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After reassuring Mira that the detective did not have a problem if Mira decided to let the thief go, the conversation shifted to the scheduled day for the heist.

「Anyway, let’s put aside whether you’ll want to catch him or not, and just go along with our plan for now?」

Having finished his chocolate parfait, the detective’s eyes gleamed as they went to the main topic. Mira’s guilt had also passed after they continued talking and eating together, so she felt no need to say no.

「Well, I might as well go with you.」

Mira agreed with her mouth that had recently been stuffed with crème brûlée. The detective thanked her with a bright smile, then said, 「Let’s go there then,」 and turned his wheelchair around. It would be easier to explain his plan if they were in the actual location.

「Hm, alright then.」

Mira nodded and stood up to follow the detective. Julius took a bit longer to go catch up with them, as he took the time to push the empty parfait glass and spoon to the seat where Mira had been, erasing all evidence that it was the detective who had eaten it.

After leaving the Baron Hotel, the group went along the main street heading to the northeast.

The district it passed through seemed to be mainly occupied by wealthy people, all buildings being large mansions. One of those, a white mansion, was the one the detective was looking for.

There was a tall lattice gate in front of the mansion, with a guard on each side, who quickly moved in to block the approaching detective. Then, with a stern voice, they asked, 「What do you want?」

「It’s just an inspection. Don’t worry about it.」

The gatekeeper seemed almost threatening, though the detective just shrugged it off and did not seem to pay them much attention.

「Alright so, this is the mansion where the president of the Doles Company lives, who’s the current victim and offender.」

Every single person who had been targeted by Fuzzy Dice to date had been a criminal behind the scenes, without exceptions. So the detective felt comfortable calling the current one an offender. His playful smile was only met with fierce stares from the gatekeepers.

「Oh, sorry sorry, I guess it’s still too early to call him an offender. That’s only a matter of time though.」

The detective was not fazed by the gatekeepers, and only doubled down as he glared back at them. In response, they simply shouted, 「Go away, we have no time for incompetent detectives here.」

Mira was confused watching all of that unfold, so she turned to Julius, wondering why the detective and the gatekeepers seemed so antagonistic.

The detective and the gatekeepers continued glaring at each other as Julius explained the conflict between them in simple terms. Before Mira had arrived, there had been a bit of a quarrel between the president and the detective.

He did not go into details about that, but the result was that an insurmountable rift formed between the president and the detective and it became impossible for them to come to an agreement, so now they would always turn the detective away when he approached.

「So you’re saying he came here just to taunt them? That’s a bit…」
「I’m really sorry, it’s one of the detective’s bad habits.」

That was probably an effect from his time as an undefeated adventurer, making him have some rather childish bad habits.

With nothing else to do, Mira began recalling everything she had heard about the Doles Company, as she waited for the detective and the gatekeepers to finish quarreling.

There were many rumors that connected the Doles Company with Chimera Clauzen, and according to Solomon, there were many other pending charges. For a king to be aware of all that showed just how shady the company was.

But no one had been able to find any proof of that so far, so there was nothing they could do against the company. At least now they could expect to see all that hidden evidence, thanks to Fuzzy Dice’s appearance.

He was a hero of justice in every aspect.

And now Mira was wondering what kind of place the mansion was, as it was being targeted by that hero, and would become their main battlefield soon.

Just as she wondered that, the fight between the detectives and the gatekeepers came to an end.

「We’ll never trust a detective who lost every single time in the past. Come back when you’ve won at least once.」
「Ngh…」

The detective had lost. Then Julius explained that the detective was really quick to start quarrels like that, but he was not the best at finishing them.

「Shoo shoo.」

The gatekeepers began waving them away. The detective looked annoyed at his failure, frowning in frustration, but he had no way to fight back anymore. It was time for the loser to take his leave, so Julius took the wheelchair and turned it around.

「Let’s get away from here for now.」

The detective’s voice sounded gloomy as the wheelchair moved along the street. Meanwhile Mira turned to look at the mansion again, across the lattice gates and fence.

She could see many guards there, which was the product of Fuzzy Dice’s letter and their preparation against him.

「Ohh, their security is quite tight, and many are even armed with powerful spirit arms. Though they’re all shadow spirits arms…」

That only reinforced the suspicions of the company’s ties with Chimera Clauzen. Mira could not help but mutter that, seeing how numerous and powerful the spirits arms were.

But hearing that made the detective turn around with curiosity.

「Ohh, you can tell just by looking at them? Interesting, so they’re wearing spirit arms…」

The detective stopped and turned to look at the mansion again. For him all the weapons and armor looked normal, and he had no way to tell if they were spirit arms or not.

「Any spellcaster of my caliber can do it with ease.」

Any spellcaster who studied and practiced for long enough could gain the ability to not only see spirits, but also spiritual energy. So Mira’s ability to identify spirit arms from the energy within them was nothing out of the ordinary.

「Well, you aren’t called the Spirit Queen for nothing.」

The detective looked at Mira and nodded with approval before grinning and looking at the mansion again.

「I see, interesting, so some of the guards have spirit arms. And that reminds me of something else I heard before. All the spirit arms Chimera Clauzen produced were shadow ones!」

The detective raised his voice for dramatic effect. His eyes were also focused on those guards, essentially accusing them already, as it would be too much of a coincidence for them to be armed with so many spirit arms that were mainly manufactured by the loathsome Chimera Clauzen.

Meanwhile the gatekeepers who overheard that grimaced for a moment, but then disregarded everything, as it was also possible to find such spirit arms through other means.

「By the way, exactly which guards are the ones with those spirit arms?」

The detective was not done yet though, as he pointed inside and asked that.

「Those I can see are…」

Mira could easily point them out, so he pointed at them while giving basic descriptions of their appearance. The longer she went, the more the detective grinned, until by the end a victorious smile took over his lips.

「Interesting, very interesting. Would you believe me if I said there’s something else they all have in common?」

A new idea seemed to plant itself in the mind of the detective, so after a glance at the uncomfortable guards, he said, 「Let’s go to the next location,」 giving Julius a signal.

Julius nodded and began pushing the wheelchair, leaving that area.