Although these Magic Orbs could not handle high-level Vengeful Spirits, even one would be enough to scare off a mouse. Now that three had come at once, that mouse should have been stunned by my Spiritual Power, right?
Next, I should check whether there were any other Spiritual Power fluctuations in the room after being stimulated by my Spiritual Power.
With that thought in mind, Takeda Misae looked toward the mouse, intending to have Gokō Ruri throw it outside.
Yet in the next moment, her gaze met the mouse's gaze atop the cabinet.
She even saw the mouse blink, as if it were expressing confusion toward her.
Chapter 85: Preparing a Trap
In Takeda Misae's eyes, the mouse was staring back at her as though it had not noticed the magical energy fluctuations at all.
Could it be that this mouse was very insensitive to magical energy?
Takeda Misae did not believe her magical energy could not even deal with a mouse, so clearly, the problem had to be with the mouse.
Fortunately, she had not said anything just now. The girls beside her probably had not understood what she had been trying to do, so she only needed to pretend nothing had happened.
Takeda Misae did not want to contend with a mouse, so she closed her eyes and assumed a sensing posture.
"Mm... The residual life energy in this room is very strong. It seems your life energy has grown stronger than when we met a few days ago. With such powerful life energy, you'll naturally be more likely than ordinary people to attract those things, so you should be more careful in the future."
Gokō Ruri did not think too much about it. Her attention was focused entirely on the Shitamachi Godmother.
She had previously thought the old woman was a fraud, so her attitude had not been very polite. Later, however, she learned from You Know Who's diary that the woman truly had skills, and had only become this way because her Spiritual Power had deteriorated with age.
As someone with chuunibyou syndrome, Gokō Ruri was extremely interested in the profession of Exorcists. Over the past few days, she had secretly used Reading Points to cultivate Spiritual Power. Although the results had not been great, she could at least faintly sense the existence of Spiritual Power now.
Just now, she had sensed a stream of Spiritual Power that was considerably "powerful" compared to hers emanating from the Shitamachi Godmother's hand. She wondered when she would be able to reach that level.
Jerry, meanwhile, sensed something entirely different.
Was this old woman provoking him?
Jerry had never encountered Spiritual Power before, but just now, he had clearly felt a strange energy emanating from the old woman's hand.
This should be the Spiritual Power Miyauchi Hiyage had mentioned to him.
If Hamon was bodily energy, then this Spiritual Power should be some kind of mental energy.
Unfortunately, whether the Spiritual Power the old woman wielded was too low in grade or her skill was too poor, this level of mental energy was simply not worth mentioning in Jerry's eyes.
After all, over the past few days, he had seen Stands—also composed of mental energy—at Miyauchi Hiyage's home, and he had even learned the Undetectable Extension Charm, which was cast using Mana.
In his senses, Mana, which could still easily alter space, was more wondrous for the time being.
But Miyauchi Hiyage had mentioned that high-level Sorcerers could accomplish quite a lot with Spiritual Power. That probably meant this old woman simply had not learned enough.
This level of energy impact felt like nothing more than a tickle to him.
As Jerry pondered this, he felt that he should be able to study the cultivation method of this Spiritual Power easily. Perhaps it might even give him some inspiration on how to use Mana.
So he prepared to greet Takeda Misae and ask her to teach him about that power from earlier.
Unexpectedly, the old woman simply closed her eyes right in front of him. She did not even look at him, and was even saying things like, "People with excessively strong life energy are prone to attracting those things."
That was pure nonsense. He had lived at Miyauchi Hiyage's house for so long, yet he had never seen a single Vengeful Spirit come within a hundred meters of Miyauchi Hiyage.
As for himself, while his life energy was not as powerful as Miyauchi Hiyage's, he had not encountered any Vengeful Spirits unafraid of him so far. Basically, they could only be toyed with as his playthings.
Thus, watching Takeda Misae deceive people, Jerry decided to teach her a proper lesson.
He could not even be bothered to wait for prime time to end. He immediately ran out of the cabinet, ready to give the old woman a little lesson.
Takeda Misae, who had been sensing Spiritual Power fluctuations, instinctively shuddered.
Although she did not sense any malice, as an Exorcist, even one who had grown old, such a reaction was abnormal. Takeda Misae immediately grew serious.
