Chapter 23
HAVING LEFT THE GUILD, Mira immediately made her way to the roof. Once she did, she naturally heard fans’ voices below, saying things such as:
“What was up with Mr. Fuzzy Dice?”
“That never happened before.”
“Do you think the chief detective landed his first win?”
“He went that way, right? Want to go look?”
After dropping off the evidence at the Mages’ Guild, Fuzzy Dice had engaged in a battle of wits with the chief detective before disappearing. The fans milling around had come to get a peek at the spectacular finale, but something must’ve happened this time, since Fuzzy Dice had exited from the guild’s front door. That departure from his MO baffled the fans outside while simultaneously piquing their interest.
He did say he had more to do, didn’t he…?
The phantom thief’s heist should’ve ended with his trip to the Mages’ Guild, but now that Mira thought back on it, he’d claimed that he had to do things afterward.
The phantom thief had already stolen the evidence and money from the evildoer’s mansion and delivered the evidence to the cathedral and Mages’ Guild. The only thing left was for him to deliver the money. On that note, by saying that he had more to do, could Fuzzy Dice have meant donating the money to orphanages?
The fact that he always donated it anonymously made that seem unlikely. Still, there had to be other phantom-thieving-related activities he needed to look after. After all, the stream of reports coming in from all Mira’s evocations seemed to substantiate that.
“He’s continuing straight east right meow. But he can’t escape me no matter meow hard he tries!” First Pupil, who’d been waiting atop the guild’s roof, had begun pursuing Fuzzy Dice the moment the thief rushed out. He found leaping from rooftop to rooftop a piece of cake.
“I can confirm his location from where I’m stationed as well, Mira. A man’s figure is jumping between rooftops, heading east,” Wasranvel reported, keeping an eye on things from the sky. He was mounted atop Hippogriff, and they were employing optical camouflage.
“I’ve confirmed the target, Master, but he doesn’t seem to be trying to escape. It looks almost as if he’s attempting to attract attention…”
That report came from Elezina, the second Valkyrie Sister. She also happened to be the sister who was most skilled with a bow and had the best eyes for surveying and keeping watch. She was so skilled at that that she could see every corner of the city while stationed right in its center.
“Oh, he’s hamming up his escape…? That’s unlike him, isn’t it?”
If Mira and Wolf had really forced Fuzzy Dice to flee, he should just have found a secluded spot a short distance away and changed his disguise. That would’ve ended his phantom thievery for the night. But he hadn’t; instead, he was heading somewhere else, still in costume. Furthermore, if the reports Mira received were correct, he was flaunting his presence, not even bothering to keep a low profile.
A report came in from Christina: “He’s looping back to the cathedral! Wait… Ah. He just passed it and went somewhere else.”
He’d gone far out of his way to return to the cathedral, but then hadn’t done anything there, and headed elsewhere? Why would he do that? As Mira pondered that, she heard Christina again.
Apparently, the fans waiting outside the cathedral had begun following Fuzzy Dice. And since the phantom thief was traveling along the rooftops, they could keep him in their sights as they did so.
It almost sounds like he’s going out of his way to get them to follow him. What on earth is he up to?
Before Mira knew it, the fans in front of the Mages’ Guild had begun moving as well. Someone at the church must’ve contacted one of their friends, and now word had spread to everyone in front of the guild. Hordes of people poured through the streets like a giant wave.
“I guess he doesn’t need to keep a low profile or anything anymore,” Mira decided, considering the reports she’d received and the situation unfolding in front of her. Instructing Christina to continue her pursuit, she summoned Pegasus.
Mira immediately jumped atop her mount, then headed in the same general direction as Fuzzy Dice. Where will his next destination be?
She left the navigation to Pegasus and sat focused on synchronizing her consciousness with Wise Popot’s. From the phantom thief’s appearance until now, the owl had kept a constant eye on things from up in the sky. Mira had only just learned Synchronized Senses, yet she saw quite well through Popot’s eyes. Looking down from above, she clearly identified Fuzzy Dice in the center of the city.
Seeing him, she asked Wise Popot to go faster. After a moment, the owl’s speed picked up. They at last left the phantom thief far behind, and Mira looked ahead at where he was going.
“Huh…? That’s…” He was heading straight toward the Dorres Company president’s mansion.
Mira surveilled the scene below as she circled directly overhead. Things had certainly taken a dramatic turn at the mansion. The sedative had seemingly worn off; pretty much everyone had woken up. That included the president, who was shouting something with an exasperated look. His subordinates seemed split into two camps: Half looked utterly stunned, while the other half didn’t seem too concerned at all.
