The story of the black silk female knight

"No...no...stop it...I'm going to break if this keeps up..."

Chapter 45 Why does this dress smell like her?

"It almost...it was going to break!"

Even though she had been out of the coffin-shaped enhanced pod for quite some time, Valensa's legs were still weak, and her eyes held both fear and satisfaction.

The intense stimulation was heart-pounding, but the enhancing effect was also obvious.

Compared to the initial size of a washbasin, the pool of water in Valensa's mind has now grown to roughly the size of a swimming pool.

According to the game in her previous life, she instantly leveled up from level 1 to level 30.

"Didn't I remind you before that you should be mentally prepared?"

The shop owner seemed to have guessed what had happened inside the enhancement chamber, and considerately didn't say much until Valensa had almost recovered before speaking:

"Is there anything else you need, Miss Valencia? You should have quite a few blind box draw chances in your membership terminal, right? Would you like to use them?"

"...No, no rush, let's leave it at that for now."

Valensa hesitated for only a few seconds before making her decision, bidding farewell and leaving the Dimensional Hardware Store.

In the past, she would have immediately tried to open blind boxes whenever she could, never missing any opportunity to become stronger.

But things are different now... After learning the power of the mind, Valensa has a bold conjecture.

According to her senior sister, Red Fox Mask, this school of mental power is best at strengthening oneself.

What about luck? Is luck also considered an inherent attribute?

If that were really possible... then by using mental power to enhance one's luck before drawing blind boxes... wouldn't that mean every draw would yield a golden legend?

Just thinking about it is so awesome!

However, Valensa knew that things were unlikely to turn out as well as she imagined, but it was still worth a try... what if it succeeded?

However, she had only recently acquired mental power, and even though she had leveled up with the help of enhancement cards, she had absolutely no experience in using it. She should wait until she was proficient in using it before trying it.

Perfect timing! Participating in Miss Phantom Thief's treasure hunt is the perfect opportunity.

After leaving the Dimensional Hardware Store, Valensa immediately joined the treasure hunt, just like most adventurers in Klar City.

She actually already had a plan for how to find that painting.

The phantom thief didn't give Valensa any clues, but the phantom thief herself was the clue.

Standing in the city of Klar, where it was now completely dark, Valensa took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and activated her mental powers.

My sense of smell is incredibly sensitive, even more so than the best police dogs, and I can easily distinguish the scent residue on different people!

The water in the heart pool suddenly decreased by more than a third, and at the same time, all sorts of smells rushed into Valensa's nose, almost making her faint.

"Ugh~~"

She kept gagging, just like she was having morning sickness, and it took her almost twenty minutes to finally get used to the wave of smells that came with her heightened sense of smell.

Although Valensa almost threw up the milk tea she drank in the afternoon, she was happy.

It worked!

The power of the mind is truly amazing; her sense of smell has temporarily reached the level she desired.

I just don't know how long it will last... This kind of enhancement, which consumes more than a third of the Heart Pool's reserves in one go, absolutely cannot be wasted.

Valensa gritted her teeth and rummaged through her magical storage bag, quickly finding a used gauze and a bed sheet.

They were all used by the Phantom Thief last night, and her scent still lingers on them.

Valensa held the two items to her nose one after the other and sniffed them carefully:

"Hmm... I've got it. This is Senior Sister's scent... Next, I just need to find places in Klar City where the same scent lingers... Heh heh, I'm definitely going to win this treasure hunt!"

This was Valensa's long-planned strategy: to use her mental powers to enhance her sense of smell and track the scents to find where her senior sister hid the treasure.

Similar methods have been used before, since although this world does not have police dogs, it has tamable monsters with a more sensitive sense of smell than police dogs.

But with Miss Phantom Thief's skills, how could those monsters possibly have the chance to remember her scent?

Valensa didn't have this problem. Relying on her sense of smell, she kept tracking and quickly figured out the Phantom Thief's itinerary for the previous night.

In short, Miss Phantom Thief entered the city from the west yesterday, walked on rooftops the whole way, spent the most time at the Nora Trading Company, and finally left from the west.

All the adventurers had searched the rooftops all day, but had found no clues, so Valensa didn't repeat the process.

She arrived at the Nora Trading Company... The painting stolen by the Phantom Thief is very likely still hidden somewhere inside the Nora Trading Company.

Valensa was certainly not the only adventurer with this idea; the staff of the Nora Merchant Guild were clearly already used to adventurers coming to their door.

They welcomed Valensa's arrival and said that apart from a few important venues that required applications, Valensa could freely seek out other places, as long as she didn't rummage through items.

Valensa continued to follow the scent like an excellent police dog, only to find that the Phantom Thief's scent was everywhere, making it difficult to make a move.

With no other option, she could only rely on her intuition and start searching slowly from places that looked suspicious and had a strong lingering smell.

The search lasted for two whole hours, but Valensa still found nothing. She even started to have back pain from constantly bending over to look under the table and other places.

During this period, her enhanced sense of smell expired and failed once, and she had to use about one-third of her heart's reserves to restart it.

Currently, the consumption of one-third of the mental energy in her Heart Pool allows her to have an enhanced sense of smell for about an hour and a half, during which time her Heart Pool will recover to about one-sixth of its original size.

In other words, without the aid of other supplementary means, Valensa's heart reserves would take about nine hours to recover naturally once depleted.

"Ouch!"

Valensa, preoccupied with these thoughts, wasn't paying much attention and accidentally bumped into a middle-aged woman in a hurry while stretching.

"Auntie, I'm sorry."

