Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

Actually, it is quite troublesome not to notice the other person.

After all, a young lady who wears an evening gown but does not look like a young lady at all and waves to the two of them while leaning on her car window will attract great attention no matter where she is.

"Sonoko~!!"

Mao Lilan didn't bother to complain about her childhood sweetheart, and greeted her with a smile.

Looking at Ran Mouri who was getting farther and farther away from him, Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"Women, what troubles you are~"

But his body followed very honestly.

Chapter 73: 'Snow Fairy'

Compared to Kudo Shinichi and Mao Li Ran, theoretically, Lan Ke and the others who arrived earlier should be faster, especially since they can use the "impression space" to continuously "jump" between various subway stations. However, when they really entered the local impression space, they found that things seemed to be different from what they imagined.

"What the hell?! Where do all those shadows come from?!"

After smashing a 'Jack Frost' to pieces with a single shot, Lan Ke couldn't help but complain in a low voice.

Shirou Emiya felt a little embarrassed about this. After all, they came to Hokkaido for his own reasons. Unfortunately, before he could say anything to comfort them, Lan Ke started complaining.

"Damn it! I don't even have time to collect the debt..."

"Collect the bill?"

Looking at the puzzled Shirou Emiya, Lan Ke remembered that the 'shadows' he had helped Shirou Emiya to solve before were all low-level shadows. Lan Ke was too lazy to waste time. After all, he couldn't get any extra benefits. It would be better to kill two more and maybe get some drops.

There happened to be not much 'shadow' left at the moment, and Lan Ke signaled the other party to follow him.

Lan Ke pointed his cane at a distance, and the 'Krupo Krupo' in front of him was ignited by the fire of hell. The weak-armed creature let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground. Seeing this, Lan Ke directly inserted his cane next to the other's head.

"Do you have any money?"

"?!"

"???"

Not only was 'Krupo Krupo' confused, even Emiya Shirou stared at Lan Ke with wide eyes in disbelief, as if he didn't quite understand what Lan Ke was doing?

However, based on his trust in Lan Ke, he still raised his pistol.

Faced with the 'bird-beaked monster' who hit him with a stick at the slightest disagreement, and the 'skull-helmeted monster' who attacked without a word but was extremely ruthless, 'Krupo Krupo', who had been infected by human desires and gone berserk, seemed to sober up a bit.

“Woo~Woo~~”

Seeing the other person's big tears, Emiya Shirou became more and more embarrassed, but Lan Ke was not moved at all. Instead, he raised his cane. The other party finally took out some gold coins from a small bag made of leaves...

"Crack~"

Lan Ke reached out and snatched it away, and before the other party could breathe a sigh of relief, he spoke again.

"Any more?"

Looking at Lan Ke who was pressing forward step by step, Shirou Emiya was a little confused for a moment about which side was the bad guy.

Finally, as 'Krupo Krupo' turned into a mask and was stuck on Lan Ke's face, Emiya Shirou lowered the gun with a complicated expression.

For some reason, Shirou Emiya always felt like he was helping the school bully steal the pocket money of the younger students.

Lan Ke was quite satisfied with his harvest. He didn't know whether it was because the level of 'Krupo Krupo' was slightly higher, or simply because there were not many people in Hokkaido so he collected more gold coins. In any case, Lan Ke nodded with satisfaction after counting the gold coins in his hand.

It seems that if I can just... 'convince' a few more monsters, I'll have the gold coins for today's 'Notice Letter'.

But at this moment, he suddenly noticed Emiya Shirou's complicated expression. He was stunned at first, then finally reacted and patted the other's shoulder.

"Don't overthink it. These possessed 'shadows' are filled with aggression because they've been infected by human negativity. What we're doing is helping them return to normal. It's perfectly reasonable to accept some compensation from them."

"Besides these gold coins, some monsters will also drop equipment or items, which will be of great help to our subsequent strategy. I believe Shirou knows how to choose..."

In response, Shirou Emiya shook his head and signaled Lan Ke not to worry too much.

He is no longer a child, so he naturally knows that there is no perfect solution in this world. In order to protect his sister, he even does not hesitate to dirty his hands. In comparison, what Lan Ke did was much more restrained.

Seeing that Shirou Emiya had recovered his composure, Lan Ke patted him on the shoulder and took out a map, motioning him to look over.

