I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Even after waking up, I lay still in bed for a while.

It had been a long time since I last dreamt.

Since coming to this world, I had never dreamt.

Dreams were merely chemical reactions happening inside the brain.

Was it because of the power of the ‘Smiling Man’ that forced me to maintain composure?

I had never dreamt in Wonderstein’s body.

But today was different.

It was highly likely due to what I ate before going to bed yesterday.

For the past two weeks, I had been conducting an experiment on my body.

Gradually increasing the intake of Tril fragments, obtained by defeating the demon.

At first, I hardly felt any changes.

But starting from a week ago, I began to sense something, leading to receiving this message yesterday.

[Unique trait the ‘Smiling Man’ will be deactivated.]

Even before the message appeared, I could feel it.

The buoyancy that made my emotions and thoughts float dissipating.

While bound to the Smiling Man, I always felt like I was walking on clouds.

But now, it felt like I was firmly on the ground.

However, it didn’t last long.

Within a minute, the ‘Smiling Man’ returned.

Though I considered attempting it once more, for the consistency of the experiment, I decided to try again at the same time tomorrow.

Soon after, I fell asleep again, only to start dreaming.

Sitting up in bed, I drank the water placed by my head.

I didn’t feel quite right.

To think of all memories from the orphanage.

Since being rescued from there, I had tried hard to forget.

Of course, life in the orphanage wasn’t all hardship.

There were definitely enjoyable moments.

But there was nothing as unpleasant as enjoying a comedy knowing it would end tragically.

Nor was there anything as hollow as memories without someone to share them with.

That’s why it had been a long time since I recalled those memories.

I sat on the edge of the bed, looking out the window.

It was difficult to estimate time just by the outside view.

Yeterinpuurk was close to the polar regions, so the length of daylight noticeably decreased every week.

Before we arrived in this city, there were reports of the phenomenon called the Midnight Sun, where the sun didn’t set for 24 hours.

But now, more than half of the time was night.

As I opened the status window to check the time, I heard people laughing and chatting coming closer from a distance.

It seemed like the members who went to the morning market were returning.

I got dressed and went out to greet my family.

***

Group outings were a strange experience for monster members.

They always had to be in a carriage or inside when moving on the road.

Upon arriving in a city or town, they couldn’t go out and explore freely.

Especially for triplets Triamere, it was impossible to cover up their physical characteristics with clothes like other members.

But today, they were strolling down the bustling streets.

They revealed their bodies just as they were.

Their appearance caught people’s attention, but no one found them odd.

Everyone just passed by, thinking they were probably part of a parade.

The fact that Ella at the front was wearing a school uniform and Clara’s regal chef uniform added to that misconception.

Today is October 1st.

It’s the day the Halloween festival begins.

Halloween referred to October 31st, but the festival started before that.

In rural areas, it usually began a few days earlier, and in cities, it started a week ago.

Major cities even started two weeks in advance.

But in Yeterinpuurk, you could spot people in monster costumes on the streets a whole month before.

This was due to two particular features of this city.

The first was the Lekachep Circus School.

They held a school festival during Halloween.

Since the festival started two weeks prior, students gathered in clubs a month ago to prepare special events or performances.

In early October, large pumpkin decorations rolled around the campus.

Second was Slagbort Bakery.

They distributed free cookies to children who dressed up as monsters and visited the factory.

As winter approached, the demand for imperial trade shifted significantly, causing warehouse and distribution costs in Yeterinpuurk to soar from late November.

Therefore, merchants here cleared their inventory at a low price just before winter.

It was literally ‘clearing the warehouse.’

However, it was impossible to accumulate and clear inventory for snacks that served as both food and luxury goods.

So, distributing as Halloween treats was a strategy to adjust inventory from October in advance.

These were the reasons why Yeterinpuurk started Halloween earlier than other places.

One of the popular places during this period was the gypsy’s ‘Magic Market.’

The eerie magical tools and exotic trinkets they sold were relatively cheap and added to the Halloween atmosphere.

The place where the monster circus visited early this morning was also there.

At the magic market, there were places selling taxidermied animals cursed by plague, displaying dried fairy corpses or Ratman’s severed limbs, and even carving devil statues on the spot.

Perhaps because of that, the appearance of circus members didn’t attract much attention.

Thanks to that, the members could enjoy shopping and return to their lodgings without any problems.

Among them, Womon was the most excited voice heard on the street.

He experienced the Halloween festival for the first time, since living deep in the mountains with his mother.

He was now excitedly talking about the Halloween costumes he saw on the street.