The mercenaries, meanwhile, had divided into their respective groups and were speaking among themselves. Occasionally, one displayed some sign of visible irritation. They must’ve been very confident going in, yet a single phantom thief had easily bested them. Mira couldn’t blame them for being angry.
Fans were still milling around outside the mansion. Did Fuzzy Dice plan to appear in front of them and lead them somewhere as well? As Mira wondered that, the phantom thief suddenly and dashingly descended onto the mansion’s grounds.
Mira still couldn’t use Synchronized Senses to hear, but she could tell from the mercenaries’ frenzied movements that they were shouting at each other. One mercenary immediately picked up his weapon and charged at the phantom thief. Fuzzy Dice easily avoided the blow and leapt atop the outer wall.
As soon as he did, the other mercenaries rushed him, incensed. Perhaps he’d said something to goad them. They looked utterly livid.
Honestly, what’s he doing…?
Fuzzy Dice even turned and waved to the crowd to rile them up before, unbelievably, leaping onto the grounds of the mansion next door. Inside was a rather tacky garden lined with statues.
This must’ve been what he meant when he said there were still things he had to attend to. But what was he planning by going into a place like that while simultaneously leading his fans and provoking the mercenaries?
While Mira was still wondering what exactly Fuzzy Dice was trying to do, the situation at the scene of the crime devolved further. Unbelievably, the mercenaries—in an apparent fit of rage—began scaling the next-door mansion’s walls. Now they’re getting caught up in all this?
As they entered the neighbor’s grounds and began attacking Fuzzy Dice, that mansion’s security guards rushed out in a panic. But this didn’t seem to perturb the mercenaries, let alone Fuzzy Dice.
Looking at the fans, Mira noticed soldiers pushing their way through their ranks. With so many people and so much confusion, they were having trouble getting through.
The whole situation then took an even more chaotic turn. There was a sudden flash of light, and the mercenaries began acting bizarrely.
That must’ve been Mystical Will-o’-the-Wisp. Incredible. That technique worked perfectly on them.
Judging from the technique’s effect, Mira guessed that it was a Demonic Art that disoriented its targets and made them hallucinate. She was pretty sure all the statues now looked like Fuzzy Dice to the mercenaries, given their odd behavior: They were destroying the statues like there was no tomorrow.
I don’t feel any different, though. And I don’t feel like I resisted the technique or anything.
The Mystical Will-o’-the-Wisp that Fuzzy Dice had unleashed was supposed to affect whoever glimpsed its light. But Mira had looked right at it, and she didn’t feel the least bit different. If she’d completely resisted the technique, she would at least have felt it being used on her, but she hadn’t.
Mira asked Wise Popot, whose sight she was sharing, what the situation looked like to her.
“The phantom thief keeps getting knocked down, but then getting right back to his feet,” Wise Popot responded.
The owl was hallucinating as well; she’d evidently been within the technique’s area of effect.
I guess that means Mystical Will-o’-the-Wisp can’t affect me so long as I see it via Synchronized Senses.
Mira couldn’t think of any other reason it wouldn’t impact her. Depending how she used the ability, that could very well be her ace in the hole against status abnormalities inflicted via light. She’d suddenly found a trick she hadn’t known about, thanks in no small part to Fuzzy Dice.
“Hm…what’re you trying to do?”
While she thought that over, Fuzzy Dice entranced the security guards in addition to the mercenaries, then made his way into the mansion.
The estate that happened to be next door to the Dorres Company president’s mansion shouldn’t have had anything to do with the phantom thief’s plans. But from his behavior so far, he was definitely up to something.
Observing as much, Mira adjusted Synchronized Senses. She couldn’t see inside the mansion from Wise Popot’s perspective, but there were others still in hot pursuit of Fuzzy Dice.
When Mira switched to Cat Sith’s vision, the first thing she saw was a room somewhere. It was unfurnished, drab, and apparently closed off. First Pupil ought to be pursuing Fuzzy Dice; since his target was nowhere in sight, what could he be doing?
“First Pupil, what’s the situation? It doesn’t look like anyone’s there.”
“Party Leader, there’s a slight problem, meow!” First Pupil replied hastily, then detailed what had happened. According to him, it’d all corresponded with the “light flash”—his shorthand for the sudden illumination of the Mystical Will-o’-the-Wisp.
Right after that “light flash,” First Pupil began seeing hallucinations of the target, losing sight of the real Fuzzy Dice. But he wouldn’t be defeated that easily. This only meant that he could no longer rely on his sight; he could still use his considerable mana-detection abilities. Having determined that he was seeing illusions, he continued chasing the real phantom thief.
