’A burner?’ Dante’s eyes narrowed.
[That seems to be the case.] Volcan replied. [The specs of the device are much higher than the cheap models available in convenience stores, but it is far too clean to be a dedicated device.]
Since she had been using it the entire time, Dante had arrived at the same conclusion as his resident AI. The smartphone plus AR glasses combo was a common way to make up for the lack of NIM and OAM, and that’s what he assumed was happening. Of course, the whit lady didn’t have AR glasses on, but that was likely to avoid coming across as rude.
It was becoming clearer that sorcerers have an aversion to bionic implants, which is why most still use outdated technology. But that didn’t matter at the moment.
’Volcan, give me a photo of the phone.’
[Would you like a few more that show different angles?]
’Yeah, that would be better.’
A few screens popped up, each one showing a zoom in on the white lady’s hands and the phone she carried. Analyzing them one by one, Dante quickly confirmed a conclusion he had previously arrived at.
’The case is used.’ He thought aloud.
[That seems to be the case.] Volcan said. [No pun intended.]
Whether it was an attempt at a joke or not, the AI almost got a chuckle out of Dante. He cleared his mind and reorganized his thoughts, which helped him arrive at a simple conclusion soon enough. The Romano princess had a smartphone which she used as a substitute for a NIM, but for whatever reason, she had decided to carry around a replica that day.
’How long has the phone been active?’
[Thirty-seven days.] Volcan replayed. [Going by the screen time, it does not seem to have been used frequently.]
Something smelled fishy about the whole thing. The Romano princess obtained a new smartphone only a month before her wedding. One would think she was simply using a decoy while staying at her fiancé’s place, wanting to hide whatever was on her main device, but if the decoy hadn’t been used that much, why would she bring it out at this point?
Two drones arrived at that moment, placing a sizzling platter in front of Dante and another in front of Finn. Grabbing a knife and a fork, Dante sliced through his steak and studied the colors of the piece, dropping his guard after seeing that it was cooked medium rare, just like he had ordered it.
’Let’s wait and see.’ He said internally. ’If there is more to it, we will know soon enough.’
"That was... pretty good..."
The dinner went far better than expected, so much so that Dante ordered two more servings before calling it quits. It wasn’t easy to find a place that serves steak without it being some chemical abomination or insanely expensive. Though the price was still on the higher side, the meat quality made up for it, so Dante didn’t care all that much.
"You ate here before?"
"Nope," Finn replied. "First time I came here."
"Then what made you recommend it?" Dante asked.
"I dove into their network a while ago." Said the brat. "They restocked just this morning, so the meat they have is still fresh."
"... huh, that’s... interesting..."
It didn’t sound too impressive when hearing it for the first time, but upon giving it a second thought, Dante realized that he hadn’t been making good use of Volcan’s diving abilities.
"Do you do this often?"
"Not really." The boy shrugged. "I don’t eat out very often."
"How is that even possible? You didn’t have a kitchen at your last place."
"There is this thing called take-out," Finn said, giving him the side eye. "You order something through apps, and they bring you the food to your house."
"So you do eat out," Dante sighed.
"That’s not eating out," Finn replied.
"If you aren’t cooking the food at your house, it’s considered eating out."
"That literally doesn’t make sense."
What started as a meaningless statement turned into a debate on whether ordering food is considered taking out or not, and before they knew it, the two were back at the Triple Jackpot. Since he stayed at Boris’s place, which was right above the arcade/casino, Finn just climbed the stairs and went back to his room. Dante, on the other hand, remained to discuss things with Viktor.
The fixer believed that the whole thing with the smartphone was suspicious as well and told him that he would tell Finn to be careful when diving into it. Having to go through their every discussion concerning the diving part of the heist as if it’s a "I have this friend who..." conversation was a little bothersome, but Dante continued to play along with it, unwilling to blow his cover.
The discussion went on for some time, most of it going through all the suspicions Dante was having, in addition to the risks they were taking to just keep the heist going. Viktor was starting to feel that a twenty-million, even if it’s in Gold, wasn’t worth the hustle, so he was hoping Mr. Pike and the others would grab some of the other valuable artifacts on display in Klaus’s collection room.
Dante did some quick research and almost collapsed in his seat after seeing the prices some of the relics in that room had. Most of them were sold through the Winter House at some point, with the price rising to the hundreds of millions in some cases.
The Moon Dagger, for example, was worth 540 million when Giovanni Romano bought it a while back. That made Dante wonder why they were getting a total of 120 million as payment for the heist when they could just steal the item and sell it for much more.
When he asked his fixer, the answer he got was not to be too greedy. The client offered them the job, and they chose to take it. The client also provided the information on the police raid scheduled to take place during Klaus’s wedding, which couldn’t have been an easy feat, considering the magnitude of such an event.
The heist provided them with the opportunity to nab a few of the most valuable items in Klaus Stahlwölfe’s collection. That alone made up for the relatively low pay the client was offering.
Dante returned home feeling a little down. Just as he was about to hit the pillow, however, Volcan came to him with some news.
[I have been able to find a second access point.]