TTIGRAAS: Predator

Chapter 19

Ahaha... so, we may have gotten a little carried away with this chapter. It... escalates. Enjoy~!

-Watcher (and Mu)

We were in the shopping district for hours, Eren dragging me around all the buildings so she could make me wear everything in sight. A bunch of it was super girly too, and as much as I tried to resist, I couldn't really say no to Eren when she was this happy.

The two guys had clearly been through this before, waiting patiently and chatting with themselves while Eren tortured me by using me as a dress-up doll. Really guys... I thought, glaring at them, no help here? At all?

Kaval definitely picked up on my gaze, but he just averted his eyes and started whistling awkwardly.

Hey! I fumed inwardly, look me in the eye when you're abandoning me!

After a while Eren rushed off to ask the shop owner something, my useless escorts trailing behind. I was about to follow when a large crash caught my attention.

Looking out the window, I saw the crash was from a cymbal–a man wearing bright colors and carrying all sorts of instruments was marching through the street, shouting loudly.

"Come one, come all!" He shouted, "witness the greatest performing magician in the land! Starting now at Barnaby Square!"

I didn't know who "Barnaby" was, but with [Magic Sense] I could see the show getting started not far from here. A magician, huh? Watching magicians in my old world was fun but in a world with real magic? There was no way I could miss this!

I'll just take a peek, I thought. I'll be back before they even notice I'm gone.

Anything to get out of the dress-up hell I was in.

Slipping out of the shop, I made my way toward the square where the magician was apparently performing. A lot of people had already gathered in front of a wooden stage with a big curtain hiding the performers, though I could see them just fine with [Magic Sense].

I managed to push my way to the front of the crowd, so I had a great view of the stage. [Magic Sense] would have guaranteed that either way, but this was pretty good for human eyes, too.

All of a sudden some musicians off to the side started rapidly beating a drumroll, and the crowd hushed as all eyes turned toward the stage.

"Presenting Master Vulpus, the greatest magician in all of Englesia!" An assistant announced before moving aside with a gesture to the middle of the stage.

"Good evening Rura!" A booming voice called as the curtain parted and a burly man wearing flashy robes came out on stage. The crowd let out a massive cheer, and I was starting to feel a bit excited myself.

The guy on stage, the magician I assumed, had a glittering masquerade-style mask in the shape of a fox covering his eyes. "As always, thank you for coming out! It's always a pleasure to perform for your wonderful city. Now, without further ado!"

With a flurry of gestures, he created a sparkling gold ball of light and tossed it high in the air, where it burst into a colorful display of magic.

What was all that hand-waving about? I wondered.

[[Answer: Human beings require incantations to cast magic. It seems this individual has created a means of gestural incantation to avoid verbal chanting.]]

Oh. I felt some pity for him... thank goodness I didn't need to remember any lengthy spells to cast something like Icicle Lance.

Still, this man was working around that little difficulty in a pretty neat, showy way–that was definitely impressive.