Chapter 229.1: Investigating Fuzzy Dice (Part 1)

「By the way, I was told you're the most knowledgeable about Fuzzy Dice, may I ask some questions about him?」

「Sure, ask anything you want.」

Ordering their pancakes gave Mira a chance to switch topics and bring up the main reason why she was there, and the detective readily awaited her questions.

「First off, I'd like to know Fuzzy Dice's strength, how would you describe it?」

Her first question was the most important one, wanting to know how powerful her opponent was. Solomon had already told her he was a formidable foe, but that was only second hand information, while the detective had actually faced the thief in the past, so his information was more valuable. It was worth it to hear his opinion.

「His strength, huh... That's something I can't measure properly.」

But the detective's response was rather cryptic. He had actually been face to face against the thief before, but even then he had been far from witnessing the true limits of the thief's strength.

「There was a time I got 10 rank A adventurers to help, we surrounded the thief, and then...」

That was the story the soldier leader from earlier had mentioned. Ten high level adventurers had failed to contain Fuzzy Dice. But the detective knew more details.

All of them had been lying in ambush in the target's garden, and Fuzzy Dice walked right into them like they wanted.

But what happened after that was the problem.

「There wasn't even a fight. All of the adventurers there just fell asleep all of a sudden, and I can't remember what happened after that either.」

The detective remembered that like a faint dream. The ten adventurers had successfully surrounded the thief, and all they had left to do was to restrain him. But suddenly a thick fog filled the garden, and almost as quickly the adventurers began to fall unconscious. The frontline was the first to fall, and just as those behind noticed in shock, they also fell down. The detective was hiding a distance away, and he too lost consciousness shortly after witnessing what happened to the others.

「We only woke up when everything was already over. And that's also when I realized that the white fog had something in it to put us to sleep.」

The detective then chuckled emptily as he mentioned how every time he tried to confront the thief, he would fall asleep before realizing. No matter what spells or potions he used to avoid falling asleep, he would be knocked out cold every time.

Because of that, he had never truly fought the thief, and that was why his power could not be measured.

「I see...」

Through all of Fuzzy Dice's high profile heists, no one had fought him directly yet, making it impossible to say how strong he really was. All the detective could say was that he was strong enough to neutralize multiple high level adventurers.

On top of that, no one had found out exactly how Fuzzy Dice would put everyone to sleep either.

「By the way, have you been able to determine what Fuzzy Dice's class is?」

Any plans to fight would be rendered useless if everyone fell asleep before anything happened. And one managed to avoid falling asleep, it was very likely Fuzzy Dice already had further countermeasures.

The best way to prepare for that would be to know what Fuzzy Dice's class was, since that would narrow down the possibilities a lot. Just a distinction between warriors and spellcasters halved the means available to someone, so if Mira knew his class, she would be able to roughly determine his strengths and weaknesses.

But the detective just shook his head.

「As I mentioned before, no one has been able to confront him yet, so we have no clues to go by.」

If he used a spell, then it would be clear he was a type of spellcaster. And if he wielded a weapon skillfully and could channel fighting spirit then it would be clear he was a type of warrior.

But according to the detective, Fuzzy Dice had never used either of those.

「Would you be able to tell whether he's a spellcaster or a warrior at the very least?」

It was impossible to determine Fuzzy Dice's identity, and even his class was a mystery due to how he never showed his skills. Mira fell silent after that, trying to think of a way to learn something helpful, until eventually the detective spoke again.

「It's just a wild guess, but there's one class I'd associate with him.」

The detective said that with a bit of apprehension, likely because he had no concrete proof of it. But since there were no other leads for Mira, she told him to go on.

「A Forbidden Arts user.」

Making a wrong assumption could lead to wasted preparations, and an unexpected escape, so the detective wanted to be as careful as he could about making guesses, especially now that he had the famous Spirit Queen in front of him, as this was a very rare opportunity.

But his voice was filled with conviction, even as he stressed it was only a guess. He had confidence and pride in his instincts as a detective though.

「Oh...a Forbidden Arts user, you say... Considering he's a thief I would've assumed a more stealthy class, but I see.」

Mira was well versed in different types of spellcasters, so she knew that could be possible too. But as there was no proof of it, she still wanted to know more.

「May I ask how you came to that assumption?」

When Mira asked that, the detective's eyes lit up, and he replied, 「Well, if you'd like to know I'll happily tell you.」

That was when Mira realized his eyes were like that because he wanted to gush out. It seemed like Chief Detective Wolf was also the type of detective who loved to explain his deductions in detail.

「I'm basing that conjecture off that white fog that puts everyone to sleep.」

Mira tried to quickly add that she wanted a simple explanation, but she could not get the words out in time before the detective started talking.

His first point of focus was that fog that put him to sleep. If he could isolate it and analyze its components, then maybe it would be possible to create an antidote.

「I mentioned how he put me to sleep many times, right? But there was one time when I let him make me sleep on purpose.」

Out of all the times he had encountered Fuzzy Dice, there was one time he willingly breathed in the white fog. That did not seem to make any difference from the other times, but he stressed there was a difference.

He had prepared a medical team that was waiting for him to be asleep, and once Fuzzy Dice was gone, they took the sleeping detective to examine him and see if they could determine what compound had put him to sleep.

The results of the examination made him think of Forbidden Arts.

「With that in mind, there's largely three different ways to put someone to sleep.」

The detective spoke eloquently and filled with confidence, raising three fingers as he continued his explanation.