She is not an investigator.

Igris would certainly not give away her things to anyone for free, but she did need to know what exactly that thing that had always been coveted about her was.

She casually tossed a card to Igris, which had only one word written on it.

[Pocket watch.]

"...Could it be the owner of that watch shop who sent you?"

Unable to buy, they start preparing to rob? Is this the true face of merchants?

Igris had to go and complain.

She didn't answer, but just silently looked at Igris, as if waiting for her to take out the pocket watch.

Igris had no choice but to take out her pocket watch and hold it in her hand.

"It's settled then. Once you take this, don't bother me anymore. We'll be even, understand?"

Seeing her nod, Igris sighed and reluctantly handed over the pocket watch.

The instant she took it, Igris grabbed her wrist without hesitation and pinned her down.

No one in the world has ever actually been able to take anything away from Igris.

"Got you!"

Igris straddled her, locking her neck tightly.

But the person beneath her didn't seem to want to give up so easily. He punched Igris in the head, but Igris barely dodged it, grabbed her arm, and slammed her to the ground.

thump!

With a muffled thud, the figure beneath Igris fell to the ground, but still clung tightly to the arm that was locking Igris's neck.

"do not move!"

In this position, it was impossible for the other party to break free from Igris's restraint by brute force alone, and she seemed to understand this as well, so she gave up struggling and instead weakly pulled on Igris's arm.

Unfortunately, Igris did not understand the meaning behind her actions, so she continued to lock her neck tightly and tried to put pressure on her with her not-so-heavy body.

Gradually, her movements became lighter and lighter, and the pulling motion turned into slapping. As if she couldn't hold back any longer, she somehow produced a card and waved it in front of Igris.

Igris also saw the words written on the card and couldn't help but pause in surprise.

[I can't breathe.]

"You were practically out of breath, yet you still managed to produce a card?!"

Igris felt this person was even stranger than herself, but she still let her go to avoid accidentally killing her.

The phantom thief, finally free from Igris's cruel shackles, lay on the ground, coughing silently.

Igris moved closer to her, and while she was still panting and trying to regain her composure, she ripped off the black mask from her head.

But what appeared in Igris's sight was not her appearance, but a face without features.

It's a puppet.

"I feel like I'm almost used to it... but more than this puppet, I'm curious about how you managed to pull out the whole card in that emergency."

Igris stood up and looked at the unsteady figure at the door.

"Next time you can try speaking directly, otherwise I might accidentally kill you."

"..."

She angrily threw out a card, then disappeared into the night again.

Igris caught the card that was tossed to her and looked at the words on it.

[Next time, I'll make you pay.]

"There are plenty of people who want me to pay the price..."

Igris casually tossed the card into the fireplace, watching it slowly being consumed by the flames, and couldn't help but turn to look at the puppet.

Such a big puppet should last a long time to burn.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"you mean…"

"Ah, yes, your situation has been resolved. It's not a big problem. If you don't believe me, you can check again in a couple of days."

As dawn broke, Igrizis stood at the doorway, carrying eight wooden puppets on her back, and held a bag full of limbs, speaking to Adam.

"If a similar situation does occur again in the future, I can help you resolve it for free, so now you can enjoy your peaceful life."

"Oh my god... thank you... thank you so much..."

He didn't ask what those things on Igris were for; after all, detectives all have their own special investigative techniques, and that wasn't something he should ask.

At least he can return to his previous stable life now, and that's enough.

"Oh, right..."

"Is there anything else?"

Igris hesitated for a moment, then gently shook her head.

"It's nothing, have a nice day."

"Thank you."

Igris left Adam's house and headed towards the firm.

She hesitated to tell Adam about his wife, but as she said, Adam was already working hard to move on from that past.

Igris could tell him everything, but that wouldn't do any good, or even worse... Adam's condition might worsen because of this.

This is something neither Igris nor she wanted to see, so it's better not to know some things.

As for now... she's going to the Special Investigations Department.

While you're at it, sell the puppet you're carrying on your back; you can at least get ten copper coins for it.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Oh... welcome, you've come again. Did you come to see me and bring a gift?"

Alex, who had been sitting with her legs propped up on the table in a very unseemly manner, naturally returned to a normal sitting posture upon seeing Igris and looked at the bag Igris was holding.

What's inside?

"Take a look for yourself."

Igris handed the bag to Alex, who genuinely believed it was a gift from her and happily opened it to take a look.

He then frowned.

"Who did you hack to pieces like this? Constantine?"

"Why did you think of him first? I didn't do it; I discovered the anomaly."

And the mouth inside the bag cooperated perfectly by making a sound.

"Nice to meet you."

"How disgusting!"

Alex nearly dropped the bag she was holding, but she eventually handed it over to the others to handle.

This is probably the advantage of Liu having power and influence; she can delegate this kind of disgusting and demanding work to others, while she can just sit here and wait for Igris to come and chat with her.

"I thought you'd finally gone mad and come to me for help carrying a bag of dismembered corpses."

"You have quite a vivid imagination."

The Gods' Fool - Torrential Rain: Chapter Eighteen, Time and Space Administration

"So you came here today just to bring that thing?"

"There are other things too."

Igris sat down very naturally in the chair that Alex had pulled out for her, and said with a serious expression.

"I had a brief encounter with that phantom thief yesterday."

"she?"

"Hmm... that phantom thief was a woman, maybe she was mute? But she didn't seem to be able to make a sound."

Igris didn't know; she was just guessing. But judging from the fact that the other person hadn't made a sound even though she had almost strangled him, she was probably right.

"That's a good lead indeed, so what did you all do yesterday? I'm quite curious about your first encounter with her."

Alex is very interested in this; she'll probably be interested in all the battles Igris has been through.

"There's not much to say. She tried to steal my pocket watch, and I told her... she could have the pocket watch, on the condition that she stop bothering me in the future."

"She believed it?"

Alex felt that even a child wouldn't believe such an excuse.

“I believed her, and she really came.”

Igris also felt it was a bit outrageous. If it weren't for that strange substitution technique, Igris estimated that she could have brought back one more thing today.

"Then, as she reached for the pocket watch, I pinned her to the ground and locked her neck."

Igris gestured slightly and continued.

"But she couldn't speak and I almost strangled her to death. To prevent her from actually dying in my client's house, I temporarily let her go, and that's when she escaped."

"it's a pity."

Alex clicked her tongue, unsure whether she was regretting that Igris hadn't actually caught her, or that the battle hadn't been as exciting as she'd imagined.

"There's nothing to regret. I let her go on purpose, in a way."

Igris didn't seem to care at all, and even smiled as she rested her chin on her hand.

"What mischief are you plotting now?"

“I didn’t have any bad ideas…it’s just that the guy was very rude and even insulted me, so I definitely have to get my revenge.”

Igris said with a serious expression.

“As long as she is not arrested, she will definitely launch another attack on me and try to steal my pocket watch, but this will also give us another chance to clash.”