The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Did Alice need the thief's mana? Of course she did. She had already gone to great lengths to uncover the person plotting to start a war between humans and demons. Now that she had come across a potential clue after hitting a dead end, she naturally wouldn't let go of it.

After discussing the matter with Mador, Alice got ready to visit the Royal Magic Tower. Although Alice could get Mador to deliver the magic crystal to her, she planned to visit the Royal Magic Tower's library, so she might as well go to Mador to retrieve the crystal instead.

Using her fake ID, Alice effortlessly entered the Royal Magic Tower once again. Over a week had passed since Lilith gave her this ID, yet the Royal Magic Tower still hadn't realized it was fake. Alice had to admit that the thieves working under Lilith had done a great job. Either that or the Royal Magic Tower's administrators were slacking off. Either way, it was good news for Alice. After all, if her fake ID was discovered, she'd have a much more difficult time sneaking into the Royal Magic Tower.

Very quickly, Alice arrived at Sector D7 of the Royal Magic Tower's first floor. This was one of the model courtyards in the tower. Although the tower's structure meant that this courtyard had a ceiling over it and was surrounded by walls on all sides, there was artificial sun and real vegetation here. As a result, the air was noticeably more refreshing here than in the other parts of the tower.

The Royal Magic Tower's administrators must have realized that the tower's occupants would grow depressed if they didn't get to breathe fresh air once in a while. Hence, they had specially made several model courtyards over the tower. They had also done a very good job at implementing these model courtyards. Honestly, if it weren't for the sun in the "sky" radiating obvious mana fluctuations, Alice would have thought she had just walked into an open area.

Currently, though, the courtyard on Floor 1, Sector D7 was practically deserted. Even though there were many seats in the large courtyard, only one of these seats was occupied. Meanwhile, this seat was occupied by none other than Mador.

"Lord Demon King, over here~" Mador quickly noticed Alice entering the courtyard and waved at her. When she saw Alice walking over to her, she reached into her backpack and pulled something out. Then, she offered this item to Alice and said, "This is the magic crystal I mentioned."

"Thanks."

Alice took the crystal from Mador's hand and looked at it. The crystal wasn't particularly big. It was roughly the same size as the charging cases of wireless earbuds she had seen before she transmigrated. Meanwhile, stored inside this blue translucent magic crystal was a trace of mana that had a fluorescent yellow hue.

"This is a custom-made magic crystal. So long as it makes physical contact with something or someone, it will automatically check if the other party has mana identical to the mana stored within it," Mador explained. "If the crystal comes into contact with mana different from what is stored within it, it will turn blue. If the mana is similar, the crystal will turn golden."

"I see. So this thing has an additional identification function."

Alice nodded to express her understanding. However, even though this additional function seemed like it had made it a lot easier for her to find her target, that wasn't really the case in reality. After all, there were far too many people in this world. She couldn't possibly get every single person to touch this crystal.

So, after pondering for a moment, Alice tentatively asked:

"Other than this crystal, do you have any other clues? Many people have come and gone from the Royal Magic Tower these past several months, so it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack if I only have this trace of mana to go by."

"Other clues, huh… I think I have another one?" Mador said after giving Alice's question some thought. "Truthfully, I've previously wondered why the thief would use magic when stealing the book. However, I found a somewhat unbelievable clue from the Rhine Kingdom's police after looking into the matter."

"You managed to get a clue from the police?"

Alice started to feel that Mador's intelligence-gathering capabilities were a little over the top. The police was a government organization in the Rhine Kingdom. The theft of a taboo book should be regarded as an important case, so there was no way the police would publicize information related to the case. In that case, how did Mador get the police's information?

"Actually, it's not that difficult to get some insider information, but let's not talk about that for now," Mador said, shaking her head. Then, she continued, "After investigating the crime scene, the police found that almost all fingerprints, footprints, secretions, and other traces were erased from the crime scene. As for the traces that were found, they were left by people who had visited the crime scene after the theft."

"Doesn't that mean there aren't any clues?"

Alice was a little confused. If the thief had erased all fingerprints, footprints, and secretions from the crime scene, wouldn't that make it even more difficult to identify the thief?

"No, no, no. The lack of traces is, in itself, a clue, Lord Demon King. The thief might have done an incredible job cleaning up, but it also shows that the other party is a professional. The magic used in this situation is 'Traceless,' a spell that typically only professional thieves could come in touch with," Mador said, wagging a finger at Alice with a smug expression on her face. Then, she continued:

"So, the criminal isn't just an amateur thief looking to steal the Demon King's Shadow, but a career thief instead. Actually, the police also came to this conclusion. Unfortunately, the thieving industry is an independent industry. Even the Rhine Kingdom's government can't extend its hands into this industry. So, even though the police had guessed that the perpetrator might be a veteran thief, they had no way to conduct a deeper investigation."

Indeed. The Thieves Guild was a powerful independent force that worked in the shadows. So, it wouldn't be easy for the Rhine Kingdom to intervene in the thieving industry.

"To find a person in the thieving industry, you, of course, need another thief's help. Although the Rhine Kingdom's government is working with some thieves, these thieves have very limited connections in the thieving industry. Their hands cannot reach into the deeper parts of the industry. As a result, the Rhine Kingdom still hasn't resolved this case even until now."

Mador took on a contemptuous tone when speaking about the inability of the Rhine Kingdom's government. Specifically, her contempt was targeted at the royal family. As the kingdom's rulers, the royal family should have deep ties with all forces operating within the kingdom's borders. Yet, the royal family had neglected the Thieves Guild. When she learned about this matter, she found it absolutely baffling.

"So, if you wish to find the culprit, it's best if you start your search from the Thieves Guild, Lord Demon King."

"I see. So, I should start by finding someone with deep ties to the thieving industry?" Alice held her chin as she pondered over Mador's suggestion. The first person that came to her mind was naturally Rosa. However, upon closer thought, Rosa might have a wide network of connections in the thieving industry, but she wasn't a citizen of the Rhine Kingdom. So, while Rosa's connections might come in handy in the Gryffin Kingdom, they wouldn't necessarily work well in the Rhine Kingdom.

Hence, Alice switched her attention to another person—Sylvia, the thief working under Lilith. After Kurse defeated the sledgehammer loli, Sylvia was the first person Lilith contacted to get help investigating the loli. Seeing as Lilith was willing to entrust such an important task to Sylvia, the latter should be considerably well-connected in the thieving industry. So, Sylvia might know some clues.

Looking back now, Alice found that her efforts in investigating the royal siblings weren't a complete waste of time. At the very least, she had learned about the Demon King's Shadow's theft from Collins and that Lilith's thief subordinate Sylvia could help her find her target.

Mhm… Alice also found that Third Prince Arcana looked even more useless now. However, he was only a child, so it was understandable that he couldn't be of any help.

"It seems you already have an idea," Mador said when she saw the change in Alice's expression. "I don't have any contacts among the Rhine Kingdom's thieves, so I cannot help you in this matter. I hope you don't blame me for this, Lord Demon King."

"You don't have any contacts among the Rhine Kingdom's thieves?" Alice couldn't help but look at Mador dubiously when she heard the demoness's words. She had always assumed that Mador could get her hands on such much information because the demoness had deep ties in the thieving industry. "How did you manage to collect all this information, then? By yourself?"

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"Well…" Looking up at the false sky, Mador cheekily smiled and said, "It's a secret."