I Became the Leader of the Monster Circus Troupe

Chapter 254: Lekachep Circus School Exam – 8

Ella paced anxiously, tapping her foot while checking the time.

The current time was 4:20 in the morning.

According to the schedule Clara had drafted yesterday, the performers should have been ready by now, waiting outside for the carriage.

However, not a single member was prepared to leave.

“Sis, there’s no hot water for showering!”

“The hot water’s out! The maintenance team is working on the backup boiler, so wait a bit!”

“Ouch, Ella, didn’t you see my arm? I fell into the toilet yesterday and had to wash it….”

“Arm? Trimmer? Lupa was carrying a load of laundry earlier, maybe it got mixed in there? Check the second floor!”

“Hey, there’s no hot water!”

“What’s going on?”

“Just wait! Find something else to do in the meantime!”

“What else?”

“Go to the kitchen and help Yura-unnie, or bring some firewood for the boiler!”

“Boss,I went to the warehouse! No firewood! None!”

“What? There were some just the day before…”

“Oh, looking for firewood? I put those oak logs up on the annex roof to dry!”

“Why on earth would you do that, old man?”

“Oak needs to dry to increase fuel efficiency. Must have forgotten to bring them down.”

“Boss! You’re making us work twice!”

“Ella, didn’t you go get the cutlery?”

“Oh, right! Just a moment!”

It was truly a whirlwind of chaos.

Shouts erupted from all corners.

Performers darted back and forth between floors.

Some hadn’t even dressed yet, while others roamed around in their pajamas, unaffected by the chaos.

Everyone was running late due to oversleeping.

Ella, who managed to get ready relatively quickly, was trying to salvage the situation, but it seemed unlikely they would depart on time as originally planned.

“Clara, what about the carriage?”

“Well… the driver said he could wait until 5 if we pay extra… but we must leave by then due to the schedule.”

Clara couldn’t meet Ella’s gaze properly, feeling guilty as the secretary responsible for the circus’s current turmoil.

She woke up on time only because of a rare and precious item in the circus – a desk clock given to Wonderstein as a gift from Anais.

Thanks to it, she could open her eyes at the originally planned time.

After she managed to wake Yurakne and send her down to the kitchen, she took a shower.

It felt nice to soak in the warm water, but she succumbed to its warmth and drowsiness, falling back asleep.

She woke up again after 4, and it was only because Yurakne, who had finished preparing breakfast in the kitchen, realized that no one else had woken up and came running in alarm.

“We’re late, we’re late!”

She was so startled that she dashed out of the room without even putting on clothes.

If Yurakne hadn’t stopped her, she might have barged into Wonderstein’s room naked.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!”

Wonderstein smiled kindly at Clara, who was bowing incessantly.

Instead of raising his voice or frowning, he asked her to fetch the wheelchair.

“Didn’t you set an alarm on the clock?”

Last night, before going to bed, Clara had set an alarm on the large clock in the lobby just in case she couldn’t wake up.

But it didn’t ring.

As Clara helped Wonderstein into the wheelchair, she explained in a voice that crawled with guilt.

“Um, I-I set it for 3:40 PM instead of AM….”

“I see.”

Clara became quite nervous at Wonderstein’s calm smile.

“A-Aren’t you… mad?”

“What’s done is done. Let’s hurry.”

Despite his calm demeanour on the surface, he felt quite irritated inside.

Due to the average favourability of the members and the fame of the circus troupe, about 40 debulroots were coming in every day.

However, despite this, resources were not accumulating, perhaps because there were many outings here and there.

A considerable amount of debulroots was consumed periodically adjusting Clara’s body, and a significant portion was used a few days ago to make Hawk’s body, and yesterday, more than necessary was wasted washing Reyna’s body.

But now he had to use debulroots in a place he hadn’t planned on.

He woke the members using the function of the Sound Room.

He informed them that it was already past 4 o’clock.

“Please hurry up.”

The quiet mansion suddenly became noisy.

Yurakne made lunchboxes using the food prepared on the table.

There was no time to sit and leisurely eat breakfast.

They had to solve it on the way in the carriage.

That alone saved a considerable amount of time.

If everyone hurried, they might be able to meet the planned time.

But even that didn’t go as smoothly as he had thought.

“There’s no hot water in the boiler!”

“Eek!”

Clara was the culprit this time too.

Because she had left the hot water on for over an hour, the hot water ran out before some members could even take a shower.

It was not possible to wash with cold water either.

The October weather in Yeterinpuurk was similar to winter weather in the lowlands.

Although this place was considered warm within the empire, it was based on the standards of the people of Kiev who enjoyed swimming in the rivers even in below-zero weather.

So, it was already past 4:30 and over 40 minutes had passed.

Fortunately, most urgent issues had been resolved.

The members began to come down to the lobby one by one, getting dressed, and Yurakne also came out of the kitchen to go upstairs to change clothes.

Now, Ella, who finally had some leisure, looked around the lobby and her eyes fell on the pile of fur that had been accumulating in front of the fireplace.

Is that laundry?

Approaching to confirm its identity, she shouted in surprise.

“Maya, why are you here again!”

