Nearby Sinerman mansion

A little later, another argument with Hazel ensued, and the group of Spiritualists began to break up, patting each other on the back for a job well done or going to a favorite restaurant or bar to celebrate.

Naturally, two other Spiritualists stayed behind to monitor the situation for a while longer, but soon the whole place emptied out.

Desmond remained on the border, watching everything with cold eyes and listening intently.

Hazel also remained on the spot, making frantic phone calls. Mantis followed her, occasionally recording the surroundings or returning the camera to Des, but then returning to Hazel again.

The chatroom had also calmed down, and there wasn't much commentary left, mostly just her die-hard fans who liked to watch a furious Hazel who spared no foul words in her vocabulary.

"Screw it, I know what time it is! You think I don't know the time? Hah?! Shut up! No... shut up! Get people immediately... I don't care that you're eating dinner! Shove that shit up your ass and get to work!" She waved her free hand as she spoke, and a throbbing vein popped up on her forehead.

"Also, get that weird non-profit GhostPeace group. Yeah... yeah, they'll come in handy. When they hear what happened, they'll be sure to come over here to chain themselves up or some shit like that." She paused for a moment, listening to whoever was on the other side of the call.

"I know the U.H.P. is all about preserving history and monuments, but there's been a big problem. The principal has included the Sinerman Mansion in his damn exams. Who knows what kind of damage they could do? They might as well refer to paying for the damage and repairs. We'll have to get a court order to bless the whole thing, too. Get Derreck to pin on his stupid tie and run to court!" Hazel fell silent and turned at the sound she heard.

A nearby bush rustled, and a blue-haired, red-eyed young man came out, rubbing the back of his neck wearily. He was close to the barrier, so as soon as he heard the satisfying crunch in his spine, he looked up at the barrier and nearly jumped out of his skin.

After he appeared, the High Spirit moved towards him, or at least as close as she could. Aren, who was still a bit traumatized from meeting her, was immediately startled into jumping up and staggering a few steps away.

When the Spirit suddenly flew away and passed through his head, he thought he had already died. His head was so cold that his lips turned blue, and for a moment, he believed his head had been cut off, but after grabbing it with both hands, Aren realized it was still in place. When he recovered, Sita led him in the opposite direction, and together they crossed the boundary of the estate.

But the estate was located on a hill, so he decided not to climb the steep cliff and instead walked slowly along the edge until he reached the parking lot, from where he could already make his way down to town. Sita then came back and changed to the tattoo on Aren back; the poor guy was more mentally exhausted than anything else.

Unfortunately, Aren was now facing the High Spirit again, but much to his relief, he was now out of her reach. He decided to ignore the ghost and continued walking, but the Ghost kept following him along the barrier, looking at Aren as if waiting for something. It made Aren nervous, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"Tea," Ghost said suddenly, and Aren jumped again.

"What?" Aren asked.

Hazel, who was nearby, raised an eyebrow at the scene. The ghost was acting abnormally. She followed the man closely, showing a great interest in his person.

"Hey, don't forget to contact Booke too. I have to go," she said goodbye before hanging up the call and nodding to Matis.

"Get in close and film it," Hazel prodded her Spirit Beast, and Mantis did as she was told.

Desmond, of course, noticed Aren as he appeared and remembered the guests she had left behind. While she wasn't happy about what was happening right now and was angry with the old man, she, of course, had a soft spot for her first guest.

Des moved over to him, thinking of ways to apologize for how she had rudely abandoned him and Sita. She was at a loss, however, because she was aware that her skills as a hostess were terrible. She couldn't even serve real tea. But Des could make amends.

"Tea," she said, which made Aren look at her.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You drank my tea. I have nothing to offer. Next time bring tea... and water. It will be better then," Des explained, looking at him expectantly.

Aren made a disbelieving face at her. Did the ghost really expect him to come back? Never! But despite the fact that there was nothing the ghost could do in front of him, he wasn't going to tease the tiger with his bare feet, so he played it safe.

"Hahaha... right. Sorry. Sure. I'll bring everything next time," he promised.

He was about to leave, but when he turned away, he was met with the reflection of his face in the dark sunglasses, leaving Aren staring blankly at the blonde woman who had approached them.