Leaving the garden and heading into the mansion, he’d run down a corridor and into a basement. He’d gone farther inside until he came to a hidden door, which he’d only just opened.
But First Pupil went on to explain that a problem had arisen, since it was difficult to ascertain a target’s distance from their mana’s scent.
“He’s being as quiet as a meowse. Even if I can’t tell how far away he is. I can still track him using his mana, but I’m afraid I might somemeow end up in his detection range. Anyway, I’m going after him carefully.”
First Pupil’s report had started off rather brisk and matter-of-fact before gradually getting weighed down with excuses. It seemed he’d proceeded a little too carefully and was now some distance from the target. As he reported this to Mira, the scenery began changing; now that First Pupil had gone deeper inside the drab room, she could see a stone wall that was unnaturally askew.
“Ah. Well, that certainly looks suspicious, doesn’t it?”
It was a hidden staircase inside a hidden room, descending so far downward that Mira couldn’t see where it led.
Considering the lengths someone had gone to in order to hide whatever was down there, the whole thing reeked of secrecy—or criminality. Assuming that that was the case, Mira asked First Pupil, who was looking down the stairs, for another report on the space.
“It somemeow smells a bit like water.”
“Like…water?”
Hearing that, Mira remembered what Anrutine had said the previous day about the underground aqueduct. There hadn’t seemed to be a clear way into it, so something was very likely hidden there. Additionally, she’d been told that there were traces of human activity to the northeast.
Hrmm… Maybe that waterway was here.
When she’d come by to check out the president’s mansion by herself, Mira had confirmed that it was indeed in the direction Anrutine had specified. At that point, she’d been sure that it had something to do with the Dorres Company—but lo and behold, it was actually connected to the mansion next door.
As Mira reflected on this, Cat Sith made his way down the stairs, and Mira saw the underground waterway before her at last. Through Feline Search Eyes, she could see five channels stretched out before her, some narrow and some wide. Most noticeably, a layer of green moss covered everything.
“First Pupil, do you see anything else out of the ordinary?” Mira asked.
His vision panned around for a moment; then Mira saw the ground. “There’re footprints, meow. Wanna bet the phantom thief left them?!”
Unlike the rest of the area around them, the ground looked scrubbed clean; it was clear of any moss. For that reason, the footprints were conspicuous. First Pupil’s thoughts aside, Mira had been right: This was definitely the northeastern location with recent traces of human activity that she’d learned about.
Now then…what’s going on here?
Mira brooded. She’d gotten plenty of information, but something just didn’t feel right. Fuzzy Dice’s behavior was the first thing that struck her as odd. She couldn’t quite figure out why he’d fled into the waterway.
He’d chosen this escape route; the traces of human activity here suggested that he’d scouted it out beforehand. And he could freely leave the city without anyone noticing his use of the waterway, so it was perfect for making his escape. Thinking along those lines, Mira certainly understood the case for escaping via the waterway.
Yet…while such a path would indeed be an effective escape route for a common thief, Fuzzy Dice was no “common thief.” He could simply have hidden for a bit, then blended right back into the crowd.
And why had he so very conspicuously gone back to a mansion unrelated to his target and embroiled it in chaos? It all seemed very un-Fuzzy-Dice-like.
It could be that they have something to do with all this…
Since Fuzzy Dice had gone out of his way to cause a disturbance at this second mansion, the waterway must be hiding some vital secret. Deducing that much, Mira instructed First Pupil to continue his pursuit, then stopped using Synchronized Senses and hastened toward the waterway.
Hurrying on Pegasus for several minutes, she eventually reached the neighboring mansion’s grounds. Looking down from the sky, she saw that the grounds were crammed full of people.
Aside from the mercenaries, soldiers and several personages from the mansion had also made their way through the throngs of Fuzzy Dice fans. There were crowds of those fans outside, of course; it felt very much like some sort of party.
Boy, they sure get around quick.
There must have been quite a few mages among the fans who were either skilled at moving quickly or had several means of doing so. Mira had made all possible haste to get there on Pegasus, yet even she hadn’t outpaced them.
Meanwhile, the situation at the mansion had gone from bad to worse. The statues had been smashed to smithereens, and the garden now resembled a mountain of rubble. The mercenaries who’d done the smashing, meanwhile, continued to howl in anger.
“All right. What’s going on?”
Touching down on the grounds deftly, Mira looked toward two people arguing there. One was a mercenary, the other someone from the mansion.
“I told you, Fuzzy Dice is already inside,” the mercenary insisted. “We saw the bag he stole from me on the floor. Since it’s there, he must be in the mansion.”
“That’s precisely why we’re conducting a search of it. We ask that you please wait. There are many valuables and confidential documents on the premises, and so we’re only permitting relevant parties inside.”
