I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Wherever you go, Wonderland was a 24-hour festival atmosphere, but the inn street was different.

Here, for the convenience of the guests, the streetlights would automatically turn off at a certain time, blocking out all noise.

So, hearing noises from outside meant that morning had come.

I opened my eyes to the hustle and bustle coming through the window.

However, no matter how many times I blinked, the world remained pitch black.

Something was blocking my view.

“Hehehe, master, you can’t go there, huff!”

As I took a deep breath, Clara murmured in her sleep.

I realized that what was pressing against my face was her foot.

Last night, she had exhibited quite a remarkable sleeping habit.

Not only did she suddenly scream loudly, but at one point, she even kicked me in the shoulder.

Her clothes seemed to have disappeared somewhere, as she was wearing only a T-shirt and panties.

It was hard to believe that this same person who was now half-naked and scratching her belly had been the exemplary student representative in the entrance exams.

It was embarrassing to just watch her like that, so I quickly tried to leave the room.

But at that moment, something pulled me back.

Pointed ears and shimmering skin were clearly visible even in the dark room.

Lumie was clinging tightly to my waist.

Last night, I had intended to sleep alone in the living room.

But Clara insisted on joining me, and Lumie joined forces with her under the pretext of making sure I didn’t touch her.

So, the three of us ended up sleeping in one bed.

‘If you cross this line, you’ll die!’

However, the person who had threatened me like that I hadn’t expected her to cling to me like this.

I managed to pry her off and lay her back on the bed.

My body, made of straw, was crushed and deformed from being squeezed so tightly.

When I straightened my waist, it felt like my entire body had shifted about 2 degrees.

My shoulder, which Clara had clung to, made a creaking sound somewhere.

Today, I vowed to sleep alone in the living room no matter what.

The dim lights of the street illuminated the living room.

Wonderland’s lights always maintained this twilight hue. It seemed to be the most intoxicating time of day.

As soon as I emerged, I noticed someone lying where I had marked my sleeping spot for the night.

“Miss Elphi?”

Ella was already half awake, looking at me with drowsy eyes.

“Good morning… sir, it’s a nice morning… as you can see, although it’s not exactly the morning sky.”

“What happened? Why are you sleeping outside?”

“Oh, nothing, I just had a nightmare… So I woke up and wandered around the living room and ended up here.”

At the mention of a nightmare, I noticed tear stains on her cheeks.

I remembered that she sometimes had seizures due to memories.

She hadn’t even eaten the medicine from the Gascon that she had to take daily.

She tried to put on a cheerful facade.

I pretended not to notice as she wiped away the tear stains with a handkerchief.

“Ugh! The sofa is definitely uncomfortable. But didn’t you have trouble sleeping too? Clara senior has really nasty sleeping habits.”

“Don’t say that. I’ll sleep well no matter what today… Wait! Come to think of it, did you ask us to take care of Clara because you didn’t want to sleep with her?”

“Oh, busted?”

Ella playfully stuck out her tongue.

Not long after, Lumie emerged from the room and, seeing her, I was speechless.

She asked if I had touched her body, and I lost my words.

Afterward, Ruelle and Clara also got up and came out into the living room.

We had breakfast and went out to the central square.

To increase the chances of success in the operation, it was better to raise our reputation a bit.

However, despite wandering around the stage for hours, we couldn’t find any cancelled tickets.

By lunchtime, we had given up on getting tickets and were watching the performances on stage.

“The stage here seems different from where we performed, doesn’t it?”

At the central square, even in the centre zone.

There were five stages facing each other in five directions.

“Vocals, bass, guitar, piano, drums. The five winners in each field will have the honor of performing a joint performance of Strauss’s Symphony of Fate.”

I read the text written on a banner near the stage.

Ella whistled as she heard my words.

“Conductor Strauss was also a Apostle of Kirku. He was a figure about a hundred years ago…”

These five stages were the most popular among the competitions held in the square. To get tickets for the next season, you had to wait at least 10 days.

This meant that canceled tickets were scarce, and there would be many competitors trying to get them. We moved to another location in search of tickets.

However, despite wandering around the square all afternoon, we couldn’t find any cancelled tickets.

It seemed that yesterday we were just very lucky.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s just do our best with what we have. Shall we go eat dinner?”

We ended up passing through the centre of the square on our way back to the lodging.

The five stages were still bustling.

Since the competitions were held simultaneously in the same order, whenever the music started, the music from the five stages merged together to form a harmony.

Of course, due to differences in the participants’ abilities, one side’s sound would quickly overpower the others, or they would compete with each other, causing the rhythm to be disrupted.

As we were about to leave the square and head towards the lodging, we heard a familiar instrument sound in the distance.

It was the instrument we heard three days ago in the early morning, on the empty stage where Reyna was practicing. It was the banjo.

