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Everything that happened at the clothing store left Mira exhausted, so she headed back to the Baron Hotel, where she spent the rest of her free time practicing Sense Sync. By now she was able to keep the effect active for much longer, so she was quite satisfied with the progress of her training. After that she spent some time with a relaxing bath, ate a delicious dinner, and then went to sleep comfortably.

The next day, she was greeted by a refreshing morning, and she headed out to Haxthausen as soon as she could.

(I believe we agreed to meet by 12…)

There were still things left to discuss about their plan to capture Fuzzy Dice, so she had agreed to meet with the detective by noon, in front of a sweets and pastry shop. It was still 8 in the morning, so she had around four hours left.

(Now then, where shall I go first…)

Deciding she wanted to become more familiarized with the areas Fuzzy Dice would cross in his escape path, she headed to the known locations.

There was something still bothering Mira. According to what she had heard, Fuzzy Dice had never really used his full power, even when faced against rank A adventurers, so she was unsure of how fast Fuzzy Dice really could run.

Mira was able to gain a lot of mobility with her Sage Arts, but she was far from being the fastest adventurer.

The detective and Julius were certain that she would be fast enough, but she was not quite convinced. Maybe if Fuzzy Dice realized he was being chased, he would run faster than anyone had seen before, outrunning Mira.

The device the detective had procured for the chase had a range of three hundred meters. If Fuzzy Dice took a single step outside that, Mira would no longer have a way to chase after him.

So Mira wanted to have a bigger advantage.

(I think the Union was somewhere around here.)

Mira looked at the crowded streets, full of life from the early morning, and tried to recall the city map.

She toured an area of around three hundred meters around the Union, coming up with various plans for her own, and then noticed that there were people standing on a rooftop nearby.

For a second she thought they might be related to Fuzzy Dice, but then knew that there was another more likely explanation.

(Ahh…they’re still searching.)

Those people on the rooftop looked like adventurers, and when Mira paid closer attention to the street, she realized there were many others like them, searching around.

They were the same bunch as the day before, adventurers searching for the water spirit.

(Hmm…this feels a bit…)

Usually she would not have paid them any attention, just wished them the best and walked along. But this time it was slightly different.

The water spirit those adventurers were looking for was Anlutine, who Mira had formed a contract with the day before. And she had already left the city through the underground pipelines.

But that was something only Mira knew, so all the adventurers continued their fruitless search, oblivious to that fact.

It would be impossible for them to find someone who was gone, and Mira felt bad for being an accessory to lengthening that search. So, she could not stop herself from looking around the rooftops.

Luckily for her, she soon spotted the same adventurer she had met the day before.

「So you’re still searching?」
Mira ran up to him and asked that.

「Ohh! You’re the Spirit Queen! Thank you again for what you did yesterday. Rina… She’s the summoner in our party, she was really happy to hear your input.」 The adventurer turned around and beamed a smile as he thanked her.

「I see, I’m glad to hear that,」 was Mira’s reply, as she tried to conceal her guilty conscience. The water spirit they were searching for was Anlutine, who had come to Haxthausen to form a contract with Mira. So no matter how hard they searched, the adventurers would never find what they wanted, and Mira had chosen to keep that secret for her own self-preservation.

「So what are you looking for today? I’ll help you to the extent of my knowledge.」 Considering Mira had once again climbed up to the rooftops to talk to him, he assumed she was trying to ask something again, but that was not quite it this time.

「Actually…」 Mira explained the situation to him. She claimed that earlier that morning she had tried sensing the water spirit, but could not find her anywhere in the city, and so she could not bear to see the adventurers continue searching senselessly.

「I see…so she already left. I heard she got really spooked after she was first spotted, so maybe that’s why…」

In reality, she had left in the best mood possible after forming the contract with Mira, but since Mira kept that secret, the adventurer did not think she was involved, and came to that conclusion on his own. He had heard that the people who first saw the water spirit had overwhelmed her with requests to form contracts.

「Well, I can’t say what the reason was, I just know she left. Could you pass on the message to the rest?」

Mira wanted to avoid getting close to the maddened female adventurers, but did not mention that explicitly. The adventurer had no idea of any of that, so he replied enthusiastically, 「Of course! I’ll let your word be heard, Spirit Queen!」

「I appreciate that, thank you.」

With those last words, Mira jumped off the rooftop and walked away, and the adventurer just thanked her as she left. Now Mira could focus on preparing against Fuzzy Dice again, so she continued exploring the areas surrounding the Union.

「I believe this is also part of the escape route.」 Mira looked around, took out her map, and wrote down a few notations.

After passing through various alleys, small markets, and residential areas, she found herself around more wealthy-looking mansions. All the people she passed by on the street also looked well dressed and elegant.

Meanwhile, Mira was walking through there with her eyes glued to a map, making it obvious she was an outsider. But oddly enough, the people there did not look at her with derision.

The reason for that was a certain rumor that had made its way all the way there, one claiming that the Spirit Queen was visiting Haxthausen. And Mira did not look like a commoner, but also not like the daughter of some wealthy family.

It was common for rich people to have fickle minds, so they were quickly entranced by those rumors. But their fantasies were not too dissimilar from those of regular people, constantly staring at her from afar while imagining inviting her to have lunch at their mansions, or even picturing a happy married life together. In a way, their wealth and influence only made those thoughts even more extreme.

But Mira paid no attention to their stares, focusing only on her objective. And whenever someone gathered enough courage to approach her, she had already walked away.

Once Mira felt familiar enough with those areas, she went to the mansion of the Doles Company, which was not too far away. The front gates were slightly opened, letting her see various armed men inside.