I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Relic refers to a powerful magical tool representing the power of a mage.

The gemstone ‘Tril’ was, as its nickname suggests, the relic of Kirku.

Eye of Circus or Kirku’s Eye

The reason Tril was given that nickname was because of its unique characteristics.

Interestingly, the gem emitted a red light when a performance was happening in front of it.

The bigger, more extravagant, and grander the performance, the stronger the light became.

This phenomenon wasn’t limited to the scale of the performance alone.

The better the acting, the more difficult the acrobatics, the smoother the narrative, the more daring the developments, and the higher the completeness of the script, the brighter the light shone.

In the past, it is said that this was used in the Circus Grand Prix to select circus troupes to perform on the Wonder Stage.

Performers would unfold their acts in front of Tril, and if its brightness exceeded a certain standard, they would advance to the finals.

Even among the finalists, there were records of competitions based on who could shine the gem brighter.

In this way, the nickname “Kirku’s Eye” was given to this gem, as it watched over performances through Kirku’s perspective.

However, the Eye was lost after the terrorist attack at the 2nd Circus Grand Prix.

The gem mentioned in the article was a newly created one this time.

Originally, magical tools or relics were typically obtained through deals with the Abyss through rituals.

However, recently, thanks to magic scholars, methods of harnessing a mage’s power by combining offerings, symbols, patterns, songs, dances, etc., were being developed.

Originally, abyss faith was situated between the domains of ‘adherence to rules’ and ‘deals.’

It became more commercialized thanks to scholars’ research.

The article attributes the restoration of Tril at this Circus Grand Prix to the scholars at the Castya Magic Academy.

It was the school where Maya graduated from.

I reviewed the contents of the 3rd main quest again.

*Main Quest – Tril

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

Condition for completion

: Consume it after Tril turns completely red.

Reward upon success

: Ability to manipulate ‘Unique Trait’ without ‘Mindification Penalty’

No penalty upon failure

: None.

The quest instructed to consume Tril after it turns ‘completely red.’

As mentioned earlier, Tril emitted a red light when a remarkable performance was seen.

However, making it completely red with just one troupe’s performance was impossible.

According to the article, even twenty years ago, despite the best troupes of the time, including the Pandora Magic Show, performing in front of it, the red light didn’t even fill half of the gem.

In other words, a larger festival was needed to make Tril completely red.

The world’s top circus troupes had to be selected and gathered to showcase the best performances in front of it.

That was the Circus Grand Prix.

Wonderstein’s attachment to this competition was not for any other reason.

It was solely to consume the gem in its brightest state.

I already knew Wonderstein’s purpose was this gem.

Tril was the central theme of the game, as indicated by its title.

However, details such as the conditions for emitting the red light or tangled stories were learned from the article.

But no matter how many times I read the article, I couldn’t find out more.

Why does Kirku’s Eye have the power to manipulate unique traits?

What’s the connection between Debulroots, Wonderstein, and Kirku?

I pondered over this all night, but nothing more came to mind.

I dismissed concerns about Kirku’s Eye.

After all, to see it turn completely red, I had to wait until the finals.

It was a problem that could be thought over gradually.

There were more urgent matters at hand.

It was about the Mindification Penalty.

“Director, it’s time to leave!”

Yurakne poked her head through the crack in the door.

She held onto the door with both hands and tapped it with the remaining four.

“Is it already time?”

I got up from my seat.

I had spent the night organizing the newly acquired information.

The clock had rung not long ago.

It was still early morning, but it was time to leave the villa.

It took an hour and a half to ride the carriage to school.

Ella and Maya had to leave now to avoid being late.

Yurakne held out a package to me.

“On the way, we have toast and milk to eat, and for the Director… ta-da! I’ve prepared tea! Even in this cold region, there’s special tea!”

She handed me a thermos.

I hesitated for a moment before accepting it.

“Thank you.”

“Hey, didn’t we agree to no thank you for giving you tea.”

“Right….”

I put on my cloak and left the room.

She naturally stood by my side.

“Are Ella and Maya ready?”

“They’re already downstairs waiting. But Maya was a bit much. She was about to go with her hair all messy as soon as she got up, you know? So I held her and tied her hair myself, and even helped her wash her face. If I let her go like that, the Director could get angry. It’s like leaving such a pretty girl unattended.”

I walked with Yurakne and cautiously observed her profile.

There was a slightly tired look on her face.

She had been busy since early morning preparing meals for the members, checking on the children’s attendance, and taking care of my needs.

No, not just today.

She was always the busiest person in the circus after Ella.

If Ella led the circus on stage, she supported the circus offstage.

“I’m sorry. Yurakne, you always work so hard.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah? Oh, you suddenly say that, it’s embarrassing. I like what I do. It’s my greed, you know. Hehe, but it feels good when you say that.”

