The Strongest Curse Master

"Good job guys," Ace greeted the girls, and curiously asked, "Well, let me see our scavenger spirit." He had only seen the images that Steal Song Society archives had but had never seen the real deal.

"Master, turning a curseling into a cursed shinigami takes a while. I will inform you once the transformation is complete," Emi informed, a little disappointed that she could not satisfy her master's curiosity.

"That's alright, let me know when it is done transforming and ready to be summoned," Ace then asked Dame Wasp, "Rose, have you been monitoring Mark and the other 9K gang members' phones, everything set for a late-night raid?"

"Yes, master. There is no change in their status quo. So, tonight is perfect for us to raid them," Dame Wasp concluded based on the information she had gathered.

Listening to her master discuss a late-night raid with Dame Wasp, Emi suddenly had a premonition that her plans to spend her remaining summon time with her master getting back at Dame Wasp wasn't going to happen.

"Fantastic. Now, back to your toy spaces, I will summon you guys again for your second mission tonight," Ace said, wanting to utilize the remaining summon time of toy summons efficiently.

Seeing her premonition come true, Emi dejectedly entered the 'Cursed Toybox' with Dame Wasp following their master's orders. Ace had seen through Emi's little thoughts but chose to ignore them in the interest of their group's harmony. He further decided to keep his fun time with Emi to a minimum until Dame Wasp gained her new body.

He did plan to mediate between them but he was hoping Dame Wasp gaining her new body would solve this problem for him. He was no casanova, he had no idea how to mediate between two women fighting over him.

…

Returning home, Ace found his mother and others still on the front porch while his uncle's black Lincoln Navigator pulled up in the driveway.

Getting off his large luxury SUV, Dan called out to Ace who was heading to the front porch, "Hey, champ. Where were you the whole day? I was hoping to teach you a little about the ranch life."

"Uncle Dan, I am not falling for that again," Ace replied recalling that the last time he was here his uncle made him shovel cow shit.

"Your loss, I was thinking about paying you this time," Dan said with a smirk, meeting him at the porch.

"I will pass," Ace replied, heading into the house. As he stepped through the door, he heard his father call out from the porch, "Ace, fetch us two cold ones, will you?"

"Sure," Ace answered aloud. Heading into the kitchen, he fetched two beer bottles and a pop for himself. Returning to the porch, he heard Dan ask Pam, "Guess who we ran into on our way over here?"

"Who?" Pam asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Old man Hank. The sheriff had stopped him for speeding and driving while drunk," Dan replied with a chuckle, taking the beer bottle his brother passed.

Ace handed the beers to his father, then leaning on the porch railing he took a sip of his pop, listening to Dan's story.

"I can't believe it. That man never learns. The sheriff should give him an earful," Pam's expression turned stern, she did not like the idea of one drunkard making the streets unsafe for others.

"He did, but Hank claimed he was speeding while drunk because he saw a ghost in the salvage yard," Dan laughed, finding the whole situation absurd.

Listening to Dan, Ace almost spurt his pop in shock, learning that Hank was the drunk civilian that Emi and Dame Wasp ran into at the salvage yard.

"Wasn't he the one who kept claiming there's no such thing as ghosts or spirits when everyone warned him," Mandy pointed out.

"I guess the hefty fine the sheriff stuck him with changed his mind," Dan grinned recalling Hank's hilarious reactions in his drunken stupor. Later, he added, "But you are in luck, Mandy. Hank said he will give you a generous commission if you help him get the salvage yard off his hands ASAP."

"Is he serious? If so, you need to call him immediately and tell him to do himself a favor by not telling everyone that he saw a ghost in the salvage yard. If rumors about the auto salvage yard being haunted spread even I can't find a buyer for it," Mandy gave her professional opinion since Dan and Hank were friends.

She seemed to be very confident in her skills as a realtor despite not having practiced for a while.

Seeing Dan not reach for his phone to call Hank, Ace urged him, "Uncle, you should call him now. Rumors like these spread like wildfire and tend to stick. Not to mention, these rumors will attract weirdos calling themselves ghost watchers or ghost hunters. I don't think you would want all that disturbance next to your ranch."

Ace was worried that the rumors of a haunted salvage yard would attract curse masters into the town. Therefore, he urged his uncle to take action quickly.

"Honey, the boy is right. I don't want rumors to affect our farm negatively. Call Hank right now," Pam ordered Dan, she was concerned that merchants would use the fact that their farm was next to the rumored haunted salvage yard as an excuse to give an unfair price for their tangerines and livestocks.

"I did not think that far ahead," being reminded by his wife Dan understood the seriousness of this situation and reached for his phone. As he called Hank he could not help but mutter, "Hank is difficult to talk to when drunk."

"Damn it, he is not answering the phone," Dan cussed as all his attempts to contact Hank went unanswered.

"Did you forget that the town sheriff has detained him for the night, finding him in no shape to be driving? I'm sure they have confiscated his phone along with other belongings on him. How about we go pick him up tomorrow morning? It should be easier to explain things to him when he is sober," Al proposed, feeling his brother had the memory of a goldfish.