136 Mortal World 2

It was night and the exorcism services were all closed. Although Lia didn't care about staying awake all night or sleeping outside, she was still in the Mortal World she knew nothing about.

Staying at the bar was the best option. The bartender couldn't refuse and allowed her to stay for the night under the condition she'd leave tomorrow before his boss came.

"That's no problem," Lia started to move the bodies out of the bar.

"W-What are you doing?" the bartender was exasperated.

"You surely don't expect me to sleep here with them?" Lia contorted her face.

"They're still customers, you can't throw them out?"

"They are bothering me. They'll wake up soon anyway. This place will close, no?"

"Yes… it's closed now," the bartender meekly agreed. After Lia heaved all the men out on her own, the bartender was conflicted about letting her stay alone.

"I won't steal anything. Nothing is of value anyway," Lia reassured him, "Also first thing tomorrow I'll be gone. I might come back if I need help."

She was beautiful in his eyes but a bulldozer to his heart.

"Please don't," was the only thing he said before he left.

The night Lia spent studying the map and learning the alphabet, the bartender also generously printed out for her.

The next morning came and Lia left as promised. She could read a bit but still needed help with directions. With her peerless beauty and unmatched gentleness, Lia easily got people to help her. Mortals really cared about appearances a lot.

It wasn't long before Lia found the first place. She pressed the bell and soon a man in a suit opened the door.

"I'm here for exorcists."

"Please come in," the man was overly nice to the point of being a bit sleazy.

"Please sit," the man brought her to the office of many others and pointed at the chair in front of his desk.

"Please choose the service you like," then he handed her a document with all sorts of stuff Lia could neither fully read nor understand.

"I recommend option A, it's cheap but includes all of our services. It's the beginner set," the man pointed at the top of the page.

Lia narrowed her eyes, "You're a fake, aren't you?"

"Miss, I know you might think the prices are high but exorcism is a hard job that endangers our lives!" the man was unfazed and blabbered away.

"Are you an exorcist?"

"No, I'm just a manager."

"Then I'd like to talk to an exorcist."

"Miss-"

"You can't even do that?" Lia raised her eyebrows and the man's plastic smile twitched.

"Of course I can! For our dear customer anything's possible."

Lia found that the Mortal World really was too different. In the first place, mortals couldn't even see ghosts, so why do they offer services like this?

It was a pure scam but he said he wasn't an exorcist so she gave them the benefit of doubt. Once Lia met the exorcist she could confirm her suspicions.

"Here we are," the man brought her to a larger room with people resting there.

"These are all our top-notch exorcists!

"Are they really?" Lia stepped into the room, "Oh, is it one of those live shows I've heard about? Purging ghosts in front of me, so I can see their skills?"

"M-Miss, what are you talking about?" the man nervously rubbed his hands.

"Or else why are there so many ghosts swarming around here?" since Lia came to the Mortal World she's seen a few ghosts here and there but this place was the most swamped to the brim, yet these so-called exorcists didn't notice it.

"Miss, there's no need to joke here haha,'' the man wiped the sweat from his forehead. The others all looked at each other.

"But I'm not?" Lia was right, they weren't exorcists, "You lied to me and wasted my time."

Lia's voice was dangerously low, everyone shifted around uncomfortably.

"You ought to know the consequences," Lia passed the man and the gust of wind she left behind was enough to bring him to his knees, "I'm not in the mood to waste more time."

With that, she left the place and headed to the next, yet one place after another they were all the same. All scams and fakes begging for clueless people to throw their money at them.

Lia didn't want to go to the last place but desperation made itself visible and apart from this, she had no other leads to follow.

Standing in front of the last place, Lia pressed the bell again. This time, it was a smaller building not located in the centre, it was a bit hard to find but in the end, she was able to make her way here.

A while later, a female with a cigarette in her hand opened the door. She leaned against the door frame and took a long sip of the cigarette before exhaling, "You are?"

"I'm here for the exorcism service."

"Exorcism?" the woman sized Lia up. She had messy long hair and a slender frame. Her clothes were tattered but it seemed like this was the fashion.

"Yes," Lia showed her the map.

The woman took a puff and smoke came from her nose, "Why don't you go to the other places?"

"They are all fake."

"Fake?" the woman started laughing, "Dear, of course, they are. Do you actually believe in all of that ghost crap?"

"So, this place is also useless," Lia put the map back.

"Can't understand why you fanatics so keen on supernatural stuff," the woman drew on the cigarette again before throwing it on the ground, stomping the small glint out.

"People have different beliefs," Lia answered and watched the cigarette on the ground.

"I can see that," the woman half-smiled as she looked Lia up and down.

Lia didn't mind people judging her. She turned around.

"Maybe what you look for is not a service but a club. Meet with like-minded people if you're lonely."

"What do you mean?" Lia faced the woman again who now crossed her arms.

"Just giving you advice."

"No, I mean what is a club?"

The woman was stunned for a second, "A group you join to do whatever activity your interest is in. Who knows," the woman shrugged her shoulders.

"Where do I find a club like this?"

"You really- None of my business, but there's a group of people who seem to do exorcism stuff but don't claim to be. They also do weird stuff at night and people have reported them for being suspicious."

This description didn't sound like immortal exorcists but Lia already came here, so she might as well pursue that lead.

"How can I find them?"

The woman gave her a funny look, "Give me the map again."

After Lia handed the map, the woman circled a place, "It's here, not far from here. Good luck," the woman smirked and then closed the door.

It was indeed not far looking at the map but Lia had to orientate herself and ended up taking the wrong way a few times.

Finally, Lia arrived at the place. Rather than a spot where a group of people hung out, this literally looked like a military base built on plain soil.

It was located in the outskirts of the city, on a field where within the radius of 2 km nothing was. The low building in the form of a hexagon was quite large but not tremendously huge.

Around the base were several smaller buildings built out of glass. Lia couldn't cope with this sight. Was this where the immortals lived in the Mortal World?