Chapter 14
IT WAS ALREADY PAST NINE when Mira left the clothing store—just about the time when the lights in the store windows along the shopping street began to go out.
“Hrmm. Tomorrow’s the big day, so maybe I’d better head back for tonight.”
Tomorrow was the date written on Fuzzy Dice’s calling card. Thinking she ought to get back to her room and sleep, Mira again wended her way to the Baron Hotel.
Then she noticed something up on the rooftop in front of her. There, barely visible in the darkness of night, stood several figures. They looked suspicious at first, but afterward, Mira realized what they were up to.
Ah. They’re still searching, huh?
Several adventurers were indeed traipsing across the rooftops. Turning her gaze back toward the street, Mira saw several others busy searching as well. They were the same adventurers who’d been hunting for the water spirit earlier.
Hunh. Yeah, they’re probably still looking…
If she’d had no connection with them or their search, she’d simply have wished them the best and been on her way. That wasn’t quite the case, however. The water spirit in question was Anrutine, with whom Mira had just made a contract. And Anrutine had avoided capture by the adventurers by slipping into an underground waterway and leaving the city.
Only Mira knew that, of course. At least, that seemed to be the case, since the adventurers were continuing their meticulous search for the water spirit. But since Anrutine was no longer there, they’d obviously never find her, however hard they searched. They were completely wasting their time.
Mira was partially to blame for this happening, so she couldn’t just leave without doing anything. She went up onto a rooftop and, looking around, saw an adventurer whose face she remembered.
“Looks like you’re still on the hunt,” she called out, dashing across the roof.
The man turned his head and flashed a smile. “Wow! If it isn’t the Spirit Queen! Thanks for your help earlier. You really made Rina’s—our summoner’s—day!”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” Mira said, attempting to hide her guilt.
She didn’t just feel guilty because the man was there looking for a water spirit she’d already contracted. It was also because, earlier—in a bid to avoid the searchers’ ire—she’d given him a spirit crystal to distract him from the process without telling him that their search was utterly in vain.
“So…is there anything I can do for you? I’ll tell you whatever you want, as long as I’ve got the info.” The man seemed to assume that Mira had jumped onto the roof and approached him because she had some questions.
This time, however, that wasn’t the case.
“Well, about that…” Mira explained that, just a short while earlier, she’d detected that the water spirit that everyone was looking for was no longer in the city. Not wanting them to keep searching in vain, she’d decided to deliver that news.
“What…? It’s not in the city anymore? We must’ve scared it when we first bumped into it, just like you said, huh…?”
The real reason, of course, was that Anrutine had completed her contract with Mira and gleefully departed. But since the man never alluded to that, it was safe to assume that he didn’t realize Mira had anything to do with the water spirit’s disappearance. Instead, he believed it was the fault of the overzealous adventurers who’d bumped into Anrutine and tried to secure a contract with her.
“Well, whatever the cause, the spirit is no longer here,” Mira replied. “Would you mind filling everyone else in?”
She wasn’t crossing paths with those scary women from earlier again if she could help it—another fact she obviously avoided disclosing to the man.
“Sure thing. I’ll tell them exactly what you said!” he agreed readily.
“All right. Then I’ll leave you to it.” Mira hopped down from the roof.
“Thanks again!” the man’s voice called out from behind her before she hurried off.
She found her way back to the Baron Hotel at a little after ten o’clock.
Since she had Julius’s business card, she had secured a spot there for her wagon, but where she would be staying was another matter. After getting another look at the hotel, she felt that it might be a fun place to stay. They really went all out to sell the experience of living like royalty.
“For now, I’ll take a room for two nights,” she told the receptionist.
And so Mira booked a room and checked in. Once she had, a staff member dressed like a butler showed her to her room. The room certainly looked like it belonged to an aristocrat. Everything inside, from the furniture down to the decorations, seemed luxurious.
Despite the room’s very aristocratic air, the gold and precious metals that adorned it were imitations. Still, after a quick look, Mira noted that the bed and sofa were fairly high-quality.
“Well, I guess I’ll take a quick bath.”
After she’d settled in and looked at the Baron Hotel guide on the table, Mira made her way to the grand public bathhouse.
True to its goal of allowing its guests to live like aristocrats for a day, the Baron Hotel had butlers and maids available around the clock, and even private maids to attend to one’s every need. It was the kind of service of which most men dreamed.
But Mira didn’t take advantage of that service, and the servants didn’t guide the guests around the hotel for free. So, after making her way downstairs by herself, Mira soon found herself somewhat lost. The hotel prioritized ambience, so there weren’t many signs showing how to get around.
Mira ended up roaming the halls as she searched for the bathhouse. As she did, she passed quite a few other guests and realized most had hired servants; the men had by and large hired maids, while the women had hired butlers.
