Is this a Circus?

{POV: Charybdis 'Vel'}

A few years have passed since I first stepped foot in Dwargon and life has been mostly repetitive.

In the dwarven nation, I, 'Vel', kept working successfully for the department of technology, now a Senior Runic Engineer, I headed a small team of engineers in the projects handed to me. I didn't even need the salary anymore, because of the revenue generated by my books, but I kept working, in order to use the laboratories and other facilities for my private runic research.

Now that I was up to date with the current public dwarven knowledge on runes, I had to actually experiment and research in order to find new uses and applications for runes, and to further the currently incomplete general runic theory.

My subordinates were learning at a steady pace, and were already able to teach the basics to all the useless monsters living in my territory.

After the fiasco that was the Magicule Accelerator project, for which I created the MCC80s, the whole project was shelved. Apparently, they did not realize how big and expensive the contraption would have to be to work, and they did not have the resources to finalize it.

Even through that failure, my cables actually sprouted an idea for a bigger project. The ManaWeb project consisted of creating a wide network of cables that connected the citizens of Dwargon to Ambient Mana Absorber Centrals, giving every household a stable source of a powerful mana current to power the more complex machines that normal people couldn't activate for significant periods of time.

This is a very big project that is predicted to take a few decades of work until completion. Me and my team were assigned a permanent spot on the ManaWeb development, and were currently trying to upgrade the efficiency of the cables.

Everyone around me thought I had given up on rune clusters, they thought it was some kind of weird naive obsession that was better left behind. Privately I kept researching, but frustratingly, I wasn't able to create one as of yet.

In Velest, I, 'Charybdis', had ordered for the creation of fields, to grow various types of food. The reasons for this were twofold. First, in order to grow Tyriana manaberry, a very rich soil was needed, and second, a high density of ambient magicules was also required. To achieve the second point, I needed a bigger monster population, and for that, I needed enough food to feed a bigger population.

The goblins, realizing they now had more than enough food for survival, started copulating like rabbits. Their population was growing so quickly, that I had to create one of the first laws of Velest.

The Excessive Goblin Population law states that a female goblin may have no more than one child in their life and may only get pregnant after their 25th birthday. Named goblins, or evolutions of the species are not affected by this law.

They were not the only ones repopulating, but all other races did so at a much more desirable pace. Except the serpentfolk. The development of the eggs was very slow, and once the egg was outside, it required a great amount of magicules from the parents, incapacitating at least one of them for years.

Only one puny, but cute little serpent baby had hatched, but he was much stronger than all babies from other races, so the time he took to be born was debatably worth it.

During this time, Naga came to me with a beautiful rainbow colored crystal that the miners had found. It was called Bismuth, and its form was very angular. The stair-shaped, rectangular spirals that composed the metal made it look like some kind of ancient complex building.

It wasn't very common, but it wasn't as rare as magic ore for example. We had apparently found some, but to the blacksmith, Cackll's knowledge, it was very brittle and so, not useful in weapons. Its mana transferring speed was the slowest of all known metals, and so it was considered a useless trinket.

After some experimentation, I found that, despite it being very slow at absorbing, it was equally as slow at releasing. With some absorption runes, carefully calibrated and connected so I could channel and absorb separately, I had created the first prototype of a Magicule Storage Device.

After a few months, with various different materials and runes, I finished the MSD. It was a gray rectangular prism that fit in my palm. The mana it stored could be absorbed for immediate use by an individual, or by a machine created with an MSD port. Of course, currently there were none with one of those.

I could also name more monsters with less risk to myself if I used enough MSD units, depending on the strength of the unnamed.

If Trygna knew about this, she would definitely squeal with happiness, but unfortunately for her, I will keep this exclusively in Velest for now.

In the center of my territory, the first city of Velest was being erected. In the middle, a gigantic space was left for the majestic castle of my dreams, still being designed by Raven, and around it, many different buildings, with different purposes, connected by wide roads.

It was still in the early stages, but many monsters already lived in the completed smaller houses, and worked in the forges, laboratories, boutiques, kitchens, training areas, and others. I could already imagine the grandeur of my first city when it's completed.

