I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

We stared blankly as she walked into the restaurant.

It was definitely Maya that we knew, but her appearance was different from usual.

Her usual clothes were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, she was wearing a light sky-blue blouse with a pristine white suit jacket and skirt that matched her skin tone.

We knew what that outfit was.

Earlier, Ella had paraded in front of us wearing it, showing off.

It was Lekcahep’s official uniform.

Thanks to the all-white ensemble from the fedora to the stockings to the shoes, the red tint in her eyes seemed even more pronounced.

“Oh my, is Maya also going to attend the school?”

Yurakne exclaimed as she admired Maya’s uniformed appearance.

“Yes,” Maya nodded, and the other members stared at her in awe.

Her attire until now could hardly be described as neat.

Her stretched sweater was covered in pilling, and her cardigan, two sizes too big, left her shoulders partially exposed.

The only thing kept in place was her skirt, secured firmly by Yurakne’s belt.

She had always been careless about her clothes, so it was reasonably doubtful whether she’d wear her beret, which was originally a formal hat, in its crumpled state.

Except for her dedication to her work, she had no interest in anything else.

Fashion was no exception.

But now, seeing her suddenly appear in neat attire, the members couldn’t help but be surprised.

Maya paid no attention to the members’ murmurs and just stared at me blankly.

I, too, was amazed by her transformation.

If she had seemed like a lazy wildcat stretching yesterday, now she resembled an elegant lioness.

“Maya, you look beautiful,”

She heard me say, widened her eyes, then abruptly turned her head.

And with that, she walked towards the stairs.

I was slightly taken aback.

I knew compliments about her appearance meant nothing to her.

Even so, I didn’t expect her to be completely unresponsive.

“I’m tired, so I’ll go to bed first,”

She said, ascending the stairs.

She seemed genuinely exhausted, judging by her slightly trembling shoulders.

The members continued to chatter about her transformation long after she had disappeared.

“I didn’t know Maya noona was so pretty!”

Womon couldn’t close his mouth, still staring at where Maya had been.

The Triamere brothers laughed at their youngest sibling.

“This kid! He’s drooling!”

“We should take turns standing guard outside Maya’s room. Who knows what Womon might do!”

“Yeah, yeah! If this kid gets his way with strength…!”

Womon’s reddish skin blushed even more vividly at their banter.

“Kkrrrr! These brothers keep making people feel weird!”

“Eek, Womon’s mad!”

“Run! He’s going to eat us!”

“Hahaha!”

Despite the commotion, Ella sat quietly, seemingly lost in thought, watching the stairs where Maya had disappeared.

Maya’s sudden transformation was only for that day.

The next morning, Yurakne visited her room with pretty clothes she had bought as props, but she was chased away without Maya trying on a single outfit.

Maya went back to wearing her usual clothes.

It seemed she wouldn’t bring out the uniform again until the school event.

“Can I not help with your preparation for class?”

Maya vigorously nodded at my question.

“It’s okay.”

I don’t know what change had come over her, someone who had no interest in anything other than solving puzzles.

Maya headed to the plaza as usual to unravel mysteries.

I spent the morning practicing acrobatics with Ella.

She seemed to put more effort into training than usual.

The program also went differently from the planned schedule.

“Why are we focusing more on shooting practice all of a sudden?”

I asked, and she looked up from inspecting her dagger, her head shaking as if in confusion.

“Um, I just feel like we’re lacking a bit?”

Days passed without any significant events.

Now, the time was approaching for the start of the semester.

Three days after receiving a call from Reyna and just finishing our conversation, Ella knocked on the door and entered my room.

She handed me a bunch of magazines.

“Here, these are the ones released this month. I’ve read them all.”

Unlike hotels, magazines were not provided here.

So, I was looking at the magazine she had read and left.

I unfolded the magazines and started reading the articles.

Thanks to Ella’s markings, I could quickly find articles related to us.

Passing the cartoon of Reyna and Ella arm wrestling, I moved on to the next chapter.

The title of one article caught my eye.

<The torch of the Circus Grand Prix is spreading!/>

Torch?

Thinking of something, I continued reading the article.

And as my eyes scrolled past a certain passage, there was a sudden noise and a flash of light in front of me.

A dozen or so notification windows filled my vision.

***

Marquis Slagbrot was a fervent fan of playwright Christian.

Apart from the editor of the Christian Guide and him, no one had ever met the playwright Christian or that he owned the unpublished ‘Fantasy 13’.

But he knew both rumors were false.

He had never seen Christian nor owned the Fantasy 13 script.

But now, the latter rumour was becoming closer to the truth.

His young secretary was reading the script in his hand.

He had no talent for acting.

All the characters in the naive, wicked, and lively play were in their late twenties, graduates of the Imperial University, uttering stiff lines.

He even read the stage directions and instructions meticulously.

“You’re, you’re amazing.”

Professor Taming, who was teaching Taming at Lekachep, said, unable to hide her astonishment.

