"I ask you once again. WHO ARE YOU?" Teres became agitated.
Claire also wanted to ask, but she managed to calm down. Both of them were like this because the clown man looked strong. When they unleashed their magic, the clown didn't block it. There was simply no movement and he just disappeared into the air. At the time they wondered where he went, the clown suddenly popped out of nowhere. He looked unscathed while telling
everyone his terrible plan playfully.
They also were alerted that the clown was capable of doing more. Claire and Teres were racking their brains, but they still didn't find a clue regarding the true identity of this man. If he was just a weak lackey, nobody would remember him. But the fact that he could enter the venue and appeared suddenly at the podium made everything clear. The man should be highly dangerous and they should treat him carefully.
The two leaders didn't have any memory regarding the clown, even their team members were confused of the identity of the intruder. Only Baston knew Joker better than everyone here. With just a simple gesture, the people believed this was really a person and not a controlled puppet. The clown then only smirked and replied to Teres.
"My name is Joker. Have I been telling you before or you have a trouble on your hearing?"
"Don't mock me!" Teres cast a fireball, yet it missed again when the puppet disappeared.
"Such a bad manner, you should keep your emotion in check or else, you will fall into someone's trap," Joker suddenly showed himself at another place.
"You! I swear in my family name that I will hunt you down!"
"Stop it!" Claire tried to calm him down, "Don't get flustered by it. He does it on purpose…"
Claire then gulped down, thinking the best action they could do. It would bring many casualties if they fought here. During the first encounter, she couldn't detect his whereabouts. It was simply like he disappeared in the thin air before showing himself at another place. This man of caliber should be stronger than them, but he never attacked anyone here. The clown just played
with them casually. They were just simply like fish on chopping board.
"Sir Joker, since you already have what you want in this auction, why you don't just leave yet?" Claire probed.
"You're right. I don't have any business again in this place, but I'm just quite bored right now. How about we play a game?" Joker
then pointed to one man nearby, "You, the bald man who looks rich enough. Let's
play question and answer's game!"
"What?" the man was startled, "I… I don't know the rules…"
"It's easy. I ask and you answer. When it's your turn, you ask and I will answer. If you don't want to answer it, just say so. The premise is if I answer your question honestly, you also need to answer honestly too."
Everyone was dumbfounded because Joker suddenly announced the rules of the game. It seemed simple, yet both of Claire and Teres didn't think so. Still, they didn't have any choice because the man was just stronger than them. They should be thankful if he kept them alive. In this case, everyone focused on the clown and the bald man while Baston focused on controlling the two puppets.
This time, Baston wanted to convince everyone into this drama. The clown was one puppet while the bald man was the other one. By simply making the conversation between them, no one would notice the situation was peculiar. In this case, he just needed to make the two puppets became the focus in this auction while he silently controlled them from behind the stage.
"Because I'm benevolent enough, you can start first. Just ask me one question and I will answer it," Joker started, staring at the bald
man.
"Then… What is your purpose of coming here?" the bald man looked nervous.
"I'm coming here to steal the ice bead…" Joker simply answered, "My turn then. What is your purpose of coming here?"
"Of course, I'm coming here to join the fun here!" the bald man answered confidently.
"Really? Why are you lying? You come here to have an affair with a certain woman, right?"
"How? How did you know that?" the bald man was terrified.
"Because you don't answer my question honestly, then the curse will fall upon you…"
Before the bald man could replied, he shrieked loudly, making everyone around him shocked terrifyingly. The man grabbed his face before wailing until something changed in his body. His skin began to grow fur, followed by scale and feather. The happening on him was very bizarre because it seemed he fell on curse and started to change into the monster. With just 15
seconds performance, Baston snapped his finger silently and then, the bald man
suddenly combusted into smithereens. He left no corpse and just disappeared in the air. Everyone who saw it was struck by panic. Their fears immediately intensified when they faced death themselves.
"No, we are going to die!"
"Please, help us!"
"I don't want to die! I still have a good future wait for me!"
In this situation, everyone wanted to quickly escape from the place. They eventually forgot about what was Joker said before. Joker then slowly clapped his hands among the commotions, making everyone focused on him again.
"Good… Good… If you want to run, go ahead. I will be waiting here, enjoying when the explosion blasted through your own body…"
With just a simple statement, the cold water seemingly poured on top of their heads in a sudden. Because of panic attack, they forgot what was waiting for them at the outside. The atmosphere soon turned into heavy when
the people around felt hopeless. They were weeping hard just like they couldn't avoid their imminent deaths. Both of Claire and Teres wanted to attack him as soon as possible, but inside their hearts, they knew they would die when the clown started to get serious.
