12. Rekachev Circus School Trial (22)

"Reina Magier of the Golden Carnival, revived!"

The moment Simon heard of Reina's elimination, he spent thirty coins to bring her back. Her partner had been eliminated alongside her, which wasn't ideal, but the result was acceptable. At least she hadn't disgraced herself the way she had during the entrance exam.

He ordered her to hunt down the revived Monster Circus member once more. There was another member named Sven in the pool area, but it was better to target the sluggish mage than to try chasing a fleet-footed skeleton while soaking wet.

Thanks to their rehearsals for The Five Acrobats, he knew Maya well. Her spatial awareness was extraordinary, but physically she was just an ordinary girl.

She would most likely hole up in a safe zone and refuse to budge—a turtle strategy. But if Reina went after her in earnest, knocking her out would be simple.

When his staff in the stands reported that Reina had begun moving toward Arena 7, where Maya was, he grinned. Now he could finish his revenge against Wonderstein.

What Simon didn't know was that Wonderstein and Reina had a secret means of communicating during the match.

Ella's sharp advice: call your father.

By "father," she meant Simon, of course, but Reina took it to mean Wonderstein. And in that instant, the fog in her mind cleared.

-So that's what it was?

-Yes. I believed that if I couldn't defeat Ella, you wouldn't accept me, Troupe Leader...

-I understand the circumstances.

Wonderstein nodded sympathetically.

So the man had filled his daughter's mind with doubt and fear, twisting her thinking in precisely the wrong direction. Exactly the sort of trick Lord Fantastic would pull.

Now Wonderstein understood why Reina had kept her distance from them for the past week. He'd assumed she was simply focusing ruthlessly on the competition, but that wasn't it at all.

He felt a visceral loathing for Simon. The man could plant suggestions powerful enough to control her actions because he'd spent years brainwashing her to the point of abuse.

He'd seen what became of Reina in the games—the version of her whose mind had been completely shredded. Simon had worked a girl who was already mentally fragile so hard over two years that she'd had a nervous breakdown.

He'd known that future was coming, but watching it unfold step by step still made his stomach turn.

-Right now, I'm heading toward Maya... on my father's orders.

-Is that so?

-What should I do?

Under normal circumstances, he would have told her to do whatever she wanted. But he knew her current state too well to say that so lightly. She was still trapped in Simon's grip. She'd even declared her intention to leave his troupe, and yet she'd still ended up dancing to his tune. If he told her to act freely now, she would just be drawn back in by Simon's light, one way or another.

Wonderstein let out a small sigh.

She was asking a question, but her heart wasn't in the question. She was begging him to become the new "father" who would guide her.

Had things been destined to turn out this way from the start?

To be honest, making an enemy of someone like Simon could make things troublesome going forward. As this exam made clear, if a troupe of the Golden Carnival's caliber deliberately targeted them, earning stars would become an ordeal.

If he thought only in terms of quests, minimizing conflict with the man was the correct play.

But Wonderstein's feelings moved independently of that calculation. His mouth spoke before his head could tabulate the costs.

-I'd like you to become friends. With Miss Maya.

-Wh-what... do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you mean?

-She's going to be a colleague you'll share every meal with from now on.

Reina's mouth snapped shut. It took her a few seconds to grasp the meaning behind his words.

She barely managed to suppress the quiver of excitement that ran through her body.

He'd accepted her. She wanted to scream with joy, but there was still the matter of what she'd done wrong.

-We'll discuss this in detail after the match.

-...All right. But I'll keep heading toward Arena 7 for now.

-Why?

-If I don't go, my father might send someone else as an assassin. I'll go and buy time. The others don't know about the deal between my father and me. If they hold out just a little longer, the other members will find the treasure chest and open it. Then our team will have to withdraw, according to the rules.

-I see. Understood. Please do that.

Reina hesitated for a moment, then added,

-Please tell the old man something for me. I didn't mean to swing that hard... I think I got carried away trying to look strong in front of Ella.

-Don't dwell on it. I'll explain the situation to the members. They'll understand.

-Th-thank you, Da—, ah, no... I mean... Tr-Troupe Leader...

Reina hurriedly severed the connection. The moment she'd nearly called him "Dad," the memory of last week had surfaced.

Even now, she could still feel the lingering touch of his tongue and his scent in every corner of her body.

Once she joined the troupe, would he keep washing her like that?

Her face flushed hot. She shook her head vigorously.

That was just a one-time accident because the Troupe Leader had injured his arms and legs. Once he's healed... he'll use his hands, not his tongue... all over my body... every part... every crevice... even there...

The moment the Wonderstein in her imagination roughly kneaded her body in the bath—

Thud.

She fell.

"Oh! Contestant Reina has slipped in a mud puddle in the garden! Could this be the aftereffects of her recent duel? She's not getting up!"

