F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!

Chapter 328: A New World

"Urgh...?" I look around, realizing I’m sprawled in an alleyway. I push myself up, aching a little from the trip through the "portal," and take in my surroundings — modern structures everywhere.

"...H-Hahaha!! It worked!! IT WORKED!!" Excitement surges through me, until I actually look around and spot strange beings. Bizarre, deformed humanoid things surround me — some hidden as if they’re afraid of me, others watching me with caution.

"?" I can feel they’re spiritual beings, like me. But unlike me — gorgeous as I am — these things resemble "Humans." Dirty, corrupted, twisted ones. There are also insects, animals, and even weird amorphous forms.

’A world where ghosts exist...’ I can’t tell if this is Earth, and it’s a little strange seeing other spiritual beings. Maybe that childish game threw me into a world with "support" for spiritual beings to maintain stability.

"What are you staring at!" The moment I say it, practically all of them flee flying, phasing through walls and the ground. I step out of the alley slightly frustrated — if there are other spiritual beings, it means something might try to attack me.

’I don’t sense Hikishin in the environment... my powers also seem reduced... but my powers as a nymph feel stronger...’ Interesting.

"Considering there are so many ’ghosts,’ I’m guessing there are people who can see me too... haaa... how unpleasant. It’ll be awful if someone tries to exorcise me or something..." I can’t wait to go back home, back to Esther’s arms.

"..." I look around the street, noticing some differences from the modern world where I was originally born. This world has people roaming the streets, tall buildings, shops, even cars — but I notice talismans on a lot of houses.

Seems like this world has a culture deeply tied to spiritual things, considering almost every building has amulets plastered to its walls.

I also notice a lot of "ghosts" are running away from me. So, in this world’s view, I must be like, really strong — or maybe the strongest. But I don’t know. And I should be cautious, since if these ghosts can see me, it means they might be able to attack me.

’Soul attacks... I don’t know how to perform soul attacks with mastery... but... I feel like I can summon the [Infinity +1] here, and she can cut souls, so at least I have a weapon...’ I take a deep breath and start wandering the streets. My body simply phases through normal people’s bodies.

But when I try to enter a building, the paper on the wall gives me a soft tingling sensation — right before the paper catches fire.

’It tried to stop me?’ I manage to get inside, and now that the paper has burned, other ghosts rush past me into the building. I step back, realizing I’ve screwed up.

"Oh... seems like these papers are more important than I expected..." I don’t know what ghosts do to humans, but considering ghosts poured in the moment the paper burned, I’m guessing it’s not very good for the humans.

"...Dammit, why did this thing burn?" A young guy steps out from inside the establishment with another talisman, complaining. He quickly sticks a new talisman where the old one was, and immediately a golden glow flashes — and all the ghosts that got in come rushing out of the building.

I watch, curious. The papers seem pretty strong. I wonder if it’s because I’m a demon that the paper can’t stop me, or if I’m just too strong for it to work on me.

"...Hmmm..." I look at the people on the street more carefully. Some have talismans on their clothes, and those people are "alone" — but people without talismans are being followed by ghosts, and some even have ghosts clinging right onto them.

’I wonder... is it possible...’ I wonder if ghosts devour human vitality. It would make sense. Nymphs are spiritual beings who don’t really need to eat, but they still devour both the bodies and sometimes the minds and souls of those they capture.

Ghosts might devour vitality to keep their spiritual forms alive, and if your vitality gets devoured, human health must decline a lot.

"Yes... that seems like a solid theory." I’m smart, and the signs point to it. Even without much proof, this theory already serves a purpose — and it’s not like I want to stay here. I’m leaving as soon as I find a soul that meets all the criteria I need for my marionette.

I could have tried to take a soul from the world I was in, but I don’t want a soul that has "knowledge" of things. I need a soul from another world because she won’t know anything about Hikishin — culture, laws, rules, things about the races — basically a blank slate when it comes to information.

And it couldn’t be the soul of a baby or a child, since the soul already needs to have discernment, and also so the marionette already has an adult form instead of being a marionette in the form of a baby.

"..." I go back to wandering the city, seeing that aside from the ghosts and talismans, nothing’s too different from normal.

Until I spot a group of three young people wearing a weird kind of black school uniform. Both of them carry bags stuffed with talismans, and what sets them apart is that they’re destroying ghosts.

I try to approach them since they can see ghosts, but they don’t seem to notice me.

"Hey? Can you see me?"

"Dude, I’m telling you, it’s not that hard, see?" The boys ignore me while talking among themselves. I watch them a little longer, noticing they only destroy the smaller ghosts and seem oblivious to the big ones.

