章 12: You Can Call Me Can Hellsing
" Hello Mr. Ghost. I am Professor Can Hellsing. I am asking purely for academic purpose, but can you tell me if you are a friendly or an evil ghost?"
Hearing the words, the ghost turned around. Standing under the moonlight was a hooded man dressed in pure white cassock and pellegrina. If you replaced the cloak that covered his face with a zucchetto, then he would look exactly like a clergyman.
Any ordinary person would have been shocked by such a disproportionate sight but the ghost didn't care. It charged at the living human with its skinny hands outstretched.
Vincent moved back slowly and avoided the attack. "Hmmm... can you not talk? Seeing that you just attacked me without care, I am going to treat you as an evil spirit. Prepare to be exorcised."
He roused his mana and tried to hold the ghost in place. Using this energy which allowed creatures to accomplish the impossible, he created charges around the ghost and used his own body as an anchor.
Vincent had shown great compatibility with lightning magic and had trained on it since he was a kid. But still, while lightning was cool, it didn't give off a mysterious and cool vibe. If he had to put it into words, he would say that lightning looked cool when you were swooping in at the last moment to save the day or crushing some scrubs.
So, in order to cultivate powers befitting of a mysterious figure who was cool, he developed this unique magic that allowed him to pull, push and move objects freely. The inspiration behind this magic was the Force from a famous film series in his past life.
Though it allowed him to mimic Force, it was a very inefficient spell that needed a lot more refinement. He had been working on it for a while and made considerable progress, but it was nowhere near as good as the spells circulating amongst wizards.
Still, it was a one of a kind magic and gave him a great edge because of how no one had seen or used a similar magic. It was also the reason why he was able to deal with the assassin previously. Till now, it had never let him down.
Unfortunately, not everything goes as one wishes. His Force, which he frequently relied on, turned out to be ineffective against the ghost. Had he used it on any other thing, it would have worked perfectly fine but the electric charges he created using mana failed to lock on to the ghost's ethereal body.
Before he could switch to another spell to deal with the ghost, its ghastly claw slashed at him. Vincent raised his arms in defense hurriedly as he tried to put some distance between him and his foe. His actions were quick but it was still too late. The bony fingers of the ghost made contact with his forearm.
A chilly sensation came from the point of contact and a sharp pain followed shortly after. His skin had broken and three line like wounds had opened up on his arm. Blood seeped from the injury dying his cloth in crimson.
Vincent looked at his arm and was surprised to find that he had been wounded while the cloth hadn't been torn at all. It was as if the claw had phased through the cloth and hurt him. And on the wound remained a slight remnant of cold mana that numbed the pain but had effects similar to that of a poison.
Surprised by the cold poisonous mana, Vincent decided to end things quickly. Pointing his finger at the ghost, he invoked a spell. A thread of lightning arced through the air and hit the ghost on its chest.
It let out a screech in pain and turned around to escape.
"You aren't going anywhere." Vincent ran at the ghost and grabbed at its leg. Contrary to what he had expected, it wasn't weightless at all. In fact, he almost got dragged away.
He discharged more electricity from his palm, causing the ghost to scream ceaselessly until it lost all strength and fell down powerlessly.
"Just like the books said, lightning really is effective against ghosts. Let's try fire next."
A small flame ignited on his fingertip and he poked at the ghost with his flaming finger. The ghost seemed to be in pain but didn't flail around as much as when he used lightning. He then proceeded to cast a few more spells bringing about wind and water, both of which had no effect.
"The books on ghosts were right." He nodded in satisfaction at the test. "Alright then. Time for one last experiment."
Vincent retrieved salt from his pocket and threw a pinch at the incapacitated ghost. He wanted to check if the rumors from his last life about salt being ghosts' bane was true here. He waited patiently but nothing happened. After a while, even the ghost had a perplexed expression. It had given up and was expecting more torture to come his way. Seeing the human deep in thought, it tried to crawl away.
"Well, I am not even sure if ghosts existed in that world. It's stupid to think that salt would work when the matter of its efficacy was questionable even there." Vincent muttered to himself a shot a bolt of lightning at the ghost trying to get away.
Unlike the previous times, he didn't hold himself back and the ghost disappeared without being able to utter a single cry.
*****
"Mr. Bell, are you sure this is a good idea? Doesn't the atmosphere here look unsettling to you?" Simon spoke as he followed the ghost expert closely. He would have liked to stay in his bedroom without worries but a ghost had broken in and attacked him.
Thankfully, the expert dispatched of the ghost swiftly. Still, Simon was paranoid because of it. He couldn't believe that a ghost would actually come through the wall for him.
The only thing that gave him a little piece of mind was Mr. Bell's presence. So, he did the only thing that made sense to him. Follow after the ghost expert closely. In his opinion, the safest place was with the expert.
