The Phantom Thief's Letter
Chapter 71 of the game featured branching storylines and multiple endings that changed slightly depending on how the player cleared the Magic City and the Great Detective quest. The current quest, The Phantom Thief's Letter, was one of those with branching routes. Since Seong-il already knew every possible branch from his previous playthroughs, he began considering exactly how he would clear it this time.
'Obviously, the failure route is an instant pass.'
The route that had briefly crossed his mind earlier was the failure route. Since it offered no benefits whatsoever, Seong-il lightly discarded it.
'The combat route? That would be the one where I fail to see through Luphtesia's plan in advance, get the artifact stolen, then chase her to the death and capture her...'
'In that case, Luphtesia ends up arrested and receives a bad ending, right...?'
'Is there any benefit to me in the bad ending route? If I succeed here, Charlotte's reputation would skyrocket, and Luphtesia would be forcibly removed from the story, so she couldn't bother us anymore...'
'But that's it, isn't it? She'd just be sent to a public slave auction to compensate the victims according to national law, then sold off to some nameless rich bastard to become his sex slave.'
'In the game I deliberately captured her just to watch her miserable sex slave scenes, but that has no meaning here.'
As he thought this, the lewd bad ending scene of Luphtesia unconsciously resurfaced in his mind.
'Though that scene really was hot. They put a tight leather blindfold over her eyes, stitched it on so she was blind in every sense but name, made her wear nothing but a dog collar and those boxing-glove-like cat paw mittens on her naked body, then shoved a cat-tail anal plug up her ass to turn her into a sex slave...'
'The tycoon's cat ending, was it?'
Seong-il spent a long moment with his mouth hanging open stupidly, reminiscing about her bad ending, before shaking his head.
'Anyway, it's a route with zero benefit for me. Plus, the chance of failing to subdue her resistance is high... In that case, the only answer is the detective route.'
Having settled on his approach to clearing the quest, Seong-il continued thinking.
'In the original, Luphtesia arrives at the warehouse two hours before the time written on the notice, secretly takes off her maid uniform and changes into her phantom thief outfit. That's when she's accidentally discovered by a night patrol servant.'
'She gets caught right before she can use her transformation magic to turn the phantom thief suit into a police uniform. The servant who realizes her identity tries to shout, and she subdues him using magic tools and martial arts, right?'
'Then you gradually find the traces she left behind. If you discover seven or more out of ten total clues, you naturally prevent the jewel heist. Should I take advantage of that situation...?'
Seong-il began recalling the game content in detail.
Luphtesia subdues the servant who discovers her and agonizes over whether to kill him or spare him. Terrified by her attitude, the servant desperately begs for his life, saying that if he doesn't return to his post within twenty minutes, people will suspect her. Believing his words to be correct, Luphtesia forces a magic poison down his throat and recruits him. She threatens that if he keeps his mouth shut for two hours, she'll give him the antidote; otherwise, she'll kill him.
While soothing the young servant who is crying and begging to be spared, she offers him an additional carrot. If he keeps quiet and cooperates with her, she'll not only give him the antidote but also a gold bar and a night with her. When the servant asks how he can trust her words, she persuades him by saying that in all her years as a phantom thief, she has never once told a lie. At the same time, she secretly slips him a gold bar from her bosom and gives him a blowjob on his cock!!
Asking if that makes him trust her a little, she persuades him further. Whether she succeeds in stealing the jewel or not, as long as she escapes safely, she'll secretly find him the next day to give him the antidote and also allow him to spend a night with her body. In the end, the servant accepts her proposal.
The most surprising part is that regardless of whether she steals the jewel or not, she really does come find the servant after escaping and keeps her promise. The servant's secret is later revealed when the Metropolitan Police Department staff intensely interrogate the duke's servants' alibis while tracking Luphtesia.
'Alright. I'll take the servant's role!! Except instead of being overpowered by her like the servant, I'll overpower her! Even if I can't subdue her, she'll probably try to recruit me like she did the servant, right? Then whether I succeed or fail, it's unconditionally beneficial for me!'
Having finished organizing his thoughts, Seong-il approached Charlotte and spoke.
"Miss Charlotte. May I ask you something?"
"Hm? What is it?!"
Fortunately, because there were many people around, Charlotte's voice was unusually soft and gentle.
"Are the two of us just going to stay here quietly with Lady Eibach?"
"Um... probably?"
"If we stay like this, we'll be stuck here whether there's a request or not. We'll end up as nothing more than decorations for the officers... Shouldn't we take some action?"
"Um... that's true, but... what should we do..."
When Charlotte began to worry, Seong-il quickly started explaining his plan to her.
"I took a moment to look into the Metropolitan Police's security plan. It seems the servants are allowed to continue their duties at the duke's residence until one to two hours before the announced time on the notice! After that, they stop working and gather in one place because they might be traitors or Luphtesia in disguise!"
"How about you and I disguise ourselves as a male servant and a maid two hours early and patrol separately? Without the officers knowing!"
"Oh ho!?"
"If we disguise ourselves as servants, not only the officers but Luphtesia herself will definitely let her guard down!!"
"Oh ho!!"
"While we're at it, I've marked some suspicious points here...!"
Seong-il pointed out some random points to her as he suggested the patrol, saying he would check the original servant's work points himself.
"Ooh... It sounds like quite a good plan! Seong-il!"
"Right? If we keep patrolling and find nothing, we'll regroup here before the one-hour mark, change back into our clothes, move near the jewel, and subdue her!"
"Ooooooh......!"
Charlotte's eyes sparkled at Seong-il's words.
'Thank goodness this Charlotte girl has nothing but air in her head. She's so easy to fool...'
Even though anyone who thought about it for even a moment would realize how full of holes the plan was, Charlotte, who lacked the ability to think, grinned widely and approved of Seong-il's sloppy scheme.
