The Freak Show Foreman

A finalist in the inaugural Circus Grand Prix.

One of the industry veterans who has led a circus troupe for over 20 years.

The mentor of Magician Maya.

However, despite such grandiose background, his role in the game was quite insignificant.

He did not join the party even after being rescued.

Instead, he sat at the camp and played the memory disks provided by the players.

He recorded event disks and played them back when the players desired.

Similar to a "gallery" in other games.

While the profession of a illusion magician suited him well, it was quite uninspiring from the player’s perspective.

With the title of a mentor to one of the three heroes, there were high expectations, but all he did was play videos at the camp.

Thanks to that, he acquired an inglorious nickname, such as a clandestine videographer or DVD rental shop owner.

But that was only his role in the game.

Here, he exhibited the charisma of a circus troupe leader.

He carefully examined the illusions in front of him one by one and responded accordingly to their levels.

He simply passed by poorly crafted illusions that were not worth dealing with.

For slightly inadequate illusions, he offered some comments and then left.

In front of well-made illusions, he requested variations or movements from the magician.

Usually, these were complex movements that the entity could perform.

And if they executed it excellently, he handed them an invitation.

And finally, it was Maya’s turn.

I heard her tense breathing through her mask and realized that she was nervous.

But there was no need to worry.

Maya’s illusions were more intricate and lifelike than anyone else’s in the tent.

Even the invitations received by the previous guests were inferior to Maya’s later on.

I knew the future.

Her joining the Veil Circus was a predetermined history. There was no way she could fail.

"Hmm."

Arno, standing in front of Maya, touched his chin and looked down at the illusions she had created.

A cat, a windmill, a carriage, a swing.

All of them were flawless illusions that anyone could admire.

His evaluation was no different.

"It’s perfect."

"Thank you."

As soon as the word "perfect" was uttered for the first time, everyone’s attention was focused on Maya.

Just a few days ago, she could barely create childlike doodles with her illusions.

But it was hard for everyone to believe how much she had progressed in just a few days.

An incredible level of completion.

She’s really got it. She’s a genius.

From her appearance to her mind, life is really unfair.

Among the buzzing crowd, envious and admiring glances exchanged.

"Then."

When Arno opened his mouth, the people quickly fell silent again.

He pointed to the cat with his finger.

"Try getting it to stand on its hind legs and dance."

He made an absurd request that didn’t match his grave tone at all.

While he demanded more precise and delicate movements from other people’s illusions...

What could be the meaning of this action for the illusions magicians?

Looking around, it seemed that no one knew.

Except for one person.

Excluding Maya.

She clenched and unclenched her hand tightly.

It was clear that she was nervous.

"Dance? What kind of dance...?"

"Any dance. Even a simple one will do. Just any dance that this cat wouldn’t normally do."

A dance that this cat wouldn’t normally do?

His words held weight.

Maya took a deep breath and reached out towards her illusion.

Light streamed from her hand, and the cat reacted.

It stood up on its hind legs.

But... its form...

It wasn’t what people had expected.

It was grotesque.

Twisting.

Turning.

The cat’s body rose at an accelerating pace, its waist bending backward. Its neck elongated like a snake, and its head dragged along the ground. Its eyeballs protruded through the surrounding skin, and its tongue darted in all directions. Its tail repeatedly pierced through its body, and its raised hind legs collapsed like a house of cards.

The interior fell silent as if someone had poured cold water.

The illusion of the cat, so cruelly transformed, seemed like an error, a tragic mistake.

"Ah."

Her hand was now shaking noticeably enough for others to see.

Sweat trickled down the back of her neck.

For her, it was an emotion akin to the ’screams’ of others.

Why had this happened?

The master of illusion magic had the answer.

"Your illusion was perfect, overly so. It was just an automaton that repeated the input of predefined colours, shapes, and actions. Us illusion magicians are puppeteers manipulating illusions like puppets. You’re nothing more than a memory disk."

A memory disk.

He defined Maya as such.

The collapse of the cat’s illusions was the result of that.

She hadn’t prepared any movements for it to stand on two legs.

"Your talent is commendable, making dozens of light particles follow predefined rules to dance in unison. That’s your illusion. It was splendid in deceiving from that perspective. But that’s as far as it goes. Without understanding the mysteries of illusion, you cannot become a illusion magician."