"According to the information you have, Shirou, Roswaal Z. Mezas's courtyard is not far away. We will soon be there. What we need to do next is to find the people associated with the Witch Cult, locate them in the Impression Space, and then torture them to find out the location of the Witch Cult's ritual site..."

That’s right, Lan Ke and his friends’ next destination is the place where the ‘Witch Cult’ holds ceremonies.

Because according to the test of "Extra-Dimensional Navigation", the temple of "Roswaal Z. Mezas" does not point to the villa where he lives at the moment, so Lan Ke thinks the most likely location is the territory of the "Witch Cult".

It's a pity that Roswaal Z. Mezas is easier to identify because he is a wealthy businessman. On the contrary, the other members of the Witch Cult are just small fry and cannot be easily identified.

For this reason, Lan Ke and his team could only take a stupid approach and start with the people around Roswaal Z. Mezas.

This was Shirou Emiya's first real participation in 'stealing hearts', so naturally he didn't say much but just nodded continuously.

Lan Ke didn't waste any words. After arriving at the "Mezas Mansion", he signaled Shirou Emiya to leave the "cognitive world" with him.

With a feeling of dizziness, Emiya Shirou returned to the material world again.

Obviously, the two of them were just in an ordinary patch of grass, but for some reason, listening to the chirping of insects and looking at the lush trees, he always felt as if he was in another world.

The biggest impression the 'cognitive world' gave him was one of depression.

According to Lan Ke, the "cognitive world" corresponds to the human cognition of the "material world".

"Does this mean that most people feel that this world, or life in general, is too depressing?"

Faced with a completely unfamiliar world, Shirou Emiya always couldn't help but instinctively collect relevant information.

But at this moment, Lan Ke's mumbling caught his attention.

"what happened?"

"Nothing, just a guy who shouldn't be here showed up."

"?"

"It's that Kudo kid..."

Following Lan Ke's explanation, Emiya Shirou also reacted instantly. Wasn't Lan Ke talking about Kudo Shinichi who stood up when he asked a lawyer for help due to "special reasons"?

I didn't feel anything before, but now that I know Lan Ke's true identity, the scenes I saw before suddenly became blurry.

A thief becomes a detective's assistant?

What’s the difference between this and a mouse being the cat’s bridesmaid?

"Docter, are you worried that the detective will influence our 'stealing hearts'?"

Lan Ke shook his head.

"That Kudo kid's reasoning ability is indeed outrageous, but reasoning also needs to be tested. As long as he doesn't know the existence of the 'cognitive world', he won't be able to catch us. He might even help us get back at it. I'm worried that 'Roswaal Z. Mezas' will be killed by that kid..."

⑴○ㄚi樲崰弎0㈨ノ╲

Shirou Emiya could understand Lan Ke's initial explanation, but he was a little confused about what he said later.

"Kudo-san will curse?!"

"No, it's more accurate to say that guy attracts 'death', which is why he frequently appears at crime scenes. If we go by statistics, he might be the culprit behind the rising death rate in Tokyo..."

Shirou Emiya felt that what Lan Ke said seemed to be no different from what he said.

In the past, he would never have believed in the so-called "curse" or "attracting death", but having just walked out of the "cognitive world" and still wearing the "Phantom Thief Suit", he found that he no longer had the position to deny such things.

"So what do we do next?"

"While uncovering the secrets of the Witch Cult, I'll keep an eye on Roswaal Z. Mezas. I don't want to see my target killed right after I've finally completed my 'change of heart'..."

Speaking of this matter, the corners of Shirou Emiya's mouth twitched unconsciously. After all, from a certain perspective, he was also "deeply affected by it".

If Lan Ke hadn't considered him as an accomplice of the "shooter", he wouldn't have come looking for him, and naturally, he wouldn't have been exposed and eventually "tricked" into the Phantom Thieves.

So he may have quite a grudge against the murderer of the "Zeyue Shooting Case".

"Leave this to me."

Although Shirou Emiya cannot search for enemies in the air, he is also good at sniping. He can first find a suitable sniping point and then "wait for the opportunity".

As long as someone wants to snipe 'Roswaal Z. Mezas', he can catch them!

Seeing Shirou Emiya's confident look, Lan Ke nodded to him.

As a surgeon, Lan Ke is very aware of the importance of "professionalism". Just as he is better at surgery itself, tasks such as post-operative medication, anesthesia, and retractors are all left to specialized people.

Therefore, he has always advocated "leave professional matters to professionals".

