The cold-faced earl doesn't want to trigger the plot

Riber, on the other hand, looked at the strange thief with a strange expression.

This strange thief seems to be more timid than he imagined?

It was exactly as Chris said, the first moment she heard Chris's voice before, Miss Phantom Thief made half of her escape posture.

And the reason why Miss Phantom Thief doesn't want to run away now is that, rather than believing that Chris is harmless, it is better to say that there is another person who can see through her, which makes her even more uneasy.

That kind of feeling, like if you run away without getting an answer, Ms. Phantom Thief may not even be able to sleep well at night.

"No, no, your cross-dressing is perfect. So, it's not so much that I saw through you, it's better to say that I saw the strangeness of the Earl. No, it's not right. The Earl is not abnormal, it should just give We prompt."

Chris replied, then pulled a chair from the side table and moved over to it.

With a smile on his cheek, he looked at Liber and the strange thief at the table.

It seems to say "don't pay attention to me, the audience, please continue, both of you".

Volume 78: Chapter [-], The Phantom Thieves

"If I remember correctly, you kid should be a detective, right? Detectives, you should be the ones who most want to catch me, a phantom thief, right? You say you just want to join the conversation, but it's not credible at all."

The strange thief looked at Chris vigilantly and said.

"Of course, I also want to catch Miss Phantom Thief. However, I feel that even if I have the ability to catch Miss Phantom Thief, it's meaningless. Because I have to follow the rules after all. Then, what should I do in order to be able to face a How about proving her 'guilty' when she is a phantom thief who can pretend to be any innocent person at any time?"

Chris shrugged.

Listening to Chris's words, Riber said in his heart that it made sense.

Among the roughly several forces that Riber currently knows, the Knights and the official forces of the Xinmei Kingdom associated with it are probably the most difficult.

Because, if the monster thief falls into the hands of the old nobles, the old nobles will not care about any evidence or not, and if they think she is guilty, she will be guilty.However, if she falls into forces such as the church, the church may use some supernatural power to force her to confess her sins.As for secret organizations like the Church of Scourge...

Only the knights, who are the face of this emerging kingdom, must follow strict procedural justice when catching the strange thief, so that the strange thief can be finally convicted.

And it was better when he was arrested directly under Riber's command, like at the banquet.

In the current situation, even if the strange thief directly faced Veronica and went to visit the headquarters of the Knights.If the knights want to arrest someone, they need to find a way to prove that this person is a strange thief, not an innocent commoner Veronica.

But can it be proved that this kind of thing can really be done only by formal means?

These disguises of the strange thief are basically in the category of magic.

But only magic can defeat magic.

Riber sighed silently in his heart.

It was precisely because of the several encounters with the Knights after coming to Greenwater City that he deeply understood how delicate and embarrassing the situation of the Knights was.

That's why his senses of the Knights kept jumping back and forth between sympathy and contempt.

But thinking about it, Riber suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"Since you played Veronica, where is the real Veronica?"

Riber stared at the strange thief and asked.

"Oh? The majestic Earl, would you actually worry about the safety of a commoner girl? But, unfortunately, it was too late. When I was playing her, if she suddenly appeared, wouldn't it be troublesome? So , I have naturally put her..."

The strange thief said, and made a movement of slowly wiping his neck with his thumb.

And the next moment, the strange thief suddenly felt that the surrounding air seemed to be a little colder.

She saw the earl on the opposite side staring at her, that's all.

But it was such a simple move that made the strange thief feel an indescribable pressure.

She felt that time seemed to slow down, allowing her to clearly see the facial changes on the Earl's face.

The strange thief never thought before that the face of the earl, who was already indifferent and cold, could turn a step closer to indifference.

The pupils without a trace of luster, deep but hollow.The sharp-edged face does not contain the slightest emotion.

Not annoyed or angry.

The count seemed to be simply looking at a corpse displayed in front of him.

"Just kidding, kidding, kidding!"

The strange thief stood up suddenly, waved his hands again and again,

"I just slightly modified the letter your housekeeper sent to Veronica, making her mistakenly think that the interview is three days later."

"Hmm...Although words like 'reputation' are not suitable for a criminal. However, in the past incidents of strange thieves, there was indeed no personal injury. Moreover, I have asked Miss Yabu and De Mr. Ke, went to Miss Veronica's house to investigate the situation. Probably, there will be news soon."

Chris continued the words of the phantom thief.

"so."

Riber said indifferently, and then picked up the teacup again.

And the strange thief opposite Riber finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn't even know if she was hallucinating.She always felt that a huge black shadow-like thing appeared on Riber's body earlier...

Sitting back on the seat again, the strange thief thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why Riber on the opposite side could be so scary when he got angry.

Isn't that an earl?

It's not like she hasn't seen it before.

...

After a short break, the conversation resumed.

"Now, please tell me the purpose of sneaking into this restaurant deliberately, Miss Phantom Thief."

The person in charge of the conversation, I don't know when it started, it became Chris who claimed to be "just watching",

"Of course, please don't say that it is to fulfill the promise in the 'Challenge Letter' to seize something important to the Earl. If it is just for theft, there is no need to pretend to be Miss Veronica, Lurk to the earl's side."

Chris said.

"Oh, since you mentioned it."

Said the strange thief, stood up and dodged to the corner of the wall like the wind, and then hid for less than five seconds.

When it reappeared, the strange thief turned into a noble lady in a white coat and a white hat, and then sat back on the table dignifiedly.

"Now, even if you brought the real Veronica here at the same time, the Knights have no reason to arrest me."

The strange thief said with a smile, with a hint of complacency in his expression.

