What Era Is It, Still Writing Traditional Diaries

These Magic Orbs might not be enough to deal with high-level vengeful spirits, but for a mere rat, one would be enough to scare it away. With three of them coming at once, that rat should be stunned by my Spiritual Power.

Next, I'll check if there are any other spiritual power fluctuations in the room stimulated by my Spiritual Power.

With that thought, Takeda Misae looked towards the rat's location, preparing to have Gokō Ruri throw the rat out.

However, the next moment, her gaze met the rat's gaze on the cabinet, staring at each other wide-eyed.

She even saw the rat blink, as if expressing confusion towards her.

Chapter 85: Preparing a Trap

In Takeda Misae's eyes, the rat was currently making eye contact with her, seemingly completely unaware of the magical fluctuations just now.

Could it be that this rat is insensitive to magic?

Takeda Misae didn't believe her magic couldn't even handle a rat, so it was obvious that this must be the rat's problem.

Fortunately, she hadn't spoken just now. The girls around her probably didn't understand what she was trying to do, so she just needed to pretend she didn't know anything.

Takeda Misae didn't want to argue with a rat, so she closed her eyes and put on a show of sensing something.

"Hmm… the residual life force in the room is very strong. It looks like your vitality has grown even stronger since we last met a few days ago. With such powerful vitality, it's natural to attract those things more easily than ordinary people. So, you'd better pay more attention in the future."

Gokō Ruri didn't think too much about it; her attention was entirely on the Shitamachi Godmother.

She had previously thought this old woman was a fraud and hadn't been very polite to her. However, she later learned from a mysterious person's diary that the other party possessed genuine skills, and her current state was only due to her Spiritual Power declining with age.

As a chuunibyou, Gokō Ruri was extremely interested in the profession of Exorcist. In the past few days, she had secretly used Reading Points to cultivate her Spiritual Power. Although the effect wasn't great, it at least allowed her to vaguely sense the existence of Spiritual Power.

Just now, she had sensed a "powerful" Spiritual Power emanating from the Shitamachi Godmother, far more potent than her own. She wondered when she would be able to reach the other's level.

Meanwhile, from Jerry's perspective, it perceived things in a completely different way.

Was this old woman provoking it?

Although Jerry hadn't encountered Spiritual Power before, it had very clearly felt a strange energy emanating from the old woman just now.

This must be the Spiritual Power that Miyauchi Hiyage had mentioned to it.

If Hamon was bodily energy, then this Spiritual Power must be some kind of mental energy.

It was a shame that the Spiritual Power wielded by the old woman was either too low in energy level or her skill was too low. In any case, this level of mental energy was nothing in Jerry's eyes.

After all, it had witnessed Stands, which were also composed of mental energy, at Miyauchi Hiyage's place these past few days, and it had even learned the "Unmarked Extension Curse," which was powered by magic.

In its perception, the magic that could easily rewrite space was still more miraculous.

But according to Miyauchi Hiyage, advanced Sorcerers could do many things with Spiritual Power, so this old woman must be lacking in her training.

This level of energy impact felt like a tickle to it.

As Jerry pondered this, it felt that it could easily research this method of cultivating Spiritual Power, and perhaps it would even provide some inspiration for how it used magic.

So, it decided to greet Takeda Misae and ask her to teach it that power.

However, it didn't expect this old woman to directly close her eyes in front of it, not even glancing at it, and even spouting nonsense about "people with strong vitality easily attracting those things."

That was pure nonsense. It had lived at Miyauchi Hiyage's house for so long without seeing a single vengeful spirit appear within a hundred meters of Miyauchi Hiyage.

And as for itself, although it didn't have Miyauchi Hiyage's powerful vitality, it hadn't encountered any vengeful spirits that weren't afraid of it so far; they were all basically treated as toys for it to play with.

Seeing Takeda Misae spewing lies, Jerry decided to teach her a lesson.

It couldn't wait for the prime-time show to end, so it immediately ran out of the cabinet, ready to give the old woman a taste of her own medicine.

Takeda Misae, who was sensing the spiritual power fluctuations, instinctively shivered.

Although she didn't sense any malice, as an Exorcist, even in her old age, this reaction was abnormal, so Takeda Misae's expression immediately turned serious.

