Chapter 11
“SO THAT’S THE GENERAL PLAN,” Wolf concluded.
He’d explained that Julius would move to the scene of the predicted crime to keep updated on Fuzzy Dice’s real-time movements. Making sure everyone’s locations were marked, the chief detective told Mira that the rest was up to her.
“Hrmm. Can I really go about this however I want?” she asked. Considering how precise his preparations had been, she wasn’t sure that would be all right.
If everything went according to plan, then all the credit would go to the chief detective. But it would mostly go to Mira if she captured Fuzzy Dice or discovered his hideout on her own.
“Yes. Go right ahead. There really isn’t much I can do this time, after all,” Wolf said, looking down at his lower body. With injured legs, he chuckled, he couldn’t even dream of chasing the phantom thief.
He shrugged slightly, the stern expression that he’d had up until then gone. Then he burst out laughing that—despite his current situation—he did hope that all the time he’d spent coming up with the plan hadn’t been for nothing. He wanted to learn just how well it had worked out as soon as possible.
“Besides, to be completely honest with you, I haven’t paid any thought to what to do after we begin tracking him,” he admitted.
Wolf had evidently injured himself right around the time he was coming up with that part of the plan. Since he couldn’t go after Fuzzy Dice at all, he’d left that element unfinished. That said, he was set on finding out whether he could lock on to the phantom thief without Fuzzy Dice noticing.
Since he’d at least wanted to see if he could do that, he’d set about trying to find a mage who would help. It was right then, he laughed, that he’d managed to enlist the fabled Spirit Queen.
“I see. Well, I don’t blame you,” Mira replied, smiling wryly.
She sympathized with the chief detective. While playing AEO, she’d rarely been able to contain herself when it came to implementing new strategies or techniques alongside others. Danblf had often logged in to do just that, even in the middle of the night. It contributed to a significant lack of sleep that got so bad that his friends even suggested that scientists should study him.
“I have high expectations of someone with a nickname like yours. And you’ve got the speed and maneuverability to match the phantom thief. If I’d known earlier that you’d join us, I’d have planned out how to chase him down.”
The chief detective couldn’t have known that Mira would decide to help, so he wouldn’t have spent a whole day coming up with a plan that revolved around her. In light of that, the chief detective thought it best to just leave the undecided details to her.
“Well, I’ll give it my best shot,” Mira replied. Smiling to herself, she looked up at the second-floor balcony. This was going to be fun.
The time for planning was over, so they made their way to the café across the street to try to get permission to use the third-floor balcony. Since it had a great unobstructed view of the Mages’ Guild, it was the very best place to lie in wait and hopefully get a clear shot at Fuzzy Dice.
“—and that’s why we need access to the balcony. So would you let us use it?” the chief detective asked the the proprietor, having looped him in on the full plan.
“Gee, I’d really like to, but I’m afraid I can’t,” the proprietor replied with a sour look.
Apparently, people really did consider Fuzzy Dice a hero. For that reason, some were reluctant to help the chief detective in his quest to capture the thief, and there wasn’t anything the detectives or Mira could do about that. Those in the service industry also had PR to worry about.
Then three women tried their hardest to convince the surly proprietor.
“Come on. It’s no big deal. It’s not like we’ll make a spectacle of ourselves.”
“Yeah. No one will even know we’re here.”
“We’re just fans who want front-row seats to see Fuzzy Dice.”
The chief detective had found the beautiful, charismatic adventurers in front of the café earlier. He’d seemingly spoken with them after splitting up with Mira, and they’d agreed to help with his plan.
That way, the chief detective explained, they could improve their odds of success by using the fact that Mira was a young girl. It wouldn’t be Mira waiting alone on the balcony but rather a group of women dressed up like Fuzzy Dice fans. Every time Fuzzy Dice pulled off a heist, the area in front of the local Mages’ Guild became packed with fans. And considering how Mira looked, Wolf asserted, she’d blend right in.
They’d tried a similar plan in the past, he noted—an utterly absurd version in which both he and Julius had dressed up like women. Needless to say, it hadn’t been a success. Wolf had been recognized immediately, and the whole thing had basically fallen apart in the ensuing hubbub, although Julius—rather surprisingly—had managed to slip in undetected.
“For sure, you can use it,” the proprietor said.
The women’s efforts to persuade him had paid off; they’d been allowed access to the balcony.
Mira considered telling Wolf that she could just have used Wasranvel’s optical camouflage but decided to keep that to herself. Next time he came up with a plan like this, he’d undoubtedly be using Julius. With that in mind, she quietly looked at Julius and crossed her fingers.
