A Grand Adventure in the Fairy Tale World (1)

When Yūko and her mother reached the end of the path, a tent glowing with a warm yellow light appeared before them.

This is the venue for the circus performance. The tent is as tall as a Catholic church, with a space in the middle covered with a red carpet. There are rows of chairs on both sides, and the stage in front is covered by a red curtain, so that people cannot see what is behind the curtain.

Welcomed by two young women in cheongsams, the two women were seated in the fourth-to-last row. It wasn't that they didn't want to sit in the front, but the front seats had already been eagerly taken by the earlier arrivals.

After they took their seats, other people gradually took up the seats next to them. They smiled and nodded to Mrs. Qiyuan before turning their attention to the stage.

The lights in the venue are still on, and the yellow light from the overhead chandeliers makes the red curtain used to cover the stage appear faded, unexpectedly giving it a sense of weight.

At 8:40, the performance was finally scheduled to begin. All the audience members had already entered the venue. The young police officers and Steel Gate Rikishi who had been maintaining order quietly entered the hall and sat in the last row. Those who maintained order had a perk: they could watch the performance for free.

At that moment, all the lights in the venue went out simultaneously, leaving only the spotlights shining on the stage. The audience, who had been exchanging ideas enthusiastically, immediately fell silent and straightened up excitedly.

"Ta-da, ta-da...!"

Suddenly, a few long, drawn-out notes from a cello rang out in the silent tent, and a red-haired figure emerged from behind the curtain. If it weren't for the pale face, the red hair would have blended seamlessly into the curtain.

It was the same clown as before, but his big red nose was gone; now only his pale face and smiling mouth revealed his identity.

The clown poked his head out from the middle of the curtain, waving excitedly to the audience sitting on either side as if he were very happy. Then, he walked out from behind the curtain, fully revealing his body, and was wearing a black tuxedo!

The audience chuckled at his attire; the red curly hair and comical expression contrasted sharply with the formal tuxedo—it was completely mismatched!

The clown bowed slightly respectfully, placing his right hand on his stomach in a gentlemanly gesture towards the audience. Just then, a white handkerchief partially peeked out of his breast pocket.

The clown noticed the problem, gave the audience an embarrassed smile, bent over, and reached into his pocket. A white handkerchief was pulled out, but a red handkerchief, which was attached to it, was also pulled out by the clown.

He stubbornly continued pulling on the red handkerchief, followed closely by a green one. Somewhat defiantly, he kept pulling, then yellow, blue... handkerchiefs of every color came out. Finally, after pulling out a white handkerchief, the end was gone. Instead, a long conductor's baton emerged.

The clown seemed quite confused, looking left and right with his baton. He cautiously and gently waved it once, and suddenly the sound of a violin and a piano rang out. He seemed startled and took two steps back to the right, repeatedly patting his chest. When he gently waved the baton again, another sound rang out.

Suddenly, the clown became excited, waving his baton incessantly, and the sound of string instruments filled the air. Finally, the clown, like a real musician, conducted the orchestra, turning the sound that resonated throughout the venue from gentle to intense. He seemed to get excited as well, waving his baton vigorously, making the audience's emotions rise as well!

Finally, as the conductor's voice grew increasingly intense—the clown forcefully waved his baton, and in an instant, as the instruments blared, the stage lights blazed up, the light that had been shining on the clown became diffused, illuminating the entire performance hall in a flash!

The audience spontaneously burst into applause, as if they had just been in Vienna's Golden Hall, their ears having received the ultimate enjoyment. Just hearing this kind of background music alone made the trip worthwhile.

The clown, at this moment, seemed like a master musician, calmly and unhurriedly thanking everyone.

At this point, someone should have applauded or laughed, but suddenly there was an uproar in the audience, and several children even screamed in fright, because they saw—on the red screen, a huge, winged shadow was constantly approaching the clown!

Suddenly, the orchestra started playing again, this time with urgent music that sounded as if someone was in crisis.

The clown scratched his head, puzzled. Just as he was about to turn around, a sharp claw emerged from the curtain and hooked his neck. His expression turned panicked, and he stretched out his hands, silently pleading for help from the audience. However, the audience was too frightened to speak and could only watch helplessly as his body was pulled into the curtain!

The audience was stunned. Wasn't this a circus performance? Why did the clown look like he'd been kidnapped?

A few seconds later, the music that had abruptly stopped when the clown was taken away started playing again, this time as gentle and soothing music. Accompanying this music, the red curtain slowly opened.

There was nothing on the stage except darkness. But suddenly, the spotlight converged on the far left of the stage, and a blonde girl in a sky-blue dress appeared under the spotlight.

"My name is Alice. Lately, I've been feeling really down, and everything I do is so boring..." the girl said in a voice that sounded like an aria as she walked to the center of the stage. "If only there were something more interesting!"

As soon as the girl finished speaking, a poster slowly fell from the sky and landed right in front of her.

The girl curiously picked up the poster and read aloud, "Urgent! The Mad Hatter, the famous conductor of the Fairy Tale World, has been captured by an evil black dragon during a performance and urgently needs help in the New World. If you come, you will be the hero!"

At the very top, there is a black and white photograph, depicting the moment the clown was captured.

Alice chuckled. "Fairy Tale World? Who would believe that? I'm not a little kid in elementary school!"

With that, she threw the poster on the ground without a second thought, and said mockingly, "There's no salary or social security details on it, and no address either. Who would believe this kind of scam?"

The audience smiled knowingly; indeed, if they had seen such a poster in front of them, they would have thought it was a scam too.

Yūko murmured, "No, even children wouldn't believe in Fairy Tale World..."

By this time, the audience had realized that this wasn't a traditional circus performance using individual acts, but rather a story-driven spectacle. No one spoke; they watched silently as the plot unfolded.

"Do you think this is a scam?" a voice suddenly rang in Alice's ear, "But if it were true, would you choose to go?"

"Who is it? Who is speaking!"

"Since you've asked so sincerely, I'll mercifully tell you—" A person suddenly jumped down from the obscured part of the stage, landing in front of Alice, opening their arms and smiling at her, "I am a resident of the Fairy Tale World, the legendary..."

"Rabbit!?" Before he could finish speaking, he was silenced by the word shouted simultaneously by Alice and the audience.