3. Deputy Leader Ella (4)
3. Deputy Leader Ella (4)
Ella opened her eyes.
A luxurious private cabin.
She'd only been here a few days, but the room already felt familiar.
Honestly, this place felt more like home than the wagon she'd spent half a year riding in.
Cozy, soft, warm.
The only shame was having to leave tomorrow.
Jjiksun would find his way back on his own.
The little guy was sharp.
She took off her hat.
Time for more Inspira practice.
Gudol's turn this time.
Inside the hat, a white dove lay nestled in slumber.
"Gudol, wake up. Let's go for a flight."
He blinked at her a few times, then pecked lightly at the back of her hand and gave her a look.
The look said, Why are you bothering me while I'm sleeping?
He didn't refuse the walk, though.
He roused himself from the hat, hopped out, spread his wings, and launched himself out the window.
The dove shot backward and vanished in an instant, as if the ship had flung him away.
The ship kept churning forward, passenger or no passenger.
Ella waited with composure.
Soon enough, white wings appeared in the night sky, gliding across the moonlight.
Though it was night, the ship's running lights blazed around the hull, so she could see Gudol's flight clearly.
What would the night view look like from up there?
She closed her eyes and called Gudol's name three times in her mind.
Inspira activated.
Her vision flared bright. She could see what the dove saw, hear what the dove heard.
Ah!
Gudol wobbled in midair at her sudden gasp. She'd done this several times over the past few days, but apparently, having a voice suddenly ring inside your head wasn't something you got used to.
Ella soothed him — it's okay, calm down — then drank in the view from the sky.
The moon and stars blazing against the pitch-black sky.
The ship's electric lamps flooding the water with light.
The river's surface reflecting it all back like black canvas.
Where did the sky end and the river begin? Impossible to tell. Even if Gudol flipped upside down and flew inverted, she wouldn't notice the difference.
This was much better.
Sitting in the corner of the engine room listening to that racket — that had not been good.
She could only share sight and sound; she couldn't feel the wind against the wings. Still, it was more than enough.
The tightness in her chest unraveled.
That was when a glint of gold caught the corner of her eye.
Gudol must have noticed it too — he turned his head.
Oh, damn it.
Ella recognized the source and nearly shrieked before choking it down. Gudol might startle again. The object of her admiration was the hair of the one human being she loathed most in the world.
Frank Wonderstein.
He was leaning by the window, drinking tea.
The wind scattered his golden hair.
Ella fought to steady herself.
She knew from the past few days: when she let herself drown in hatred, the Inspira left her.
She'd finally started to feel that clean, open sensation from watching the nightscape. The last thing she wanted was to get shoved back into a corner, stewing in defeat and sighing to herself.
Stay calm.
Calm...
But the more she repeated it, the hotter her blood ran.
Was this really okay?
To hold onto this meager little skill, she had to swallow her hatred for that devil of a man?
Regret and self-reproach swelled.
Fzz—
Her vision plunged into blackness, then snapped back to the sky.
She'd just been yanked back to the room where her body lay. Only for an instant, but the Inspira link had broken.
Fine. I'll just look away. I came out here to clear my head — no point in staring at filth and forcing myself to choke it down.
'Gudol, fly forward. Get him out of my sight.'
Coo?
But Gudol only cocked his head and stayed put.
Fzz—
Her vision blacked out and returned again.
The Inspira was weakening.
'I said fly forward! That's an order!'
Gurrr-coo.
Gudol made a disgruntled noise and obeyed.
If Ella had been just a little calmer, she might have caught the warning in that cry. But the fear that the Inspira might vanish at any moment made her reckless. She didn't properly register what Gudol was trying to say.
Fwoosh—
The moment he flew where Ella directed, the dove slammed into a sudden gust.
The very thing his bird's instincts had sensed and tried to avoid.
The headwind churned up by the ship's forward momentum.
He'd flown straight into it.
'Aah!'
Ella reflexively threw herself forward.
She'd felt herself shunted backward, and this was an instinctive counter — like bracing against recoil.
The problem was...
In that instant, the Inspira link severed...
and Ella's real body was right in front of the window.
Ella pitched herself out the window.
"Ah."
Her body plummeting toward the river.
She should have screamed. But her throat locked, and no sound came out.
Black water swallowed her vision.
Splash.
A sizable splash — the kind a falling person makes.
