I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

I dashed into the theater in a frenzy.

A sense of danger I had never felt before with Wonderstein’s body engulfed me.

Screams and shouts echoed from the square below. I tried hard not to recall the scene I had seen just before turning my back.

If a Reaper had infiltrated the theatre, it was usually a big deal.

Even though the demons couldn’t exert their full power here, harming a few people was child’s play for them.

As I reached the hall, I felt my heart sink.

The place seemed to have been attacked, with the seating area collapsed. I spotted Ella sitting hesitantly on the shattered stage.

“Ella!”

Even with my call, she showed no reaction.

I rushed towards the stage. Thankfully, she looked up a moment later and glanced at me.

“Uh, mister…?”

“What happened?”

After confirming Ella was unharmed, I surveyed the surroundings. Other people who had been sprawled on the floor were also getting up, groggily.

“What just happened?”

“Unpleasant memories…”

White ice covered the stage like spiderwebs. Every time someone spoke, a puff of breath escaped their lips.

It was clear that Reapers had come.

Their gaze carried a curse that froze their targets.

And the only weapon sharp and powerful enough to split this large stage in half was the Reaper’s scythe.

I examined their condition closely.

Fortunately, it seemed no one had been directly stabbed by the Reaper’s scythe.

“What happened to the Reapers?”

At my question, Ella flinched and shook her head.

“I… I don’t know? They just ran away.”

“Did they do anything else?”

“Um, no.”

I instinctively felt she was hiding something, but I didn’t pry further.

Soon, others entered.

“Why is the place broken again?”

“Is our daughter okay?”

Lord Fantastic, fainting, was supported by Minerva and Hopps on either side as they appeared, followed by Lumie and Hawk chasing after me.

Finally, Oberon emerged from below, staggering with a large wound on his chest.

As they exchanged greetings and their stories unfolded, I could understand what was going on.

Several Reapers had infiltrated the judicial theater.

One had come up here, smashing the stage and instruments before disappearing.

Another had encountered Oberon on his way down to the underground and struggled under his hypnosis and illusions.

And another was engaging Diamond Queen one-on-one.

I explained what was happening outside to the people. Their faces paled at the mention of thousands of demons attacking.

“We need to run!”

“Yeah, yeah. Someone open that door or whatever quickly!”

“But what about finishing the song? Is it okay?”

“Is the song important right now? And most of the instruments are almost destroyed, what more can we do…?”

Amidst the chaos, someone rose from the collapsed debris of the seating area.

“Ugh, took a hit.”

“Saint Strauss! Are you okay?”

Hawk rushed over to help him clear the brick fragments and stand up. He looked around at us with a bitter expression.

“Unless the eyes of Kirku close completely, we won’t open the way.”

“Is it not urgent enough? Aren’t the Saints on our side?”

Strauss’s lips twitched with a hint of mockery at my words.

“Do you think the Saints would care about the plight of mere humans? Saints lent their power not because we find you pretty, but to quell chaos. As per our initial contract, if the eyes of chaos don’t close completely, we won’t open the barrier.”

Minova burst out angrily.

“Damn, and because that fancy barrier was breached, those demon jerks came in! What’s going on?”

“It’s probably because the Demons who want chaos to reign lent their power. Otherwise, could they dare to strike us like this on our own land?”

I intervened again to stop Minova from venting his frustration. Complaining here wouldn’t solve anything.

“So, how much time do we have left?”

“Wait a moment.”

Strauss closed his eyes and concentrated. After a while, he licked his lips and opened his eyes.

“About half a half of an eye…? Too bad. If only we had played a few more bars…”

“Is there… no other way?”

“There is, but… we’ll need Sandman’s help. His Sand of Slumber…”

“You are here!”

Oberon, who was receiving emergency treatment in a corner, shouted. Strauss seemed to realize he was here only now.

His face paled as he observed Oberon’s condition.

“Oberon! Did you come? Yes! The sand of slumber! Okay! Okay! Then, take that and…”

The excited voice of Strauss suddenly died down. He sighed as he inspected Oberon’s condition.

“Going down to the underground area with that body… will be difficult…”

“I can do it.”

Ignoring Lumie’s objections, Oberon stood up.

But we could all see that he was pushing himself too hard.

The cost of capturing one of the Reapers was steep.

His body appeared unscathed, with a broken leg, a dislocated arm, and a wound on his chest pouring out a bucketful of blood.

To scatter the Sand of Slumber, one had to approach right next to Kirku’s eye.

But in this entire Wonderland, the only person capable of doing that was Oberon, who was skilled in both illusions and hypnosis.

According to yesterday’s explanation, even the Saints would be devoured by Kirku’s mental attacks if they got that close.

But now, that Oberon had been rendered incapacitated by the Reaper.

“I’ll manage somehow.”

“Not with that body of yours. Even when you were at your best, you couldn’t hold out for more than five minutes.”

“Right. It would be better if I…”

“No, sister, you can’t endure it! I have to go!”

Oberon stubbornly insisted on going down himself.

I looked around. There seemed to be no other viable options. It was time to make a decision.

“I’ll do it.”

All eyes turned to me at my words.

