Chapter 56: Joining the Circus

Name：The Reincarnator's Tavern Author：
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Chapter 56: Joining the Circus

*Author's Note*

For those who don't know, Jacques Duquesne is pretty much pronounced Jack Du Cane.

Chapter 56 Joining the Circus

Rayleigh opened his eyes and checked out his alarm clock to confirm the time. He set the alarm for 7 AM, but it had never gone off since he was always up and turned it off before the time came up. He didn't think he'd ever actually heard it. It could have been broken this whole time and he would have never known.

Despite not having a job or going to school, the thirteen-year-old resident of the MCU kept himself on a schedule. If this was his first time being thirteen, he likely would have tried to sleep in as much as possible, laze about, have fun, and enjoy his life. Well, now he was a bit greedier. Enjoying a simple life was no longer his goal. He wanted to aim for the top, and every moment was another step leading to it, so stopping or heading in the wrong direction just didn't appeal to him.

Rayleigh wasn't on his bed, but on a meditation pillow on the floor of his bedroom. With the exception of weekends, he tended to replace most of his sleep with meditation. After getting up, he turned off the alarm on his clock and started stretching. As always, he habitually looked over his room while doing so. Besides the windows overlooking central park, the only other thing to note in his room was the Captain America poster. Yes, he grew up on stories of Captain America which his mother told him at least once a week. He had no idea how many of those stories were true. Did Captain America really knock out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times?

Thinking about his mother from this life still caused the void his parents left in his heart to ache, but he'd gradually accepted their deaths and moved on, mainly because he had a plan.

One of the largest sources of grief from loss was the uncertainty of how to live a life without the one that had always been there. The constant questions of how to continue alone ensured the wound didn't close. This renewed the pain which renewed the grief which renewed the questions of how to live in a self-perpetuating loop, but Rayleigh's circumstances were unique by any standard, allowing him to escape from the grief loop many were trapped in and move forward.

He had a plan, and that plan was set to go into motion today. Yes, today was the day the Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders came to New York City.

Even without a job or school, Rayleigh had kept himself busy in these last few months. Thanks to his multiple Wills, he could meditate while writing, so much of his time was spent writing various stories he remembered or completing the manual for Divine Script. The rest of his time was spent exercising with weights or Nen or the Force.

Although Rayleigh didn't have a sparring partner, he could still practice Ken and Ry using his Nensaber and Babylon, three times a day, once after each meal. Before breakfast, he would hone his Force abilities. In the evening, he would head to Central Park and put on as much weight as he could before jogging for several hours while in the Second level of Zetsu. Lunch was eaten in the Tavern which he physically entered once he was out of sight and ate a highly nutritious meal.

And even without a sparring partner, Rayleigh did have someone to practice on. Besides his weekly Missions, Rayleigh would go to the Tavern's Arena and fight Pitou once a month. The charge for using the Arena depended not on the opponent's strength, but on how much you already knew about the opponent, since it was a way to gauge someone's strength without fighting them. This meant if you already knew their peak strength and that person was already dead, they were a lot cheaper to fight.

In the past few months, Book worm had visited twice a week to learn everything she could from Rayleigh. She obtained a solid comprehension of Divine Script in a month and learned everything he had to teach her of Nen, the Force, and Haki after that. She was far from his level of mastery, but she knew how to travel on her own path and that was good enough for her.

Rayleigh did have the illusion that perhaps Book worm liked him, but that illusion broke when, partway through a lesson, she determined he had nothing more to teach her. At that point, she thanked him and left. It was then that he realized the true meaning of her Chat Room name. She spent her life living in books and nothing else remotely interested her. The lessons were taking time away from her books, so she did everything she could to finish them as quickly as possible to return to her books.

The only clue Rayleigh had to her identity was her house phone number and the fact that she came and left by a shiny black car that stayed parked where it was from the moment she came to the moment she departed. Rayleigh almost thought she drove it, but she always entered and exited through the back passenger door, so that wasn't likely. He didn't even have her actual name, and though she always called him Swordsman in their lessons, he knew she already had his own name. Otherwise, how could she pay for him to get lessons?

After Rayleigh finished his stretches, he unplugged his alarm clock, took down his poster, and put everything into a box. The box was then brought into the living room where all of Rayleigh's other possessions also sat within boxes. Book worm had arranged that when Ray left, all his stuff would be taken into storage, so he'd just be leaving his key on the side table next to the door.