As she continued to wander, Mira suddenly saw a familiar face. The chief detective himself was indeed staying at this very same hotel. Now a maid was pushing him around, rather than Julius, so he was seemingly making use of the hotel’s services as well. From his attire, Mira guessed that he’d just come from the bath. The chief detective—married, with a child—was clad in a bathrobe and had a gleeful expression as he chatted with the maid.
Well, he sure seems to be enjoying himself. Mira wondered whether the hotel had a service where the servants bathed the guests as well.
That crude thought still in her head, she slipped away from the chief detective—she’d only seen him from some distance away—and began walking in the direction he’d come from. If he was just coming back from a bath, then she figured the bathhouse had to be in that direction.
She was correct. Soon, Mira arrived at the grand bathhouse. Strolling through the women’s entrance to the baths, she found herself in a changing area beneath a brightly shining chandelier.
It doesn’t seem like any butlers are around.
Even if guests paid the servants to wait on them hand and foot, servants evidently didn’t go as far as accompanying guests into the baths.
Glancing quickly around the changing room, Mira realized she was alone. Shrugging, she began to disrobe, then suddenly thought of something: If the chief detective had been here on his own, wouldn’t he have had trouble getting into the bath?
He couldn’t have done that. I guess Julius must just still be in the bath.
Julius must’ve gotten the maid to help after the chief detective got out, then continued to soak and relax. Drawing that conclusion, Mira opened the door to the bath.
“This place is even more gorgeous than I imagined…”
The room sparkled silver and gold and was covered in marble from floor to ceiling. The walls, floors, and even tubs were made of marble, while the faucets, showers, and chandelier glittered silver and gold.
Not only that, quite a few seductive-looking female sculptures stood around the room. The bathhouse certainly looked luxurious, but Mira smiled as she thought to herself that no true aristocrat would ever own such a space.
It should be noted that the Baron Hotel’s aristocratic flair was meant to appeal to the general public. In short, the hotel wasn’t supposed to accurately capture the kind of place where an actual nobleman would live. Rather, it was meant to be a place that ordinary people imagined a nobleman could live in.
There was no such thing as too much of a good thing, Mira reflected, kicking back and enjoying the bathhouse’s opulence to the fullest. After getting out of the bath, she slipped into a simple dress—a shift that Mariana had put in her bag specifically to wear after a bath. Then, despite getting a bit lost, she managed to return to her room.
There, Mira rang a bell to summon an employee and order some dessert. It was fairly late, but the Baron Hotel had round-the-clock service.
After enjoying a sophisticated dessert platter, Mira spent the rest of her time lounging in her room. She looked through the Encyclopedia of Skills and a research book, practiced using Synchronized Senses with First Pupil, looked into how she’d level up her ashen knights, and basically just did a host of things that she enjoyed.
The clock struck midnight, and Mira found that she couldn’t stave off sleep much longer. She slowly crawled into bed and immediately drifted off.
Her morning at the hotel was thoroughly pleasant. She woke up a little after seven o’clock and slipped out of bed. After polishing off a bottle of coffee milk to wake up, she was ready to take on the morning.
The day of Fuzzy Dice’s big heist had arrived, and Mira had agreed to meet up with the chief detective at seven o’clock that evening—still more than ten hours away.
There were a few more things she wanted to do in advance. Before going to sleep, she’d been working out a plan, and she intended to go into Haxthausen as soon as she could.
“This is something else…” Mira said in surprise, peering at the city that stood in front of her.
Up until the day before, Haxthausen’s shops had been holding sales commemorating Fuzzy Dice’s arrival, while his fans strutted through the streets. The phantom thief’s presence had electrified the city to such an extent that it really seemed like a festival was going on.
Today, things had reached an even more fevered pitch. Looking around and taking in the situation, Mira got the sense that the whole city was holding a dress rehearsal. She made her way down the main street in utter shock at just how much it had changed.
Not only were all the shops having huge sales to welcome Fuzzy Dice, quite a few food stalls and so on were now positioned in front of those shops. The most shocking thing was just how many fans there were. Haxthausen was filled with Fuzzy Dice devotees as far as the eye could see. The entire city seemed to be bidding him welcome.
“Jeez. The phantom thief sure is well loved.” As she continued taking in the scene, Mira quickly began wondering whether everyone was getting a little too worked up.
This time, Fuzzy Dice’s target was an influential company from Haxthausen, so some shops must’ve had connections to that company. Some stores were also bound to be hurt once they could no longer do business with them. But from what Mira could tell, all the shops seemed to welcome Fuzzy Dice’s arrival nonetheless.
Mira wondered if the Dorres Company perhaps was less influential than she’d thought. Then, in the crowd of people passing back and forth down the street, she suddenly saw a face she recognized.
“How’s guard duty going?” she asked.
Mira had run into none other than the guard captain she’d spoken with previously, along with the soldiers he commanded. When people crowded together, there was naturally a higher risk of an unfortunate incident occurring, so the captain and his soldiers were making the rounds to keep an eye on things.
