158 – The Smell of Money
“I think there is a phantom thief in here.”
All eyes turned to the girl at the sudden bomb declaration.
Is there a phantom thief Raven in the middle? If that is true, you should find out and catch it right away, but the problem is that there is no basis to blindly believe the claim of a strange girl you have never seen before.
“Why do you think so?”
The governor questioned Sherlock with interest in his eyes.
“Because nothing has changed since the lights went out.”
Gadget frowned at the somewhat incomprehensible answer and asked back.
“That’s because we handled it perfectly. Why is that evidence that he is here?”
“The phantom thief is a style that moves after fully grasping the area he is aiming for. He must have noticed, of course, that there was a countermeasure in case the lights went out inside the safe. And yet, he dared to turn off the light…”
“Is this a smoke screen operation to divert attention?”
Sherlock nodded his head in response to the governor’s tidy arrangement.
“There is some truth to it, but it feels too tight. As you say, even if the smoke screen operation is true, isn’t there any evidence that there is a phantom thief in the safe?”
That was a pretty sharp point.
She admits that her intuition itself is quite sharp for a gadget she has been with Sherlock on quite often, but that answer could not completely clear the governor’s question.
But she didn’t mind at all and continued her explanation.
“The total number of people in the vault right now is 14.”
“…Did the numbers change while the lights were out?”
“No. The numbers have been the same since the beginning.”
It felt like the more the conversation went on, the more the questions piled up instead of being resolved.
She had no idea what the hell Sherlock was trying to say.
While Gadget was still pondering whether to stop her detective friend, Sherlock spoke again.
“All 12 people except for the two of us must be inside the bank.”
“Hmm. Yes.”
“Maybe that’s why I felt one thing in common from the first time I saw them.”
At some point, everyone held their breath and focused only on the girl’s story.
“Everybody smells like money. Since bills are scattered all over the bank, including inside this safe, it must have naturally blended into the personality of the employees who work here.”
“Oh…”
Gadget involuntarily exclaimed in admiration.
She herself doesn’t know exactly what the money smells like, even at the moment of hearing her talk, because at first glance she heard it, she sounded pretty good.
“But there is only one person. Among them, there are people who do not have the same smell at all.”
Sherlock held up her hand and pointed out her culprit.
“Isn’t it? Governor?”
“·······.”
“Who would dare to question the governor? Especially he wants someone who is willing to help them and show a friendly attitude.”
She stared blankly at her fingertip as she pointed at her gadget, which belatedly brought her to her senses.
She reminded herself of the fact that she had a goodwill towards the collision with the guard who was in front of the vault door and her attitude towards the safe.
She gritted her teeth and blamed herself for her own complacency.
She should have checked her disguise thoroughly, even if the king was coming, not the governor.
The higher the position, the more he should have been suspicious, but he foolishly believed it.
Clap!
Gadget immediately pointed a gun at his opponent and warned him.
“I will check the disguise. If you are not a thief, please calmly cooperate with the investigation.”
“Are you pointing a gun at me? Can you afford it?”
“I take responsibility.”
The people around him hesitate, not knowing what to do in a sudden and rapidly changing situation.
As Gadget aimed, he slowly reached out and brought it close to the governor’s face.
That moment.
“hahahaha. It’s fun.”
A completely different voice from before, even though it clearly came from the same mouth.
Realizing who the owner of that familiar voice was, Gadget opened his eyes and shouted.
“Phantom Thief Raven!”
“It’s been a while. Pretty detective sister.”
Upon hearing her smirk, she pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
Blank rounds fired with gunshots filling the safe.
However, the bullets did not hit the enemy and only indifferently cut through the air.
“Whoa. Calm down.”
The phantom thief disappeared from his seat in an instant. Even when he hurriedly looked around, he could only see the guards in confusion, but the phantom thief was nowhere to be seen.
Weeing! Weeing!
The magic detector started ringing before I knew it.
It meant that Raven used magic.
“I thought I would be fooled, but I didn’t expect to find it by smell. Isn’t that great too?”
