The atmosphere inside the tent was incredibly fervent, men enchanted by the Blue Witch’s beauty, women driven mad by her mysterious aura, but soon, accompanied by a strange prelude music that swept in, the kaleidoscopic tent suddenly became so quiet one could hear a pin drop. The music was an exotic melody Charide had never heard before; he looked around and realised the singing was coming from Captain Jobs himself.
Magical spells for recording music were not unheard of; some wind-based incantations could achieve it. So, did this mean Captain Jobs was also a wind-element archmage?
After a brief prelude, the Peerless Enchantress began to sing, her beautiful and rhythmic female voice instantly shocking Charide’s soul.
“The Peerless Enchantress has performed many songs, and lately everyone has been talking about her voice. The most famous one is this ‘God is a Girl’. I want to learn it too, so I can sing it to you in the future.” Orisa suddenly whispered in Charide’s ear. When Charide looked over, Orisa hurriedly lowered her head in shyness, but soon she put on a serious listening expression, starting to try hard to memorise the Peerless Enchantress’s lyrics.
Those lyrics were somewhat strange, different from the rhyming elegance of most bards or singing performers; they had a unique charm instead. Her lyrics were also quite distinctive, actually seeming somewhat blasphemous, at least the church would certainly not approve of such songs, but this was just a small circus, and the church might not bother with what lyrics they sang.
Do you remember when I searched the world for enlightenment.
She is a girl yearning for freedom.
Thoughts imprisoned by shackles, forgetting the past.
Yet the past has not faded…
God is a girl.
Wherever you are.
Will you believe in her? Will you accept her?
God is a girl.
Whatever you say.
Will you believe in her? Will you accept her?
…
(Song: God is a Girl)
The entire song was utterly different from those that praised heroes, recounted legends, or expressed lovers’ adoration, girls’ melancholy, or death in sorrow. This song seemed to be proclaiming something rarely mentioned in this world: women’s rights.
God is a girl; it subtly challenged the church’s supreme divine authority, yet the beautiful melody and performance struck just right at everyone’s G-spot, shocking the heart and making one involuntarily immerse in it.
The Peerless Enchantress was not merely alluring beyond measure in appearance; more importantly, there was a magical power in her voice.
And this made her image no longer dazzling, but instead sacred like a deity.
When the song ended, everyone in the tent lingered in the melody, unable to extricate themselves. Moments later, enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted.
Many immediately surged to Captain Jobs’s stall, pulling out money pouches to buy bouquets and flower baskets, wanting to use these flowers to represent their reverence. Even Richard, who had originally regretted his meagre pouch, could not help but spend another gold coin to buy two medium flower baskets, and together with Orisa, he sent them to the wooden stage.
When Orisa approached the Peerless Enchantress, and the pretty face vaguely visible under her veil gave her a gentle smile, she was so delighted she nearly fainted. Then she hugged Charide tightly, as if she had never felt this happy before, and Charide had never felt such intense happiness…
Next, the Peerless Enchantress sang a few more songs, and Captain Jobs went onto the wooden stage to announce that this round of performance was over, asking everyone to leave the tent and watch other shows, with the next round starting after half an hour. Thus, the crowd reluctantly began to exit the tent, and Charide, walking among them, happened to glance back and saw Captain Jobs picking up all those flower baskets and bouquets from the stage, putting them back on the nearby stall, apparently preparing to sell another round later…
What a shrewd merchant!
Delicious unique snacks, the dining performance artist, the beautiful beast tamer, the brick-juggling performer; there were still many fun spots outside. When the next round of the Peerless Enchantress’s show started half an hour later, Charide saw many who had entered in the previous round entering the tent again. So wealthy. Charide glanced at Orisa’s expectant expression and took out his already deflated money pouch again. He could not bear to see Orisa disappointed, and most importantly… the Peerless Enchantress’s performance was truly spectacular!
