Chapter 44: Mysteries in the Night

Chapter 44: Mysteries in the Night

We set off from our camp, and along the way, Bets explained the situation in the village. "I went to buy some food for breakfast. Since the sun was out, a drowner demon couldn't do much. So I left Gem to handle the-"

"You don't need to try and create excuses for leaving your post. What happened already happened, and we can't change anything about it." I reassured him.

Bets felt terrible for what he did; that was obvious. But wasting time mulling over it would only distract him. He probably realized we weren't dealing with a mindless drowner demon by now. So he just made a reckless decision to leave his post, and we could have been attacked then and died. A ruthless enemy wouldn't have let such an opportunity go.

It wasnt like we were defenseless; I had stayed up all night and knew we were being watched.

"Sorry," he winced and stared at the ground before looking me in the eyes. "Yesterday night, some corpses in the cemetery were dug out and disappeared."

"Zombies?!" Exclaimed Gem.

"Ghosts?!" Screamed Agon.

Were they kids? We're exorcists, and an exorcist being afraid of ghosts and the undead sounded like the punchline to a joke. "Who were the victims?"

Bets frowned, and a bead of sweat rolled down. There was a look of fear on his face. "That's the thing. The graves belonged to all the kids and the man killed by the drowner demon."

Fuck, that sounded like some complicated shit.

When we arrived in the village, I immediately talked to a woman walking on the outskirts.

She had a bag of groceries in her hand and seemed better dressed than most villagers.

"Excuse me, mam. Can I talk to you for a minute?" I put on the best good boy smile I could muster.

She turned toward me and looked confused for a couple of seconds. "You're that new exorcist, I believe. I dont think I ever got your name."

"It's Emmory," there were abilities out there that could activate simply by telling your name to their user.

Just to be safe, I will assume everyone was a suspect or a demon in disguise.

With so few people around, it was the perfect place for interrogation. I started asking questions and acting like I knew shit. "I heard about the thing."

"W -What thing?" She averted her eyes for a couple of seconds.

Oh? She is hiding something? Does this village have some kind of secret?

The look on her face said a lot. She was a horrible liar. But it seemed like she was the type who wouldn't talk.

"We heard that you have a secret dish! It's a local delicacy!" Gem came up with a good excuse on the spot. He had a foolish smile on his face.

Good, everyone trusted fools to be stupid.

"O -Oh, sure. But you should ask one of the pub owners," after saying that, she hurriedly walked away.

No, I must calm down. Anger will not lead me to a power-up. Self-destruction was the only road ahead for a cloudy-minded individual.

While thinking of cloudy-minded individuals, an idea hit me like a lightning bolt.

I smiled at my team. "You wanted to know an effective way to learn a secret? Just ask those who know but at the same time are clueless about it."

"You doing riddles now?" He tilted his head in confusion.

I approached one of the children. They looked at me with uncertainty, as anyone would look at a stranger.

"Hi there! I greeted the kids. Do you know a place where I can buy candy? If you tell me, I will get you some too."

"You can get them from old man Xiro! He makes super delicious candy!" One of the boys with snot running down his face told me immediately. The other kids seemed a bit disappointed.

Did they think I was offering candy to only one of them? Wait, if I give everyone candy, it will seem like the boy who spoke up did so for nothing. But if I dont preoccupy all the kids with candy, they might talk about this with an adult who might realize what we were doing.

Good, I praised the young boy and crouched down. You earned yourself and your friends a lot of sweets.

Wording it this way would make everyone know that the kid who spoke earned everyone candy.

Then I took a silver coin from my pockets, and the kids eyes shined when they saw it.

Be careful not to tell anyone else what your parents told you not to speak about, okay? I cautioned them.

The kids nodded, but they were concentrating on the silver coin I put on the hand of the boy who spoke.

Before you go, I hope you all remember what not to speak about, okay? I had a strict look on my face.

Yes, the kid who spoke bobbed his head, and others nodded along.

Just in case someone forgot, recite what your parents told you not to say, I told them, and the kids started speaking one after another.

Never speak about Junji, who had taken a demon as a lover, the kids didnt seem to know what most of those words meant.

I let go of the kids hand with the money on it and put a finger in front of my lips. Remember, tell no one. This will be our secret.

After that, the kids ran off with huge smiles on their faces. Some were crowding around the kid who had spoken up first. Seems like he will become quite popular amongst his peers.

Seems like our friend, the village head, has been keeping quite some secrets from us, I told everyone.

The implication in my words was as clear as it could be; from now on, the village head was the main suspect.

What?! Why?! He seemed like a nice dude! Agon exclaimed.

Okay, it seemed like my words werent clear to some. Were going to pay a visit to the village head. Ask why he kept this secret from us.