My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 142

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Hazel was terrified and sobbing. Hazel tried to shake off his hand, but Rico’s grip didn’t budge at all. Instead, it tightened even more forcefully, as if it would break her wrist.

“Ugh, it hurts, it hurts!”

Rico was also extremely confused himself. Seeing her in pain, he tried to loosen his grip. Rico tried to move his body, but it wouldn’t move as he wished, as if it was beyond his control. It felt exactly like his body had been stolen by someone else.

‘Someone else?’

As if responding to Rico’s worst fear that suddenly came to mind, the voice spoke again.

“How mean! You tormented me first!”

This time it wasn’t inside his head but came out of his mouth on its own. It was completely different from what Rico wanted to say, and the sound came out even though he didn’t move his lips.

Rico knew this phenomenon well. Just today, hadn’t he met eleven people suffering from the same symptoms? Starting with Nigella, the names of people who had died today began flashing through Rico’s mind one by one.

‘I, I was the host all along.’

He couldn’t even tell when it had started.

Rico recalled the symptoms he had explained to the Duke. People who became hosts of the rats couldn’t even remember when they ate the rats, and naturally didn’t know they were hosts. They appeared completely normal on the outside.

It perfectly described Rico himself. He couldn’t even laugh.

“Butler Rico, please let me go. I won’t tell anyone.”

Hazel pleaded for her life with tears in her eyes.

“Liar. You’re carrying holy water around to kill me.”

Rico’s hand gripped the maid’s wrist even more forcefully. Rico looked at Hazel and moved his mouth silently. The hosts always had a disconnect between their lip movements and the words heard, creating an eerie feeling for listeners. That became a hint for identifying hosts. So at least the mouth movements weren’t being controlled.

‘Spray it.’

‘Spray the holy water on me.’

He hoped Hazel could read his lip movements well.

Rico’s grip became even stronger. The ‘rat’ that had taken over his body was enraged. Hazel’s wrist seemed about to snap. At that moment, Rico resisted the voice with all his might.

As soon as Rico’s hand loosened as he wished, Hazel sprayed the holy water. Since the bottle was already open, the holy water hit Rico directly. Burning pain exploded through him. Tears poured out and he couldn’t even swallow his saliva, drool dripping from his mouth.

Taking advantage of that moment, Hazel began to run away. He could only hope she would run to Evangeline and report this situation.

“My body! The one remaining human body, and you’re hurting it! I won’t let you off next time I see you!”

The voice stamped its feet angrily at the fleeing Hazel. Rico’s senses became very hazy. Now it felt less like something else had entered Rico’s body, and more like Rico had invaded someone else’s body.

Rico’s body continued to burn. However, since he hadn’t drunk it, it couldn’t definitively finish the job.

Then, parts and fragments of the ‘rat’ that had been hiding somewhere began descending along the walls. Rico couldn’t suppress his nausea at the orderly procession of rats rushing toward him. When he and Evangeline had searched so hard for them, they couldn’t find any, but who knew where they had been hiding in the manor.

The rats rushed toward the burning Rico. They gnawed at the flesh melting from contact with the holy water, then died. Several rats forced their way into Rico’s mouth.

The sensation of his body being eaten and fur clumps crawling into his mouth was nauseating, disgusting, and unbearable, but Rico had no control over his body. Surprisingly, as this continued, his wounds began to heal. Recovery wasn’t difficult since the parts touched by holy water had been pushed out.

The rats even fought among themselves. The sight of them eating and being eaten resembled a battlefield. Rico spoke to the ‘rat.’

‘What are you planning to do with my body?’

“I’m going to receive love. I just need Mother’s love, that’s all.”

‘Why me specifically?’

“The humans said you were going to become Mother’s adopted daughter. That’s why it’s you.”

Adopted daughter, what nonsense. To Rico, Agera was just a benefactor, nothing more. The talk about becoming an adopted daughter was just a false rumor that had spread at one time. Because of such rumors, he had only received discipline from Duke Hosaquin, nothing good came of it. Moreover… Agera didn’t even remember Rico. That meant Rico wasn’t that important a person to Agera.

‘You chose the wrong person. You should have chosen Evangeline instead.’

“You think that’s easy? Evangeline is protected by a cat.”

Evangeline would have been preferable, but taking over her body was impossible with the rat’s abilities. Even the rat felt intimidated when facing Evangeline. Was it because it had been killed too many times? Moreover, what was protecting Evangeline was a cat, the ‘rat’s’ natural enemy.

Anyway, if the ‘rat’ couldn’t have Evangeline, it would be better to eliminate her immediately. It had wanted to get along, but Evangeline had hurt the ‘rat’ too much. The rats that had died to Evangeline alone must number in the hundreds.

