Elf: Who told him to be an investigator!

Chapter 319 The Liar Tanuki

Chapter 319 The Liar Tanuki

Those who don't know Higana's character will inevitably be flustered by her claim of donning a Sherlock Holmes hat and boasting that "no one can lie to Lady Higana."

The raccoon's eyes twitched in fright at Higana, and the tail of the big-tailed raccoon next to him also tensed up.

Finally, he confessed to some of the "lies".

"There, there..."

'

With trembling hands, Lili pointed to the south of Suiyi Town.

Under the sunlight, the place was brightly lit. In the direction he pointed, there stood a tower made of bluestone with a pointed top, perched on the serene grassland.

"That's the Lost Tower... the place in Sinnoh where many dead Pokémon are buried..." Tanuki said tremulously. "You know, places like that often attract a lot of Ghost-type Pokémon..."

1

"And what I fear most are Ghost-type Pokémon!"

At this point, Lili's voice even trembled.

The big-tailed raccoon beside it also straightened its fan-like tail, its fur bristling and trembling.

"To be honest, the house I'm selling in Random Town is the closest to the Lost Tower, so... so, there are often paranormal events at night!"

Perhaps the ceramic cup you used for drinking water has vanished or broken somewhere else! Perhaps a sinister laugh is coming from some dark place! Or perhaps a light bulb that was working perfectly fine suddenly malfunctions, flickering on and off...

'

"I was initially attracted by the low price of the house, so I bought this seemingly very nice house. But soon, I experienced the taste of 'team building with Ghost-type Pokémon'!"

"I haven't had a good night's sleep in three months!"

"But Biscuit can't attack Ghost-type Pokémon, it...it can't hit them...there's nothing we can do about it."

The more Lili spoke, the more frightened she became, and the dark circles under her eyes grew increasingly embarrassing.

But then he changed the subject.

"But you're powerful trainers, aren't you!"

"Detective Higanbana, I can tell at a glance that you are definitely a powerful trainer. The problem I'm facing must be no problem at all for you! You can handle it with ease!"

"I will not lower the price because of this."

"So, for you guys, this Ghost-type Pokémon team-building activity" is actually an advantage of buying this amazing house! You can buy this house for ten times less than the market price! It's an excellent opportunity whether you're settling down or using it as property!"

"Am I right? Ms. Higanbana, you must be an incredibly powerful trainer!"

Tanuki looked up at Higana with amazement.

"I... Hmph! You actually figured it out... Well, I guess I'll reluctantly admit it then..." Faced with Tanuki's flattery, Higana's lips curled into a smug smile.

"Hmph... To be honest, my Salamence can easily take down a mere Ghost-type Pokémon with a single Crunch!"

"Then let's buy it!" Tanuki said, seizing the opportunity. "Only 50,000! Only 50,000! We can buy this exquisite wooden house with a lawn stretching for dozens of miles. I believe that a powerful trainer like Miss Higanbana can easily come up with that amount of League Coins!"

"Miss Higanbana, you've struck gold!"

That's a good point.

For a slightly stronger trainer, 50,000 League Coins isn't a huge sum of money that would make them feel the pinch.

But faced with the expectant and direct gaze of the raccoon, Higana's crooked lips slowly drooped, and she fell silent for a moment, her face turning even redder.

"W-What's wrong... Miss Higana?" Tanuki was completely confused.

"I...I..." Higana stammered, finally blushing and lowering her head, muttering, "I can't afford it..."

'

Tanuki:

Ze Shu: "————"

"But Ze Shu can afford it, right?" Higana quickly looked at Ze Shu and said, "Look, I, the great detective Higana, have helped you figure out why this house is so cheap!"

"That's right! If it were listed on the market, this house would sell for at least 500,000!" Tanuki quickly abandoned the penniless Higanbana and turned to persuade Ze Shu, "You've struck gold! Mr. Ze Shu!"

"Make a fortune?" Upon hearing this, Ze Shu smiled, looking directly into Tanuki's little eyes, and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that, isn't it?"

Tanuki took a step back, asking nervously, "W-what?"

Zeju simply pointed behind him and then asked, "Can you tell me what kind of Pokémon that is?"

