Another bullseye. How many has it been? The proprietor thought. His throat and his thoughts had become a jumbled mess with how many times he hyped up the surrounding customers. Although his stall was packed to the brim, he was losing money for every second this monster threw her darts. Every double or nothing resulted in his loss, and at this point, the money he gained today would be gone in about three more throws. He can't back down from giving this monster of a young lady a double or nothing, since that was a rule of the stall he was manning. And even if he did that, and the player accepted, the surrounding customers would incite a riot that won't result in anything good. That's why he was racking his brains to find a way to stop this sharpshooter from winning more rounds.
"Dear sir, your darts truly are magical! It allowed me to see how much love my partner has for me, thank you very much."
Lies, all of them. The proprietor thought. Of course, a monster would only be attracted to another monster. He calmed his shaking hands so that no other customer may see his plight. The hype he had brought upon himself would incite riots for days, and it would certainly cost him his job. He did the best he could, smiling emptily, answering the gentleman. Using this chance to get back his momentum.
"Thank you very much, sir. However, we all could see how much both of you cared for each other. This game of darts could not keep up with the both of you." the proprietor said.
"Is that so?" I smiled, with mystery smearing my lips.
The proprietor tried his best to smile as sincerely as possible, an effect he can't achieve in any way or form.
"That right, dear customer," he said.
Nodding to what he said, I replied. My voice split in two, one that could be heard by the world, and the other, that only the proprietor could hear.
"Ciel, let's go see the other stalls!" "Excuse us for that sir, tis' a small mischief. Though it could be said, you brought this upon yourself."
The proprietor looked around, confused as to what had happened. Meanwhile, Ciel and I made our way back to the circus, all the while eating the leftover snacks after playing around with the darts. The winnings? We left them at the stall.
"Now that the both of us have refreshed ourselves…"
"Should we contact elder sister-in-law and the knights?" she completed my sentence.
I nodded to answer the question.
"Let's contact them after we've arrived at the circus."
As if agreeing with my statement, we quickly continued our way to the circus, which was still taking in viewers even more than before. Letting the members train their routine outside of the tent seems to be a good marketing strategy. Though in my opinion, rather than the crowd coming to see the hidden side of each act, they came for the dumbo combo brothers' jokes and all in all funny personalities. Waving at the members, the same way we did earlier, we went inside the tent.
Taking the control bead from her pocket, she injected the mana needed to use it as a communication tool. Her mana travelled along the leylines, with the control bead as a medium, finally reaching its destination, a control bead with the same frequency. From it, a voice echoed.
"Ciel? Layne? What great timing." the knight captain stated.
"What happened?" I asked.
"We found where the Wendigo from before came from, it's a runaway test subject from the Orthodoxy. The situation right now, albeit a little confusing, is quite balanced, as fragile as it sounds. The terrorists and vampires halted their attacks after the news of the Orthodoxy's test subject came around."
"Wait a minute elder sister-in-law. Did you just say it was the Orthodoxy's test subject?"
"Yeah, though they were condemned for doing such things; since no one could do anything to them, it became the normality. What about them?"
I cleared my throat, to assert my presence, and bring the topic back to the vampires and terrorists.
"So what should we do, sis?"
"Since I believe there won't be any more attacks after the Orthodoxy's interruption, you could either come back to the manor or walk around the festival."
"We'll go back to the manor after discussing some things with grandfather-in-law."
"Alright, don't forget to send my regards to him."
The control bead lost its connection.
"The Orthodoxy is the organization Damon created, right? That means he knew we're here?" Ciel asked.
"I believe so. We really need to ask our grandfather-in-law for his opinions, though I never seem to sense any kind of scrying on me. How about you?"
"I don't feel any scrying whatsoever."
"Yeah, that's the confusing part. I don't believe our senses have dulled in any way, but after finding out the Wendigo was sent by the Orthodoxy, it certainly made me think they had somehow got our trails."
We went to the wagon-house, for the second time this day. However, this time Ashur Bhan was waiting for us.
"Is it about the Orthodoxy?" he asked as we came in.
"It is about them; have you got the news?" I replied.
"I did, it came in just now."
"What do you think grandpa?" Ciel asked.
"I think they haven't got any clue."
"How come?"
"Because that Wendigo's purpose was to sound me out," he sighed.
"The Orthodoxy doesn't know about Ashurbanipal?"
"They did, not in this form, however."
"Then why did they set their eyes on these lands?" I asked.
"Because of your awakenings. To bring the both of you back, I revealed my true form, although not for long. In that short amount of time, I felt countless eyes staring at me, through the looking glass."
Ciel and I nodded, expressing our understanding. To us, that awakening was nothing short of a miracle. One that allowed us to meet even after what we've been through. It is also part of the reason we tried to stay lowkey, as much as possible, though I never remember any instances we did so apart from not using our identity for things relating to the Other Side.
"Thank you, grandfather (in-law)" we said.
"I'm just doing this out of my own will. Though you better off not provoking those Orthodoxy bunch, since even I can't save you if you caught their eyes."
"What can we do to keep their eyes off this place then?"
"Nothing. You do nothing and live like normal. They will leave sooner or later. Though if they started coming in person, it's time for the circus to change its base of operations temporarily."
"But where should we go? The north was chock full of vampires." Ciel asked.
"Either to the south, Franc, the land of the faeries; or to the west, Rairland, the domain of the dragons."
"So we don't need to move yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, the Orthodoxy also had their own problems to handle. After all the mortals are becoming more and more powerful, day by day."
After asking what had to be asked, and answering what had to be answered, we said our goodbyes to our grandfather (in-law). Departing from Cirque du Ciel for the Carter Manor, we slowly trudged forward, since people were coming to and fro the festival, going around and doubling back on themselves. Children played on the street without any fear of getting trampled by carriages, and the adults hang around the cafes and restaurants while watching their kids. We had fun. Talking with people, playing around with the kids, all the while moving towards our destination. It was already evening when we finally arrived at the Carter Manor.