She had not sensed the Aura of a Vengeful Spirit, so was it really a monster causing trouble?
Logically speaking, a modern metropolis like Tokyo should have had difficulty breeding any great monsters. At most, there would be a few little monsters fond of pranks. Monsters of that level should not have provoked such a reaction from her.
Could some new change have occurred recently?
But before Takeda Misae had time to think further, the room's lights suddenly dimmed again.
"Why did the power go out again?" Young Gokō Tamaki had been watching television excitedly, and the outage made her somewhat unhappy.
The moment the power went out, Gokō Hinata hugged her younger sister, afraid some monster might appear nearby and snatch her away. Yet her body was also trembling slightly, clearly showing that she was afraid as well.
Gokō Ruri had been prepared. As soon as the power went out, she took out the flashlight she had prepared earlier and restored light to the living room.
Only then did she look at the serious-looking Takeda Misae. "Godmother, did you find anything?"
Takeda Misae was slightly embarrassed by the question.
If she told the truth, then aside from shuddering, she had sensed absolutely nothing else.
"Ahem. There is indeed something wrong. Take me to the circuit breaker. If that monster appeared, it will definitely have left traces."
Gokō Ruri glanced at her sisters. She had initially planned to let them stay in the living room and wait for them, but after thinking it over, she decided to bring both sisters along to avoid any accidents.
The group of four quickly went outside and inspected the circuit breaker.
Takeda Misae carefully examined the traces around the breaker, and this time, she did discover something.
There were several strands of mouse fur around the breaker, as well as marks from mice climbing and gnawing on it. She even found a rather concealed mouse hole.
Considering that mice could freely move around inside the house, it did not seem strange for there to be a mouse hole near the circuit breaker.
But aside from the traces left by mice, she found no more useful clues.
"It seems to be a very cunning fellow. I'll need to make some preparations," Takeda Misae muttered, planning to use her Magic Orbs to set up a Spiritual Power trap nearby and lure the monster in.
"Fortunately, aside from that Exorcist Outfit, I carry almost all the tools of my trade with me, so I don't need to worry about lacking materials. I only worry that fellow won't take the bait." Takeda Misae was quite confident that as long as she got serious, these little monsters would not be her match.
Chapter 86: Sister, There Was Such an Amazing Mouse Just Now!
To impress this little girl—and Shinomiya Kaguya behind her—and even more so for the sake of her pension,
Takeda Misae gritted her teeth, took out her tools, and began setting up a small barrier using the Spiritual Power she had stored away.
This could be said to be one of her most closely guarded techniques.
As an Exorcist without formal training, aside from learning a few simple ways to use Spiritual Power from her teacher when she was young, she could only figure out any other abilities on her own.
Barrier techniques were one relatively simple kind of skill.
Sorcerers, Vengeful Spirits, and monsters could all use their respective powers to deploy barrier techniques.
Having seen some Sorcerers use barriers in her youth and fought Vengeful Spirits capable of barriers, she had spent considerable time and consulted many Exorcists for experience before finally figuring out how to construct barriers with Spiritual Power.
Although its range was somewhat small and it differed greatly from the barriers she remembered, she was still fairly confident in it now.
What great monster could possibly emerge from an ordinary household?
What great monster would have nothing better to do than pull someone's circuit breaker every day?
It was most likely just the mischief of a newly formed little monster.
She only needed to teach it a small lesson and make it obediently serve as this household's guardian deity.
Since it had been years since she had gotten this serious, the Shitamachi Godmother was not especially fast at setting up the barrier. She also needed quite a few supporting measures, such as placing several nodes inside the room to sustain the barrier.
"Mm, then I just need to use an item rich in Spiritual Power as bait and lure out that little monster."
Takeda Misae carefully took out a piece of jade that did not look particularly impressive. This was one of the rewards she had received from the Shinomiya Family.
In an ordinary person's eyes, it was just a normal piece of jade. But in the eyes of someone like her, who possessed Spiritual Power, it was far more useful than the Magic Orbs she had kept from her youth.
Those Magic Orbs were purely single-use consumables, but this thing could slowly absorb Spiritual Power from its surroundings after its own Spiritual Power had been depleted, making it a reusable item.