What am I even thinking?

Reina decided to keep her head buried in the mud until her mind cooled off.

***

"Heh heh, will she be all right? Miss Reina, I mean."

Sven had watched her bolt upright and sprint out of the arena. She hadn't seemed in her right mind. For all he knew, she'd received fresh orders from the stands and was off to hunt Maya again.

Ella waved a dismissive hand.

"Eh, the boss will handle it."

She'd contacted him and asked him to deal with Reina. He'd probably soothe her feelings.

But imagining Reina talking and laughing with him made something in her stomach twist. The image of Reina in his arms at the confectionery factory, kissing his cheek, flashed through her mind unbidden.

Ella hastily changed the subject before any uncharitable thoughts about Reina could take root.

"Oh, right. Finish what you were saying earlier. Why'd you revive Maya instead of old man Gaston?"

"Ah, that. Well..."

Sven recounted what Clara had told him about what happened in Arena 3.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠assault on the bamboo forest in the Central Garden had accelerated rapidly after Ella left to pursue Reina. The other contestants had studied the path she'd taken, and it hadn't taken them long to reach the fifth tier.

"But there should've been a sixth and seventh tier."

"The other teams searched for routes centered on where Mister Gaston was standing."

Ella clicked her tongue.

"They figured out he'd been feeding me directions from below, huh?"

At her accusation, Sven's smile turned awkward.

"Heh heh, well, you see... They say Mister Gaston couldn't even climb to the first tier before a swinging branch knocked him out, and the crowd started jeering at him. So Mister Gaston apparently got angry and started shouting at the top of his lungs that Miss ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ella had only managed to climb the bamboo because he'd told her everything from down below. So the other teams traced his position and explored wherever his line of sight would reach. It let them narrow the options down significantly. Anyway, that's how they broke through the sixth and seventh tiers and entered the dense thicket at the top, and there they found the chest. Right now, there's a fight going on between the teams trying to hold it and the teams trying to snatch it."

Ella frowned. In the end, they'd done nothing but fatten someone else's catch.

"Got it. So that's why you revived Maya instead. Old man's pretty much useless now."

Just then, the announcer's booming voice rang out from beyond the arena, coming from the direction of the Central Garden.

"It's open! Yes, it's open! The chest has been opened one hour and two minutes into the match! The trophy is in the hands of... Meren of the Desmos Circus! Meren, also known as Meren of Silence! She has claimed the first trophy! This is the fastest time in the history of the competition!"

Sven shrugged as if to say, See?

A moment later, they could see Meren and the other Desmos Circus members sprinting along the track at the edge of the school grounds, trophy in hand.

Ella smacked her lips but wasn't too disappointed. The bamboo forest was always a section where latecomers could easily follow the trail blazed by whoever went first. Even if she'd found the chest earlier, without a hundred coins to spend, they'd have had a hard time defending it against the acrobats from other teams who'd swarm them once word got out. She was the only real combat asset among them.

If she'd found the chest, she would've pretended not to and left immediately for another arena.

Not climbing the bamboo in the first place would, of course, have been the best option. If she were being honest, the fault lay mostly with her—she'd gotten carried away by the roar of the crowd, forgotten how early it was in the match, and leaped straight up.

At the time she'd been preening, thinking, Now this is a circus. Losing the actual contest felt a lot less pleasant.

Winning was the fun part, whichever way you sliced it.

Still, Ella had no intention of belittling the winners. The fact that the Desmos Circus had gathered a hundred coins in an hour meant it wasn't just luck—they had real skill. It meant they'd placed second or third in most of the Mini Games.

Not long after the Desmos Circus's search team departed for the auditorium, the Monster Circus's auditorium team gathered another thirty coins, and Ella was able to leave the elimination zone.

"Ella of the Monster Circus, revived!"

The remaining time was one hour and fifty minutes. For the auditorium team to gather another hundred coins to open a treasure chest would take roughly an hour and a half.

The odds that a chest would still be available by then were about fifty-fifty. That was because the "Sudden Death" rule would activate one hour before the competition's end. Under that rule, every five minutes, all arenas that lacked a treasure chest were covered in black tiles.

In other words, the organizers themselves would narrow down which arenas still held chests through a process of elimination. In every exam to date, the final treasure chest had always been found during ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sudden Death Time. So hope wasn't lost yet. But twenty minutes before the end of the match, eight whole arenas would have been eliminated, which meant that for a chest to survive that long, luck would have to be on their side.

"Well, I'm off."

Ella finished her preparations and stood. Sven spread his arms toward her with a grin.

"Heh heh, next time we meet, you'll have a trophy in your hands, right?"

"Of course!"

Ella shot him a confident smile, stuck out her thumb, and strode out of the pool area.