And there is no doubt that Emiya Shirou is a 'professional'.

But at this moment, Kudo Shinichi, who had changed into a small suit and followed Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko into the "Mesas Residence", suddenly looked in the direction of Lan Ke and the others.

Although he couldn't see the figure on the hillside because of the trees, his intuition told him that someone was watching him.

"Shinichi? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just felt like there was someone on the hillside..."

After hearing what he said, Mao Lilan didn't say anything, but Suzuki Sonoko raised her head and looked hard for several times before looking at Kudo Shinichi helplessly.

"Kudo, have you been suffering from a nervous breakdown because of lack of sleep lately? There's no one on the mountain? Could it be that the 'Snow Fairy' is targeting you?"

"'Snow Fairy'? What's that?"

"It's a local folklore. It's a creature similar to 'General Winter,' but in the form of a cat... It's said that this 'Snow Fairy' has always been guarding a fairy princess, and the blizzards that occur nearby every winter are caused by it to stop ordinary people..."

Listening to the gossip that Suzuki Sonoko shared for him, Kudo Shinichi couldn't help but complain.

"Yuanzi, if you put half of your energy into gossiping, your academic performance will definitely improve significantly."

"Long-winded!"

Suzuki Sonoko was obviously unhappy with Kudo Shinichi's complaints.

Didn't this idiot see that Xiaolan was very interested in the 'princess'?!

Chapter 74: 'Strange Legends' and 'Strange Traditions'

Although Kudo Shinichi's emotional intelligence is worrying, fortunately, Suzuki Sonoko, who has entered the "old mother state", has amazing fighting power and suppressed him by herself, so the topic can continue.

"According to local legend, the Fairy Kingdom where the Fairy Princess lived was invaded by an evil magician hundreds of years ago. To protect the Fairy Princess, the Snow Fairy, who had always been guarding her, unleashed a blizzard that completely covered the entire Fairy Kingdom. The Fairy Princess was also frozen in an ice sculpture. Only someone recognized by the Snow Fairy can brave the blizzard and awaken the Fairy Princess..."

Suzuki Sonoko's face was full of anticipation when she talked about the story she knew.

It was obvious that she had unconsciously imagined herself as the 'fairy princess'.

It’s a pity that there was a guy at the scene who didn’t know how to read the atmosphere.

"I think according to this logic, wanting to awaken the princess isn't about gaining the Snow Fairy's approval, but rather about being more capable in combat than the other party. And if the Snow Fairy can stop the Evil Magician, why would she freeze the Princess?"

As he spoke, Kudo Shinichi seemed to get excited.

"And this 'legend' sounds very similar to Western princess fairy tales. Basically, the prince goes through trials or defeats monsters to finally rescue the princess..."

Kudo Shinichi, who is good at reasoning, admires "logic" the most. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that as he spoke, not only Suzuki Sonoko looked at him with displeasure, but even Mao Li Ran beside him looked a little lost.

It is obvious that even though Mao Lilan is not as obsessed with flowers as Suzuki Sonoko, she is also very much looking forward to the "princess" thing.

Seeing her friend's increasingly lost expression, Suzuki Sonoko became furious.

Is this Kudo Shinichi really stupid or just pretending to be stupid?

Just as she was about to take action, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Legends also change over time, and these changes are often closely related to the thoughts of local residents. If you are interested in 'legends', perhaps you can go to the 'library' to look for it. You may find a 'story' that interests you~"

Kudo Shinichi was instinctively stunned when his complaints were suddenly interrupted, but he was even more surprised when he saw the person coming.

The extremely classic and expensive-looking gorgeous dress from the Tsarist era, coupled with his tall and straight figure, can be said to be a very charming man as long as he looks normal.

But the other person had extremely strange makeup on his face, making him look like... a clown?

Compared to the stunned Kudo Shinichi and the somewhat nervous Mori Ran, Suzuki Sonoko quickly adjusted her expression.

"Excuse me, Lord Metzas."

Although she seems unreliable at ordinary times, she has received elite education since childhood. Usually she just "doesn't want to" rather than "can't". At least when it comes to etiquette, Suzuki Sonoko can be said to be meticulous.

The man whom he called 'Count Mezas' smiled, put one hand on his chest, bowed slightly to Suzuki Sonoko, and then smiled at Kudo Shinichi.

"Welcome everyone, it's my honor to have you and your friends here, Ms. Suzuki~"