His apartment had a no cancellation clause so he had to pay the rent for the rest of the lease and sign the moving out forms to prevent it from going on his records. He doubted it would matter, but he wanted to do everything by the book, or else his status as an emancipated minor might be called into question.

The only person who would care about the fact that Rayleigh was leaving was his grandpa, but several long discussions led to the old man allowing Rayleigh to do as he pleased. The main reason for letting him leave was his relatives.

Two of his Uncles, one Aunt, and three older cousins all contacted him, tried to offer support, and offer to let him move in with them. They offered to be his family, and all he had to do was sign some forms that gave them all his money. For obvious reasons, he declined. He had to change his home phone number to get them to stop calling and that only worked for a week since they somehow found his new one.

Some of them tried to contact the attorney responsible for him to make shady deals behind his back, but the attorney threatened legal action if they ever tried again, as he did not appreciate their attempts to screw over the son of his dearly departed friend.

One of his uncles once came over and spent ten minutes knocking on the door and calling for Rayleigh to come out. After being ignored, he apparently figured Rayleigh wasn't home, so he called a Locksmith to come over and claimed that the apartment belonged to him and to open the door so he could get in. He probably wanted to rummage through Rayleigh's belongings for money or find something he could use against him. Locksmiths don't get paid to ask questions, so he came over and went at it, and opened the door just in time for the police to arrive. Yeah, Rayleigh called the police on his uncle.

His uncle went to jail for a few days and when he got out, he said it was Rayleigh's fault and demanded compensation.

To Rayleigh, these actions were little more than the buzzing of annoying mosquitos, but describing it all to his grandfather was enough to get the old man to agree Rayleigh could move out and not tell anyone where he moved to. Grandpa even said he wanted to go with him and vanish too since said relatives were just as annoying and shameless to him, but he was too old to run away, so he'd leave it to Rayleigh to have enough fun for the both of them.

After looking around his apartment one last time, Rayleigh got his wallet and left, leaving the door unlocked and the key inside so those who came later would be able to access it. The carnival was a few bus stops and a long walk away, but that didn't matter since he had plenty of time. Before hitting the bus, he ate some breakfast and spent some time on his favorite bench enjoying the air. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

Rayleigh had successfully cleansed himself of the effects his poor use of Dark Transfer and Dark Side Lightning had over the last few weeks and even made a lot of progress in Nen. Besides practicing with the combat related Ry, Ren, and Babylon, Rayleigh also spent plenty of time on Hatsu training for Enhancement, Transformation, and Emission. The stronger his Hatsu, the greater their attributes would apply toward his Nensaber and special abilities while also boosting his foundation. He knew how strong a few weeks of dedicated training could make him, so he didn't intend to stop training for a long time.

Probably one of the most useful breakthroughs he had was with Divine Script. While teaching it, he was also furthering his own studies, and he had figured out a way to apply it to his training weights using the Lightsaber Customization kit. Divine Script written with Enhancer attribute Hatsu was able to enhance the effects of the weights without increasing the actual weight. So Rayleigh could wear five different 20 kilogram weights and each had the effect of weighing close to ten times that when he moved. That meant he could constantly wear 1000 kilograms of weight but only weigh 100 kilograms more than usual.

This was useful since he needed to wait 24 hours to bring out his weights every time he turned off the projection, and that was getting in the way of his training. Now he could wear them at all times and increase them as needed. This enabled him to train more effectively, and now he could wear five pieces of 30 kilogram weights that each seemed to weigh 300 kilograms, totaling 1500 kilograms at all times. If he remained in his Second level Zetsu state, his speed, movement, and perceived strength looked like they fell within the range of a normal human.

The reason he could increase the value of his maximum weight to such a degree in these few months was due to the recovery effects of Second level Zetsu combined with the nutritious Tavern food. When combined with a good meal, the act of keeping every bit of life force within himself allowed his body to grow and recover at a far more efficient rate than normal.

Although Rayleigh could run there, he wasn't in a rush and he liked to use Bus time to hit the General Chat Room and learn the goings of the various players and learn what they had been up to in the last few months.

From the Wizard Players, he learned that a horrible murderer had broken into the school and was out to kill the Wizard Main Character. In typical Player Fashion, they formed Mystery Inc Teams and tried to look for and capture the killer themselves.

