Miss Witch, please don't leave your fragrance everywhere

The blonde woman called Jonah by Anthony was stroking the killer whale Xiaoti, and her attention seemed to be distracted from Angelica and the others, but fortunately they were not petty people.

Anna keenly noticed Xiaoti's depressed state, which was probably the reason why Jonah was uneasy.

"It looks a little listless?"

"Yes... Xiaoti has been feeling listless lately."

"are you sick?"

"No, we checked Xiaoti's body and he is still healthy."

"Pitiful……"

Sister Alice began to pray for Tiny; she had no experience in animal medicine.

Angelica sighed. This couldn't be blamed on them. Veterinary medicine was an industry that only gradually emerged with the advancement of the times. In the past, they could only treat livestock and horses at most, so no one would treat killer whales.

Angelica was not a doctor, but she could see what was wrong with Killer Whale Xiaoti.

"I say... don't you think the space you left for it is too small? It should be barely enough for it to turn around, right?"

An adult killer whale can be up to nine meters long. Perhaps because he was adopted during his growth period, Xiaoti's growth is far less than expected, and he is only about eight meters long. Even so, it is still extremely difficult to give Xiaoti enough space to move around.

"No way, we have done our best."

Anthony spread his hands helplessly. Of course, they also wanted to give Xiaoti a wider space to move around, but it was really difficult to do. In fact, the inflatable swimming pool they gave Xiaoti was already the largest space. When the circus moved, Xiaoti even had to live in a large water tank.

"How did Xiaoti join the circus? Killer whales are social creatures."

"Really? We haven't researched it. When we picked up Xiaoti, he was still a child and stranded in the shallows. We rescued him and he has been following us ever since. So we named him Xiaoti and let him join the Moon Circus and become a member of our big family."

Anthony and Jonah laughed and recalled the time when they met Xiaoti. They were both senior members of the Moon Circus. Anthony initially wanted to be an actor like Jonah, but later realized that he did not have the talent, so he chose to become a publicist and continue to contribute his remaining energy to the Moon Circus.

Xiaoti opened his mouth and made a slightly dull sound. Joanna thought it might be because of the weather. The enthusiastic Sister Alice and Anna were willing to help. They were all looking forward to Xiaoti's performance in a few days.

Jonah would dress up as a mermaid and dance with Titty in the pool, which has become one of the signature shows of the Moon Circus.

But Angelica still cared about something, that was Xiaoti's dorsal fin.

Killer whales and other marine creatures have dorsal fins to balance their bodies, and sharks often have dorsal fins exposed when they move on the sea surface. The dorsal fin is the best indicator of the health of marine creatures, but the dorsal fin of the shark is not upright, and seems to have lost its supporting function, drooping softly, looking particularly listless.

Angelica vaguely remembered that this was evidence of unhealthy marine life, probably because Xiaoti had been restricted in his activity space for a long time.

By the way... killer whales seem to be very smart animals...

Angelica recalled the popular science video about animal intelligence that she had watched. It seemed to mention that killer whales were among the top ten in the animal world in terms of intelligence, and even developed their own language due to their group living. Although killer whales are easily mistaken for whales due to their name, they are actually classified as dolphins, which may be the reason why killer whales are so smart.

In this case, conversation magic between living beings might be useful.

Angelica quietly cast a spell.

“…………………………”

"Xiao Ti? What's wrong with you?"

The kid in the pool suddenly began to twist his body restlessly, and Joanna hurried to comfort him.

Anna sensed something, she turned around and saw her master pressing his index finger on his temple, which was the signature move for activating the magic of conversation with living beings.

However, Angelica's expression was very strange.

"Have you tried to find Xiaoti's family?"

Angelica suddenly asked Anthony.

"We are Xiaoti's family."

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant Xiaoti's parents, its original tribe."

"We did. But we couldn't find it."

The one who answered was Jonah, who had finally succeeded in calming down.

"We lived on the coast where we found Xiaoti for a long time, but we never met his family. We thought Xiaoti was still young and it was too dangerous to let him go back to the sea alone, so we took him in."

"Yes, we don't regret this decision because we will become Xiaoti's family and Xiaoti's parents."

"But humans and killer whales are different after all. Humans live on land, while killer whales are marine creatures."

“No difference.”

Anthony shook his head. He had 100% respect for the guests and the audience, but he did not agree with this question.

