The Freak Show Foreman

A group of carriages traveled along the coast.

The carriages were adorned with bright colors, and the luggage compartments were filled with equipment used for performances.

It was obvious to anyone that they were a wandering circus troupe.

The first to witness them was a quick-footed child from the village who spread the news.

Children from the village gathered along the roadside.

They looked at the approaching caravan with expectant eyes.

The village they lived in was the largest in the area, conveniently located right next to the main road.

The weekly market always took place here.

The children naturally thought the circus would stop by their village.

However, the rat men sitting on the sidelines with annoyed expressions blocked the road.

"Shoo! Get out of here!"

"No business today! Move along!"

They paid no attention to the children's protests and drove the carriages through.

The children dispersed with exclamations of disappointment.

"How dare those rat men!"

"Let's see their faces! Who do they think they are!"

Some of the ruffians among the children who were mingling in the crowd confronted the carriages, but they stepped back in surprise when the masked clown sitting at the front extended something towards them.

It was a pass stamped with the lord's emblem.

Although the villagers were ignorant of many things, they knew well the significance of the lord's emblem.

They saw it every time they were conscripted for labor or when taxes were collected.

"It seems the token given by the knight has its uses."

Sven, who had successfully used it to settle disputes several times before, whistled cheerfully.

But there was no one to respond to his words with agreement.

Everyone was tired.

They hadn't slept properly because they had been fighting off demons all night.

And now, on top of worrying about pursuers, they were irritated.

Sven, being a skeleton, was the only one who didn't need to eat or rest, so he could act as usual, displaying calmness and laughter.

Yurakne wiped the sweat from Womon's feverish body, which was lying in agony within our confines.

The broken tip of his horn was swollen and red with clotted blood.

He was the one among us who had fought the demons most fiercely.

It was regrettable for her to have to lay him on the hard and rattling iron-barred floor instead of a comfortable bed.

But they couldn't afford to rest.

They had to leave this area as quickly as possible before news of Dvallchep's tragedy spread, and they didn't know how the lord, upon hearing the news, would react.

They continued to travel along the coastal road without stopping for a moment.

They took turns driving the carriages through the night.

Thanks to Ivanenko's pass, they were able to exchange tired horses at each station.

Thanks to that, they managed to barely escape the Ismi Plateau by around noon the next day.

Wonderstein also woke up around that time.

He looked at the woman who had fallen asleep while nursing, her head resting on his chest with three pairs of arms supporting her forehead, cheek, and chin, making her look comfortable.

Although he insisted he was fine, she stubbornly insisted on taking care of him.

He cleared his throat loudly and called out to her.

"Miss Yurakne."

"Umm…? Huh? …Director, you're awake!"

Yurakne looked at him, rubbing her eyes, and smiled brightly.

Her usually neatly tied hair with a hairpin was now disheveled, and her eyes were squinted.

It seemed like she had a tough time while he was unconscious.

He patted her back gently.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. Nothing happened. Everyone just collapsed from exhaustion."

He knew one person was missing from that 'everyone.'

"Is Ella okay?"

At his words, her complexion turned pale, and she shook her head.

"Not yet… She hasn't regained consciousness…"

"I see…"

Wonderstein smiled.

Yurakne trembled for a moment at his smile, but soon looked at him with a pitiful gaze.

"Director…"

"I want to go outside and comfort the other members. But it's impossible with this face."

A moment of silence passed inside the carriage.

Yurakne hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking.

"What if we just tell the truth now…?"

"…"

"Back then, speaking up wouldn't have solved anything, it would've only led to more misunderstandings. But not now. Everyone… must be ready to accept you now."

Wonderstein also thought her words were right.

"Alright… When Ella wakes up, let's gather everyone and tell them."

At his words, Yurakne smiled brightly.

"That's a good idea."

At that moment, shouts were heard from outside.

Jobel cried out with tears or a trembling voice.

"Assistant Director has woken up!"

The eyes of the two met.

Their eyes were filled with joy and worry at the same time.

***

The tip of the scythe attached to the Reaper's scythe pierced through flesh.

Blood splattered on Wonderstein's face.

It was an attack he could have easily avoided.

He had been watching it coming out of the space since the scythe pierced through.

But he hesitated due to a sudden message that popped up.

[Ella's favorability has increased by 8. As a reward for reaching favorability 30, <Inspira: Hat Magic> is provided to Ella. Current favorability: 36 (Next reward: favorability 50)]

Ella's favorability level surpassed the second barrier.

It would have been good news under normal circumstances, but a few seconds of hesitation in a desperate situation were significant.

"Dodge!"

Before Ella could shout, he threw himself to the side.

However, the Reaper's curse of frost was faster.

His body stuck to the ground because of the ice.

It was a superficial ice.

No matter how injured he was, he could break it with enough force.

But he didn't have the luxury to do that right now, with the scythe about to pierce through.