“Really scary and weird costumes were everywhere.”

The one responding to his words was the triplets.

They were also excited as they hadn’t been out like this for a long time.

“Especially that one was scary. The one whose arms and legs were several meters long.”

“I was scared of the mime. The imitation squeezed into the barrel looked so real.”

“I was scared of the woman with purple-painted skin.”

They shivered, not considering themselves scarier than those they saw on the street.

“I, from the one with the body on fire. It was fascinating rather than scary. How did they do that?”

“Maybe it’s an illusion?”

“No, I smelled real smoke from the act….”

At that moment, Ella, who was holding a lot of pumpkins, shouted from behind.

“That’s probably magic. It’s not real fire but a combination of metal powders oxidizing into flames and maneuvering devices. Maybe the one gathered by here? By the way, why didn’t I see anyone you mentioned?”

“When you went to buy pumpkins, they came.”

As they entered the villa’s entrance, Wonderstein was just coming out of the building.

Ella greeted him with joy.

“Director!”

She rushed to him, dropping the pumpkins and hugged him tightly.

She hugged his waist tightly and pressed her face against his chest.

The members just chuckled at her familiar behavior.

Lately, Wonderstein felt she was clinging more than usual.

He suspected it was because of anxiety about the memories coming back.

There was less than a month left until the deadline Gascon mentioned for Ella’s memories to return.

Sometimes she suddenly sighed or grabbed her head as if something came to mind.

Each time, she was drenched in cold sweat.

But she never revealed what she saw.

Wonderstein gently stroked the back of her head.

He didn’t know when that moment would come, but it was certain that the enjoyable time was coming to an end.

“How was it? The dawn magic market?”

She nodded eagerly, still clinging to him.

“There were so many fun things. You should have come too. Oh, right. I bought a statue for you to give. If you mention the demon you want, they’ll carve it on the spot.”

Wonderstein burst into laughter as he looked at the figurine she offered.

With a rabbit head with deer antlers, a monkey body, goat legs, and a demon carrying a huge scythe on its shoulder.

It was the Reaper of the Abyss, Noua Zakanuba.

The only difference from reality was that he had bat-like wings attached to his back.

Many books depicted the reaper like that, but in reality, the reaper’s back was covered with fluttering black cloth instead of wings.

“I could only find small pumpkins.”

She pointed to the pumpkins on the floor with a disappointed expression.

Indeed, the pumpkins didn’t look appetizing, and they were smaller than human heads.

All of them were misshapen.

At that moment, Gascon walked out of the dormitory, yawning as if he had just woken up because of the noise.

He looked around at the members, then spotted the pumpkins and chuckled.

“What are you guys doing?”

“It’s the start of the Halloween season today. So, we went to do some shopping.”

Gascon shook his head at Ella’s words.

“I know that, but why did you buy these defective ones?”

“Well, there was nothing else available….”

“Come here.”

He gestured to her.

Ella hesitated for a moment, then followed him, and the members followed with curious expressions.

Gascon led them to the garden.

It was a place where he hadn’t let the members approach much because of the strong smell since he spread a lot of manure there to cultivate the fields.

The members, who entered the garden after a long time, opened their mouths in surprise.

Just a month ago, it was an empty space.

But now, there were dozens of large pumpkins rolling around.

They were several times larger than the ones Ella brought.

“How did you do this?”

“Growing pumpkins for decorating the garden before Halloween is also my job. I thought we might need them again this time, so I planted them early.”

Ella widened her eyes in astonishment.

“They grew this much in just a month?”

“It’s the alchemy guild’s skills.”

Gascon said with a smirk.

Normally, Ella would have looked down on his love for plants, but not today.

“You’re quite something, Master. You’ve got a sense.”

Of course, Gascon didn’t give away the pumpkins for free.

He demanded from Wonderstein that he be exempted from training for a month and that Wonderstein learn how to handle vine plants.

Wonderstein inwardly sighed.

He really was a persistent master.

To secretly prepare such a thing for a month behind his back.

In his heart, he wanted to refuse outright.

In fact, he could easily get such pumpkins with the help of the Vergsong Merchant Union.

But seeing the members’ joy, he couldn’t ignore the old man’s effort to grow pumpkins diligently for a month.

It was Gascon’s cunning move to see through the surprisingly soft nature behind the jolly appearance.

“Understood.”

The gardener grinned as he led his disciple around the pumpkin patch, teaching him what he needed to know to cultivate vine plants.

Wonderstein nodded absentmindedly, faithfully recording the teachings in his notebook.

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Chapter 198: Wonderland – 1