blogombal Chapter 206 "Exorcism"
Chapter 206 "Exorcism"
Chapter 206 "Exorcism"
Backlund, Queens.
Having altered his appearance with disguised cufflinks, Lorne arrived at a seemingly secluded, ordinary house, following the directions provided by Mrs. Griffin.
According to Mrs. Griffin, there is a weekly gathering of extraordinary people here, and the organizer of the gathering is a very impressive person.
Lorne raised his hand and gently knocked on the thick wooden door, following the special interval of three long knocks and two short knocks that Mrs. Griffin had taught him.
"Squeak—"
The main gate slowly opened inwards.
Lorne saw that many people were sitting scattered around the room. Some of them concealed their true appearances in various ways, such as by relying on large hoods and cold masks, while others openly and unconcernedly exposed their features.
Lorne subconsciously focused his gaze on the man in the deepest part of the room, who was sitting alone on a single sofa, dressed in a black robe.
The man, too, wore a large hood, completely concealing his face in shadow. Even so, he exuded an aura of superiority, looking down upon all living beings.
That must be Mr. A.
"A dangerous fellow—" Lorne remembered Mrs. Griffin's parting words to him.
His strength—is indeed greater than mine. I estimate he's even stronger than the captain. Lorne quickly sized him up and made that judgment in his mind.
He seems like a madman.
At the very front of the room stood two huge blackboards, covered with lines of words written in white chalk.
[Dust left by a vengeful spirit, £165.]
[The tentacles of a black centipede...]
At this moment, a waiter came over and said that Lorne could tell him if there was anything he wanted to buy or sell.
Lorne then wrote down the main ingredients he needed for the "Instigator" potion—the heart of the Demon Throat Honey and the venom sac of the Dark Lurker—on a piece of paper and handed it to the other party.
Since it was his first time attending this gathering, Lorne did not choose to immediately sell the extraordinary materials he had, so as not to attract too much attention.
Suddenly, a newly written request on the blackboard caught Lorne's attention.
Purify evil spirits?
This—I think I can do it. I still have a whole bunch of "Sun" realm talismans in my possession—
After Lorne indicated that he was willing to accept the commission, he was led by the waiter to a small living room on the first floor.
A moment later, the waiter brought in two more ladies, who were also wearing hooded robes.
They weren't very strong Extraordinary Ones. One of them even seemed to be a minor? Lorne calmly observed the two figures, one tall and one short, before him.
"Ahem," Hugh deliberately lowered his voice, looking at the somewhat sinister-looking black-haired youth in front of him.
"So you're the one who took my commission?"
"It's me," Lorne said solemnly.
"Are you an extraordinary being of the 'Sun' pathway?" Fors asked curiously from the side.
Lorne shook his head. "No. But I have some talismans from the 'Sun' realm. These talismans were made by a very learned scholar, and they are extremely effective."
"Exorcising evil spirits is not a problem."
this.
Upon hearing this, a hint of disappointment appeared on Hugh's face. She exchanged a glance with Fors, and then said:
"Sir, what I want is a professional exorcism. If you yourself are not a professional, then you may not meet our requirements."
Seeing that the other party seemed dissatisfied, Lorne did not get angry.
"I also perform exorcism rituals myself. I will use them in conjunction with talismans."
"If you feel that it will ultimately have no effect, then you don't need to pay any compensation."
"How about we let him give it a try?" Seeing the other man's confident demeanor, Fors whispered in Hugh's ear.
"Alright."
"Miss, is it you who's been possessed by an 'evil spirit'?"
"That's right," Hugh nodded. "What? Did you figure something out?"
To be honest, from the perspective of "spiritual vision," Lorne did not see any signs of being possessed by evil spirits on the other party.
"Well—let's get started." With that, Lorne took out some spiritual materials he had prepared beforehand from his backpack and set up a simple purification ritual in front of Hugh.
