Now.
It was time for pleasant free activity.
A certain someone walked silently along the pathways of the Great Mining Area, stroking his chin in thought.
"If it really has nothing to do with Sampo, then things feel a bit complicated."
Stealing from a museum—if it wasn't someone like Sampo with near-divine agility that's only just a tiny bit worse than his own, then there was probably an insider.
Initial judgment: there might be a mole in the Upper District!
Moreover, the theft of artifacts had blown up so big that even Sveta said the Great Mining Area was crawling with eyes.
Then Sampo definitely knew about this one hundred percent!
He really wasn't involved?
Obviously a certain someone didn't believe that.
If Pela hadn't agreed to make Zeig a shareholder, a certain someone would have wanted to go find Sampo and do it together himself.
"Either there's a mole in the Upper District, or Sampo is a participant—or maybe both!"
A certain someone recalled the brazen behavior of that theft gang in the Underworld.
This group in the Underworld seemed awfully familiar with the miners here.
Even familiar with the kids.
"My dad's been making tons and tons of money lately!"
"?"
A certain someone couldn't help looking to the side.
The speaker was a little girl, currently excitedly telling something to a little boy.
She bounced up and down in delight:
"He bought me so many, so many new clothes! The kind you can't even buy in the Underworld!"
After hearing the little girl's bragging, the little boy scoffed:
"Tch, big deal! My dad bought me something really expensive lately too!"
"Hey! A model of the ding-ding train! Haven't seen one before, have you? Way more valuable than a few ordinary clothes!"
A certain someone froze for a moment.
He pursed his lips, didn't linger, and walked off in another direction.
He paced silently through the Great Mining Area. Along the way, all sorts of miners passed him by.
They chatted and laughed, seeming even more cheerful and hearty than the last time Zeig had come to the Underworld.
Amid the laughter and talk were just ordinary mining team matters—they sounded like legitimate miners.
The deeper Zeig went into the Great Mining Area, the quieter it became.
Fewer and fewer miners passed by.
"…"
Standing on the road surface, a certain someone looked into the distance.
Sparse population.
There were small side paths branching off the main road here and there.
A certain someone suddenly broke into a run!
Amid the rhythmic footsteps, he didn't think twice—just saw a side path and dove right in.
After darting into four or five side paths in a row, he finally spotted two Automaton Troopers at the edge of the sixth one!
Of course, Automaton Troopers in the Great Mining Area weren't unusual—some miners used them for auxiliary work.
But why did Zeig notice these two in particular?
"…"
About a finger's length ahead, the two Automaton Troopers had him completely blocked.
"Beep—beep! Alert! Alert! Intruder detected! Intruder detected!"
"Beep—! Protect cargo! Protect cargo!"
The two Automaton Troopers blared noisy mechanical alarms, their red eyes glaring fiercely as they lunged straight at Zeig.
…
About five seconds later.
Only two piles of mechanical wreckage remained in front of Zeig.
He silently stepped around them and headed to their rear.
There were stacks of crates piled on the ground.
A certain someone flipped them open one by one and found the contents had already been removed—the traces were still fresh, probably taken not long ago.
"Ah, came too late."
A certain someone silently collected the wreckage of the two robots.
If he couldn't find any leads, he'd hand them over to Pela and let the Silvermane Guards extract data from them—might turn up something new.
After stowing the wreckage, he continued wandering the Great Mining Area.
This time he stuck to the main roads.
Finally, he spotted a poster stuck to the roadside.
A certain someone narrowed his eyes and read it aloud:
"Recruiting temporary porters, mechanics, security personnel. Easy hours, excellent pay. Please contact…"
The contact information had been crudely scratched out.
"Damn it, they scratched out the contact info but didn't tear down the poster—deliberately leaving it for people to see, huh." a certain someone grumbled.
A certain someone silently retraced his steps.
Back at the Great Mining Area gathering spot, he handed the gathered intelligence over to Pela.
Pela furrowed her brows slightly:
"I understand. You're saying someone in the Underworld is inciting the miners to organize the artifact thefts."
She turned to Zeig again:
"I've made some progress on my side too. According to the miners here, they've recently noticed some people acting strangely. A few vagrants who almost never left the Great Mining Area before are now constantly heading to Boulder Town for no reason."
A certain someone said matter-of-factly:
"If the miners are involved, it's not surprising the vagrants are too."
Pela nodded:
"I asked the Silvermane Guards stationed in town to check all the key locations."
A certain someone glanced around—still too many eyes here—so he pulled Pela to a quiet spot and dumped out the wreckage of the two Automaton Troopers:
"These are the two that attacked me. I beat them up. If you extract data from them, maybe you'll find some leads."
Pela blinked:
"Huh, you actually brought them back. Alright, I'll get someone who knows the tech to extract it right away."
So Pela squatted to the side and tapped away on her phone.
Soon, a Silvermane Guard hurried over.
After bowing to Pela and Zeig, he got to work extracting data from the Automaton Troopers.
A certain someone got a bit bored waiting and wandered off.
He kept searching through the crowds in the Great Mining Area gathering spot but couldn't spot the top dog anywhere.
"Huh? The Underworld's top dog isn't around?" a certain someone wondered.
He'd wanted to chat with her a bit and kill some time.
At that moment, he noticed a miner lying on the ground sleeping.
"…"
…
Some time passed.
In a daze, Zeig felt a small foot stepping on his stomach, grinding down hard.
He slowly opened his eyes.
What came into view was Pela's jade foot wrapped in black stockings.
"You're something else, huh—lying on the ground sleeping right next to him?" Pela looked down and teased.
At this moment, a certain someone was lying side-by-side with a miner on the ground.
Seeing Zeig wake up, Pela withdrew her foot. While bending down to put her shoes back on, she said:
"Combining the Silvermane Guards' investigation with the data extracted from the Automaton Troopers, we can now confirm there's a connection with the miners and the vagrants."
"Among them, some have been in and out of guest rooms at the Goethe Grand Hotel. The Silvermane Guards are checking it now."
A certain someone sat up, rubbed his eyes, and mumbled groggily:
"They found something?"
"Not yet—they just went."
"…"
A certain someone immediately lifted his head, narrowed his eyes, and said in a low voice: "Then why the hell did you wake me up!"
"Oh, I saw you sleeping and felt a little unbalanced inside."
"…"
"Damn it!"
…