Chương 86: Vessel for Information

Returning to his office, Evel secured the front door tightly and quietly slipped into the secret room. The dry run went about as smoothly as he could have hoped, and everyone was fitting into their new roles exceptionally well. Mateo was talented and improving at a rapid pace. The reason he performed the mask was for this exact reason. Should Mateo ever become good enough, he could simply don the outfit and mask and become the Oracle Hand. Although he wasn't there yet, the potential was undeniable.

On the artistic side, Toan was working hard and came up with an impressive design that Evel was very satisfied with. He'd also started training a few others, so he wasn't wholly responsible for all the work that took. Many things were still sloppy, and Toan wasn't a great teacher, but it was progressing in the right direction. And the most impressive of all was Yuna, who had grown to manage the entire circus essentially by herself.

Other than his persona as The Oracle Hand and his tutoring, the main thing remaining was the busy work: Handling the cash, filling out the legal documentation, hiring people, and so on. Initially, he'd been afraid that if he gave up these levers of control, the circus would turn on him, but now his perspective had shifted. In the past, his misfortune wasn't caused by a lack of control over the circus. It was a direct result of his weakness. As long as he continued getting stronger, he'd be safe.

The circus wasn't a place that needed to be perfect or a place he had to be scared of. It was a simple vessel for acquiring new information so he could progress his personal strength. Taking off his tophat, he sat on the sole wooden chair in the center of the secret room. Taking a sharp breath, he began flipping through each room. The show was just getting underway. In the first room, Moe was mid-discussion with another merchant.

They spoke in code, using words like 'doves' and 'anchors,' so he wasn't able to glean much critical information. In another, were Vito and Corinne.

"... dumbass bitch." Corinne spat. Vito groaned.

"How much longer are we gonna talk about this? It's a done deal." Despite the vague terms they spoke in, it wasn't difficult to put together what they were talking about with his prior knowledge: Zephyr and yesterday's paper.

"You think she spared us out of the kindness of her heart?" Corienne challenged.

"They're even running the story in all nearby cities. If that's not a sign of goodwill, I don't know what is." Vito countered.

"Not everyone is like the previous head."

"There's something else here." Vito snorted.

"She didn't 'spare' us. If she truly wanted to antagonize us, especially at this time, Redigo wouldn't be the group to suffer the most. Our main source of revenue just improved; it's the time to celebrate."

"This is why I can't leave," Corinne replied dismissively. Vito scoffed, "What does that mean?"

"You're too much of an idiot." Their biggest source of revenue is people coming in? But the debt owed by each person is so low… is the increased price of stratite that impactful? Is there another metal?

"I'm an idiot? Who was the one who dropped the shard?" Vito snapped.

"... I thought we agreed to stop talking about that." Her voice had gone quiet.

"If the entrance were closer to headquarters, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. For the next minute, there was silence. Then Corinne finally responded, her voice a lot softer.

"Is… isn't this secondary magician a lot better than he was last week?" In another room, it was the Mayor. As usual, it was complete silence. Evel was a bit surprised he actually chose to return. He was confident in his performance, but didn't actually expect it to impress someone as powerful as the Mayor. That, or the circus had become a social event among the wealthy and powerful. Either way, it was certainly a good thing. Just as Evel was about to switch channels, the Mayor actually spoke.

"I have an important announcement later, be back near the end of the performance."

"Alright." The person from Acies who held secret communications with the Mayor last week, Grave. That information had netted him a nice chunk of credits. Then, it was back to silence. I'll be mid-performance at the end… Making a split-second decision, Evel exited his office and returned to the changeroom where Yuna was mid-discussion with someone whose name he didn't remember. One of the newer, part-time workers who only showed up on Sundays.

Upon seeing him, Yuna stopped mid-sentence and excused herself from the conversation.

"Anything the matter?" She asked.

"Push my performance forward by half an hour."

"That… do we really have to?"

"Can you do it?" Yuna took a sharp breath and flipped through some pages.

"We can make it somewhat natural if we leave Clara's performance until the end and slot you in after Mateo. The problem is that two magician performances back to back might hurt how special they feel. Even that will only pull your performance forward 20 minutes. Anything more…" She trailed off.

"Alright, that works." A curt nod.

"Thanks for accommodating me." She straightened her back and shook her hands in front of her, "No, no. It's not a problem at all. Anytime, Eth!" Evel returned straight to his office after ensuring nobody was following him. Everybody remained under strict instructions not to bother him while he 'warmed up' for his routine. He went back to listening in.

"Amazing! Amazing! He was already so seamless last week, but the tricks are even better now!" Moe boomed in his room. The other merchant with him remained silent. The Mayor's room remained silent.

"Aniko finally got released." A woman's voice. He quickly recalled that the Jade family was the one in that room. The power structure could be drastically different in each city. In some, the top Banners dominated, in others, it was major families, merchants, or even a democratic rule. In some cities, the Mayor wasn't even that important of a figure, choosing to stay out of all the politics and only making the most high-level decisions.

Ichoris was controlled mostly by the Banners, then a few key families and merchants had some semblance of power. The Jade family was one of those families with a bit more power.

"Tch." A male voice replied.

"The barbaric Weavers on the frontline probably took great joy out of delaying it as long as possible."

"I'm just glad she'll be safe…"

"Don't tell the little brat she slipped away. He's insistent on vanquishing evil for good."

"He'll grow out of it," The woman muttered. Back in Redigo's room:"Whoa, wasn't he kinda amateurish two weeks ago?" Corinne asked.

"I… can't find the trick." In another room, the less prominent Malaya family made small talk. A merchant, Shui, talked about his mistress. Another merchant talked to a worker from a nearby city, attempting to hire him. A group of lower level workers from Eminus talked about the tasks they wanted next. A group from Equis simply enjoyed the show. Most talked about irrelevant information, some talked of Mateo's performance, and every once in a while, they talked about something useful.

The time flew by until it was finally his turn to perform. He went through the motions just as he'd practiced. The entrance was similar, and he even repeated some of the most popular tricks of the past for the new crowd. Then, he mixed in some newer ones, resulting in a wave of gasps. The tricks were ingrained in his mind, so it wasn't much trouble for him to keep his focus on trying to piece together the information on hand and trying to find a better way to always have someone listening.

There were too many questions, and he was missing out on so much by performing. What sort of information was he missing right now? He couldn't record it, but if he was able to get someone else to listen in while he performed, then wouldn't that be the best-case scenario? Or maybe he needed to stop performing as a magician? Where were the signs of Dissent? That was supposed to be his main source of revenue, but they were nowhere in sight. What was the Mayor's big announcement?

Would he even be able to listen in, or would he use the silencing orb as usual? Evel bowed, drawing a chorus of cheers as he left the room. Yuna approached him with a wide smile.

"That wa—""Later," Evel interrupted.

"I have an announcement for the circus later, and we can discuss everything else then." Then he went straight for the secret room. Every second wasted delayed his advancement. He sat on the sole wooden chair and turned on the sound for the Mayor's room. Silence. Evel leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling. If the Mayor was keeping a silencing field active, then the best he could do was try to interpolate their intents based on later conversations once they left the room.

It wasn't ideal, but it was his only option. Just as he was about to check the other rooms, a sound actually came through.

"You've arrived, good. Let's discuss some major changes going forward."