"Yeah, I know you said that, but isn’t it dangerous?" They keep up their conversation, completely unaware of me standing right in front of them waving my hands.

"No, man, it’s easy — just grab the talismans and touch them, done! See!" He demonstrates to the other boy, pulling a talisman from the bag and touching a ghost. But unlike them, who can’t see,

I watch the bigger ghosts — the ones I deem stronger — staring at them with a dangerous gaze. They don’t attack, but they are not happy at all with the situation.

"And you, big guy — can you hear me and understand me? I’m Evelyn!" I say to the biggest ghost of them all. He’s easily three meters tall, with extremely thin, long arms and legs, his hands ending in claws, and his face a completely dark, faceless hole.

"..." The ghost doesn’t react much to me, besides, of course, taking a step back.

"Tsk... some of the talismans are blank," the boy with one of the bags complains, drawing my attention, while the big ghost leaves as if fleeing now that something pulled my focus off him.

"Hinata was supposed to have painted all of them... oh, speaking of her, there she is!! Hinata!!" The other boy, a blond one with brown eyes, waves at a girl who runs toward them with a smile.

"Guys, I—" But the girl stops immediately as she gets close. Her eyes leave the boys and land on me, and her entire body trembles with fear — a nearly visceral dread. She starts panting and crying, collapsing to the ground while trying to drag herself backward.

The boys get worried and run to her while I follow behind them. They say a ton of things and ask questions, but this "Hinata" just stares at me with pure terror and fear.

’So she sees me... why? What’s the criteria for humans to see these so-called ghosts and to see me?’ I stare at her deeply, while she even wets herself from fear. The desperation in her upon seeing me seems very profound.

"Hinata, what happened?!" The black-haired boy with the bag shakes Hinata, who’s simply in complete shock.

’Maybe I should leave... but I’m so curious...’

"Can you see me?" I ask, even knowing she does. It’s obvious she sees me — her gaze doesn’t leave me. But what I want to know is if she sees me, or if she’s just seeing a black mass like the other ghosts, whose colors boil down to black, gray, and white in different shades.

The girl simply faints, without giving me the answer I wanted, and leaves me feeling a little bad for terrifying her. My tail taps softly against the ground as my interest cools.

’Okay, what do we have here... this Hinata is the one who made the talismans, and unlike the boys, she saw me... considering the conversation, these three are pretty new to killing or exorcising ghosts...’ Hinata is probably experienced.

But that doesn’t explain what she saw when she looked at me. I don’t know if she saw me because she’s more experienced, or if it’s some gift that comes at birth. But it’s a fact that she didn’t seem to see something that pleased her.

The boys start carrying her away while I stay here, confused about her reaction. I’m not ugly, and considering size alone, I’m not as big as the other ghosts here.

So maybe size doesn’t matter when it comes to indicating a ghost’s strength. But I’m not emitting any spiritual energy or magic either.

"How strange... so many questions... no, I need to focus. My focus isn’t learning about this strange world — it’s finding a broken girl who doesn’t mind going to another world to become a weapon of war, if it can help her find a purpose in life."

...

...

...

"Hinata, are you okay? What happened?" Tiago asks me as I curl up in bed covered by a sheet, my hands gripping my head while I can’t stop crying.

"A-A monster!! A m-m-monster," I say, crying like never before. Nothing has ever scared me this much — not even with all the monsters I’ve already seen.

"Hinata, you know we can’t see them once they reach a certain level of strength. Calm down. We don’t know what you saw, but—"

"N-No!! No! No!! Y-You don’t understand!! I-It was a monster!! A MONSTER!!" I don’t want to be an exorcist anymore. I’m never leaving the house again, knowing that thing is out there.

Even among these monsters, that thing was capable of making them feel fear. Ghosts don’t feel fear of anything — even a weak ghost doesn’t fear stronger ghosts.

Because they’re beyond the natural cycle of life — there is no fear of death, so consequently, there’s no fear of stronger beings. Weak and strong ghosts can be found together.

But that thing scared them. And I felt like I would be crushed just seeing that thing in front of me. When she asked if I could see her, I just wished I would die so I could vanish from near that thing. I don’t know why she didn’t attack, but it doesn’t matter!!

"I-I quit!! T-Tell the master I’m never h-hunting another ghost again! A-And get out of here!! Th-That thing was with you! LEAVE!! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU IN MY HOUSE EVER AGAIN!!" I scream at him, curling up under the blanket, my body trembling with a terror I never imagined I would feel in my life.