The mercenary was desperate to enter, and the mansion’s representative was desperately trying to stop them. They continued bickering beside the entrance.
The soldiers, meanwhile, were trying to calm both sides while discussing with the mansion’s owner how they might work together to catch Fuzzy Dice. The owner, however, insisted that he needed no such help.
This sure has become a debacle.
Slipping between the mercenaries to get a peek, Mira saw that a bag—apparently one Fuzzy Dice had stolen—indeed lay inside the mansion’s ruined entryway. It certainly seemed as if he’d left it there on purpose to let everyone know that he’d escaped into the mansion.
The phantom thief was obviously inviting them to go after him. But why? As she mulled this over, Mira suddenly caught sight of a familiar face from the corner of her eye. At the same moment, that person seemingly recognized her as well and ran over cheerfully.
“Well, I’ll be. If it isn’t Mira.”
It was the guard captain from the other day. He was once again with his men, and when they saw Mira, they grew excited to bask in the presence of someone A-rank.
“Looks like you guys aren’t going anywhere fast,” Mira noted.
“Nope. You’ve certainly hit the nail on the head. I tell and tell that guy that we should search the mansion interior in case Fuzzy Dice is still hiding inside, but he keeps saying he’s got enough people on the job already.”
However much people called the phantom thief “gentlemanly,” what they were really dealing with was a burglar—one who specifically targeted criminals. That being the case, Fuzzy Dice had likely been stealing valuables from inside the mansion this entire time. Thus, the guard captain had indeed voiced his protests unabashedly.
Judging from the way the guard captain spoke, though, the mansion’s owner was seemingly none too pleased at the prospect of them snooping around. Scrutinizing the owner, who was glaring at the captain, Mira thought he certainly had the look of a criminal. Then, as the man shifted his gaze to her, she realized he might be more of a pervert than a crook.
As she shuddered abruptly at his ghoulish expression, another shout cut through the air.
“No, I never asked for it back! I asked that you let us search the mansion! He clearly ran inside, didn’t he?!”
Looking over, she saw that someone from the mansion had politely returned the mercenary’s bag. The man—who had the air of a butler—countered that if Fuzzy Dice had left that bag there, it would be like announcing his escape route. That would have been a pretty odd thing for a phantom thief to do.
That was honestly the most reasonable thing to think. Fuzzy Dice could have left some evidence behind deliberately, diverting attention away from himself, before slipping away and escaping from a spot where security had suddenly become lighter. That certainly seemed like a trick that a thief would use. At least, that was what the calm, composed butler advised the mercenaries itching to get inside.
On the surface, the butler was seemingly just telling them to calm down. But thanks to First Pupil, Mira knew the truth, so she viewed anything that those from the mansion said as suspicious as heck.
Fuzzy Dice had definitely gone in, and en route, he’d made sure to draw plenty of attention to himself. Now, there was this whole thing with the bag. It seemed evident that the thief was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, trying to lure the mercenaries inside.
But why? From the way he’d gone about his work thus far, there was only one answer.
Hrmm… Perhaps he’s targeting this property as well.
But if that really were the case, he would’ve left clues there too, so the people in the mansion probably would’ve realized it quickly. That made Mira think that they must have a very good reason for hedging and working so hard to obstruct the scene. And they didn’t want anyone to know that reason.
In that case, I need to find the spot he ran off to. And the only destination she could imagine was the underground waterway.
“Fuzzy Dice definitely ran into this mansion,” Mira said, standing among the mercenaries as they continued to argue.
The moment she did, the angry shouts going back and forth suddenly died away, and everyone’s eyes fell on her.
“Yeah, I knew it! Hey, the…uh, Spirit Queen, yeah?—she says he went inside too! It’s got to be true! Let us search!”
Bolstered by Mira’s support, the mercenaries got fired up again. Even the soldiers, who’d been calmly discussing the situation, used her words to pressure the mansion’s owner further.
“Dear me. Please don’t go around spouting that nonsense. We’ve scoured every inch of the mansion and haven’t found any sign of the ‘phantom thief’ or whatever you call him. You think he’s in disguise? We haven’t had a single report of a suspicious character slipping in among the staff. We can assure you with the utmost confidence that there’s no phantom thief inside,” the butler insisted.
He’d once again attested so adamantly that Fuzzy Dice wasn’t in there that he seemed truthful. Staring at Mira, he added that searching the mansion would be an exercise in futility, since there was no evidence that the phantom thief had entered.
“My bag was evidence!” a mercenary angrily shot back before Mira even had a chance to say anything.
