no way to distinguish them from the outside! We only know that the frequency of the ‘images’ transmitted from below has decreased.”

“That matter is unrelated to the creation of Tril. Tril was created about 20 years ago. Anyway, the acrobats who created Tril planned a large-scale ‘ritual’ called the ‘Circus Grand Prix’ to pacify Kirku. It was truly a remarkable feat. Thanks to that, Kirku could sleep deeply for a while. However…”

“Terror Incident.”

Maya said, her eyes cold.

Crazy Hater nodded.

“You’re sharp. Indeed. As you know, the competition came to an end after just two sessions. Tril was also destroyed. What’s more serious is that the acrobats were massacred. As a result, the frequency of the performances on the surface that appease Kirku drastically decreased. Thanks to that, us Saints are all dedicated to the ritual of appeasing Kirku . Most of them are still down there.”

He pointed to a black sphere floating in the center of the room.

Dozens of faint figures swam inside it.

“Why are you out here? Running out of steam, perhaps?”

Ella’s joke made the Diamond Queen choke up.

“We’re taking turns resting!”

“Wow, this lady is scary. Why are you getting so mad?”

“Hehe, she was actually the youngest till 20 years ago! Only after two more Saint came in did she finally get out of her junior life!”

“Strauss! You don’t need to reveal everything!”

Watching Diamond Queen and Strauss argue, Crazy Hater chuckled.

“Even if they’re out, they’re not resting, but working their eyes off on administrative tasks. On top of that, as Diamond Queen mentioned earlier, the disappearance of ‘Eyes of Kirku’ for the past ten years has hit us hard. Thanks to that, we’ve hit a limit. What’s fortunate is that the Circus Grand Prix is ​​resuming, and Tril has been restored. Thanks to that, we’ve caught a break. But other Demons have caught wind.”

“Others?”

“They’ve launched an attack on Wonderland!”

Ella cocked her head in apparent confusion at Strauss’s words.

“But if everyone dies when Kirku wakes up, won’t the Demons , too?”

“Don’t try to understand the actions of Demons with human reasoning. Their existence is the ‘concept’ itself. Demon of destruction, Demon of war, Demon of silence, they’ve always only schemed to disrupt cosmic order. Voodoo mages only followed the orders of the gods they worship, but it wasn’t clear what exactly they were doing it for. Demons and mages are merely contractual relationships for profit.”

“But it’s fortunate that there are Demons helping Wonderland too. The Time Demon Lutermine is a prime example. The reason time flows slowly in here is thanks to his time boundary.”

“And that’s exactly why you can’t return right away! Numerous boundaries are protecting Wonderland. Only selected audiences can enter here. I don’t know how you managed to break through the closed door, but we can’t open the door for you to go back. Because if the barrier opens, other Demons might attack. It’s too risky, especially in the current state with so many eyes open.”

As Reyna looked at him with a stern expression, the attitudes of those listening to the Saint’s story changed significantly.

With the intertwining of realistic elements like the Circus Grand Prix terror, the atmosphere became serious.

“That’s where our request comes in.”

Crazy Hater and Diamond Queen turned to Strauss.

He smiled proudly, waving his baton.

“I composed a lullaby!”

“A lullaby?”

It was a too soft and fluffy word that came out amidst the heavy conversation.

Strauss stepped forward, his thick buttocks and belly wobbling.

“We managed to create a song itself that can soothe the Kirku with the collaboration of disciples who are deeply knowledgeable about music. But the disciples’ performances cannot stimulate the Kirku. So, we planned to select five musicians through the festival. Oh, but you see, there’s no longer any reason to proceed with that competition. Reyna, right? Your performance has far exceeded the criteria we had set.”

“The performance of the mountain people…”

Ruelle murmured the words he had heard several times before.

Strauss winked, pointing at her with his baton.

“That’s right! Missy! The resonance of the mountain people is stronger than anything else. If ‘Mountain People,’ ‘In Wonderland,’ and ‘Lullaby’ are played, we can surely lull the Kirku to sleep for a long time! Maybe even until the day of the Circus Grand Prix! Anyway, if we manage to close all the eyes of Kirku, we’ll open the door to your home! If Kirku fall into a deep sleep, even if a hole is dug in Wonderland, we can hold out for a while!”

“But, do we have to perform? What about the directors? Wouldn’t they do better?”

Karen said in a hesitant voice.

“The directors have been on stage for so long that their personas have become too developed. It even affects their bodies.”

At his words, Hopps and Minova glanced at each other.

Hopps, nicknamed ‘The Immovable Hopps,’ had boots that looked like they had roots spreading in all directions, and Minova’s hair and beard were like real chicken combs whimpering.

As for the Lord Fantastic, he had a loud patterned mustache and a golden membrane between his arms and waist like a flying squirrel.

“Then the pure resonance of the mountain people won’t come out. It’s better for you, who have less developed personas, to perform. We want to soothe Kirku for as long as possible. Of course, if it doesn’t work out, adults will have to do it.”

The group looked around at each other.

There was no other option.

Playing a lullaby for Kirku.

That was the new task assigned to the five acrobats.

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Chapter 232: Wonderland – 35