I was working on the creation of a remote monitoring device that I could use with my subskill, [Runic Telepathy], when I noticed a stronger than average aura that I did not recognize.

"Naga. I'm going to leave for a second. Keep working on the runic sensor.". I turned my back to the table full of various metals, carved with different runes and Naga, that was currently carving lines connecting analysis and communication runes to an Information rune.

The lamia paused for less than a second. "Yes my lady. Please enjoy your peaceful stroll through the woods.". Her voice was full of mirth as she teased me, implying I was simply being lazy.

My closest subordinates, mainly the pale snake I was leaving behind, had gotten over the initial shock of my incredible power and acted in a more personal, but still respectful way towards me. For some reason I didn't particularly mind the extra warmth in her voice recently.

I took off, flying through the sky in the direction of the forest. Some of the monsters living in Velest had asked me why I didn't use my wings, even though they made me go faster and move more nimbly through the air. The reason wasn't very deep. I simply didn't feel like using them most of the time. They also made me a bigger target and easier to see in the sky.

Below the canopy of the trees, I spotted two figures. One of them was an unnamed gnoll that liked to hunt alone, and the other, had long gray ears and was dressed with a beaked yellow mask, an expensive looking white overcoat, yellow undershirt with a red bowtie and green pants. I focused on hearing what they were saying.

The masked 'gray elf', as I decided to call him, was gesticulating all over the place, pointing his cane everywhere, seemingly frustrated. "...What do you mean you don't want a name from me? I am millions of times stronger than you, a god in comparison to your feeble self. I offer you the path to unlimited power and you refuse it? Can you not understand the folly in which you are engaging?...".

Before he could continue in his delusional rant, the gnoll answered him. "You are much weaker than my leader. And she promised to give me a name if I beat the others. That's why I'm in the forest alone, to get stronger faster than the other cowards.".

That was probably a bad thing to say in front of such a prideful narcissist. My opinion was validated when he raised his left hand, forming a pink [Mana Bullet] and yelled "DIE" as he released it. I descended quickly in order to stop the bullet while the gnoll futilely tried to jump away from the trajectory of the attack.

"Boom", a little crater formed in the ground beneath my feet, as I stopped the weak attack with a small magic shield. The gnoll stared wide eyed like an idiot before I told him to leave. As he ran, I looked at the masked individual in front of me, who stared back in silence. I imagine him standing there, open mouthed at my glorious appearance.

He adjusted his white top hat and cleared his throat. "You must be his leader… Um… As a fellow powerful being like myself, I'm sure you understand that all I wanted was to help, am I right?...". The change in his attitude made me smirk at him, and I crossed my arms under my chest.

I didn't believe him for a second, but for the sake of figuring out why this guy was offering a random monster something as important and risky as a name, I pretended to. "Oh, absolutely. I'm sure there is no nefarious plan behind your actions. Although, I am curious about your reasons for doing this."

He shifted slightly, twirling his cane in his fingers slowly, probably to hide his nervousness in front of my vastly reduced aura. "Yes, well. I believe it's only polite to introduce ourselves first, before we continue. My name is Gelmud".

He was probably just trying to gain time for something, either waiting for reinforcements or to think of a good excuse for threatening a subordinate of mine.

"Excuse my rudeness then. My name is 'Vel'. I'm sure it's a pleasure for you to meet me, Gelmud.". He held a guarded stance, holding his cane very tightly with his gloved hand. "I would like for you to tell me why you're giving names to random unremarkable monsters in the middle of the forest?."

He really isn't in the mood to answer my question, going by how far the cane is being buried in the ground from the force of his hand. "Well, miss Vel, it's simple, really. I'm doing this because…", he suddenly jerks his head, looking over my head, points his cane at the sky and yells in a desperate voice. 

"CHARYBDIS"

What??? What does he mean? I was completely stunned for a second. It's not possible for me to be behind myself? Did he somehow figure out who I am? How would he even do that?

