Chapter 16
SINCE MIRA HAD PROMISED to help the young summoner, she and the sisters discussed plans to do so. At that point, the chief detective, who’d finally been released by the Fuzzy Dice fans, joined them at last.
“Good heavens, my apologies. They got hold of me.”
While he’d expressed his regret at being late, he actually looked quite pleased—as if rather delighted that a group of young women had been obsessing over him.
“You’re pretty popular for a bad guy, huh?”
Fuzzy Dice was an honorable thief and a defender of justice, so most people saw the chief detective who wanted to capture him as a villain. Yet Julius and the chief detective both seemed popular with some of the very people supporting Fuzzy Dice.
While that may have come off as odd, the chief detective had an idea as to why it was the case. “I seem to serve as a foil to the phantom thief.” While he might be somewhat popular, he laughed, he was still just a supporting character.
Many well-known adventurers had come to take on Fuzzy Dice and been defeated. The thief’s fans loved him even more afterward, awestruck by his considerable abilities, heroic bearing, and unwavering sense of justice. In other words, most Fuzzy Dice fans didn’t just want to see him punish evildoers—they wanted to see him take on and defeat particularly strong opponents.
Naturally, his fans were anxiously waiting for him to face another tough enemy. At the moment, however, Fuzzy Dice was considered so strong and so widely popular that no famous adventurers were stepping forward to take him on. Regardless, one man remained committed to his defeat: Chief Detective Wolf.
Despite being on a bit of a losing streak, the chief detective had been an A-rank adventurer, so it went without saying that he had considerable prowess. Fuzzy Dice’s fans seemed intrigued by the episodes in which he thwarted all the chief detective’s various ingenious plans. The detective’s charming young assistant, Julius, was also well received by the female fans.
That said, both were sort of seen as comic relief. Yet none of this seemed to bother the chief detective.
“At any rate, Julius is far more popular than me,” he joked, adding with a cocky smile, “So long as we win in the end, they can think whatever they want.”
Just then, they saw Julius—who’d been swarmed in the same way as Wolf—being released by the Fuzzy Dice fangirls. It was impossible not to spot his big grin as he left the throngs of fans.
From behind him, cheers of “You can do it!” rang through the air. Those cheers were somehow different from the ones the chief detective received; the women wishing Julius success were perceptibly more genuine.
Mira grimaced as the light in the smiling chief detective’s eyes seemed to vanish. He and Mira—who formerly had only a sweet tooth in common—suddenly saw perfectly eye to eye.
And so Mira, the chief detective, and the three sisters had a quick meeting.
The group huddled around a table in a corner of the café where they’d secured balcony access, going over the operation one last time. Everything they had to do there was rather simple. Mira and the sisters would line up on the balcony disguised as Fuzzy Dice fans, and once the phantom thief appeared, Mira would shoot him with the Lock-On M Type-2 and begin tracking him.
It was crucial that Fuzzy Dice not discover them aiming at him with the tool, so they absolutely had to be convincing fans. It was very important that they acted the way his fans usually did.
Once Fuzzy Dice showed up, Wolf stressed, they absolutely needed to lose their minds with excitement. Although she was dressed like a fan, Mira would stick out like a sore thumb if she just sat there quietly and carefully aiming at the phantom thief.
While the chief detective thought that the balcony would be the best place to get a clear shot—especially since it was high above the throngs of fans—the four would certainly be noticeable standing up there. Thus, he’d decided that Fuzzy Dice would undoubtedly catch on unless they worked themselves into a fervor like the rest of his fans.
“I’m not so sure about this…” Mira said, smiling half-heartedly.
She had thought she’d only have to aim the magical tool and pull the trigger. Now she had to fake being enthusiastic? She didn’t even like Fuzzy Dice, and she couldn’t imagine yelling, cheering, and going nuts for a man.
Just then, Nina’s face lit up. “Leave that to us!” she said with a genuinely convincing smile.
Mina and Nana added that it wouldn’t be a problem.
The trio’s parents were professional actors who even ran several large productions. Their daughters had decided not to pursue the theater, but they were still confident in their acting abilities. The three sisters took out a few white cloaks, declaring that Mira could simply aim at Fuzzy Dice from under one of the garments while the girls screamed and cheered.
That took a little pressure off her, yet Mira couldn’t help wondering whether it would work. But even as she contemplated the proposal, Wolf accepted it immediately: “Hmm, great idea. Let’s do that.”
It seemed to Mira that the girls had anticipated him saying as much.
It certainly didn’t appear to be just some coincidence that Nina and her sisters, who were so confident in their acting skills, had been included in the operation. From the chief detective’s reaction, he seemed to know something about the girls and their parents. Although it wasn’t always very clear, the chief detective certainly knew what he was doing.
