Wes had also been transformed into a clown, though the huge smile painted across his face looked painfully awkward.
“Good afternoon, everyone!
Today, the Pure White Theatre Troupe will be giving a special preview performance!”
Dressed as a clown, Ron raised a magical megaphone and addressed the audience below.
“Our troupe will soon be reopening, so we’ll be inviting a lucky member of the audience onstage to help with today’s act.
There’ll even be a free prize!”
The moment the townspeople heard the word prize, they burst into applause and cheers.
The atmosphere quickly began to heat up.
Standing beside Ron, Wes dutifully clapped along with them.
He never would have imagined that after spending his entire career behind the scenes, he would eventually find himself onstage dressed as a clown.
Still, this was for the sake of the theatre troupe.
With only Ron and him left, he had little choice but to help.
“Now then, it’s time to choose our lucky volunteer!
Would anyone like to come up?”
The audience immediately began murmuring among themselves, but no one raised a hand.
“I will.”
Laxus, who had been standing several steps away from the rest of the crowd, lifted his hand first.
His expression remained as cold as ever, and his eyes never left Ron.
Every townsman in the audience turned toward the voice at once, their gazes landing on Laxus in perfect unison.
His brows furrowed.
Uncomfortable under all that enthusiastic attention, he turned his face slightly away.
Ron’s smile froze for the briefest instant before returning.
In fact, it stretched even wider, becoming more dazzling than before!
“Then please welcome our brave volunteer to the stage!”
Ignoring the crowd’s cheers, Laxus climbed onto the platform from the side.
He disliked attracting public attention, but he had volunteered anyway because he wanted a closer look at whatever Ron was plotting.
Laxus walked straight over and stopped beside him, fixing him with a glare sharp enough to stab holes through his skull.
Ron ignored it, though a bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
Without giving Laxus a chance to speak, he raised the magical megaphone toward the audience again.
“Let’s get right to it!
Today’s performance is the incredible Body-Separation Illusion!
Assistant, bring out the prop!”
Still wearing his painfully stiff smile, Wes pulled a tall rectangular box out from behind the curtain.
Two enormous question marks had been painted across its doors.
A clear horizontal slit divided the box through the middle, and a gleaming metal plate rested on top.
Wes dragged the box to the center of the stage, turned it around twice so the audience could inspect it, then set it upright.
He opened both doors, revealing an empty space just large enough to hold a child.
The townspeople began whispering among themselves.
“A magic-box trick?
Isn’t that a little old-fashioned?”
“Exactly.
Everyone knows it’s just stage trickery.”
“Shh!
Let them perform.”
Once Wes had finished displaying the box, Ron continued.
“This is our incredible Body-Separation Box!
Now, would our lucky volunteer please step inside?”
“Huh?”
Laxus stared at him.
The audience fell silent as well, their excitement draining into an awkward chill.
Ron lowered his smile, keeping the magical megaphone near his mouth as he turned toward Laxus.
“What?
You don’t want to?”
Then he threw back his head and laughed, patting his chest with exaggerated theatrical flair.
“I’m joking!
Of course we wouldn’t put you inside!”
The audience burst into cheerful laughter, and Ron instantly brought the mood back to life.
Wes continued clapping like a perfectly obedient stage prop.
Laxus’s face turned red.
Several veins throbbed on his forehead as he glared at Ron through clenched teeth.
‘You little bastard.
You’re making fun of me in front of an audience now?’
‘You’d better not give me a chance to humiliate you, or you’re finished!’
Ron stepped inside the box himself and continued speaking through the magical megaphone.
“Everyone, watch closely!
You won’t want to miss this!”
Wes approached and took the megaphone from him.
He then closed the lower door, hiding the inside of the box from the audience.
Pop!
Ron’s feet suddenly emerged from the bottom, landing firmly on the stage.
Wes picked up the metal plate and handed it to Laxus, signaling for him to insert it into the slot.
As Laxus took the plate, the audience’s cheering died away.
The entire plaza fell silent, everyone holding their breath.
After Wes explained what to do, Laxus moved to the side of the box and took several deep breaths.
Scrape!
He shoved the metal plate through the horizontal gap.
The harsh sound of steel sliding against the frame made the entire audience gasp.
“Don’t worry.
I’m still alive!”
Ron’s cheerful voice came from inside, and his feet wiggled beneath the lower section to prove it.
Wes moved to the side and closed the upper door.
At that exact moment, Ron’s feet began to move.
The lower half of the box slowly rolled away from the upper half.
As the bottom section moved farther forward, the upper box began wobbling dangerously.
“Oh no!”
Wes put on a look of exaggerated horror and hurriedly wrapped both arms around the swaying upper section.
Meanwhile, the lower box broke free completely and began running in circles around Wes and Laxus.
Laxus stared in amazement, unable to understand what he was seeing.
The ridiculous sight sent the audience into hysterical laughter.
Still hugging the upper box, Wes watched the lower half scamper around the stage.
Then he shoved the box into Laxus’s arms and turned dramatically toward the audience.
“Whatever you do, don’t open it!”
After shouting the warning, he raced after the runaway lower half, leaving Laxus standing there in confusion.
The little box with legs glanced back at Wes as though it were alive, shuddered in terror, and began running even faster.
The audience laughed harder at the absurd chase.
“So it isn’t a magic show—it’s a comedy act!”
Laxus soon worked out how the trick must have been done.
When Wes closed the upper door, Ron had probably slipped down into the bottom half of the box.
Now he was crouched inside, scurrying around the stage to entertain the audience.
That also explained why both performers were dressed as clowns.
Once he understood the trick, Laxus’s interest faded.
‘Boring.’
He had expected some unusual magic or a clever illusion, but it was nothing more than a simple stage gag.
There was no point ruining such an obvious trick for everyone else.
Still, as Laxus watched Ron and Wes continue their ridiculous chase while the audience roared with laughter, the corner of his mouth began to rise despite himself.
Ron really did have a talent for performing.
Laxus could finally understand why people found the boy so likable.
He was holding the box with both arms, but it blocked his view of the chase.
He shifted his grip, preparing to support it with only one hand.
Thump.
Thump.
The box shook slightly as he moved it, and something inside knocked against the walls.
Laxus’s eyes widened.
He immediately stared down at the box in his arms.
‘What the hell?’
‘There’s something inside this one too?’