Seong-il, who had been laughing at her inwardly, continued speaking.
"In that sense, could you go explain our plan to Lady Eibach and persuade her? If she gives permission, executing the plan will be much easier."
"Ooooooh!! Of course!! Just a moment!!"
Charlotte's face flushed red with excitement at Seong-il's words as she scurried over to Lady Eibach and began whispering.
"Lady Eibach!! Lady Eibach!!"
"What is it, Miss Charlotte?"
"Since we're here on official business today, I'd appreciate it if you called me Detective..."
"Ah! Oh dear~ I'm sorry! Detective Charlotte!!"
'What a load of bullshit...'
Seong-il sighed as he watched them. Completely unaware of his sigh, Charlotte began explaining Seong-il's plan to Lady Eibach.
"Hoo!! As expected of Detective Charlotte! How incredibly clever! Even I think it's an excellent plan!!"
'Birds of a feather...'
Lady Eibach's face turned just as red as Charlotte's as she grew equally excited. Watching the two of them, Seong-il could roughly guess how the Great Detective Moriarty Exchange Meeting had come to be.
After talking with Lady Eibach for quite a while, Charlotte came scurrying back to Seong-il and said,
"Seong-il! Lady Eibach says she'll help!!"
"Ah! Shh! Shh!"
"Aah!! Aah...!"
In her excitement, Charlotte had unconsciously raised her voice. When Seong-il desperately tried to quiet her, Charlotte covered her mouth with her hand, leaned close to his ear, and whispered.
"Lady Eibach said she'll help! She's going to speak with the head butler, so we should receive the work handover from the assigned servants...!"
"Ooh... That's good news!"
"Ohohohot! Even if I do say so myself, I'm a trusted and brilliant talent among everyone! Ohohot!"
With their plan fully prepared, they proceeded with the help of the head butler.
'Ten minutes until two hours before the announced time!'
As the time he had planned for approached, Seong-il quickly changed into servant clothes and headed for the warehouse.
'In the original, the male servant finished all his duties and moved late, arriving at the warehouse after Luphtesia and getting ambushed by her... But I don't need to do that...?'
Thinking this, Seong-il completely ignored the original servant's route and quickly moved to the liquor warehouse where Luphtesia would change her clothes.
'She changed around here, right?'
Although there was a huge gap between the 2D images and the near-realistic implementation in the Game Master world, making it hard to recognize, Seong-il compared the items displayed in the warehouse with the game map he had captured on his smartphone beforehand. He located the spot where Luphtesia changed clothes and moved to the vicinity.
'She's not here yet!!'
Confirming that the phantom thief Luphtesia had not yet arrived, Seong-il quietly hid his body in the gap beside the wine display shelf.
'She has to come... please...'
Seong-il remained crouched in the dark corner for a long time. Just as he was beginning to worry that his plan had gone wrong, he heard the creak of the door opening. A maid holding a lamp entered the warehouse.
Click. Click.
'She's here?!'
Feeling his breath catch from tension, Seong-il hid further into the corner and gathered his inner energy.
'I'll wait until Luphtesia takes off her clothes and starts changing!'
Seong-il hid his presence as much as possible and waited for her to undress.
"Hmm... Thank goodness! As expected, there's no one here?"
So saying, the maid placed the lamp on the wine cabinet and began loosening her clothes.
Swish. Rustle. Plop.
When he heard the sound of fabric falling to the floor, Seong-il felt blood rush to his head and thought,
"Now! Haste!!!"
Haste
He shouted the activation word for the Haste engraving he had received from Yuna and activated the magic as he charged at Luphtesia.
'Have a taste of the Mountain Shattering Divine Fist!!'
The exclusive secret technique of Jin Cheon-hui, leader of the Martial Alliance. Even martial artists who had trained only in fist techniques for eight years could not guarantee victory against it. After receiving the fist techniques from Jin Cheon-hui, Seong-il had trained two hours every single day without missing a session. His palm, containing the essence of such fierce martial arts, flew toward Luphtesia's abdomen.
"Eh? What—?!"
Thud!
"Guh... Kek!!"
A grown man's heavy palm striking a slender woman's abdomen. Moreover, since Luphtesia had not anticipated Seong-il's attack at all, she couldn't tense her stomach. She collapsed to her knees, overwhelmed by excruciating pain.
"Kek! Kek... Uuugh..."
Luphtesia let out pained groans after taking Seong-il's fierce palm strike to her abdomen. Although he had used an open palm instead of a fist to avoid killing her, being struck directly in the stomach by Seong-il's palm—which carried powerful inner energy while his body speed was doubled by Haste—left her body paralyzed with agony. She couldn't do anything.
"Hello there, Luphtesia?"
So saying, Seong-il spread his palm once more and slammed it down hard on her back.
"Kehek? Hek?"
Struck repeatedly by Seong-il's fierce palm strikes, Luphtesia collapsed face-down on the floor in pain. The sight of two large palm prints on the woman's belly and back—clad only in a bra and panties—was incredibly stimulating.
'If you just looked at her back, you'd think it was some kind of spanking play.'
While having such idle thoughts, Seong-il took out a rope from his inventory. He began tying up Luphtesia tightly as she lay on the floor, drooling and struggling to breathe.
"Heek... Heek..."
During the time he spent binding her, the pain seemed to subside slightly. Luphtesia turned her head a little to look at Seong-il. Feeling her gaze, Seong-il smiled brightly and said,
"Why? You should have chosen the location more carefully. This is what happens when you stupidly try to change clothes in a place like this."
In response to his words, Luphtesia answered,
"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm the maid named Tanya!! The male officers are swarming from my room all the way to the office, so I was just trying to change clothes here! Why are you doing this to me!!"