Chương 130: Chapter 131: Traitor Clara

Within the slums, the horns blared. Four people in dark robes danced around a wooden cabinet. Their moves were sporadic, mixed with abrupt leaps and spins, and lasted for over a full minute. The audience shifted uncomfortably as the intensity grew. The horns blared again.

"No!" A girl ran out from backstage, tears rolling down her freckled cheeks, and her usual wavy hair scrambled and unkempt. Almost every member of the audience knew this girl well: Clara.

"Please don't," she sobbed.

"Please don't hurt me anymore." A wave of murmurs spread throughout the audience.

"Were the rumours true?"

"Of course not; it's just a show."

"But look at her!" Clara sank to her knees, frantically sobbing. Another round of whispers as the audience tried to solve the mystery ahead of them.

"No way she'd sell information to a competitor! I heard the Legerdemain already pays well."

"But the Uppers could pay so much more… the Legerdemain is not on that level yet."

"So they caught her red-handed?"

"I-I hope she escapes!" The horns blared again. Louder. From behind the curtains, a familiar figure walked out. He wore a dark suit and a tall top hat. His white mask held an unfathomable smile, and a red vertical slit ran along the cheek. The Oracle Hand. Clara looked behind her and screeched. She tried to escape, scrambling backward, but the Oracle Hand calmly shortened the distance.

"P-please..." she pleaded. The horns blared again, and suddenly her body straightened up, her arms extended, and her chest faced the sky. Rora's booming voice returned:"Most of you know by now that Clara betrayed the Legerdemain. Today, she faces the consequences." Clara's body moved towards the cabinet, slowly and uncomfortably. It was as if her own mind fought against her body at each step. The four figures dancing around the box dispersed, and Clara walked into the cabinet. Bam!

The door shut, leaving Clara fully covered save three holes. One for her head, and one for each of her arms.

"I'm sorry..." she pleaded again. The cruel Oracle Hand showed no signs of hesitation. He brought out two giant saws and showed them to the audience. Gasps. Murmurs. The crunch of popcorn. All sounds drowned out by the intense, cascading music. The Oracle Hand stared creepily from his mask onto the crowd, before turning to Clara. Nobody dared to breathe. BAM! He slammed the first saw through a small slit where her hip should have been. The audience gasped.

Without any hesitation, the masked man slammed the other saw, right near her shoulders.

"Take this as a lesson!" Rora screamed.

"But the Hand is merciful!" He grabbed the center box and slid it sideways. The audience couldn't believe it. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Clara was split into three, and her torso was being moved to the side. Her expression was unchanging, and her hands were still moving. She was still alive! He mutilated her, and she was still alive!

The mysterious magician swiped his hand through the empty space where her torso should have been, before turning to the crowd. He stared into each of their eyes, through his all-powerful mask, as if warning them against betraying him. Then he pushed the box back to its proper spot and ripped out the blades one at a time with violent intent. Click. The cabinet opened, and Clara collapsed forward onto her knees, her breathing heavy. The Oracle Hand reached out his arm to Clara, and her body spasmed where she stood.

Then, it went deathly still. The Oracle Hand turned to the crowd, and like a marionette, so did Clara. The two bowed.

"Three pieces!" Rora bellowed. At first, the audience remained silent. Half of them had eyes of pure terror, while the other half [AUTHOR: sentence ending missing] Then one person clapped. Then the next, each clap building on top of the last, turning into applause. Then came the cheers, a roar of cheers louder than any they'd achieved before. Some were excited, others impressed. Many were afraid that if they didn't cheer loud enough, they would be next on the chopping block.

Evel walked into the back room and took off his mask.

"That was perfect!" Yuna had a soft smile. Evel nodded, matching her expression. They'd taken a slightly different approach this time and decided to set it up a while in advance. They spread the rumours, purposely hid Clara — one of the most recognizable members of the crew — and created this narrative around her betrayal and his punishment of her. When he saw the audience's terrified looks, he knew it worked. Yuna looked through her notebook.

