After dinner, Barrow and Behle came to give their reports, alternately rambling on and on.
The neighboring aristocrats had repeatedly invited them to tea parties.
A well-known merchant came to ask Jin to make something for him by name.
Most notably, Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Shoro, came to ask, <>(Three days later, the world conference was held.)
"And yes, there was an interesting incident.
"An incident?"
Yes. Two men were found tied up naked and abandoned in front of the guardhouse that protects the town of Leuthart. We found out that they were two notorious thieves.
"Heh. ......."
Nodding in agreement, Jin thought that the last case must be related to the old man.
So, after going back to his living room, he asked him through the manacam, and the answer came back just as he had expected.
"No, that's okay. Let's talk about it now."
The following is a summary and reconstruction by the old man.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Late at night.
<
"Sir, this is the house, isn't it?"
"Yes. I've heard that he is a new nobleman and that he is often away from home. I know from what I've heard that he's not here tonight.
Only the butler and his lady-in-waiting are present, is that correct?
That's right. That's a good bet.
They were the latest thieves to hit the market.
The two were the latest thieves to hit the market.
But the old man, the brains of Horai Island, who monitors the house, had already detected the two long ago and had overheard most of their conversation.
(>)
(The fence is high...)
"(The wall is high, but not so high that we can't climb over it. Here we go.)
"Oh!"
The two throw up a hooked rope toward the wall, and after confirming that the end of the rope has been hooked, they begin to climb along the hooked rope.
(<<
(<<
(
The two climbed over the wall with light movements, and when they were sure that there was no one in the yard, they jumped down onto the lawn without making a sound.
"(Okay, so far so good. Let's go around to the side.")
There was an emergency exit on the side of the house, and they headed for it.
"Here, here. Seb, come on.)
"I'll take care of it."
The man called Seb put his hand on the keyhole of the door.
"<>"
<>
(<
The old man is impressed.
(<>)
I think it would be better to add some anti-magic defense methods.
The two of them enter the mansion, unaware of the old man's intentions.
(Look at that picture on the wall. I don't know whose portrait it is, but it looks like it could be worth a lot of money.)
"But it's too big to take home."
"Yes, but it's too big to take home. But at this rate, we can still expect a lot of treasure.)
They may think they are talking in a whisper that only the two of them can hear, but the performance of the surveillance devices ......<> and <> installed in the <> is far superior to that of a human being. The performance of these devices is far superior to that of human beings.
Unaware that the old man was watching their every move, the two of them slowly made their way through the house.
"(This is the living room. I don't think there's much in here, but let's take a peek.)
They stepped into the living room on the south side of the first floor.
A dark shadow looms over them.
"What!"
"Don't make a sound, you idiot! It's an ornament!)
"Oh, you scared me. ......"
What they see in front of them is a knight in armor. Most aristocrats have one of these in their homes.
But this is not an ornament. It is a golem that can move when the need arises, and can take on crooks.
(*)
(
* (I'm going toward the guest room.)
"Let's go to the guest room. There should be more money there.)
"(Is it on the second floor? Is everything alright?)
(With your engineering magic and my physical skills, we should be able to handle most things.)
They whispered to each other, passed the room where Barrow and Behré were sleeping, and headed for the stairs.
"(The stairs are also very fluffy.)" "I can't hear your footsteps..."
"It's good that my footsteps don't echo."
And then they reached the second floor.
"Well, which one is it?"
One is Jin and Erza's room and the other is their bedroom.
"(I think it's on the west side.)"
After some hesitation, the two of them head for the wrong direction, that is, toward Jin and Elsa's room.
(<<
(<<
Naturally, since this is Jin and Erza's apartment, the security is three times higher than that of the other rooms.
*
"(...... How about this room?)"
The door is unlocked.
I gently open the door and take a peek inside. It is pitch black.
"Hey, there's a light."
"Okay. ......<>"
Seb turns on the light so that he can see around vaguely.
"(How ......?)"
The door was about 1 meter square, just like a doorway, and the floor was about 50 centimeters higher than the doorway.
"(Interesting room.)"
The floor was raised and covered with tatami mats so that a horigotatsu could be placed in the room, but there was no way the two thieves could have known that.
"But there's nothing of interest in here, is there?"
"(But there's nothing to see, is there?)" "Yes, but there's nothing to see. Let's look in the next room.")
They were right. If they had tried to step on the tatami mats with their feet on the floor, they would have been paralyzed without question, and the bones in their feet would have been crushed.
The next room they looked into was Elsa's living room.
The bedroom was covered with tatami mats, but she could walk around in her shoes in the living room.
"(...... smells good)"
"Big brother, wasn't this the guest room?"
"(Apparently so. This is the mistress's room. (Which means there are dresses, accessories, and other expensive things here.)"
Your judgment is correct. However, since most of them are made in Horai Island, it is highly doubtful that they can be sold on the black market.
(<<
(<>)
The old man continued to observe the two while thinking of something dangerous.
(Ah!
"(Oh, it smells good.... Is it perfume?)
The smell was the remnants of citran aroma candles, which Elsa liked.
The citran peel is extracted from the citran peel by <> and mixed with beeswax.
The mixture of beeswax and citran oil is done by engineering magic <> and <>, so it was not something that could be easily presented to the public.
In fact, they often use herbs with similar aromas, but Jin did not know that much about them, so he used actual citran peels, which were somewhat less volatile.
Hence, the fragrance lingers for a long time. The aroma lingers long enough to be noticed by intruders even though it has been more than a month since the last time we used the ...... scented candles.
So, the prototype scented candle is only used in Elsa's room.
"(Noble women smell good, don't they?)"
The two are rummaging around in Elsa's room, thinking that they might be considered perverts if they make a mistake.
So far, they have not touched her, but only observed her.
(*) <<
(<<>>>))
*
"(This one looks like a bedroom. Maybe there are some valuables in there. ......?)
"(I'd like to see what a noblewoman's bedroom looks like. ......?)
With that thought as the last, the two thieves silently lost consciousness.
* * * *
>,<>,<>>.
The old man finished his report.
"I see. So, the unconscious thief was stripped naked, wrapped in a bamboo mat, and thrown out in front of the guard station.