Have you had enough, Miss Vampire? It's time to get down to business.

"Before Miss Alice showed signs of abnormality, had she been to any special places or met any special people?" Lor asked again.

"Well, this..." The little maid tilted her head and thought for a long time, "I don't know if it counts. About half a month ago, the young lady went to see a fortune teller who was said to be very effective, and she also brought back an amulet."

amulet?

Lor and Vivian looked at each other and became alert at the same time.

Some extraordinary people have the ability to attach spells or curses to objects... Some ghosts and vengeful spirits will temporarily attach themselves to spiritual objects, and then wait for an opportunity to possess the victim.

All in all, it sounds fishy.

"We're here. This is the lady's room!" The little maid stopped in front of a door.

"Well, thank you." Vivian nodded calmly and smiled. "Next, we will investigate Miss Alice's room according to the Earl's request. Some special methods will be used during the process, so it is not convenient for ordinary people to be present."

"I, I understand!" The little maid blushed and nodded repeatedly, "I'll leave now. If you need anything, just call me!"

"Also, stay away from those 'little sisters' you call yours," Lor added.

"Little sister?" Vivian looked confused.

"Here." Lor raised his chin silently towards the end of the corridor.

Only then did Vivian notice the little heads stacked in a row in the corner.

"The maids in this mansion are truly curious... Indeed, ordinary people don't often get the chance to witness exorcists on a case," Vivian said nonchalantly. "Have they been following us the entire time? I didn't even notice... You're quite perceptive, Lor."

"You're quite slow."

Lor sighed helplessly and then pulled out a brand new silver cross from his collar, which was used to detect evil forces. The previous cross was broken by Isabella, so this was the new one the church had just issued to him.

Infuse spiritual power.

...Buzz.

The cross began to vibrate.

There is a reaction!

20. Missing Person

The cross responded by pointing towards Miss Alice's room.

Lor and Vivian each cast several defensive spells on themselves, then pushed the door open and walked in.

At first glance, this was just an ordinary young lady's room, spacious, bright and magnificent. However, as soon as they stepped into the room, they clearly felt a certain unclean aura.

However, it is not very strong.

Just a little bit of "flavor" left over.

"What is certain is that some kind of evil creature once existed in this room, but it is gone now." Vivian relaxed a little and looked around.

Then, he walked straight to the soft and luxurious bed in the room and took out something from under the pillow.

The unclean "smell" comes from this thing.

It was a pyramid-shaped object made of several small branches, with black threads wrapped around the intersections to secure it. Judging from the texture, these threads seemed to be... human hair.

"Is this the 'amulet' that Miss Alice asked for from the fortune teller?" Lor frowned.

"This is the 'Soul Prison Triangle,'" Vivian quickly determined. "Some transcendents with psychic abilities use special techniques to trap spirits like ghosts and wronged spirits within it... However, this 'Soul Prison Triangle' is now empty. Presumably, the spirit originally trapped within it has been transferred to Miss Alice."

"It seems that she is really possessed." Lor nodded.

When Lor saw this strange pyramid-shaped object for the first time, he just felt that it looked familiar, as if he had read a related description somewhere... but Vivian recognized it at the first moment.

As expected, she stays in the church and works overtime whenever she has nothing to do, immersed in studying various materials.

There is no business ability to speak of.

"It seems Miss Alice was being used," Lor speculated. "They controlled her through spirit possession, had her stage a kidnapping, and then disappeared... This way, the mastermind got the huge sum of 5,000 gold coins without having to show up himself."

"Yes." Vivian nodded in agreement. "Right now, it seems the most suspicious person is the so-called fortune teller who gave her this 'amulet'."

I should be able to find out the fortune teller's address from the little maid just now.

The problem is, if this person is really the mastermind behind this, he definitely wouldn't stay so far away and would have already fled... As for the missing Miss Alice, after she lost her usefulness, I'm afraid she...

But, this is the only clue we have at the moment.

"Without further delay, let's go find this 'fortune teller'." Vivian checked the room again and found nothing else suspicious. She urged, "Although we may not be able to find the mastermind behind this, or Miss Alice herself, there might be some new clues there."

That's all.

[Alas, the job of an exorcist is tough. It looks impressive on the surface, but in reality, most of the time you're just being led around by various clues, and you're running yourself to the point of breaking your legs.]

At this moment, the voice in my head commented:

[And by now, Miss Alice is definitely in grave danger, and the mastermind behind this has long since fled... Investigating this will ultimately yield no results, and it's all a waste of effort.]

Ok?

Lor was slightly stunned.

According to the usual style of this "voice in the head" to speak in a sarcastic way, it means... Miss Alice is still alive, and the mastermind behind the scenes has not escaped?

This is obviously unreasonable.

It seems that my previous speculation may be wrong?

"Wait a minute, Vivian." Lor pondered for a moment and then said, "We seem to have missed the point...Rather than blindly following clues, the most important thing right now should be to ensure the victim's safety, right?"

"You mean, there's a chance Miss Alice is still alive?" Vivian didn't comment, but judging from her expression, she obviously didn't hold out much hope.

Miss Alice had been to the newspaper office yesterday, and that was the last time she was seen. She has since disappeared. Of course, it now appears that her "voluntary disclosure" was also manipulated.

Vivian thought.

Now a whole day has passed, and the mastermind behind the scenes has plenty of time to "get rid of" this chess piece that has lost its usefulness.

However, what Lor said was not wrong... As an exorcist who takes "salvation and protection" as his creed and practices the source of "holy light", saving the victim should be his top priority, even if there is only a glimmer of hope.