'Boom', another explosion sounded in front of me, and a big cloud of dirt rose from the ground. I could no longer see him, but I felt him running away and taking flight.

I turned my [Thought Acceleration] to the maximum and the fleeing coward's body stayed almost static mid-air.

This lucky fool chose my name to distract me. The probability that he would say one of the only names that could stun me like this must be astronomically small.

And then, this disgusting, weak piece of garbage believes he can run away from the Great Charybdis? I could catch this weakling in a second and destroy him in the same length of time. And I really want to do so as well, but, logically, he is definitely in service to someone else, and if I want to figure out who is looking for trouble in my territory, and eliminate said threat, it would be wiser to simply follow him.

Reducing the speed of my thoughts to a more normal level, I flew behind the arrogant elf, keeping my distance and using light magic to hide myself to the best of my ability. At one point, the coward looked behind him. Not seeing my form, distorted by magic and hiding in the canopies of the forest, he exhaled deeply and changed direction, turning to Jistav and flying away.

Very interesting. What does the dark elf country want in my father's forest? I don't really see what the demon lord of curses would want from the forest. It's much more work than it's worth for him. There must be some kind of deeper reason behind it.

It could be a resource shortage, however unlikely that was, if the legends of the elves preserving their advanced technology in the city of Amrita were true. It could be a political reason, to gain power with the other demon lords. It could be a foolishly ambitious territory expansion. There were a lot of possible reasons, but I don't have enough information to make a good guess.

The masked idiot landed, in a small clearing, and a small masked pink clown appeared from behind the trees. Were these imbeciles part of some kind of intelligence gathering group? The masks did hide their identity, but that didn't necessarily mean they were spies. At least Gelmud did not behave like one.

Weirdly enough, the twin-tail haired girl with the tear mask, began whispering to Gelmud, as if scared that someone was listening in to their conversation. I guess that was a good decision since I am here, watching them secretly.

'Paaam', a yellow blur hit me so quickly that I couldn't even react. I was launched through several trees, breaking them in half, and creating a series of craters on the ground with each impact.

Damn, that hurts. The yellow spinning wheel wasn't done yet however, as he sped up in my direction yet again.

I dodged to the side, getting up in the process and looked at the trio of masked people in front of me. The spinner stopped rotating to the right of Gelmud, and was revealed to be a fat yellow clown with an angry mask on his face.

"Ho ho ho…" the lard ball laughs obnoxiously, "... What is this? It seems we have a fishy situation on our hands, ho ho ho…". Did this bloated excuse of a bouncing ball just call me a mere fish?

"Yes, yes…", the pink pipsqueak nodded, exaggerating her head motion, "... There's 'no-fin' more scary than a wide eyed stalker.". She put her hands on the sides of her face, mimicking a scandalized expression that would probably work a lot better, had she been unmasked. "But why is she following our friend I wonder?", she asks, her voice filled with a sickening sarcasm, "Oh… Gelmud seems to have a secret admirer. Isn't that 'Jaws-ome'?"

Ugh. I should kill these clowns for their disrespectful jokes, but unfortunately, I still have my concerns about what Jistav is planning for the forest. I begin to open my mouth, but am interrupted before I can even say anything.

The pink clown shot towards me in a surprisingly quick maneuver. Her speed wasn't even close to the rotund clown's first attack, but it was still faster than most of my subordinates. All three of them must be relatively strong named beings.

I blocked her punch with my left hand and she immediately dropped to the ground and attempted to strike my legs with her foot. Her gracious way of fighting was almost like a dance.

At the same time, the obese clown quickly rushed me from the opposite side and threw a punch, and Gelmud launched a mana bullet bigger than himself, wildly off target. Must have terrible aim. He did look like the weakest of the three.

I swatted the small clown away with my tail, but the fat arm throwing a punch to my right side accelerated impossibly quickly, making me throw my arms up, protecting my face as quickly as possible, instead of intercepting the attack as I had planned.