One of the groups of Wizard Players even found a shaggy dog and bragged that his team would find the killer first since his team was the only one with their own Scooby Doo.

The Warrior Players apparently banded together and fought against an organization called the Red Ribbon Army and destroyed them all. It seemed they all wore those costumes they possessed so their identities were not known to the public, though the Warrior MC knew who they were due to his sense of smell.

The various Ninja Players were training and going on Ninja Missions, looking for cool techniques to learn or treasures to find and convert into Inventory Items.

The Jedi Players were still Padawans, though the Jedi Master of some of the Players died and they were either practicing on their own or waiting for a new Master.

The Hunter Players weren't doing so great. Some of them got killed on the boat heading to the Dark Continent and some got killed on the Dark Continent, forcing the rest to leave for another world.

One of the slain Players was Enigma. He was tragically killed by Hisoka and had to restart his character build. It seemed that the mechanic behind his teleportation didn't work so well on a moving ship, and Hisoka was just out to kill everyone who looked interesting. No one had any updates on Hisoka or what happened to the Dark Continent Expedition, since no one had returned yet, and the Players who remained on the mainland said the ship hasn't come back yet either.

Clint replied, "You got it boss," before taking Rayleigh's now bandaged hand and pulling him out of the tent.

Once they were out of earshot, Clint said, "Don't mind Jacques, he's critical with everything when it comes to the sword."

Rayleigh asked, "Is he teaching you how to use a sword?"

"Oh yeah, but I'm better with a bow. Buck Chisholm, known around here as Trickshot is teaching me that."

"Cool. But how come you're getting training from both of them?"

"Ah, well. Jacques took me in after I ran away from my foster father. That bastard actually came here to find me and bring me back, but Jacques took him down with ease and offered to teach me the sword. Later, he got an idea for how to make his show better if I used a bow, and Buck had lost a lot to Jacques in a poker game, so Jacques agreed to forgive the debt if Buck taught me how to use the bow. He later admitted to regretting that, since he lost me to the bow."

Ray asked, "Why'd you run away?"

Clint sighed, "That bastard just wanted the checks to keep coming, that's why he took in a foster kid in the first place. The only reason he tried to get me back was to keep me as a source of easy money and labor. What about you? Jacques sounded like he knew you were coming, so I don't think you ran away from home."

Ray sighed, "I guess you could say I'm an orphan too. Parents died in a mugging a few months ago. I got an inheritance, but other relatives kept trying to strip it from me and I got tired of them making every day harder. I'm emancipated so I didn't technically run away, and Jacques is getting paid to teach me."

"Paid huh? In that case, I doubt he would have turned you away no matter what, but I could tell he was really happy that you came. Wait, don't you still have to go to school?"

"I completed my homeschooling a while back and even got a G.E.D. so I don't need to."

Clint looked devastated at that. "Darnnit. I was hoping you were skiving off classes. Jacques and the ringmaster are really insistent that I don't give up on my schooling. Anyone who doesn't have the right schooling is required to study around here."

Rayleigh added, "Well, we might end up sharing a room. If we do, I'll help you with your studies."

Clint looked happy at that, "Really? That'd be great! But wait, I don't have a bed big enough to share and my room isn't big enough for a second bed."

Rayleigh said, "I only need a roof, not a bed. I can take care of the rest myself." All he needed was a pillow to sit on. He had no problems with meditating while it was loud outside.

Clint looked happy to hear that and showed him around the grounds and introduced him to everyone. Not everyone runs away to join the circus, so other than Clint, there were only two others around their age, and both were children of the carnies.

The pair returned at 3 PM and met back up with Duquesne. The Swordsman handed a ticket to Rayleigh and said, "The ringmaster would like proof that you have a G.E.D., but as long as you can get that, there won't be any problems. Here is a ticket to the main event later tonight. Just stick around after the show to meet up with the ringmaster and we will set everything up."

Clint spoke out, "Rayleigh said he'd help me catch up on my studies so he can stay in my room."

Duquesne asked, "Is that so? Alright. Not a problem."

Rayleigh took the ticket and headed out as the pair started up another show and invited another group of New Yorkers to pay and see the spectacle.

