บท 33: Inspection

Upon further inspection, the landlady had noticed that the girl opposite her had another unique quality about her.

Even when being confronted with such a hostile situation and having her sit in front of her to go over the current problem, Ash had displayed no visible emotion towards what she was facing.

She couldn't help but think to herself. 'Is this girl really unfazed by all of this?'

It was frightening for most young people to be confronted in such a way and to face someone hitting their door hard enough to cause their fists to leave blood behind.

Nobody would want to open their door to such a thing and it was even more frightening to be able to face the crowd of people that were standing outside.

The mixture of different faces and voices that would have been aimed towards Ash in that moment would have made anyone overwhelmed especially when a lot of them had looked at her and talked about her in a judgmental way.

The landlady had guessed that Ash had not been bothered by it all in the slightest by how she had presented herself and had not shown any visible emotions on her face from what the landlady could see.

She did not notice that Ash was quite nervous and anxious after being confronted with it all since it happened so suddenly and without any kind of warning.

Her small home had become a safe space for her but that safe space had become disrupted and had come under some form of threat so it was bad for her emotional state.

If there was anything that caused her distress then it was things being out of control and being unpredictable.

Things out of her control and that were unpredictable were considered as a potential threat to her and the current situation had only helped to further confirm that.

One day she could be living safely and happily within her own bubble where she felt more at ease but then that bubble would suddenly come under attack and be broken through.

Once that bubble was pierced, the scary unknown world that was unsafe to her would have to be faced.

Her outside had shown nothing to the older woman opposite her but her inner emotions were quite out of control.

Her facial muscles were the main reason for such a misunderstanding.

Her face was stiff and showed very little change at all times.

It had been the influence of the face transplant surgery she had undergone and that her facial muscles had not been properly exercised ever since she had entered her long trancelike state.

Her facial muscles were weak from the lack of use but it was that having a new face transplanted onto her that had resulted in her having facial paralysis due to her face muscles not healing properly or that there was some nerve damage that occurred during the operation.

It resulted in her face not being able to make more complicated displays of emotions but it was enough to be able to handle the basics like blinking her eyes and moving her mouth but anything else was far more difficult to do.

Ash was caught up in her emotions and negative thoughts but the landlady interrupted her from those. "Ahem… so this is how it is. I am here to mediate for the others and to find out if you know anything before things turn ugly.

I do not think that you are involved since you keep to yourself and do not cause trouble for others but not everyone else will be so willing to believe that. The angry father that was bashing on your door was looking for his child that has gone missing.

He believes that you are behind it because his child has been visiting your yard to use your equipment even when told not to do so. There are not many places where they could be after going missing so he believes that they are being held in here."

Ash nodded as she listened quietly then spoke up once the landlady had finished. "Hm.. so what you are saying is that you wish for me to cooperate with you unless I have nothing to hide."

The landlady may have not had her own suspicions held towards Ash being behind everything but just one person who suspected her was more than enough to cause others to potentially doubt her too.

There were already more than one among the villagers that had shown that they suspected Ash just by the words they had spoken or the looks they had shown towards Ash's direction.

It was much easier to dispel such suspicions as soon as possible so that they did not evolve further over time.

The situation was being handled in the present to let Ash have a little breathing room but things could turn out much worse if it was left alone.

If she was able to dispel the suspicions by letting her home be searched without any prior warning then that was the best available option.

Any kind of suspicions about the child being held within the home could be dispelled unless some still refused to accept the truth that had been presented to them.

The landlady nodded calmly and asked. "So can I take a look around?"

She knew every little detail about the place that Ash was staying in so she knew every storage place and where others could be kept so it would not take long for her to find a child in there if Ash really had done something wrong.

Ash sat there and thought to herself. 'It is a good thing that I did a little tidying up and was not up to anything that could be considered odd to others before this all happened.

It would have been really troublesome to try to explain the reasons for something odd being found. It would have been even more troublesome if anyone related to the supernatural world had come across such things.'

Ash had lived neatly and orderly so many things she had used were usually put away after being used.

Even the barriers that had been maintained along the walls and doors of her home had been cleaned up when she did not need them to keep out any minor spirits that were aimlessly wandering around.

If a Watcher or Breaker was within the village then they would have been able to notice the spirits unusual patterns of movements within the village along with the fact that they could not approach or enter a certain house.

Constantly maintaining such a barrier would only draw attention to herself so she only used it in a single room when it was needed.

Anything related to her spell studies and the book were kept in places that were less likely to be searched if anyone did enter her home.

They were not left out in the open or where most people would have access to so it was less likely for others to come across them unless they went through all of her belongings including her clothes drawers.

She nodded displaying no emotion on her face. "Of course. Go ahead."

It did not take long for the landlady to move through the home as every small closet or space that was big enough to fit a small child inside had been searched. "Is there anything you know that could possibly help?"

Ash shook her head. "Um.. not really. I do not even know any of the kids names since I have not interacted with them. All I can guess is that maybe they have gotten lost somewhere or have lost track of time when out somewhere?"

The landlady nodded. "Mm.. you are probably right. We usually handle these situations better and organise a search party but this has happened resulting in there being some delays. Thanks for cooperating with me. This should help to speed things up a little."

Ash let out a small "hm." before showing the landlady to her door.

The door was closed as the landlady left which left Ash in the home alone once again.

A long sigh was released from her mouth as the tension in her body had eased. "Haahh.."