There was no time.

Squish.

The black blade tore through flesh.

"Ugh… Kuh…"

It felt like it pierced through his lungs.

Moans mixed with the sound of the wind escaping.

Wonderstein muttered the name of the person who blocked the attack for him, the one who took the Reaper's scythe in his place.

"Ella…?"

A familiar crimson uniform blocked his view.

The black blade protruding from her small back was visible.

She burst into hollow laughter as she looked at what pierced her chest.

"Ha…ha…haha... It, it hurts a lot… Did you feel the same…?"

As the gate closed completely, the reaper's scythe disappeared with it.

Blood poured out onto the floor through the gap in her opened chest.

"Ah..."

Wonderstein staggered and caught her falling body.

She leaned against his chest, trembling, her unfocused eyes staring into the distance as her chin quivered.

"This… feels strange…"

Notifications of the completion of the quest by defeating the reaper popped up one after another.

A reward of debulroots came in, but it couldn't heal Ella.

She was immune to debulroots.

He frantically checked his status window for anything, but the Dressing Room, Sound Room, and skill book were all useless in this situation.

"Ella… Why… Why is this happening…?"

At his words, Ella weakly smiled with trembling lips.

"I-I don't know… I, I just couldn't stand by… watching you bleed and tremble…"

He felt an overwhelming sense of regret.

He should have just stopped her.

He could have healed himself with the debulroots he received as a reward for defeating the reaper…

Even if he got stabbed, he would have lost only a few basic stats and that would have been it…

"I'm sorry… There's nothing I can do for you."

As if expecting his words, Ella nodded her head.

"I, I thought so… Even your body now… in that condition… It's… It's okay to die… We've been through so much together… Many times, I've doubted… but now…"

"Ella!"

"Assistant Director!"

Members rushed over from afar.

But there was nothing they could do.

Ella's lifeless face indicated that her life was slipping away.

The reaper's scythe had pierced her heart.

It wasn't a wound that could be healed with bandages, ointments, or recovery potions.

"But to lose happy memories… It's a bit regrettable… Th-the effort put into these past few months… It feels… empty…"

She echoed Wonderstein's words from earlier.

Then, suddenly, she took short, gasping breaths in succession.

Her lips quivered as if trying to smile but failing.

"K-k… Shall I tell you something funny…? A… A considerable number of the regrettable memories… have been from the past few months…? Um, e-exactly after meeting Vergsong…?"

Wonderstein closed his eyes tightly at her words.

She…

"It's strange…? I… despised you so much…"

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I-I guess… I don't want to admit it… but… d-during the time with you… I… I guess… I was happy…"

Her eyes closed.

Wonderstein heard the members sobbing behind him.

He intended to move her, thinking that the members should also be given the opportunity to bid her farewell.

At that moment, someone's hand pressed on his shoulder.

"Stay calm. She's alive. She's just asleep."

"…What?"

The one blocking him was none other than Bayern.

He showed his palm and said, "When she was stabbed, I used the Power of Reversal."

"Ah…!"

The members gasped at his words.

They had seen him fight.

Reversing gravity, turning water into fire, deflecting incoming attacks…

Although they couldn't understand the principle, they could roughly grasp the contents from the name "Power of Reversal" and the fact that it reversed the situation.

After hearing the explanation, Wonderstein realized that it was because of his power that the reaper initially couldn't lift the scythe.

Come to think of it, the girl with closed eyes wasn't dead. She was just sleeping peacefully, breathing softly.

And it was also her first time shedding blood.

It was only a few drops that fell, which had accumulated since the moment she was stabbed.

He smiled faintly and said, "So… is Ella okay? Did something… change about her?"

Bayern shook his head with a dubious expression.

"I don't know. Normally, my power of reversal doesn't last long. It's impossible to change someone else's essence with it."

He said so and covered her wound.

"But this time, the power of reversal was applied when the reaper's scythe hit. So the situation becomes a bit complicated."

The reaper's scythe absorbs 'happy memories' from the person it hits.

Bayern answered that he didn't know if it was reversed to absorb 'unhappy memories,' or if it was reversed to plant 'happy memories,' or if it was reversed to 'nothing happens at all,' or if the ability didn't reverse at all.

"I couldn't properly set the criteria because I used my power desperately. So, I'm not sure. But it's certain that physical impacts turned into 'nothing.' However, mentally… we'll have to wait and see."

Bayern left, leaving behind the possibility that the awakened Ella might not remember anything.

It was quite a helpless attitude, but they couldn't detain him as he had a long way to go.

It was grateful enough that he had saved Ella's life.

Moreover, he was the leader of the Black Magician Search Party.

Wonderstein, who thought there was no point in staying together, hastily accepted Ivanenko's suggestion to leave the territory.

Wonderstein prayed earnestly that it had been reversed to 'nothing happens at all.'