It was Maya, wrapped in a bundle of cardigans and sweaters.

She was sleeping in front of the fireplace in a hunched over position, just like a cat.

“Wake up quickly!”

As she shook her roughly, Maya looked up at her with sleepy eyes.

“…Assistant Director? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong! How long have you been here?”

“Since last night.”

“What?”

“It’s warm by the fire.”

“And you didn’t wake up once in all that chaos? You’ll catch a cold! We’re leaving in 10 minutes! Go and get ready!”

Ella helped her up, and she yawned lazily and flew to her room using telekinesis.

So, when 50 minutes had passed and it was exactly 5 o’clock, the members were finally ready and able to board the carriage.

The last one to come out of the mansion, Yurakne, climbed onto the carriage panting.

But she didn’t even have time to catch her breath.

“What’s with your clothes!”

She checked Maya and Clara’s condition, who were in the same carriage, and was horrified.

Maya came out wearing the same clothes she had been wearing since the day before.

Not only were the sleeves and elbows dirty, but there were also pills and loose threads everywhere.

Her hair was messy too.

Because of the static electricity from the wool, it was even worse.

“How can you stand in front of people like this?”

Yurakne took out a portable comb and combed Maya’s hair.

She roughly tidied up the pills and loose threads on the sweater and cardigan, but she couldn’t do anything about the wrinkles and dirt.

How could such a pretty girl walk around like this?

It was appalling.

If she asked Wonderstein, he would change her into neat new clothes in an instant, but she couldn’t bother someone who wasn’t feeling well with such trivial matters.

Clara’s outfit was passable, but her hair was a mess, tangled and clumped as if seaweed had been thrown onto her head.

Is she the model student?

Yurakne sighed involuntarily at the sight of her.

“Goodness! You used to be much neater at school!”

“Oh, back then, my friends helped me….”

Clara sighed wistfully, thinking of Pyrene.

She appreciated being taken care of by her during their time together, bathing her, dressing her, and even feeding her.

Yurakne couldn’t help but feel sorry for Clara’s roommate, imagining how difficult it must have been.

“Ah, just look at both of them. I’ve always said….”

For the next thirty minutes, they had to endure lectures from Yurakne about proper grooming for women.

Because of their laziness and strong personalities, they listened half-heartedly to her advice, but whenever Wonderstein was mentioned, their attitudes suddenly changed.

“If Director hears people talking badly about you, wouldn’t it be awful? Director wouldn’t like seeing a messy-looking woman.”

“Director… really?”

Yurakne chuckled inwardly at how their demeanour shifted so suddenly whenever Wonderstein was brought up.

Anyway, they managed to arrive at Tettromino Plaza a little past 6:30, chatting and forgetting about lunch along the way.

There, they were greeted by a horde of reporters waiting in front of the school gates.

“The carriage is here!”

“Oh, who’s that over there?”

“Wait, is that some kind of freak show?”

“Really?”

The reporters rushed towards them as they stepped out of the carriage, bombarding Wonderstein, Ella, and Maya with questions.

“How do you feel about participating in this month’s exam with Golden Carnival and Silver Veil Circus?”

“Aren’t you comrades who prepared Fantasy 13 together?”

“Do you plan to make any deals between circus troupes again this time?”

“Please be honest. Did you know they were fake?”

“You claim to be a fan of Christian, Assistant Director Ella?”

“Is it true you flew a thousand knives using telekinesis?”

The questions poured out in a heap, relentless and exhausting, but Ella remained composed as she brushed past them.

The clouds that had lingered in her mind had disappeared after yesterday’s outing.

Thanks to that, she could endure the reporters’ provocative attitudes without flinching.

The other members of the troupe also remained unfazed by the reporters’ attempts to provoke them.

To the monster members of the Monster Circus, accustomed to hostile stares, this level of ridicule was nothing but a joke.

And as always, Wonderstein and Maya remained unfazed by whatever others said.

Their resilience, honed from years at the heart of politics, made their detractors seem pitifully small.

However, Clara was different.

As a Apostle of Cinepecus, she was particularly sensitive to the whispers around her.

But today, Wonderstein noticed her distress and used the Sound Room function to block out the voices of others, allowing her to enter the auditorium without any issues.

And so they entered without incident.

Inside, a few circus troupes who were taking the exam this month were already present, including Golden Carnival.

“Reyna!”

Ella greeted the girl in the weeping woman mask as if she knew her well.

But Reyna, startled, glanced at her and then quickly turned her head away, staring silently at the ground.

Lord Fantastic, too, pretended not to recognize them and acted as if they were strangers.

Instead, other acrobats from Golden Carnival behind him remembered Ella and waved to her.

While acknowledging their greetings, Ella kept her gaze on Reyna.

“What’s with her? I didn’t expect much from that mustacho, but even Reyna’s like this? Is she an enemy now? Hmph.”

Shortly after, Silver Veil Circus and the rest of the circus troupes arrived, and the doors of the auditorium were closed.

And at 7 o’clock sharp,

Students in white uniforms filed into the audience, followed by the founders of Lekachep Circus School and the faculty, who took the stage.

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Chapter 253: Lekachep Circus School – 7