The butler simply answered that he didn’t know what the mercenary was talking about. He didn’t seem to plan to entertain them for much longer. That flippant attitude further goaded the mercenary; Mira gently held his hand back from attacking.
Staring straight back at the butler, she let a slight smile slip. “First of all, allow me to correct you: Not once did I say that the phantom thief was still inside the mansion. I merely said that he ran into it.”
The moment she said this, the soldiers and mercenaries began murmuring with each other. Then they focused on Mira, as if expecting her next words to clarify her meaning. The butler’s expression, on the other hand, remained unchanged—but a hint of anxiety seemed to flicker in his eyes.
“Fuzzy Dice ran into the mansion, but now he’s fled elsewhere. He is indeed no longer inside the mansion,” Mira added, confirming the butler’s statement.
A stir rose among the soldiers and mercenaries.
“Huh? Are you sure…?”
“Hey, what do you mean?”
It wasn’t difficult to imagine why they were so bewildered: Just when they thought Mira had come to help start the search, she’d implied that there was no need for one.
In any event, Mira was also the fabled Spirit Queen—an A-rank adventurer—so her words carried quite a bit of weight. For that reason, there no longer seemed to be any reason to search the mansion. Still, those had been precisely the words the mercenaries hadn’t wanted to hear.
Most of those from the mansion, for their part, glared at the mercenaries as if telling them to hurry up and leave. The butler, however, looked at Mira more keenly than before.
“Correct. Now that you understand that, you should no longer have any business here, should you? Rather than wasting time here, I suggest broadening your search efforts,” the butler said indifferently, eyeing the soldiers and mercenaries. He took a decisive step forward as if to say that he wouldn’t allow any of them in, since there was no need to search the mansion.
Now lacking a reason to investigate the residence, the soldiers’ and mercenaries’ spirits fell. But then Mira flashed a defiant smile and pressed the butler once more. “You still intend to play innocent, huh? Listen, hurry up and get out of the way so we can catch up to him.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Mira detected an ever-so-slight shift in the butler’s expression. At that same moment, the soldiers and mercenaries suddenly grew flummoxed. If Fuzzy Dice wasn’t in the mansion, what reason could Mira have for wanting to go inside?
“Well now, whatever are you going on about…?” Cracks formed in the butler’s poker face as he grew angry.
In response, Mira puffed out her chest and retorted bluntly, “Shall I explain it, then? The details of where he ran to?”
Since she knew the truth and was sure she’d win, Mira spoke with even more confidence than usual, as if speaking to the criminal in a detective novel she’d once read.
“Beforehand, though, allow me to apologize for something,” she prefaced.
“For whatever nonsense you’re about to spew, I take it?” the butler asked, tongue in cheek, as he stared defiantly at Mira.
Loath to dignify the comment with a response, Mira gave an exasperated shrug. “No, not for that. It’s a rather minor thing. It’s just…my friend Cat Sith got a little too caught up in chasing Fuzzy Dice and actually entered the mansion already.”
The moment Mira said that, visible alarm flickered in the butler’s eyes. “What…?!”
He must’ve thought that, even if Fuzzy Dice discovered the mansion’s secret, they could simply hide it as long as no one else saw it. Having learned of the presence of Mira’s tiny witness, the butler now grimaced.
“Not only that, Cat Sith followed Fuzzy Dice out of the mansion and down to the underground waterway.”
From the look on the butler’s face, Mira decided that it was time. Just like a detective revealing the answers in a case, she slowly, thoroughly laid bare the truth that those from the mansion were trying to hide.
A large waterway ran under Haxthausen’s streets, and there were no ways to get into or out of it. But despite that lack of distinguishable exits or entrances, beneath the mansion and past a hidden room, there was evidence of people frequently coming and going to and from that waterway.
“I should mention that Cat Sith is currently on Fuzzy Dice’s tail in that underground waterway.”
Mira carefully examined everyone’s reactions to the truths she’d revealed. The very first to respond were the soldiers and mercenaries.
“A waterway, you say?”
“You mean, besides the sewers?”
Most people really seemed unaware of it, which was why the sewers immediately crossed their minds and somewhat uneasy looks passed over their faces.
Mira simply told them exactly what Anrutine had told her: The waterway remained almost untouched by the humans living above it.
“Sure, all right. In other words, they’re trying so hard to stop us ’cause they’re hiding that waterway. Hey! What’re you doing with that secret waterway?” the mercenary from earlier demanded, seizing the opportunity to glare at the butler.
The butler seemed to have finally run out of excuses. He looked at the mansion’s owner, pleading for backup. Unfortunately, the owner stood motionlessly facing the guard captain, white as a sheet.
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