Valensa didn't look down on the middle-aged woman for being just an ordinary laundry worker. She quickly helped her up, which made the middle-aged woman feel flattered.

"Huh? This is..."

Just as the middle-aged woman was about to leave, Valensa suddenly called out to her and took a piece of clothing from the wooden basin in her hand.

A black maxi dress with a low neckline and a high slit.

"This is the dress Lady Lanzhi wore at the auction last night. I was just about to take it to wash, Miss."

The middle-aged woman quickly explained.

“I know, I also attended the auction last night.”

Valensa waved her hand, but her brows furrowed.

Why did the beautiful auctioneer's clothes last night smell so strongly of her senior colleague?

Chapter 46 The Anxious Scapegoat

As the middle-aged woman stared wide-eyed, Valensa brought the low-cut, high-slit black dress to her nose and sniffed it carefully.

It can't be wrong.

Although the dress still smelled of several other people, the Phantom Thief Lady's scent was the strongest!

When Miss Phantom Thief sent out the notice last night, she did indeed use the beautiful auctioneer's collar as a mailbox, but that level of contact wouldn't leave so much of a scent. You have to wear it yourself to leave that scent!

Could it be that the tall, voluptuous auctioneer last night was actually the real Phantom Thief?

Valencia frowned in thought, while the middle-aged woman's expression grew increasingly strange.

Good heavens, what did she see?

A very beautiful and kind noble lady actually acted like a pervert, holding other women's worn dresses to her nose and smelling them? After smelling them, she even closed her eyes and looked like she was savoring the memory?

The middle-aged woman covered her mouth tightly, worried that she would scream.

In fact, if Valensa hadn't been a noblewoman, the middle-aged woman would have already been shouting for the Chamber of Commerce's bodyguards and security personnel to come and arrest the pervert.

"Ok?"

Valensa, who had been lost in thought for a while, immediately realized the problem.

Far from feeling guilty or embarrassed, she openly sniffed the dress a few times before seriously asking the middle-aged woman:

"Where is the room of the auctioneer from last night? Take me there."

"what?"

The middle-aged woman finally couldn't hold back anymore.

What kind of people are these...?

Not content with just sniffing someone's skirt, he also wanted to go to their room?

"cough……"

Seeing that the middle-aged woman seemed genuinely about to call for help to catch the pervert, Valensa coughed lightly and offered an explanation for her earlier behavior:

“It seems you’ve misunderstood something, Auntie… I’m a Candlelight-level adventurer with a special ability to enhance my sense of smell. I’ve been helping your merchant guild find stolen items by tracking scents.”

I just found a very important clue on this dress, and now I want to go to the dress's owner's room to investigate further. I hope you can cooperate with me.

"Huh? Oh... Oh oh oh oh..."

The middle-aged woman was stunned for a moment before realizing what was happening, and felt somewhat ashamed.

It seems I misunderstood someone... Come to think of it, how could a kind young lady who would personally help me up after I bumped into her be that kind of pervert?

This idea made the middle-aged woman even more grateful to Valencia and more cooperative, and she couldn't wait to personally lead the way to the beautiful auctioneer's room.

Unfortunately, she was just a lowly laundry worker at the Nora Chamber of Commerce, and this was something she couldn't make decisions about.

"I'm so sorry, young lady."

The middle-aged woman looked guilty.

“If it were anywhere else, I would take you through fire and water... But Lady Lanzhi is a big shot in our merchant guild, and I really don’t dare to bring outsiders into her room.”

"It's ok."

Valensa didn't make things difficult for the middle-aged woman:

"Auntie, you must know who can make the decision about this, right? Could you pass on a message for me?"

"Well... alright, miss, please wait a moment."

It's clear that the middle-aged woman, being a nobody, really didn't want to meet with the leader alone, but she had misunderstood Valensa earlier and felt guilty, so she eventually agreed.

The painting, which is considered the store's prized possession, seems to have been quite favored by the Nora Chamber of Commerce.

Valensa waited for only a few minutes before a man in a suit walked over with hurried steps.

He initially seemed about to ask directly, his mouth halfway open, but stopped himself upon seeing the noble insignia on Valensa's clothing, opting instead for a more formal greeting:

"Hello, miss. I heard from the laundry maid that you found important information about the stolen items? And it's related to Lady Lanzhi?"

He spoke each word politely, but he couldn't hide his anxiety... It seems he is the one most responsible for this incident.

If the painting is never found, the man suspected to be in charge of the Klar City branch will likely be pushed out as a scapegoat by the higher-ups of the Nora Chamber of Commerce.

Valensa guessed all this from the man's behavior at a glance, and also noticed another detail from his words.

Lady Lanzhi.

It's perfectly fine for the laundry worker to address the beautiful auctioneer that way, but for the manager of a city branch to also address her as "Sir"? It seems that the beautiful auctioneer holds a very high position in the Nora Chamber of Commerce.

While her mind raced, Valensa didn't neglect her manners.

She smiled and nodded to the man, first explaining her enhanced sense of smell, then pointing to the low-cut, high-slit black dress:

“I found a large amount of Red Fox Mask’s scent residue on this garment… This level of residue is definitely not something that could be left by simple contact; she must have worn it herself for a period of time.”

"what do you mean……"

The man immediately frowned. Being able to manage a branch store, he certainly wasn't stupid; he easily understood the meaning behind Valensa's words.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

After a moment's thought, the man suddenly and resolutely waved his hand:

“Miss, you must be mistaken… Lady Lanzhi could not possibly be the Red Fox Mask. She has clear alibis in many of the Red Fox Mask’s cases!”

"Did you see her after the incident last night? Where is she now?"