Once they’d secured the balcony without incident, they discussed everything necessary that pertained to the operation. All they had left to do was to wait for the big day. Tomorrow’s date had been written on Fuzzy Dice’s calling card, and the climactic battle would start at eight o’clock sharp.
If Fuzzy Dice managed to steal evidence from the Dorres Company president’s mansion and get it to the church and Mages’ Guild, victory would be his.
Suddenly, Mira thought of something. “One thing’s been bugging me: What if people in the church or Mages’ Guild have links to Fuzzy Dice’s targets? They could just hide whatever evidence he stole, right?”
It didn’t matter that believers gathered to worship the gods in churches or that the guild was a union that strove to help people. So long as those institutions were full of people, there’d be at least a couple bad apples. If one had secret connections to the target, they could simply conceal whatever evidence Fuzzy Dice had stolen.
“I considered that exact same thing,” the chief detective said, smiling as if he’d gotten a second wind. “But…” He went on a tangent about another hypothesis.
Although Mira noted that the explanation just refused to die, she was still curious, and began listening to the chief detective as he elaborated. By doing so, she discovered something thoroughly unbelievable.
According to the chief detective’s investigation, in every city where Fuzzy Dice had carried out a heist, there had been a huge disturbance that saw all the church and guild members engaged in shady activity rounded up and arrested shortly before the phantom thief sent his calling card. Moreover, they were all arrested due to anonymous tips and anonymously submitted evidence.
“Good heavens, do you think it could be a coincidence? It happened in Haxthausen as well just about two weeks ago. Two shady members of the church and three suspicious individuals from the Mages’ Guild got arrested,” Wolf said. He shrugged slightly with a dry laugh. “It’s sure convenient that all those informants chose to speak up just then.”
The information always came from anonymous informants. Picking up on the chief detective’s insinuation without even needing to think about it, Mira grinned crookedly. “To think he engages in those kinds of clandestine maneuvers as well…”
Fuzzy Dice only went after big fish who had not only lots of connections but connections that went far and deep. They were opponents against whom normal methods wouldn’t quite work. Yet Fuzzy Dice managed to take them all down in just a single night.
According to the chief detective, one of the main reasons he could do so was that Fuzzy Dice’s big, flashy heists were only the very last step in his plans. Even before the obvious start—sending a calling card—the phantom thief was hard at work.
“We can’t be sure he had anything to do with it, but in every city Fuzzy Dice has appeared in, the number of crimes has dropped drastically. Quite a mystery, isn’t it?” the chief detective added sardonically.
He’d apparently given up on pursuing any of Fuzzy Dice’s other activities. The chief detective’s focus was squarely on the flashy heists where Fuzzy Dice made his grand entrances, rather than the work he did behind the scenes.
“Well, if the cities end up more peaceful, I suppose we ought to be thankful,” Mira said.
He wanted their showdown to be aboveboard and out in the open. Mira sort of understood how he felt, so she didn’t ask anything else. She simply agreed that peace was nice.
Thanks to the anonymously submitted tips and evidence, the bad apples embedded in the church and guilds were behind bars. Those organizations were now free of malign influences, so Fuzzy Dice no longer had to worry about anyone tampering with his hard-won stolen evidence. He was free to go to either institution as soon as he’d pulled off a heist.
“All right, then,” Wolf said. “We’ll meet tomorrow night in front of the guild.”
“Mm-hmm. Sounds good.”
Once Wolf had said goodbye, Julius bowed slightly and began wheeling him away.
“This plan is sort of lacking, huh…?” Mira murmured.
The chief detective’s plan only went as far as marking Fuzzy Dice with the Lock-On M Type-2. His most important objective was trying out the fancy new magical tool that he’d gotten his hands on.
He’d left how to actually pursue Fuzzy Dice to Mira’s discretion, but they’d never used the magical tool before, and it was hard to come up with more plans without knowing how it worked. Thus, Wolf needed to know how handy it’d been once she used it.
The fact that the important thing was to get data on the tool’s functionality was another reason for Mira not to feel too stressed. The chief detective hadn’t brought up anything about her pursuit’s potential outcome. She didn’t need to panic about whether she’d catch the phantom thief.
Perhaps Wolf had only set his priorities so that Mira wouldn’t feel any unnecessary pressure. His expression during their conversation suddenly reminded Mira of the face of a researcher back in her tower.
After pondering the chief detective’s true goal for a moment, Mira decided that she didn’t really care. She’d spend the night coming up with a plan that suited her.
