Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 25 I want the entire Wolenbeck under the watchful eye of the rats.
"The main road outside the manor..."

The next morning, Lu Ran ran out with the letter in his mouth. Although he hadn't read the contents yet, he had already overheard Philip and Afra talking. He figured it was better to keep his distance and read the letter later, since reading such a thing would expose his identity.

By this time, many servants were already working around the manor, and no one noticed the gray squirrel that flashed across the ground in the dim light.

Lu Ran traversed the baking area, servants' quarters, and fountain, finally arriving at the location near the forest farm where the inner and outer perimeters were separated.

Two stone towers flanked a main road. After jogging along the edge of the woods and observing carefully, I finally spotted a residential area in a clearing in the woods.

It's not far, and in fact, it's quite blessed.

Because of its proximity to the main road, almost every noble who socializes with Earl Biden passes through this area when they visit. If an agency were to be established here, the quality of subsequent cases would likely improve significantly, eliminating the need to handle trivial matters like finding lost cats and dogs.

Lu Ran looked around with some satisfaction, then leaned closer to examine it.

The houses here are all stone and wood structures with dark brown stone slabs on the roofs and ivy climbing along the edges, blending seamlessly with the surrounding oak and hazel trees. It's unclear what the purpose of building these houses here was in the first place, but it seems that no one has lived here for some time now.

"It looks alright."

Looking around and seeing that no one was around, Lu Ran opened the letter he was holding to see if it specified which room it was.

……

"Hmph, Mr. Sherlock, I finally understand why you wanted me to observe the gray rats!"

I'll uncover the secret of these gray squirrels! This detective game is so much fun!

"Huh, this diary... Is this a detective game, to uncover my secrets?"

Lu Ran was somewhat surprised after reading the first page. The idea of ​​observing gray rats that he had casually thought of had actually been put into practice by this noble lady. She seemed quite happy about it. Since that was the case, he could be more unrestrained and free in his future actions. Anyway, he had already imagined it himself. He just needed to be careful not to get caught.

After taking out the second sheet of paper and scanning it, Lu Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's fine as long as you don't ask to meet this time."

The content is as follows——

Dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:

Before receiving your letter, I was anxious about losing the gray squirrels you gave me. I really liked them. The way that letter appeared was quite ingenious. The contents made me excited, happy, and also a little uneasy.

I'm very sorry to have dragged your firm into this. If it weren't for me, you would probably be comfortably sitting in your office armchair, sipping coffee and organizing case files, instead of being in such a sorry state that you have nowhere to stay and need to ask me, the culprit, for help.

I've already found some empty rooms near the manor. The stone houses in the woods near the main road are all vacant, and you can use them all. I remember leaving the keys to the empty rooms at the foot of the ivy next to the stone houses. Also, if you have any inconvenience in purchasing some daily necessities in this area, you can contact me for assistance.

It's funny, the biggest gray mouse always loved to curl up on the pages of my replies to you. I think it was hoping to see you again...

Afra Biden.

Lu Ran put away the letter. Although he was puzzled by the over-interpretation of the last sentence about his sleep that day, he was still following the plan.

As for whether he had gone too far and caused the girl to feel so guilty, Lu Ran was still a little embarrassed. However, upon reflection, he realized that Zell had indeed been brought into trouble because of this incident. If Anthony hadn't helped him out once, trouble might have come knocking long ago. In essence, Lu Ran was just going with the flow and turning a disadvantage into an advantage.

"Don't be offended, don't be offended."

"But it's surprising that such a large place was entrusted to me."

Lu Ran felt a little emotional. After thinking about it, he decided not to pretend to be a gentleman and got up to run south.

I'll just accept them all and repay the favor another time.

I'll go find the other mice to meet up with first; I don't know if they've arrived yet.

……

"See this lyric? Our lord is our sun... Since he's the sun, shouldn't we raise our paws and embrace him? But the sun is too high, we can't reach it! Does any of you mice know what we should do...? That's right, we should jump up and use the action of jumping to embrace the sun to show our respect and love for our lord..."

While waiting for One-Ear to return, the foodie was explaining the lyrics he had just written to the mice below, while the other mice chuckled and joked along. "Then let's move on to the second line..."

Just as the foodie was about to continue teaching, a sentry mouse trotted over.

"It's safe, you can pass through here."

The foodie paused, realizing it could distinguish between what was important and what was not. It immediately put away its little notebook, then hooked its paw, and the loose line quickly straightened up.

It wasn't a crisscrossing square formation, but rather a swarm of rats that meandered like dotted lines. The glutton at the front would suddenly leap out, and before the dust kicked up by its hind paws had even settled, the second rat would be right behind it, and so on, accelerating their advance.

On the other side, One Ear, who had entered earlier, actually saw Lu Ran, who had arrived early to wait.

"Boss!"

"We met."

Lu Ran glanced behind One-Ear: "Are the other teams behind us?"

One-Ear nodded: "This batch of over a hundred rats arrived first, but the mechanical rats, scientific rats, and the like haven't been touched yet."

“That’s enough.” Lu Ran nodded in satisfaction. “Keep a few to notify the others, and the rest of you come with me to the new office.”

With the arrival of his subordinates, Lu Ran was finally able to get down to business and couldn't wait to begin arranging various tasks.

Cleaning rooms, digging underground tunnels, and setting up mouse stations connecting the manor to the city of Baker are all new ideas that Lu Ran recently came up with. The idea is to set up a certain number of stations at fixed intervals so that the mice can quickly relay information back to the manor.

"There's a lot of backlog of work."

Lu Ran opened the system and glanced at the total number of mice in his territory. It had grown to 488, only 12 mice away from the current limit of 500. He estimated that he would reach it after taking a nap.

"It seems that the number of rats in the territory is not enough. I just don't know if we can expand the territory after the limit is reached, and if so, what the conditions are."

"One thousand, two thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand..."

Lu Ran was overwhelmed with emotion and couldn't help but reach out his claw and pinch the air.

"I want the entire Warrenbeck under the watchful eye of the rats."

……

Another location, inside the manor.

Afra, who had just gotten up, soon discovered that Lu Ran had disappeared along with the letter. This caused her to feel fluctuating emotions and even a little inexplicable panic.

It's not that I'm worried about Lu Ran disappearing, but at least this time I know what the little guy has been up to.

What she was really worried about was the Sherlock detective's attitude after seeing the reply.

"Forget it, forget it. I beat up Bella yesterday, and today I made this guy deliver a message. I should just prepare some good food for him as compensation."

Afra drew back the curtains, stretched in the sunlight, but froze the next second.

Wait a moment.

Detective Mouse Number One has gone to deliver the message, so why is that white dog still here?

After a moment of shock, Afra quickly recovered and strode downstairs with a fierce air.

"Bella! You actually let such a tiny mouse deliver the message by itself! You're doomed!"

"Woof... Awoof... Woof..."

A beautiful day begins with Bella's singing echoing through the manor.

(End of this chapter)