"Do you need anything?" he asked, and then his gaze shifted to her Spirit Beast hovering over her shoulder.

"Hey, sure. I'm Hazel, field reporter and streamer. Can I have a chat with you? Of course you can. So. What's your relationship with the High Spirit, hah?" Hazel shot her question without warning.

Aren frowned and became wary. "What? None. We have no relationship at all," he denied.

At that moment, Mantic turned around and filmed Des, who was still nearby, and when she heard what Aren said, she looked sad.

"No relationship?" she repeated.

Hazel's eyes widened in surprise, even though you couldn't see it behind her glasses, and she looked at the sad Desmond. "Oh? Are you sure? The ghost seems to have a different impression," she remarked.

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Aren almost started spitting blood in shock and disbelief. What the hell kind of relationship do they have? She almost killed him! Is this the relationship of a murderer with his favorite victim? "I'm sure! No relationship!"

Hazel was thrilled and turned to the sad Des again. Hazel had had her doubts ever since the High Spirit had appeared, but now it appeared she was right. This spirit was different. Normal Wild Spirits were rather erratic. The smarter ones can be cunning and sneaky, but they're usually quite aggressive and sometimes no one even needs to provoke them. Just because you're in their territory they'll attack.

You could communicate with ghosts, especially the smart ones. But that doesn't mean they're always willing to do it. So talking to a Feral Spirit, and a High Spirit at that, was something almost shocking by today's standards.

"Hey, what's your name? I'm Hazel," she addressed the ghost directly.

The ghost returned her gaze for a moment. "Desmond," she finally replied.

At that moment, the Chatroom was starting to get lively again.

[Hazelfan01: My Queen, are you interviewing the Feral High Spirit? So daring!]

[Strongman: No one can resist Queen Hazel's charisma! Not even ghosts!]

[Horse: Desmond? Interesting name!]

[pokinoki: Big Sis Desmond? That doesn't have much sound. Sis Des?]

[PartyGui022: Sounds good. Sis Des. ↑]

[Rollingeyes: Sis Des.↑↑]

[YourMom: Sis Des.↑↑↑]

Hazel nodded. "Nice to meet you, Sis Des. So, what is your relationship with this man?" She asked the same question, nodding at Aren, who was frowning darkly at her.

He snorted. "I don't have time for this." He turned and started to walk away, but it seemed today was a day when he wasn't allowed to leave when he wanted to. Because as soon as he heard what Desmond replied, he froze, and his mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"He's... my first... guest," Des said the last word quietly because she still felt bad for being such a bad hostess.

Hazel looked stunned at Aren, and Mantis turned to look at him as well. Even the chatroom paused before a new message came in.

[Boingboing: Bro, you're the man. You have my respect.]

[PartyGui022: +1]

[YourMom: +1]

[NaNi: +1]

[Luvbigsishazel: I'm here. What did I miss?]

[LittleKitten: That dude over there is dating a spirit. ↑]

[Luvbigsishazel: (˚0˚)!!↑]

[littleCabbage: Is that a thing? Dating a ghost?]

[Brat: Ew, that's gross. Isn't that like necrophilia or something?]

[Rollingeyes: I guess it's theoretically possible? With the Yokai it's possible, they're still alive after all. There have been some cases. I think there was a couple who were exposed as married somewhere abroad three years ago.]

[Brat: Dude, Yokai is something else. It's still weird, though. This is a Ghost. Dead.↑]

[PartyGui022: They can still materialize.↑]

[blueBlueblu: ಠ_ರೃ↑]

Hazel cleared her throat and recovered from her initial surprise. She quickly realized that it was probably meant to be something else. Still, seeing the response in her chatroom, she decided to tease the blue-haired man.

"No wonder Sis Des is sad! The man refuses to accept responsibility!"

Aren turned sharply, his face pale. "Stop making things up! Are you all nuts?"

Hazel lifted her chin provocatively. "Why would Spirit lie?"

Aren walked quickly over to the barrier and looked at Des with a wild look in his eyes. "Tell them we're not dating!"

Desmond winked and smiled in amusement. Wait, how did they come to think the two of them were dating? Such nonsense. She couldn't suppress a smile and looked at Hazel. "We're not dating," she repeated.

Aren made a facepalm. Why did it sound like she was just saying that to make him happy?