“What?”

“What kind of madness is this!”

“This isn’t your place! What do you think a lower-tier resident with no Inspira can do!”

I confidently smiled at the people staring at me in shock.

“I can do it.”

Yesterday, everyone had felt nauseous and dizzy when coming up from the underground cavity.

It was the aftereffect of approaching within several hundred meters of Kirku.

But I felt nothing.

Of course, the pressure of seeing such a colossal entity and the cosmic-scale terror made me dizzy, but that was just because I was startled, not due to any power acting on me.

For some reason, Kirku’s mental attacks didn’t affect me.

I could do what Oberon was supposed to do.

However, people vehemently tried to dissuade me.

Especially Lumie and Ella, who had been with me the longest since coming here, were frantic.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing! Why do men always try to show off in life-threatening situations!”

“Yeah! Mister, there’s no need to go that far! Just wait until those devilish bastards retreat… restore the instrument and play again…”

I shook my head.

“That’s not an option. You know how things are going. We almost all died just now, didn’t we?”

At my remark, Ella seemed at a loss for words and mumbled.

“The Reapers are supported by the Great Demons who want Kirku to awaken. This time, they only destroyed the instrument, but if you try to do anything more, they might try to kill the performer directly. We need to escape quickly.”

“But… but…”

Ella’s face was filled with worry for me, as if she thought I was going to my death.

I patted her shoulder to reassure her.

“Elphia, I promised, didn’t I? Even if it takes decades, I’ll wait for you. Do you think I’d break that promise?”

At my words, she bit her lip and looked at the ground.

Then, after a moment, she whispered in a resigned voice.

“I’ll wait.”

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“I’ll wait at the door until you come. I said I had something to ask you. I won’t leave until I ask you that. So, you have to come. Okay?”

I took off my straw hat, placed it on my chest, and bowed as if making a vow.

“Understood. I’ll definitely come.”

With that, the group said their farewells to me and left the hall one by one.

As I received their sympathetic gazes, it really felt like I was heading to my death.

What a strange feeling.

Finally, Lumie stood before me. Her arms crossed, she glared at me with obvious disapproval.

“Lumie, please guide them.”

She stared at me for a long while, then sighed and spoke.

“You… are you really confident?”

“Of course. But…”

“But?”

“Um, should I call it insurance? I have one request…”

“What is it?”

“When the door opens… don’t wait for me and push everyone in.”

My words contradicted the promise I had just made to Ella.

Lumie raised her eyebrows sharply and glared at me.

“You bastard! You said you were confident!”

“I think there’s no such thing as 100%. So, please, do it.”

“Crazy… Do you think sacrificing yourself like that will make the people around you happy? How guilty do you think they’ll feel later when they find out you’re the Director…?”

“Haha, it’s not like I’m trying to sacrifice myself.”

“Sly bastard! You’re always like this…”

I wasn’t really trying to sacrifice myself.

But I had no other way to explain it to her.

*Sub-Quest: Masquerade

: In Wonderland, you are the Torch Dancer.

Completion Criteria

: Ensure that everyone except Arno exits Wonderland without discovering your true identity.

Reward for Success

: You can take Persona 1 out of Wonderland.

Penalty for Failure

: None.

The sub-quest ended once all the party members left Wonderland.

Only then could I use the reward.

The ability to take Persona 1 out of Wonderland might also apply to my Persona.

If something happened and I couldn’t escape after putting Kirku to sleep, using the quest reward to escape Wonderland was a possibility worth considering.

But first, everyone in the party had to leave Wonderland.

Staying behind to worry about me would actually put me in more danger.

I remembered a game I had played before, where the goal was to escape from a serial killer.

In that game, the emergency exit only opened when one survivor remained, but sometimes other survivors would linger, trying to escape together, and end up getting caught by the killer.

My request to Lumie was to prevent that from happening.

“If you really end up dying… I’ll kill you myself.”

“Thank you.”

With her as the last, everyone left.

The only ones remaining in the hall were me and Saint Strauss.

He looked at me with a complicated expression and then bowed his head.

“We will not forget your sacrifice.”

I no longer had the will to ask for belief, so I just waved my hand.

“We don’t have time for this. Let’s hurry.”

“Right. Let’s go down.”

However, just as we were heading towards the stairs to the basement, something large emerged from the opposite corridor.

“Uh, what’s this? Have you seen a hairy fairy? How dare it play such a trick on me and run away.”

Unlike the one we met last time, this Reaper spoke with the voice of a plump middle-aged woman.

Judging by her words, it seemed Oberon had bound this Grim Reaper with illusions and hypnosis.

She looked around and then glared at us.

“What is this? This is supposed to be Katpia’s area! Where is Katpia? Don’t tell me you…?”

A fierce aura emanated from her entire body.

Saint Strauss raised his baton and stood in front of me.

“I’ll hold her off! Go ahead!”

“Understood.”

“Go? Go where! Tell me where Katpia is!”

A huge shockwave hit my back from behind.

Apostle Strauss screamed, but somehow managed to block the attack.

I slung the sack of sleep sand over my shoulder and ran towards the basement.

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Chapter 239: Wonderland – 42