Hopefully my comment last time didn’t scare anyone off too permanently!
These chapters reminded me a lot of the ominous land surveying and pipe laying montages in There Will Be Blood.
I thought I maybe found a typo in むしょう given as furigana for 無上, but I checked aozora and it’s consistently that way every time the word appears so I guess not.
I really liked the ending paragraph of chapter 11:
Also the end of chapter 12, where Ranpo just goes “look, you might be wondering about all the problems and setbacks he had during this time, but for the sake of time if you have any questions assume he solved all those problems with the vast, vast amount of money he has now, okay? Let’s move on” is so funny.
I finished this week’s reading before Friday for the first time so far. I guess my speed is increasingly slightly as I get used to the Rampo style. Never thought it could take so long to read 15 pages.