She is not an investigator.

The Gods' Folly—Regret: Chapter Twelve, The Second Conjecture

Just as you expected.

In the dusty warehouse, a deep blue painting lies quietly in a corner, protected by a white cloth.

Byron removed the white cloth and turned to look at Igris.

"It is indeed here, safe, and has not been stolen."

Igris didn't say anything, she just shrugged, her smugness not showing on her face, but it still made everyone present turn their heads.

"But could this also mean..."

Olivia twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and said casually.

"That phantom thief doesn't actually have the ability to steal anything from this museum? He's just... intimidating people to create unnecessary public attention?"

Olivia looked at her uncle, and William was also unsure what to say. After all, his family was large and powerful, and it was hard to say whether they might accidentally provoke some troublesome people.

"But this is at least a good thing, because the artifacts here are not as dangerous as we imagined, and could be taken away at any time."

Byron looked at the painting, which was worth thirty thousand gold coins, and then covered it with the white cloth again.

"Otherwise, there's no reason for him not to actually take something with him when he leaves. If we choose to reveal the whole truth, then the public opinion he created will fall apart on its own."

"The premise is that he really can't take it with him, not that he doesn't want to take it with him."

Olivia's voice suddenly rang out, drawing everyone's attention to her and noticing her strange squatting motion on the ground.

As she slowly stood up, and a black card appeared in her hand, everyone fell silent.

"He once went into the warehouse."

Olivia looked at her uncle, but William shook his head violently.

"Impossible! He couldn't be here! Only I can get in here, only I have the key!"

Although he said that, his expression became visibly panicked, and he quickly ran towards the center of the warehouse.

As he moved hastily, the abandoned display case in front of him was pushed, and the sound of gears turning rang out, causing everyone's feet to tremble slightly.

Soon, the dilapidated warehouse was transformed into a brand new place, and with the lights coming on, red walls and several display cases were presented to everyone.

Before he could even process the wonder and suddenness of this change, William quickly ran to the front of the display case to make sure that the items inside were still there and undamaged.

It was a stone that looked exceptionally magical and beautiful, said to be a wondrous object that fell from the sky.

"That's great...he didn't find this place, that's great..."

This must be where he deliberately hid? Such a heavily guarded place is not something an ordinary person could find, let alone one that can only be opened with a key that only he possesses.

However, when Igris looked at the other display cases, her eyes widened suddenly at one case containing a bone flute.

“…Mr. William, look over there.”

"Huh? What's wrong? What happened?"

Following the direction Igris pointed, a black card lay quietly inside the bone flute's display case.

"No...no! Impossible! Impossible!"

William immediately smashed the display case to pieces, ignoring the glass shards and the injury to his hand, and slowly raised the black card.

And above it, there was only a very short, tiny line of text.

You have five days left.

……

Inside the police station, Igris sat in a chair, aimlessly playing with Olivia's hair that had unconsciously fallen down beside her, and sighed with some boredom.

"Does this kind of thing really need to be discussed for this long? We've been waiting here for almost..."

Igris instinctively touched her pocket, but then remembered that her pocket watch had already been lost at sea, so she could only make things up.

"It's been almost five hours."

"It's only been less than two hours... This matter must be very serious for Uncle...? To be honest, I have no idea how he got into that kind of place. Although everyone knows that the warehouse exists, no one knows exactly where it is, not to mention that the door there is specially made. It's almost impossible for anyone other than Uncle to open it. Even if he did manage to get in by chance, he wouldn't be able to discover the existence of the secret room, right?"

Olivia sighed, watching Igris still engrossed in playing with her hair, which had grown quite long since it hadn't been trimmed in a while, without offering any resistance.

"What about ventilation ducts? A truly sealed space is impossible, isn't it?"

"Unless you're a rat, there's no way you could use those ventilation ducts as an entrance... Even if you were a rat, you probably wouldn't be able to get out; you'd just get stuck in the middle."

Moreover, what is truly important is not the secrecy of the warehouse itself.

"The key point is that activating that secret room isn't so simple. At least I didn't know it existed, and my uncle would never have revealed it to anyone... Anyway, we just need to wait for the results."

"OK then."

Igris sighed, leaned back somewhat bored, and began to aimlessly survey the layout of the police station.

This police station is much smaller than the one in Molkens, but much cleaner, probably because Byanca doesn't only have one police station? The city has three precincts, located in different areas, and there's even a police station near the college specifically for witches.

