The Night Parade

As soon as Palas began to leave the alley, she nearly ran into a young man in rough clothes; she judged him to be a simple peasant, neither a man of the church nor a knight. She judged that he would ordinarily be unworth her time... However, he was in a hurry to get somewhere. That was usually worth asking about. "Boy," she stopped him, fixing him in place with a withering glare and an authoritative bark. "Where are you going in such a rush at this time of night?"

"Huh? Th-The night parade," he answered, finding himself edging away from the suspicious woman in spite of himself.

"Knight... parade?" Palas asked, misinterpreting the spoken words.

"Yeah, the night parade!" the boy repeated, seeming to forget his fear in the face of his excitement. "Ah, you're dressed up for it too, huh? Gonna be a part of it? Anybody can join in!" he clarified, grinning and showing one missing tooth. "I'm just going to watch!"

"... Perhaps I will join in," she mused, crossing her arms and adopting a more genial smile that belay her true intentions. "A parade of knights... this sounds like a prime opportunity. I can survey their activities in an anonymous setting and, if the occasion presents itself, I will turn the people against them. Yes... The quicker I shut down the city's curious new sway towards sexual proclivity, the sooner I can weaken the influence of that barrier..." she thought to herself, her smile becoming visibly more wicked as the boy turned his back and ran off.

Even if the boy hadn't told her about the parade, she would have found it soon enough. It was hard to miss it, as townspeople, nuns, and knights alike took part in a marching throng, heading through the streets. She wondered how anyone was sleeping at a time like this... Was this preposterous event really worth sidelining everyone's sleep? It was so noisy... She covered her ears with both hands as she got closer, ignoring the sounds of horns, drums, and strumming stringed lutes. Once she pushed her way past the turned backs of commoners, she found nobility, who shrunk away slightly at her gypsy appearance. Once she got through them, she saw the parade... there were indeed some knights and nuns marching and singing, but, more than that...

There were clowns. They wore no pendants to indicate their affiliation. They were just anonymous gestures, making merry.

It made her sick. Palas hated humans and clowns worst of all. "For what purpose were these miserable creatures created?" she thought out loud, wearing a sour frown as she approached closer, to join in with a line of like-dressed women, likely magicians of some sort. Most of them were garbed in bright reds, oranges, or warm colors, making her black and purple somewhat out of place... but more in place than she'd be anywhere else in the parade. To continue the imitation, she danced, swishing the sleeves of her robe and twirling her sashes, but she had a hard time imitating their giggles or smiles.

Still, she could tolerate behaving this way... If it weren't for the damned clowns. They seemed to be closing in from the sides of the parade as it advanced, making a sort of semi-circle that bunched the dancers together. These clowns seemed different... each was dressed in sparkling gold clothing, with flared pants and sleeves, buttoned up vests, and white face masks that hid their identities. They all seemed strangely similar in size and build... All of them were men, strangely huge for their profession, with bulging muscles beneath their jester's gear. She couldn't tell where they were looking with those masks on, but she knew they were giving her the shivers... She continued dancing, however, so as not to break cover.

"Ladiiiies!" one of the clowns announced, raising a fist into the air and posing with one hand on his hip, speaking in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "It is I, Mympho, one of the most revered knights of the kingdom!" the burly clown announced.

"The hell? Was there a knight named Mympho? Or is that his clown name... Is he even a knight?" Palas questioned internally, gritting her teeth as she despised every aspect of the jester's behavior.

"Thank you for joining my dancing troupe tonight!" he continued, skipping back and forth on his feet as the other clowns joined him. "We're going to have a ball! But first, I have something more to tell you... I'm not just a knight! I'm also..."

"A clown?" Palas asked, showing no amusement with a blank-faced stare.

The man seemed slightly thrown off his timing, then coughed into one gloved fist. "I am also a sorcerer!"

Palas gave a scoffing laugh. There was no way this man was any kind of sorcerer...

"Don't believe me? You'll believe me after my first trick!" Mympho announced, tittering into one hand in a way that caused the demonic spy to shiver. Wasn't she supposed to be the scary one? Then why did she have such a bad feeling about this magical, knightly clown...?