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The detective had visited many orphanages already, so maybe he had even met Artesia in one of them. And even if he had not seen her, he was incredibly resourceful, so maybe he still knew something.

Mira asked about that with a hopeful look, and the detective looked slightly disappointed at first, but he still began retreading his memories to reply. After some moment of thought, however, he replied saying, 「I’ve been to many small towns and villages, but I didn’t see any orphanages in them.」

The detective had not seen any place like that during his investigations.

「Hmm, I see. Then maybe it was all just a rumor then…」

There were many small villages dotted around the northeastern forest of Grimdart, but they had little importance if the orphanage was not there. Hearing that yet another lead had not bore fruit, Mira began to feel disappointed. But then the detective called to her with a kind voice, saying, 「Not necessarily, no.」

「All of the orphanages I visited were officially registered as such. If the orphanage you’re looking for never presented an application to be recognized as an official orphanage, then it’s one I haven’t researched, and there’s no evidence to say it doesn’t exist.」
「Ohh..!」

The detective quickly restored Mira’s hope.

He then continued explaining how all the paperwork to be recognized as an official orphanage was not necessary for one to operate. Registering like that brought benefits though, as officially recognized orphanages could get free healthcare for the children, so most orphanages went through that process.

「But there are some orphanages that haven’t submitted those documents and continue operating like that. Those are often located in remote and isolated areas.」

That was the only benefit of registering, and sometimes orphanages would not register simply because it was too much trouble, and if they already had someone who could provide medical services. But usually it was hard to keep such people nearby for long periods of time, especially in remote villages.

Then again, registering felt obvious considering the benefits it would bring the children. It took some time for the papers to be accepted and for everything to be regularized, but the orphanages lost nothing through it.

However, there were other reasons why some orphanages would avoid registering, and the detective had first hand experience with them.

「That was back when I was still an adventurer…」

The detective frowned slightly as he continued talking. It was yet another story from the past, back when he was a successful adventurer, except that this time he was not boasting about his exploits, but telling a more cautionary tale.

As an adventurer, he had been everywhere in both the Earth Continent and Arc Continent. During his travels he had been to countless cities and villages.

That obviously led to him gaining a lot of information and experience in various environments. He had also seen multiple orphanages, including many that avoided registering as official ones.

As he told that, the detective’s voice became heavier. Almost all unregistered orphanages were merely a front to cover for illegal human trafficking, and they not only exploited orphans, but kidnapped children too.

「Those were probably the times when I got the most reckless.」

Back then the detective would only accept requests that he knew he could complete without issue, and despite that he had still taken many which involved crushing those illegal and despicable orphanages.

He never attacked them head on, instead using indirect methods to fully dismantle them.

First he would investigate the target himself and gather all the evidence he could. Then he would confront one of their high ranking members while they were alone, interrogating them to learn even more. Once he had enough information, he would compile it and report it to the church’s cross-border legislator. Then the church authorities would take care of crushing the criminal organization posing as an orphanage.

The detective chuckled as he recalled how many times that strategy had been successful.

「I never did anything crazy, and I limited my involvement to gathering information and evidence, but I’d like to think that they were still worthwhile adventures. And now that I think about it, all the experience and methods I cultivated back then have really come in handy nowadays.」

Concluding the story, the detective stared into the distance for a bit, wallowing in his memories as he added, 「I guess going on adventures always helps to grow in one way or another.」

「I applaud those methods. It seems you’ve had a talent as an investigator for a long time.」
「You know, maybe this was always my calling from the very start.」

Mira complimented him, and he replied with a joking voice and a delighted laugh. He had once worked as an adventurer, and now was a detective as a hobby. His earnings were night and day between those occupations, but he seemed to value his time as a detective a lot more, and he had nothing to complain about.

「Either way, that was a sad story.」

Many unregistered orphanages had been used as fronts for human trafficking in the past. Thanks to the detective’s work back then, the truth had spread amongst the managers of proper orphanages too, so now it was common for unregistered orphanages to be seen with suspicion.

Nowadays orphanages had to register themselves if they wanted to avoid suspicion.

Then Julius added that as a result, the number of unregistered orphanages dropped sharply, and that was directly linked to the detective’s past work. It really was an important achievement.

「That’s incredible. You’re truly a hero of the children.」

Mira praised him with her honest thoughts, and the detective tried to look cool by saying, 「That’s still merely a small fraction of my legacy.」 But it was clear that he was happy to be complimented, as he broke into a smile. He was unaware of how disconnected those two reactions seemed.

「I have to say though, that method you mentioned of gathering evidence first reminds me a lot of how you described the thief’s usual pattern too.」

The detective had gathered concrete evidence in a lawful way and then presented it to the authorities. Meanwhile Fuzzy Dice would steal concrete proof for the authorities and everybody else to see.

The way they gathered said information was slightly different, but the result was the same. In both cases the criminals would be properly punished by the law.

「I can see what you mean. But I must add that there’s a limit to how much a single person can do against criminal organizations. There’s eventually a point where relying on the local authorities or the church becomes the correct choice.」

All the heists Fuzzy Dice had conducted so far involved large criminal organizations. If too many of those banded together against him, he would have a rough time, as even guilds of rank A adventurers could not win against them. Not to mention that such organizations often had underground information networks that spanned far and wide, and it would only be a matter of time before they would get Fuzzy Dice to trip and fall.

「Sometimes people must twist their beliefs to protect those important to them, and I truly admire those who take that step.」

The detective seemed to remember something before saying that, after which he averted his gaze slightly.

Being able to stand in the frontlines against evil was something only heroes could do. Doing so would only make them stand out more, and open them to attack even more, especially if they received a lot of publicity for being a hero.

Basically the detective was wondering if there really was a hero capable of sacrificing their own family and relatives to carry out justice.

「Being on the side of justice sounds like a rough decision.」
「I guess, though it’s only so bad when you’re up against other humans.」