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「Life really is full of surprises, huh.」

That was Mira’s initial response to the long story, then smiled a bit while adding 「At least I’m glad you’re having fun now.」

Mira had not paid attention to most of the first half, but she managed to catch the event that led to him becoming a detective. Everyone had their own life story, but what was most important was being able to enjoy the present.

「It really took me too long to finally experience this joy, but I wouldn’t say I wasted my earlier years either.」

Saying that, he took another bite of pancake, which reminded him that his love for sweets had also started with his family, leading to him gushing out about them more. Anyone could tell how deeply he loved his family, as he would talk about them whenever he had a chance. Though that also dragged on the conversation. Until…

「But well, as you’ve been able to tell, the detective does this mostly as a hobby.」

Julius chimed in with that comment, which stopped the detective’s gushing for a bit as he replied, 「Yes, I can see why you’d say that. But I’m still taking each case seriously.」 It was clear that Julius had been the detective’s assistant for a while now, as he did not hesitate to be candid even around his boss.

That did not change the detective’s need to talk, but at least it helped to change the topic to something a bit more enjoyable than him boasting about his family.

Instead he began to talk about the cases he had worked on in the past. As Julius had mentioned, the detective work had started as a sort of hobby to regain some of the thrill of adventures, and the detective would accept nearly any case that came his way.

He did the staple basic ones like searching for lost pets, investigating suspected affairs, tracking down suspects, and also the more esoteric ones, like infiltrating large scale criminal operations or religious cults, or finding the culprits of bizarre serial murders. He had dipped his toes in nearly anything that was possible.

His experience as an adventurer helped greatly with solving those cases as well. Even if he had rejected anything with dubious odds of success, he had still attained a high rank, which required completing advanced requests, so his skills were no joke. Then again, it took quite some talent to discern which requests were possible or not in the first place.

Even if he had never gone on adventures, or at least not in the true sense of the word, he had earned that high rank fair and square.

「Still, that’s quite the eventful life, I have to say…」

There was a limit to how adventurous one could get. But seeing how invested the detective was, and knowing his past, Mira decided to keep that comment to herself.

Some of his cases bordered on spying and undercover operations. But the fact that he still went along with them showed that Julius was not lying when he said that the detective accepted any case that came his way. For some reason Julius seemed proud to be helping out the detective with that though. He might be bored of the detective’s gushing about his family, but he still admired all his accomplishments.

「Well, that also means I’ve been failing a lot.」

The detective added that with a chuckle. He also only charged his clients if he was successful because of that.

He had started working as a detective to finally challenge all the jobs he would have never accepted before. So there was no limit to the cases he took, as long as they did not go against the law.

But because of that, there were many times he accepted ridiculous requests which ended in failure. Whenever that happened, he would refuse any payment and covered the costs of the failed investigation himself.

Hearing that made Mira worry a little, wondering if such a lifestyle was really sustainable, but when she raised those concerns, the detective said he was perfectly fine. Being a high rank adventurer was a very high paying job, and he had saved quite a hefty fortune before retiring. He had the resources to continue working like that for two hundred years even.

Now Mira finally understood why Julius had said it was mostly a hobby for the detective. And she began to envy his position, being able to spend his later years doing what he enjoyed.

The detective also loved talking about the things he enjoyed though, and so he began another lengthy narration, talking of the cases he solved, and those he failed at.

There was a time when he thought he had found a lost pet outside a city, but it was actually a young wild animal that had gotten separated from its pack, and its parents then chased the detective for a while. Then one time while investigating a husband suspected of having an affair, the wife ended up flirting with the detective instead.

But those were not the only failures. There was a time he infiltrated a smuggling gang, but soon his cover was blown and they tried to finish him off, and he had to fight his way out, leaving next to nothing left of the original gang.

「That sounds like a rather small blunder, but the plan was to form connections inside to rat out a larger smuggling network…」

The detective made it out alive, but the gang had been left in shambles. He had been able to gain some information by interrogating those who survived, but the destruction of the gang had alerted all the others, and the whole strategy fell apart.

That undercover mission had been rather special out of all the cases he got. He had received it from an international crime investigation organization, founded by the Three Gods Countries, and they were trying to destroy an illegal drug trading ring.

At first the organization had tried to recruit the detective as an agent, but when he declined the offer, they gave him that case instead.

「My failure ended up causing the organization a lot of trouble though…」

He looked slightly ashamed of that, but he also spoke of it as something that was in the past now. Then again, he had destroyed one of the gangs, and gained some valuable information, so it was not entirely a failure. Julius also mentioned that the organization still appreciated the information gathered by the detective, so they were not disappointed by it.

Sending the detective had just been one of many strategies they had prepared, and after that failed they put another into effect the next day.

「Oh…so there’s an organization like that as well.」

The type of work reaching the detective’s desk was impressive, but Mira was more curious about the organization he had just mentioned.

An international crime investigation organization. That was basically the same as Interpol in the real world. It did not exist in the game days, and after a bit of asking Mira learned that it had been founded twenty years before her arrival.

Hearing that filled her with a new hope. Maybe that organization was also tailing Fuzzy Dice, and there might be an inspector dedicated to capturing him.

「They’re only interested in large criminal groups, they would never concern themselves about a thief acting on his own.」

Mira’s hopes were quickly dashed by the detective’s response, and she just sighed in disappointment while saying 「I guess there isn’t then…」 Her first hope of finding a confident detective reclining on a chair had crumbled, then the ideal inspector chasing after a thief did not exist either. All she could hope now was that Fuzzy Dice was really as charitable as everyone said he was.

「Anyway, after I received that case…」

Barely a moment of rest passed before the detective resumed retelling his experience. He still had not talked enough, and had plenty more to say.

Mira was starting to dread having to sit there listening to even more stories though.

「Oh, Mira, are you full already? If not, we could order something more.」

Suddenly the detective suggested that, which made Mira’s heart flutter. Her plate was already empty, but there was still plenty of room left in her stomach.

The detective had mentioned how much he liked the pancakes there. They were extremely soft and fluffy, and none other came close in taste. But obviously enough, they were nowhere near substantial enough to fill Mira’s stomach. Women usually preferred to just have one fancy plate they could finish with style, but that did not apply to Mira. All she wanted was tasty food and enough to leave her stomach bursting.

「C-Can I? Yes…in that case let’s do that.」

Mira felt like she would need at least two more plates of pancakes before she would feel full, so she accepted the detective’s offer, and looked through the menu again.

After she ordered something and waited for it, the detective gained more time to keep talking, just like he wanted.

This time he spoke of what drove him to capture Fuzzy Dice.

It all had started 5 years in the past, when Fuzzy Dice sent out a warning letter to his seventh victim, a corrupt merchant. In response, that merchant used his deep pockets to employ a hefty defense of soldiers and high level adventurers.

On top of that, the detective had been advertising his services a lot at the time, and since he did not charge clients when he failed, the merchant also brought him in.

「Fuzzy Dice’s popularity was also rising rapidly at the time, as well as the common trend amongst all his targets.」