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The only adventurer left did not seem bothered by the situation, and did not come up with excuses, and merely stared back at the detective. When asked if anyone knew who he was, no one replied.

「Wait… then is that…」
「Really? Did he get him..?」

Everyone began to wonder if that man was Fuzzy Dice, watching every small movement he made in suspense.

(…Hmm, is that Fuzzy Dice over there then?)

Mira also had a feeling that they had found Fuzzy Dice. Then again, she had a bit more proof than the rest, thanks to Examining him.

Fuzzy Dice’s illusory spell to conceal his identity was incredibly powerful that not even Mira could see through it. But Mira’s abilities were nothing to scoff at either, and it would take someone far superior to Lastrada, the Wiseman of the Tower of Forbidden Arts, to truly deceive her.

The only thing that would make the deception complete would be a fake profile that would pop up when Mira tried to Examine him. But instead, all she could see was a message that said 「Unidentifiable.」

At that point, Fuzzy Dice’s skill with Forbidden Arts backfired on him. Mira would have been able to see the true profile of someone of lower level, just like she could from any other person. And if Examine did not show anything, then she was dealing with a former player.

No one knew Fuzzy Dice’s true identity, so seeing his true profile would do little to know it was him amongst other adventurers. But since the result was 「Unidentifiable,」 it was obvious that whatever illusory spell he used was interfering with Examine.

However, that alone was not concrete proof of him being Fuzzy Dice, as illusory spells could also be cast on others, leaving a small chance this was just a decoy.

(But considering the current situation, he’s the only suspect remaining here.)

As far as she could tell, there was no one else in the Union who showed up as Unidentifiable, and Life Sensing did not show any readings of someone hiding. That convinced her that the detective had truly found Fuzzy Dice.

It had finally happened, but Mira decided to keep watching from afar.

The detective was trying to find the thief through his own methods, and the special inquisitive abilities granted to former players were like a cheap shortcut. So she decided to keep that information to herself.

She would let the detective continue his personal fight against the thief. Interfering in the fight between two men was something far too rude, and she would let them reach a conclusion before she acted again.

Everyone remained silent as they watched that man, who had no distinctive features, neither on his face or his attire, someone who would not stand out no matter where he was. He calmly looked around, and then looked straight at the detective.

A moment later…

「Congratulations, Detective Wolf.」 As he spoke, there was a gust of wind and the man vanished, being replaced by someone wearing a gaudy cloak and a conspicuous mask, the showy attire of the Phantom Thief.

The whole Union began to stir. Fuzzy Dice had never revealed himself in such a way in any of his previous heists, so no one knew what he would do next. Then they looked at the detective again. He had finally succeeded in smoking out Fuzzy Dice through his own skills, so this had to be a major success for him.

「I’ve finally got you-」
「KYAHH! FUZZY DICEE!!」
「I LOVE YOU!」
「PLEASE LOOK AT ME!」

Full of emotion, the detective finally started uttering those words when suddenly the fans outside of the Union erupted into shrill deafening cries.

On the other side, the fans were all plastering their faces against the window to look at Fuzzy Dice. One of them had noticed what was happening inside and called the attention of the rest, causing a frenzy of cheers as this was the first time the thief had shown himself like that.

「Umm… I’m not sure what to say but… I’m sorry.」 They had been rivals for a long time, so Fuzzy Dice had an idea of how the detective felt, and felt some pity that such an important moment had been ruined by the fans.

「No, it’s fine, I don’t mind…I don’t mind…」

Everyone could tell he was disappointed, but the detective tried to act strong, and after a light cough to clear his throat, he started again. 「I’ve finally got you where I want you, Phantom Thief Fuzzy Dice.」

As soon as he was done, Julius sprang into action, surrounding the thief together with multiple burly men. All of them carried some sort of device, which they activated at the same time.

「Oh, now that’s new.」

A wall of light quickly encircled the thief, and he looked at it impressed. Seeing him trapped like that also caused all of the fans outside to cry in dismay, while also cheering him on to break free somehow.

「So what do you think? It took quite some effort to get this.」

While he had a defiant smile, the detective’s talkativeness remained. Those were restraining devices used by guards everywhere, and quite effective. Their effect also became stronger the more of them were activated at the same time.

The only way for Fuzzy Dice to get out of the cage of light would be to destroy the devices held by Julius and the other men, or to try forcing his way out by force.

Once the detective explained all of that, he moved his wheelchair closer to the cage, and Julius took that as a signal to shrink it and make it harder for Fuzzy Dice to move within.

「I’m sorry, but I’ll have to exploit your honor.」

While looking at the thief, the detective said that with a smile. He was alluding to Fuzzy Dice’s dedication to never harm another person.

Julius and the other men would obviously not turn off the devices, so Fuzzy Dice would need to break out, which should be possible considering how powerful he was.

The issue was that the devices were sturdily built, and breaking them would involve a lot of effort, and firepower. That would also mean a lot of collateral damage, especially to those next to the devices, and the detective who remained right next to the cage’s walls.

In other words, the detective had made himself a hostage to keep Fuzzy Dice still.

「I see… now that’s troublesome.」

Looking around the cage, Fuzzy Dice said that.

If he really wanted to escape, he would need to destroy the cage, harming those around it, though it could be argued that getting hurt that way would be their own fault. But Fuzzy Dice did not even entertain that option.

Even if it put him to a disadvantage, he would stick to his self-imposed rules. He would not harm anyone, even if they were his enemies. Seeing that resolute determination only made the fans staring through the window to squeal madly and swoon. Somehow the situation had only made his fans become more infatuated.

(I had no idea the detective had prepared all of this.)

The detective had claimed he did not have a plan after Mira used the tracking device, but that had not been true at all. Rather, he had a very carefully thought out plan which he had kept secret.

Using the Lock-On M-Type device on Fuzzy Dice was a plan designed to fail, created under the pretense that Fuzzy Dice was listening to them the whole time.

That was why the detective claimed he had no plan, as he did not feel the need to make the decoy plan more elaborate than it needed to be, and he focused his attention on the main secret plan.

(Still, I think I’ll get some action soon.)

So far, Mira had seen him as a bit of a silly detective who loved the sound of his own voice and desserts. But she became aware of how skilled he really was now that he had cornered Fuzzy Dice like that.