Chapter 12 – Ghost Turmoil (8)

Translator: Yonnee

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“Is that possible?”

“Well, it’s not impossible. But you’ll need a massive number of spirits. To eat.”

When Julia said this with a stiff look on her face, Patrick also had a hardened expression. Julia basically treated ghosts as human beings.

In her eyes, humans and ghosts were the same. Rather, she even tended to prefer ghosts because they were at least faithful to their instincts.

Since Patrick has been accompanying Julia for a long time, he was also influenced by her way of thinking. He couldn’t meet and talk to ghosts himself, but he believed in the existence of spirits and treated them as people.

In other words, what Julia was referring to was tantamount to murder.

“The most basic soul has strong negative energy because they can’t walk around in broad daylight. No, on the contrary, you could say that the ghosts can’t walk around freely because of the strong positive energy during the day. In other words, ghosts have negative energy, but malicious spirits are the opposite, with strong positive energy.”

Julia looked up and stared at the sky. It was a very sunny day.

“To maintain their negative energy, they’ll have to feed off of another source of negative energy. That’s why malicious spirits breathe out positive energy rather than negative energy. If you lock the negative in and let out the positive, the area will only have positive energy left as a result. Then, the harmony between positive and negative, or yin and yang, will collapse, which would result in the natural increase in various diseases.”

Julia squinted and looked around. Her eyes couldn’t even see the common ghosts that she usually saw. They should still appear in the morning, especially because the place she was heading towards had a distinct trait to it.

“Since it’s like that, do you know where money is made?”

“You don’t mean…?”

Julia smiled and looked up at the large white building in front of her. It was a sacred place where injured people were healed and protected, and where people prayed for their health.

“Hospitals like this make the most money.”

When she stepped into the building, a man dressed in pure white garb approached and greeted her.

“May I know what brings you here? If you feel sick or uncomfortable anywhere, please do let me know. I’ll get you a doctor right away.”

“We’re here because this guy has a cold.”

The man looked at Patrick when Julia patted Patrick’s shoulder. Patrick suddenly opened his eyes wide at what she said.

Julia opened her eyes sharply to signal him, at which Patrick made an awkward expression.

“Oh… m-my head, um… I-I guess I have a cold…?”

It was so unnatural how he pretended to stagger right that second. The man’s gaze changed subtly at the same time Julia’s face scrunched up.

Patrick could feel cold sweat running down his back when he saw Julia’s sharp gaze, so he eventually muttered to himself, ‘Ah, whatever’ then proceeded to collapse on the ground.

“Huh… Huh?!”

The man was startled by Patrick’s sudden collapse. The other people who saw this ran forward and checked his condition, the surroundings in complete chaos.

In the meantime, Julia sneaked away.

‘Sorry, Patrick. I’ll save you later!’

Julia sneaked into the hospital amidst the chaos. Fortunately, there weren’t any guards on alert because they were all looking at Patrick.

Thanks to this, Julia slipped into the supply room, which could only be entered by employees.

She opened the door slightly and looked around. She thought that it was this place for sure.

It was naturally impossible to disturb the perfect harmony of yin and yang, but it’s no exaggeration that there was a bit more negative energy near the north where the shelters were.

But it was different in this hospital. It was sucking up all the energy around it, as if it was bent on absorbing all the negative energy around it.

Julia had a lot on her mind since she spoke to Leo yesterday. Especially when they talked about the people who could benefit from this.

As she considered the situation, she concluded that even though this could occur spontaneously, it wasn’t something that happened naturally.

And most importantly, the ghosts’ testimonies.

[ And every time one of my friends disappeared, people showed up around here. ]

Julia had to confirm what they meant by this. She forced herself to clear her previous assumptions.

She hoped that they weren’t those that wore human masks to do things they shouldn’t do. That’s why she visited the northern district to confirm her suspicions.

The strange feelings she had every time she visited the shelter, and this hospital that’s strangely absorbing negative energy… Julia thought it was certainly this place.

Through the gap in the doorway, she peeked outside to see the hallway. When she opened the gap a little more so she could look around, she heard the sound of people talking, so she closed the door again.

“Why do you think Viscount Callia is shouldering the work like this?”

Julia listened intently.

“He hasn’t been here much as of late, and I think he wasn’t here yesterday either.”

“That’s right. Anyway, that person also…”

As their voices faded away, Julia opened the door slightly and looked around. Then, she went out stealthily and walked down the hallway. She didn’t run into anyone there, and this was thanks to her hard work of redirecting everyone’s attention.