Then, he took out a talisman from his pocket, which shimmered with a faint golden light and was handmade by Edwina.
"Light!"
Along with this ancient Hermes word, a pure, warm golden light emanated from the talisman!
It continuously transformed into a golden tide, surging towards the three people in the room and simultaneously engulfing them in that warm and sacred light.
About half a minute later, the dazzling golden light gradually faded away.
Hugh and Fors felt an unprecedented sense of comfort, as if the fatigue and tension of the past few days had been swept away by the warm light, and their whole bodies felt warm and cozy.
On the other side, Klein was sitting on the sofa, looking at the newspaper in his hand, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
He was in a pretty good mood. He had successfully gotten his rent reimbursed for last month, along with some everyday travel expenses.
He even received an extra ten pounds as a so-called basic wage.
Following Irene's advice, he went to talk to Charles about "reimbursement." Originally, he was just asking with a try-it-and-see attitude, but to his surprise, Charles agreed immediately.
The guy in charge of the audit was also a kind-hearted person. Seeing that it was his first time there, he enthusiastically taught him how to find loopholes in the rules and include some daily miscellaneous expenses in the expense report.
Klein suddenly felt a pang of emotion, thinking, "That's how Old Neil taught me back then."
As he turned to the next page of the newspaper, he noticed that the back of his hand was slightly hot—
Is someone praying to me?
Above the gray fog, Klein sat in the high-backed chair that belonged to "The Fool," watching the scene before him.
The petite girl named Hugh Deercha, whom he was trying to pull into the gray fog, and another woman with long, slightly wavy brown hair who looked like her friend, were standing in front of a rather simple ceremony.
Opposite them stood a black-haired youth, holding a talisman that emitted the aura of the "sun," creating a warm golden light.
Is this someone looking for an exorcism?
Klein almost burst out laughing at the sight.
It seems I've been mistaken for an "evil god"—
He sighed and wanted to get closer to take a look.
Oh, this black-haired young man, why do I feel a strange sense of familiarity with him?
I don't think I've ever met him.
Just as Klein was pondering, the black-haired youth in the scene seemed to sense something and suddenly raised his head.
!!!
On Lorne's side, the small purification ritual was going well.
The warm and sacred sunlight was steadily dispelling all the gloom in the room. He didn't sense anything unusual.
Who would have thought that just as the ceremony was about to come to an end, Lorne suddenly felt an extremely subtle, seemingly otherworldly, and superior gaze fall upon him!
This feeling...it's familiar!
It was so familiar that he subconsciously looked up at the ceiling!
Were they here for them? Or were they here to see me again?
Lorne's gaze swept quickly over Hugh and Fors, but both were immersed in the warmth, their faces full of comfort, showing no signs of anything amiss.
Could it be... just my imagination?
After forcibly calming himself down, he took out another identical talisman from his pocket and activated it again without saying a word!
I don't care if you're the same guy who liked to peep on people back then.
It doesn't matter who you're after.
In short, all of you, get out of here!
"Was that eye contact just a coincidence?"
Above the gray fog, Klein looked at the black-haired youth in the scene with some confusion as he suddenly looked up.
But a moment later, he saw that the other party had taken out another identical talisman and started a new round of "purification".
The warm sunlight once again filled the entire room.
Strange? Do exorcism rituals usually last this long?
The light from the second talisman had just faded when he saw the other person take out a third talisman from their pocket, filling the entire room with golden light once more.
Seeing the other party's "no-holds-barred" and brutal actions, Klein was somewhat bewildered.
Could it be that the other party has actually noticed something?
"Is the gentleman not ready yet?" Hugh, who had been bathed in the warm sunlight for a long time, finally couldn't help but ask.
At first, she did feel quite comfortable with the purification process, like sunbathing.
However, everything has its limits. Prolonged exposure to the sun gradually made her feel hot and dry, and the sensation of thirst became more and more obvious.
