One-Eyed Monster

Igor and Kadi stared blankly at Quinn, unsure of what to say.

”Have you eaten? If not, eat first!” said the red-haired one, who, as a senior among the clown apprentices, really took care of the newcomers.

Quinn Smith looked at the clowns and then took a bowl of mashed potatoes handed over by the green-nosed one, gulping it down.

”Hey, don’t choke on it, this stuff can be uncomfortable if you choke. There’s soup here, don’t rush!”

”He must be starving!”

”Sorry,” Quinn wiped his mouth after wolfing down the food, ”I rushed over here, afraid I’d miss seeing the captain if you guys started performing. Thank goodness...”

”With your large build, you should be able to do many jobs outside. Why come here?” The green-nosed clown was envious of Quinn’s physique since a strong body could indeed secure good work in this world.

”I want to become stronger, I want to be an Adventurer with Class!” Quinn was straightforward about his purpose for coming here. Then he glanced at Kadi and Igor and smiled, ”You guys joined too, that’s great!”

This time, the green-nosed clowns looked at each other, clearly surprised by the unexpected outcome. They hadn’t thought Kadi and Igor knew this big guy.

”You all teamed up to join, huh!”

”Hehe, that’s quite interesting.”

”No, no, we just know each other, and today is the first day we’ve met!” Igor quickly said.

”This coincidence is too uncanny.” The red-haired one said.

”Anyway, everyone’s goal is pretty similar; let’s focus on finishing what the boss instructed us to do.” Kadi joined in, laughing.

”Yeah, yeah, after eating, we have to get to work. We need to hurry.” The green-nosed and the mournful-faced ones began to rush them as well.

The red-haired didn’t say much; once they finished eating, it’s time to work. The circus show was about to officially start, and the clowns needed to attract people outside the big tent—a simple task, but Brava demanded it to be done perfectly.

”Put makeup on him; with such a big body, we’d need quite a bit of paint. And his look doesn’t seem like someone who can apply makeup!”

”I can do it, hehe!” Quinn said, taking the paint bucket and diving into the tent.

”He said he used to do many jobs before!” Igor shrugged, staring at the questioning gaze of the red-haired one; it’s all he could say. ”I don’t know about the rest.”

”And he has a recommendation letter!” Kadi added, feeling that the red-haired one was suspicious of the big guy’s background and told what they knew. At this moment, they couldn’t expose their true purpose, even one wrong word could bring trouble.

”A recommendation letter? Who gave him a recommendation letter?” The red-haired one was surprised—a person with a recommendation letter to the circus was definitely not ordinary!

”Seems like someone named Bern. We also heard it when the captain was reading the letter!” Igor supplemented.

”Bern! My God! No, wait, how do you know about the recommendation letter?” The red-haired was astonished, half because of the name Bern, and half due to Igor and the others knowing about the letter.

”We delivered the recommendation letter for him!” Kadi shrugged, finding the question uninteresting.

”Uh...” This explanation left the red-haired one thinking deeply, clearly needing time to process all the information.

”Lord Bern, the recommendation letter from this lord is quite precious!” The red-haired muttered to himself, understanding the significance of the letter’s owner.

Before Igor and the others could ask who Lord Bern was, Quinn emerged after finishing his makeup. His face was a classic clown face with a red nose and intricately painted eyes—one shaped like a star, the other like a moon...

The makeup was expertly done, even making the experienced red-haired clown feel inferior.

”Have you done this before?” The green-nosed clown asked timidly.

”Nope, I just watched others do it before, tried it myself today, and it turned out okay!” Quinn smiled.

”Do you know Lord Bern?” The red-haired was evidently curious about Quinn’s origins, quickly asked.

”Oh, I once worked as a dockworker for Lord Bern. Knowing his connection with the circus, I didn’t ask for the pay and instead got a recommendation letter from him, hehe.”

This explanation was irrefutable; it was quite reasonable. Even if the red-haired had more questions, he couldn’t continue asking.

”Let’s go to the boss then!” The green-nosed and mournful-faced clowns broke the silence.

So, they all headed towards Brava’s tent.

The red-haired walked behind, pulling Igor aside, ”Did you really just meet this guy this morning?”

Igor laughed helplessly, ”We really just met not long ago, you can ask him!”

Quinn noticed the sly demeanor of the red-haired clown but didn’t mind. Having joined the circus now, he was quite happy.

”The captain said being a clown means forgetting who we are, right?” Quinn asked the green-nosed and mournful-faced clowns beside him.

”Yeah.” The green-nosed replied languidly, feeling tired.

”Why look so lethargic? Joining the circus should be a joyous matter!” Quinn was confused.

”Hehe, you’ll find out soon enough. It’s not so easy to forget yourself!”

”Hehe, I find it quite simple!” Quinn said.

Everyone paused to look at him in surprise, even the red-haired stopped.

”Am I wrong? It’s really simple!”

”You say it’s simple, but where’s the simplicity?” The red-haired rebutted. He’s been here a month and still couldn’t detach from being a clown.

”What we struggle most to leave behind is who we are, but this ’who’ is usually just a name. A name is merely a label, isn’t it? As long as we feel our existence, what does it matter? With power, you can do anything.”

”You say that, but our name and identity are inseparable, how can we separate them so easily?”

”Hehe, whether we have power or not, we’re always following orders, aren’t we? So as long as we aren’t ordering ourselves, everything’s resolved!”