HP: Spirit Talker

Genosuke is standing one step away from the girls and I'm trying to figure out what it is that catches my eye. And then I get it. Without saying a word, I jumped up from my chair and in one jump I was at Genosuke's side, pulled back my hand with the weapon and sat down next to the unconscious girls.

When Marika fell, nothing was noticeable, but Manami, falling down, pulled up her sister's shirt a little, revealing a bit of skin on her stomach. I lowered my arms and pulled up the white shirt even more, at the same time lowering the waistband of the checkered skirt.

The charcoal-black tattoo, just below my navel and down to my pubic hair, crouched with the mouth of a snake weaving Egyptian hieroglyphics. Unfortunately, I have not studied this writing, but from the sensations alone it is clear what it is. A few manipulations confirmed that both were seals of some kind of slave contract.

— Mr. Genosuke, hide the blade. — I'll get to my feet. — And come on, come to your senses, we have a lot of work to do.

Completely ignoring the man who wanted to tell me something, I ring the bell. A minute later a goblin enters.

— Dear, can we rent a fully equipped ritual hall right now?

— Uh, sure. — he nodded importantly. — But it will cost you five thousand galleons. The assistance in performing the ritual as well as the necessary supplies will be paid separately. — I nodded and turned to Genosca.

— How old are your daughters, Mune-san?

— Seventeen. — The hoarse voice was a tangle of emotions. — And ten months old.

— Honorable, we need a triple set of herbs and powders for a complete purification ritual, along with fire roasters, charcoal, and lamp oil. Also, three sets of white cotton robes, large towels and simple flip-flops, and another dozen ordinary towels and two lengths of coarse cloth for the burial.

— Anything else? — asked the bank clerk calmly.

— Hmmm... — I thought for a moment. — Yes, a few blankets and mattresses. That's all.

— In that case, everything you ordered will be assembled and ready in two hours, maybe less. The cost will also be calculated and announced later. — I nodded in agreement. — You can wait here, but you'll have to pay extra to use the meeting room, or you can come back to the bank in two hours.

— We'll stay.

The goblin nodded silently and walked away, and I returned to the table, casting a sleep spell on both of them with a wave of my hand.

— Hoshino-sama, — Genosuke's voice pulled me out of my thoughts and when I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowed under my fringe. The man knelt down and lowered his head, but not to the ground. — It's my fault. — Genosuke Mine's voice sounded hoarse. — Shiina-san left me the last of her treasure and I failed to keep it safe. Through my fault, the great Hoshino family has lost even more...'' — He gasped out the last words, his voice already trembling as if he were choking. ''Yes, and in my emotions, I feel such sorrow as never before in my life, but the guilt.... о! Genosuke was literally choking on his own powerlessness and guilt over what had happened. — I would do anything for...

— That's enough. — I didn't recognize my own voice but I didn't lose my train of thought or this man would say something that would be hard to swallow. — And stand up. That's it. — Breathe in, breathe out. — Yes, someone dared to reach out to someone else, but that's not what matters now. You and I, MINE-san, have a lot of work to do, and we won't be able to rest. — The man clearly didn't understand, but he listened obediently. — Just so you know, I'm an Omyouji, and I can undo some of the damage I've done, if not all of it. And you can help me.

— Of course. — The man bowed. — But why did you choose to deal with the unworthy within the walls of this bakemono?

— Seals. — I nod in the direction of the girls. — These seals are incredibly complex and I can't understand them — too little time, but I've seen old scrolls that talk about slave seals. I won't tell you everything, just the most important and dangerous: some of the higher seals have a mandatory slave-master bond built into them. While we're inside the goblin walls, their magic shields this bond, but once we leave this place, I'm pretty sure our enemy will sense something.

— I understand.

The man returned to his chair and fell into a kind of shallow meditation. I did the same, but when my body rested, my mind shifted its gaze to a different perception, revealing a view of the filth planted on the girls. Even in the astral, the seal looked the same as it did in the normal world, but only the outer part of it.

Further out, the seal took real roots, piercing the girls' bodies with a branching system. Black curves and broken lines ran through the entire pelvis, tightly intertwining the girls' reproductive systems, making it clear that there would be no unwanted children without the will of the seal's owner.

Then some powerful roots pierced through the spine, intertwining it and the powerful highways in the energy body. Some of the roots pierced the internal organs and even sent out little shoots into the aura. If I understand everything correctly, this thing is continuing to grow, but the speed is unknown to me, so the risks are unacceptable.

I have to do my best now, because after Samhain my strength has increased and my energy has almost stabilized, which will allow me to draw magic directly from the spirit world, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it without the help of a higher-ranking spirit.

And so I have a good chance of breaking the seal itself, depriving those roots of the opportunity to grow and develop, and depriving them of external control. After that I could pull out all the roots one by one, even though it would be a long and painful process.