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It seemed like the detective had done that only as a comeback against the gatekeepers. So once he saw they were too uncomfortable and annoyed to say anything back, he decided to leave.

Once they were a certain distance away from the mansion, the group stopped to talk.

「I knew Fuzzy Dice was onto something. The Doles Company is definitely rotten to the core.」

The detective muttered that with satisfaction, glancing at the gates that could faintly be seen in the distance. Whatever the common trait between those guards with spirit arms was, it had put the gatekeepers in a foul mood while giving the detective the satisfaction he wanted.

「What is this common trait you mentioned anyway?」

Mira asked that, and the detective explained with a triumphant look.

First he explained about the demographic of the guards in the mansion. Some were the private guards of the Doles Company, while others were mercenaries hired to defend against the heist.

And when Mira pointed at those with spirit arms, she had singled out the private guards of the company, while not pointing at a single mercenary.

So the detective reasoned that the company had obtained a large number of spirit arms from Chimera Clauzen in the past, trying to fortify its defenses, so now their guards were equipped with them. Overall that added more credibility to the allegations of the company’s ties with Chimera Clauzen.

「Shadow spirit arms are extremely rare, so having so many bunched up in a single location is really suspicious…」
「Yes, that’s precisely it.」

Mira also agreed with the detective’s assessment, and glanced at the mansion herself.

Those spirit arms had most certainly been created by Chimera Clauzen. And the only people who could hoard them in such capacity were those with ties to that group. Just the circumstantial evidence alone pointed at a connection between the two.

But the detective added that such a correlation did not serve as evidence in a court of law, as it gave room for absurd excuses like the company buying those weapons from some random merchant who just so happened to be part of Chimera Clauzen.

Judgment by law was harsh, especially when conducted by a cross-border legislator from the church, as they had the highest authority instated by the church of the Three Gods’ Countries, and their might made kings of other countries shudder. But because of how much power they commanded, they also needed absolute proof of someone’s crimes before it could be put into motion. There was nothing much they could do with evidence that left room for doubt, or mere suspicions.

「It won’t clear them of suspicion, but without the necessary evidence they won’t be punished either. The wealthy and influential really are the worst enemies one can have.」

Then he sighed and added that Fuzzy Dice was always going after people like that. And that was the main reason why he was so well known as a hero.

There was no one common people villainized more than those with money and power.

「Also, it seems they won’t let us into the mansion. Exactly what’s your plan then?」

Mira glanced at the mansion’s gates far in the distance as she asked that. The gatekeepers’ attitude was hostile from the beginning, even though cooperating would make catching Fuzzy Dice easier for both sides.

And yet they were turned away instantly. Mira was still confused about how the detective had a plan to catch Fuzzy Dice when they could not even get into the mansion that would be attacked.

But Mira’s worries ended up being completely unfounded.

「Oh, don’t worry about that. I was only showing you the place to give you an idea of the city’s layout. My plan only comes into action after Fuzzy Dice has completed his deed.」

In other words, the detective would only act after Fuzzy Dice presented the evidence incriminating the Doles Company and their fate would be sealed. His goal was not to protect the mansion, but simply to confront Fuzzy Dice.

The detective did not even want to consider working for criminals like that, and actually was rooting for Fuzzy Dice to find the evidence. After explaining that, he turned around to face Mira and looked at her with defiant eyes.

「Now tell me, Mira. Do you know where Fuzzy Dice will go after stealing the evidence?」

He clearly knew the answer to that question, as his plan was based on that knowledge. He just wanted to challenge Mira, and as a hint mentioned that it was a place Fuzzy Dice had always visited right after the heist in the past.

「Where he’ll go to? Hmmmm, so basically the place he’ll take the evidence to, yes?」

Mira accepted the challenge head on, retracing her memory to remember any details that could help her find the answer.

(They always say that he brings the evidence to light, so the law can punish the target. So basically it must be somewhere with a lot of people who can make the authorities move and do their job, hmm…)

「It must be a large public space, yes?」

A public square with a lot of people would certainly make it easy to make people aware of the evidence. So that was an easy conclusion.

「I see, I see. Is that your final answer then?」

The detective’s eyes were locked on Mira. Seeing that, Mira began to feel like the detective still had the upper hand. Or rather, the detective was terrible at keeping a poker face, so she could clearly tell that her reply was not correct.

「No, it’s not!」

Knowing her reply had been wrong, she retracted her response and started thinking again, trying to find the correct answer.

Mira was using her brain more than she had ever before, but she could not tell what was correct and was wrong. In a way, the detective’s challenge was only making them waste time, but men would never back down from a challenge.

(If it’s not a public square…)

Mira was constantly coming back to that conclusion, unable to think of any other place with a bunch of eyes to see the exposed evidence.

Fuzzy Dice’s method was to present the evidence in a way that could not be concealed, and fully relied on the law being used properly. So Mira believed that presenting the evidence publicly would cause enough people to know about it, making it impossible for those in the shadows to conceal it again.

But thinking about it more, she realized doing that was harder than she initially thought. An uproar in a single city of an entire country did not carry a lot of weight.

And then she recalled something. The detective had mentioned something he used to do when he was an adventurer, and he said it was a similar method to Fuzzy Dice’s. Therein lay the answer to the current question.

「The cross-border legislator… He’ll take it to the church!」

Now that she knew of it, it felt like the obvious answer and she could not understand why it did not occur to her before. While that was something weighing on her, her face still lit up knowing she had found the correct answer. In response the detective seemed to frown in defeat for a moment, which Mira clearly noticed. So when he once again asked, 「Is that your final answer?」 she instantly replied with an energetic, 「It is!」

「…That’s correct.」

The Three Gods’ Church had a vast network of information across the entire continent, and received a lot of support from the common masses. They also had a powerful figure of authority in the cross-border legislators. Whenever a heinous crime was reported to the church, the perpetrators would end up paying, no matter where in the continent they tried hiding.

「Whenever Fuzzy Dice has obtained the evidence, he dashes over rooftops and heads straight for the church. That’s been a common factor in all his previous heists.」

Saying that, he gave Julius a signal again, who began pushing the wheelchair in the direction of the city’s center. Their next destination was the church.