Trafford's Trading Club

The club needed a stream of steady clients to prevent the boss from dying. The usage of black cards were an effective way to attract customers. The black soul envoys of the club were like moving billboards, wandering about in society, spreading the information about the existence of the club from the shadows.

These black soul envoys were created from souls--- those that were given to the club as transaction fees.

If one felt that the souls were useful or strong, they could be left in the warehouse. After a period of time, they would transformed into black soul envoys and sent out as unpaid labour for the club.

The new boss was satisfied with these free workers. They were loyal and required no pay.

“And also greetings to Ms. You Ye.” It gave You Ye the same respect.

“Master, would you like to listen to the report from No.9?” You Ye asked.

Luo Qiu felt weird that the envoy would be named after mere numbers rather than a real name. So he looked at You Ye. “Yes, it...should be necessary.”

You Ye explained. “The former boss gave me the authority to deal with everything.”

Luo Qiu smiled, “I’ll just listen.”

“No.9, go ahead,” You Ye nodded and ordered.

No.9 spoke in glum voice. “Master, No,9 has successfully let 7 potential customers realize the existence of our club.”

All of a sudden, his robe opened up. 7 white cards flew from within the black smoke towards Luo Qiu.

No.9 black soul added, “Master, please have a look the information for these 7 people.”

Luo Qiu was able to skim through the information sealed in the cards just by placing his finger on it. It was great that, he didn’t need to read through tedious documents or listen to boring introductions. Without further ado, he tapped on one of the white cards.

You Ye was worried Luo Qiu didn’t know the rules here, so she said lightly, “Master, you can pick several appropriate ones among these 7 new potential customers, and bestow to them the right to have a discount through the black card. Of course it’s not necessary to create more black cards. Our black souls are very experienced in this assignment, 70% potential customers chosen by them will eventually end up looking for us anyway.”

The discount given by the black card was merely a way to tempt customers into entering more transactions. However, people with urgent needs would come even if no discount was given, such as the butterfly monster---Dance.

These potential customers had to undergo a strict selection criteria to ensure that they could pay the price and not go back on their word. Vastly different from those that did not have the black card nor know about the legend and merely stumbled onto the club by chance.

The black soul called this its mission. The more people they found, the more transactions would be completed. Thus they would obtain better results, and with better results come better benefits.

For instance, it could possess a body, recover its memories or obtain its freedom from the club.

Well, actually the last one benefit could be scratched of the list.

Because no black soul had ever obtained it ever since the club was established.

......

While Luo Qiu was reading the information from the 7 white cards, he asked You Ye, “How many black soul envoys do we have?”

“We have 21 at the moment,” You Ye reported the amount quickly.

Luo Qiu was surprised, “Why so few?”

You Ye explained, “Master, you should realize that there are also various oddities who have weird abilities living in this world, such as friars and monsters. The black soul envoys are similar to evil souls, and will often be targeted by some officious exorcists.”

You Ye then gave a clearer explanation. “Because in their opinion, the club is an evil existence...”

Luo Qiu listened to her quietly.

“They have been eager to eradicate the club these years in the name of righteousness.” You Ye laughed grimly. “But the reason our club hasn’t taken any action against them is because they are also potential customers that can provide us with a large deal.”

“We require more black soul envoys to entice them, instead of getting our revenge directly. As long as they have desires, they would have weaknesses. An exorcist with a gracious soul full of justice can be worth more than tens or hundreds of souls of the common folk.”

Luo Qiu had no comment on that issue. But then he frowned and said, “Then why there are only 21 black soul envoys left here?”

You Ye answered, “One reason is for a show of weakness. If there’re too many envoys, the exorcists would believe their cause to be in vain. Then would give up on nurturing new talent, which means that there would not be a next generation of exorcists. Hence, important customers that could be charged a high transaction fee would vanished. The other reason was because the former boss never paid attention to his work. The black soul envoys that were stored had all been used destroyed in recent years without being replenished.”

Luo Qiu nodded. He stored the white card and glanced at No. 9. “Go back to work, I’ll read these materials slowly.”

No. 9 didn’t say anything and just left the club silently.

Luo Qiu then turned to You Ye. “I’d like to go and check the room of Boss Asas.”

Boss Asas was the former boss of the club. His room had always been locked.

Luo Qiu thought it was time he went to take a look inside.