The shopkeeper looked at the note, then at Carlo, hesitating to speak.
Isaac understood what he was worried about. Would a hastily written note really work, with no seal or authentication?
Still, since he had been told to go to the Joint Investigation Bureau and ask for someone, it was probably reliable... In the end, the shopkeeper carefully folded the note and put it away.
"Where did you dump the ashes from the burned clothes?" Isaac got down to business. "Take us to see."
The shopkeeper led them through the back door into a backyard. A rusty iron barrel stood in a corner against the wall, presumably a trash can.
The shopkeeper pointed to the area, and Isaac looked over. After half a month, there probably wasn't even any ash left.
While Isaac was still trying to find any clues worth noting, Carlo turned to the shopkeeper, who stood in the doorway. "There's no point standing around here. Go back inside and wait."
The shopkeeper nodded and went back into the shop. Carlo turned to Isaac. "Your price just now was reasonable enough."
Isaac breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't really been confident when quoting the price, having estimated a figure by intuition alone. At least he hadn't made a fool of himself.
"According to the contract, we split the money thirty-seventy, right?" Isaac said.
"That's right. You get seventy percent."
"What about the hundred pounds to hire you? Would we split that thirty-seventy too?" Isaac thought for a moment. If the shopkeeper hired Carlo directly, wouldn't Isaac get an even bigger share?
Carlo shrugged. "That would be my own private job. It has nothing to do with the agency contract."
"...You can do that?"
"Of course." Carlo spoke as if it were only natural. "The contract sets out how commission fees for the agency are divided, for jobs that require members to work together. My personal time and abilities belong to me, and I'm free to use them as I please. If every job went through the agency's books, wouldn't I just be working for you?"
Isaac's mouth twitched. When he had read the contract, he'd only noticed that agency commissions were split thirty-seventy, with him getting the larger share of seventy percent. He hadn't expected private jobs to be an option.
"Then if I can handle a commission myself, I don't have to give you thirty percent either?"
"Of course. If you get a commission yourself in the future, as long as you don't use my name or the agency's and don't involve the Joint Investigation Bureau, everything you earn is yours. I wouldn't go so far as to take a cut of the extra money an employee earns by standing on his own feet."
Isaac thought it over. Although it was rather informal, it was fair enough. If a job went through the agency's books, the two of them would divide the work: he would investigate and gather evidence, putting in the labor, while Carlo would provide backup and advice. The commission fee would be split thirty-seventy.
But if Carlo solved every problem on his own, Isaac really had no grounds to claim a share. Conversely, if Isaac could resolve a case independently without using the agency's resources, the money would all be his, and he wouldn't have to give Carlo a share.
It also implied that, although Isaac was nominally in charge of this commission, Carlo wouldn't leave him entirely on his own. After all, it was still a commission they were splitting through the agency.
Having understood that, Isaac felt free to ask, "Which direction should we take the investigation next? Do you have any ideas, boss?"
"Two starting points," Carlo said. "One is the smell itself. The other is the fellow who returned the clothes without asking for a refund."
"If we can find that person, we should be able to figure out why he did it and what the curse was meant to accomplish. But that would require a wider search and more interviews. The time and effort involved are beyond the scope of a twenty- or hundred-pound commission."
"So we only need to deal with the curse on the shopkeeper," Isaac said in understanding.
If all they needed to do was deal with the curse on the shopkeeper, perhaps Carlo could resolve it with a roll of the dice. Of course, that was the hundred-pound service. Now that Isaac was responsible for the commission, it couldn't be handled so directly. No wonder Carlo had said it would be a little more roundabout.
"Start with Spirit Vision. See what you can perceive."
"Spirit Vision?"
"Close your eyes, relax, and try to sense anything unusual around you. Since the shopkeeper is the only one who can smell that stench, it can't be physical. It's more likely spiritual."
Isaac did as instructed. He closed his eyes, relaxed his breathing, and tried to shift his attention away from sight and hearing, sensing the subtle changes he wouldn't normally notice.
The movement of air, indistinct sounds, the warm reddish glow of sunlight through his eyelids...
Beyond that, he didn't feel anything particularly like Spirit Vision.
"I can't sense anything." Isaac opened his eyes.
"That's normal. You've never learned it."
"...Then what was the point of having me try?"
"To familiarize you with the basic steps." Carlo took out a die and tossed it to Isaac. "And now, I'll give you a hand until you really master Spirit Vision."
"Whether Isaac Lessing can currently perceive the lingering aura of the curse through Spirit Vision. Check value 50, plus 15 from Spirit Mediumship, final value 65."
Isaac caught the die and rolled it. Forty-four. The check succeeded.
He immediately felt a subtle change. He couldn't say what it was, but it was as if a sense that was normally switched off had been gently stirred, allowing him to catch faint fluctuations he wouldn't ordinarily notice.
"The boost won't last long. Try again, following the same steps as before," Carlo said.
Isaac closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing.
This time, he sensed something different.
In the darkness behind his closed eyes, a barely perceptible wisp of gray-green mist emerged. It was like dust floating in the air, but thinner and harder to grasp.
"Boss, I can see some mist."
"See where it's most concentrated, and follow it," Carlo said.
Isaac hesitated. "If I open my eyes..."
"Spirit Vision temporarily exchanges physical sight for spiritual sight. Until you master Double Vision, you naturally won't be able to see what Spirit Vision shows you when you open your eyes."
"Then how am I supposed to walk with my eyes closed?"
...And so the walking stick from earlier was thrust into Isaac's hand.
"Boss, did you anticipate this too?"
"Of course I didn't prepare it specifically for this case. But you'd have to learn Spirit Vision sooner or later anyway. Everyone who uses it carries a walking stick or a long-handled umbrella, so I prepared one in advance," Carlo said. "Oh, you could bring that dog of yours next time and have it guide you."
Isaac had no choice but to grip the walking stick tightly. He tapped its tip on the ground, then tried sweeping it back and forth.
Judging obstacles ahead by touch was harder than he had imagined. The tip of the stick conveyed only so much, and he could only feel his way forward one step at a time.
He moved by following the changes in the mist's concentration, walking back from the yard into the shop. The farther inside he went, the denser the mist became, drifting like ribbons and converging in one direction until it finally stopped at a particular spot.
He stopped. A white human silhouette stood before him, gray-green mist coiling around it like vines clinging to a tree trunk.
The person sounded very puzzled. "...Sir?"
It was the shopkeeper's voice.