The fairy maid cheers for her deceased master today.

Irene licked the ice cream stains from the corner of her lips, and the irregular hem of her emerald-colored skirt brushed against the toes of the patrolman's boots.

She had heard rumors of a minor disturbance at Crystal Palace, and now it seemed to be true.

Her detective badge gleamed like cheap copper in the sunlight—it was glued on with theatrical prop glue, and the edges were curled up.

That's right, she's an unlicensed detective, which means she's a fake detective!

"Miss Fairy, this is a restricted area." The patrolman's hand rested on his holster. "By order of the Templars, no unauthorized personnel allowed."

This is the scene of the crime.

Elena suddenly laughed. She took off her badge and tossed it into the air, the swirling metal reflecting the rainbow-like light from the Crystal Palace dome: "Shouldn't you be focusing on solving the case instead of stopping a professional detective like me?"

The patrolman's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Just five minutes ago, the Templar Knight was roaring, "What the hell are you police doing!"—a scene he vividly remembered.

Before you knew it, the green-eyed fairy girl was already squatting in front of the booth, squinting at the display case in front of her.

The patrol officer tried to pull her away, but she nimbly dodged.

"You haven't even figured out what the thief did, yet you're blocking people who can find clues? Oh no, fairies?"

In reality, people don't usually distinguish between such details. For example, for the sake of convenience, referring to a person and a fairy as two people is quite common in this era.

The patrol officer finally hesitated.

Elena's pointed ears twitched as she caught the lingering magical fluctuations deep within the exhibit, spreading out in concentric circles like ripples on water.

"Interesting." She licked her lips. "An unprecedented magic... and fairies are involved?"

The items inside the glass case looked cold and lifeless.

Elena's fingertips were about to touch the glass when she abruptly pulled her hand back.

The silver barrier instantly glowed, completely halting Elena's movements. The barrier was like a red-hot iron, burning hot to the touch.

Elena took out her special testing device, which resembled a compass.

"Beep." The green light from the detector swept across the booth.

The energy indicator reading jumped. 37%.

She clicked her tongue and pulled out a crumpled notebook. Yesterday's entry, written in pencil, read: 91%.

She had long known that some of the exhibits here contained special energy. Now it seemed... the other party's purpose was very clear.

"There's nothing much to see, the exhibits are all intact," the patrolman said, leaning closer. "I heard a thief stole something but returned it. It's practically a provocation..."

"Are you sure the exhibits are intact?" Elena glanced at the patrol officer.

"But...the Templars say the exhibits are intact..."

"Their tin-headed minds only care about whether things are there or not, not what's inside. They really should send a church deacon over here." Elena suddenly laughed, revealing two small fangs. "Like your wallet in your pocket, the bag is still there, but the money inside might not be."

The patrol officer hurriedly reached for his wallet.

However, Elena was just trying to scare him.

She then ran to the remains of the mechanical doll.

Over there, the engineers were still arguing around the control box. A fat man wearing a bowler hat waved a wrench: "It's definitely too much pressure! I told you these gears were unreliable!"

"You're talking nonsense! Our gears are absolutely fine."

"But the gears are all deformed!"

"...The gears were secretly replaced by someone else, weren't they?" Elena suddenly interjected after listening for a while.

The crowd fell silent. One engineer's face turned a beetroot color: "Who are you? What do you know about mechanical principles, you little girl—"

But after observing, Elena had confirmed the facts.

"So that wasn't a glitch, but someone's magic trick."

She took out a pencil and drew a delicate gear in her notebook: "The thief replaced the gear, deliberately causing the control box to malfunction, which in turn caused the puppet to go out of control. The purpose is—"

"Draw the Templars away!" someone shouted, "So the thief can slip into the building in the chaos!"

Irene's green eyes lit up.

"Very clever. However, solving cases is this detective's job. Farewell—"

Irene quickly used the detective badge to thoroughly investigate the British and Persian pavilions.

The detective badge is very easy to use; it can be shown and then put away, and most people can't see it.

Fortunately, the Templars are all out right now, and the police are much easier to fool than those rigid guys.

Well, maybe it's because the local police often rely on detectives to solve cases, so they have a certain respect for them. They won't deliberately obstruct investigations unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks to the dim-wittedness of the local police officers, Elena managed to get all the information she could from them.

Finally, Elena laid the notebook out on the wooden crate at the spice stand and poked at the list with the tip of her pencil:

The incident: Around noon today, a theft occurred. The suspect allegedly stole two relics, but later returned them to their original place. The entire incident caused a major commotion, and a Templar Knight even fired a shot.

Although the noise from the various mechanical exhibits in the Crystal Palace prevented the commotion from escalating, the Templars and the police felt utterly humiliated.

During this period, the Knights Templar and some police officers came into contact with the prisoners.

So, if we want to confirm the identity of the criminal—

Suspicion 1: The aristocratic accent is a flaw.

"The black-robed knight encountered a suspect. The man was pretending to be from Yorkshire, but Yorkshire people don't say 'exposition,' they say 'grand exhibition.' And his accent was so fake, like a theatrical prop…like my badge?"

"I understand. The criminal deliberately concealed his original accent. He's most likely a local, which is why he used a foreign accent to divert attention."

Suspicion 2: The suspect's lost pocket watch.

"It's pure silver, but there's no sign of oxidation. It's a brand new pocket watch. The police shouldn't be mistaken about that."

"The pocket watch case has no craftsman's signature or manufacturer's mark on it... It wasn't bought, was it made by yourself? The other party must have at least some connection with the workshop."

Suspicion 3: The ribbon that appears to have been dropped by the perpetrator.

"The ribbon was of top quality, but the silk thread was mixed with traces of machine oil from the workshop. This indicates that the prisoner frequently spent time in the machine shop."

"Only nobles like to use high-end goods, but that involves engine oil. Are they fallen nobles?"

Suspicion 4: The criminal was able to bypass the barrier and steal items directly without disturbing the magical barrier.

"The only thing that can counter magic is magic... fairy magic, you know..."

"The criminal must have a demon accomplice."

Just then, a patrol officer came over to take a look: "What did you figure out? What are you mumbling about?"

"It's nothing, just speculation."

Elena suddenly closed her notebook.

"Alright, alright, I'll inform the police if there's any news. You can stay here and get back to work."

"Why do detectives all have this bad habit of liking to keep things secret?"

The patrol officer shook his head helplessly.

"Don't worry, everything is going according to my plan."

But Elena already had a plan in mind.

Based on current information, the thief is most likely a local impoverished nobleman, accompanied by a magical fairy who also understands mechanical manufacturing.

By narrowing down the suspects this way, we should be able to get down to a very small number of people. Then, we can probe around a bit more, and finding them shouldn't be a problem.

However, these are all just guesses. Even if we guess correctly, there is no evidence to arrest the criminal.

Detectives need evidence to arrest people!

Besides, the prisoner didn't actually steal anything. At least not outwardly.

and……

Elena looked down at the energy detector in her hand.

The target is some kind of energy within the relic...

Is the other person the one I've always wanted to "repay"?

No, if it really were "that person," there would be no need for such trouble, let alone petty theft.

Perhaps we should find the thief and have a chat with him first.

If the goal is simply to find the thief, evidence is not actually needed.