The raccoon turned its head in confusion, and with its gaping mouth, a pair of blood-red ghostly pupils came into view.

"Hehehe!" Gengar bared its teeth and brandished its claws, trying to intimidate its target.

"This is Gengar..." Tanuki answered Zeshu's question instinctively.

"You're right, it's a Gengar." Ze Shu nodded, offering no further comment.

"W-What's wrong?" Still flustered, Tanuki couldn't understand why Ze Shu had acted so suddenly. She cautiously asked, "Mr. Ze Shu, I guessed right. So... are you buying a house?"

Ze Shu smiled and simply said, "Actually, I still have some doubts."

Tanuki: "Please, please speak..."

Zeshu said, "As you said, if it's just Ghost-type Pokémon that you're afraid of that come to this team-building event, any trainer with even a little skill can handle it. In fact, for trainers who love Ghost-type Pokémon, this is actually an advantage; selling to that type of trainer will not only not be cheap, but the price will actually go up."

"Then why did you drastically reduce the price tenfold? Originally 500,000, you're now selling it for 50,000?"

"Can you tell me a reason for doing this?"

Tanuki stammered, "The...the reason? It's because I...I urgently need money...so I'm in a hurry to sell this house...and also..."

'

But before Tanuki could finish speaking, Ze Shu nodded and said, "That reason... I believe it."

"So, I've decided to buy it. Where do I pay?"

"Uh..." Ze Shu's sudden belief was completely opposite to his previous forceful questioning and accusations, which made Tanuki swallow back the words she was about to say.

After a while, Tanuki seemed to wake up from a dream and hurriedly rummaged through her body, finally pulling out a card reader from the tail of the big-tailed tanuki next to her. She nervously said to Ze Shu, "Here, the payment is here. Lord Ze Shu, you can just pay directly."

"It's turned around."

"Okay, okay!"

Upon seeing the entry information on the screen, Tanuki seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief, her whole body relaxed, and then she bowed to Ze Shu and said, "Then the owner of this house is you," before fleeing the place with the big-tailed Tanuki.

"etc!"

Only after the raccoon's figure had disappeared from sight did Higana slap her forehead and widen her eyes.

"Didn't this tanuki say he's afraid of ghosts? Then why wasn't he scared when Gengar patted his shoulder?" She quickly looked at Ze Shu. "No! He's lying! He's a complete liar! This is suspicious! Ze Shu, you can't buy this house!"

Ze Shu:

Xiao Lan covered her head and looked at Xi Jiana speechlessly.

Looking at their expressions, Xijiana asked blankly, "What's wrong...?"

The cabin was spotless, suggesting that Tanuki must have had it professionally cleaned in preparation for the sale. This left the Bubble Squirrel, who was eager to make a name for himself after learning that Zeshu had bought a big house, feeling rather helpless.

It was just an ordinary three-story wooden house, not much different from the other houses in Casual Town. The fireplace was casting a warm orange glow, providing warmth in Sinnoh's rather cool temperature and turning the pine walls a warm yellow.

Little Blue, with her fiery red tail curled up, nestled in front of the fireplace, yawning and clearly enjoying being there.

Meanwhile, Zeki's six tails, using the excuse that the fireplace was too hot, were running around the house with Mew, figuring out where they could hide snacks in the cabin.

Even inside the house, you can smell the unique fragrance of wood.

The miniature dragon curled up on the sofa away from the fireplace, looking pitifully at the ice elf lying on Ze Shu's lap, begging the big sister to blow some cool air on it and bring it comfort.

Unfortunately, Glaceon was too busy enjoying the rubs from the tree to notice Dratini's plea—or even if it had, it would most likely have ignored it.

"Ze... Zeshu, didn't you say there were still many suspicious points here?" Higana exclaimed, her eyes wide, not bothering to inspect the cabin, "Then why did you just buy it! So much money, 50,000 Alliance Coins, just like that! Did your money fall from the sky?"

"Yeah. That's right." Ze Shu nodded and said, "You could say that. Anyway, 50,000 Alliance Coins isn't much. Even if we don't live here, even if the money is wasted, it doesn't really matter."

Higanbana: "???"

hateful!

Forgot that she was the only poor person who struggled to even scrape together two hundred Alliance Coins!

