“That thief is coming?” Amelia asked.

“Yeah. Her target this time is a gem called Red Rose”, Temma answered.

“I’ve heard of it, peko. It’s a large red gem right? The Red Rose was found in ancient ruins and was said to have mysterious magical properties, peko”, Pekora chimed in.

“Who are you?” Temma asked.

“I am Pekora Usada. And this girl is Moona Hoshinova”, she introduced themselves.

“Wait... She’s THE Moona Hoshinova? The chief of the Royal Peko Guards?” Temma exclaimed.

“Yes. That’s me. And you must be Temma, the Dark Knight. I had fun watching you fight in the Dance of the Blades”, Moona replied.

“Why is the chief of the Royal Peko Guards traveling with you two?”

“It’s complicated”, I answered.

“Back to the topic at hand, Spade Echo is coming for real?” Amelia asked.

“Yes. She sent out a notice three days ago. And since the 13th unit has the most experience in dealing with her, the Peafowl Kingdom asked for our assistance. Will you help us out? You almost caught her twice already. Maybe the third time’s the charm.”

“I would like to help but.... I have my hands full with Mikage”, Amelia said.

She sounded really disappointed. From her reaction when she heard Spade Echo’s name, she must have a history with her. Maybe it was her pride as a detective to catch a thief.

“It’s okay if you want to help out”, I told her.

“Really? But what about your memories?” she asked.

“We can search for my memories after you try catching Spade Echo. It’s not going to take long, right?” I said.

“Spade Echo will appear tonight. So you can try catching her later and then proceed to searching for Mikage’s memories”, Temma added.

Amelia smiled, puffed out her chest, and adjusted her hat.

“Tonight is Spade Echo’s last heist”, she grinned.

“We’re going to catch a thief, peko? Sounds exciting”, Pekora said.

“I heard about Spade Echo. She’s a formidable foe”, Moona added.

“Let’s head to the place where the Red Rose is guarded. I need to find any possible entrances and escape routes”, Amelia said.

And so, we headed to the location of the Red Rose which was the Peafowl Kingdom’s Royal Palace.

It was a huge marble structure with several towers. The whiteness of the marble made it look like it was glowing and the design of the castle was grand. The green-tiled roofs matched the white walls and the statues of peacocks were beautifully sculpted.

“So the Red Rose belongs to the Royal Family. Spade Echo’s got guts trying to steal from them”, I said.

“She is impossible to catch so she probably doesn’t fear much”, Temma replied.

“No. There’s no such thing as impossible to catch. I’ll definitely get her this time”, Amelia told us.

With Temma around, we had no problems entering the Royal Palace. When we arrived there, I saw a familiar silver-haired girl.

“Captain Noel. I’m back and I brought help”, Temma told her.

“What’s Mikage doing here?” Noel asked.

“It just happens that our goal is nearby. When we found out that Spade Echo will strike, we decided to help”, I answered.

“Oooh! Amelia’s here too! We now have a better chance of catching her”, Noel cheered.

“That’s right. I’ll be more vigilant this time”, Amelia said.

A white-haired woman walked towards us. She was wearing an elegant dress and a hairpin with three blue feathers.

“I see you brought help, Temma”, she said.

“Yes. Amelia should be a great boost”, Temma replied.

“Who is she?” I whispered to Amelia.

“She’s Reine Pavolia, the Lady of the Peafowl”, she whispered back.

“I’ve seen you before. You’re the man with the weird mana. At that time, Spade Echo was also targeting another gem”, Reine turned her attention to me.

“Weird mana?” I asked.

“Yes. Even if the anti-magic barrier was deployed, I could still sense your mana. It’s as if you were unaffected by the barrier”, she answered.

I was unaffected by the barrier? So that meant I could do magic even if it was a no-magic zone?

“And this must be Amelia Watson, the detective who almost caught Spade Echo twice”, she looked at Amelia.

“More like “the dumb detective who let her get away twice.” Although I wouldn’t make the same mistakes as last time”, Amelia said.

“I suppose you need to see the Red Rose. Follow me”, she started walking and we followed her.

We climbed a circular staircase and after a lots of steps, we reached the top room. There were several knights from the 13th unit and the Peafowl Kingdom who were guarding the Red Rose. They were spread around the room.

The tower had one window which was sealed with bars and the only exit was the door leading to the long staircase. In the middle of the room was a glass case that had a palm-sized red gem inside of it.

“This is the Merak Tower of our castle. It’s the highest tower in the castle and it only has one exit which was the staircase we just used. The window here is sealed which makes it impossible to enter”, Reine said.

“Is there an anti-magic barrier here?” Amelia asked.

“We just finished deploying the anti-magic barrier. Although I think it’s useless since Spade Echo doesn’t rely on magic”, Temma said.

Amelia was deep in thought as she looked around.

“What time will Spade Echo strike?” she asked.

“This is her notice”, Temma handed her a note.

I looked at it and saw a strange message.

A day before the peacock’s birthday,

When the soldier digs the earth,

I will arrive.

-Spade Echo

“Tomorrow is the Peafowl Kingdom’s founding anniversary... So if we take the “peacock’s birthday” to be that, then that means she’ll strike tonight, peko”, Pekora said.

“But at what time? Do we have to be alert all night?” Moona asked.

“She’ll arrive at 11 tonight”, Amelia answered confidently.

“You decoded it already?” I was surprised.

“It’s actually kind of easy to the point it’s disappointing. “When the soldier digs the earth” actually tells us about the time she’ll arrive. When you dig, you use a shovel which is also known as spade. So you have a soldier, also known as a jack, and a spade. Therefore, she’s talking about the Jack of Spades in a deck of playing cards”, she started explaining.

Wow... I never would’ve thought about it that way. And she decoded it in just a few minutes?

“But what does that have to do with 11 tonight?” Noel asked.

“I see... In a deck of playing cards, there are Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King. If we take Ace as 1 and continue counting, then Jack would be 11”, Moona answered.

“That’s right. And since she didn’t come at 11 this morning, then she’ll strike at 11 tonight”, Amelia added.

“So this is the ability of Westa’s famous detective. Even our scholars had a hard time decoding the message and yet she did it in just one look”, Reine said.

“Although her code is kind of disappointing. Her previous message was more of a challenge than this one.... Unless...” Amelia grinned.

“What is it, peko?” Pekora asked.

“Nothing... Let’s standby until 11.”

Time passed and the time when Spade Echo would arrive was getting closer. It was a few minutes until 11 but there was nothing strange in the room. I looked at the watch I borrowed from Temma and it was only a minute until the clock hits 11.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

It was now 11:00 in the evening.

The light crystals that were illuminating the room shattered and everything was covered in darkness.

“What’s going on?!” Noel shouted.

“It’s Spade Echo. Somebody get the lights!” Temma barked orders.

When a knight illuminated the room with a light crystal, we found out that the Red Rose was missing from the glass case.

And when we looked outside the window, a white figure with wings was flying away.

In a few seconds of darkness, Spade Echo took the gem and escaped despite having us standing guard at the staircase and without destroying the bars sealing the only window.