C45: Reflection

"I never thought of asking the kids. That was smart," Bets complimented me. He was more impressed than he ought to be about an idea I had come up with on the spot.

He had a proud smile on his face, as if he was the one who had come up with a fresh idea. "I don't think anyone else would have considered such a thing."

He was the kind of friend who was proud and happy for you even at your smallest accomplishments.

"It's easier to get someone to speak with a smile than with a knife," I glanced at Gem.

Yes, I was talking about him. He always chose violence first.

Which wasn't the wrong answer every time, and it was a hell of a lot better than freezing up in fear. But sometimes, attacking was a dangerous option to choose.

"People under torture will say and admit anything for the pain to stop. Whether what they said was the truth doesn't matter to them," I elaborated. If we were going to be a team, we had to be on the same page.

Torture wasn't a good way of interrogation. I learned that from a YouTube video of an FBI agent.

Who said procrastination was useless?

As we approached the village head's house. We were all on guard, and Ord was ready to burst out. I even had my cursed sword in hand, just in case the village head attacked immediately and was stronger than presumed.

Once we arrived at his house, I nudged my head at Agon. He got the message and knocked on the door twice. Then we all took some distance from the door.

"Get ready to dodge, just in case," I whispered to the team.

The door creaked open, and the bushy-bearded village elder's head peaked out. "Oh, you're the exorcists from yesterday. Can I help you?"

"If you keep any details hidden, we will be forced to apprehend you. If you try resisting, well, accidents happen, and people die. Exorcists aren't liable for human casualties in the line of work," I tried speaking coldly, copying Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Terminator movies.

The village elder's face paled, and he opened his door fully. Immediately our Ord exploded outward.

Shadows crawled under Gem's feet, and when he saw that, the village head stumbled on his behind. "I -I will tell you everything! Just please don't tell anyone else!"

"Speak," Bets cracked his fingers. Undoubtedly, he looked quite intimidating from the village's elders' view. Though I was standing by his side, it was early in the morning. The sun reflected off Bets' head and hit me in the eyes.

Why the hell is his head so damn shiny?! Does he oil the thing, or what?!

I couldn't voice out my complaints since it would ruin the intimidating momentum we had built up.

The village elder started explaining. "The story about one of the villagers being seduced by a demon is fake. As you could already guess by now."

It was fake? Well, that's news to me.

He took a deep breath, and his hands shook. The village elder was nervous, but he continued speaking. "The man, Junji, didn't get seduced by a demon. He was sleeping with the wife of the previous village head… who was my older brother. So my brother started the rumors and had children throw stones at the man as he was executed by hanging. Due to his adulterous ways, we didn't bury him. Instead, we just threw the corpse on the lake."

Wow, that's some dramatic stuff. But it felt like something was missing. "How did your brother die?"

At that, the middle-aged village elder started tearing up. "I killed him… After Junji's corpse was thrown into the lake. It came back as a demon, haunting us, killing children and people. We thought killing my brother would get rid of the curse! If only my brother hadn't married that cheating bitch! She had beauty, but I always knew she was traitorous!"

"Did you kill her too?" I asked. There were a lot of small details missing. But we didn't have the time to sit down and interrogate him thoroughly.

"Yeah, but since her corpse hadn't washed up, most people think she has gone missing," the village elder now had his head down. He knew that the authorities would execute him after this ordeal. "I just… I tried doing the best I could."

"I understand." No, I didn't. This world revolved around violence. Adultery was bad, but that wasn't a reason to ruin your life for someone who didn't love you. "Do you have anything that belonged to your brother's wife?"

At that, the village elder looked at me and narrowed his eyes in defiance. "I threw away all of that whore's belongings and burned them!"

Agon seemed like he was about to say something. But I put my hand on his shoulder before he could do anything stupid. "What about the sheets? Are they the same as the ones your brother used?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Bets, go and grab the bed sheets."

Adulterous lovers probably did many things on those sheets. It wasn't uncommon for an adulterous partner to make love with their lover on the same bed they shared with their husband or wife.

I hoped they were degenerate enough to do that.

I glanced at the village head.

Unless the story this guy told us was a lie.

After getting everything we needed, we left the village head's house. It seemed like he was telling the truth. But I wasn't someone with supernatural intuition. For all we knew, he could also be a good liar.

I glanced toward the village head's house one last time.

Should I capture him? At least have him under custody until this whole thing is over.

But as soon as such a thought came to mind, I dismissed it. If he was dangerous and could use Ord, I didn't want to initiate a fight in his house where he would have an advantage. As far as we knew, he might have boobie trapped the place.

I didn't trust him mainly because his story didn't connect to the grave robbery.

It seemed like I would have to force out the real mastermind. Because there was no way in hell those mindless drowner demons could dig up specific corpses by themselves.

Even if it were attracted to something in the graveyard, it would have dug out all the corpses and eaten the rotting meat right then and there.

***

What was happening?

Gem didn't understand one thing. But when he saw Bets nodding, Gem didn't want to seem stupid and followed Kon's orders. "What's the plan now?"

"Fighting the drowner in the water is an extreme terrain disadvantage for us. So to fix that, we need to force them into a terrain where we have the advantage. Preferably during the day, where the sunlight would weaken them even more." Kon explained as if he was speaking about the weather. "That's why I took the sheets. Drowner demons are created from an obsession taking over the corpse of the person who drowned."

He will use the sheets to draw the drowner in bright daylight!

Gem finally caught a glimpse of the plan and understood what was happening. 'This bastard is smart! He thought so far ahead!'

He couldn't help but be impressed with his team leader. Kon was a good leader, despite keeping his plans to himself and speaking in riddles. Why would he even do something like tha-...

Gem felt his soul freeze. His adam's apple shook.

Why would Kon hide his plans at a time like this? The answer was obvious. Why hadn't he thought of this before?!

Kon could only be vague about his plan because someone was spying on them!

When he came to that realization, others were observing them. Gem tried to play it as if he didn't know anything.

He sent Kon a side glance. 'He looks calm as ice. He should have a plan for all this.'

Without knowing when Gem had already started trusting Kon's leadership abilities. Looking at Bets and Kon, he smiled. 'I have some dependable teammates.'

"By the way, those bloodshot eyes of yours as you stared at the village elder were scary. How did you do that?" Gem asked, trying to make casual conversation to not alarm their observer.

"Sunlight got in my eyes," Kon took off his glasses and massaged his eyes after closing them. Then he stared at Bets' head. "You should wear a cap. Your bald head reflects light like a mirror."

"Your glasses do the same. I can't even see your eyes most of the time," Bets shot back, and they started bantering.

'Wow, it looks like they're bantering for real. That's some good acting!' Gem continued to be even more impressed by his teammates.

When they arrived at the lake shores, Kon spread the sheet on the ground and waited a few minutes.

"Bets, go and wait by the village head's house," Kon went and handed over a couple of talismans. "They're firework talismans. Activate these if you see anything."

Bets followed his instructions and went back to the village head's house. Once again, Gem was confused by this action. Why would Kon separate the team?

But he didn't question his new friend's plans. He was sure Kon had cooked up a super smart scheme.