"But! But!" Higana glared, "Ze Shu, you bought it, so you let that tanuki escape! There were still suspicious points, why didn't you question them?!"

Ze Shu: "Didn't you question him? He just gave you the excuse that he's afraid of ghost Pokémon."

Higana puffed out her cheeks and said angrily, "Then let's use torture to extract a confession! Just like we did with those evil organization guys!"

Ze Shu:

Xiao Lan reminded her from the side, "Xijiana, torturing ordinary people without reason... you're the bad guy who should be caught by Ze Shu."

Higanbana: "Huh?"

She seemed to deflate, slumped down, and muttered, "So what's the real situation with this cabin? If I, the great detective Higana, don't find out, humph! I'm not going to be able to sleep at all tonight!"

No, even if you don't understand anything, you'll probably still fall fast asleep.

"Actually," Ze Shu sighed, taking out a dark purple bead, "do you remember this?"

Higanbana: "What is this??"

She had absolutely no idea what it was.

Xiao Lan felt a sense of déjà vu, and then seemed to recall something: "This is...."

'

Ze Shu said, "This is the Nightmare Bead. It's a bead formed from the primal power of Darkrai, the 'Dream God,' after he retreated into his shell and discarded the less important parts of his body. It was because of this bead that we entered the fairytale dream together, Xiao Lan."

"This bead hadn't shown any activity for a while."

"But as soon as it arrived here, it leaped up, as if excited."

"So—" Higanbana's eyes widened as she continued, "this house is related to Darkrai, the one you mentioned, Sawaki!"

Ze Shu said, "Probably? Anyway, this bead reacted. Maybe it's something Darkrai is interested in, or maybe there's even a Darkrai here. Anyway, it terrified that tanuki, making it want to sell the house at a low price."

"How's it going, Detective Higana? You've got some clues. You should be able to sleep now, right?"

Higana puffed out her cheeks and said, "This is just a clue! How can that satisfy Detective Higana's appetite! Ze Shu, just you wait! I, Detective Higana, will get to the bottom of this!"

When she talks about this, she's incredibly determined.

Ze Shu could only say, "Whatever makes you happy."

Despite the many suspicious points surrounding the wooden house, Ze Shu decided to stay there temporarily, as he could only figure out the situation by staying there. Xi Jiana was also investigating with great interest.

Putting aside those doubts, this wooden house has many advantages. First of all, the vast grasslands that other people use for grazing can be used by Ze Shu's Pokémon to run around and have fun.

This is an experience you can't get on a spaceship.

Especially Arcanine, who, along with the six Growlithe that Zeki brought back from Dr. Yamanashi, formed the "Paw Patrol" and had a great time running and training.

Despite avenging itself on Drapion, Arcanine hasn't slacked off in its training. As a "Curly King," it often inspires its underlings to be equally enthusiastic about training.

All day long, it either barks "woof woof woof" on the grassland or bangs "bang bang bang" against the training stakes that Ze Shu bought.

The Röntgen cat found them extremely noisy, and even lying down to sunbathe was uncomfortable for it.

Before Zeki could even spend a night in the newly purchased cabin, a "guest" came knocking on his door after learning that he had returned to Sinnoh.

"You bought a new house as soon as you got back to Sinnoh?" The blond champion jumped off his Garchomp and stood in front of the three-story wooden house, a satisfied smile on his face. "Not bad, I've settled down. And it's close enough to Kyogre and Town."

At the door, Ze Shu stepped aside and said, "Please come in."

"I'm not familiar with the house yet, so you'll have to figure it out yourself."

As Zhu Lan walked inside, she said helplessly, "Is this how casual your hospitality is? I'm a guest, after all."

"However, I'm only here today to tell you a few things. The Lily of the Valley Festival is about to begin, so I'll be quite busy and will be leaving soon." Zhu Lan said, finding a chair to sit down, and then smiled, "Perhaps by the time I visit again, you'll be more familiar with the house."

T

"Perhaps." Ze Shu picked up the water bottle that had been brought to serve the guests and placed it on his lap before saying, "What you want to tell me is probably about the Lily of the Valley Gathering, right?"

"I'm wondering too, what could possibly require an investigator like me?"