Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 870: Worry-Free, Yellow Springs (3)

This manor basically retains its original appearance, with a tall tower on each side.

At this moment, Uncle Jin was walking up the spiral stone staircase leading to the upper level of the west tower. The upper level was where Lady Eve resided.

Uncle Jin was quite tall, embodying the image of a strong man from Shandong.

He quickly arrived at the door of Lady Eve's room—he didn’t immediately enter or knock, but simply waited in front of the door for a while.

His hearing was actually quite good—being a gambler who was once referred to as the "Gambling Demon," he naturally had undergone specialized hearing training. In fact, Uncle Jin believed that he was top-notch in terms of hearing and had reached the pinnacle of gambling skills.

However, many years ago, he ultimately lost to Tu Shenyi, resulting in him losing one of his fingers and becoming a steward in Tu Shenyi's manor.

He knew he could never win against Tu Shenyi… because an ordinary person could never defeat him, even if that ordinary person had reached their limit.

There was still no sound coming from the room, so Uncle Jin took out a key and unlocked the door. He didn’t linger inside but walked straight into the bathroom.

The mirror still had some water vapor lingering on it, making it blurry. The remaining moisture and heat in the bathroom made it a bit uncomfortable in the hot weather, and climbing up the tower’s stairs had already made Uncle Jin sweat quite a bit.

He frowned as he looked at the bathtub filled with rose petals… Inside the tub lay a woman.Her name was Bella. Uncle Jin remembered this name because Bella was originally a maid in the manor, later favored by Lady Eve, and had since been by her side.

In fact, over the years, Lady Eve had visited the manor numerous times, each time selecting a young girl as her attendant.

Uncle Jin stepped into the bathtub, where the rose petals almost covered the surface of the water, like a red carpet laid for Bella. She only showed her head above the water, her eyes closed, with a dreamy smile on her lips.

There were two tiny holes on her neck, and Bella remained motionless. Uncle Jin pressed his finger against Bella’s neck and then shook his head.

Uncle Jin reached into the water and lifted Bella out. As he stood up, her body still felt warm, not at all like that of a deceased person.

Her skin was still warm and soft; perhaps, she was just asleep.

“Another one.”

Uncle Jin covered Bella’s body with a white sheet and carried her away. Over the years, he had handled such matters two or three times each year, and he had long since gone from shock to being unfazed.

In fact, he was waiting for an opportunity… an opportunity to become one of "them."

……

……

“...Generally, we refer to them collectively as demon slayers.”

Without a doubt, Cythacyl was a talkative gentleman, at least in his current demeanor.

Luo Qiu didn’t detect anything amiss with Cythacyl’s appearance or behavior—of course, this was limited to their initial interaction.

Since they were discussing issues related to non-human realms, Gan Hong had been sent away by Luo Qiu after bringing back some fresh water—this time to fetch some snacks.

Luo Qiu had grown accustomed to being catered to by the club’s maids, developing the habit of having afternoon tea every day… so Gan Hong was quite busy.

“Demon slayers.” Luo Qiu took a sip of water.

Cythacyl gave him the impression that he was physically stronger than ordinary people, and he probably possessed some special abilities tied to his race.

Luo Qiu had encountered bloodsucking non-human beings before—such as the princess from the Xuanyuan family.

Of course, purely from the perspective of non-human powers, there was no real comparison between Cythacyl and Su Zijun. The gap between them was like that between ancient kings and commoners—because Cythacyl was likely a vampire from ten generations later.

Vampires from the tenth generation were not particularly strong, although they could maintain eternal youth, they were actually quite fragile. Nevertheless, the first generation and progenitor vampires had considerable power if they traced back to the source.

Naturally, when forming connections or showing interest in certain beings, Luo Qiu did not solely measure them by strength. When one stripped away the exterior of great power, what shone from within had another set of criteria for evaluation.

