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The detective had plan on top of plan for their encounter and none of them had been successful, but he was still smiling as he conceded defeat. As he looked at Mira, he seemed curious to see what she would attempt next.

「It was my pleasure, it was quite enjoyable to watch.」 After replying to the detective, Mira turned to face Fuzzy Dice and added, 「I’ll be your opponent now, if you don’t mind.」

「You’re that adventurer they call the Spirit Queen, right? I’ve heard rumors of your strength.」

As he replied, Fuzzy Dice shot out a thread from his finger again. His movements were really minimal, and the thread very fast, heading straight to Mira’s face and the mask protecting her.

But then Mira quickly used a summon.

「So troublesome. But I’ve seen that move already.」 A large tower shield appeared in the thread’s path, and then vanished again. Mira just stood behind, not moving a muscle, almost like she was taunting Fuzzy Dice.

「That was a Holy Knight’s… I see, you really are different from those I’ve encountered before.」 The thief seemed to understand Mira’s power, and began treating her like a proper threat.

(Phew, that was really close!)

Meanwhile, Mira was also shocked by how quickly Fuzzy Dice had acted. She was trying to act cool, but she had only barely managed to avoid it.

They continued staring intently at each other, slowly moving in a circle and awaiting a moment to attack, almost like a final fight from some movie. Around ten or twenty minutes passed like that, until one of them finally decided to make the first move.

Fuzzy Dice shot out multiple threads this time, but this time he also shot them at the walls, ceiling, and floor of the Union.

「Oh… That’s Cascade Spider’s Web!」 Mira once again used a swift partial summoning to block the thread heading for her, and then she looked around at the rest, noticing something.

The threads were a bit hard to see in the white mist, but she noticed they were covered in many droplets. Those threads had been created using the most powerful spider web Forbidden Art that existed, which had the highest adhesion and elasticity.

(Why would anyone use these in such an enclosed space?)

If she merely grazed one of those, she would become entangled and unable to move, so their presence greatly restrained her movements. But that also posed the same danger to Fuzzy Dice.

So Mira became puzzled, wondering just how they were supposed to fight in such a situation. But then there was a sudden gust of wind that entered the Union.

「My apologies, young lady. But I’m pressed for time and still have things left to do, so if you’ll excuse me.」

As the wind cleared the white mist, Fuzzy Dice’s voice seemed to become more distant. Looking in that direction, Mira saw that the door was open and he was crossing through it.

「What?!」

Mira’s combative spirit had been set ablaze, so she was convinced that they would be fighting. But Fuzzy Dice had only been thinking about escaping, so he had used the time they circled each other to get closer to the door, ready to go through it as soon as possible.

After betraying all of Mira’s expectations, Fuzzy Dice beamed a bright smile and ran away.

「Damn you…get back here!」

As the mist cleared, countless spiderwebs became visible all over the Union, leaving Mira baffled. But undeterred, she summoned a Dark Knight to clear them off.

「This confirms it. Fuzzy Dice uses Forbidden Arts, my hypothesis was correct.」 The detective had been watching everything, and knew that all of that was only possible through Forbidden Arts, and was elated that his hypothesis was correct.

「And he’s really good with them.」

Even the Dark Knight was struggling to cut and tear through those sticky and elastic threads, but that problem was solved by switching its weapon to the Holy Sword Sanctia.

The main issue was their stickiness, as they would remain stuck to the Dark Knight after being cut, and eventually stopped it from moving.

Just four were enough to immobilize the Dark Knight, so Mira had to send it away and summon another one. But there were nearly a hundred threads, so continuing like that would take too long.

Focusing purely on efficiency was also a bad idea, as Cascade Spider’s Web could be burned off very easily, but that flammability made that method tricky to use indoors, as a large fire could be started by accident.

Overall, that was an annoying obstacle for Mira to deal with, making her take longer before she could chase after Fuzzy Dice.

Around three minutes after Fuzzy Dice left, Mira finally cleared the path to the exit, using her abundant mana to its fullest extent and summoning as many Dark Knights as she could.

「Mira, are you still trying to chase after him?」

The detective felt the need to ask that, as Mira showed no signs of giving up. Only three minutes had passed, but knowing Fuzzy Dice, that was plenty of time to go into hiding. The detective knew that very well, so he did not think it was realistic to still attempt pursuing the thief.

They had only been able to confront him like that because they knew he would come to the Union and waited in ambush. But now that he had gotten out, there was no way of knowing where he was.

But that was merely based on previous events. Seeing Mira’s expression, he also asked, 「Or do you have some plan in mind already?」

「Yes, I do indeed. I came prepared for a situation like this.」
「I see, I had a hunch I could count on you. What do you have in mind then?」

Mira replied full of confidence, and the detective became curious about it. He had already given up himself, but he wanted to know what Mira would attempt.

「It’s nothing complicated. I just have some trustworthy friends keeping watch.」

She had planned for him to escape from the very beginning. Not to mention that going somewhere else was the better option if they wanted an all out fight. By then, the adventurers who had fallen asleep were also waking up, so she asked them to take care of the remaining spiderwebs in the Union.

「I see… You can do that since you’re a summoner, interesting.」 The detective caught on quickly, becoming aware of all the possibilities present for summoners. But then, he began moving his wheelchair to go wake up Julius.