The Last Gentleman
Chapter 509: William’s Request

About the possibility of the Circus opening a new department centered around the newcomer William, the attendees had heard rumors to a varying extent, but they didn’t pay too much attention, as similar situations had occurred in the past only to be halted due to insufficient ability.

Unexpectedly, this time, the boss pointed it out directly at the Devil’s Banquet, clearly determined to establish a new department.

At the same time, he threw an immensely difficult, almost impossible opportunity to William.

"Intermission"

At the official opening of the Circus, as each performance would bring extreme visual shocks, the audience must be given time to rest and recover.

This time slot seemed rather appealing, and the boss even stated there were no specific demands; however, the hidden difficulty behind it was extremely high.

The intense performances often exhausted the audiences’ physical and mental stamina,

Using the intermission, the audience would slowly recuperate by self-restoration, eating food distributed by the receptionist, and even injecting medication.

To insert a non-essential performance in such a situation not only yielded poor effects but also couldn’t even pull the audience’s attention from the outstanding performance they had just witnessed.

Having never taken part in an official show, William might not be able to consider all these issues, but he knew the boss gave him only this one chance,

If he declined, he might never get a similar opportunity again.

What the boss wanted to see was perhaps this kind of decisive courage... If one couldn’t even grasp the opportunity, let alone dare to touch it, naturally they wouldn’t qualify for the chief’s position.

The boss’s black hair and pupils fixed on William, "What are you still sitting here for? The Circus is officially opening tomorrow.

Although there will be a day to set up the scene and wait for the full entry of the audience, for you, this single day almost doesn’t even leave a chance for a dress rehearsal, so seize the time to do what you need to do."

"Yes!"

William left the hall under the lead of a poker-faced individual.

Shortly after his departure,

Pfft~ Hahaha! The Clown Art suddenly burst into laughter, his finger sweeping over the crowd.

"Hey! Is it that funny? The dishes we old-timers made were almost completely beaten by a youngster, all thanks to Jian saving our face."

"Boss, William does have a talent for cooking," Catherine followed up with a comment.

On the other side, the Beast Tamer Zock added, "We Madmen are adept in various fields, and William is among the best of us. His dark brain is more exquisite than any other Madman I’ve seen; even I can’t see through the maze at a glance.

If he concentrates on one thing, he is bound to do it well.

And, these dumplings are too delicious! Can the boss arrange for William to cook for us once a week, or even better, twice?"

Although Mr. Rabbit didn’t join the conversation, he kept adjusting his tie or occasionally nodding his head in affirmation while standing with his hands folded in front.

When the discussion was nearly over, the boss interrupted,

"It seems that in the short month William has been here, he has already interacted with you all and even become quite familiar.

He’s managed his interpersonal relationships quite well~ With that being the case, the idea of opening a new department will be easier to realize.

His talent is beyond doubt, but whether he can show such talent to the world is yet to be seen.

The intermission of the formal performance is almost uncontrollable for a newcomer like him, let alone with only one day of preparation.

If he can seize this almost zero possibility and fully display his performance talent to the audience, such a talent deserves a special place in our Circus."

The attendees expressed firm agreement with the boss’s words.

"Boss, should we not consider the ’Transaction Seal’ on William?" asked Natalie, the former chief of the acrobats.

"Duke Garrison shares a goal similar to ours and maintains neutrality.

Moreover, if my body completely deteriorates, perhaps through William’s relationship, we could use the Duke’s funds to sustain the Circus’s operations.

After all, Duke Garrison was the only ’Plague Master’ who didn’t strike at me back then. Although he didn’t help much, that fat man is quite capable and closely connected to the world’s axis.

Such a talent like William wouldn’t escape that fat man’s discerning eye.

That’s enough for now; I wish you all the best for your performances tomorrow, cough cough cough! Timi, push me back, increase the injection dose to 120% later."

"Yes."

As the chief cook wheeled the boss away, everyone also got up in turn; with the relaxation provided by the Devil’s Banquet coming to an end, they were about to make the final preparations for tomorrow’s performance.