Cythacyl nodded at this moment. “Yes, demon slayers, or rather exorcists. They first became active during the Middle Ages. During that time, numerous legends about demons circulated around the world. The most common ones were legends about vampires, werewolves, and so-called evil witches. These should be quite familiar. However, these three races rarely exposed themselves, so demon slayers mostly dealt with exorcising evil spirits. Those who lost consciousness or became united through resentment were uncontrollable and difficult to manage collectively.”

Luo Qiu nodded, “Demon slayers have their own organizations, right?”

“Yes.” Cythacyl replied, “Generally, there is a rather loose association of demon slayers. Its existence is not for ruling but to provide intelligence specifically for demon slayers; of course, it also serves as a platform for demon slayers to communicate. Besides that, within the circle of demon slayers, there are a few particularly large organizations that we non-humans need to be cautious about. For example, the Holy Crusaders.”

“The Holy Cross, sounds like the Church?”

“Exactly.” Cythacyl smiled, “The Church had a period during the Middle Ages where they hunted witches. The witches here generally refer to female witches. During that time, many newly awakened witches could not resist the iron knights of the Holy Cross and were either captured or burned alive.”

“Next is the Knights of the Round Table.” Cythacyl used his finger to dip into some water and drew a circle on the table. “The circle symbolizes unity. At the height of its power, the Knights of the Round Table had more than one hundred fifty knights, and the most famous, of course, is the legend of King Arthur and his twelve knights. However, in reality, the Knights of the Round Table not only possessed powerful knights but also had the protection of the great wizard Merlin and his descendants.”

“Then there’s the association of magicians.” Cythacyl said seriously, “However, many times, magic and witchcraft can't be clearly distinguished, which provides a good camouflage for witches and wizards. Therefore, how many witches are hidden within the magician’s association is unknown. On one hand, magicians also undertake some demon-slaying work, and on the other hand, there are witches and some rare races within them, making it difficult to define the nature of the magician’s association.”

“Hmm…” Luo Qiu nodded.

Although he has the kind of intelligence-gathering ability that comes readily available... in fact, there are many things that come effortlessly, which is quite delightful.

“Actually, there are specialized channels for obtaining information about the non-human circles.” Xitaxier glanced around before suddenly reaching beneath the table.

The moment his palm opened, a fluffy basketball slowly emerged from his palm—this fluffy creature had a pair of wings and a tiny tail behind it; apart from that, almost half of its body was a gigantic eye.

Cythacyl said, “We call it a ‘Messenger.’ It was originally a very rare sprite. Later, it was cultivated using a new technology and has now reached a stage where it can be mass-produced. The advantage of the ‘Messenger’ is that it can instantly update the dynamics of the non-human world… well, you could think of it as a newspaper.”

The blue ‘Messenger’ opened its eyes, fully revealing a huge round ball, but it didn’t look frightening; it was even somewhat cute.

The eyeball projected a soft light, and a panel appeared, resembling the interface of a newspaper or magazine, complete with text and images, and even options to select multiple languages for the text… it would be a bit simplistic to call it a newspaper; it was more like a ‘website.’

Interestingly, the images on it were even dynamic.

“Quite impressive technology.” Luo Qiu tried to touch the interface projected by the sprite Messenger with his finger and found it was indeed controllable.

Xitaxier smiled at this moment and said, “In fact, these Messengers are just the offspring; above them, there are parent Messengers. Each parent can manage hundreds or thousands of offspring, and many parents combine to form a huge processing terminal. As long as someone writes the happenings into the parent, we, who hold the offspring, can keep track of the dynamics of the non-human world at any time—by the way, this technology is a product of the Magician’s Association.”

Luo Qiu was like a child who had received a new toy, playing with it and unable to stop.

Cithacyl slightly parted his lips, his gaze falling on Luo Qiu’s neck, and suddenly said, “My friend, I’ll give you this Messenger as a gift for our acquaintance.”

“Is it for me?” Luo Qiu was a bit surprised.

Cithacyl generously said, “Although this Messenger isn’t something particularly rare, it’s quite hard to find without specific purchasing channels, but I have plenty of these.”

“Then I’ll buy it.” Luo Qiu thought for a moment, “What should I pay? I mean, do you have any special currency?”