With those words, Arno turned away and left.

Maya sat there quietly, staring at the illusion she had created.

The illusion of the dead cat, still twitching its limbs.

***

The cat she had been raising died.

It was an accident.

Its head was struck fatally when a landslide occurred, instantly ending its life.

Its skull was crushed, limbs twisted unnaturally, and its internal organs spilled out.

Maya observed the cat’s condition in a daze and came to a conclusion.

Ah, it’s dead.

Then she returned home and continued with her daily life as usual.

Not long after, people started asking.

"Where’s the cat?"

Maya honestly answered.

The cat died.

And then people asked.

What about the body?

The body?

Was that really important?

It was now just decaying organic matter.

Was it so bewildering to leave it be?

Of course, through continued teaching, Maya eventually grew accustomed to how people viewed the world.

Ah, so that’s how people think.

I see the world differently from them.

She no longer made the same mistake.

But deep down, she still didn’t agree with the way they looked at the world.

Since that day, people worried that she might engage in some devilish behavior.

That was a misunderstanding.

Maya was not a monster or a demon.

She was just like everyone else.

She cherished family, felt gratitude for love, and knew how to be angry at injustice.

She just didn’t express it on her face.

Her perspective on the world was different from others.

A person without a heart can never become a illusion magician.

"You can’t become a illusion magician"

They blurted out as they pleased,

I have a heart too,

I’m just different from you.

But they couldn’t understand her,

They just kept repeating the same words,

Feel the prize,

Embrace the mystery.

She, who saw beings as a collection of information,

Could never understand the world of mystery that existed between the concepts and reality people spoke of.

It saddened her.

Because that meant she could never understand the world her mother saw.

It meant she couldn’t unlock the video her mother had left behind.

In the space where all senses were blocked, she pondered deeply.

This was her meditation space to experience the mystery.

While others encountered their past, dreams, and aspirations here, she only faced an empty space.

She was alone in a world no one could understand.

Opaque.

A sound invaded her meditation space.

She raised her head.

Her auditory and visual senses partially returned.

In front of her stood a blond man in a black suit and a black cape.

The man she had found some comfort in for the past few days.

Wonderstein.

"Go away," Maya said with an indifferent tone.

But instead of answering, he extended a handkerchief.

Did he even know how to console someone or anything like that when he was sitting like this?

"I don’t need it. I didn’t cry."

"Your hair is wet."

Hair?

The meditation space dissolved.

The world turned white, then gradually regained its original colour.

All her senses returned.

Swoosh.

It was raining.

The place where she had been sitting was the backyard of the inn she had found.

Oh, right. She had returned.

Sometimes, she got confused about her short-term memories while in her meditation space.

She had been harshly criticized by Veil Arno, and she had left the theatre and returned to her lodgings.

Instead of going to her room, she had sat in the backyard, lost in thought.

And naturally, she had entered her meditation space.

She hadn’t even realized it was raining.

"How did you come here?"

"I followed you."

He confidently stated, without a hint of embarrassment.

In fact, he seemed to be smiling broadly.

Indeed, he was a strange man.

"You don’t need to comfort me."

"I didn’t come to comfort you. I was just curious. What are you going to do next?"

Again, he was being intrusive.

This man really seemed to have nothing better to do.

Maya shook her head.

"I don’t have an obligation to answer."

Even to her cold response, Wonderstein’s smile didn’t disappear.

Ah, right. He was this kind of person.

He asked another question.

"Are you going to give up on entering the Spirit Veil?"

Again, Maya hesitated to say that she didn’t have to answer.

It was too exhausting to engage in parallel conversations.

"...No. I still have a few days left. I have to try harder."

"Is that so? Using the same method?"

He asked with a mocking smile.

Maya clenched her fists.

Her pale white palms became even paler.

It was sickening.

Such advice,

From humans who couldn’t understand her, didn’t have the capacity to understand her, and didn’t have the will to understand her.

Prize, heart, mystery, meditation.

She wanted to throw it all away.

"Maya, I’ll help you in a way you can do well."

She scoffed inwardly at his words.

A way she could do well?

What did he know about me?

We’ve only had a few days of conversation.

No one could understand her.

No one had ever seen the world as she saw it.

But maybe because she had broken down once before.

With a self-deprecating feeling, she asked, "How are you going to do that?"