The More You Know, the More You Guess Wrong

"It's possible that the mole didn't think he had anything to do with stealing the rare originals."

In response to Phoenix Count's doubts, Ian pondered for a while before offering a possibility. "For example, perhaps the mole didn't directly participate in stealing the books—he was only responsible for handing certain items from the library over to outsiders. Or perhaps someone used his identity to secretly take certain things away. They may even have simply used some kind of psychic ability to erase his memories of the matter."

"So merely checking memories might be useless. Instead, investigate his recent movements," Ian said. "Even if that doesn't work, you can investigate his relationships with the people around him. There will always be a way."

The boy had been listening from the side for quite some time, yet he had not heard any of the usual methods of criminal investigation. Thinking it over, he felt that since Terra had psychic abilities that could search memories, they might even be able to make the dead speak. In that case, other methods might truly seem rather primitive.

At any rate, it was a line of thought.

The old Count first frowned slightly, then relaxed. "That's right. Not bad, young man. You truly are clever."

Smiling, he reached out and patted Ian on the shoulder. Phoenix Count asked curiously, "Come to think of it—how did you tell those books were forgeries? Without flipping through them, even I couldn't distinguish the real ones from the fakes by appearance alone. Their imitations were extremely good, and every detail was in place!"

"And you could tell just by taking a glance... Was it your psychic ability?"

Ian could feel that the hand patting his shoulder was very gentle.

But recalling how easily this man had nearly crushed the neck