But Orisa gently placed her hand on Charide’s, her pretty face slightly flushed as she leaned close to his ear: “Don’t spend gold coins anymore. Perhaps, we can use this money to book a room at the inn…”
Charide’s eyes immediately widened, and he nodded vigorously with ecstatic joy!
The following time seemed to grow rosy wings; Charide’s mood was indescribably joyful. He took Orisa to enjoy other performances at the Apple Circus, and when night gradually deepened, he left the circus with his lover.
His heart was still pounding non-stop.
It was just that as they left the circus, Charide suddenly brushed past a man entirely clad in black. He frowned and turned to look at the black-clothed man.
“Charide, what’s wrong?” Orisa asked.
“Oh, nothing…” Charide shook his head. Just as they brushed past, he seemed to feel the black-clothed man was somewhat familiar. Over these years, he had often gone out on mercenary missions and encountered many people, even interacting with some assassins who rarely showed their faces. And that black-clothed man just now… seemed exactly like an assassin from the Cicada Fort Killer Organisation.
“It must be an illusion… I’m just too happy tonight.” He shook his head inwardly and walked out of the circus.
He saw again the deputy leader with the two strands of comical moustache and the golden-haired maid with a face full of shame, which made him think of his earlier suspicions once more, but this time he felt he must be overthinking it.
How could it be!?
The Name-Your-Own Magic Guild was, after all, a four-star magic guild; how could those big shots stoop to running a circus?
It made no sense at all!!!
“Tonight will be a happy night…” Charide held his lover’s hand, his mood already flying into a wonderful dream scented with roses…
…
Approaching midnight, the Apple Circus finally saw off the last guest. The deputy leader with the comical moustache—Debbie—summoned Afu to clean up the circus grounds, while the others gathered in the room behind the big tent, enjoying delicious midnight snacks. By this time, everyone had dropped their disguises for the day.
The big-bearded leader was naturally Ye Chui, the brick-juggling performer was Green, the great dining artist Big Stomach Girl was Gunny, the food vendor was Jacob, the Peerless Enchantress was Resha, of course, and the beautiful beast tamer was none other than Danni.
Rumours outside claimed Danni was being held hostage by the Name-Your-Own Magic Guild, which was of course untrue. At the time, when Ye Chui and the others discovered the Ninth Prince dead in Clown Town, and since Clown Town was the origin land of the Anduin family, plus Debbie’s special identity, some people with ulterior motives might exploit that connection to target the Anduin family.
To protect the Anduin family, Ye Chui deliberately brought the Ninth Prince’s body back to Forge City and staged a scene of holding Danni hostage.
To disguise their identities, Ye Chui’s group transformed into the Apple Circus, with everyone taking on roles. Danni was no exception, performing beast-taming acts—worth mentioning was that Danni was not intentionally trying to be funny; in her original plan, she wanted to show her summoned spirit beast Hal performing various actions on command, but Hal clearly was not that cooperative, which instead created a super hilarious effect.
(The difficulty of making a husky perform circus tricks was obviously too great…)
So Ye Chui let Danni perform it that way, and the response was quite good, second only to Resha’s singing in popularity at the Apple Circus.
“How was today’s earnings?” Ye Chui asked Debbie while savouring the soup Jacob had brewed.
“Hee hee, we made a fortune~~” In front of Debbie was a pile of gold and silver coins; she was joyfully counting the gold coins. “Several hundred gold coins in intake today. In the month since we formed the circus, we’ve earned four or five thousand gold coins in total.”
“So much. More than we made doing magic guild missions before. Why not just focus on running the elite circus from now on?” Ye Chui joked while staring blankly at the mountain of gold and silver coins.
“No way!” The reply came from Gilga, still in her maid outfit; she said with utmost shame, “We are powerful swordsmen and archmages; how can we do such things… I’ve lived this long and never felt so humiliated. Ye Chui, how much longer must this disguise last!?”
Having the proud krypton female swordsman wear a maid outfit to check tickets at the entrance was indeed a bit too much to ask…
Green, Gunny, Resha, and the others also gave Ye Chui somewhat displeased looks—basically, regarding starting the circus and its instant success, aside from Ye Chui and Debbie who enjoyed it, the others were a bit unwilling.
