One-Eyed Monster

Quinn couldn’t calm down for a long time after listening to what Stanley said...

To think that the Craftsman Spirit he’d racked his brains to find was actually right here among his own people—now that was really ironic.

Stanley didn’t even dare breathe loudly right now. This Master Clown was at his most terrifying when he was silent. Stanley had no idea what would happen next, but he knew one thing for sure: he absolutely could not provoke this Master Clown again.

Quinn sometimes shook his head, sometimes closed his eyes in frustration, an intense struggle raging in his heart. This struggle was a negation of his past self and also a spur for his future; he knew he had neglected his own team, forgotten these subordinates by his side...

Next, he had to set those mistakes right.

Quinn let out a sigh. What a ridiculous mess!

"This isn’t entirely your fault either!" Quinn’s inner conflict had come to a pause; the matter in front of him needed to be dealt with, and he couldn’t afford to be careless.

"My lord!" Stanley didn’t know what to say. He was tiptoeing around every word now, terrified that Lord Quinn would get mad and Devour him in a fit of rage.

"Now that I know what’s going on, you don’t have to be so tense. I really didn’t expect that the Craftsman Spirit we needed would be right here at our side. If I’d known, why would I have bothered going to the trouble of using the Puppet Master!"

Stanley still didn’t dare breathe loudly. After all, the situation wasn’t clear yet, and he still didn’t know whether this Lord Quinn in front of him would blow up.

"Alright, don’t keep that stiff face on. Think about how we’re going to trick those two guys outside." Quinn patted Stanley on the shoulder, signaling him to relax.

Stanley’s mind was a complete mess. How was he supposed to think right now? He could barely take care of himself, let alone worry about those two guys outside. Quinn was really overestimating his abilities.

"What, no ideas?" Quinn was obviously dissatisfied with Stanley’s continued silence, his tone growing a bit heavier.

The moment his tone hardened, Stanley was scared stiff; his legs gave out and he dropped straight to his knees. "Spare my life, my lord! Spare my life!"

Quinn was baffled. What nerve had snapped in this guy? His face was full of terror, and he couldn’t even respond like a normal person anymore.

"Get up, what are you doing!"

"Spare my life, my lord!" Stanley didn’t dare get up. As soon as he heard even the slightest edge in Quinn’s voice, he felt this Master Clown would fly into a rage and then Devour him!

Quinn was at a loss for words. How had this subordinate suddenly turned into this? Was he really that terrifying to look at?

"If you don’t get up and talk properly, I’ll dig out the Spirit Core in your body and Devour it!" Quinn said sternly; he really had no other choice!

As soon as Stanley heard this, he was scared into leaping to his feet, then stared blankly at Quinn!

"What is wrong with you people!" Quinn was so angry his teeth were chattering; he truly hadn’t expected something like this to happen.

"Your power grows a bit and suddenly you all think you can soar to the heavens, huh? One of you disappears for so long without a trace, and you over here are this useless—asking a simple question turns into such a muddy, drawn-out mess. You’ve really let me down."

Quinn’s complaints made Stanley feel awful. Right now he was absolutely terrified of this Master Clown. After all, an anomaly like this appearing in his Circus was his dereliction of duty. It was his failure to have Brava completely Devour that Clown that led to this!

Now Stanley felt that only by showing his resolve could he gain Lord Quinn’s forgiveness!

"Rest assured, my lord, once I go out I’ll assist Brava in peeling that guy’s skin off. I refuse to believe we can’t handle a mere ordinary human!"

"Idiot!" Quinn got even angrier when he heard that. He wondered if any of his subordinates were reliable at all—why were they all this unbelievably stupid?

Stanley immediately shut his mouth. He didn’t dare say another word. This time he didn’t even dare kneel, because he was afraid that if the Master Clown saw him kneeling, he’d Devour him on the spot. After all, the Master Clown had just thrown down a harsh threat...

"Do you have any idea how important a Craftsman Spirit is? That guy is our treasure now. We have to treat him like a prized offering and slowly, carefully get a hold of that Craftsman Spirit in him!"

Stanley nodded. That was all he could do now, afraid he’d say the wrong thing again.

"In a bit, I’ll go make contact with that guy and pull Brava out of him. Brava’s Spirit Core is too vicious; we can’t let him destroy that Craftsman Spirit’s Spirit Core any further!"

"Yes, I’ll make the arrangements!" Stanley finally let out a long breath. At last he didn’t have to come up with any ideas himself. This was much better; it saved everyone trouble.

"As for those two weirdos, let them hang for now. Just don’t let them leave our sight. From the looks of it, they can’t stir up much of a storm anyway."

"Alright, I’ll go curse them out later to vent some anger!"

"No need to go that far. For now just go along with what they want. They just want to be Wandering Bards, right? Then grant their wish!"

"But we don’t have any Wandering Bards here..." Stanley felt the matter was getting tricky. The Circus didn’t have any Wandering Bards at all, so how were they supposed to teach those two to become Wandering Bards?

"We’re just giving them that identity. Who said we’re actually going to turn them into real Wandering Bards? Use your brain and be a little flexible!" Quinn suddenly felt his subordinate was unbearably dense.

"Oh." Stanley lowered his head in shame. In front of Lord Quinn, it was safer to act a bit more dim-witted.

"Next I’ll remove the barrier. You need to loudly reprimand me, and then drag those two guys in to scold them as well. That’s all."

"Uh... what exactly should I reprimand you for?" Stanley asked cautiously.

"Whatever you want. Do I need to teach you even this?" Quinn rolled his eyes. This was disgusting.

"If I reprimand you, my lord, that’s the same as denying what you said about forgetting yourself..." Stanley carefully voiced his concern; he truly didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

"Your brains!" Quinn was furious. He hadn’t expected his subordinates’ minds to be this dull, unable to make even the tiniest turn!

"Please instruct me, my lord!" Stanley still plastered on a fawning smile. At this point, as long as he wasn’t punished, he could endure anything else.

"Ugh, I give up on you lot! Just say everything is going according to plan, that I shouldn’t think having Lord Bern’s letter of recommendation gives me the right to explain away everything about the Circus however I like, and tell those two not to be so damn impatient about every little thing! That’s all!" Quinn was truly helpless with his subordinates; even now he had to handhold them through ’improvisation.’