I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 846 - Side Story 119: The Scent of Water (2)

"Wake up. It's morning."

Rudger said, but there was no movement from the other party. He grabbed her shoulder and shook it, but beyond the blanket, there was only a groan and a slight wriggling of the body.

Rudger let out a small sigh.

"I told you to go to bed early, but it seems you stayed up all night again."

Well, he wasn't in a position to talk. He had been writing in his journal late into the night himself and had barely fallen asleep when fatigue overwhelmed him.

But what Rudger couldn't tolerate was the messy state of the room. Even when resting or sleeping, shouldn't it be done in a clean place?

Rudger threw open the window with telekinesis.

-Whooosh

The wind blew in and swept away all the stale air in the room. The piles of books and papers scattered around rose up with telekinesis and stacked themselves neatly in one corner.

If mages had seen this scene, they would have been shocked. Not only because of the precise control Rudger displayed with his magic, but because he used it merely to clean a single room.

-Clatter clatter clack. Whooooosh!

Was it because of the sound of the wind blowing and objects moving busily here and there? Casey, who had been sound asleep inside the blanket, could be seen curling up even more. The few strands of hair that had been sticking out slightly also retreated back inside the blanket.

Rudger watched this for a moment, then reached his arm toward Casey.

A black shadow spread like a puddle from below and Casey was moved, blanket and all. The location was the soft sofa in the living room.

"Ack."

Casey's groan could be heard from below. It was probably because he had deliberately raised and dropped her from a height. It wouldn't hurt, but it would wake her up a little.

Rudger continued organizing the room. He showed the efficiency of more than twenty housekeepers working alone, but even so, it took over 10 minutes to finish cleaning.

Looking at the finally tidy room, Rudger sighed. While it looked satisfying and nice now, the moment Casey took up residence again, it would become messy within 3 days.

Even when told to organize it, she wouldn't listen, so he was starting to think that perhaps he was the one at fault for speaking up.

He went back downstairs through the stairs. When he arrived in the living room, he saw a giant water droplet there.

On top of the water droplet, swollen in defiance of surface tension, Casey was sleeping soundly. Perhaps even the fairly soft sofa wasn't satisfactory? She had created a water bed on her own.

'To maintain magic even while sleeping.'

What was more amazing than that was Casey's ability to maintain such magic while in deep sleep. Normally, a mage who has fallen asleep cannot properly use magic. Using magic while sleeping is the exclusive domain of the Dream School.

Yet Casey was doing it. It wasn't difficult to explain why. It was because she was a genius.

Separating her unconscious and conscious minds, maintaining magic even while sleeping wasn't a difficult task for her.

Leaving behind Casey, who was showing impressiveness in a peculiar way, Rudger prepared breakfast.

Breakfast was always simple. He brewed coffee and toasted bread. And it was done once he added eggs and bacon with appropriate fruit and salad.

It was a simple meal, but perhaps because the cooking method was executed just right, it looked good and smelled good too.

Rudger naturally placed food for two on the table. The moment he untied his apron, hung it on one wall, and sat down.

Before he knew it, Casey was sitting half-awake in the seat across from him.

What a surprise. Rudger flinched like someone who had seen a ghost.

He hadn't felt any presence at all while she was taking her seat. She had probably unconsciously sat down because of the smell.

Rudger smiled and placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of Casey. Casey immediately lifted the coffee cup and drank it after blowing on it.

"Mmm. Bitter."

A slight whine. But it was enough to awaken her hazy mind.

The light of reason slowly returned to Casey's eyes.

"If you're awake, go wash up first."

Rudger said, using his finger to remove the hair stuck to Casey's cheek.

Casey immediately created a large mass of water in the air.

-Swooosh!

The water quickly ran over Casey's face. Perhaps she had finally come to her senses, as Casey's posture became a bit more upright.

"Thank you for the meal."

Casey, who had lightly blown away the moisture from her wet hair, immediately began eating.

And so the two continued their meal in silence. It was then that Casey, who had been slicing her toast, opened her mouth.

"Oh right. Did you hear the news?" 

"What news?"

Rudger telekinetically floated a newspaper beside him and scanned it with his eyes.

"It seems some interesting incident has been happening recently." 

"An interesting incident."

Rudger's gaze fixed on one part of the newspaper. He seemed to know what interesting incident Casey was talking about.

"It seems a thief has struck." 

"Not a thief, apparently they're calling them a phantom thief."

A phantom thief had appeared and stolen items that nobles treasured. This was already the fourth time. The reason this was only now being revealed was that even after being hit three times, the nobles had tried to hide this matter as much as possible out of pride.

"And then the fourth incident finally happened, and they could no longer keep people's mouths shut." 

"Interesting. A phantom thief in times like these." 

"Why is it interesting? Don't tell me you're remembering old times?"

Casey asked with a mischievous smile and Rudger could only give a bitter smile.

"Well, I won't deny it. For one thing, they're actually a phantom thief who has robbed nobles' houses, so I do think their skills must be truly remarkable."