She scoured the place with her eyes. When she was outside the building, she could feel its distinct energy, but when she came inside, there was no positive energy, and there was almost no negative energy at all. Julia couldn’t figure out her next move.

Ultimately, Julia sighed as she searched the premises. She was at a loss on where to go next. It’s been a while since she left Patrick with the doctors.

“Should I give up for now…”

Julia muttered in a low voice as she turned around, but when she did, she felt a strong sense of warmth from a relatively far distance. Julia furtively followed the trail.

“…The morgue?”

The Floren Kingdom had a culture of cremating the bodies of the dead, so hospitals kept the bodies at the morgue before that.

An unsettling feeling enveloped her. Too much time had passed, and Patrick wasn’t beside her, so if anyone found her here, it wouldn’t be easy to escape.

She was going to turn back and ask Leo for his cooperation before coming back here, but since she’s already come so far, and her investigation seemed to be on the brink of something big, she couldn’t back down meekly like this.

Julia looked down. She slowly approached the door and grabbed the knob, thinking that she should at least just check what’s inside.

A strong energy emanated from the inside. In the case that a malicious spirit might be inside, Julia searched for the talisman she had on her with her hand and turned the knob.

“You can’t do that.”

“Who—?!”

Shocked by the sudden voice, Julia nervously looked behind her.

Thunk! Julia slid down on the floor and fell on her behind. She looked up at the person who called out to her, feeling faint from the nervousness she was feeling.

“…Y-You…”

The man was smiling.

“…Le, o……”

Julia’s voice faded, and the man who was staring down at Julia as she fainted, reached down to hold her, then stepped into the door.

* * *

A few moments ago, Leo arrived at the hospital, just as Olden had expected. Leo’s sudden appearance calmed down his chaotic surroundings.

A man who was quite tall saw Leo and rushed to him, bowing down hastily.

“I greet the Duke of Epesia. I am Baron Hasen, the deputy director of the Epesia Central Hospital.”

His voice alerted everyone around them, including the people who worked in the hospital and the patients who visited. The Duke’s eyes, which looked around with dignity, were not particularly directed at them.

“I did not come here to be treated. I just need to ask you something.”

“What is it…?”

Leo gestured around him to let the Baron know there were too many ears around, so they went to a quieter place.

“Did you happen to—”

“Aaaaargh!”

The sudden yell cut off Leo mid-sentence. Hasen’s expression immediately became frightened. It was a great discourtesy to interrupt the Lord of their territory while he was speaking, even if it was a scream of pain.

Hasen looked at the origin of the sound urgently, but Leo only tilted his head and pressed the man’s shoulder, then looked inside.

“Ah, t-that—I don’t need that! Why do you keep poking me!”

“I made a mistake earlier, so please let me do it again!”

“This is crazy! I’m fine! Ah, m-my pants are coming off! Just do it on my arm—my arm! D-Don’t touch my pants!”

“It has to be here because your muscles are densely packed in any other place. The needle won’t go in. Now, please come over here.”

Leo stared at Patrick, who was kicking up a fuss inside. Then, Leo and Patrick’s eyes met, at which, Patrick’s eyes grew as big as a puppy’s who was about to reunite with its owner.

“D-D-Duke! Please save me! She keeps trying to take off my pants…! My pride as a knight…!”

Leo looked at him pitifully and went inside to stop the nurse. Patrick looked up at him with gratitude, thinking that Leo swooped in to save him.

Leo leaned down and whispered quietly into his ear.

“…Why are you here?”

Patrick blinked at Leo’s voice, then he also whispered quietly.

“Milady said this place is the most suspicious.”

“…This place? Why?”

Leo was curious about what made Julia think that. He was about to investigate and know more about this place as well, but surprisingly, it was Julia who arrived before him.

Patrick shook his head slightly.

“She didn’t give me any details. But if she’s right, then she must be here to confirm her theories.”

“…Then where is Julia?”

After Leo asked, Patrick told him about what happened in detail. Leo then felt sweat trickling down his forehead as he heard Patrick’s last sentence.

“She hasn’t come back for over an hour?”

“Yes, I thought she’d need time to look around, but I haven’t heard from her since then. I wanted to try and find out what happened, but they wouldn’t let me go…”

Leo’s expression hardened. He stood up straight and looked around. Julia couldn’t be seen amongst the busy people around him.