Chapter 850 |
Chapter 850 – Side Story 123: The Phantom Thief (2)
A temporary blackout occurred. The banquet hall regained its light, but a problem had arisen.
The Black Diamond, which could be called the true protagonist of this banquet, had disappeared. Benjamin, the host of the banquet, turned pale-faced before soon flushing bright red.
"Find it! Find it immediately!"
As soon as his roar fell, the guards moved urgently, rushing about. They too had no idea what was going on.
The people attending the banquet were bewildered about what had happened, but were busy buzzing about the news that a phantom thief had appeared.
Some muttered in disbelief while others couldn't contain their shock. There were over several hundred people. Considering the capacity, it was close to a thousand.
The surroundings were filled with guards, and that glass case wouldn't be made of ordinary material either. The lights had been out for no more than 30 seconds at most.
Normally there should have been greater chaos, but thanks to Rudger creating light, the time had been significantly reduced.
Then a commotion rang out from far away.
"Someone has set a lifeboat afloat on the sea!"
The outcry that arose amid the commotion reached everyone's ears. Benjamin's head snapped up sharply, and the guards seemed to sense something too.
"It's him! The phantom thief is trying to escape!"
"Stop him! We must catch him!"
The guards swarmed away. They had to retrieve the Black Diamond somehow. Some people, curious, also joined the crowd of people rushing about.
Naturally, people from media companies were also mixed into this ship party. Benjamin had held the party to show off that he would never fall victim to a phantom thief. To widely publicize this, the power of the media was essential.
The fleeing phantom thief and the people trying to catch him. Wasn't this a very interesting scoop? The people belonging to media companies moved with fire in their eyes to somehow grab the exclusive story.
And amid all this commotion, there were people maintaining their calm—namely Rudger and Casey.
"Did you see?"
Casey asked, and Rudger nodded.
"Yes. In that instant moment, he struck precisely while causing a blackout throughout the area. He must have intended this from the start. Tampering with the power system, that is."
"That's one thing, but he really stole the jewel in such a short time. As if he had leaped across space."
Rudger, perhaps feeling guilty, rebutted.
"It wasn't me."
"Who said anything? I'm just speaking metaphorically. Don't tell me you're reacting like that because I keep teasing you?"
"......"
"Alright, alright. I won't tease you. More importantly, what matters now is the jewel theft incident."
Rudger had no choice but to reluctantly let it go.
"It's truly amazing. Even though it got dark, it wasn't completely pitch black. Yet he could steal it so cleanly like this. How is that possible?"
Casey muttered as if talking to herself, curious about it. A smile had been hanging on her lips, as if unable to contain her enjoyment. Yes. This was her true nature. Seeking out cases and neatly unraveling tangled threads.
That's why people of the world called her a great detective.
"This is different from any method I've seen so far. It's not magic, nor is it a trick using some elaborate mechanical device."
Rudger simply listened to Casey's words in silence. He didn't open his mouth. Casey was currently in her own flow.
"Could it be physically possible to steal that in such a short time? Even that glass case is made of special material so it couldn't be easily opened or closed. Then what could it be? I have no choice but to form a hypothesis about this."
"What hypothesis?"
"First. That it's Benjamin's self-staged act."
Rudger thought for a moment before nodding. Certainly, if it were a self-staged act, a considerable portion of the situation that had occurred made sense.
"But this hypothesis must be discarded immediately. Because of Benjamin's personality. He's a successful businessman. This might be prejudice to say, but commonly such businessmen are extremely arrogant."
"I don't think it's prejudice though."
When Rudger muttered while recalling Benjamin's appearance, Casey also burst out laughing.
"Right. He likes to show off to others. He keeps trying to imprint how great he is. This ship party is the same. The phantom thief is targeting it, but rather because of that, he invited everyone with confidence that it wouldn't be stolen. If he openly protects the jewel in front of all these people watching, his reputation will rise even higher. But in the end, the jewel disappeared. If this were a self-staged act, it means all of Benjamin's actions are acting and he's someone who doesn't care about people's gazes."
The possibility of that was extremely low. That was Casey's conclusion. The way his expression was colored with all sorts of emotions as soon as he saw the jewel disappear wasn't something that could be done through acting. If that were acting, this should be evaluated as something far more tremendous than the phantom thief—Benjamin's acting skills.
"So my thought moves to the second hypothesis."
Casey spread two fingers to make a V sign.
"What is it?"
"That the phantom thief truly possesses some transcendent power beyond perception and stole the jewel with it."
Well, that could be possible. The world is wide and there are plenty of things humanity hasn't completely discovered yet. Right now, amazing things about the eastern continent beyond the Giant's Backbone were being discovered one after another.
A land where monsters that had disappeared resided. And yet humans were living there, forming civilization in their own way.
That's the kind of world it was. An unknown expert revealing their prowess was something that had been happening commonly these days.
"If there's a problem, it's why would an expert of that level be doing theft."
"Do they have kleptomania or something?"