“The capital is under strict alert lately, and with our fame now, perhaps we can sneak into the capital under the circus’s name.” Ye Chui pondered. No one would think a four-star guild would disguise itself as a circus, let alone such a famous one; this to some extent diverted many people’s attention. Even those with suspicions would mostly dismiss them after seeing their performances.
A circus in this world was no noble profession; four-star guild big shots could not possibly do such lowly work!
But even so, for Ye Chui and the others to enter the capital this way would still not be easy.
“I think you’ve already become addicted to being the leader.” Gilga immediately said.
“How could that be? Forming the circus is to evade pursuit and also to hone our individual abilities!” Ye Chui immediately said seriously.
“Hone abilities?” Gilga widened her eyes.
The others also looked at Ye Chui curiously.
Ye Chui nodded, cleared his throat lightly, and explained: “Let’s start with Green. Through juggling, his ability to use bricks has greatly improved: point and smash, incredibly accurate, his magic power has become even thicker, and now he’s entered the intermediate archmage realm. That’s progress!”
Green looked thoughtful.
“Then Gunny: through over a month’s dining performances, the sword qi in her body has become even more terrifying. The amount of sword qi contained within her now is absolutely a horrifying figure!”
Gunny nodded in agreement while stuffing bread into her mouth. Now, even using the golden greatsword from Ye Chui’s grimoire, she could wield it with ease.
“As for Resha, the songs I had her sing and the dances she performed can greatly enhance her control over faith power. In the future, she can infuse faith power into these songs and dances; the power will be immense!”
Resha pondered and said: “Singing and dancing in battle?”
“Then Danni: through beast-taming performances, her summoner talents have also made great strides. Before, she could summon the husky for at most one day…”
Danni corrected Ye Chui: “It’s Hal, not husky!”
“Fine.” Ye Chui nodded and continued, “Now she can summon the husky for seven or eight days straight!”
Danni: “…”
Ye Chui then turned to Jacob: “The one we can’t overlook is still Jacob. Look, since I had him run the food stall, his culinary skills have improved who knows how much. Our daily meals have elevated countless times!”
Jacob: “Guild leader, I feel like compared to everyone else’s improvements, mine seems so pale and powerless…”
“Don’t worry about those things.” Ye Chui waved it off and looked at everyone, “See, I’m not wrong. Now everyone’s strength has greatly improved.”
“…” Gilga was speechless. Though she still felt unwilling, she had to admit Ye Chui had a point.
The others also showed expressions of sudden realisation.
Ye Chui and Debbie had their strengths skyrocketing like cheats, while the little partners indeed needed honing. The circus performances truly brought them great improvements—the guild leader’s care for them was truly profound and subtle…
“Like this, with our fame now, maybe someone in the capital will invite us to perform someday? Then we can fish in troubled waters and sneak in.” Seeing his brainwashing succeed, Ye Chui smiled and stood up. “Alright, everyone, go to sleep soon. There’s lots of work tomorrow.”
He saw Debbie had already put the gold coins into various money pouches, so he prepared to store the pouches in his grimoire, but at that moment, a startled cry came from outside the tent. It was Afu’s voice.
Ye Chui and the others jolted, hurriedly redonning their disguises, and rushed out of the tent.
On the open ground outside, Afu, gripping her broom, was looking fearfully at the black-clothed man before her.
Seeing Ye Chui and the others emerge, she hurriedly ran to Ye Chui’s side: “Captain Jobs, I was just sweeping the yard when he suddenly popped out from the side. It scared me.”
Ye Chui eyed the man shrouded entirely in black, frowned, walked over, and asked loudly: “Friend, what brings you here?” At the same time, he discreetly signalled to his companions: this guy might mean trouble; lads, prepare your gear!
However…
The black-clothed man stepped closer, removed his hood, revealing a dark and aged face. In a slightly hoarse voice, he asked: “So, does your circus recruit people?”
