Chapter 195
When they reached the plaza, a crowd had gathered, and a street performance was underway.
From the back of the crowd, Clael looked toward the street performer.
"Ladies and gentlemen, gather round! The show is about to begin!"
"Paoooon!"
Standing atop a monster that closely resembled an elephant, a female street performer spread her arms wide.
The woman wore a fluttery stage costume and had her eyes covered by a butterfly mask.
"We, the Gawork Circus, shall now bring you a marvelous time! Please stop and take a look! And if you could spare a tip, it would be the greatest honor!"
"Paooo!"
As the elephant stretched out its trunk, the street performer leapt onto it.
"We've crossed the seven seas and traveled across five continents. Our honed skills shine like gold, gleam like silver!"
Light burst from the street performer's hands and circled around her.
It seemed like magic... but upon closer inspection, at the center of the magic was a small creature that looked like a fairy.
"Clael-sama, is that...?"
"A fairy. Quite rare."
At Reina's words, Clael nodded.
They were beings similar to but different from Holy Spirits—commonly referred to as fairies.
The elephant-like monster at her feet and the fairy as well... it seemed that the female street performer had the ability to tame monsters.
(There weren't any among the ally characters, but I remember monster tamers showing up as mob or enemy characters...)
"Hiiiiiigh!"
The street performer began juggling with knives.
The fairy caught the knives she threw and tossed them back, over and over.
The fairy and the knives danced through the air in a three-dimensional display.
It was quite fantastical, a breathtakingly powerful scene.
"Amazing! I've never seen anyone control a fairy so freely before!"
"...Yes, indeed."
Clael felt a bit conflicted by Reina's praise.
(No matter how you look at it... Reina controlling Holy Spirits is way more impressive. I've never heard of a Holy Spirit entering a plushie and moving on its own...)
He didn't know how many Saints had existed in the past, but surely no human had summoned and freely controlled as many Holy Spirits as Reina.
If there were anyone who could... it would have to be a legendary Great Saint.
"Next up, an acrobatic act by our clown!"
"Heeey! I'm Donnie the Clown!"
Next, a person dressed in clown makeup appeared and began performing acrobatics.
With gravity-defying moves, they leapt onto the elephant's back, did handstands, jumped, and performed tricks.
The movements were impressive, but honestly, the earlier fairy juggling had a stronger impact.
"Ah, Clael-sama. They're selling popcorn over there."
It seemed Reina's interest had already shifted elsewhere.
Since more people had gathered around, Clael decided to toss a silver coin as payment for the fun and move on.
"Well then, shall we go? Ah... let's buy some popcorn on the way."
"Sure, what flavor would you like? Looks like they have a few kinds."
"Hmm... then let's go with caramel."
Clael and Reina left the crowd surrounding the street performers and walked toward the popcorn stand.
"Oops."
"Ah!"
However, they nearly bumped into a woman who happened to be walking toward them.
They narrowly avoided a collision... Clael quickly apologized.
"I'm sorry, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I should be the one—huh?"
"Ah...?"
It was an unexpected person.
Someone Clael recognized.
"C-Cl-lael...?"
"Erika..."
The woman standing there was a friend from Clael's school days.
It was Erika Jermie, an A-rank female adventurer.