What was even more interesting was that this phantom thief sent warning letters to their targets announcing what they would steal.

When even stealing items secretly would be difficult enough, they sent warning letters openly declaring they would steal? What was even more surprising was the fact that despite such preparations, they were thoroughly defeated by the phantom thief.

"Just how skilled must they be to do that?" 

"Hmm. Are they a mage perhaps?"

Rudger muttered softly, stroking his chin with his hand. For now, the most likely possibility was a mage. If the power of magic was added, they could do things that ordinary people couldn't.

For instance, escaping by flying through the sky, or hiding from people's sight.

"That's probably not it. Among the nobles who were robbed, some had protections related to magic. But it seems no magical alarms went off." 

"Where did you hear that?" 

"I deduced it. The third family to be robbed was the Whisperds. That place has always been a renowned mage family. There's no way a mage would be robbed by another mage, right?" 

"Or perhaps they were caught by a mage of very exceptional skill." 

"Ahaha. What a joke. If that were possible, you'd be the only one."

Casey laughed briefly, then asked with a serious face.

"...You're not, right?" 

"What do you take me for? It's been ages since I graduated from that." 

"No, but you never know. Maybe you're just finding life boring and tedious lately, seeking excitement and thrills?" 

"With the world's greatest detective by my side?" 

"The area under the lamp is always the darkest." 

"You're not such a foolish detective that you can't see what's under the lamp either."

Casey stared at Rudger with a blank face.

"Ugh. You really don't lose a single argument. Well, I was joking too. I know the other party isn't a mage, and I also know it's not you. That's why it's interesting. If it's not magic, then what method did they use to pull it off?"

Rudger shrugged his shoulders. There was no way for him to know. But an indescribable heat flickered in Casey's eyes.

"Oh no. You, don't tell me..." 

"I haven't had anything to do lately, so this came at a good time while I was bored. Let's move right now!" 

"Move? Don't tell me you're going to find this phantom thief?" 

"As a detective, I can't just leave a phantom thief who steals people's belongings alone! It's time to restore justice to the world before there are more victims!" 

"Just a moment ago you said it came at a good time while you were bored..." 

"Ahem! That's enough, so hurry up and get ready! Quick quick! The detective is moving, so can the assistant and partner just do nothing?" 

"When exactly did I become an assistant?" 

"Can't be helped. Betty is completely independent now. And honestly, aren't you curious too? Who exactly is the phantom thief? As a former phantom thief, you could even look and evaluate." 

"I told you it's been ages since I graduated."

Rudger let out a small sigh. If Casey had decided to do something, there was no changing her stubbornness. The best he could do was go along with her wishes.

Well, even considering that, it was true that he was also curious. The fact that there was a phantom thief in this day and age, and just what method they used to break through tight security and steal the nobles' treasures.

-Ding dong

Just then the doorbell rang. Rudger glanced briefly at the front door.

"I'll go check."

Casey nodded and continued finishing her breakfast. Shortly after, Rudger returned. He was holding a letter in his hand.

"This came." 

"An invitation?" 

"Can you tell without even looking?" 

"The phantom thief incident was in the newspaper like this, so I thought it was about time for it to come. Otherwise, wouldn't it be neglecting their duty?"

Casey seemed to have known that letter would come from the moment the doorbell rang. And also who the letter was for.

"I can tell just from the seal. It seems a tycoon has been targeted this time." 

"You mean the Berhem Company." 

"Yes. It's a bit curious that a giant in the maritime industry has been marked as a target."

Casey took the letter from Rudger, tore open the seal, and immediately scanned the contents with her eyes. Then she grinned.

"Here. You read it too."

Rudger quickly scanned the letter Casey handed him. Indeed, the general situation was as Casey had expected.

However, one variable has been added here.

"To invite us to a huge cruise ship. This is curious in its own way." 

"They probably judged they couldn't easily stop it even at the estate. So they're thinking of openly floating a ship at sea to easily identify the culprit. But since that seems too much like running away, they seem to want to invite people under the pretext of holding a party on board." 

"The item they declared they'd steal is a jewel?" 

"A black diamond. A diamond that grows only in the environment of the southern desert, which has an extremely rare probability of being created when combined with magical power. It's a treasure so precious it's hard to put a price on it." 

"And they're targeting that."

And naturally, the invitation was for a party aboard that cruise ship.

"Are you ready, partner? A new case is calling us."

Casey, perhaps excited for once, pushed back her chair with a scrape and stood up abruptly. As if she couldn't wait any longer, she tried to quickly change her clothes.

Rudger hurriedly stopped Casey.

"Wait a moment. Casey Selmore." 

"Why? Can't you see we don't have time right now? We need to move quickly!" 

"We still have time until the appointment. And."

Rudger pointed to the empty plate.

"Didn't you agree to do the dishes after breakfast?" 

"..." 

"You were trying to sneak away under the pretense of going to solve the case, weren't you?"

Caught. Casey's face became one of dismay.