Right now, it was gathering the ‘rats’ in Rico’s body and merging them like before, but the amount wasn’t even half of the original. The remaining portion had all been killed by Evangeline.

Even while conversing, Rico’s body continued swallowing rats. As the share grew larger, Rico’s mind was gradually reassembled into the ‘rat’s.’

Rico felt perfectly fine, as if the melting from holy water had been a lie. While Rico’s body recovered, the rats ate and were eaten, merging into one. Rico grabbed the tail of one remaining rat. If he ate this one, all the remaining ‘rats’ would be combined, even if it was only half.

Just before eating the rat, Rico instinctively realized that living as ‘Rico’ himself was now over. Rico squeezed out his remaining strength to ask one last question.

‘Mabuka is…’

“Why were you… looking for… Mabuka…?”

“Mabuka? I chose her because she’s the daughter you love. She receives Mother’s love. That’s my goal too.”

Rico swallowed the last remaining rat. The rat didn’t resist. As if it had been hoping to merge into one body, it burrowed deeper inside.

Now Rico’s body belonged to the ‘rat,’ not as a host. Rico’s final memory was also of Mabuka. Recalling Mabuka’s tearful face, Rico suddenly thought this shouldn’t be the end. Rico spoke to the ‘rat’ again.

“Listen… Are you curious… how Mabuka… receives love…? Then I’ll… tell you… the secret…”

“You will?”

“That’s… right. The Mabuka you mentioned… is my daughter, and besides… I’m going to become… the adopted daughter of Agera, whom you like so much…? So…, I’ll give you advice.”

From what Rico had experienced, this ‘rat’s’ intelligence wasn’t very high. Considering it was born when Agera summoned it, it had to be immature. Even the way it spoke was just like a little child, wasn’t it?

Handling a little child was easier than eating cold soup. Rico had a six-year-old daughter. A daughter raised with so much love that even demons would envy. Naturally, he would be good at handling children, wouldn’t he?

The ‘rat’ readily agreed.

“Sure, good. If you’re not helpful later, I’ll just get rid of you. Oh, right. By the way, I’m going to eliminate Mabuka, not you. So you better help me well.”

Rico wanted to smile brightly. He couldn’t smile because his body wouldn’t move as he wished. But Mabuka would be safe. The one to disappear would be the ‘rat.’ Evangeline would make it happen, and Rico would lead it there.

***

After capturing all the people in the Duke’s Mansion who appeared to be hosts, there was nothing left to do.

We seemed to have caught quite a few, so shouldn’t the rats have decreased somewhat?

It felt refreshing. I had already built up all the favorability with the Duke, and now if I just caught the remaining rats, my mission would truly be over.

Of course, how to catch the rats was the important problem. I couldn’t keep relying only on Pudding, and it would be nice to exterminate them all at once, but only arson kept coming to mind. This is the harm of rote education. It’s all Bishop Marik’s fault. I did my best to shift the blame.

“A way to eliminate the rats…”

Right now, Kanna, Pudding, and I were sitting together, racking our brains over this problem. Since the previous conclusion had turned out to be something like ‘Let’s have Pudding work hard. Go go fighting!’ we had no choice but to hold a second meeting.

I called Rico too, but seeing that he hasn’t come yet, I guess he’s absent. No attendance management. Teacher was very disappointed. Depending on how you approach it, Teacher could become an angel or a demon. Be prepared to meet a demon-like instructor next time.

“I think the only way is for Pudding to work hard.”

When Kanna said this with a bright smile, Pudding in human form gritted her teeth and objected.

“Even if I catch them like that, they’ll quickly reproduce and increase in number. We’re not going to stay here forever.”

“I’m fine with it though?”

Even at the suggestion to bury her bones in the Ducal Family, Kanna seemed satisfied.

Come to think of it, Kanna was currently fighting with Hena and had run away from home. If she went back to the manor, she’d run into Hena often, so she probably wanted to stay away a little longer.

Shouldn’t I send her back before their relationship gets worse? I worried for a moment, then decided to keep her with me after all. I can’t give up the protagonist bus. Reconciliation can wait until later. Family ties are all connected, aren’t they? Once adolescence ends, she’ll awkwardly apologize. When the time comes, they’ll be able to reconcile well.

“Aha, then the person who wants to go back has no choice but to work hard.”

Kanna had gotten much better at giving others a hard time. Ever since learning that Pudding was a beastkin, she’d become strangely more cutting. Pudding looked ready to scratch Kanna immediately, but when I stopped her, she sighed heavily, then transformed back into a cat and disappeared, saying she’d go catch some rats.

“Pudding is really easy to handle.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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