"There are always people who think that humans and animals cannot understand each other, but I would say that it is just because they do not love animals enough. They treat animals as vassals and playthings, so how can they understand the thoughts of animals? We are different from those people. We treat animals as family members and friends, so we can bring happiness to more people together."

"..."

Angelica did not continue speaking. What she wanted to say was that killer whales do not belong to swimming pools or water tanks, they always belong to the sea.

【Witch TIPS】

“…I have nothing to say about Gray.

Do you hate Gray? Not to that extent. Gray and I are parallel characters. Everyone is the same as Gray.

"Gray" is the kind of person who moves straight towards a certain direction at any cost. Unlike other extraordinary people, "Gray" achieves eternity entirely because a few decades of life are not enough to achieve a certain goal.

"Gray" might want to change the world, but that has nothing to do with me."

315 Claustrophobia

A few days later, the Moon Circus' performance was held as scheduled in Scarborough. Sister Alice was very much looking forward to Xiaoti's performance, so she chose to stay in Scarborough for a few more days. Angelica and Anna did not abandon Sister Alice alone. After all, Angelica herself had no interest in circus performances, but she really wanted to take Anna to see it once.

"Thank you for the tickets, Mr. Anthony."

"You're welcome."

Anthony smiled slightly in response to Anna's thanks.

"But... I look forward to your master giving us a reply after the performance."

Anthony was full of confidence in this. In a few days, Angelica and others often went to the Moon Circus's residence, and Anthony never gave up lobbying Angelica.

He firmly believed that if Angelica watched their performance with her own eyes, she would definitely change her mind. Anna could only smile bitterly at this, but what she saw was not only confidence, but also the enthusiasm of Anthony and others. They undoubtedly loved this career from the bottom of their hearts.

Anthony was also responsible for security during the performance as he was not required to perform on stage. The tickets Anthony gave to Angelica and others for free were in a very prominent position. If there was a concept of VIP tickets, they must have been very expensive.

The stands were full of elves, all of whom were very interested in the circus animal performances from foreign countries. Before the performance began, many elves could not contain their excitement and discussed their expectations with their companions. Some elves were whispering something. A closer look revealed that they were holding the Angel's Voice. On the southern elf island, magic props in human territory seemed to be quite popular.

The performance soon officially began, and the elves immediately stopped making noise and watched the performance attentively.

For the elves, many animals that did not exist on the island of Albion were also a novelty for them, not to mention the wonderful performances they performed.

Walking on a tightrope, dancing, jumping through fire rings, one wonderful performance after another was presented one by one. Elves are not a passionate race, but they still gave warm applause.

"How do you feel, Anna?"

"It's very novel and interesting... Anna's data only records performances called gladiatorial combat where humans and wild beasts fight, but no records of friendly performances between humans and animals."

“There are many interesting things in the world like the circus. But… the circus performances are not as friendly as imagined.”

"Eh?"

"You see, the tiger squatted down like a kitten under the command of the trainer. That was not achieved through friendly interaction. It involved rigorous training."

Anna pondered for a moment and quickly understood the meaning of Angelica's words.

"Anna has noticed that the animals in the Moon Circus have more or less scars on their bodies. Could it be that those are not the wounds they had before he adopted them?"

"I don't think so. As far as I know, the training methods used by circuses are not very gentle, because animals cannot understand human language and cannot gradually learn and grow like human children. Therefore, radical measures need to be taken to allow animals to remember through instinct."

Someone once did an experiment. He first raised a dog and rang a bell before feeding the dog. Over time, every time he rang the bell, the dog would run over with its tail wagging, because it knew it was a signal for feeding. But then he changed his approach. Every time he rang the bell to call the dog over, he would hit it with a stick. At first, the dog would come obediently, but later, when the bell was rang, it would run away.

The same principle applies to animal trainers. When commanding a tiger to sit down, he will put down his right hand. This means that during normal training, putting down the right hand is bound to the command to sit down. When the tiger sees this action, it will sit down automatically.

"Mr. Anthony and Miss Jonah both said they love animals. It turns out they train them this way..."

"I'm not blaming them. Besides, corporal punishment has never been lacking among humans. It's very common for parents to punish their children, teachers to punish their students, and lords to punish their servants."

Angelica didn't want to blame the Moon Circus, because the way the circus operated couldn't be changed unless the circus performances were gradually banned. In fact, the circus had been gradually buried by the times before Angelica traveled through time. But as long as the circus existed, that kind of training method must exist, and it can't be said to be wrong. It is a necessary model for their survival.