“Wealth doesn’t hold much significance for us. Except for a few who have a particular fondness for wealth, it’s actually quite useless,” Cithacyl shook his head and said. “Generally, we prefer to exchange goods. Of course, this Messenger can also be purchased with money because the Magician’s Association has significant daily expenses… but I said I’m giving it to you, so it’s a gift. Do you know why I don’t lack such things?”

“Don’t tell me you’re its developer.” Luo Qiu joked.

Cithacyl chuckled, “I certainly don’t have the knowledge to develop such things. But I am one of the agents for the Messengers.”

Agent… so that means he’s a merchant too?

“Hmm…” Luo Qiu thought for a while, then took out a black card from his pocket, which had three golden symbols printed on it. “I’m not one to take things for free; since you’re used to bartering, I’ll exchange this card. This card can…”

But before Luo Qiu could finish speaking, Cithacyl, with a look of astonishment, took the black card, saying, “This is… the symbols on it… it can’t be wrong, this is a ‘Black Soul Discount Card’… You… oh! My friend, Luo Qiu, how do you have such a precious item? Do you know that a ‘Black Soul Discount Card’ with only one symbol has been traded for five kilograms of secret silver or its equivalent in the black market? Not to mention this one has three symbols!”

Luo Qiu blinked… it was indeed a discount card, but what did it mean that it was worth five kilograms of secret silver in the black market??

“Don’t you know the value of the ‘Black Soul Discount Card’?” Cithacyl asked curiously, pushing the black card back toward Luo Qiu… though his movements were a bit slow, and his eyes showed a hint of reluctance.

Luo Qiu shook his head, “It’s hard to say if it’s precious or not; it’s just that this thing is of no use to me.”

“Well, that’s probably because you don’t know its true value,” Cithacyl said. “Legend has it that there exists a mysterious place in this world where anyone who steps into it can buy anything and fulfill any wish. Of course, the prerequisite is that one must be willing to pay a price. The ‘Black Soul Discount Card’ is one of its passes. The two symbols printed on this card represent a 10% off and an 20% off, and even a 30% off. Do you know how valuable it is for someone wanting to fulfill a wish to pay less than the original price?”

Saying this, Cithacyl suddenly shook his head, “However, this legendary mysterious place has disappeared in the West for nearly a hundred years. It is said that a hundred years ago, all the non-human beings in the Western world besieged it due to some event. After that, the non-human world in the West went from a brilliant era to a dim one, as if it turned from gold to scrap iron, only regaining a bit of vitality a hundred years later. But some say it hasn’t disappeared; it’s just quietly waiting for the day it will reappear. Therefore, it is being traded at a terrifyingly high price in the black market. Moreover, as a consumable, it becomes even more precious. Who would have thought you would possess one?”

Should I say I’m the owner of the place you mentioned…

Forget it, if we meet again, I’ll wear a mask so it doesn’t feel awkward… Luo Qiu is someone who dislikes awkwardness.

“I have no wishes I want to fulfill.” Luo Qiu smiled and said, “I stumbled upon this item by chance; it’s just that its material is a bit peculiar, so I kept it. Cithacyl, thank you for the Messenger you gave me; consider this my return gift.”

“Oh, Luo Qiu, my good friend.” Cithacyl was now even more enthusiastic, “It’s truly an honor to know such a generous person like you; today is indeed a wonderful day.”

He grasped Luo Qiu’s hand with both of his, sincerely saying.

This guy is… so enthusiastic.

Luo Qiu gently withdrew his hand, not quite accustomed to such close contact with a male… but Cithacyl didn’t seem to care.

As he quickly accepted the black card, he also took out several rings.

“This ‘Black Soul Discount Card’ is too precious; an ordinary Messenger can’t compare.” Cithacyl slowly said, “These rings are a gift for you and your companions.”

Luo Qiu looked at the rings; there were four in total—three red ones and one green one, which seemed to have some other meaning.

“You’d better have your companions wear these three red ones.” Cithacyl said.