Chapter 360

"It is indeed a bit too much…"

After glancing at Leon's mountain of dishes, the female police officer nodded silently, then began eating from Leon's plate while leaning in close, lowering her voice in a conspiratorial tone:

"Leon, the incident that caused such a uproar recently—the Secret Investigation Bureau has finished its investigation. It was definitely the radical rebels!"

Recently?

"The Gold Finch Marquis who drowned himself in the lake?"

"Before that!"

Before that…

Hearing this, Leon's heart stirred slightly, and he ventured cautiously:

"Are you referring to…?"

"Of course it's the burning of the Boarding Tower! Didn't you read the papers?"

"…"

"You really didn't read them!"

After staring at Leon in disbelief, the female police officer couldn't help but complain:

"Even though it's not directly related to our work, you're still part of the Police Force—surely you at least subscribe to the Police Special?"

"…"

It's not about subscribing or not—it's that I burned the Boarding Tower myself, and the AI inside the airship is still gathering dust in my Mirror World.

And incidentally, you're involved too, since the forged credentials and uniforms I used to sneak past the checkpoints were all taken from your unregistered Police Force storage…

"Forget it, if you didn't read them, then you didn't."

Unaware that she herself was an accomplice in the Boarding Tower attack, the female police officer shook her head, gave up trying to explain the importance of newspapers, and decided to just include Leon in her next subscription. Then she grew solemn:

"If you don't know about the Boarding Tower, then at least know it was burned—and along with it, a very precious special airship was lost."

When the Kingdom of Krolak heard the news, they reacted with extreme fury, immediately pressuring our Kingdom through their ambassador, demanding results within two months—even if they can't identify the criminal, at the very least they want the missing core components of the airship recovered."

"So… this job got dumped on your lap?"

"What else?"

Scooping up a large spoonful of rice pudding and chewing it furiously as if venting her rage, the visibly exhausted female police officer said helplessly:

"Who else are you going to send to find criminals and recover stolen items? The Finance Force's corrupt leeches?"

"Leon, do you know? After the Krolak ambassador sent the formal protest, declaring that if there's no result within a month, they'll cut off certain economic ties and temporarily shut down airship routes, the capital's high-ups panicked!"

The Princess, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance… these past few days, layer after layer of officials have been pressuring us relentlessly. Only the Princess offered to help; everyone else grew harsher than the last. In just a few days, the Minister of Public Order's hair turned completely white…"

"Don't just listen to me—eat your food! It's getting cold!"

"Oh, right!"

Forking a piece of fried cod into his mouth and chewing mechanically, Leon frowned in deep thought:

"No wonder so few cops have been coming to eat lately, and everyone looks just like you—like they haven't slept in days. Were they all deployed?"

"Exactly!"

Plucking a slice of apple pie from Leon's plate, the female police officer groaned:

"Especially our Secret Investigation Bureau—we've been handling the rebel cases all along, so we've taken the most blame. Our new director gets yelled at daily by the Minister of Public Order, comes back covered in spit, and then yells at us… Look over there!"

As she spoke, she pointed her fork sideways. Leon followed her gaze and saw a police officer with darker circles under his eyes than Isla, hunched over his meal, staring blankly as he scooped mashed potatoes with a spoon, his head nodding listlessly.

Honestly, watching him eat like a sparrow pecking at grain, Leon wondered

whether he even knew where the spoon was—he looked ready to shove it straight up his nose.

"He's from our bureau's overnight field team. He just finished his patrol this morning and has to go straight to a meeting after eating…"

After sympathetically glancing at the exhausted colleague, the female police officer said with palpable dread:

"He's already on his third rotation—that's the easy part. The first-round teams? We went over seventy hours without sleep, patrolling half the capital. When we came back, we felt like we were dying…"

"I'm totally fed up! Those rebels are insane! Why not just kill the Finance Minister? Even storming the Royal Palace would make more sense! Why target the Boarding Tower?"

"Honestly, I'd rather they went back to trying to assassinate my dad than endure this kind of overtime… Seventy hours straight! I don't even know how I survived it!"

"…"

Oh… sorry. I had no idea my attack on the Boarding Tower would cause all this…

"Uh… Isla…"

Watching the female police officer gnawing on fish bones with furious contempt, ready to scream at the "rebels" at any moment, Leon—the secret mastermind behind the Boarding Tower attack, the root cause of the entire Police Force's overtime—felt a pang of guilt and murmured:

"You haven't told me yet what you need me to help with."

"Oh right, I almost forgot…"

After spitting out the fish bone with un-ladylike disregard, the female police officer looked up at Leon with hopeful eyes:

"Does your Clearance Bureau have anything especially good at finding people? Or… someone who's especially good at finding things?"

"We still have over a month before Krolak's deadline, but tomorrow I'm going on my fourth patrol. If we still haven't found anything, I'll have to go through eight or nine more rounds… ugh…"

After swallowing a huge mouthful of stewed beef, whether from the heat or the looming horror of two months of endless overtime, the female police officer pleaded with tear-filled eyes:

"Please, Leon, help me out! Even if you can't find the attacker, just recovering Krolak's lost item would be enough! If this keeps up, I really think I'll collapse…"

"…"

I'd love to help you, but the attacker sitting here eating is me, and the item Krolak wants is right now in my cufflink… I can't exactly arrest myself and hand myself over, can I?

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help with that…"

After silently apologizing to Isla for the collateral damage, knowing she'd never find the truth, Leon cautiously suggested:

"How about this—I'll get a note from our director saying there's a special case requiring outside assistance. You take it, request leave, and sneak into my office to catch a few hours of sleep?"