Became the Academy Romantic Phantom Thief chapter 220

220 – Stealth Operation

A treasure hunt on board started out of the blue.

For now, I accept Sharon’s proposal and quietly follow her, but it won’t be an easy task to find the hidden jewels in this spacious cruise. Do you have any special plans?

“How are you going to find the jewels?”

“I have to look around suspicious places one by one.”

“Um…”

It’s the most standard method, but it was subtle to see it as the best option in the current situation.

Because we didn’t have much time left. Since it had already been 30 minutes since we boarded the ship, there were only about 2 hours and 30 minutes left at most.

Of course, there may not be a big problem if the purpose is really just to see the jewelry.

If you’re trying to steal the jewels, as I first thought, things will be different.

Well, she couldn’t have come up with a clearer idea than the answer she gave now.

Since what I’m doing right now isn’t something I’m proud of, I can’t openly ask the crew.

But I had a much easier and simpler way than that.

[Looks like it’s in a safe inside a freezer in the basement.]

‘Thank you.’

The Goddess who so easily locates and informs me in just one second.

She could feel her own power in her jewels everywhere. Using that, she was able to figure out at once where she should rob when she normally works as a phantom.

Thanks to the goddess, I figured out the location.

The problem is how to tell Sharon about this…

To tell the truth, since I’m revealing my true identity, it’s not worth considering, and then I have to think of other excuses.

No, I don’t have to risk telling you where the jewels are, right?

I didn’t have to find jewelry anyway. Of course, I was curious, but I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t see it, because there was no reason to be desperate enough to see it no matter what.

The way a thirsty person digs a well. I’ll just help moderately by the side and induce Sharon to find the jewelry herself. I should take some time to appreciate how good her reasoning is at this point.

“Now, look at this first.”

“Huh? . . Where did you get this?”

What was in her hand was none other than a map. She had no choice but to panic because the guide map of the cruise, which she did not know when she had taken it, was right in front of her eyes.

“I drew it myself.”

“What?”

“I just drew it while comparing what was on her guide map with the places I checked myself.”

Saying it as if it wasn’t a big deal was something ordinary people couldn’t even think of.

Even at first glance, I thought it was an official guide map created by an expert with a clean design that could be understood at a glance, but to think that it was created by hand in such a short time.

···From the beginning, it was always attached to the side, but when did you draw it?

The more I got to know her, the more I admired her ability, to the point where I wondered if I had chosen the wrong rival.

After trying to calm down, I looked at the map carefully.

Fortunately, Sharon’s handmade map had quite a few empty spots. Her inboard guide map, which she must have referred to, only marked places that passengers could use, so of course she wouldn’t know about places like the food warehouse.

Sharon pointed to the empty spaces and spoke confidently.

“It must be one of these.”

“Why?”

“Because there is no way I would have left jewelry where passengers could reach.”

It was a reasonable guess, but even with that condition, there were still a lot of places to explore.

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“And probably more down than up.”

“Why?”

“We can come and go freely on the deck. If a theft does occur, it is quite difficult to identify the suspect. However, there is no particular reason for ordinary passengers to come and go underground, and even if they do approach it, it is much easier to block it if only manpower is placed on the stairs.”

As I listened to her explanation, I involuntarily nodded.

It was very easy to understand because it was given logical yet uncomplicated reasons.

Certainly, the places to be explored have been specifically narrowed down. Lack of time wouldn’t be a big problem if you focused only on the underground.

But another problem got in the way.

“How are you going to do it? According to you, the basement is heavily guarded.”

In the first place, access must have been restricted so that ordinary people could not enter.

It would have been simple enough for Raven the Phantom Thief to pass with a yawn, but it was different for a good academy student.

Because breaking through the guards and infiltrating a restricted area in any way is a mistake that cannot be overlooked. If they were caught, it would be very difficult in many ways.

Sharon answered my question without changing her expression.

“I got lost and entered the wrong way.”

“·······.”

Isn’t that too brazen to say with a map you made yourself?

I wanted to refute something, but since I had already decided to join her plan, it didn’t seem to mean much, so I just kept my mouth shut.

To be honest, I was curious about how Sharon would move. Isn’t the current situation a detective acting as a phantom thief? She said she only intended to look at the jewels, but she’s a man’s business and no one knows what’s going to happen.

Anyway, we moved on and headed for the stairs to the basement. In order to come up with a detailed plan for infiltration, you must first carefully grasp the surrounding conditions. In other words, it was like making a route as usual.

As expected, a sailor stood guard on the stairs. The only way down was actually over there, so I had to pass through those stairs somehow.

Confirming the existence of her crew, Sharon whispered in my ear as if tickling.

“Is there any good way?”

Slightly flinching at her whisper, I let out a clearing of my throat and answered appropriately.

“How about distracting him and then sneaking past…?”

It was said that the concept was lost and went down underground by accident, so drastic methods such as fainting the crew had to be excluded. Then, as for the remaining method, wouldn’t the one I just talked about be the most acceptable option?

“Not bad.”

After answering that, Sharon tried a fairly classic technique.

After hiding her body from view, he threw one of her coins at a reasonable distance while still within the sailor’s line of sight.

Jingle!

The coin made a clear sound as it hit the ground, signaling her presence.

“What coin…”

The sailor stared down at the lustrous coin, looked around her, and then slowly moved toward it.

We took advantage of that gap and quickly went down the stairs to the basement.

She looked at the back of the sailor who leaned down to pick up the coins and let out a blank laugh. I never thought there would be people who fell for this classic trick.

At first glance, it seems that there are no professional security guards, just ordinary sailors guarding the stairs. Maybe that person was just following the captain’s orders without knowing what he was guarding.

Anyway, they came down safely to the basement, but they were still not allowed to be careless. There were a few people wandering the corridors here too, though there were far fewer people than upstairs. Seeing that everyone is wearing uniforms, it seems that this floor is exclusively for sailors.

Well, I said that the place where the jewelry is is also inside the freezer. Of course, there must be people guarding that place too, so we decided to look forward to Sharon’s move to solve it.

We moved as stealthily as possible to avoid being noticed by the crew. At the same time, he did not forget to carefully inspect each place to see if there were any jewels.

Originally, I always did this by myself, but with someone else by my side, it felt a bit odd.

Especially in that the companion is none other than a rival of fate.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s even here.”

Since the situation is the situation, Sharon continues to speak in a low whisper. It was like she was listening to ASMR and her ears kept tickling.

If I had a bad voice, I would have ignored it altogether, but since he said it with a sweet voice, I was more concerned about it.

Since the search was carried out so slowly, it took quite a while to search the basement. Perhaps Yulia and Rachel are looking for us upstairs by now.

The good news is that he hides well without being noticed by the crew.

This was a natural thing for me since this is my original job, but Sharon was also much better at camouflage than I expected. This may sound a bit strange to her, but I’d say she has a knack for stealing.

Thanks to her, she took a bit of time but eventually she reached her destination safely.

According to the goddess, there is a secret room beyond this frozen warehouse.

“Something is strange.”

As soon as we stood in front of the warehouse, we noticed a sense of incongruity at the same time.

Because the door to the warehouse was slightly open. Even the surroundings do not feel the presence of the situation.

“Let’s go in.”

Carefully put her foot down.

The inside of the warehouse is so cold that white breath comes out as soon as you enter. As the goddess told me, as I approached the location of the secret room, my steps came to a halt.

“·······.”

Instead of a beautiful jewel, a cold corpse was lying on the floor through the wide open door of the secret room.