Chapter 52: The Butterfly (1)
Wester truly possessed an extraordinary ability to gather intelligence.
From merely suspecting that Natalie was the culprit to uncovering nearly the entire truth, it took him no more than two short days. One must remember, the incident dated back to the 1930s. Not only had some information been deliberately erased, but over the decades a great deal of material had also been lost amid the changes of time. Everly simply could not figure out how he managed to accomplish it.
It was astonishing… Everly had asked Rebecca about it. Aside from the matter of the mannequin—where records were lacking and Wester was unable to find anything—every other detail he deduced matched the memories contained within the pendant almost exactly.
Although she had witnessed Wester’s capabilities before, his exceptional intelligence and sharp perception during this incident once again reshaped Everly’s impression of the exorcist. Perhaps in the future, if she encountered a case she couldn’t solve, she could turn to him for help. However, he charged a high fee, so she would need to save more money for emergencies…
Unfortunately, even though the full sequence of events had been uncovered, the deceased employer could not be brought back to life, and the verbally promised payment was impossible to collect. Moreover, the witch Natalie had clearly already left Micano City. The wooden mannequin in the storage room, as well as Kelly’s lame father, had all vanished without a trace. Thus, after lingering for a while longer, the rarely frustrated exorcist departed Micano in a fury.
Not long after Wester left, the Church’s exorcist finished writing the incident report and hastily fled the remote, backward little city as well.
The witch incident was thus declared over, but its aftermath continued to affect the school.
Under Natalie’s curse, a large number of teachers and students at Fino Academy suffered both physical and psychological torment, taking leave from school and being hospitalized. After recovering from their illnesses, only a small portion of the students returned. The others either moved away with their families or transferred to different middle schools. As a result, the grade seven student population at Fino Academy was cut roughly in half, and the teaching staff underwent a major reshuffle, replaced by several new faces.
For Everly, however, this was good news.