She didn't sense any vengeful spirits, so could it be a yokai's mischief?

Logically speaking, it was difficult for great yokai to be born in modern cities like Tokyo; at most, there would only be some mischievous minor yokai. This level of yokai shouldn't cause her to have such a reaction.

Had something new happened recently?

But before Takeda Misae could think further, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed again.

"Why is the power out again?" The young Gokō Tamaki was engrossed in watching TV, and the repeated power outage made her a little unhappy.

Gokō Hinata, at the moment the power went out, hugged her sister, afraid that some yokai would appear and snatch her sister away. However, her body was also trembling slightly, clearly showing her fear.

Gokō Ruri, on the other hand, was prepared. As soon as the power went out, she took out the flashlight she had prepared earlier, bringing light back to the living room.

She then glanced at the serious-looking Takeda Misae and asked, "Godmother, did you find anything?"

Takeda Misae felt a little embarrassed when asked this question.

To be honest, besides shivering, she hadn't sensed anything else.

"Ahem, there is indeed a problem. Take me to the circuit breaker, please. If that yokai appears, it will definitely leave traces."

Gokō Ruri glanced at her younger sisters. She had originally planned to have them wait in the living room, but thinking about preventing any accidents, she decided to have her two sisters accompany them.

The four of them soon walked outside the house and checked the circuit breaker.

Takeda Misae meticulously examined the area around the circuit breaker and found some clues this time.

Around the circuit breaker, there were a few rat hairs and traces of the rat climbing and gnawing, and she even discovered a hidden rat hole.

Considering that rats could roam freely in people's homes, it wasn't surprising to find a rat hole near the circuit breaker.

However, besides the traces left by these rats, she couldn't find any other useful clues.

"It seems to be a cunning fellow. I'll need to prepare something," Takeda Misae muttered to herself, preparing to use her Magic Orbs to set up a spiritual power trap nearby to lure the yokai.

"Fortunately, besides the Exorcist Outfit, I have almost everything I need for my livelihood with me. I don't have to worry about not having enough materials, I'm just afraid that fellow won't fall for it." Takeda Misae was quite confident about this, believing that if she got serious, these minor yokai wouldn't stand a chance against her.

Chapter 86: Sister, there was a really strong rat just now!

To broaden the horizons of this young girl, and the Shinomiya Kaguya behind her, and more importantly, for her own retirement pension.

Takeda Misae gritted her teeth, took out her tools, and began setting up a small Barrier using her stored Spiritual Power.

This could be considered one of her trump cards.

As an Exorcist who came from an unconventional background, she had only learned some basic applications of Spiritual Power from her teacher in her youth. To master other abilities, she had to figure them out on her own.

And Barrier techniques were considered relatively simple moves.

Almost all Sorcerers, vengeful spirits, and yokai possessed Barrier techniques activated by their own powers.

Having seen some Sorcerers use Barriers in her youth and having fought against vengeful spirits who controlled Barriers, she spent a considerable amount of time, and sought advice from many other Exorcists, before finally figuring out how to construct a Barrier using Spiritual Power.

Although the range was a bit small, and it differed quite a bit from the Barriers she remembered, she was still quite confident now.

What kind of powerful yokai could appear in an ordinary household?

What kind of powerful yokai would be so bored as to constantly mess with the circuit breaker?

It was most likely just a newly formed, mischievous little yokai playing around.

She would just teach it a lesson and make it obediently become the guardian spirit of this house.

Since it had been quite some time since she had been this serious, Shitamachi Godmother wasn't fast at setting up the Barrier, and it required several auxiliary methods, such as placing a few nodes within the room to maintain the Barrier's existence.

"Hmm, then I'll use an item with concentrated Spiritual Power as bait to lure that little yokai out."

Takeda Misae carefully took out a jade stone that didn't look particularly attractive. This was one of the rewards she had received from the Shinomiya family.

While it looked like an ordinary piece of jade to normal people, to someone like her who possessed Spiritual Power, it was much more useful than the Magic Orbs she had left from her youth.

Those Magic Orbs were purely disposable consumables, whereas this item could be set aside to slowly absorb Spiritual Power from the surroundings after its own Spiritual Power was depleted, making it a reusable tool.

