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That employer was the president of a trading company, which had been in collusion with nobles to smuggle in goods and make various shady deals, generating quite a lot of illegal revenue. The detective had also been trying to look into those shady deals before being hired, but whenever any form of proof was found, by the time law enforcement arrived everything had been scrubbed clean and it was impossible to make an arrest. That was the type of money and connections he had.

It felt like he had an impenetrable shield of corruption, until there was one ray of light that made it through, the Phantom Detective Fuzzy Dice’s warning notice.

「I have to admit that even as an old man, I was giddy beyond myself when I heard that the famous thief was targeting him.」

It was clear that the detective also saw Fuzzy Dice as a hero of justice who always arrived to expose evil men.

Some days after the notice arrived, that corrupt merchant came to hire the detective, asking for the detective to keep his mansion safe from the thief, through every means necessary, even if it included lethal force.

「To be honest I felt lost at first. I didn’t want to be an accomplice to such a ruffian, but my curiosity was tingling too. I really wanted to know just who this thief everyone was talking about was.」

After debating about it for an entire day, the detective finally agreed. In the end, his curiosity to see the thief won over his sense of morality. The allure of facing that thief was too strong, and he wanted to do that no matter what his public image would turn into.

So he did everything he could to be prepared against the attack, excited about his first encounter. But the result of that was a story he had already told before.

「It was like the thief showed me just how far ahead of me he was. I did everything I could, but it was nowhere enough to stop Fuzzy Dice. Feeling that defeat only filled me with excitement though.」

As an adventurer, he had only accepted requests he knew he could complete. As a detective, he had accepted almost anything, even incredibly reckless requests, and through failures and successes he had learned that overcoming a challenge was one of the most fulfilling feelings ever.

Experiencing failure from time to time made life much more rewarding than when he only had successes. And now he had encountered Fuzzy Dice, someone who seemed to be on a whole different plane of existence and defeated the detective with no effort at all. That disastrous failure brought the detective immense joy.

「Confronting strong opponents like that makes me feel like I’m truly alive. This is something I could never accomplish during my entire life as an adventurer. And that kind of utter defeat brings forth a truly mystifying emotion too.」

There were many times when failure meant death, especially on a battlefield. But after his first encounter with Fuzzy Dice, the detective woke up the next morning like nothing had happened. There was not a single scratch on him, and on none of the other guards that had been there that night.

That stood out to the detective, so he ended up researching the previous cases in more detail, especially focusing on the people who had tried to stop Fuzzy Dice from carrying out the heist.

And so he found out that there had been very few wounded overall, and no casualties at all.

There had been a lot of people who had tried to stand in the way of Fuzzy Dice over the years, with easily more than a thousand guards having already been involved. But only a handful had ever gotten hurt, an almost negligible minority.

But the detective made sure to stress that the most shocking part was not that, but the fact that all those wounds had come from miscellaneous sources, like falling down the stairs or internal conflicts, never from Fuzzy Dice.

「In other words, Fuzzy Dice has been carrying out his heists without harming a single person, from the time he started all the way to the present.」

Just like how the first time the detective faced off against Fuzzy Dice, the thief had always put everyone to sleep in one way or another, incapacitating them without any harm.

「I see, someone who never harms anyone and yet exposes evil people to the public, I can see why he’s this popular.」

Fuzzy Dice was like an embodiment of righteousness, which Mira could admire. He had never harmed anyone, not even his enemies, and always let the law dish out punishment. That was exactly what a hero would do.

And yet the detective had chosen to chase after him. But all things considered, that decision made sense.

「He won’t harm anyone, that’s pretty much his philosophy, his signature behavior. And that’s why I decided to keep going after him.」

As he said that, a calculating smile appeared on the detective’s face. And so Mira had to ask, why would that push him to keep going after Fuzzy Dice.

The detective seemed to have been waiting for that question. If Fuzzy Dice would never hurt anyone, then the detective could challenge someone far above his level as much as he wanted, without having to be worried about getting hurt.

「I can go through a lot of hardship with basically no risks. He’s the perfect opponent. I almost feel like I’m deeply indebted to him.」

Maybe it was simply the rules Fuzzy Dice had put on himself, or his extreme confidence in his skills, but he did not seem to care about the detective being after him all the time, so now catching Fuzzy Dice by surprise had become the detective’s main goal.

「How do I put this…that’s a lot to unpack…」

In the end, the detective’s reason to go after Fuzzy Dice went far past the fact that he was a detective and Fuzzy Dice a thief, and Mira was slightly taken aback by how rich their backstory was.

「Yes, I think so too.」

The detective seemed to realize that as well, as he also added, 「But I have to admit I’ve grown to appreciate this side of myself.」

Their entire conversation had started by Mira’s desire to get a rough idea of Fuzzy Dice’s power, and just as it was nearing its end, the pudding soft cream she had ordered arrived.

「It certainly tastes like a delightful pudding.」

The distinctive taste of custard filled Mira’s mouth as she took a bite, and she instantly understood why that was a favorite of the cafe. The detective and Julius also agreed with Mira’s assessment, it was good.

And so for a short while they enjoyed their dessert.

(Hmm, Forbidden Arts, huh. And someone incredibly good at them.)

Even if she was enjoying her pudding soft cream, Mira did not forget her goal. So far she had discovered that Fuzzy Dice was strong enough to best the Sacred Beast Aktarka, but whether that was the height of his skills or just the bottom was still unclear. Mira was one of the Nine Wisemen, the strongest spellcasters out there, but the world was vast, and there were many skilled spellcasters, for example those with high ranks in the Three Gods Countries’ army.

But only a handful of those powerful generals could get close to actually matching the power of the Nine Wisemen.

And then again, there were countries founded by players like Atlantis and Nirvana, whose armies were composed of the best former players. On the other hand, there were also people like Priest Kingsblade, who was the champion of an underground arena for the longest time. There could always be someone very powerful hiding in a corner of the world.