After parting with Wolf and Julius, Mira decided to address the issue they’d pointed out to her and went in search of a store that fit her needs.
That was when she saw them. A large group of Fuzzy Dice fans had gathered. The women were seemingly discussing the location of the best vantage point. Fuzzy Dice would show up at the church and Mages’ Guild, so they were anxious to have the best view.
The voices Mira overheard were fighting for spots in corners beside the main street, as if the fans were attempting not to inconvenience pedestrians. When it came to the spots they wanted to watch from, they seemed surprisingly restrained.
They’re awfully polite for a bunch of rabid fans, huh…?
As Mira continued, she heard some talk about heading to the Warriors’ Guild balcony or into the church, but the fans surely wouldn’t get permission to do so just to glimpse Fuzzy Dice. Mulling this over, Mira quietly passed the women.
As Mira walked down the street, hunting for a store that worked, she spotted a perfect-looking one among the rows of shops.
“Wow. This place looks great.”
It was in a large, fairly conspicuous building and appeared to sell various kinds of apparel. At first glance, they clearly offered a huge selection, from casual wear, to formalwear, to underwear, and even gambesons for adventurers.
Julius and the chief detective had warned Mira that by making any extreme movements in a skirt, she’d end up flashing her panties to the entire world.
“Might as well look.”
It didn’t really bother Mira if anyone saw her underwear, but fine. She viewed consideration of others as a gentleman’s duty, so she opened the door to the shop.
The store’s name was Marl & Stritz. Despite being located a bit away from the city center, it was fairly large. The large selection and utterly packed shelves made the entire place look cramped, but that state meant shopping there almost felt like treasure hunting. All the merchandise was sorted into the appropriate sections, so while the store was messy, it was organized chaos.
“Of all the shops I’ve been to, this one’s definitely got the best selection,” Mira murmured to herself in admiration as she looked around the bustling store. Truthfully, she hadn’t been to many clothing shops, so whether it really had the best selection was anyone’s guess. Regardless, Marl & Stritz was packed with enough products to make Mira imagine that this was so.
“Come to think of it, I really don’t have many clothes. Might as well get some stuff here!”
The two-level store was divided into men’s and women’s apparel. Mira was near the first-floor entrance, a section full of stylish men’s apparel that was for sale. Quickly forgetting her panty conundrum, she looked at several cool men’s robes that caught her eye.
“Wow. This is nice. This one with the red stripe looks awesome.”
When it came to clothes, Mira tended to put a premium on aesthetics. She found three robes that spoke to her and stood with them in hand in front of a full-length mirror, then held them up in front of herself. The robes’ edgy look appealed to her, but she heaved a sigh. The reason was simple: They were men’s robes, so even the smallest size was too big for her petite frame.
“Hrmm…and now that I think about it…”
Regardless of whether they appealed to her aesthetically, they didn’t really suit her, considering how cute she now looked. Mira put back the robes dejectedly, reminiscing on her days as the cool, majestic-looking Danblf.
“Can’t I get a Vanity Case anywhere…?” she muttered.
Figuring she might as well ask the Spirit King, Mira inquired about whether a technique, item, or spell could revert her appearance.
He just answered apathetically that he’d never heard of such a thing. Apparently, even the fabled Spirit King couldn’t wrap his mind around something that miraculous.
“Guess I’ll just have to make the most of being cute,” Mira muttered, unsure whether that was reassuring or not.
It didn’t seem like she’d go back to being Danblf anytime soon. With that reality in mind, Mira sighed and made her way back onto the street. Then she whipped her head around, looking back at the clothing store.
“I totally forgot why I went in there!”
Having gotten tired of checking out the men’s robes, she suddenly remembered why she went into the store in the first place—not to check out robes but to solve her panty problem. The tasks were polar opposites. With that in mind, Mira stepped inside Marl & Stritz again. This time, she went straight to the second-floor ladies department without letting herself get distracted.
“How do I put this? The vibe here is…totally different.”
Whether just due to its ambience, or for some more concrete reason, the whole second floor had a comparatively refined, extravagant air. At a glance, it also seemed to be entirely full of women.
That was when Mira realized the main reason the floor felt luxurious. In a corner of the floor—exactly one-quarter of it—clothes were laid out sparingly, with plenty of room between garments. Shopping in that section was a far cry from the treasure-hunting fun of the rest of the store.
“People sure are crazy about trends,” Mira said, smiling knowingly at that corner’s needless extravagance.
That section was devoted entirely to magical-girl-style clothing. They’d even put up a big sign that read THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR MAGICAL KNIGHTS APPAREL. Magical Knights was a clothing brand specializing in magical-girl-style clothes. Remembering that, Mira was inexplicably drawn to the display and soon found herself walking toward it.
