Most of the buildings in Mors Town followed the style of a hundred years ago, the most conspicuous of which was the black, pointed church.
After securing the carriage, Klein and the others quickly finished their lunch of bread, toast, bacon, cream, and coffee.
"Under the purification of the Sealed Artifact '3-0782,' we can still hold out for two hours and thirty-five minutes," Kornli said, standing at the church entrance. He took a gold-cased pocket watch from the inside pocket of his tailcoat, clicked it open, glanced at it, and said, "I suggest we first handle those few incidents suspected to be hauntings to avoid any possible deterioration, and then we can return to the church, take turns keeping watch, and recover our state."
— Under normal circumstances, a Sequence 9, Sequence 8, or Sequence 7 Beyonder nearing their limit would need to stay away from the "Mutated Sun Holy Emblem" for two hours to fully recover. But if they hadn't reached their limit, or only wanted to recover partially, it would depend on the situation, at least one hour.
"Okay." "I have no objections." Klein and Leonard said at the same time.
"Then which incident should we handle first?" Kornli asked for his companions' opinion.
Leonard dropped his slovenly demeanor and said, "The one where the elderly man living alone heard heavy footsteps echoing inside his house."
"Why?" Kornli subconsciously asked for the reason, and Klein looked on with interest, waiting for a certain someone to explain. Isn't this the so-called poet's intuition? He quietly mocked him.
Leonard's gaze moved from the short Kornli's face to Klein's, and then back again. He let out a soft laugh and said, "Because it's the closest to the church."
"How do you know that? It wasn't in the documents..." Klein blurted out.
Leonard chuckled. "I went to the restroom during lunch, didn't I? On the way back, I ran into an apprentice priest and chatted for a bit. He told me Noah's home was near the church. Mhm, Noah is the name of that elderly man living alone."
As expected of a Nighthawk with over three years of experience, he's very skilled at doing missions... Klein gave a dry laugh, turned to Kornli, and said, "Let's go to Noah's house first."
"Alright." Kornli had no objections to this.
Just a minute later, they arrived at Noah's house...
Noah was an old man with sparse, graying hair. He had permanently lost his left hand in a war when he was young, forcing him to leave the army and return to his hometown with his compensation.
At this moment, he opened the door, looked at the three strangers before him, then glanced at Siair, who had hurried over from the church, and said in a hoarse voice: "Come in. I hope you can solve my problem. I heard you brought holy water, a holy emblem, a silver dagger, and garlic? This is really great. It makes me feel much more at ease. Please forgive my rambling. You have to understand the state of an elderly person who hasn't been able to sleep peacefully for two consecutive nights. Oh, Lady, I've been bearing the fear, and my mind has become dazed."
As soon as they entered the gate, Leonard suddenly straightened his back, his gaze probing the surroundings with substance-like sharpness.
Immediately after, Klein felt the cold, dark presence lingering in the room, the residual traces of a ghost's activity there.
"An unclean creature has indeed been here." Kornli was the last to notice the situation and said in a low voice.
"Very weak." Leonard withdrew his gaze and said leisurely. "Midnight Poet" was considered a "profession" with relatively high intuition among all Sequence 8 recorded by the Church.
"Yes." Klein felt the warmth and purity naturally emanating from the Sealed Artifact "3-0782" rapidly dissolving the cold, dark aura, with the latter offering no resistance.
At that moment, the townspeople who had been waiting for a while gathered at Noah's house, staring at Klein, Leonard, and Kornli with curious and expectant eyes.
"Ahem!" Leonard cleared his throat and said loudly, "We have the Lady's blessing. Those unclean creatures will soon disappear and won't cause any trouble." After finishing, he gestured with his eyes for Klein to perform a "Purification Ritual" for everyone.
Why me? Klein asked back with his eyes.
Of course, he didn't know if Leonard could read his expression.
Apparently, Leonard understood him. Lowering his voice, he said: "You're the professional when it comes to rituals."
Alright, who told me to volunteer to help? Klein straightened his clothes and took the holy water, holy emblem, silver dagger, and garlic from Leonard.
First, he hung the "Dark Holy Emblem" on his chest, then he broke the garlic apart and threw the cloves into every corner.
"Huh, is garlic used this way when exorcising ghosts?"
"It's different from the description in the newspaper..."
"Will this even work?"
... The surrounding townspeople instantly burst into chatter, both curious and excited, as if they were visiting a circus.
It's useless! I'm just putting on a show! Klein suddenly felt as if he had become a "Clown." He quickly half-closed his eyes, used the silver dagger to scoop up some holy water, and sprinkled it on the ground.
He walked around the house, sprinkling as he went, muttering under his breath: "The Evernight Goddess..." "The Mother of Concealment... The Lady of Crimson..." "The Empress of Calamity and Fear..." "The Lord of Sleep and Silence..." ...
This standard charlatan act immediately stunned the entire crowd, and the townspeople fell silent one after another.
And once people entered a state of silence, it was easy for them to notice what they had previously overlooked.
"It feels very warm."