Cornwallis’s POV:-

I am Robert Cornwallis a normal circus performer.

But that’s only a facade, in truth I am someone who does all kinds of dirty work for my master Albert Clive.

My master Clive is a business man and a member of the Commoner faction.

He is one of the what people call an ’Extremist’ type of a supporter of the faction and is ready to do anything to get over the nobles.

Today he is watching the show since he is also one of the sponsors of this circus.

Suddenly he called me and ordered me to perform the ’Special’ trick on a specific target.

I know neither the background nor the identity of the target but if my master ordered then I will have to do it.

So about this ’special’.

It’s just a teleportation magic using a magic circle to make the volunteer disappear.

But in the ’special’, that volunteer will disappear not only for the show but also forever from the general public.

The target will be teleported to my master and then my master will decide the target’s fate.

Thinking of all these, I went to perform the act.

Like usual I called the target my master has mentioned for becoming a volunteer.

[Author: I don’t think this dude even knows the meaning of volunteer]

I made him stand at the platform, and signaled my helpers to close the box.

Suddenly I heard some weird noise from the box.

Aw kid are you nervous?

Such an easy target.

I cast a spell to activate the magic circle inside the box.

Three, two, one! And done!

The noise disappeared so does the target.

I signaled my helpers to open the box while I bowed to the audience.

It’s just a ten second act, and that’s why it’s successful, otherwise if given enough time then many can pull it off.

I expected a round of applause like always but weirdly the audience is looking rather disappointed.

"S-sir"

I heard the voice of one of my helpers, so I turned to see what happened and caught a glimpse of someone passing by my side.

"Sorry but your magic circle is defective, Mr. Cornwallis"

The kid said while walking down the stage said. He didn’t even stop or look back.

I can hear the laughter of the audience on this failure of mine.

At the same time a knight entered the circus camp and went towards that kid’s seat.

"Young masters, the Lord has sent a message to bring both of you back to the mansion"

The knight said something to the kid but I couldn’t hear it clearly from here.

Then that kid and another one who was sitting beside him went with the knight.

They are leaving the circus camp so this mission is a complete failure.

I thought that’s all but just a moment before leaving that kid suddenly turned his head and showed me a real evil smile.

It is like he is telling me ’I know everything’.

It feels like I have set foot on a landmine.

...

Kai’s POV:-

After spoiling the trick of Cornwallis, I was just about to head back when our knight walked in and told us that uncle had called us back.

So without wasting any time, Ian and I went back to the mansion along with the knights.

Now the main problem.

What to do with that guy Cornwallis and his circus?

I can’t just leave this unchecked, what if he is already involved in criminal activities?

With these thoughts in my mind, I came up with an idea.

...

The next morning I went to talk to my Mother.

"What happened Kai?"

"Actually it is about the circus Ian and I went to yesterday"

"For the last act the performer urged me to become a volunteer".

"Although the act was a failure due to the error in his magic circle but when I was near the performer I sensed a weird smell"

"Weird smell?"

My mother asked with a doubtful expression, of course there are lots of smells a kid would think weird while it’s normal for some adults.

[To the readers: I am not talking about that kind of smell! No horni! Okay!]

"Smell of dead bodies"

I told her, but of course that is a lie, there was no such smell.

I am just using a false alarm to make the adults investigate Cornwallis and that circus.

I have already seen plenty of dead bodies of monsters, especially in the trip of aizawl when we encountered several dozens of phantom bats.

In the end it became the room full of dead phantom bats. In other words my mother will not doubt me.

"There was really an intense smell of dead bodies coming from that performer named Cornwallis, and I don’t think it’s of a monster"

Sorry for lying but this is the only thing I can do right now.

"Alright I understand. I will tell Simuka to investigate them, meanwhile you should be careful in today’s party"

I nodded at her assuring words.

If there really is any dark business going on behind the circus then uncle should be able to get the information.

Now that this unseen event has ended, it is time for the game’s first ’event’, the second prince’s birthday party.

.....

In the evening of that day.

We all have just arrived at the Royal Palace.

The party is being held in the grand hall of the palace.

The grand hall is really big, so the party is kind of divided in two. Not literally but in a customary sense.

The right side is for the kids to celebrate while on the left side for adults to interact.

And there is a dancing area in the middle.

As soon as we entered the hall, Ian and I separated ourselves from adults.

We pass through the guests and head to a side. There’s still some time before the star of the evening makes his appearance.

I noticed several characters of the game there.

Someone playing for the first time would not know that these kids appearing in the background are actually the important npcs of the game.

And there are your capture targets as well.

The first one I saw is the least favorite capture target, Jin Curzon.

The eldest son of the Duke of Casus, a territory in the northwestern part of the kingdom.

He is a head strong type character and also the strongest among capture targets.

Jin is a year older than the heroine and thus a second year student when the heroine entered the academy.

In the game Kai was his friend as a fellow member of a noble faction in the academy.

After meeting the heroine, Jin’s thinking starts to change and he falls in love with the heroine.

Though he was engaged with Crystal not long before entering the academy.

He breaks the engagement in the later half of the game and apologizes to Crystal and her family.

In his route Kai dies when a fight breaks between the two, it gets to the point where Jin couldn’t control his attack’s power.

Let’s just simply avoid him, no interaction no incidents.

Then I saw another capture target, Ralf Walker, eldest son of the kingdom’s one of the richest business families.

His father is one of the leading figures of the commoner faction.

He is the clever type among the three capture targets.

He was also a second year student when the heroine entered the academy and also the leader of the commoner faction in the academy.

In the game, he and Jin were at opposite ends of ideals and are always at each other’s throats.

In his route, he and Jin reconciled with the heroine’s help in the later part of the game.

But then Kai who has become one of the leaders of the nobles group becomes his enemy.

In this route Kai gets assassinated by a third party who then framed Ralf for it.

Of course they found the real culprit in the end.

Just as I was thinking about all of this I noticed someone walking towards me.

Well not actually one but three, Elena, Allia and Crystal.

They seem to have just arrived.

"Good evening Lord Kai"

"Good evening Lady Elena"

First I exchanged greetings with three of them one by one and then I introduced them to Ian.

[Author: sorry, I couldn’t find good enough material to write the whole interaction. English is not my first language anyway]

Allia and Crystal then went to greet some girls but unexpectedly Elena stayed behind.

She is not good at this I guess.

"Well I was just thinking, what kind of gift you want on your birthday Lord Kai"

Elena suddenly asked an absurd question.

"Nothing in particular, I am happy with whatever I get"

"What about you lady Elena?"

I asked out of courtesy.

"Me? Mmm I would like something I can keep with me for a long time"

As Elena busied me in some random chat, we heard some people saying ’pretty’, ’cute’ or ’beautiful’.

When I turned in the direction to see, I saw a really pretty girl.

Despite her being less than ten years old anyone can tell that she will become an extreme beauty in another ten years.

The heroine of the game ’Holy Maiden’, Hina Blessen.