“Because I am naturally sensitive.”
“But can I easily take out such an important card? From now on, I’ll even pay attention to the smell when I disguise myself.”
Sherlock responded calmly to Raven’s deft question.
“It’s okay. You will be caught today anyway.”
“That is scary.”
Is it because the disguise was caught, or was this the purpose from the beginning?
He didn’t hide himself or use any special tricks, he just broke through and took the jewel.
If there’s a problem, it’s that there’s no way to stop it even when you’re watching it right in front of you.
‘Was this guy originally like this…?’
The thief who reunited after a month was a little different from before.
At that time, I almost caught it right in front of my eyes and missed it, so I felt nasty, but now I feel helpless about how to stop it.
When she came to her senses at some point, Raven, who was floating in the air, held an emerald in her hand.
“I’ll take this. By the way, the president will be sleeping on the roof, so take care of it. Enough!”
Raven said goodbye sweetly and tried to leave the safe.
Boom!!
“I’m sorry, but I can’t send it to you.”
The executioner, noticing the commotion, blocked the thief’s way.
***
‘hahahaha…’
I felt embarrassed as I swallowed a dry laugh inside.
She never thought she would see this woman again like this.
This could be quite dangerous.
I roughly confirmed how strong she was by watching her fight with Granger last time.
Even that’s not all, according to Evan, there is a high probability that there will be one shot that can bring a dragon as a companion.
He’s a very dangerous opponent in many ways, but I didn’t mean to just let him suffer.
It was expected from the beginning that the Enforcer would appear.
Wasn’t Evan Reginald, who can be called the strongest of the executioners, personally marched last time?
Still, the reason why I sent a notice to the central bank and came to steal it was simple.
Because I am confident. Even if the executioner was the opponent, he was confident in stealing the jewel.
A thousand-year-old pearl obtained only after going through all sorts of hardships in the sea and meeting the Little Mermaid.
The power absorbed as if it was worth all the hard work was far greater than I thought.
Now I can say without hesitation. I’m the strongest among the freshmen in the academy.
Even if it’s Granger, I’ll win. No matter how fraudulent the summoning of a dragon is, isn’t it enough to knock it out before summoning it?
Of course, if you fight fair and square with the enforcer, you’ll lose.
But this isn’t a duel where you have to follow the rules. It means stop fighting and run away.
I focused on the opponent in front of me.
Katherine was staring straight at me with the door to her vault blocked.
Then she opened her mouth and started muttering something of her own. Realizing it was a spell, she immediately counterattacked.
Shook!
“Eup…?”
Her red handkerchief flew swiftly and covered her mouth.
Katherine’s eyes widened slightly and she stretched out her hand, frowning.
Whoosh!
With a sharp sound, the space I was in was completely cut. It’s a magic that makes me shudder whenever I see it. Even if it’s not a physical cut, if you imagine that I’ve become like that…
I looked closely at the last battle with Granger and figured out her weaknesses.
The only downside to that fraudulent magic is that it’s not targeting. In other words, if you have the ability, you can avoid it as much as you want.
In addition, she fixates her gaze on me whenever she casts magic. It’s probably magic that cuts out the desired space within the field of view.
Then, how about blocking the view through the smoke screen like now?
“Kuu…!”
A clicking sound from the other side of the smoke screen.
Okay. It’s going well as expected.
“Don’t look away.”
At that moment, Sherlock’s cold voice came from behind.
Green eyes shining brightly in the misty smoke.
But this was also a variable in my calculations.
Immediately, I manifested the magic I had prepared in advance and switched my body.
A nasty clown box was bouncing around where I was, and I succeeded in catching Sherlock from behind.
“Those pupils. No matter how you look at it, it’s the same.”
I tried to talk with the card pointed at her neck.
“As expected, you…”
Bang!!
A gunshot was heard then.
The sensation piercing my forehead without even time to react.
Amidst the sight of him collapsing backwards due to the recoil, I saw a man in a white uniform, wearing black sunglasses, smiling brightly, exposing his dry teeth.
“Let’s go. To the room of truth.”