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Amongst the armed people in the mansion, she could see some with surprisingly large swords, big enough to split enormous monsters in two with a single swing. The regular guards did not carry any weapons like that, so Mira assumed they were the adventurers and mercenaries hired to fend off Fuzzy Dice. It was still weird to see them equipped like they were going to hunt big monsters though.

「Hm… now that I think about it, this place…」

After looking at the mansion for some time, she looked around for a moment and thought of something. Then she took out her map to verify if she was thinking of the right place.

「I knew it, it’s underneath somewhere here.」

She was currently to the northeast of the place where she had formed a contract with Anlutine the day before. In other words, this was above that area in the pipelines, which Anlutine had described as the only one having no moss.

There was moss growing everywhere else in the pipelines, and if that had been done by human hands, then it was easy to suspect a secret entrance existing nearby.

Now Mira knew that a wealthy district existed above that strange area in the pipelines, making it all the more suspicious. Maybe someone there was up to something nefarious in those underground pipelines, and the Doles Company’s mansion was even more suspicious of that, so Mira glared in that direction. The gatekeepers there had been looking at her for a while too, but they did not seem bothered by her presence, even though she had been with the detective before. It seemed they only disliked the detective in particular.

And then, there was the chime of bells ringing loudly through the city.

「Oh, I forgot!」

That was the bell indicating it was noon, the time she had agreed to meet the detective at. Mira turned around and used all of her Sage Arts to reach the meeting place as soon as she could.

「I’m sorry for being late.」 The detective and Julius were already there, so as soon as Mira landed from the rooftops, she apologized to them.

「You’re not late though? We just agreed to meet around 12, and that’s just the current time.」 The detective replied with a smile, either out of consideration for Mira, or because they had actually only made a vague agreement on the time.

「Let’s go inside, before they eat everything before us.」 Saying that, he made his wheelchair turn around before rushing toward the shop. It was evident he had been looking forward to going there, and as soon as he was in front of the door, he turned around and beckoned for Mira and Julius to come too.

Those two were still a bit taken aback by the detective’s sudden childish actions.

Eventually the three made their way inside the shop, which was adorned with many banners celebrating the arrival of Fuzzy Dice.

As part of the celebration, that fancy sweets shop was offering an all-you-can-eat service, which had attracted an immense number of clients. Seeing how crowded the shop was, Mira began to fear there were no seats left for them, and started regretting getting so sidetracked.

But there was no need for her to worry about that, as it turned out that the detective had already placed reservations the day before.

The reservations had been all sold out when the detective checked the night before, but he managed to secure a seat under the condition that he would relate stories involving Fuzzy Dice.

The three passed through the crowded first floor and went up the stairs, as the second floor was for reservations. Almost all of the tables there were occupied too, but it felt less busy overall, like a VIP lounge, and it was the perfect place to continue discussing their strategy.

But the detective was also clearly looking forward to having to tell stories, as he loved talking so much.

Mira delved straight into all the sweets available there as soon as she could, and the detective had made it his mission to try at least one of every type of sweets there, and he had already gone through half.

Meanwhile Julius was swarmed by girls, fans of Fuzzy Dice, on the table next to them.

Those girls were all in support of the thief, who was being hunted by the detective, so one would think they resented the detective and his assistant, but that was not the case.

They felt a sort of admiration for the duo’s tireless efforts to go after the thief. But that aside, Mira was still perplexed about the piercing stares she felt from time to time, different from the way everyone looked at the other two.

And so, while relishing in sweets, they continued their discussion. Part of it was a continuation to what they planned the day before, and some additional plans for the actual day.

Julius would directly report the movements of Fuzzy Dice, while Mira and the detective would act according to his information. If everything went well, then it would be up to Mira to chase after him when he left the Union.

「Hmm… Are you sure I can do with him as I please though?」

Even though almost everything was being made possible by the detective, he still gave Mira the freedom to do with Fuzzy Dice as she wanted. The whole plan had been the detective’s, but if Mira captured the thief, or found his hideout, it would be her who would garner all the praise and fame.

「Yeah, I don’t mind. I mean, look at me, it’s not like I could’ve done anything here.」

Saying that, the detective looked down at his legs, the injuries of which were stopping him from going after the thief himself.

His eyes turned distraught as he explained that, but then he laughed it away, saying that he was still looking forward to seeing how well his plan would work out, as he had given up on it until Mira arrived.

「Also, just between the two of us, I still hadn’t figured out what to do after chasing him.」

The detective made sure Julius wasn’t looking before leaning to Mira and whispering that into her ear. That was something not even Julius was aware of.

He was still thinking about that when he fell from the rooftops and injured his legs, which made him give up on catching Fuzzy Dice this time, and he did not complete his plan. Now he was mostly curious to see how well the device he had would work.

That was why he was looking for a spellcaster who would be able to utilize the device for him, and somehow he ended up running into the Spirit Queen.

「I see. Though that’s understandable.」

Mira could relate to the detective’s emotions, as she too would get really excited about new methods or Arts, and would want to do anything to see them in action. Sometimes she would log into the game late at night and stay up without sleeping, and oftentimes she would use her friends as test subjects too.

「I can understand why you gained such a prominent nickname though, you can move just as fast as the thief. I would’ve thought of an actual plan if I had known you’d be helping from the start.」

The detective had not counted on obtaining Mira’s help, and trying to come up with a plan in such a short time was too hard. So he decided to just let her act as she found best.

「Well, I’ll just do the best I can.」

Saying that, Mira looked at the detective, who was currently taking a large mouthful of cake. After grimacing a little, she also focused on her serving of shortcake as well.

Once they discussed everything about their plan, they just continued talking about miscellaneous matters while gorging on cake and other sweets until they could eat no more.

The detective had managed to accomplish his goal of trying all types of sweets of the shop, and Mira ate all of her favorite Mont Blanc she ever wanted. Only Julius looked somewhat unsatisfied, as the women had kept him away the entire time.