Catherine deliberately wiped off some liquid from the surface of the chair with a tissue as she stood up, pretending nothing was amiss as she returned to the Clown House... She had even more tasks than the other members.

Although the "tickets" had been distributed a few days ago,

there might still arise unexpected issues, causing some people to die en route and fail to attend, so Catherine needed to find a sufficient number of replacement audience members to ensure there was no uncertainty. -c

Her pace was faster than Beatt’s, and she got back to the Clown House first.

Just as she stepped back into the black and white factory building and was about to pull down a steel wire from the roof to lower a female dummy body, she suddenly turned her head towards the corner.

"Who’s there?"

"Catherine... Art hasn’t come back yet, has he?"

"William?"

From the corner, dressed head to toe in gentleman’s clothes to suppress his aura and using an iron chain mask to block perception, even Catherine, the master of the factory building, hadn’t noticed him immediately.

"What are you doing here? Why aren’t you getting ready for your performance? If you fail or make a mistake during the actual show, the consequences could be very severe..."

"You’re absolutely right, boss. One day’s prep is too rushed.

Even if I go back now and prepare hastily, I definitely won’t catch up. Lack of sleep and high tension might increase the likelihood of a mistake during the performance."

"Hey! You’re not thinking of asking me to help with a Nightmare Rehearsal, are you?

I’m really busy right now, needing to go to nearby cities to find a hundred replacement audience members to ensure not a single seat is wasted during the official performance."

"Of course, I know you’re busy... Can I come with you to find the audience?"

"Huh? Find replacement audience with you tagging along? Isn’t that a sheer waste of time?"

"No... My performance is scheduled for the halftime show.

That’s exactly when the audience will have just experienced a highly impactful major performance, and they might still be immersed in it, unable to extricate themselves.

Since there are no specific performance demands, I’ve decided to perform directly amongst the audience, focusing all my attention on ’interaction’.

As I just said, there’s too little time, so I can’t conduct effective rehearsals. The only thing I can ensure is my own condition, making sure I can perform at 100% on the spot.

The other thing is, before the performance starts, I want to interact with ’the audience’ as much as possible to assess the intensity of the audience during the actual show. If possible, I’d also like to get to know some of them a bit more."

"Fine, you can join me in screening for ’replacement audience’, but according to the Circus’s rules, our physical bodies can’t leave, we can only send clones carrying our consciousness to the surrounding cities.

Do you have that ability?"

As she spoke, Catherine pulled on the factory’s steel wire, and an unpolished living model fell to the ground.

Creak, creak~

She inserted the octopus tentacles in her palm into the back of the model’s head, and its once lifeless pupils immediately began to focus. Sparse hair also sprouted atop the bald head, and the face was slightly carved with realistic lines.

"A clone? I don’t need one of those."

"You didn’t understand, did you? The physical body can’t leave!"

"No... I mean I’m not going in person.

Catherine, do you remember the audience I purchased for my last performance? They’ve been completely educated by me, and the best of them has been ordered to stay in the Circus’s audience rest area. She will go with you to the nearby cities and will obediently follow by your side the entire time.

After returning, she will share what she saw and heard with me through the ’Knowledge’ domain."

"You..."

"This way, it’ll be more efficient. I also have to ask Senior Jian about some details of the performance. I’ll trouble you with this matter, Catherine. My student is by the exit, you’ll see her when you get there."

"For the sake of the delicious dumplings, I’ll reluctantly help you this once!

But if I find that your ’student’ does anything that could disrupt my screening of the audience, or even expose anything about the Circus, I’ll kill them on the spot."

"Good."

After giving a hug, William left straight away.

Left alone in the factory, Catherine actually felt quite satisfied with the hug, and it gave her even more motivation to work.

"Humph~ With just one day to prepare, I’m curious to see if you really are the genius who can display talent to the world, as the boss said, William. I know I couldn’t meet such an impossible demand."