Though it had the drawback of requiring months or even years to recharge after each use, in this era where Vengeful Spirits were continuously increasing and ghosts and monsters were reappearing, its efficiency in absorbing Spiritual Power would only grow higher and higher.
Using this as bait meant she was truly paying a price.
If she had not become connected to that little girl from the Shinomiya Family, she would probably have merely put on a show, thrown out a few Magic Orbs, and scared off the little monster.
But now, only by demonstrating her value could she secure her treatment from the Shinomiya Family.
That was why she deliberately used such a more costly and troublesome method.
If that little girl from the Shinomiya Family took a liking to this skill of hers, then her future pension would be completely settled.
Takeda Misae, who understood the Shinomiya Family's background, thought so.
"Place two more Magic Orbs here, and the entire barrier will be complete." After wiping the sweat from her forehead and making the final preparations, Takeda Misae relaxed slightly.
She turned to Gokō Ruri. "Little girl, the trap has been set. Next, we just need to pretend we know nothing and patiently wait for that little monster to walk into it on its own."
Gokō Ruri breathed a sigh of relief.
Although she had previously suspected the woman might be a fraud, since the Diary's owner had judged her as “somewhat capable” and “trustworthy,” her attitude toward the Shitamachi Godmother had naturally become far more respectful.
Therefore, she reined in her chuunibyou temperament and became much more ladylike. "I'll make you some tea. It must be hard work at such a late hour."
Feeling Gokō Ruri's respect, the Shitamachi Godmother nodded in satisfaction.
"Then let's return to the living room first." She also wanted to take the opportunity to subtly probe how this little girl had come to know the Shinomiya Family's eldest daughter.
She also wanted to know why these seemingly delicate girls, including Shinomiya Kaguya, all possessed such dense life energy.
Why had so many promising Exorcist talents suddenly appeared at once?
Could this also be because of the changes in the world?
Thinking of this, the Shitamachi Godmother could not help sighing, suddenly feeling as if she had been born fifty years too early.
She shook her head, deciding she should not think about such irrelevant things. She should settle her pension first.
She turned back and looked at the jade.
With jade that could absorb Spiritual Power, it seemed she could hold out for a few more years before retiring...
Wait, where was the jade!?
Where was my huge piece of jade!?
Takeda Misae instinctively let out a shrill cry.
This was her most precious possession now. She had only taken it out for less than a minute and exchanged just a few words with Gokō Ruri. How had it vanished in the blink of an eye?!
In panic, she checked where the jade had just been placed and the surrounding trap, only to discover even more despairingly that quite a few of the Magic Orbs she had set up had also disappeared. The discovery left her completely stunned.
Gokō Ruri, who had just been about to turn around and make tea, was dumbfounded too.
Hadn't this Shitamachi Godmother been quite confident just now? How had she fallen apart after only a few sentences?
Seeing the Shitamachi Godmother drenched in sweat, Gokō Ruri began to grow nervous again.
Could the monster in her house be far more powerful than she had imagined?
But until now, her Diary had not sent out any danger warning. Could it be that her Diary had not unlocked that function yet?
Gokō Ruri had not yet realized how unreasonable that was.
Then, in the next moment, Hinata's cry came from the living room again. Gokō Ruri's heart clenched, and she hurriedly ran toward the living room.
"Hinata, Tamaki, are you two all right?"
She hurriedly opened the living room door and called out to her sisters.
Fortunately, both of her sisters appeared to be unharmed.
The older Gokō Hinata was holding Tamaki with her eyes tightly shut, looking extremely frightened.
Tamaki, who had not even started school yet, was instead nestled in her second sister's arms with her big eyes wide open, seemingly completely unafraid of what had happened.
When she saw Gokō Ruri arrive, a delighted smile appeared on her face as she described what she had just seen. "Big Sister, there was a really amazing little mouse just now!"
She gestured wildly with both hands and feet as she described what she had seen.
It took Gokō Ruri quite a while to understand what her sister was talking about.
A yellow mouse had openly walked past them while carrying a pile of things on its back.
It had even taken out several little beads and performed a ball-juggling trick in front of Hinata after she got frightened and hugged Tamaki. Then, before Gokō Ruri could arrive, it had departed with flair.
Chapter 87: This Mouse Is Actually My Junior Granduncle
Before you continue