"Yeah, this is—too long." Fors chimed in, wiping the sweat from his brow. Lorne didn't say anything, continuing the purification process.
Just as he was about to take out the fourth talisman, he felt the feeling of being watched that had been lingering in his mind disappear.
They left? Were they driven away by my ruthless purification? Lorne fell into deep thought.
Hugh and Fors had just been "liberated" from the warmth and hadn't even had time to be happy when they saw Lorne looking unwell.
Hugh asked with some concern, "What's wrong, sir? Is there a problem with the purification process?"
"No." Lorne shook his head, his tone grave. "The purification—was very successful. Indeed, something was driven away."
It's gone? Really... there really was an evil spirit on me?
However, before she could even catch her breath, she heard Lorne say again:
"This time, they've driven them away. But—Miss, I suspect you may have been targeted by some special entity."
"Some things—cannot be completely eradicated in a single purification."
"What?!" Hugh exclaimed, taking a step back in surprise, his voice suddenly rising.
"What possessed you just now wasn't an ordinary spirit, nor was it some kind of evil spirit. It seemed to be..." Seeing Hugh's somewhat flustered expression, Lorne carefully chose his words, using a very euphemistic approach: "some kind of—a special being of a higher level—"
"You mean... an evil god?" Fors, who was standing to the side, also changed his expression and asked directly.
Lorne nodded without denying it.
It could also be some evil god who enjoys spying on people bathing.
He added a sentence in his mind, but didn't say it aloud, for fear of further upsetting the two ladies.
"Oh my god! How—how could this be—" Hugh's face turned deathly pale instantly. Because she knew very well that she had indeed recited the name of a certain person who was suspected to be an "evil god" a few days ago!
"Don't panic," Lorne comforted him. "This is just my guess. At least you are absolutely safe now. Now that you are safe, then—what about later?" Hugh thought despairingly to himself.
Clearly, Lorne's words did not offer any comfort.
"Sir, are you—are you sure? Is there really an evil god targeting us?" Fors asked, still somewhat incredulous. "But I didn't feel anything at all just now."
"Me too," Hugh added.
"I'm not sure," Lorne reassured them, going along with their words. "That's why I said it's just my personal guess."
He pondered for a moment, then continued, "To be honest, I'm also very interested in what's happening to you."
"How about this, I'll only charge you fifteen pounds for this purification."
"If you discover anything unusual afterward, you can come back to me—"
"What should I do, Fors! Could I really be being targeted by an evil god?!"
Even after leaving the meeting room, Hugh was still gripped by the immense fear instilled by Lorne's words.
Originally, she came to this gathering for an exorcism simply to seek peace of mind. Who would have thought that instead of finding comfort, she would be plunged into depression?
"Don't overthink it, Hugh," Fors comforted him. "I think that guy was a fraud! Nothing really happened!"
He did it on purpose, exaggerating the situation so we'd keep coming back to him. That way, he could keep swindling money from us!
"But—his exorcism ritual just now didn't seem to have any problems. And in the end, he only charged us fifteen pounds."
"Perhaps that's just a tactic of his! He's using low prices to gain our trust first, like the old saying, 'cast a long line to catch a big fish.'"
Before Hugh could say anything more, the waiter who had led them in suddenly came over and handed her a small note.
"Miss Arbitrator, who purchased the 'Sheriff' formula, would you like to have a chat in the study? I might have something you need."
On the other side, Klein finally came out of the bathroom.
He went into the living room and saw Irene lounging on the sofa, holding the newspaper he had just been reading.
Upon seeing Klein arrive, she parted her cherry lips and teased, "It seems the rumors in the guild were indeed true. Our great detective does indeed have a very serious stomach problem."
Upon hearing this, Klein's face instantly darkened. However, he didn't offer any further explanation and simply headed back to his room.
"Don't go," Irene called out to him, her tone languid yet carrying a hint of reminder.
"When I came back, I noticed some unfriendly stares around me. They looked like they were from your colleagues."