Chapter 142: A Little Preparation… Before Entering~

“L-Lady?”

Amisa took a confused step back…

This was a rather dim alley. Aside from the Lady standing before her, only silent mist remained all around.

“Don’t move~” Ileya said as she spoke, reaching into the side pouch at her waist and drawing a dagger inlaid with gold and blue gems.

Huh? Though bewildered, Amisa obediently stood where she was.

And, out of habit, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Could it be… the Lady plans to stab me with this dagger? The sharp blade cutting into my skin… piercing into my body…

Ah… ahahahahaha…

Just imagining it made Amisa’s body begin to tremble slightly. Her breathing grew heavy! Even her face flushed with an abnormal rosy glow!

“Um… are you feeling unwell?” Ileya looked at the girl before her, who had for some reason started trembling and gasping… and for a moment, she truly couldn’t understand.

“No, no! I… feel wonderful… But, if the Lady could use a heavier hand next time… I… I might enjoy it even more♡.”

Amisa spoke with ragged breaths, her pupils now pale pink hearts… staring straight at the sharp dagger in Ileya’s hand.

She unconsciously licked her dry lips.

“Huh…?”

Though… every word made sense, when put together, the meaning was truly hard to grasp.

But… never mind. Amisa gets like this sometimes, I should be used to it by now.

Thinking thus, she picked up the dagger and, without hesitation, drew it across the index finger of her left hand!

Ah!

A cold flash, and at once, dark red liquid began to gush out!

“Um..? Lady!?”

Amisa froze on the spot, but in the next instant…

“Mm!?”

Ileya pressed her own bleeding finger into Amisa’s slightly open mouth.

“Suck~” the Lady ordered.

Eh? This time, it was Amisa’s turn to be baffled…

Could it be… the Lady has also come to understand that… pleasure?

But… but no matter what, since the Lady asks, I’ll just…

“Mm.”

“Ah~ Master, the carriage is parked and… huh?!” Holly had just turned the corner, but upon seeing the scene before her, she suddenly froze!

Tap tap! She quickly hid behind the corner of the wall.

Confused, she looked up at the sky, and after a few seconds… she poked her head out again, peering into the alley.

She saw… Master was cradling the Lady’s left hand in both her own…

And… and sucking on the Lady’s finger?!

What is going on?!

The Holy Sword Bearer’s cheeks flushed slightly. She slowly leaned back against the wall, heart pounding as she tried to process what she’d just seen.

She had followed the Lady from Stream Town…

Er… a little too early.

She and Senior Reliel had just parked the carriage and settled Mr. Dum’s family.

Then she’d come to find Master and the Lady…

And then… and then saw Master… Master sucking on the Lady’s…

No! I have to… take another look!

She slowly turned her body and poked her head out from behind the corner, just a little…

Huff!

“Mm?!”

But at that moment, a figure cloaked in brown, whose maid outfit peeked from under the robe, brushed right past Holly.

“Uh… Master?”

Holly called out instinctively, but Amisa paid her no mind, striding down the alley to the other side.

And in the depths of the alley, only the Lady’s lone figure remained.

“Hmm? Holly… is everything arranged?”

“Ah? Oh… Lady, the carriage and everyone else are all set! Um… Master, she…”

The Holy Sword Bearer pointed uncertainly down the alley.

“Your Master has things of her own to take care of~”

Ileya said with a smile, and once more took out a golden Pocket Watch from her waist pouch.

The time was…

7:31

“It’s about time. Let’s go~”

“Ah… yes.” Holly nodded, still dazed, and followed behind the Lady, leaving the gloomy alley.

Beep beep beep ~ da-da-da ~

Ordinary Circuses should be set up on the city outskirts, in the suburbs or on a rented plot of open ground.

But this Golden Sun Circus was set up right in the town center.

Outside the huge tent striped in red, yellow, and white, two clowns bounced around at the entrance, each holding a bunch of balloons.

Now and then they pinched their red noses, letting out comical honks.

But…

The people on the street still hurried by, not paying any attention to the clowns. Even when the clowns offered balloons… people were unmoved.

At this moment, at the alley corner to the right of the Circus.

“Aren’t we going in early?” Viel held a ticket in her hand and pointed to the ‘Second Hint’ on it.

“Let’s wait a little longer…” Ileya, now dressed in a black overcoat, had a round top hat favored by male nobles atop her head, and in her hand was a green Short Wand etched all over with arcane runes.

She looked every bit like a slender gentleman striding through the mist.

Hidden beneath the brim of her black hat, her crimson eyes watched the passersby beyond the alley.

These townsfolk’s indifference to the Circus seems at odds with this ‘Second Hint’…

No matter how you looked at them, the townspeople didn’t seem interested in the Circus performance at all.

Could it be… the hint was false?

Hmph… the gentlemanly Lady didn’t jump to conclusions. She once more took out her Pocket Watch… and checked the time.

Tick, tick, tick… the second hand moved along at its own steady pace.

7:49… 7:50

Tap tap tap!!

The very instant the minute hand hit 50! A wave of hair-raising footsteps sounded from outside the alley.

All at once, it seemed the whole town was headed in this direction!

Standing beside Ileya, Reliel’s brow furrowed slightly.

It was worth noting that her attire now… was similar to Ileya’s.

But years of mercenary life made her look even taller in such clothes than her elder sister, making the long coat suit her even more.

Her ears twitched as she listened to the hubbub of footsteps outside…

At least several hundred… maybe even a thousand people, converging on this spot.

“L-Lady!” Holly turned to look at Ileya, and at this moment, the Holy Sword Bearer was the most flustered of them all.

These pounding footsteps reminded her of her previous life…

When an earthquake struck during class, and she’d been swept along by the rushing crowd as she ran for the exit.

So many people—if I get knocked down…

“Shouldn’t we… maybe go in early?” Holly craned her neck at the entrance to the Golden Sun Circus.

There were only a dozen or so people there now… there was still time to go in early.

“No…”

Snap! Ileya closed the cover of the golden Pocket Watch.

Beneath the brim of her hat, those crimson eyes watched the crowd starting to gather before the Circus.

“We go in with the crowd, together.”

Eh? Is there some meaning to this?

Tap tap tap…

As more people arrived, the plaza before the Golden Sun Circus became as packed as a festival during the holidays!

Huff!

At that moment, Reliel leapt down from the rooftop of a nearby house, landing steadily beside Ileya.

“There are still more people rushing over from the streets.”

The girl’s tone was icy.

But Ileya could hear the question beneath her words.

“It seems everyone in town is coming here.”

“Mm…” Ileya nodded, tidying her collar.

Then she turned her head and noticed… Reliel’s shirt was a little messy…

She even reached out to straighten it for her.

Pat, pat~

After smoothing the wrinkles from her sister’s shirt, the Lady tugged her hat brim lower.

“Let’s go~ Now… we enter!”