I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Vegas had looser geographical and social boundaries compared to other nations on the Columbia continent.

Strictly speaking, Vegas had only one official administrative area, the capital Vegas. The rest of the territory was land where desert tribes loyal to the Vegas Chieftain resided.

However, there was no commonality among them to label them all with the single term “desert tribes.”

Among the tribes were nomads who had lived in the desert for hundreds of years with populations numbering tens of thousands, as well as villages with populations of tens of people formed by salt mining prospectors just a few years ago.

So, the desert tribes varied greatly in size, history, and characteristics.

There was no law that governed them all.

Yet, there was a feature that unified Vegas as a single nation, and that was their affiliation with the security service of the Black Legion, a private army of the Vegas Chieftain.

The Black Legion was a mercenary group employed by the Vegas Chieftain.

They were stationed in bases scattered throughout the desert, patrolling the areas where they were enrolled in the security service and eliminating threats to the safety of the residents.

Collecting taxes and providing protection aligned with the primary purpose of the state.

Therefore, the area around Vegas was called the Vegas Chieftaincy, based on the nickname of the owner of the Black Legion.

Alamo was a village at the northern end of the Vegas Chieftaincy.

The residents here maintained their livelihoods by providing lodging and trade to those passing through the desert.

Alamo was just one of the trading villages commonly seen along the desert roads. However, it had one special feature that set it apart from others.

That was the school that taught acrobatics to children.

It all began on the day when an old man arrived in the village carrying a newborn baby.

Unlike rural areas exclusive to outsiders, the desert tribes welcomed guests.

Of course, that didn’t mean they welcomed suspicious visitors with their faces covered with bandages.

So, everyone was initially wary of the old man.

After all, someone hiding their identity and sneaking into the village could be a member of a band of thieves.

However, the old man had the knowledge and skills to offset such suspicions.

He earned the trust of the people by directly addressing various problems in the village.

Above all, what quickly softened people’s guard against him was the fact that he carried a baby.

She was a cute little girl with recently born black eyes.

The old man claimed she was an orphan he had taken in due to circumstances, but he cared for her more zealously than his own child.

To care for a child who wasn’t even his own flesh and blood, risking his own life, such a person could never be a thief.

Thanks to this, the old man soon gained the respect and admiration of the villagers.

Thus, being treated as the sage of the village, the old man opened a circus school when the child turned five.

That was when the residents learned that he was an acrobat.

It was a moment when the origins of his extraordinary skills and physical dexterity were revealed.

It was called a school, but in reality, it was more like a daycare center that welcomed orphans.

He gathered orphaned children with nowhere else to go and taught them acrobatics.

Since the terrorist attack at the 2nd Circus Grand Prix, the world had been suffering from a shortage of acrobats.

Facilities for teaching skills sprung up here and there.

Despite being a poor school built in a remote countryside, children dreaming of a better future than pickpocketing or odd jobs came knocking on its door upon hearing rumours that once you mastered the skills, you could make a considerable amount of money.

The old man, who was both the principal and the sole teacher of the school, couldn’t help but feel how fast time flies as he saw the newborn he had carried grow tall enough to reach his chest.

“Oh, really? You want to learn ‘taming’ all the way to the end?”

The girl nodded in response to the old man’s words.

“Yes, Grandpa.”

“It’s not ‘Grandpa,’ it’s ‘Teacher.'”

The girl made a displeased expression at the old man’s words.

She used to call the old man ‘Grandpa.’

But four years ago, when the old man opened the school, he changed his title.

He said that if he opened a school, calling him ‘Grandpa’ could make other children uncomfortable.

Everyone called him ‘Teacher,’ so she had to call him that too.

Even though it had been more than four years, she still couldn’t get used to calling him by that name.

“Yes, Teacher.”

The old man smiled warmly and tilted his head.

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Such a cheeky little fellow.

The old man was about to scold, but he stopped when he saw her mischievous smile.

Indeed, he was not one to raise his voice easily, especially not to her.

“Ella.”

The old man called her name.

Ella looked up from her pocket, where she was petting the head of a mouse peeking out, and gazed at him.

“Yeah, what is it?”

Seeing her skip the honorifics once again, the old man let out a small sigh.

“Our school is poor. We don’t have extra food for the animals, you know?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it! Am I not doing that already?”

At her confident reply, the old man hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Alright. If you’re determined, I’ll teach you how to tame them.”

“Wow!”

Ella exclaimed, straightening up and eagerly waiting for the lesson to begin.

And she seemed to urge him to start the lecture with her shoulders bouncing.

The old man held back until he couldn’t stand it anymore and finally spoke.

“What do you think is the most important thing in taming animals?”

“Um, love?”

Ella answered honestly, straight from her heart.

But noticing the old man chuckling at her innocence, she quickly changed her answer.

“Uh, no! Training!”

Ella imagined herself wielding a whip towards a lion.

She thought that was a more adult-like, ruthless answer.

But the old man gave a more ruthless answer than she had thought.

“Deception.”

“Dece… what?”

Finding the word a bit difficult, Ella hesitated.

She had seen it a few times in scripts.

