Chapter 118

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The city was bustling.

The city center was filled with dust and heat.

Colorful tent roofs soared upwards.

Red, yellow, silver.

On banners fluttering like flags, the circus troupe’s name shone like a magic circle.

[We present celestial illusions! The Corvalio Traveling Circus]

“Princess, that’s it, that’s it!”

Inside the carriage, Camilla shouted, pointing out the window.

“We’ve finally arrived!”

Lucy’s eyes sparkled.

A circus, it was a proper city event for the first time in a while.

“Princess, is this your first time in a place like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Hehe, you’re so cute.”

“…”

“Lucy.”

Charlotte, sitting next to her, tugged at Lucy’s sleeve.

“I dressed like a witch today. It’s an ancient Rubelsian witch’s outfit.”

“Yeah. It suits you.”

“Hng….”

Charlotte flinched shyly and placed her hand on Lucy’s.

A small, cold hand.

Lucy moved her fingers and covered Charlotte’s hand.

Just then.

“Ah! Princess… you’re holding hands with Charlotte…!”

“Yeah.”

“Huhuhu… I also… I’m wearing a pretty dress today…!”

“I know.”

“Did you see…?”

“I’m looking. Yellow. It suits you.”

“Then, could I hold your hand too….”

Camilla also took one of Lucy’s hands.

Lucy had her hands held on both sides.

Since she only had two hands, it would have been noisy if Ellie had been there too.

But Ellie couldn’t come along due to family matters.

So today, Charlotte and Camilla could amicably occupy Lucy.

The carriage stops at the entrance of the circus.

The wheel sounds stopped and the door opened.

“Haa.”

Charlotte jumped out first.

Wearing a black dress with a bat ribbon, Charlotte spread her arms and shouted.

“Welcome to the witch’s altar! Here, where the boundary between the earth, the heavens, and the demon realm is thinnest, we…”

“Charlotte. Your skirt is folded.”

Camilla quietly pointed out.

Charlotte immediately shut her mouth and smoothed down her skirt.

Lucy watched them and got out of the carriage a beat later.

Camilla with a fan, and Charlotte with a black parasol.

“First, do you want to drink something?”

“…I want a blood cocktail.”

“They don’t have that.”

“Then, even just red berry juice… with ice….”

“They have that.”

“I’ll have chocolate milk!”

Lucy looked around.

A food market attached to the circus.

Children with snacks were scattered here and there.

After a while, she bought drinks.

Charlotte said, drinking her red berry juice.

“This is the blood of a saint. I have a contract with God now.”

Lucy quietly nodded, and Camilla ignored her.

“Princess. Would you like to try my drink?”

“Chocolate milk?”

“Yes. It’s very sweet.”

Lucy took Camilla’s cup and took a small sip.

It was very sweet.

Camilla gave a sly smile.

“You… took a sip….”

“Yeah. Why?”

“It’s an indirect kiss…!”

Camilla covered her reddened face with her fan and turned away.

Charlotte covered one eye and grinned.

“That’s… a blood oath.”

Just then, the sound of drums echoed.

Boom!

It was the entrance signal for the circus.

Lucy grabbed both of their hands and pulled.

“Let’s go.”

“Lucy… you’re holding my hand.”

“The Princess grabbed my hand first….”

“I’ll let go when we go inside.”

“No way!”

“Please hold it more!”

The three of them headed to the circus tent.

Children around them shouted with excitement and surged inside.

◈

The interior was surprisingly spacious.

The ceiling was decorated with trapezes and large doll structures.

It felt like a magical puppet theater had been set up.

“Wow….”

Charlotte murmured in a whisper.

“This is a space for summoning demons. It might even be a sacrificial altar. A cursed ritual where children are sacrificed…”

Lucy took her seat.

Charlotte sat on her left, and Camilla on her right.

Thump.

Camilla placed her hand on Lucy’s thigh.

“…”

It even moved further inside.

Lucy glanced at Camilla.

“What are you doing.”

“Your thigh, Princess… it’s warm.”

“Am I a blanket?”

“You’re not a blanket, though.”

Camilla’s hand continued to move.

Slowly, deeply, along her thigh.

The sensation was soft, and the movement was extremely calculated.

“…Camilla.”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Your hand is now…”

“If it’s not too much to ask, just a little more…”

“…”

Lucy sighed and grabbed Camilla’s wrist.

Camilla’s hand stopped at the boundary between her thigh and panties.

“Stop it.”

Camilla didn’t usually act like this.

She would blush just from touching Lucy’s body.

But now it was too direct and blatant.

She had become bolder from sleeping together in Charlotte’s room for the past few days.

Wriggle-

Camilla’s hand moved slightly further inside.

Almost touching the side line of the panty band.

Lucy’s thigh twitched instinctively.

Heat spread under her skin.

“…If you do more, I’ll get angry. I mean it.”