Despite her appearances, she was an actress at heart.

Without changing her expression, she seemed to deny the presence of that man terrible role.

Whether she liked it or not, the secretary read the script as ordered.

The Marquis spoke to his secretary with a face that showed no surprise at his actions.

“The 13th is real. It’s definitely authentic.”

The Marquis nodded his head.

He had never owned the Fantasy 13.

But he understood the contents.

The script Taming brought was clearly written by Christian.

“How did you get this?”

The Marquis asked, holding the script his secretary handed him.

“Do you that the master and Christian were friends?”

“Oh, right.”

The Marquis nodded his head, recalling the man who had made taming his specialty among the Five.

“I recently found a cabinet he owned in the school warehouse, and I organized it. The script came out of it.”

“I see.”

The Marquis gestured to his secretary.

Their meeting today was for a deal.

Instead of leaving it to Taming, he promised to get her what she wanted.

The secretary brought a glass bottle from the safe.

It was an item that arrived in Yeterinpuurk today at lunch, an item that had been auctioned in Vegas a few days ago.

The glass bottle contained sparkling powders that looked like gems.

***

There was no basis for me to say to the members, ‘I might be able to cure the illness.’

It was a vague hope that perhaps the system would respond to their desires and give me a quest.

But for a month, there was no sign of a member quest.

The system deemed it impossible.

Looking back on the game’s contents, I wondered if there were any clues.

But no matter how I looked back, only Wonderstein’s misdeeds came to mind.

It was unimaginable that he would save anyone.

As a gamer, the only place I could rely on was ultimately the rewards provided by the system.

Perhaps the final reward for average favorability or the circus’s reputation was manipulating unique characteristics.

I reread the article in the magazine.

After reading it two or three times, I took a deep breath and sat back in my chair.

The clue was indeed present in the original.

Why couldn’t I think of this sooner? I felt like a fool.

The article was accompanied by a photo.

It was a scene of people in robes, reaching into flames with tongs to retrieve something.

It was a massive gem, larger than a human head.

Around the spot where the gem was retrieved, there were piles of glass-like shards.

I could tell what that gem was.

It didn’t make sense if someone who had played TTT didn’t recognize it.

It was even embedded in the title logo.

My heart was pounding rapidly, whether it was excitement from the original owner of this body or because I had found a clue.

Either way, the existence of that gem was affecting my composure.

I stared intently at the photo in the article.

That was the reason Wonderstein attacked the Sky City Hippodrome in TT1.

That was the object Wonderstein’s soul inhabited, contaminating six theaters in TT2.

That was the item Wonderstein used to open the door to the final stage in TT3.

The treasure the Black Magician coveted.

The torch of the Circus Grand Prix.

A relic symbolizing the God of performances and festivals.

A gem nicknamed the “Eye of Circus.”

It symbolized the series with Wonderstein and three heroes.

It was the very thing included in the title of the game.

The relic “Tril,” imbued with the power of the Circus God.

As soon as I finished reading the article, a notification popped up.

It was different in color and shape from what I had been receiving for a while.

It was only the second time I had received it since coming to this world.

[Main Quest – Prequel]

[Main Quest – Circus Grand Prix]

Followed by the third main quest.

[“Main Quest – Tril” has been activated.]

*Main Quest – Tril

: It’s what you wanted to get your hands on.

Conditions for completion

: Consume it after Tril turns completely red.

Reward upon success

: Manipulate “Unique Attribute” without “Mindification Penalty”

No penalty upon failure

: None.

As soon as the main quest was activated, the system detected potential.

The side quests that had been blocked were activated.

[“Side Quest – Ordinary Body” has been activated.]

[“Side Quest – Division by Three” has been activated.]

[“Side Quest – My Escape” has been activated.]

[“Side Quest – Escape” has been activated.]

[“Side Quest – Blood and Flesh” has been activated.]

The fact it pointed out was clear.

With the Eye of Circus, I could manipulate unique attributes.

But I couldn’t just be happy.

It was because of the subsequent message.

[The relic of Circus, ‘Tril,’ has appeared in the world. As a result, you can check the mindification progress of the members in the status window.]

Mindification progress.

I could vaguely guess what it meant.

It was only visible to monster members.

I opened the member management window to check their statuses.

Most members had a mindification progress of 0%, but two were different.

Name: Womon

Age: 10

Favourability: 21

Title: Red Vampire

Occupation: Cartomancer

Attributes

: [Blade Juggling]

Mindification Progress: 1%

Mindification Penalty: [Thirst for Blood]

Name: Yurakne

Age: 26

Favourability: 38 (Next Reward: Favourability x50)

Title: Spider Woman

Occupation: Tightrope Acrobat

Attributes

: [Yurakne’s Sincerity], [Wall Climbing]

Mindification Progress: 22%

Mindification Penalty: [Eros and Thanatos]

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Chapter 170: Demon in the Bottle – 9