For now, I’ve confirmed that the third floor of this building is the base of the scammer group. While staying hidden on this floor, I need to find out where they’ve stashed the money they swindled from that old lady.

Obviously, I can’t just start fiddling with their computers or rummaging through desks while they’re still here. I’ll have to wait until they’ve left. I should also contact Mamoru-san and let him know the situation. And while I’m at it, I should let my mom know that I’ll be home late.

After that, these guys started their ridiculous training session on how to impersonate police officers and bank employees, how to deceive people, and how to identify potential victims.

They were so dedicated to this so-called "education"... I don’t even know if I can call it that. But if they’re going to put this much effort into teaching their subordinates, wouldn’t it be easier to just get a real job?

“Alright, that’s all for today. Make sure you each review what you’ve learned.”

“Yes, sir!”

…Looks like their bizarre scam training session is finally over. I can’t imagine needing to prepare or review for something like this.

The three trainees left the floor and went home. The others, who had spent the day working at their desks on their computers or making calls, also began heading out one by one.

“Hey Kuma, how are the new guys doing?”

“Not bad, boss. They’re shaping up well. Might be time to send them out for some hands-on training.”

“Oh? That’s good to hear. I’ll let the higher-ups know.”

“Thanks, boss!”

It seems there’s a clear hierarchy within this group.

“Make sure you don’t stay too late. I’m just gonna head up and report to the division chief.”

“Got it. I need to check in with accounting on the floor below before heading out.”

…You’ve got to be kidding me. The upper and lower floors are also part of their group? This operation is bigger than I thought.

By the time it was nearly 7 PM, the last person—Kuma, as they called him—finally left the floor. For a black-market scammer organization, they sure run things in a weirdly white-collar way.

With the lights out, I took out my phone. I had already updated Mamoru-san via email, but I decided to call him.

“…So yeah, it looks like this whole building is part of the criminal organization. What should we do? Want to arrest everyone in the building tomorrow?”

“I didn’t expect it to be such a large operation… Before we move in, we should first track down the stolen money. Tachihara-san, please take the USB drive I gave you and plug it into one of their computers.”

“Understood.”

I powered up the computer belonging to the guy they called "boss" of this floor. As for the password, I had discreetly peeked over his shoulder earlier using my stealth skill, so I already knew it. Seriously, stealth skills are incredibly useful for undercover work.

“Mamoru-san, it's done.”

“Thank you. Now, I have remote access to that PC. Hmm… It's connected to the internal company network, so I should be able to access the other computers too. I see, so the IP structure is like this… If that's the case…”

I'm not great with computers, so I have no idea what Mamoru-san is doing. But shortly after plugging in the USB, the cursor started moving on its own. Looks like he’s remotely controlling the PC from his place.

“Uh, Mamoru-san, what should I do now?”

“Oh, sorry, I got a bit carried away. You can remove the USB now. This computer has a pretty high level of access, so I should be able to trace the money flow.”

“It’ll take some time, so you can go home for today. It might take a few days, but I’ll contact you as soon as I have the full picture.”

“Got it. Thanks a lot. But seriously, you didn’t sleep at all last night. Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

“It’s fine, I slept until the evening today. Besides, those guys will be back at the building in the morning, so I’ll limit my work to nighttime and early morning.”

“Alright then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Looks like my job for today is done. Now, I just have to wait for Mamoru-san to dig through their system.

The next morning, since I had marked the rooftop’s location yesterday, I used teleportation magic to jump straight to the top of the building. From there, I used my detection skill to confirm that the storage room on the third floor was empty before teleporting inside.

Tracking the money is Mamoru-san’s job, but I figured I should investigate the other floors as well. There might be some additional PC data that he needs. When I contacted him, he said he wasn’t able to finish everything last night, but he was close to figuring out the money’s movement.

I descended to the second floor. This floor was larger than the third floor, with about ten men frantically making phone calls.

“Hello? Mom, it’s me, it’s me.”

“Yes, that’s right. Only senior citizens are eligible for this refund. Yes, in order to receive it, you’ll need to make an initial deposit…”

Looks like this floor is where they make their scam calls. Yesterday, when I peeked in through the window, I thought they were just working hard at telemarketing, but turns out they were just passionately committing fraud.

Watching a crime unfold right in front of me makes me want to take them all down right now, but I have to hold back. For now, I’ll check out the first floor next.