Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1477 1149. Hazard
Wuming simply pointed Lan En in the direction and described the address of the client she had accepted, and Lan En already had a general idea in her mind.

The castle town of Iwamura Castle is not big, but there is still some distance between them for individual households.

According to the location Wuming described, the family that she actually undertook the demon-hunting commission for was two streets away from here!

This distance is too far.

Moreover, the positions of the two families are not even touching, whether it is vertically or horizontally, it doesn’t matter at all.

The concept of [残污] is similar to Japanese ghost stories. Perhaps it can be said that this phenomenon is the basis of Japanese ghost stories.

Logically speaking, these things would get on people's bodies only if they entered the house of a dead person and came into contact with him.

But the two families are so far apart, how could it be possible?
"It's a coincidence, right?"

Wuming blinked his eyes, his tone filled with uncertainty and a subtle, subconscious resistance.

If two events with relatively low probabilities occur at the same time and in the same area, seemingly unrelated.

So compared to the possibility that these two things really have nothing to do with each other and are just coincidences, there is another greater possibility.

——The internal connection between these two things is so complicated and tortuous that those who can only see the whole picture mistakenly believe that the two things are unrelated.

Wuming didn’t understand this concept, but she subconsciously felt that if this matter was really as the demon hunter in front of her said, then it meant that there would definitely be very bad consequences!
That's why there was this subconscious resistance in her expression.

For a city that is not in a state of war, death is not a trivial matter. After a person dies, the city lord or the chief officer in charge will arrange for a priest or an onmyoji, or even someone who knows a little about rituals, to go and purify the body.

It is not even necessary to know nothing. As long as one has talisman paper or sacrificial utensils obtained from high-level priests or onmyojis, ordinary people can also complete the work.

The main threat of [Remnant Filth] to the human world has always been the possibility of summoning monsters and evil spirits, rather than [Remnant Filth] itself.

It is not difficult to remove under normal circumstances.

Therefore, after Wuming received the commission to "purify the [impurities]" from the residents of the city, he did not simply let his [guardian spirit] out to swim around and be done with it.

Out of professional ethics and her inherently simple character, she also has to deal with the monsters that may have been attracted.

So, when she was wandering around this area, she saw Lan En and Flannel Ball, who were different from ordinary people, and began to observe them.

But now, even though Lan En had just stepped into this city and had just begun to investigate this [filth] that had been stained with his own body, he already felt that this [filth] was completely abnormal!
"[Residue] will have a similar effect on people as when it was created."

Lan En succinctly and directly stated part of his summary of this supernatural pollution phenomenon.

"Then can you tell me about the client you received and what their family is going through now?"

At this time, the old woman's body was still lying on the bed in their home.

Perhaps two days ago, she and her son were lying on this bed, two bodies that were not rich but at least alive.

But now, her son died in Jusanzakura Village, and she herself left in the same way.

The cabin was dark and smelly.

But Wuming seemed to have thought of something after Lan En's reminder and relaxed a little.

"My employers say they always hear crying children under the floorboards of their homes."

Japanese-style buildings are sometimes built like waterside buildings, using many short pillars to support the entire house to a small height.

This height is basically enough for people to squat or lie down to walk through it.

So if you occasionally hear something moving under the floor, it's most likely a wild cat or dog.

Wuming waved his hand.

"That family knew something was wrong as soon as they heard it, because their home is pretty much the same as here."

"It's basically a wooden hut built directly on the loess. How can it look like a wealthy family's house with enough space under the house for people to squat and walk? That kind of luxurious house?"

As he spoke, Wuming pointed nonchalantly at the hut where they were currently.

"Look, she hanged herself. Images like a child are totally untrue."

"Her son just died in the Thirteenth Sakura Village outside the city. Before he died, he kept shouting for the baby to stop crying."

Before Wuming could utter the word "not related", Lan En immediately told him more about the situation.

Wuming's face, which had just shown a hint of relaxation, froze just as Lan En had expected.

".Connected." Wu Ming's face was a little dull. "Shisanying Village, are you talking about the village outside the city that's more than a day's journey away? It's so widespread?"

"It's one thing that it's spreading to a wide area." Lan En also frowned, "But it's spreading to a decent city as well?"

[Residue] itself shouldn't have much destructive power, and even if left alone, it would fade away. But now it has been able to spread like an infectious disease, and there is no sign of weakening due to the extension of time and space. What's going on?
The harm this can cause is completely different from normal situations!