"Actually, even just spreading the rumours around increased the number of attendees. Now that the actual performance was a hit as well, I'm confident the next performance will be even higher. More importantly than that, your image as a terrifying, unknowable monster is set within all their hearts." Evel felt his heart lighten. Not at her words, but at Yuna herself. It had been almost a full month since his training ban, and he'd gotten a lot more involved in the Legerdemain since then.

Now, Yuna was comfortable speaking to him almost like she once had. He still wasn't exactly getting invited to dinner with the other members, but at least they didn't fear him anymore. The fruit of a month without training.

"Where's Moe?" He recalled the merchant striking up a conversation with every face in the circus's change rooms just before he left for his performance.

"He left with Toan to watch the performance from the front. He... he claimed that the audience's perspective was an important one to capture." A clear excuse, but a valid one.

"He's… not wrong." In the past month since his discovery of Moe, he'd decided to take things slow and get familiar with the merchant little by little. The last time he tried to rush it, the mayor caught him, and he almost lost everything he'd built and worked for. He'd learned his lesson and wouldn't get overzealous again. It was for the same reason he took great caution when selling information he learned from spying on the people of Upper-Ichoris.

He lost out on some credits here and there, but at least he was safer. With Zephyr's elixirs piling up, he wasn't exactly starved for credits either. He couldn't help but feel a little excited. After a full month of waiting, he could actually start using them tomorrow!

"Here's the summary you asked for, by the way." Evel scanned the paper thoroughly. It was very brief for the complexity and all the nuances of income and cost he'd asked to see.

Biweekly revenue from seats: Upper Ichoris: ~900 attendees at 10 Riak — 9, 000 Riak VIP: ~16–30 seats at 50 Riak — 800–1, 500 Riak Slums: ~700 attendees at 2 Riak — 1, 400 Riak Biweekly costs: 20 regular workers at an average of 25 Riak per day: ~6, 000 Riak 5 senior workers at 50 Riak per day: ~3, 000 Riak 10 temporary workers at ~25 Riak per day: ~1, 000 Riak Total: ~10, 000 Riak Other income, such as food and drinks served to VIP, commission from nearby stores, and popcorn, covers the remaining costs, minus 500 Riak.

Total: ~1, 000 Riak in profit every two weeks. Two thousand Riak a month in straight profit! The math wasn't exactly fully accurate — the cost per worker, especially, was grossly simplified — but for an approximate guess, it wasn't bad. The profit also changed show by show, as did the costs. But all these costs included the extra staff member they'd hired to start up the play, as well as feeding many people within the slums. So it wasn't too bad!

If they went by Acies' approximate 5: 1 conversion, it was like he was gaining 200 credits every two weeks. Most likely, the conversion wasn't fully accurate, and they'd priced based on how much people would pay, but it gave him an approximation. They were also planning to expand into merchandise, something Moe suggested. That would also bring in another revenue stream from Upper Ichoris, since they would be the only ones able to afford it. And that was straight profit, with all their costs kept high.

They were actively training many workers who still didn't perform, as well as investing in new equipment and ideas. Based on his discussions with Zephyr, she wanted to turn him into a factory for training others. Since Evel mostly hired those with no experience, they'd gotten really good at training beginners. It was a skill they may have even surpassed Prachar in. Which was probably the reason she recently offered the Legerdemain a loan to expand even quicker.

Evel was very pleased with the terms, but things didn't turn out to be quite so simple. The circus members didn't oppose the idea directly…

"What do you think about the loan?" Yuna shifted uncomfortably.

"Probably the smart business move."

"But you don't think we should take it," Evel stated.

"It's not that…" Considering their past experience with debt, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to Evel, but admittedly, he'd forgotten.

"It's alright; we don't need it for now anyway." In the end, he decided to temporarily pause Zephyr's factory dream and move forward at their own pace. It wasn't just Yuna. The majority of his workers had bad experiences with debt, and he didn't want something so serious to loom over their heads if there was no real reason for it. More importantly, his month-long training ban was over, so his aspirations lay elsewhere. Starting tomorrow, he could finally get stronger again.