Chapter 768: The Case of the Missing Wallet

What, another one losing their wallet!

Looking at the anxious Duke Lionheart before him, frantically patting himself down, Jacob's heart, which had only just settled, suddenly leapt into his throat again.

Yesterday's incident with a customer losing his wallet had already cost him his job as a server in the VIP area, leaving him with nothing but greeting guests at the door. If the same blunder happened again after only a single day, he might not even get to keep the greeting job—and if this ill-tempered duke insisted on pressing the matter, getting fired outright wasn't out of the question!

Damn it! These damn customers, is keeping track of their own wallets really that hard?

"P-please, don't panic! Let me help you think back first!"

After taking two deep breaths and forcing his heart, which had nearly leapt out of his chest, back down, Jacob, who sensed trouble, forced a smile and said:

"You're certain your wallet was still on you before you entered our drinks area, yes?"

"Isn't that obvious?!"

After switching on 【Master Performer】, Hearing Li Ang, who had lost his wallet, stamped his foot and said irritably:

"Didn't I already show you my badge earlier? If I hadn't brought my wallet, where would the badge have come from? Did some dog on the street carry it to me in its mouth?"

Is that so?

Struggling to recall the circumstances when he entered, and finding that it seemed... perhaps... more or less indeed the case, Jacob, sweat beading on his forehead, couldn't help but grit his teeth and said in a slightly trembling voice:

"Then... after you came in, where did you go?"

"You led me here the whole way, and you're asking me?"

After venting twice, Hearing Li Ang, who had lost his wallet, said with a face full of agitation:

"The entrance, the main stage, the stairs, the bar, and this private room! Just those few places! Damn it! How could my wallet be gone?!"

"P-please, don't panic! Don't panic! Maybe it just dropped along the way—let me help you look!"

Though he kept saying "don't panic, don't panic" out loud, Jacob, who was already terrified at heart, hurriedly turned around, wanting to retrace their steps to search, without the slightest suspicion that Hearing Li Ang had actually lost his wallet.

After all, the man was a genuine high noble. Even if he had apparently been mocked by other nobles for living off the princess, surely he wouldn't pretend to lose his wallet just to toy with a mere server like himself?

And looking at it that way, the wallet's most likely whereabouts were that it fell after the badge was taken out, or that he set it down on the main stage when signing in. As long as he searched quickly enough, perhaps no one had picked it up yet...

"Wait!"

Just as Jacob was about to leave, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his wrist, as if someone had yanked it hard.

Turning his head back in surprise, Jacob discovered, to his horror, that the duke who had lost his wallet was squinting at him, scrutinizing him up and down with a face full of suspicion.

"Why are you running?"

"Huh? I'm going to look for your wallet!"

"Looking for the wallet is fine, but what I'm asking is—why are you running?"

In the slightly dim room, Hearing Li Ang's bright, spirited black eyes were like two dark, black fog-lamps, madly devouring the surrounding light while also swallowing up what little courage Jacob had left.

"If you wanted to find my wallet, why didn't you wait for me? Why are you in such a rush to leave my side?"

"I... I was worried someone else might pick up your wallet..."

"Were you worried my wallet would be picked up by someone else, or worried you wouldn't have time to hide what you stole?"

"You think... no! Not me! It really wasn't me!"

Seeing that Hearing Li Ang actually suspected him of taking the wallet, Jacob couldn't help but shudder all over, then shook his head repeatedly with terrified eyes:

"I really didn't take it! I've never stolen anything from anyone! Really! I swear!"

It was the truth—he really hadn't taken it...

Looking at Jacob's soul-fire, which, though panicked and terrified, showed no "contradiction" or "conflict," Hearing Li Ang nodded slightly, then narrowed his eyes and continued to probe:

"I'll take your word that you didn't take it... but do you really not know anything?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean, someone working as a server generally wouldn't want to offend anyone.

For example, if my wallet had fallen on the bar counter, and you saw someone else take it, but realized that person's identity was very special, and you were worried about causing trouble, so you deliberately said you didn't know anything, or didn't see that person's face... would you do that?"

"N-no! I wouldn't! I... I probably wouldn't!" "Hmm? Why did you hesitate when you said that?"