Rayleigh already had all the proof he needed on him, so there wouldn't be any problems with the ringmaster or legal issues. For now, he decided to remove his weights and check out the rollercoaster and ferris wheel. He'd go to the Tavern for a meal and come back later for the big event in the big top.

A few hours passed and Rayleigh entered the Big Top tent for the main event. Elevated seats were set up in a massive ring around the covered space illuminated by an array of lights.

The ringmaster stood out in the middle with a half dozen lights on him, making his red outfit almost glow. He shouted into the mic in his hands the standard lines of "Welcome to the greatest show on Earth!" and introduced the various acts and performers.

First came the animals. According to what Clint said when he introduced Ray to everyone, the animals act had to be brought out first because they tended to poop everywhere when they were brought out later in the evening. Women in feathered outfits stood tall on the backs of horses that also wore feathered costumes and did various tricks as the horses galloped around the stage and the women standing on their backs perfectly performed various amazing acts one wouldn't think possible while standing on the back of a moving horse. After that, the elephant was brought out and made to balance on the big ball, and the lion tamer made the lion jump through a hoop of fire.

The audience was impressed and amazed, but Rayleigh couldn't properly enjoy the show. He blamed the fact that his first life was mostly in the era after the 20th century. The audience saw the elephant balancing on a ball. Rayleigh saw the chain attached to the elephant's foot. It couldn't be helped though. He ended his 2nd level Zetsu after the little fight with Duquesne and was able to tell that the animal caretakers really did care for them, so it could have been worse.

The next act involved the acrobats and gymnasts. A pair of tightrope walkers carrying balancing poles walked toward each other above the audience. Everyone wanted to see what they would do when they met. As soon as one stepped in front of the other, he threw his pole into the air and jumped. The one he seemed to jump over bent down and the first landed, upside down, doing a handstand, on the shoulders of the first that then stood up on the tightrope to the cheers of the audience. The thrown balancing pole was then caught by the upside down man's foot, and they remained in that position, one on top of the other, for about half a minute before the one on the shoulders of the other tossed the pole on his feet into the air and fell forward, landing nimbly on the tightrope in front of him as his partner walked forward and the other man caught his tossed up pole and continued on his own way.

After they both made it to their ends, the tightrope was removed and the acrobats started swinging and twisting through the air as if they could fly in a marvelous spectacle.

The next act involved the magician working with a contortionist and some clowns, each showing off their act to a different part of the audience. If you only saw the clown's act but didn't see the magician's, then you should come back the following day for the next show and sit on that side of the tent next time.

Trickshot was next. His act was similar to his tent act, but more elaborate and flashy. He lit an arrow on fire, shot it through a hoop, bounced it off a wall where it went through another hoop, and still hit a target dead center. Oh, and the hoops caught on fire after the fire arrow passed through them. Yes, it was very flashy. He did all kinds of tricks you would not normally associate with archery and were things most people easily acknowledged that they could never do themselves.

Swordsman's act was last. Clint was there to give another performance of cutting a shot arrow and more. Clint fired at some ropes that released targets that came at Duquesne and he would cut them down. He added to the flashiness by throwing multiple knives at various targets, and in the end, even tossed his sword at a target which struck it dead center.

Rayleigh wondered if Swordsman used Clint to tell everyone that a sword was better than a bow, since the first thing he did was perfectly defend himself from a bow with a sword. Rayleigh doubted this was on accident, but since the audience would have just been shown how good a bow could be by the previous act, this in turn brought up the quality of Jacques' act by building upon the previous hype. Rayleigh doubted Trickshot approved of this, but the ringmaster likely did, since a better act meant more return customers.

After the end of the Swordsman's act, the previous performers came out once more and did various little entertaining acts while circling in front of the audience for a last show. They then faced the audience and gave a bow to the cheers and applause of those who enjoyed their show.

Besides the animal act which Rayleigh couldn't help due to the generation thing, Rayleigh did enjoy the other acts and was entertained. He was also excited to meet the others and wondered how much he could learn from them all. Something to look forward to.

*Author's Note*

MCU Jacques Duquesne is a nice sword loving dork. This one will be closer to the comic books, though may change later. Even in the comic books, Swordsman went from hero to villain to hero a lot.

A lot of readers are under the impression that Jedi Lightsaber forms can be considered Swordsmanship. Realistically, they are not. Their purpose is completely different. The next chapter will show the differences.