The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 795: The Exorcist's Account

Shhh....

In the afternoon, a fine rain, like a pervasive mist, enveloped the city. The temperature dropped as if deep autumn had arrived, and only the crackling fireplace could warm one's heart.

Vinnelag's climate was similar to Belfast's, but in its own unique way.

Their climates differed: for instance, Vinnelag had no rainy or storm seasons, but it did have harsh winters with severe frosts, as well as a near-constant drizzle and fog.

In Vinnelag, it was either raining or foggy; it was rarely just overcast.

Standing by the window, Lu Li silently watched the meandering trickles of water that blurred the streets and the harbor, recalling the contents of that letter.

"I don't remember when they appeared, but they are closely linked to us. Symbiotes, parasites? We only know that they came into being after we did."

"Fortunately, it was the Exorcist Association that discovered them, not us. Otherwise, the Trader might not have become so deeply intertwined with our kind."

"Unfortunately, neither the Exorcist Association nor we ever found their origin—or perhaps we did, but couldn't make it public."

"They are separate entities, yet they seem to be a single whole, like a beehive or an anthill. But there is no queen bee or ant queen controlling them, or at least, we've never found one.""They are always elusive, and the things they take vanish completely from this world unless they are traded back. We suspect their lair might be on one of the layers of the In-Between. This very feature was exploited by the clever Exorcist Association, who, dissatisfied with the slow delivery of supplies, struck a deal with the Trader—or perhaps the deal had existed from the very beginning. The contents of that deal define the current structure of the Trader."

"Despite all this, they aren't frightening. In a way, they are very shy creatures. You will rarely see them in front of many people; they usually appear silently around you when you are alone or when no one else is near. Sometimes, they might give you a fright."

"Though their origin is unknown, one thing can be confirmed: the Trader appeared because of us."

"The Trader itself is shrouded in mist, and much remains unknown to us. For example, why did it appear, and what exactly qualifies as an 'exorcist' by their definition? Today, we might be cautious in our dealings, but in that era, romanticism and ideals filled the hearts of exorcists. They sincerely believed that humans and anomalies could coexist... Forgive me, I digress."

"Having read this far, you must already understand the Trader's purpose, which lies in its very name. You can exchange supplies from them for investigator points—or, more accurately, contribution points, if they still exist."

"In the final moments of my life, I, Fermi Bond, leave this letter for the Trader to deliver to the last exorcist, just in case."

"I hope this letter is never seen by anyone... No, on second thought, it's better if someone does."

Fermi Bond, a legendary investigator from the time after the Exorcist Association split into the Investigators and the Night's Watch.

The Fermi Bond who left the letter didn't know Lu Li; this message simply followed the Trader's pact, left behind for the last exorcist.

Lu Li pulled his gaze away from the window.

The Trader stood in the corner, as still as a coat rack.

Prusius circled the Trader obsequiously, while Katerina tried to keep her distance.

Lu Li had taken it from the museum—or rather, the Trader had followed Lu Li from the museum.

If Lu Li was the last exorcist, then this was, perhaps, the last Trader.

"How long are you going to keep circling?"

Katerina sat on the plush sofa, not looking up as she flipped through a natural history atlas gifted by the museum director.

She couldn't read, but fortunately, it had plenty of pictures.

"Because the Trader is an exorcist's best partner!" Prusius shouted, turning his head.

"Friends? You call this transactional relationship friendship?"

Katerina believed the Trader was no different from the merchant she had met in Mantistown, the one called Krot.

"But... but that's what the books say," Prusius stopped, tilting his head to look at Lu Li.

"Trade is the rule, but the Trader's ubiquity and its ability to transport items are priceless."

The Trader truly was an exorcist's best partner.

Stepping away from the window, Lu Li walked over to the fireplace and sat down.

The dancing flames stretched his shadow, and Lu Li asked the Trader:

"How many contribution points do I have left?"

The Trader in the corner opened its eyes and turned impassively toward Lu Li.

"...589 trillion contribution points."

"589 trillion contribution points?"

Katerina looked up from her atlas in astonishment.

"You're so powerful, and you only have that much? Is a trillion contribution points a lot or a little?"

"These are contribution points, not just some paltry 'millions' of points..."

Prusius covered his snout with a paw and whispered a reminder.

"A trillion is a very big number. Ten thousand times ten thousand is a hundred million, and a hundred thousand times a hundred million is a trillion. I got that right, Mr. Lu Li?"

"Mhm."

Ignoring Katerina, who was lost in the unfathomable numbers, Lu Li asked the Trader:

"Why so many?"

Before he fell into the earth, he had only a few tens of billions of contribution points.

"After you disappeared, the Exorcist Association bought up all the Deep Sea Stones," the Trader replied after a brief pause.

Lu Li had indeed once authorized the Trader to sell that batch of Deep Sea Stones.

It seemed that the price of Deep Sea Stones had later been inflated even more drastically, becoming more valuable than gold.

Now, however, Deep Sea Stones had become ordinary, worthless rocks.

"Can contribution points be exchanged for shillings?" Katerina couldn't help but ask, finally coming to her senses.

"10 to 1," Lu Li said.

"1 shilling for 10 contribution points?"

"10 shillings for 1 contribution point."

"..."

"Miss Katerina, what's wrong!"

Prusius scurried in a panic to the feet of the stunned Katerina, who had gone limp on the sofa as the atlas slid from her hands.

"Is there inflation?" Lu Li continued questioning the Trader.

Inflation was obviously inevitable: the rarer something was, the more expensive it became. But the superiority of contribution points meant their value would always be higher than investigator points.

Provided the Trader still had supplies.

But now, the Trader had nothing but information.

"Where did everything go?" Lu Li asked, frowning.

After a short silence, the Trader answered:

"Lost."

Before Lu Li could press further, the Trader, for once, offered the truth on its own.

The Trader's backpack was connected to a specific layer of the In-Between. That was also the source of the Traders, their habitat.

All their trade goods were stored there.

The habitat of the Traders was a single whole, yet it was not a single whole, much like individual houses on a street.

Some Traders' "houses" were larger because they stored many things; others were smaller because they stored very little.

The Trader's process was simple: if a Trader had an item an exorcist needed, it would retrieve it from its "house." If not, it would visit a Trader who did have the item and get it from them.

But as the exorcists vanished, the Traders went into hibernation one by one, making visits impossible unless a Trader happened to find another.

The worst part was that after a long period of hibernation, the "houses" belonging to each Trader were completely looted—people weren't about to sit idly by upon discovering unattended, overstuffed backpacks.

The legendary investigator Fermi Bond hadn't mentioned this in his letter.

It was a secret that not even the Exorcist Association knew.