Bell looked at the group that had swelled all of a sudden and shook his head inwardly. While he could understand his client's fear, it still made him disapprove of the clingy attitude.
"I still think you should turn back Mr. Simon. I do not know what could be causing these ghosts to go crazy, but there's a high chance that things will get dangerous."
"Even if that's the case, you will protect me right?" Simon looked at Bell and pleaded with his eyes. "I saw you vanquish the ghost with just a wave of your arm earlier. If you keep me safe, I will double your reward. No... no, I will triple it."
"That was because it was a ghost with no powers. It was acting like that because it was under the influence of something.... or someone. Still, I will try my best." Bell nodded slightly. Though he didn't like how paranoid his client was being, he would still ensure that things would go smoothly. The promised reward was quite hefty after all.
He lead the way slowly and his client and six other servants followed closely after. Each member of the group were armed with weapons or carrying a lamp. They stuck closely to each other as they advanced. Even the slightest sound would make them jump and it was apparent that they were all scared.
It was only natural. The investigation during the day didn't hold much danger. However, things were different now. You could never tell when a ghost would pop out and attack you.
Because of how large the group had grown, the pace of their investigation decreased considerably. Still, Bell didn't let it bother him and moved cautiously. He would stop every now and then check any item from Simon's collection that looked like it could be the cause behind the recent events.
Just as Bell was scrutinizing a weird sculpture of half beast half man creature, a ghost phased through a wall and reached for a servant behind Simon. Looking at the hideous ghost approaching closer, Simon screamed and moved away in a hurry.
A well built servant stepped forth and swung his sword at the ghost. While he wasn't a true warrior capable of using mana, his movements were swift and well practiced. Unfortunately, the long sword passed through the target without dealing even a little damage. The servant was shocked at the development. Even if he hadn't expected to vanquish the ghost, he had at least hoped to hurt it a little.
"Get back!" Bell's warning rang out and the servant moved away hurriedly.
As soon as the servant was a safe distance away from the ghost, a beam of light covered the ghost. The light gave off a warm aura and the ghost sizzled before evaporating into nothingness.
"The best bet for a normal person is to use fire against ghosts." Bell stood before where the ghost had been and continued. "Still, the most sensible thing to do is to run away."
The sword wielding servant thanked the expert sincerely. Having witnessed Bell's abilities, the group grew a lot more relaxed. After all, the ghost was vanquished in moments.
The exploration continued smoothly. On the way, Bell took care of two more ghosts. The way the group looked at him changed significantly. Now, all of them thought of him as an excellent exorcist who could always be counted on.
Not long after, a soft sobbing sound permeated throughout the entire house. It came from every direction but also gave everyone the impression that it was coming from within them. Slowly but surely, the sobbing grew louder. Everyone could now make out that the one making the sounds was a little girl. Interlaced in her sobs were feelings of great pain and terror.
Listening to the miserable sounds, Simon's hairs stood on end. Looking around, he could tell that the others were similarly scared. The atmosphere changed immediately and Simon began regretting his decision to follow after Bell.
The latter however, didn't care about what was going through his client's mind. His expression hardened as soon as the sobbing sounded out and he began walking immediately. As he approached closer to the source of the sound, his pace got quicker.
Soon, he reached the end of a hallway. If he just turned at this corner, he would be right outside the room where the sound was coming from. But as he reached the end and looked at the general direction of the room, he froze in place. The rest of the group caught up shortly after and followed Bell's line of sight to see what had him so confused.
Standing in front of the room was a hooded man. The headwear completely covered his face, preventing the group from discerning the man's identity. But what really caught their attention was the man's clothing. He wore a white cassock and a pellegrina which didn't go well with the hood at all.
Bell asked the hooded man while putting up his guard. "Who are you? What church are you from?"
The hooded figure turned to look at the newcomers and lost interest immediately. He turned his sight back to the door from where sobs poured out of endlessly. Ignoring the leading man's words, he spoke in a mysterious manner. "The girl sounds like she is in pain. I came after catching whiff of the evil that lurks in this place."
Simon was already scared but after listening to the hooded man's words, the little courage that was left in him disappeared completely. An ecclesiastic wouldn't appear anywhere without an important reason. Though he couldn't understand why the clergyman was hiding his face, he pushed it to the back of his mind. The important part was that the man claimed to be here because of an evil that resided in this place.
Simon suppressed his urge to run away and pleaded to the clergyman. "Priest, please help us. If you exorcise the evil spirit in this place, I will be sure to make a generous donation to the church you serve."
"That was my intention in coming here. And you need not make a donation."
A surge of relief came over Simon as soon as he heard those words. All ecclesiastic were well versed in the art of exorcism. With his help, he had no doubt that the matter would be resolved. Putting on his best smile, he asked politely. "Thank you priest. I am Simon Pare. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"
The hooded figure turned to the man and answered in a deep voice. "You can call me professor Can Hellsing."
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