Chatroom:

[SpitYourFace: That's not cool, man. Not cool at all. Just because she's dead doesn't mean you shouldn't respect her!]

[LittleKitten: So cruel!]

[bigsisDesFan: This is Horse. I just changed my Nick! Sis Des, you have my support! Rights to the dead! Even the dead can love!]

[Mumu: lol↑]

[SeaFish: loool↑↑]

[MySpirit: troll detected↑↑↑]

Desmond was having fun with the funny people, but then her gaze fell on the barrier again, and she frowned. She remembered that she had actually been threatened a moment ago.

She turned to the blonde woman. "Why do they want to kill me?" Des asked.

Hazel paused as the direction of the conversation was suddenly changed from lighthearted to more serious. "Because you're a Feral High Spirit. Supposedly."

Des didn't understand the meaning. She was a spirit by nature, but she knew nothing of high spirits or feral ones. "What does that mean? Feral? I'm not feral."

Aren, who had experienced Desmond's treatment firsthand, would have objected to that statement, but he bit his tongue.

Hazel pulled out her cell phone and squeezed something on it before she started reading from it. "It has been reported that a Feral High Spirit has attacked and imprisoned a Novice level Spiritualist in Sinerman Mansion. It is also suspected that two missing people living in the area around the mansion have been kidnapped and killed. The investigation is yet to take place." She looked at Des and met her gaze.

"Honestly, I don't put much faith in that, at least as much as I can judge so far. But you're still a High Spirit who is known for their power. Deception is also something they're good at." Hazel put her phone away again.

"'Feral' means you're unpredictable, and all free spirits are marked as such because they carry the same level of danger as the truly Feral ones. Truly Feral Spirits are a great danger, attacking without warning, killing, destroying. If a Spirit wants to survive in the world of the living, it needs Spiritual energy. Free-ranging Spirits are cut off from access to Spiritual Channels, so they have only two options. Find a natural Spirit Channel somewhere or drain it from other beings."

Des listened to that and nodded in understanding. Now she understood why the humans needed to seal it. But it irritated her that she was being accused of assault and kidnapping. She glanced over at Aren, who was looking away and doing as if nothing was wrong. Des knew where the assault accusation had come from.

She thought and then said to Hazel. "I didn't kidnap anyone. I can't leave."

Hazel turned her attention. "What? You can't leave?"

Des nodded. "From here. The mansion. I can't leave. Even without the barrier, I couldn't go any further than here. So I couldn't kidnap anyone."

Hazel blinked, a smile spreading across her face before she looked meaningfully at the barrier. "Oohh! Now that's a good one! Mantis! When we're done, then send a copy of the footage to the TV!"

Aren paled when he heard that. "I didn't agree to that. Cut me out of that."

Hazel shook her head. "You agreed to the interview."

Aren glared at her. "I didn't agree to anything."

"Silence is also agreement."

"What? You!"

"What's your problem, buddy, hah? What are you, a criminal, hah? That's fitting if you're not going to take responsibility for this gentle soul!"

"I told you I had nothing to do with her!"

"Hey, how do you do it anyway? Do you have a special technique for handling a ghost?"

"What? Why do you keep talking about it?!"

The two started arguing, Mantis and Des turning their heads from side to side as the two shouted at each other. After a moment, Des sighed. "I'm going home," she announced and turned around.

Hazel and Aren fell silent and watched her float away. Aren was relieved that Desmond hadn't said anything about what had happened at the mansion. If she revealed it, he would be in big trouble. Even if he didn't end up committing the act, it was still a serious crime.

Aren shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, whatever. It's not like I owe her anything after everything she did to me," he mused before turning and walking away without saying goodbye to the blonde woman.

Hazel excused herself before speaking to the camera again.

"That's all for now, idiots. Go do something and don't hang out on the internet all the time. If you don't become productive members of society, I'm coming to kick your ass!" She paused. "Except fan01. He'd rather like that. Bye!"

The red light on Mantis' head stopped flashing and disappeared, along with the camera image. "Don't forget to send it to the TV. Hehe. We have a lot of material." Hazel rubbed her hands together before stomping her foot and a light flew out of her pants, and a green motorcycle appeared next to her.

Now she had to go to the office to start sorting things out about Sinerman Mansion.