And watching the strange thief silently from the sidelines is "cautious" if it sounds good, but it's just an act of "counseling" if it's ugly.And, contact her previous performance.

Ribel vaguely smelled, um... the same kind of breath?

"The purpose of my lurking here is naturally to find out how this Lord Earl used to expose my disguise."

The monster thief replied generously.

Seeing that the conversation at this table is really approaching the direction of an ordinary tea party, Riber's heart is quite complicated.

Just look at these guys.

Detective, Phantom Thief...and Victim?

The composition of this staff, tsk tsk...

"Miss Phantom Thief is not lying, because Ms. Phantom Thief does have a reason to know about this. Even if it's for another phantom thief..."

Oh?

Riber was successfully aroused by Chris's words.

However, the Phantom Thief seemed calm.

"Miss Phantom Thief and her partners must have never expected that. At the banquet a few days ago, Ms. Phantom Thief would not only be seen through her tricks, but also be captured in public. Therefore, under the circumstances of being unable to communicate that night , another phantom thief will perform a 'performance' in Greyside Town, which is more than [-] miles away from Greenwater City."

Chris smiled and said,

"Based on the ghostly whereabouts of the 'Phantom Thief' in the past, it is entirely possible that she committed crimes in two different towns overnight. However, the other 'Phantom Thief' has not had time to escape from prison. ..This kind of thing happened, but it was just a flaw.”

Miss Phantom Thief still didn't speak, but Riber could see that she was restless.

"Before this, I really didn't expect that the "Phantom Thieves" actually existed in plural, and they were a group. Come to think of it, others, like me, have never thought about such a thing. After all, the Phantom Thieves have always been The same image, the same method to commit the crime. Because of this consistency, let us ignore the fact that 'the strange thief can pretend to be anyone', and subconsciously ignore the matter of 'anyone' including the 'monster thief' itself This is a psychological trick just like the fake ones at banquets. From this point of view, the Phantom Thieves are still outstanding with this wisdom alone, even without the magical power of 'transformation'. ..”

"That's enough! Didn't I tell you all that I came here to find out how to expose us? It's really long-winded!"

Miss Phantom Thief patted the table, then frowned at Ribel, and said annoyedly.

Looking at Miss Phantom Thief who seemed to be breaking the defense, Ribel was happy in his heart.

I have to say that it is quite reliable to have such a smart detective as Chris as a companion.

He doesn't need to do anything, Chris will just reveal the other party's thoughts, secrets and other things on his own.

Of course, the reliable premise of Chris is that he didn't bother to brag about his "Lord Earl".

but...

Phantom thieves are plural?

For a piece of information that Chris inadvertently revealed, Riber was actually shocked.

"Hehe, please don't get excited, Miss Phantom Thief. I said the same thing, I believe what you said is not a lie. However, I have a question. Miss Phantom Thief's purpose now is obviously after being exposed by the Earl at the banquet, It was just born. Then, before, Miss Phantom Thief targeted the Earl, and why?"

After being asked, the strange thief was obviously taken aback.

Not only that, even Riber was stunned for a moment.

Could it be...does this need a reason?It's not that the strange thief doesn't like "Greenwater's Hero", so he wants to kill his prestige... No, this is wrong. If this is the reason, isn't the strange thief just a little sick?

It was only then that Riber realized that when he was dealing with the plot, some places were far-fetched.

However, he didn't think it was his fault.

After all, he had never seen a strange thief before, er, it should be said that he had never talked to a strange thief.

So I don't know that Miss Phantom Thief is actually a "normal person" in essence.Instead of the demonized "pleasure prisoner" in his imagination.

"I just don't like him, can't I?"

Miss Phantom Thief raised her eyebrows, looked at Chris and said.After finishing speaking, she realized that the "unpleasant" person was opposite her, and was staring at her as if examining her.So, he shrank his neck unconsciously.

"This is not good, Miss Phantom Thief. If you are not honest, how can the Earl tell you what kind of flaws you have in your cross-dressing, which can be seen at a glance?"

Chris said with a meaningful smile,

"At least, I'm not sure whether the earl's see-through rule is applicable to other people. Ms. Phantom Thief can't sleep well at night, right?"

"..."

Miss Phantom Thief was silent, pursing her lips forcefully.

"Don't forget, this isn't just about you...it's about the entire Phantom Thieves team."

Miss Phantom Thief showed a very shaken expression.

Although, Miss Phantom Thief showed a certain timidity.But Riber believes that she should also be a "tough guy".However, no matter how tough a tough guy is, he will become weak when the people around him are threatened.

Therefore, compared to directly threatening Miss Phantom Thief herself, Chris' clever transfer of threats to the "Phantom Thief Team" is undoubtedly more effective.

just,

only...

The hero of this sad witch line, is this detective Chris serious?

How do you act like a villain who persecutes a woman from a good family?

"Ok."

Miss Phantom Thief sighed as if she had "got it", and began to talk about the reason why she wanted to target Ribel.

The reason is that it has to go back to more than half a month ago.

The companion of Miss Phantom Thief, who was active in Grayse Town, was suddenly hunted down by a "brave" level adventurer.

Although, this adventurer seems to have limited intelligence, so he can't see through the disguise of the strange thief.However, he had a beast-like intuition, which drove Miss Phantom Thief's companions into danger several times.

Moreover, this adventurer has a characteristic.

Strong in a mess, a mess...

The Phantom Thief companion, who was really unbearable by the adventurer, approached the adventurer after simply pretending to be, and asked him why he pursued the Phantom Thief so frantically and persistently.