Under normal circumstances, the watch on deck would have heard it. Except, of course,
Bwoong—
they were sounding the horn to signal another ship coming from the opposite direction. The splash was buried.
No one aboard knew she had fallen.
Except one person.
['Member Quest — Save Me!' has been activated.]
Wonderstein received the quest alert, read the contents, and went rigid.
Ella fell into the river?
What in the—?
A quest message, out of nowhere.
Wonderstein sent a request to the Evolution Lab for what he needed right then. Midnight had just passed, and the Devoluts based on Average Affection level and Fame had come in.
Thirty whole Devoluts vanished in a single moment.
He felt webbing sprout between his fingers and toes, gills opening along the sides of his neck.
This version of Wonderstein, huh.
I'd seen it once in the game.
He kicked off his shoes and jumped out the window.
The cold, dark river swallowed him.
Bwoo— bwoong—
Fortunately, their ship had slowed for the oncoming vessel.
Ella wasn't far.
A white dove was circling a spot, crying piteously.
Figures. I don't know how to swim.
Do I just flail my arms and legs?
At least the gills meant I could breathe even after swallowing water. The problem was that Ella didn't have that ability.
Wonderstein swam toward her as fast as he could.
***
A small village near the Nevada Wasteland: Alamo.
Originally, it was a nothing town where merchants crossing the desert stopped to quench their thirst.
Fifteen years ago, a retired old acrobat founded a circus school, and it turned into a reasonably lively place.
The school's operator, known to everyone as "Master," had a face badly ruined in an accident and always wore a mask.
But his skill was so exceptional that even townspeople who'd never seen a proper circus in their lives could tell he was extraordinary.
He took in children who had nowhere else to go and taught them his craft.
"Strength Show-off presented by us three strongmen! Starting in five minutes!"
"Allow me a brief demonstration! Hup!"
A boy with a shaved head seized what looked like a solid rock and smashed it directly against his forehead.
The watching merchants let out a collective gasp, then saw the rock split clean in half and erupted into awed murmurs.
The boy held up the pieces, raising both arms high.
"Come see our show!"
"You won't regret it!"
"We'll tear a mountain out of the ground and throw it for you!"
Spirit alone, these boys looked ready to flip the whole world over.
The merchants, deeply impressed by the showmanship, applauded.
"Not bad for kids."
"Hey, that's decent. Maybe we should watch before we go."
"I saw the tightrope kids earlier this morning — they were incredible too."
"I'm off to watch the ones rolling the barrels."
The circus school children performed for the travelers who passed through town.
What the school provided was a place to sleep, two meals — breakfast and dinner — and space to practice acrobatics. That was all.
Everything else they had to earn themselves with the skills they'd honed.
Thanks to the Master's staggering versatility, each student could pick a discipline suited to their aptitude.
Strength Show-off.
Ground acrobatics.
Tightrope walking.
Taming.
Shooting tricks.
The five foundational circus disciplines, commonly called the "Traditional Five Acts."
The Master was proficient in all of them, but circumstances made some things difficult to teach here.
Taming, specifically.
For every other discipline, the Master could pick up a hammer and nails, knock together some training equipment, and make it work. Taming was different.
Elephants, lions, horses —
the large animals commonly used in circuses cost staggering sums just to feed.
They could barely keep the children they already had fed; there was no money to feed animals too.
So no child here had ever taken taming as their primary discipline.
Except for one...
"Beast Tamer Ella's animal show begins in three minutes!"
The girl's spirited voice turned the heads of passing travelers.
Then they saw the two animals in front of her, their faces went slack, and they kept walking.
—A pigeon and a mouse...
—At least bring a hawk or something...
A few asked if she had any other animals. Every time, the girl answered that these two were all she had.
"Ella. Looks like another bust today."
"Skipping lunch again? Hee hee."
"That's why you're not growing, runt Ella."
Friends passed by, needling her as they went.
Ella glared at them, sulking.
"If you're not gonna help, get lost."
"Tch, she's decent at the other stuff too — I don't get why she keeps clinging to taming."
The children clicked their tongues and moved on.
Ella plopped onto the ground, looking thoroughly cross.
She wasn't blind to reality. Even she wouldn't pass up the other circuses around her to watch an animal show featuring one mouse and one pigeon.
Should I really switch to a different discipline?
But taming is what I want to do.
If only some rich circus troupe would come headhunt me.