Looking at Jacob's soul-flame, which showed a slight wavering conflict but was still far from an outright lie, Hearing Li Ang couldn't help but frown, then switched from "the suspicious duke" to "the furious duke," and said with a cold glint in his eyes:

"Speak up! What exactly are you hesitating about!"

"I... I..."

"I've been patient enough!"

Li · Very Impatient Duke · Ang raised one finger and said with an ill expression:

"Last chance—tell me truthfully what you're hesitating about, or don't blame me for calling someone to have you arrested! I hope you can stay this stubborn after you fall into the hands of the Secret Investigation Bureau's secret police!"

"Don't! I'll talk! I'll talk right now!"

Seeing that the duke before him had truly lost his temper, Jacob panicked, and hurriedly rattled it off like beans pouring from a bamboo tube:

"The reason I hesitated is because yesterday there was also a customer who lost her wallet. She lost hers just like you did, and I clearly remembered her wallet being taken by someone. I even deliberately looked at that person, trying to remember their appearance.

But... but when the customer who lost her wallet came back, I couldn't remember the face of the person who took it at all. I only remembered that someone took the wallet—I couldn't even recall whether it was a man or a woman..."

Can't remember the appearance...

So it's a memory-erasing type anomalous object? Or one that lowers one's presence?

Firmly committing the gathered information to memory, Hearing Li Ang's expression shifted slightly as he recalled the 【Catalogue of Fallen Vices】 from the Gemini Branch, and along with it, a certain person from the Gemini Branch—that female reporter named Nicole.

If he remembered correctly, she happened to have something on her that could erase one's aura. Could making witnesses unable to recall her face also be one of Sheep Tail's effects?

Without the 【Catalogue of Fallen Vices】, it wouldn't necessarily be certain, but in a place with anomalous objects from the Gemini Branch, if there were signs of a Gemini Branch member's activity, that would seem highly suspicious...

"I see..."

After murmuring to himself, Hearing Li Ang's tense expression eased slightly. He then looked up at the terrified server before him and said with a calm face:

"Then I'll provisionally believe my wallet wasn't taken by you... Sigh... I came here today intending to drink my heart out, but they won't even let me register, and now I've lost my wallet!"

After waving his hand listlessly, Hearing Li Ang stood up, his eyes full of disappointment:

"Forget it, I'm not drinking anymore!"

"Sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Seeing that Hearing Li Ang seemed to have given up on pursuing the matter of the wallet, Jacob couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, then hurriedly followed behind him, step for step down the stairs, and immediately asked the main counter for paper and pen, his face eager as he said:

"If it's convenient, could you describe what your wallet looks like? And anything inside that you can reveal?"

"Mm."

Considering that if one was going to put on a show, one had to go all the way—losing a wallet and not being in a rush to find it, being dead set on leaving would look suspicious—Li Ang casually made something up:

"My wallet… naturally, it's embroidered with the lion family crest of the Lane family, then sewn with precious gold thread bearing my name, with my portrait inside, and it also holds quite a bit of money…

I also forgot exactly how much, after all, for someone like me going out, remembering to bring money is already quite impressive—where would I find the energy to count how much I brought? Anyway, no matter how much I bring, it's always enough to spend. Wouldn't you say so?"

"Yes, yes, yes! You're absolutely right!"

Cursing inwardly that damned aristocrats deserve to die horribly, best to get run over back and forth by an eighteen-wheeled steam carriage the moment they step outside, Jacob kept a smiling face as he led Hearing Li Ang to the waiting area, then hurried back to the main counter with the recorded details.

And Hearing Li Ang, sitting on the sofa in the waiting area, narrowed his eyes and began to ponder what exactly that female reporter from the Gemini branch wanted to do, and whether she knew that the Aquarius director had already been sent to the realm of the dead…

"Duke, my lord!"

Just as Hearing Li Ang was frowning in deep thought, a call full of delight suddenly reached his ears.

Hearing Li Ang looked up in some surprise and saw Jacob clutching what looked like a very precious gold-threaded wallet, his face beaming with joy as he hurried over, and reported in high spirits:

"Duke, my lord, your wallet has been found!"

"……"

(｀Д)?!

Ah?????????

(End of chapter)