"Then, how do you plan to confirm Miss Alice's safety?" Vivian asked.

Sorry, I've already confirmed it.

Through that strange voice in my head that sets a flag for me from time to time.

The question now is how to find her.

"Use 'positioning'." Lor replied.

"Positioning? Isn't that a supernatural power possessed by the 'Mystic Association'?" Vivian raised her eyebrows. "Are you saying that we should go to the Mystic Association now and ask them for support?"

As one of the "three major sources", the Mystic Association naturally has a branch in Gordon City.

Unlike the church, which takes the initiative to shoulder the responsibility of "protecting the people", the Mystic Society is more like an academic institution. They usually do not actively intervene in various events involving supernatural powers, but as long as the church makes a request, they will usually cooperate.

"No need to look for a mystic. I have a 'Location Spell' spell on me."

As he spoke, Lor took out a magic talisman from his arms.

"Where did it come from?" Vivian was quite surprised.

...You may not believe it, but it was taken from the extremely cunning wanted criminal, the third-level extraordinary person "John the Cleaner".

"Of course I bought it from a mystic who wanted to make some extra money." Lor lowered his voice and said, "...I know this is not legal, but please don't tell the captain."

After all, being an exorcist is a very risky profession.

Sometimes, the props and equipment distributed by the church are not enough to deal with various complex situations, so many exorcists will privately prepare some less compliant things to increase their chances of winning when facing strong enemies.

This can be considered an unspoken rule.

Of course, if you prepare too much, it will still arouse suspicion, so Lor still needs to get rid of the pile of holy water, silver swords and other things in his home.

After all, with Lor's salary, it was impossible for him to privately purchase so many extraordinary items. Furthermore, "holy water" was something that exorcists could legitimately obtain from the church, so there was no need to keep a large amount at home.

"With the aid of the target body tissue, the results of the 'positioning technique' will be more accurate." Lor looked at Vivian and instructed, "Please check if there is any hair or anything like that on the bed."

A few minutes later, Lor successfully used the "positioning technique" to lock Miss Alice's position.

"She is still alive... and not far away, about two kilometers to the southeast."

……

At the same time, at the entrance of the Holy Light Church.

Isabella bit her thumb lightly, her dark red eyes filled with resentment.

"That guy Lor wasn't even on duty at the church... What a liar!"

Her fate is connected with Lor's. As the "master", she can naturally sense the location of her "family" as long as the distance is not too far.

So just by standing at the door of the church, you can clearly see that Lor is not inside.

"Well, you dare to deceive me... That guy, could he have already exposed me to the church and ran away? No, that's not right. If anything happens to me, he won't have a good ending either... What on earth has he been doing, and why is he hiding it from me?"

The voices of the housewives in the cafe are still ringing in my ears.

"Could it be that he really had a secret meeting with a 'female colleague'?"

No, we must find that guy Lor and teach him a lesson!

21. The Nature of the Devil

Lor moved forward without hesitation, following the guidance of the "positioning technique".

And Vivian followed closely behind.

Looking at Lor's back, she suddenly realized...this mission was said to be a collaboration between two people, but in fact it was almost entirely led by Lor.

His judgment is firm, decisive, and straight to the point.

This made Vivian feel a little ashamed.

Unlike Lor, I did not always follow the creed of the Holy Light and put "rescue" in the most important position. Instead, I arbitrarily concluded that the missing Miss Alice was in grave danger... I even felt a little excited in my heart, glad that I got another chance to accumulate merit at the last moment before the "quarterly performance review".

Also, Lor must have anticipated that he might encounter the situation today one day, so he prepared the "positioning" spell early on, just in case... But I, on the other hand, follow the rules and stick to dogma, and have never made any preparations in this regard.

I underestimated this job.

I have to admit that Lor is much more mature than me in this regard.

Although Lor has always been the one with the worst results in the team, it is entirely because he has bad luck. He has never encountered a real case in the previous three months.

But judging from the incident with the Eternal Life Society, he is definitely quite capable... If it were me, I might not be able to handle it as well as he did in such a dangerous situation.

Thinking of this, Vivian's ears once again echoed with the words that Captain Rhonina had said -

"You're in a very impetuous state of mind right now. There's no need to be so impatient. Steady and steady is the right path."

...that's right.

I still have a lot to learn.

Let’s start by learning from the strengths of this colleague in front of us.

"Lor, who did you buy the 'Location Spell' spell from? Could you introduce them to me?" Vivian asked seriously. "I think I need to make some preparations for this as well... Don't worry, I'll keep this a secret from Captain Rhonina!"

"Ah, well... well, if there's a chance."

Lor was speechless for a moment and quickly changed the subject:

"Speaking of which, Vivian, judging from the results of the positioning technique, Miss Alice is clearly still alive and still within Gordon City... Why do you think this is?"

"The mastermind had ample time to 'deal with' Miss Alice, but he didn't... Perhaps this person had no intention of harming her from the beginning?"

"Not only that, the current situation is exactly what Miss Alice herself hoped for. The so-called 'mastermind' is actually helping her." Lor analyzed slowly, "Perhaps your initial guess is closest to the truth... Hmm, is this what they call 'female intuition'?"

"My initial guess?" Vivian looked confused.

She herself had no recollection of it at all.

"Whatever." Lor shook his head helplessly. "Anyway, the truth will soon come to light... Right here, the Miss Alice we're looking for is in this house."

An ordinary-looking house.

"Lor, the cross is reacting again, and it's very strong!" Vivian suddenly warned, "There's an evil presence in this house that cannot be underestimated!"

Such a strong reaction may not be something that Lor and I can handle alone.

Vivian hesitated slightly.