Even with the drawback of needing months or even years to recharge after each use, in this era where vengeful spirits were increasing and ghosts were reappearing, the efficiency of this item in absorbing Spiritual Power would only get higher.

Using this as bait, she had certainly invested a significant amount.

If she hadn't gotten involved with that young girl from the Shinomiya family, she probably would have just gone through the motions, thrown a few Magic Orbs, and scared the little yokai away.

But now, only by demonstrating her value could she ensure her treatment within the Shinomiya family.

That was why she was specifically using such a more costly and cumbersome method.

If that young girl from the Shinomiya family took a liking to her skills, her future retirement pension would be completely secured.

Takeda Misae thought this, knowing the background of the Shinomiya family.

"Placing two more Magic Orbs here, and the entire Barrier will be set up," Takeda Misae said, wiping the sweat from her forehead. After completing the final preparations, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She turned to Gokō Ruri, "Little girl, the trap is set. From now on, we'll pretend we don't know anything and patiently wait for that little yokai to reveal itself."

Gokō Ruri let out a sigh of relief.

Although she had previously suspected the other party might be a fraud, since the other party had received the diary owner's review of "has some skill" and "can be trusted," her attitude towards Shitamachi Godmother had naturally become much more respectful.

Therefore, she now restrained her chuunibyou tendencies and became much more ladylike, "Shall I make you a cup of tea? It's late at night, you must be tired."

Shitamachi Godmother nodded with satisfaction, feeling Gokō Ruri's respect.

"Then let's go to the living room first." It was also a good opportunity for her to subtly inquire how this young girl knew the young lady of the Shinomiya family.

She also wanted to know why, including Shinomiya Kaguya, these seemingly delicate girls all possessed such strong life energy.

Why had so many promising Exorcist candidates suddenly emerged?

Was this also due to the changes in the world?

Thinking of this, Shitamachi Godmother couldn't help but sigh, feeling a sense of regret that she had been born fifty years too early.

She shook her head, deciding it was best not to dwell on such trivial matters and focus on securing her retirement pension first.

She turned back and looked at the jade stone.

With these jade stones that could absorb Spiritual Power, she figured she could hold on for a few more years before retiring...

Wait, where was the jade stone!?

Where did her large jade stone go?

Takeda Misae instinctively let out a sharp cry.

This was her most precious possession right now. She had only taken it out for less than a minute, chatted with Gokō Ruri for a moment, and now it was gone in the blink of an eye!

She frantically checked the spot where the jade stone had been placed and the surrounding traps, but to her increasing despair, she found that several of the Magic Orbs she had previously set up had also disappeared. This discovery stunned her completely.

Gokō Ruri, who had just been about to turn to pour tea, was also dumbfounded.

Wasn't this Shitamachi Godmother just very confident moments ago? How could she have lost her composure after just a couple of sentences?

Watching Shitamachi Godmother covered in sweat, Gokō Ruri started to get nervous again.

Was the yokai that appeared in her house much stronger than she thought?

But her diary hadn't sent any danger warnings yet. Had this diary not unlocked that function?

Gokō Ruri hadn't realized the illogical part yet.

Then, in the next moment, Hinata's surprised cry came from the living room again. Gokō Ruri's heart tightened, and she quickly ran towards the living room.

"Hinata, Tamaki, are you two alright?"

She hurriedly opened the living room door and asked her sisters.

Fortunately, her two younger sisters seemed to be unharmed.

The older one, Gokō Hinata, was holding Tamaki, her eyes tightly shut, appearing very frightened.

In contrast, Tamaki, who hadn't started school yet, was in her second sister's arms, her big eyes wide open, seemingly not scared at all by what had just happened.

Seeing Gokō Ruri approach, a happy smile appeared on her face as she talked about what she had just seen: "Sister, there was a really amazing little mouse just now!"

She gestured with her hands and feet to describe what she had seen.

It took Gokō Ruri a while to understand what her sister was talking about.

A yellow mouse, carrying a pile of things, had walked right past them in broad daylight.

Even when Gokō Hinata was scared and hugged her, the little mouse had taken out some small orbs and performed a ball-juggling act in front of them before making a stylish exit, just before Gokō Ruri arrived.