She smiled brightly and said “It’s good,” but I found it hard to take her words at face value.

Because I had checked her Mindification yesterday.

I looked at the reward item for the third main quest.

This, too, hinted at something important.

I need Kirku’s Eyes to manipulate ‘unique traits’ without ‘mindification penalties.’

Conversely, it meant this.

Attempting to manipulate unique traits without Kirku’s Eyes results in a mindification penalty.

I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with her about a month ago during the entrance exam.

­No, it’s not that I don’t believe in the abilities of the Director! But… I just… think it’s okay to stay as I am.

­Are you feeling well now, Yurakne?

­Oh, no. I want to be as ordinary as possible… But if there are side effects to the treatment…

­Side effects?

At that moment, she seemed to know something.

I tried to inquire about the meaning of her words, but missed the opportunity as Allen and Jo entered the exam room causing a commotion.

But now I guessed what she was trying to say.

Mindification.

She knew about it.

She was aware that it was a penalty for attempting to manipulate unique traits.

So she was skeptical of my suggestion to try treatment.

I checked the member management window.

Her mindification progress was 22%.

The following clues pointed to one fact.

She had once tried to eliminate her unique traits.

And when it failed, she experienced the side effects, namely, mindification.

Spider lady.

When I saw her appearance in the game, I could vaguely understand the meaning of the words ‘Eros and Thanatos’ without even reading the explanation.josei

She kidnapped men, imprisoned them in a cave, copulated with them, and then devoured them.

She expressed her desire to chew up and eat Wonderstein’s head while claiming to love him.

She embodied the typical image of a black widow spider.

I read the description of her penalty:

Trait: Mindification Penalty – Eros and Thanatos

Target: Yurakne

Effect: Confusion in distinguishing Eros and Thanatos emotions.

I remembered reading a contemplative blog post about spiders once. It said that if Eros emotions are love and birth, Thanatos emotions are destruction and death. The impulse for a female spider to kill and consume a male occurs when copulation reaches its climax. In other words, when Eros emotions peak, they are replaced by Thanatos emotions.

The mindification penalty that applied to Yurakne worked like that.

It suited her nickname, the Spider Lady.

But did she ever show symptoms of mindification?

That was hard to judge.

Because it worked within her mind.

But one old question I had about her came to mind.

It was about what happened in the Aksville Market.

At that time, except for Ella, all the members were afraid of me.

But she approached me with just a favourability rating of 3.

Although trembling with fear, we peeled potatoes together and went shopping together.

Ella overcame her fear with hatred, but she had none of that. It didn’t match the level of favour she showed me with the favourability rating displayed by the system.

At that time, I was in a position where I was being ostracized by all the members, so I was just grateful that she approached me.

But looking back, it was strange.

Why could she have a favourable impression of me?

At that time, I didn’t know, but now I had one hypothesis to offer.

Mindification Penalty – Eros and Thanatos.

It said it made it difficult to distinguish between Eros and Thanatos emotions.

In other words, at that time, she was right to fear me.

But when we faced each other that night, the fear of me reached its peak and was replaced by favourability.

It was the opposite of what happened.

“Director?”

Yurakne looked back at me.

Lost in thought, I stopped in front of the stairs.

“What are you thinking about?”

She giggled.

With her brown skin and purple hair tied up with a hairpin, her loose top couldn’t hide her curvaceous figure.

Her curious expression as she looked up at me gave off a cute vibe for a woman in her mid-twenties. But beneath that, the scent of ripe womanhood emanating from her body and the occasional whiff of sticky fat reminded me of the ripe scent of a woman.

She, who would have been loved wherever she went if she had been born normal, suffered the tragedy of losing her husband due to her appearance as a result of Wonderstein, an evil guy, and eventually became a monster and met a miserable end.

I remembered her crying out for help as she died, begging to Wonderstein.

At that time, she was just an image of a villainess obsessed with a psychopathic villain…

I felt deep sympathy for her.

“…No. Nothing.”

Under the stairs, Ella and Maya, wearing uniforms, were waiting.

During that time, Yurakne ran over and tidied up Maya’s messy hair.

The Eye of Circus or Kirku’s Eye.

It was only after the beginning of the main quest, the Circus Grand Prix, that it started to glow completely red.

In other words, it was after completing the main quest “Circus Grand Prix” and during the main quest “Prelude.”

There were no other main quests to solve besides those two main quests.

Kirku never asked for the impossible.

It could be done.

“Director!”

Yurakne called out to me as she pushed the two into the carriage.

She pointed to the empty seat beside her.

A normal body.

There was no other gift to give to the companions with whom I would spend the next two years.

I got on the carriage, following the group, with a new goal in mind.

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Chapter 171: Demon in the Bottle – 10