At Lucy’s words, Camilla flinched and pulled her hand away.

“S-Sorry.”

But her hand still remained on Lucy’s thigh.

Not moving, but still touching.

Just then.

The lights flickered, and the doll strings on the ceiling vibrated.

“Oh, it’s starting!!”

The cheers of children, music, and the following drumbeats.

The ceiling darkened, and magical flames flashed.

The red curtains parted to the left and right, and a bear doll hanging from a string appeared, somersaulting through the air.

The bear doll was holding a trumpet, and when the trumpet sounded, three people dressed as clowns jumped out.

One spraying water, one breathing fire, and one…

“What’s that.”

Lucy muttered quietly.

The last clown to appear was strange.

He staggered, twisting his body strangely and clutching his head.

And fell to the center of the stage.

Laughter erupted from the audience.

“Ahahaha, that clown is a fool!”

Lucy didn’t laugh.

Because she saw something spreading in the spot where the clown fell.

Red liquid.

“…He’s dead.”

As Lucy spoke quietly, Camilla blinked.

“Huh? Dead…?”

Charlotte opened her mouth next to her.

“It’s real. That clown is dead.”

Camilla frowned.

“This, is this not a show…?”

The clown didn’t move.

Blood was spreading around him.

Laughter still erupted from the audience, and some even applauded.

“Princess… that’s really….”

Camilla’s voice was quiet, and Charlotte pursed her lips tightly.

It was then.

A woman quietly walked onto the stage.

She looked like a circus employee.

Dark uniform, gloomy face.

She stopped in front of the clown’s corpse and slowly raised her hand.

“Marer tu lepion… Sar Magna de Lekum….”

She began to chant.

Ominous magic rippled in the air.

The clown’s corpse trembled convulsively, and the bones of his entire body twisted at strange angles.

Crack-

“…Lucy.”

Charlotte said in a small voice.

“That, I think I know that spell. I think I saw it in a book…”

Lucy narrowed her eyes.

[Devil Vision]

-Detects and visualizes demonic entities.

-Initiating hierarchy grade classification.

Lucy’s eyes glowed red.

The sound faded away, and the form of the clown changing became even clearer.

Black horns.

Pulsating blood.

From under the clown’s smiling mask, long teeth and a thorny tongue were crawling out.

“Wow, a demon!”

“I thought it was a person, but it looks like a doll!”

Cheers continued from the audience.

But some of the children cowered.

Frightened faces.

Camilla was one of them.

She clung tightly to Lucy’s body.

Not with the lewd feeling from before, but as if she was hiding.

Crack- Crack-

On the stage, a terrifying being was awakening.

Eventually, the woman stopped chanting and looked at the audience.

“Everyone, this place is an altar. A place where the lord of darkness will awaken. Your joy and fear will be the best feast for this being.”

Now the clown’s body had completely transformed into a bizarre form.

It had three arms, and the tips of its fingers were curved long like scythes.

Bones protruded from its back, extending into a structure that was neither wings nor spears.

And it was laughing.

Like a clown.

With its mouth torn to its ears.

“Kuh, ruru… You have prepared the sacrifices well. They look very delicious….”

A chilling voice.

Then Charlotte shouted.

“See! What did I tell you! This was a real witch’s altar! Lucy, I was right, wasn’t I?!”

Charlotte’s face was a mixture of tension and excitement.

Lucy smiled slightly and stroked Charlotte’s hair.

“…You guessed right.”

“Ehehe!”

Lucy walked forward.

Onto the stage, towards the demon’s face.

“Kuh, ruru….”

The demon looked at Lucy.

The clown’s laughter and the beast’s roar burst out from its open mouth at the same time.

“What, who is this bitch…”

Lucy stopped walking and said.

“You’re a mid-rank.”

A mid-rank demon, Riframo.

That was the identity of this demon.

The corners of Lucy’s lips turned up slightly.

“I’ll introduce you to your senior.”

Wooong!!

[Summoning High-rank Demon: Agrevan]

A black magic circle unfolded on the floor.

From its center, a small, tiny foot popped out.

A small, androgynous-faced boy, utterly out of place with the atmosphere, stood on the magic circle.

A high-rank demon, Agrevan.

Agrevan had a pouty face.

He puffed out his cheeks while holding a chick doll in his arms.

“You didn’t give me a doll… I-I wanted a polar bear…”

“I’ll give you one if you take care of him.”

Lucy pointed to the clown demon standing blankly on the stage.

“…Is it really true this time?”

“Yeah. I’ll give you a penguin too.”

“You promise!”

In an instant, crimson flames rose from Agrevan’s body.

The surrounding magic began to twist.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Sorry for being late…

…

I kinda ghosted you for a few days… sob

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
If you think about it, Cryfel would’ve been immortal had she known that the idiot loved dolls and instead gave him dolls everytime to preserve her youth.

Well, info matters a lot, doesn’t it?