With the plan settled, Wolf suggested they spend the time before the big operation taking a stroll to help settle their stomachs. The five were currently enjoying the café’s famed Bavarian cream; naturally, the chief detective was treating them to the dessert.
“They weren’t lying when they said this stuff was to die for,” said Wolf.
From his satisfaction, one might have guessed that he’d wanted to try the Bavarian cream all along. Nina and her sisters also loved sweets and couldn’t help smiling either.
“I could eat about ten of these!” Mira said.
She was in a fantastic mood as well. Having quickly polished off her first serving, she glanced over at the chief detective, who glanced right back. Taking the hint, he looked at Mira and the sisters.
“We’ve still got some time left. How about we all get one more?”
Of course, in saying that, the chief detective was implying that they definitely should all get second helpings. The four girls might have found it rude if he’d ordered seconds for himself without doing so for them too. But if he ordered another round for everyone, he could freely enjoy eating one more.
But while the sisters’ faces said they were dying for another serving, their mouths said, “Thank you, but we’re fine.”
Perhaps because it would be on the chief detective’s tab, they’d have felt bad about ordering more. Such a modest gesture was admirable, but this time, it wasn’t what Wolf was hoping for. Then the chief detective was thrown a lifeline.
“Hrmm. I guess I’ll get a chocolate Bavarian cream next!” Mira cut in, telling Wolf her order without prevaricating.
Mira had picked up on what he was trying to do and come to the rescue. Her words were like pebbles that fell and triggered an avalanche in the sisters’ hearts.
The chief detective didn’t fail to notice the change in their expressions. “Are you three sure you don’t want another? No need to worry about ordering more. I may not look it, but I used to be A-rank,” he said, somewhat pompously, to persuade the three.
After a moment, they all caved.
“Um, I’ll have the strawberry Bavarian cream.”
“I’ll take chocolate.”
“I’ll have custard flavor, please.”
At that point, Mira interjected, “It just hit me. Wouldn’t it be better to go to the spot Fuzzy Dice sent the calling card to, rather than waiting here or in the cathedral? Isn’t that where the real battle will be? I feel like his fans would want to watch the whole thing, from when he shows up to when he executes the heist.”
Fuzzy Dice would only pause at the guild and cathedral to drop off evidence before fleeing. According to everything she’d heard, he wouldn’t stay long and wouldn’t even do much there. His target location—the president’s mansion—would be where most of the action went down.
First, he’d arrive at the time he’d written on the calling card. He’d gracefully make his way through whatever fighting force his target had assembled, elegantly steal both evidence and coin, then quickly make his escape. The entire heist would take around ten minutes, and Mira couldn’t help thinking it would be more worth watching.
Considering Mira’s query, the chief detective replied, “I initially thought the same as you.”
He then proudly enumerated all the information he’d gathered to answer that very question. According to the Fuzzy Dice fans that he’d spoken with, whether someone watched from the scene of the crime, the church, or the guild depended on what they wanted to experience.
The crime scene was the spot where those who’d never seen Fuzzy Dice could go to fully enjoy the quintessential experience. Following his grand entrance, they could see him deftly knock out the guards and get an adequate taste of the phantom thief’s prowess. Finally, they’d see him discover carefully hidden evidence and piles of ill-gotten spoils, which he’d artfully steal before fleeing.
The cathedral experience was more for the fans who’d already seen Fuzzy Dice a couple times. Onlookers at the crime scene would only see the phantom thief from a considerable distance, but that wasn’t the case at the cathedral. It was no ordinary building, so Fuzzy Dice couldn’t get into it from the rooftop; he’d descend to the ground and go right through the front doors.
“He didn’t start deciding to go in that way until his third appearance. I wonder what on earth changed his mind about not coming in from the roof.”
Perhaps someone had yelled at him, the chief detective joked, then murmured that he could relate. It appeared that Wolf had done something that landed him in trouble at a cathedral in the past.
At any rate, that was why so many fans flocked to the cathedral—it was where Fuzzy Dice would descend to the ground, so they’d get a closer look at the phantom thief.
The last place people waited for Fuzzy Dice was the Mages’ Guild, and that was primarily where veteran fans gathered. They did so to see the grand finale; they wanted to witness his heist’s spectacular final act, in which he would miraculously disappear without a trace.
Wolf added that the fans outside the Mages’ Guild looked forward to seeing exactly how Fuzzy Dice would outmaneuver the chief detective and lay waste to the ever-elaborate plans that he came up with.
What really excited them was that Fuzzy Dice was so good at adapting on the fly that it didn’t matter whether Wolf had prepared for him or not. The chief detective smiled bitterly in grudging admiration of his nemesis.
“Be that as it may, we’ve covered all our bases. This time, it won’t be quite so easy for him,” Wolf said with a cocky smile, a truly radiant look of defiance glittering in his eyes.
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