The captain looked around and recognized Mira. “Well, if it isn’t the Spirit Queen. How are you feeling?” His stern expression quickly softened and gave way to a cheerful smile.
His fellow soldiers also broke into smiles, as if her mere presence somehow calmed their nerves.
“I’m actually feeling great,” Mira replied. “Could I ask you something?” She proceeded to inquire about what she’d been wondering regarding the Dorres Company.
“Ah, yeah, well…” the captain said with a slight, bitter smile, then answered her query.
The explanation related to Fuzzy Dice’s newfound popularity. The large scale of the city’s celebration apparently stemmed from what’d been happening over the past several years. Originally, several small groups of fans had met up—nothing like the citywide party going on now.
So what had changed? The captain elaborated: A while back, the phantom thief had targeted another influential company in Haxthausen. To celebrate, a rival company had launched a huge sale to welcome him.
Of course, the targeted company wouldn’t take such a thing lying down. They rallied their affiliates and took several countermeasures in protest. Still, Fuzzy Dice’s operation went off without a hitch. The targeted company collapsed and went out of business.
They weren’t alone. Their affiliates were also thoroughly investigated, which uncovered quite a few irregularities, and they soon vanished as well. The company that’d had the huge sale came out the undisputed victor.
After that, other stores naturally started having similar big sales. Now the entire town was buzzing as if mid-festival.
“Hopefully that explains it. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t lots of shops that are simply excited for Fuzzy Dice to show up. But, as you can tell from all the people walking around, this whole event is a great chance to boost sales. And people tend to suspect that any stores that don’t have huge sales might be hiding something…” the captain concluded, looking troubled.
“I see… That certainly sounds like it could be a problem.”
Mira smiled incredulously to herself at the origins of the city’s festive mood—and at the fact that, once again, it was all due to the phantom thief. Thanking the captain for everything he’d told her, she took her leave.
She headed down the street for a closer look at Fuzzy Dice’s possible escapes routes and the areas surrounding them, in order to prepare fully for the big night.
Now, where do I start?
One thing was troubling Mira: Aside from what she’d seen of Fuzzy Dice that one time before, she wasn’t sure what the phantom thief was capable of. She was suddenly concerned, given that he’d made such quick work of several A-rank adventurers. If he seriously tried to escape, just how well could he do so?
Mira wanted to prepare some insurance. Watching the bustling main street from a short distance away, she recalled the map she’d seen of Haxthausen. The guilds should be right up here. How would she pursue Fuzzy Dice without losing sight of him?
Working out a plan that’d guarantee her victory against Fuzzy Dice, Mira made her way around the city, focusing on the areas near the Mage’s Guild.
“I’m guessing his escape route will be somewhere around here.”
She checked back alleys and small shopping streets, went through residential areas, and eventually made her way to the wealthy district where the city’s nobles and upper crust lived. The area was full of impressive mansions, and the people who walked through it exuded grace and sophistication. They’d seemingly all heard of the Spirit Queen; she was getting a fair amount of attention.
Mira paid none of this any heed and simply continued working toward her objective. Having finished surveying the area, she found herself standing in front of the Dorres Company president’s mansion, which happened to be in that district. Though it was far away, she saw several armed security guards through the gate, which stood slightly ajar.
Not only that, but among them, she spotted someone with a surprisingly large sword slung across their back. The blade looked as if it’d cut a large monster cleanly in two.
Since that was different equipment from what the security guards carried, Mira guessed the figure was an adventurer or mercenary hired specifically for that day. Rather than guarding the mansion, the man appeared to be on his way to capture some hulking beast.
“Hrmm… Now that I think about it, I wonder…”
Making eye contact with the gatekeeper, Mira quickly looked away. Taking a quick look around, she suddenly remembered something. She unfurled the map in her hand and pointed to where she stood; then she moved her finger straight to the place she’d remembered.
“Yeah, I thought so. It should be right beneath here.”
Mira was just northeast of the square where she’d made her contract with Anrutine the day before. When they’d done so, the water spirit had noted that—although the subterranean waterway was mostly full of moss—one odd part had no moss at all. Mira was precisely where that mossless spot would be.
Anrutine had wondered whether that spot’s lack of moss was due to humans and if a secret passageway was perhaps nearby. If so, it was most likely somewhere in this area. The fact that the neighborhood was full of the upper crust seemed particularly suspicious. Was the underground waterway being used for some sinister purpose?
Mira glared at the even more suspicious president’s mansion. As she did, the gatekeeper glared right back. He’d had his gaze on her for quite a while. Was he just keeping a close eye on her, or was he developing a crush?
What she could say for certain was that he’d most likely seen her with the chief detective. Still, he didn’t seem very hostile. Maybe he only hated Wolf.
Just how much had they gone at it?
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login