"The building has four floors. The ground floor is entirely for the guests, and security there is tight. The first and second floors are used by the host—bedrooms, studies, hobby rooms, and so on are all there. We'll take those floors. Walter and Ash, you take the third. That's where the guest rooms are, and apparently, some valuable artwork is kept on that floor. We'll meet back here afterward," one of the officers said, then, everyone quickly dispersed.
Arsh and Walter went up to the third floor as they had been told and began walking through the corridors. Arsh thought the manor was at least three times the size of Professor Reiner's main estate. Rather than a manor, this place resembled a palace. It felt as if every single corridor opened up into ten others.
"If a thief broke in here, he'd definitely get lost," Arsh said.
"Perhaps. He might not even show up... I hope he does, though. I want this to be over as soon as possible." Walter replied.
It took more than half an hour to finish their rounds through the winding hallways, with Arsh checking the unlocked rooms and Walter checking the locked ones. There was no sign of anything unusual.
"There are plenty of things worth stealing, but all paintings and vases... If it were me, I'd steal money or jewelry. Easier to carry. I wonder where they are kept," Walter said.
They continued to walk in silence.
"Arsh…"
"Hmm.."
"I was wondering—can you find where the jewelry and money are? Maybe it's enough if we guard the place that actually needs protecting."
"Should I try?" Arsh asked, looking at Walter. When Walter nodded, he closed his eyes and focused. For a long moment, he thought about money, gold, the jewelry on Miss Belowich, and similar things.
When he opened his eyes, Arsh saw the golden threads. It had been easier than he expected. "I found it," he said, surprising even himself.
"Wow... You'd make a great thief. Actually, if we teamed up, we'd make quite a pair." Walter said excitedly.
"Are you short on money?" Arsh asked. When he thought about how much Walter spent at music halls every night, he wasn't sure if the salary the FFSD paid him was enough.
"Extra money wouldn't hurt. Anyway, you go check that area now. I'll stay on this floor."
Arsh followed the golden threads and headed back downstairs. He passed through the hall where the guests were still enjoying the party, then continued down the corridors. When he was far from the hall, he found himself in an empty corridor. After walking a bit farther, he saw that the golden thread disappeared at the point where the floor met the wall.
'A hidden safe. Can "The Ghost" find this too?' Arsh checked the corridor. There was no one around.
'Shouldn't the security in a place like this be tighter? Why is there no one here? Other places are swarming with security. Or were they simply too confident that no one would ever find it? It was probably the latter. From the outside, no one would even realize there was a safe here,' Arsh thought.
While he was looking at the wall to see if it was obvious in any way that there was a safe there, two guards appeared in the corridor.
"Hey, you! What are you doing here? Waiters aren't allowed in this area!"
Arsh turned toward them and showed the tie at his collar.
"Even so, I don't think your access to this floor is approved. Please follow us," one of the guards said.
Without saying anything, he quietly followed the security guards back toward the main hall. The men whispered among themselves, talking about the guests at the party, the women, the food, and how much money must have been spent on all of it. Arsh continued walking behind them through the empty corridor, ignoring their conversation. He still found it strange that this corridor had been left so empty.
As they passed a man, their eyes met for a split second. The man nodded in greeting. Arsh returned the gesture and kept walking.
Just as they were about to enter the main hall, he felt a sharp, intense pain in his head. Lately, he'd been getting these headaches more and more often, at the most unexpected moments. Along with the pain, a sudden thought crossed his mind.
'I feel like I missed something,' he thought, trying to understand what was happening. But he couldn't understand why he was feeling like that.
"Are you okay?" one of the guards asked when they noticed he had stopped following them.
Arsh looked at the man, pressing his fingers against his temples.
"I am okay... But I want to ask you something. If entering that part of the manor is forbidden, why did you let that man pass just now?" he asked curiously.
Only a minute or two ago, the guards had warned him that entering that corridor was forbidden. Yet, neither of them had stopped that man.
"Which man?" one of the guards asked with a bewildered look.
"Didn't you see the man who just passed right by us?"
The two guards looked at each other first.
"No one else has passed through this side of the building except for us," the other guard said.
Hearing that, Arsh immediately turned and began racing back in the direction they had come from. Something was wrong. This time, the guards were right behind him.
Just minutes ago, the golden threads had been disappearing into the wall. But now a gap had opened where the floor met the wall. Moving closer, Arsh saw stairs leading down.
Just as he was about to step down the stairs, the guards blocked his way.
"You stay here. Going down is forbidden. We'll check," one of them said, while the other went down, gun in hand. But before long, he came rushing back up the stairs, his face pale.
"He's already gone!" he shouted to his colleague.
"Damn it… You inform the others. We'll move ahead with the police. He can't have gone too far yet."
Arsh and the security guard moved through the corridors and rooms together, checking for any open windows. Arsh tried to follow him with the golden threads. But no matter how hard Arsh tried to remember the man's face, he couldn't.
Soon, they found an open window. Arsh looked outside, but there was no one in sight.
"He probably escaped through here, but security in the garden is tight... they'll catch him soon," the guard said confidently. But Arsh wasn't so sure. These guards hadn't even noticed the man passing right by them. Then again, he himself hadn't done much better.
...
"Soon after, Arsh was escorted to a room by two security guards. There, he sat across from the chief of security for the Belowich mansion, with Walter and the other police officers by his side.
The atmosphere was tense.
The chief was yelling non-stop. He was laying into his men, shouting about how irresponsible and useless they were. Once he was done with them, he turned his anger toward the police.
"Do you have any idea what you've done? Do you have any clue how much the stuff in that safe was worth?"
"We warned you about security a long time ago. We told you that more personnel were needed. But not only did you leave the area where the safe is unguarded, you also got in the way of one of our members who was trying to help," said the police officer leading the patrol team.
"What was he even doing there alone?" the chief snapped this time.
Arsh felt that the man wasn't interested in solving the problem; instead, he was just trying to shift the blame onto someone else.
"Go on, tell me! What business did he have there alone? My guards insist that no one passed by them. And look at this—he's not even a police officer. Since when are foreigners responsible for public security?"
"I know what I saw. The man walked right past us, but your men didn't even bother to look," Arsh said calmly, ignoring the chief's shouting.
"Did you see the man's face clearly, Arsh?" one of the officers from the patrol team asked. It was the first time they'd had a chance to speak to him since entering the room.
"No. We made eye contact for just a second, but I can't remember his face."
"He says he cant remeber his face. Would you believe that! You should know that we won't let this go. You're involving some random guy in a police investigation."
Although Arsh paid little attention to what the man was saying, he could sense that Walter and the others were starting to tense up.