NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 264: Forest Village (2)
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Something about Artesia’s charisma had attracted plenty of volunteers, and now their school offered a better education than proper schools.
「Alright, now come over here!」
While Mira took in the sight, Lastrada was already walking into the church. So she trotted after him and then began looking around the interior of the building.
It had not been long since she visited the cathedral in Haxthausen, and by comparison, this place looked so plain and boorish it was hard to think of it as an actual church. There was a place of worship inside, but it was not filled with the same sense of solemnity.
Only the statue enshrined further in had a stronger presence, so it probably was more important than just a mere idol.
Mira looked at all of that while they passed through the place of worship, before going through a door on the other end and reaching a short corridor leading to a set of stairs.
「She’s probably in that room, considering the time…」
Lastrada muttered that as he began going up the stairs. The classrooms were likely up there, and Mira followed after him, feeling like she was visiting a school in a rural area.
They went all the way up to the third floor, and at the end of the corridor, there was a room labeled Angel Room. Inside, they found a lady making funny faces to the baby she was holding.「…」
Mira stood silent watching that, hearing the baby’s giggles which seemed rather befitting of the room’s name. She had not expected their reencounter to include those funny faces.
「Oh, welcome back. Wait, is that her?」
The lady quickly adopted a more serious look, appearing more like a holy mother as she looked at Mira, her eyes showing a tinge of shock.
「Yes, in the flesh!」 was Lastrada’s reply, and Mira stepped forward.
「It’s been a while, Artesia.」
That lady wearing a plain robe and cradling a baby was none other than Artesia herself.
「Lala filled me in before, but I see you actually turned into a girl. Now you’re known as Mira, I was told.」
Artesia squinted as she looked at Mira, carefully examining her, before suddenly reaching out and patting Mira’s head while looking ecstatic.
In response, Mira yelped, 「Wait, stop that!!」 and retreated in distress. At the same time, she realized that unwittingly, her current appearance fell into the category that triggered Artesia’s maternal instincts, who was extremely fond of children.
「Listen, I’m not a child. Don’t mix that up.」
Mira quickly attempted to clear things up, and Artesia smiled and replied with a soft, 「Yes, I know,」 but her eyes were still the same as if she was talking to a young child.
Lastrada had already told Artesia everything there was to know about Mira, so the fact that Artesia was still looking at Mira under that light showed just how severe Artesia’s condition was.
Artesia loved every and all children equally, and Mira could not escape from that category.
Eventually, they moved past that, and the three old friends sat down around a small table to kick back and catch up with each other.
「By the way, how come you became Fuzzy Dice in the first place?」
As they talked, Mira finally brought up the question that had been bugging her the most. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of Lastrada becoming a thief who announced all of his heists to the public beforehand.
「Well, about that…」
Strangely, it was Artesia who decided to explain that.
Still cradling the baby, she told the story of how the persona of Fuzzy Dice came to be, and the kidnapping that led to it.
It all started around seven years in the past. Back then, Artesia had been in charge of an orphanage in a small village, located in an area where the forest was less dense.
One day, the children of the orphanage were abducted.
That obviously filled Artesia with endless rage, pushing her to mercilessly crush the bandits responsible for the crime, and then pursue the nobles who were involved with the underground trade of children, forcing them to confess so the proper authorities could punish them.
Mira was shocked to hear that, as she had heard that same story in the past, except that it was believed to be Fuzzy Dice’s first heist.
But that also explained why that first heist had been done in such a different fashion from the modern ones. Fuzzy Dice’s very identity had changed after the first incident.
「I was shocked to hear Artesia actually went that far, but when I saw the public’s reaction, I realized they appreciated it quite a lot.」
Mira’s next question was how Artesia passed on the torch of Fuzzy Dice to Lastrada, and Lastrada began explaining that part of the story.
At the time, all the public knew about the incident was that an anonymous informant had aided in finding the necessary evidence. In other words, it was like a hero of justice had brought those evil nobles’ deeds into the light.
At around that time, or rather, ever since he arrived in this world, Lastrada had made it his mission to fight the evil lurking in the shadows of society. He had been following the trails of a vast ring of slave traders, which led him to the city where that noble Artesia went after lived, and he witnessed everything play out.
That noble was judged and sentenced in a matter of days, which was unusually fast, but they said it was due to plenty of evidence being available.
It also happened that the noble was Lastrada’s lead in the city.
「Maybe he was judged so quickly as a way to stop him from ratting out anyone else.」
Lastrada added that with a grumble, as that also meant the trail went cold.
But without giving up, he decided it was worth it to look into that anonymous informant, to see if he could learn anything from them, only to be met with the surprise that it had been Artesia all along.
After their reencounter, they began talking and exchanging information. Lastrada learned a bit more about the ring of slave traders he was investigating, and Artesia learned that the noble she pursued had only been the tip of the iceberg.
Artesia would obviously not sit still knowing that there were more people preying on defenseless children, so they decided to join hands and work together to destroy them.
And so, taking over the persona of a mysterious helper cheered on by the general populace, Lastrada reinvented himself as the Phantom Thief Fuzzy Dice.
Fuzzy Dice’s ultimate goal remained the same since then, to gather information and evidence about that large slave trader ring, and then take it down and bring everyone involved to justice.
All of the thief’s targets so far had all been involved with the slave traders, and there was more evidence than was provided to the church and Union, the pair would keep everything related to the slave trader ring.
「Hmm, I see. I assume that means you won’t be able to come home until you’re done then…」
They were also confronting a major enemy, so even though Mira had found them, she sighed, feeling like she would not be able to bring them back with her yet. Or at least she gleaned that much from their conversation thus far.
Hearing that, Lastrada seemed to recall something and asked, 「That reminds me, why were you looking for this place, General?」
General, that was the nickname Lastrada used when referring to Danbulf. Back in the day, Danbulf was the one who looked the most like an actual wiseman, and stood as a sort of representative of all nine. He also tended to act like a hero of war. Because of a similar reason, Solomon was the Commander in Chief for Lastrada.
「Right, about that…」
It had been a while since Mira had been called by that nickname, which brought back many memories. Before she answered the question, she felt it necessary to explain the end date for the Limited Armistice Treaty, and the current state of the Nine Wisemen.
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