Although it seemed pointless, the little witches still ran away.

"Olivia, what do you think about this?"

Although Igris knew that her question was meaningless, she still wanted to see what Olivia's first instinct was.

After all, this whole thing is somewhat supernatural, even... a little scary?

If you went there alone and found out, you'd probably get goosebumps.

"In my opinion... I can probably think of the following scenarios in this situation."

Olivia held up the first finger and whispered.

"This phantom thief possesses some supernatural abilities, including but not limited to things like seeing through walls, being invisible, and teleporting, or perhaps she is simply a witch?"

"But these conditions are too demanding."

Igris didn't believe that such a powerful being really existed in the world, and even if it did, it probably shouldn't be lurking in ordinary human society.

"Then it must be the second one."

Olivia wagged her finger and unconsciously glanced at Igris, who was looking at her intently.

"What is the second one?"

"...No, it's nothing, it seems there's no other possibility."

Olivia stopped mid-sentence, probably because she had genuinely forgotten her lines.

Fortunately, her embarrassment didn't last long, because her uncle had already come out.

"Alright, we should find out what the next preparations are."

A foolish trick of the gods—a regret: a leave request

I apologize for informing everyone that due to some unforeseen circumstances, I am currently facing significant difficulties in my creative work.

I might need a little time to rest and perhaps adjust my mindset.

I may only be able to maintain a minimum of two updates per day for a while in the future. I'm very sorry everyone.

I also want to thank everyone who has supported this book. Your support has been the driving force that has kept me writing. As for the criticisms of this book, I am also reflecting on them and trying to find solutions.

In this volume, Igris needs some rest and recuperation to maintain a minimum level of sanity, and I probably need a similar period of time as well.

Also, I'd like to recommend a friend's book, which is also by Orange.

The Gods' Folly - Regret: Chapter Thirteen, Utterly Delightful

"Uncle, how is it?"

Olivia walked towards William, who was walking slowly towards her. He sighed and shook his head with a touch of melancholy.

“No, there’s no trace of witchcraft, it wasn’t done by a witch… But how is that possible? How could he have gotten to a place like that? Now that secret room isn’t safe either, I have to… I have to move these things to a safer place.”

He looked at Olivia, then at Igris, who was sitting quietly and obediently to the side.

"If you really intend to continue this investigation, you should be extra careful. I feel this matter isn't as simple as it seems..."

William was probably genuinely frightened by the incident, as his voice sounded much weaker.

Although he planned to move these things to a safer place immediately after the incident, if the phantom thief could even enter such a secret room, then what place is truly safe?

"Mr. William, would you like to hear my opinion?"

Iglesias slowly stepped forward and, under the simultaneous gaze of Olivia and William, explained in a low voice.

“According to the notice, he will probably steal these things within seven days, and now there are only five days left. I think instead of looking for a more secret place to hide the treasure, why don’t we just put it in the museum?”

"Is it just going to be left in a museum to be stolen?"

William truly couldn't understand Igris's thinking; wasn't this tantamount to handing over these treasures to someone else?

"What I mean is, we have absolutely no idea how that phantom thief got into that secret room, do we?"

Igris snapped her fingers, a subtle smile curving her lips.

"But he will definitely try to steal those collections during this period. In other words, if we put them in the open instead of hiding them, then he will have to consider the risk of exposing himself in order to steal them."

What's the most important thing about fishing? The most fundamental thing is whether you can attract the fish.

The situation is now clear: he will definitely steal these treasures within five days. So instead of wasting time and energy hiding, it's better to be more direct and catch him.

Even if the collection is indeed stolen, as long as he is caught, all problems will naturally be solved.

"Moreover, in many cases, even if we do not choose to actively guard them, it will still take time and effort to remove these collections from certain special places. For example, the second-floor exhibition hall of a museum, even if it seems very easy to break into, will inevitably leave some traces."

The most important aspect is that, because of the glass curtain wall, most actions on the second floor can be clearly seen.

"But... but he can even sneak into those secret rooms, so if it's just a place like this..."

"How about we set up more informants?"

Olivia also thought of something very interesting, something that probably only they would do.

"Eyeliner?"

What's the most abundant thing in this city?

Olivia and Iglesias exchanged a glance and said in unison.

"Of course it's people."