Chapter 56
*'That doll that suddenly appeared is super super suspicious!'*
Iri grabbed the cloth doll with her thumb and index finger, glaring daggers at it.
Iri and the cloth doll.
A confrontation unfolded between the two existences.
"The doll is smiling."
"Y-yeah, it is."
It was when Iri widened her eyes hugely.
"What are you."
Iri placed the green lizard-shaped cloth doll on the bed and glared fiercely at it.
"You, you...... ghost!"
If so, there was only one answer.
Exorcism (physical)!
Iri seriously resolved to discipline the doll with her fist.
*'Because it's stuffed with cotton fluff, so not scary at all!'*
But it was when Iri lifted her fist with a stern expression.
A sound began emanating from the doll.
[#!@$#!#%!#@%!@]
"......Wh-what?"
It was the peculiar mechanical noise she'd heard before.
Iri blinked and looked around.
[!@#!@# is @#%@#$@ only @@#$@ and......]
Iri fiddled with the doll, kneading it.
*'Seems like it's talking to me?'*
When she slid it sideways.
The cloth doll's eyes slid too.
When she placed it on her knee, holding back suspicion.
The cloth doll's knee twitched too.
*'This cloth doll is super super weird!'*
It kept slyly approaching her and even bowed twice.
*'Bowing twice is what you do to the dead!'*
A funeral altar flashed in Iri's mind.
The faces of ancestors smelling incense from behind the screen passed by one after another.
*'No idea where it came from, but it seems like a very very evil doll?'*
Iri glared at the fluffy cloth lizard doll.
That guy was awfully suspicious.
But right at that moment of intense standoff.
The always confident Duke Bechen's plaintive cry rang out.
"Tanuki! Where on earth are you going!"
"......?"
"C-come here. G-good boy?"
Iri cracked the door open upon hearing the voice approach her door.
Though a cowardly, despicable, sleazy uncle, he was still an adult, so she planned to open the door for him.
But.
"No! Tanuki! Why are you darting into someone else's room like that!"
The tanuki slipped right into Iri's room.
Iri awkwardly bowed her head.
"Hello-nimikka?"
Then Cookie wriggled back into her pocket inconspicuously and sent telepathy.
[Jeez, what is this place, a petting zoo? Lizard dolls, tanuki, all sorts.]
But you're a cookie too......
* * *
Caught off guard, Duke Bechen ended up sitting face-to-face with Iri.
The rumor of a spirit beast born in the North shook the entire Ghost Castle.
A whopping 4-star spirit beast at that!
Duke Bechen had been utterly humiliated.
"That guy's the uncle who tried to scam our family and got embarrassed, right?"
"Uncle? Should call him grandpa."
This was so embarrassing and humiliating he didn't even have the energy to tear his hair out.
His elite team had long scattered everywhere to spread rumors of the 'perfect purifier.'
But Duke Bechen couldn't move.
Because the tanuki kept trying to wander the castle.
Hearing all this, Iri tilted her head.
The tanuki's tail was drooping a bit pitifully.
But it kept sticking flat to the floor.
*'What's this?'*
Iri pondered deeply.
The little tanuki's gaze was fixed on the lizard cloth doll.
* * *
At the same time.
Milligan and Kalben continued pursuing the spirit beast.
But confirming where the spirit beast had gone was difficult.
Declan, participating in the 'spirit beast hunt,' wore an incredulous expression.
"So, you hatched the spirit beast, but let it go without even contracting, telling it to repay a favor first."
"Saying it like that makes me look even more like a fool."
"Sharp as ever."
Then Kalben cautiously spoke up.
"Duke Your Highness, the spirit beast might have shapeshifted. We'd be truly grateful if you could search the surroundings carefully."
Declan chuckled dryly while checking the kitchen pantry.
"Yeah. That's why we're inspecting even the chipped teacups."
That's right. Not knowing where the spirit beast went, they were combing through even the kitchen.
"Ah, and it apparently feels suspiciously like a spirit beast to ability users. What do you think?"
"Hm, suspicious aura."
The Ghost Castle was full of suspicious things anyway.
Thanks to Iri, they were often cleared away, but such things frequently appeared before his eyes.
*'There was a ghost today too.'*
He'd exorcised one clinging near his daughter.
"Not sure."
Then, Kalben spoke as if giving a hint.
"Ah! They say it might feel like a ghost."
"......What?"
"Found a record like that in ancient texts. Not certain, though."
Declan rubbed his dry face, frowning.
Purified land, spirit beast, ghost.
And among the people he knew, the cutest purification sorcerer.
Declan instantly reached one conclusion.
*'Could it be.'*
Earlier, the child who approached him confidently saying 'I have something to say!'
Yet bolted away screaming about a ghost.
"I'm a super super strong and mighty hero-nimida!"
What if that little child had purified the land for the spirit beast to hatch?
*'No way. She's dead last.'*
His reason naturally said there was no way Iri had purified the land.
But his fatherly intuition reacted differently.
The siren blaring in his head that his child had done something.
So Declan headed straight to Iri's door without hesitation.
"Why come to Iri's room? Could the benefactor be a servant clinging to Iri?"
Declan smirked at Milligan, who still hadn't caught on.
"Father, don't you sense something from Iri's room?"
The three men's gazes gathered at Iri's door.
"No idea? Why come here anyway?"
"I'll explain later. In a hurry now."
Declan gripped the stuck doorknob and said.
"Iri, you in there?"
But no response came from inside.
"If you're there, I'm coming in."
He opened Iri's door without delay.
And what entered his view was right......