The previous show ended, and the performers of the Moon Circus began to set up the new stage.

"Xiao Ti is about to appear."

Sister Alice, who knew the program list in advance, said happily. She seemed not to notice Angelica and Anna's conversation and was concentrating on enjoying the performance of the Moon Circus.

The actors opened the show, and Miss Jonah and the killer whale Tiddly, dressed as mermaids, made their debut in the performance swimming pool. Although this is a world with many fantasy creatures, mermaids are still fictional creatures in legends, and the ones living under the sea are mermen, not mermaids. In other words, mermaids are a very novel costume.

Coupled with the rarely seen killer whales, the elves in the audience burst into cheers of surprise.

Angelica ignored it and continued chatting with Anna.

"So some of the symptoms that humans experience after being physically punished are also seen in animals. For example, depression and claustrophobia."

Many people misunderstand depression as a psychological problem, but in fact depression is a disease that can even be inherited, and animals can also suffer from the symptoms.

"Claustrophobia... Anna's information describes it as a disease caused by staying in a small, dark space for a long time."

"That's right. For example, if you punish a child physically and lock him in a dark room without light, over time, when the child grows up and enters a dark and small room, he will develop a fear mentality even if it is not corporal punishment."

"Master, what you mean is...animals can also suffer from these diseases?"

"Depression and claustrophobia are often thought to be diseases that animals do not suffer from, but in fact, animals can also suffer from depression and claustrophobia under certain specific circumstances, such as social animals being separated from their group for a long time, or living in an environment that does not meet their activity requirements for a long time."

They have been isolated from their ethnic groups for a long time and forced to live in a small space.

The direction of the two conditions was too obvious, and Anna suddenly thought of something.

As if to confirm Anna's bad premonition, a scream was heard from the center of the stage, followed by an uproar in the audience.

316 Lonely Killer Whale

Jonah, dressed as a mermaid, and the killer whale Titian performed a duet in the pool. In fact, the circus's performance was not just a pure dance. The setting was that the little mermaid, who was about to try to land on the earth to pursue love, was saying her final goodbye to her childhood friend. The performance had such a plot.

Although they grew up together, the killer whale is older, so the killer whale in the story not only acts as a friend, but also as a brother. He expresses his concern for the little mermaid. He thinks that humans on earth are dangerous and worries that the little mermaid will be deceived and hurt. However, in the end, he still expresses his support.

Xiaoti was able to perfectly interpret such complex and delicate emotions. The people of the Moon Circus firmly believed that it was the feelings they had developed with Xiaoti that sublimated the script. The story of the killer whale and the little mermaid has always been loved by the audience, and Sister Alice had long heard of Xiaoti's superb acting skills.

...that's how it should be.

At one part of the performance, Jonah touched foreheads with Xiaoti and expressed her inner thoughts. Xiaoti should have listened quietly until the next scene.

However, an accident occurred during the performance, and Xiaoti suddenly twisted his body restlessly.

Joanna was surprised by Xiaoti's uncharacteristic behavior. Although she knew that Xiaoti was not in good condition recently, she never suspected that Xiaoti would deliberately mess up the performance. So Joanna just dealt with it as an actor. She changed her lines on the spot and took the opportunity to appease Xiaoti.

She was oblivious to the danger.

It's impossible to blame Jonah for being careless, as nothing like this had ever happened at the Moon Circus before.

Xiaoti suddenly opened his mouth and bit off Jonah's throat.

Killer whales are carnivores, so this is easy for them.

By the time people reacted, Joanna had already collapsed screaming, but to everyone's horror, the nightmare was not over yet.

Xiaoti was biting the lifeless body of Jonna like a madman, as if there was some deep hatred between the two. The bloody scene shocked everyone, and some people even forgot to close their eyes.

By the time he realized what was happening, Anthony blurted out.

"Why……?"

Yeah, why.

Not only Anthony, but every member of the Moon Circus had the same doubts.

Joanna and Xiaoti have been together for the longest time, and their relationship should be the most profound. Everyone in the Moon Circus is very familiar with Xiaoti, but...

How strange the small tittle is now.

It was as if they had never met each other.

Xiaoti tore Jonah's body into pieces, then threw Jonah away, raised its head and let out a mournful cry.

There was sadness and loneliness in that voice, which was something that the Moon Circus, who had been living with animals for a long time, could not fail to understand.

Until this moment, Anthony suddenly thought of a question, a question he had never thought about before.

Is Xiaoti really happy?