"Alright, let's play another round. I promise it's the last one because I don't have enough time to be here."
The people around slowly saw the light in those words. The meaning of last round should be that he only needed one more person to play with him before he completely left. At this time, they stopped their crying
because they were afraid that they would be picked by lunatic. Panto and Rembrant also didn't dare to let their voices came out from their mouth, but Baston knew their efforts would be meaningless since he had his own plan. He had to apologize first, but there was no way to avoid this conclusion.
"You! Let's play the last round…" Joker pointed to Rembrant.
"What? Me? No!!!" Rembrant was horrified.
His opponents quickly gloated on his fate while his friends could only lament his unfortunate moment. They thought Rembrant would die at this time, but who knew that the fat boy who accompanied him before suddenly moved in front of Rembrant bravely. He blocked Joker's sight before saying something.
"Let me be your participant!" Baston said confidently amidst many anxieties in the surrounding, "You won't regret it…"
"Well… Looks like there's a hero among us," Joker laughed happily, "Are you sure you want to replace him? You might have the same fate as the bald man before."
"Yes, I'm sure…"
"Baston…" Panto wanted to stop him, yet his hands couldn't move because of fear.
In front of people, Baston walked ahead alone to the podium. They could see his lonely back, welcoming his sure death. Some of them might pity him, but they didn't want to comment on it because they were afraid that they would become the next sacrifice. It was better for someone to be the lamb so they didn't need to lose their lives. Just two lives tonight were enough and
there was no need to be another hero. Claire and Teres couldn't stop it since they themselves was afraid to be implicated. Before they knew for sure the enemy in front of them, it was better to act carefully.
"Ha… ha… ha… I'm very happy to see the brave one here…" Joker clapped his hands hardly, "Let's begin this round then. You can ask first and I will answer your question…"
Baston breathed in and out before uttered something, "What will you use the ice bead for?"
Joker smirked, "I'm going to freeze one big area so I need the ice bead for my plan."
"One big area? What is it? Where it will be?" Claire and Teres thought the same thing.
Both of them wanted to know the rest, but Joker didn't give it a chance before asking his question to Baston, "My turn now… What are you going to do with the money from this ice bead?"
"I'm going to spend it for the best inn and eat many delicious dishes…"
Joker was waiting for a while before he commented, "That's it? No more statements?"
"Yes…"
"Don't be like that. I already told the truth, but you only answered it with half-truth. You might get cursed on it, even though the effect might be lessened."
"ARRGHHHH!!!"
Before everyone could contemplate what the meaning, Baston groaned in pain while grabbing his head. He rolled around the floor just like a madman. Deep inside his heart, he was embarrassed of doing such performance, yet he had to convince everyone here for his plan to succeed. Looking at the painful fat boy, no one dared to approach him. They were afraid the curse would also afflict them. In 30 seconds, Baston acted like this. He rolled multiple
times to make sure everyone would assume the pain was unbearable.
Joker slowly looked at the time and snapped his finger, "Too bad my time is up. You're very lucky this time to avoid your doom. Then without further ado, excuse me…"
Just like a gentleman, he bowed down to people here and he suddenly disappeared from their eyes. Claire and Teres scanned the area but they found there was no trace of magic. The clown simply vanished into
nothingness. It was quite bizarre plus his method of killing made him a unique and lunatic person. Both of them then checked Baston to make sure he was still alive.
"He's alright, but I don't find any wound on him," Teres was confused.
"It's nothing weird because that clown's method is simply bizarre on his doing. Just the first victim left nothing. This fat boy is lucky enough to survive," Claire replied.
"Yeah, you're right. We have to inform the council about this."
"Let's make a report together. I'm pretty sure they will acknowledge it once the same reports are handed to them."
Both of their members then scanned around to make sure the safety of the venue. After that, they treaded carefully what was happening at outside. They were surprised because there seemed nothing at there. Before, the clown had already told them about the explosion, yet at this time, they found nothing on it. They concluded since he was gone, the traps put outside was also
gone with him.
It was a misunderstanding because there was really nothing at outside in the beginning. Baston just made a lie over the people so it would increase their anxieties. Everyone fell into his cheap trick, but no one
realized it which was very good on him. While everyone was busy rushing out
from the venue, Baston still acted unconscious in the front. He waited until
there were only a few people here before waking up slowly. Still, he groaned for a second before getting unconscious again. It would convince everyone here that the curse was unbelievably strong.
To his savior, Rembrant then wasted no time to send him to the best healer in the city. He wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to young master Baston. The old man also booked the best inn with the best treatment in the city. It was expensive for sure, but no money was enough when Baston sacrificed himself to replace him. He was very grateful to him so this was the best thing he could do for him at present.