Although Iwamura Castle was only a small military stronghold that was almost like a fortress in Lan's eyes, it was a real and important city with a name in Japan at that time.

"No, it shouldn't be like this." Wuming waved his hand decisively and said, "Even if there are no famous shrines or temples in the city, it shouldn't be unable to deal with the [filth]."

This is the truth, even the Thirteen Sakura Village has its own methods of exorcising evil spirits.

How is it possible that there is a settlement that has survived in this world until now and cannot deal with the [Remnants]?
Even if we just clear out a space and leave it alone, waiting for it to decay and dissipate on its own, that is also a method.

But in today's Iwamura Castle, judging from Lan's meeting with Ando Morishi, the castle lord really had no idea that such an extraordinary amount of [filth] had appeared in his own territory.

"So," Lan En shrugged and raised his chin towards Wu Ming Chao's corpse on the ground, "Are you really sure now that you have successfully exorcised the [filth] here?"

Wuming took off the evil ghost mask on his head and looked at the corpse while biting his lip.

The body of the person who committed suicide by hanging now looks no different from a normal corpse. Even Wuming himself felt the same way just now.

The filthy and gloomy atmosphere was swept away by her guardian spirit.

But after Lan En talked to her about the situation, she felt that this corpse, which had been purified by the [Guardian Spirit], was vaguely about to sink into darkness again.

This is the [Guardian Spirit]!
The spells and rituals of a serious high priest or monk are rarely comparable to the [Guardian Spirit] itself!

Can't it be cleared even so?

Moreover, there is more than one [Guardian Spirit] here. The ninja cat next to this man has been possessed by [Shan Wipe].

In this small room there are two [guardian spirits] that are rare and hard to find in the whole country!
It is impossible for a normal [filth] to exist in this room.

"Anyway, let's put the body away first."

Lan En was the first to speak in the heavy silence.

Wuming opened his mouth subconsciously, but then closed it again.

According to Wuming's custom, he would just need to tell the city's government about this kind of thing, and they would have corpse collectors come to deal with it.

She would usually purify the corpse first, and those corpse collectors who were ordered by the city government also had some tricks to deal with the [filth], so this was basically her habit.

But the current level of [filth] is obviously not something that the corpse collectors can deal with with their little tricks, so it is better not to involve more people.

Lan En was the first to walk out of the house and head towards the government officials nearby.

After the meeting, Ando Mamoru said that he would be allowed to investigate freely, but considering his "complex and hidden" identity, it was impossible to let him go around alone.

Although the people who were accompanying him listened to Lan En's words and did not follow closely, they were also on standby for him in the castle tower far away.

Just inform these people and let them know that someone has died in the city. Tell them not to make a fuss or create misunderstandings because of how Lan En and Wu Ming handled the body.

The old woman's hanged body was placed in a secluded and deserted morgue.

This kind of abnormal [filth] would definitely not be buried in a cemetery outside the city.

The cemetery already has a lot of negative energy, and even with the shrine suppressing it, it's not good. If it is mixed with this kind of abnormal "filth", God knows what it will become.

By the time they had placed the bodies, adhering to the principle of minimizing involvement of others and preventing the spread of [filth], it had already become dark.

"Let's continue tomorrow." Lan En came out of the morgue and said to Wu Ming behind him. "If the main problem is the [Filth] itself, although I am not an expert, we must follow the clues to find out its source, right?"

"Find out the source of [Residue]?" Wuming hit his forehead with the heel of his palm and said in distress. "I'm not good at it at all."

In the past, when has she, who carries the protection of the [Guardian Spirit], ever really cared about [filth]?

In Japan, due to the animism of Shintoism and the eastward spread of Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty, as a result of cultural integration, [guardian spirits] are collectively referred to as "gods and Buddhas".

In other words, people who carry guardian spirits are "people blessed by gods and Buddhas."

[Residue] will only make Wuming wary of the monsters that may be attracted.

She had never specifically looked for the cause of the [filth].

If she happened to encounter the whole process of the creation of [Filth], she would not be opposed to doing justice.

But if she didn't encounter it, she wouldn't be obsessed with it, she would just leave after purification.

After all, Japan was in turmoil right now, and even if she was a "person protected by gods and Buddhas", she only had so much energy and time. She couldn't care about the tragedy in the world.

(End of this chapter)