Chapter 152.

PART 1.

Shikhar is one of the retired military officers about whom Munshi told Hatori. he is currently bunking at his house while investigating this case. Hatori is not certain why Munshi knows some retired military people, but he decides that that is a meaningless question right now.

“Sir,” he asked instead, “Do you know whether the Yadav family has some sort of dark event in their past? I asked Niraj about it, but he didn’t reveal anything, and denied the possibility.”

Shikhar puts his spoon down, swallows his breakfast, and then answers. “Not that I’m aware of. True, the family is rather uptight, but that is given since they have recently ascended to the status of a noble family. I suspect that there isn’t much of a past of their family either, or at least they didn’t keep any records.”

“Huh. this makes it difficult to track the problem.” Said Hatori. “Or maybe, I’m too bullish on this pattern of some old soul trying to take vengeance?”

“Could be.” Said Shikhar. “What I can suggest is that you take things as they appear, and do not make too many assumptions.”

“I’ll remember that,” said Hatori. After breakfast, he leaves the home of Shikhar, to keep an eye on the house of the Yadav family.

PART 2.

Kritika Yadav is an ambitious woman. Having graduated from the Academy recently (her father won’t let her drop out of the school); she now looks for an easy life. Her plan is simple. Seduce a man, and then take over slowly. In short, nothing new in this narrator’s opinion.

Her target is the Hatori Eagle. She was the student during his time, so she knows what kind of power he has within him. if she could bind him to her, she would be set. She would have tamed someone whom most of the noble families failed to tame. All of them will kneel before her with Hatori on her side.

The boy comes, speaks with her father, and then leaves his office. She goes to him and decides to introduce herself to him. “Hi,” she gave her best smile, “I’m Kritika. What were you talking to my father about?” she asked innocently.

“Classified.” Said Hatori with a distracted tone, trying to sense around for a soul.

“I am his daughter, you know. He does not hide anything from me.” she puts her hands on her hips and looks at Hatori with a challenging glare.

“I’m sure he doesn’t,” said Hatori, humoring her so she would leave him alone. somehow, he believes it won’t end well for him if he turns the daughter of his client into so much fertilizer for the ground.

‘That could have gone better.’ thinks Kritika. But she is not willing to give up. while Hatori continues to investigate, she continues to stick around him.

Whenever he looks around, she is there. ‘Wasn’t he used to be blind? He is moving awfully smoothly for a blind boy.’ she thinks, but then disregards the query entirely. It is none of her business.

The important point is to show up whenever he looks around, even if Hatori is just asking for a glass of water.

The murderous look Hatori gives her every time goes over her head entirely. The soul could be anywhere right now, and this woman keeps bothering him. ‘If the soul is hearing me, please turn up and make an example out of her.’ Nothing happened.

‘Really? No takers? I promise to go easy on you if you do that.’ he thought as loudly as he could.

Still, when he opened his eyes, still hidden under the illusion of missing eyeballs, the only thing that treated him was the smiling face of Kritika. ‘Why the hell do I even remember her name?’ he thought in annoyance.

PART 3.

Late in the night, Munshi sneaks inside of the nearby graveyard. He sensed the soul of Manoj Sharma inside the cemetery, so he worked silently and created a ward to restrict him and trap him within this area.

‘I should make sure that he won’t be able to escape just by possessing some animal or human.’ Thinks Munshi at the last minute.

With a final rune, the ward is complete, and the necromancer charges it. even if Manoj tries to stop it, he won’t be able to do it. the ward is now done, and he cannot escape this graveyard. Satisfied with his work, Munshi returns to the farm. He will now try to think of something to deal with him permanently. He has had enough of this cat-and-mouse game. ‘Maybe I should think of using some different frequencies on him?’ he thinks.

“You’re done?” asked Kishore, once he got back.

“Yes. I’ve trapped the necromancer causing the trouble in the graveyard. He won’t be escaping it. however, I still need time to think of a way to deal with him completely.” Said Munshi. “Until then, I’ll need to stay on your farm. Will that be fine?”

“Just don’t disrupt the normal operations.” Said the farmer.

PART 4.

Manoj left the old dog. The animal served him faithfully. Now he must find some other animal, or preferably, a weak human to possess, and use as a body. he was quite proud of using the properties of a soul to smelt a body for himself and turn himself immortal that way. until that pesky Munshi destroyed it, turning him into a ghost who has to flee from host to host just to survive.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Garrrraraarara!” all the thoughts of Munshi and his peskiness fled from his thoughts when Manoj suffered a nasty shock. He tries to leave the graveyard and suffers another shock. “Garrrrrr!”