Could it be…?

“Hurry, let’s go! What else do you want to see?”

At Lumie’s urging, I quickly nodded.

Musical performances were scattered all over the place.

We must have heard the banjo passing by dozens of times.

But now, amplifying the sound of just one instrument made it stand out vividly.

“Come on! Ride!”

Lumie hopped onto my back.

She always hugged me tightly even when sleeping, so carrying her seemed quite comfortable.

“Uncle, me too, me too!”

Ella climbed onto the other side.

Then Clara also jumped on me.

“Master, me too, me too!”

There was no way I could refuse her either, but remembering last night, I felt somewhat annoyed by her eagerness to ride comfortably.

“Clara, you cant ride let Ruelle.”

“Spoil-sport!”

Although Clara grumbled, she obediently followed my instructions.

With Ruelle on my back, I started walking on all fours.

“…Don’t walk on all fours.”

“Got it!”

***

Not long after they left, the five-stage ensemble came to an end.

However, none of the performers who participated in the ensemble left the stage.

Both the audience and the judges seemed to have completely forgotten that there were other performers waiting for their turn.

All eyes were focused on one place.

It was the bass guitar stage.

There stood a woman wearing a golden cloak and a suit, with a menacing expression as if she was angry or crying, and a white mask with horns.

In the five-stage ensemble, one stage often overshadowed the others.

Usually, the ones that attracted attention were vocals, guitar, and piano.

The drums were often overshadowed by the other three stages, but they still managed to hold their ground with their noise and performance.

However, the bass guitar was always the one being pushed around. Due to its low range, its sound easily got drowned out by other instruments.

The beginning of this stage was no different from usual.

As the vocals, guitar, and piano started to play along with the rhythm of the drums, they followed their own rhythms.

Just like the previous stages, this stage’s harmony was quickly shattered.

The tempo, pitch, and rhythm each played according to their own personalities.

The audience and judges tried to focus only on their own stages, ignoring the dissonance from other stages.

But among them, the judges evaluating the bass guitar were having the hardest time.

“Why did the Council set up the stage like this?”

“Yeah. If they’re going to do this, they might as well perform together! This isn’t competition or cooperation, it’s chaos.”

No matter how hard they tried, it was difficult to evaluate the bass performance properly in this noise.

However, just as the judges were trying to choose a suitable middle score to throw, a change occurred.

The chaotic performances gradually began to merge into one flow.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s happening?”

At first, everyone expressed doubt about this strange phenomenon.

However, they soon realized where the change had started from.

It was a stage for the bass guitar.

As she played the banjo, she initially drew in the drums.

The soft yet empathetic resonance of her instrument was so seductive that the drummer, who was engrossed in his pounding, found himself impulsively wanting to synchronize with her, almost without realizing it.

As the two instruments responsible for the backdrop of the ensemble harmonized so well, the remaining three stages seemed to be drawn in involuntarily.

It was the vocals, guitar, and piano, which individually may not have seemed so outstanding, but as the bass and drums formed a duet, creating harmony, the other three stages felt somehow like actors performing solos, isolated from the rest.

And so, the five stages converged along a single line, continuing the performance.

And finally, as they simultaneously emitted the last note, the wave emanating from there swept through the square.

The people right in front of the stage keenly felt what it meant for their souls to tremble.

Completely immersed in the stage, they could feel a gust of wind leading them amidst the tumultuous and colorful rhythm. It was undoubtedly emanating from the bass stage.

“The highest scorer of the bass stage this season has emerged!”

The announcer’s proclamation prompted the audience to chant her name along with the names of her instruments.

“The Crying Woman! The Crying Woman!”

“Banjo! Banjo! Banjo!”

Amidst the enthusiastic encore requests, the bass player descended from the stage, clutching her instrument.

The theater officials rushed towards her from all directions, extending tickets towards her.

The crowd around her multiplied several times over.

She hadn’t expected such an enthusiastic response. She didn’t consider herself significantly superior to other contestants in terms of technical prowess.

She didn’t know the power of the resonance of the wounded.

Nevertheless, thanks to it, she could achieve her goal.

She carefully examined the invitations she received. Among them was a theatre with an empty seat in three days.

She chose that place.

She returned to her lodging, discarded her makeup, and went to wash herself.

The stage costume inspired by her father.

The instrument, an heirloom from her mother.

And the mask, a gift from the person she liked.

Reyna, who didn’t enjoy performing, was truly satisfied with today’s stage.

“Father, please wait for me. I will definitely save you.”

With that determination, she submerged her body in the warm bathtub.

The exhaustion of the past few days, spent desperately fleeing and scheming in unfamiliar places, seemed to wash away.

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Chapter 228: Wonderland – 31