The Magical Knights corner seemed popular and was full of women, all dressed as one would expect. Their outfits certainly looked like cosplay, but since this was a fantasy world, the women pulled them off well.
Mira made her way farther into the corner, peering at the clientele, then looked up and saw a case marked THE ORIGINAL. According to the written explanation nearby, the case contained the famous robes that had put Magical Knights on the map and started the fashion craze sweeping the world.
“I should’ve known.”
Mira had previously seen the very clothes sitting behind the glass on the sturdy shelves. They were carbon copies of the robes in one of her favorite magical-girl anime. And while the ones she was looking at were replicas, they were all overpriced, selling for an arm and a leg.
Mira guessed that the founder of Magical Knights, who’d started this craze, must’ve been a former player. At the same time, she thought it’d be nice to sit down with that person, along with Solomon, over a few drinks.
I totally get why they chose the second costumes.
The anime in question featured three magical girls as the main protagonists. As they grew up, their costumes changed, and Mira had always considered their second costumes the best. Mira briefly reminisced about the time she’d gone to see the anime’s movie with Solomon.
Their ultimate final-battle-mode costumes were pretty cool too. Those weren’t for sale, though.
Still, given that Magical Knights’ founder was apparently a fan, it wasn’t hard to imagine the brand offering those as well. Despite ruminating on this, Mira wasn’t about to forget what brought her into the store again, and she began looking for a solution to her panty predicament.
The store’s interior was large, and—Magical Knights garments aside—the selection of clothes felt almost endless. It seemed like Marl & Stritz was attempting to see just how many clothes it could cram into one place. In places, the aisles were so narrow that there wasn’t even room for two people to walk through them side by side. If anyone stopped to check out a product, other shoppers had to rub against them just to squeeze by.
In other words, just by passing other customers, Mira would fulfill her dream of touching women.
“Sorry. Just got to get by.”
“Ah. Pardon me.”
There was an unspoken rule that female shoppers passed by each other very closely to avoid throwing the shelves into further disarray. Having figured that out from looking around the store for a while, Mira decided that rules were rules. She pressed against several stunning ladies, feeling the silky smoothness of their skin from her head to her toes as a giant grin floated across her face.
Doing so, Mira eventually made her way to the corner of the store selling bottoms for women.
“Well, now what?”
She had to find something to wear underneath her skirt. Confronting the issue at hand, Mira looked at the shelves in dismay.
That was when it hit her. Ever since assuming her current form, she’d never made a point of finding clothes for herself to wear, but now she needed to pick out actual women’s clothes. This was uncharted territory.
“How about these…? They look like they’ll work.”
After agonizing a fair bit, Mira picked up a pair of navy-blue pants. If she wore them under her skirt, she wouldn’t even need to worry about anyone seeing her panties. Even if her skirt got ripped off, the pants would act like impenetrable castle walls. No one would so much as catch a glimpse!
Convinced that the pants would definitely serve their purpose, Mira quickly pulled them on and went to look at herself in the nearby mirror.
“This is… Yeah. I get it. That’s what he meant, huh?”
Her outfit looked adorable. The miniskirt she had on and the way her legs popped out under it really emphasized her charms. Seeing the way she was dressed, though, Mira recalled something a friend of hers had said.
He was an oddball who’d transferred to her school during her glory days of playing VR games. When winter came, that friend—on the verge of tears—said that girls wearing sweatpants under their skirts was a major sin. He was dead serious too. He’d argued that, at the very least, they could wear black tights instead.
At the time, Mira thought he was being an idiot. But now, standing there and looking at herself in the mirror, she understood.
“Hrmm, yeah… No, this won’t work.”
There was just something so spectacular about bare thighs emerging from a skirt. The sight was truly priceless. Seeing her perfect female form wearing pants beneath a miniskirt, Mira realized just how unflattering that was.
She pulled the pants off in a hurry and looked in the mirror for a quick glimpse of her thighs poking out below her skirt.
I couldn’t forgive myself for tarnishing such cuteness.
Whatever anyone said, it was only natural that she had a soft spot for the ideal form she’d created. Deciding that she needed to preserve her cuteness, Mira pondered how to hide her panties without sacrificing her attractiveness.
The only difference in her approach would be how she’d pick that layer out. A miniskirt was only truly a miniskirt if a girl’s bare legs were visible beneath it. With that firmly male perspective in mind, she put the pants back on the shelf and traipsed around the store, looking for a cover-up that’d suit her.
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