"For that, the symbolism of the stolen items is too significant. But I was able to read one pattern here. The people who have been robbed so far, and those families. Broadly speaking... they were people who took excessive profits using business."
"In other words, the phantom thief's actions might not be simply self-showing off or satisfying kleptomania, but actions based on some grudge?"
"Right. When my thoughts reached that point, I could come up with a third hypothesis. This one just came to mind, but strangely I feel like this is the correct answer."
Casey said while extending her third finger.
"So, that jewel actually wasn't stolen."
At Casey's words, Rudger asked as if he didn't understand.
"It wasn't stolen? But what was clearly there disappeared."
"Yes. It did. Even someone's outcry about setting a lifeboat on the sea to escape was heard, and with Benjamin's reaction added, it was stolen. More precisely, it was made to look that way."
"Ho. That's quite interesting. Can you explain in more detail?"
When Rudger asked, Casey rather sniffed proudly and said.
"Of course. First look at the flow of the situation unfolding now. The jewel disappeared, and people are rushing around to find the thief. There are still many people left behind, but doesn't this flow feel artificial?"
"Continue your explanation."
"So the phantom thief targeted this situation from the start. Making people think the jewel disappeared to paralyze their reason and drive the atmosphere into further chaos. To make sure no one pays attention to that empty space where the jewel disappeared. But that's nothing more than a trick exploiting a loophole in human psychology."
Casey moved her fingers lightly. Tickling the air delicately.
Following her fingers, moisture in the air moved. There's no place in the world without moisture. Even inside that sealed glass case, moisture strictly exists.
Casey felt the moisture clinging to some object, forming its shape.
The smile on her lips deepened. Bingo.
"The jewel didn't disappear. It remains right there in that spot. The reason people think it disappeared is because the jewel isn't visually visible."
"Ho. Not bad."
"You roughly knew too, didn't you? Anyway, making the jewel appear to disappear is quite an interesting ability. The phantom thief makes people judge that the item has disappeared like this, then takes advantage of the gap when people's attention decreases to actually steal it. What we need to do is simple now. Just wait."
"You're not going to inform Benjamin that it's there intact?"
"That would be one method. But then we can't catch the phantom thief, can we? Making the phantom thief eat dirt would be pleasant, but it's not a fundamental solution to the problem."
"That's a lie. The truth is you wanted to see more of Benjamin stamping his feet in confusion."
"Of course, that's part of it too."
Casey stuck out her tongue. Rudger laughed softly. He couldn't blame her because frankly, Rudger wanted to do the same.
The lifeboat headed toward the dark sea. At Benjamin's urging, the guards launched other lifeboats to pursue the phantom thief.
Meanwhile, everyone returned to their cabins. Rudger and Casey did the same.
"Mm. It should be about time?"
After checking the time appropriately, the two opened their cabin door and came out. There were some guards, but they didn't restrain the two. They knew Casey's identity.
The place Rudger and Casey headed to was the storage room where valuables were kept. The location was the floor directly below the banquet hall stage. Since it was still full of valuables, guards were protecting it.
"They won't let us in there, will they?"
"Well, since when have we moved around asking for permission?"
Rudger and Casey exchanged glances. Words weren't necessary. They were perfectly in sync.
The two moved simultaneously. There were four people guarding the storage room in total. They were composed of the elite among the guards.
Judging by their exceptional physiques, they had probably once been knight aspirants. They didn't become knights, but still, it was common for those far stronger than ordinary people to flow into this line of work.
However, they were no match for Rudger and Casey. The two were strong enough that even a knight commander couldn't defeat them.
The four guards collapsed like puppets with cut strings. All knocked unconscious. They probably wouldn't even know how they were taken down.
Rudger and Casey stood in front of the storage room door. Naturally, since it stored valuables, the door itself couldn't be opened by unauthorized people.
But you don't necessarily need to open the door to enter inside. Rudger naturally wrapped his arm around Casey's waist. Casey didn't refuse that touch. Rather, she pressed her body close even though he hadn't pulled much.
The two were enveloped in shadows and moved inside the room. There was a magical security device, but it wasn't strong enough to shake such close coordinates. Even if its power had been strong, Rudger would have easily moved as if crossing the room's threshold.
Inside was filled with all sorts of splendid treasures and various items of unknown origin.
"How did someone in the maritime industry obtain these things?"
"It must mean his background is that dirty."
The inside was quite spacious. In other words, there were enough valuables to nearly fill this entire spacious area.
The two naturally found the glass case that should have held the Black Diamond. If this cylinder rose upward, it would be revealed on the stage on the floor above, right?
They must have operated the machine to put it back in its original place, but apparently didn't think to check the contents.
Sensing a presence then, the two immediately hid themselves. When Casey wrapped a curtain of water around them, light was distorted and their appearance vanished.
And after some time passed they saw some form rippling like a heat haze in the air approaching the glass case.
No energy was felt. It was a situation where you could barely see it even if you strained your eyes. But clearly someone existed there.
The two were certain. That fellow was the phantom thief.