‘How?’ he looks at the ward restricting him after he regained his senses. ‘How did he erect this ward? When did he come here in the first place?’

Manoj is certain that Munshi has arrived here. he has learned of his presence and his ongoing activities here. ‘Dammit, I don’t want to face him alone. but I can’t escape this ward either! Too bad I can’t contact Shakuntala; she would be dead useful right now.’ he thought about his own pun. ‘Heh!’

PART 5.

The squad leader of the lost and found squad, as they are being mocked, concludes his report, and Sundar staples his fingers. “This is rather concerning. People shouldn’t forget their maps.” He spoke. “Maybe the standards have fallen? Maybe I should ask Zeko to return?”

For a second, every soldier in the city has a look of abject terror on their faces, before they regain control over themselves. “I don’t think we need such drastic measures.” Said the squad leader, trying to sound calm and composed.

“How was the boy? did he perform well? gave you any trouble?” asked Sundar, ignoring the pancaking his brief thought had caused.

“Oh, he was wonderful.” Said the leader. “He was arguing against the grown soldiers, and he did not waver in the slightest. Though I think that confidence came from the fact that he knew he was right.”

“I suppose the other soldiers didn’t take it well?” asked Sundar.

“Not relevant.” Said the leader. “Sir, if it weren’t for him, we probably would be still wandering around those mountains and forests, while some search squads try to find us.”

“What makes you think I’ll send a search squad?” asked Sundar with a stoic expression.

“I mean, that is to say…” seeing the ever-widening smile of the general, the leader composes himself. “What I’m trying to say is that boy has right instincts.”

“Indeed. But it seems we’re lacking in pragmatism. I don’t like it.” said Sundar. “You don’t need to worry about it though. Take a day off. Dismissed.”

The squad leader leaves, happy to leave the general’s office. He is certain that whatever the general has thought, they are not going to like it one bit.

PART 6.

Kritika is getting frustrated. seduction is so easy in the novels. The girl appears, shows her charms (and some naked skin), and the boy is all over her, wrapped around her little finger.

But Hatori is proving to be not that kind of boy. ‘Does he swing the other way?’ she thinks. ‘No. I’ve seen him with the Blake and that Nihongan girl. There is no way he swings the other way.’ she thinks.

She decides to ask for some tips from her cousins. According to them, she needs to get in physical contact with him, use a perfume that would excite him, and continue what she is doing so far.

She follows those instructions. She starts to use a different perfume and starts to touch Hatori. a little touch there, a little glance there. “Thanks for the water.” he hands over the glass to her, their fingertips touching in the process.

“No problem.” She flashed a smile at him.

As Kritika leaves, Hatori thinks what a miserable assignment this is. the summer is approaching, and while he tries to sense for a soul in the glaring sun (and sometimes shivering in the night), this girl continues to haunt him. For a moment, he entertains the thought that she might be the soul, trying to torment him subtly, before dismissing the thought.

As the sun sets, he sees a man leave the house, and Hatori follows him. Kritika tags along, and the loud clip-clop of her high-heels gives Hatori’s position away. The man starts to run, and Hatori gives chase, while Kritika struggles to keep up. Hatori halts, however, once he hears a buzzing noise coming closer.

A cloud of bees descends on the man and stings him to death. Hatori senses the aspiration watching this event nearby, and sends some conjured chains with lightning running through them to ensnare it, but it manages to avoid those chains.

“Who are you fighting?” asked Kritika, out of breath and her feet killing her. Hatori’s attention is split, and the soul disappears.

“Dammit!” he cursed quietly.

“What?” asked Kritika.

Hatori ignores the woman. ‘At least it is confirmed it is a soul.’ He thinks.

Going back to Niraj, he explains what happened. “Is that why Kritika has blisters on her feet?” he asked.

‘Really? You are concerned with blisters when a man who works here in your house died?’ thought Hatori, but does not let it show over his face. “Yes.” He fishes over his bag and brings out the lockets. “Give these to everyone in the house. Do not remove them in any condition, they will protect you from the souls.”

Hatori has finally learned to enchant these lockets. He practices by enchanting one locket for the soul and one for the spirits every day. He has amassed a nice collection of them, something which is becoming useful right now. “Also, try not to leave the house alone.”

“Very well.” nodded Niraj, taking the locket, and wearing one himself, before leaving to distribute them among his household and servants.