| Author: Ryuusen Hirotsugu | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 2772 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1144 words |
| Editor(s): Fire | ||
Julius did not know much himself, so he also seemed puzzled by the detective’s sudden request. He had just arrived from the mansion to the Spellcasters’ Union when the detective told him to bring Mira. So he did not really know what was happening in the Union.
「Hmm… I don’t really get it, but if that’s what he said then I’ll just have to go.」
He was not supposed to have anything more to do after Mira successfully registered Fuzzy Dice in the device, but knowing the detective, there had to be a reason why he wanted Mira there now. So Mira stood up and jumped off the Balcony, using Sky Stride to reach all the way to the Union’s entrance.
There, she turned around and waved at the girls on the balcony, and then entered the building.
「She did that so effortlessly…」
「She really is incredible.」
「If she teaches her, then she could also…」
The way Mira moved made it seem like using Sage Arts was second nature to her, and if her mastery of that was so high, then the girls could only imagine just how superior her skill with summoning was. And so they joined their hands together, full of hope, respect, and even a bit of reverence for Mira.
Meanwhile, Julius just watched them do that, and recalling how he had found them earlier, decided to take a few steps back from them.
Inside the Union, Mira found the Union’s workers busy stabilizing the protective spells on the evidence, around thirty adventurers, and the detective amidst them all.
Working on the evidence seemed to be a rather difficult job, so the workers were all focusing on that.
「So, why was I called here?」
While the workers were desperate to secure the evidence, the detective and the adventurers looked calm, merely turning to look at Mira’s arrival.
「Oh, you’re here. I was planning on letting you take charge of the rest, but how do I put this… The situation here activated my detective mind.」
The detective turned around in his wheelchair and said that. He really could not stand still knowing how close Fuzzy Dice was.
「Even if I can’t find him through force, I figured I could use my mind to figure out his identity. Though this also changes our plans.」
The initial plan was to let Mira chase after the thief once she recorded his mana signature, so the detective apologized for changing that so suddenly. But Mira did not mind that at all.
「It was you who arranged this whole plan, so you’re free to decide how to carry it out.」 Mira did not want the detective to feel guilty for that, and she was actually curious to see what the detective had in mind now.
「Thank you, Mira.」 The detective smiled happily hearing that, and then his eyes panned over to the device in Mira’s hand, asking, 「How did things go over there?」
「Everything worked out flawlessly.」 Mira looked at the display again and then replied positively. It was still tracking Fuzzy Dice’s location.
「I knew I could trust you.」 The detective nodded satisfied, and then explained the situation inside of the Union.
After leaving the shop, he had entered the Union and waited for Fuzzy Dice’s arrival. When the crowd got the loudest, Fuzzy Dice finally appeared in the Union. Then as usual, he brought the evidence with activated defenses and left them there. Meanwhile, the detective had given a signal to close all exits except for the main entrance, while also deploying a barrier through a device he had kept concealed, and which would produce a loud sound if someone left.
That device had been triggered when Julius left to get Mira, so the detective knew it was working.
「You’d think that maybe he slipped out at the same time as Julius so it would only ring once, but I’ve accounted for that.」
Before Mira could point out that possibility, the detective cleared it up, as the device creating the barrier also kept a count of how many people left. He also pointed to a box Mira had not seen before, which was on the detective’s lap, and it showed a 1. That was the device creating the barrier and keeping count.
Julius also returned to the Union shortly after, so that ruled out the possibility of Fuzzy Dice disguising himself as Julius and leaving that way after calling Mira.
「So all things considered, someone here has to be Fuzzy Dice in disguise.」 The detective said that, his eyes glimmering as he glanced across the adventurers there.
There were adventurers of all genders and ages, some warriors and most of them spellcasters, which made sense considering the location. But all of that mattered little, as Fuzzy Dice could disguise himself however he wanted, and he would likely take the appearance of an adventurer that would not look out of place coming or going from the Union.
「Why us and not them though?」
One of the adventurers asked that while pointing at the Union’s workers. Fuzzy Dice could have disguised himself as one of them too after all.
「That’s a good question, but it’s unlikely he did that.」
Talking with the suspects was something else the detective would do, and Mira listened attentively, enjoying the turn things took.
After saying it was unlikely that Fuzzy Dice had disguised himself as a worker, he proceeded to explain his reasoning behind that.
Most workers had been in the Union for a long time, and would see each other on a daily basis, so if a new worker appeared who no one recognized, his cover would be blown instantly. And as far as the detective could tell, there were no signs of that happening amongst the workers.
There was also the possibility of Fuzzy Dice stealing the identity of one of the workers, but that was also unlikely. So far, Fuzzy Dice had never disguised himself as ‘someone else,’ and was always more like ‘nobody.’ Either he could not fully take the appearance of an existing person, or at the very least it was something he avoided doing.
After all, Fuzzy Dice was still committing a crime, and if he was identified as someone else while doing that, it could incriminate an innocent person. So, he always disguised himself as a nobody.
「I see. So that’s how you figure he’s one of us.」
The adventurer seemed to understand the detective’s reasoning, and took a sweeping glance at his fellow adventurers. Around half were faces he had never seen around the city. He was an adventurer that lived in the city, and he pointed at six other adventurers, saying that he had known them for years already.