It definitely meant something bad, but…

Just as she was trying to recall something, the old man answered first.

“Deception. It means tricking.”

Wide-eyed at his words, Ella murmured softly.

“But Chick is my friend. Why deceive a friend?”

Listening to her grumbling, the old man smiled.

But this smile carried a slightly heavier atmosphere than before.

“Yeah. He’s your friend. But how did you first bring Chick here?”

Ella trembled at his words.

She stroked the squirming mouse in her pocket and spoke with a hesitant voice.

“We… we put him in our bag…”

“Yeah. You forcibly brought him here. Did Chick say he wanted to come with you?”

“Uh, no…”

Ella muttered in a subdued voice.

It was only now that she realized she had brought Chick out of her own selfishness, not out of friendship.

Seeing Ella crestfallen, the old man’s heart ached, but he didn’t stop speaking.

“But you kept him here as you pleased. And you made him submissive. You fed him one by one to make him obey you… right?”

Tears welled up in Ella’s eyes.

She couldn’t believe she had done such a terrible thing.

“But… but if I didn’t, he might run away…”

At her excuse, the old man nodded.

“Yeah. That’s what deception is all about. Can you think of any animals in a circus who chose to leave their parents and come into the circus because they wanted to perform? Even the intelligent animals who understand the concept of acrobatics were initially trained with a leash. The bond between trainers and animals is built on confinement, submission, coercion, and learning. Remember, that’s the inherent contradiction trainers must always go through.”

It was a somewhat heavy and dark story for a 9-year-old.

Ella wiped away her teary eyes with her sleeve and glanced at the old man cautiously.

The old man chuckled at her reaction, finding it cute.

“I’m not saying don’t train them. I just wanted to emphasize the importance of responsibility. If animals misbehave, like attacking people or causing harm to others’ property, you can’t just say, ‘It’s their fault, what does it have to do with me?’ They’re the animals you’ve brought into the world of humans. So always remember it’s your responsibility.”

“…Okay! I got it!”

Ella was a clever child.

You could tell by the way she smoothly read the script and performed, despite being only 9 years old.

Reading might be achievable with just detached words, but acting required social intelligence to decipher hidden emotions or breaths behind the lines.

Her talent wasn’t limited to acting alone.

She excelled in anything she did, whether it was talent, singing, or anything else.

Moreover, her sense of appreciation for performances was sharp.

She was better than any other kids at school.

No, exactly, just one.

There was another child who rivaled Ella.

Although he had only recently joined…

At that moment, a mouse scurried into the room, squeaking as it ran.

Ella heard the mouse in her arms crying.

“Huh? What is it, Chick?”

Ella cocked her ear as the mouse she had temporarily released for a walk seemed to be saying something to her.

“Hmm, I see.”

As she nodded her head, the old man widened his eyes in surprise.

“Ella, can you understand what the mouse is saying?”

She shrugged as if she didn’t quite understand why he was raising his voice.

“Yeah? Yeah yeah! He’s my friend. Of course.”

It had only been a few days since she caught it, right?

Handling and feeding it alone was impressive enough, but communication too?

The old man was momentarily dumbfounded, gaping, before he asked again.

“Okay. What did Chick say?”

“Well, there’s this…”

Ella carefully got up from her seat.

Then she stealthily approached the front of the door and gently opened it wide.

“Someone’s eavesdropping behind this door!”

Standing behind the door was a boy with chestnut curly hair.

He was three years older than Ella and had joined the school a few months ago.

She looked at him with wide eyes.

“Charlie? What are you doing here?”

“Me? Uh, well, um…”

Charlie hesitated for a moment, fiddling with his pocket.

Inside were item he had prepared for the past few days.

“That’s…”

“Got it!”

“Oh, what, what did you say?”

“Are you here to spy on me? Worried I might outpace you if I learn to tame it!”

Charlie blinked at her confident words.

He wanted to say no.

In truth, he had a personal gift he wanted to give her.

Since her birthday is coming up soon.

But as he was about to speak, he locked eyes with the teacher standing behind her.

Strict in practice, but kind in all other matters, the teacher was.

But he couldn’t stand by quietly as the man tried to deceive Ella.

“Yeah, right. Got it loud and clear.”

“Heheh, playing it cool, huh?”

Charlie made a gloomy expression and dashed out of the room as if escaping.

When Ella finished her class and came out of the room, he had planned to create a situation where it was just the two of them so he could give her the gift…

But the teacher noticed, so that plan went down the drain.

He hoped for the next opportunity, but unfortunately, it didn’t come again.

In the end, he had to slip his gift in among the pile of gifts from the kids.

***

It was September.

Charlie remembered how every year around this time, he would ponder what to give Ella for her birthday.

Last year, he bought a Slagbrot pastry gift set from the souvenir shop in front of the school…

Why did he feel so disappointed when he received replies about how well the snacks were shared among friends?

He smiled as he looked at the letter written in Ella’s handwriting.

He carefully put it in his pocket, despite the smudges of dirt all over it.

He was lying under the shade of a rooftop at some auction house in Vegas.

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Chapter 161: Black and Gold – End