As she sat staring vacantly at the ground and sighing, a voice addressed her.
"The three minutes are up."
Huh?
Ella raised her head.
A tall gentleman stood before her.
A black suit that didn't suit the midsummer Nevada heat.
A handsome face, skin pale as snow, dazzling blond hair.
He was a man who naturally commanded attention.
He smiled at Ella.
"The animal show. Are you not going to perform?"
"Uh... I-I was just about to..."
Ella scrambled to her feet and straightened her clothes.
After a polite greeting, she began the show she'd prepared.
What she presented was a series of routines that made clever use of the pigeon's and the mouse's respective traits.
It lacked flash, but it was paced well, with well-timed beats and pauses. Once you started watching, you'd stay absorbed without getting bored.
She'd rewritten the script night after night, training with the animals over and over. Expectation, satisfaction, surprise — the three key points of a performance were all woven in tightly.
"And with that, the show concludes!"
Ella, Gudol, and Jjiksun bowed in unison as if they were a single body.
The man applauded, exclaiming with what sounded like genuine admiration.
"That was truly splendid. Did you prepare all of this by yourself?"
"Um, yes... heh heh."
The first praise she'd ever received from an audience member.
The Master and her friends, who could see through the script, the acting, and the structure, recognized her effort. But the audiences — who only knew how to enjoy spectacle and sensation — routinely dismissed her show as trivial.
Yet this man, whom she'd never seen before, had acknowledged her work.
He clearly had an eye for the circus.
"Are you in the circus business yourself, sir?"
At Ella's question, the man gave a soft smile.
"Heh, I'm a magician, currently preparing to assemble a circus troupe."
"A magician..."
Of course. He was in the trade.
"What's your name?"
"I'm called Frank Wonderstein. Ah, no need to rack your brain trying to place it. I've built no particular fame."
Ella nodded.
Right then, her stomach let out a loud growl.
Ella turned away, embarrassed for no good reason.
Wonderstein burst out laughing at the sight.
"Ha ha, well, since it's come to this — how about we share a meal? My treat."
"...What? No, I — the Master always said if you're going to live as a performer, never let anyone buy your meals..."
"Heh, a fine Master you have. But this isn't charity. I did just watch your performance, didn't I, Miss Ella? I owe you a ticket price."
Wonderstein's generosity matched his smile.
He took Ella to the best restaurant in Alamo.
They had lunch together and talked about this and that.
Ella did most of the talking. She told him how she'd ended up at the circus school, how she'd grown up, and Wonderstein chimed in with affirmations and listened to her stories.
After the meal, they took a walk, then stopped at a café for cold drinks.
It was the first time Ella had spent time like this with an adult man other than the Master.
A sense of ease settled over her.
It felt like family — but different from her friends at the circus school.
Before she knew it, time had slipped by and the sun was slipping past the mountains.
Time for Wonderstein to leave.
"You want me to join your circus troupe?"
A proposal he'd offered just before departing.
Ella wasn't that surprised — she'd vaguely sensed what he wanted from her over the course of their conversations.
"Yes. If you would join me, Miss Ella, I think you'd be a tremendous help."
"B-but I'm just a nobody trainer..."
"Heh, that suits me fine. I'm just a nobody magician myself. And my circus troupe currently has exactly one member — me."
By the time they'd gotten this far, Ella had more or less made up her mind.
Otherwise she wouldn't have kept following him around deep into the afternoon.
Frank Wonderstein.
Kind, trustworthy, and a man who knew the circus.
He was someone she could believe in.
"But the Master might oppose it. He's always tried to get us into troupes that are at least second-tier or higher. A brand-new circus troupe, he might not..."
At her words, Wonderstein's eyes glinted sharp.
Was it just a trick of the twilight?
He wore the same steady smile as he spoke.
"Don't worry. I'm confident I can persuade him. If he and I have a conversation, just the two of us... I think the Master will come around."
Wonderstein offered his hand.
Ella clasped it with both of hers and shook firmly.
"Then I'll go take care of my business. I'll see you in a few weeks, Miss Ella."
"Yes. Mr. Wonderstein — no, Troupe Leader! Take care! You have to come back! Promise!"
Ella saw him off with a bright smile.
Wonderstein kept his word.
A few weeks later, he returned to Alamo. He also resolved the issue of persuading the Master.
In an utterly horrific way.