He was clearly the strongest of the two melee fighters, as with just one punch, I was pushed back a few meters. 'Boom'. The off course bullet hit me and sent me flying a couple meters. My [Ultraspeed Regeneration] undid all damage dealt by the infuriating clowns fighting me, but the attacks still hurt a little bit. It was very annoying.

Gelmud was either incredibly lucky, or very skilled in predicting enemy movement and working in a team. I was inclined to believe the former. He was definitely an incompetent idiot, from what he has shown me before.

Also, his [Mana Bullet] wasn't completely blocked by [Mana Jamming], because apparently, it's not a magic attack, but a battlewill one. I don't completely understand this family of arts, but magicules only play a part in the attack, and are not the majority of what composes a bullet, therefore surpassing the jamming ability.

I focused on the bigger threat, the yellow clown, unfurled my purple-blue wings and rushed as quickly as I could in his direction with my fist pulled back, to punch him in the gut.

He could barely react to me, flying through the dust cloud the bullet created and I hit him right on target. With the impact of my fist, an explosion occurred, resulting from [torpedo], amplifying the force of the attack, and sending the angry clown flying backwards.

Dodging various smaller mana bullets, I ducked under the sad clown's punch and slapped her away with the back of my hand, causing another smaller explosion. My eye shone red as I was about to completely incapacitate Gelmud with my [Wicked Light Ray], which disperses magicules, making it very effective against magicule dependent life, when he started shouting.

"Tear! Punch her!". Huh… What could she even do about this? She was clearly weaker than the other clown, so why ask for her specifically?

As it turns out, there was an intelligent reason to call out for her. She came running and hit my hand again, except this time, it was way more powerful. My feet made streaks of dirt on the ground as her punch moved me a bit to the side and my laser failed its target by around a meter.

The resulting explosions still affected the beaked fool, and he was thrown against a tree, his clothes burned in some places, exposing bruises and light bleeding.

Was she hiding her strength, or was there some condition she needed to use the boost in power? It could be something that activates when your allies are in danger, or maybe when ordered, or asked to do something. It makes sense if she was feigning weakness, only to then attack at an opportune moment, catching the opponent off guard.

The problem with that strategy was that the strength she was hiding was still weak. Or simply not good enough to pass through my block, enhanced with the gnomes 'support' magic.

The yellow clown rolled quickly and stopped in front of Gelmud, preparing to defend his fallen comrade. I grabbed Tear's wrist, and threw her in his direction. She twisted and twirled in the air and landed on the ground gracefully with her arms up.

I thought of how to solve this situation without angering a dangerous demon lord while also gathering the information I require. I suppose first I should stop the fight entirely and try to reason yet again. Maybe they will be more reasonable after witnessing my majestic battle prowess.

I cross my arms under my chest. "It seems we have started on the wrong foot…", the angry clown made a slight exhale noise that I ignored, "... My name is Vel, as I have already told your friend Gelmud, and all I want to know is why he was trying to name a random monster in the middle of the Jura forest."

The biggest clown lifts his left hand, silencing the already silent Tear, and nods a few times to no one. After a few silent seconds, he bowed, putting his right hand over his heart. "Ho ho ho ho. My name is Footman.", he rises and spreads his arms open, "I am a member of the Harlequin Moderate Alliance, the one they call the Angry Pierrot!"

"And I am Tear!", Tear unhelpfully provided with her shrill voice.

Footman rubbed his hands together. "It appears that you have stumbled into a secret of ours. But…", he dramatically clapped his hands. "... our boss has seen you worthy of meeting his esteemed self. He says that if you follow us to his mansion, he might have an answer for you, and perhaps, we can all profit from this encounter. Ho ho ho ho…"

I suppose meeting with the lord of curses would be interesting, if dangerous. I believe that, in an emergency, I should be able to at least escape flying. I wasn't called 'Ruler of the Skies' for nothing after all. And considering all the runic technology they are said to have, the benefits outweigh the risks.

"I accept your proposal, Footman of the Harlequin Moderate Alliance. I hope for a fruitful relationship with your leader, for many years to come.", I said with a smile on my lips.

I couldn't see it, but I imagined the angry pierrot also had a smile on his face.