It wasn't until Andrew had left the area with Meow-Da for quite some time that the trio from Hollow Special Operations Section 6, looking somewhat travel-worn, returned to the initial intersection.
At first, relying on their past experience, the three of them had no suspicions regarding the slightly panicked footprints.
After all, in New Eridu, the primary destination chosen by almost all suspects when preparing to escape was the nearest Hollow.
And satisfying this prerequisite, the bigger the Hollow, the better.
Even if there were occasional exceptions, it was only because the nearest Hollows were all too far away, making it impossible to rush into one before being caught, thus forcing them to flee elsewhere.
After all, as long as one entered a Hollow with its complex spatial structure, it was common for ordinary police to lose track of them.
There were even quite a few police officers who, lacking Ether resistance, were forced to stop outside the Hollow and stare helplessly at the suspects inside.
But the people giving chase this time were no ordinary police.
They were Section 6.
It was perfectly normal to unconsciously leave footprints in a panic while being chased. Even if they disappeared later, it could be explained by realizing the footprints would expose them and thus starting to hide them.
But as the three of them searched the Hollow in a full circle yet found nothing, Tsukishiro Yanagi began to sense that something was wrong.
Relying on the Carrot data for all Hollows surrounding New Eridu—data that Section 6 kept in reserve and updated daily—Tsukishiro Yanagi was very certain she hadn't missed any spots.
To slip away under such circumstances, the Carrot in the opponent's hand would have to be even more powerful than the one held by Section 6.
But to achieve that, unless...
Unless the creator of the Carrot in that person's hand was Phaethon, who had recently become a complete legend among Proxies, it would be impossible to achieve.
Aside from this, there was another very important point.
That was: in all the subsequent places, there were no traces left by human movement.
Unless one was a tracking expert extremely sensitive to traces, no matter how careful one was, it was impossible to leave absolutely no trace of human activity.
When these two conditions were superimposed.
Although Andrew could actually achieve both of these things, by a stroke of luck, Tsukishiro Yanagi arrived at the correct answer.
The only possibility was—
The opponent had never entered the Hollow from the beginning.
"Doing the opposite of what is expected... is it?"
To think he could fake traces and use inertial thinking to mislead her in just those few short seconds.
That guy was absolutely an incomparably cunning fellow.
As Tsukishiro Yanagi carefully observed the intersection once again, the footprints leading to the Hollow now looked more and more abrupt the longer she looked at them.
By this point, how could Tsukishiro Yanagi not realize she had been deceived?
But waiting until now to realize the problem and return meant the opponent had probably long since run off to who-knows-where.
Trying to find the opponent directly was now impossible.
Looking at the empty intersection.
With an apologetic air, Tsukishiro Yanagi could only lower her voice helplessly and say to Hoshimi Miyabi, who had rushed over from inside the Hollow with her:
"I apologize, Section Chief. That person has likely already escaped. Our field operation this time has failed."
But Hoshimi Miyabi merely shook her head lightly and said:
"No, our operational mission this time was a success."
Hearing this, Tsukishiro Yanagi immediately raised her head in some surprise to look at Hoshimi Miyabi, looking at her with some emotion.
But Hoshimi Miyabi continued to speak as if it were a matter of course:
"The operational target for Section 6 this time was the monster flying in the sky that died at the very beginning."
"Although it wasn't us who took action, that monster has indeed been killed now. The mission to eliminate the monster endangering the citizens has likewise been completed satisfactorily."
Asaba Harumasa, who had slacked off to his heart's content, looked at the Section 6 office, which had become very strange after he woke up from a nap.
For a moment, he felt a bit bewildered.
Soukaku, whose face was covered in cat claw marks, was sitting in her seat looking at a tuft of cat fur in her hand with a conflicted expression. She wasn't even eating her favorite snacks.
And Hoshimi Miyabi was holding 'Wuwei' in her hands, staring blankly at the tip of its blade.
In front of Hoshimi Miyabi, a whetstone was placed—an incredibly rare sight for this long blade that had always only needed maintenance and never sharpening.
And Asaba Harumasa observed very clearly.
Although Hoshimi Miyabi was staring at the sword tip, judging by her unfocused gaze, she was obviously thinking about something else in her heart.
As for Tsukishiro Yanagi.
The fact that she didn't wake him up when she came back and found him sleeping was already very much out of the ordinary.
And now, she was actually processing and collecting documents.
But didn't they say before that they were going to debunk fake intelligence posts on that 'House of Oddities' website and take Soukaku out to play at the same time?
What happened?!
Why did the situation become so wrong after they came back?!
What is the situation here?!!
How is it that just by slacking off for a bit, I've become out of the loop! Although I also use a bow, I don't want to become a Liberi!
But the three people in the office were each preoccupied with their own thoughts, and not a single one noticed Asaba Harumasa's bewilderment.
Hoshimi Miyabi once again recalled the battle that had occurred earlier in detail. Countless doubtful points constantly appeared along with her memories.
The biggest among them, and the only thing she could be very certain of, was this:
That man who had deceived her multiple times had actually never truly counterattacked from start to finish, from the moment she discovered and attacked him.
And judging by the move the opponent used at the very end, if he had wanted to counterattack, countless opportunities to do so had actually existed in the battle before.
From this point of view, the opponent could absolutely not be the kind of heinous existence described in that article.
At the very least, he was definitely not some so-called 'Monster's Resentment' or anything like that.
But no matter what.
Allowing such an unidentified high-threat unit to be constantly active in New Eridu while she didn't even know his true identity...
Let alone confirming what kind of existence he actually was.
Turning a blind eye to an unidentified existence already placed before her eyes was not the style of Section 6.
And just then, Tsukishiro Yanagi suddenly walked over, interrupting Hoshimi Miyabi's train of thought.
She placed a written report in front of Hoshimi Miyabi, explaining the changes that had occurred due to this combat encounter.
"Section Chief, I have already submitted a written report to the higher-ups and have classified the 'House of Oddities' website as a new source of intelligence."
"Moving forward, other departments will record and verify the suspicious posts that appeared previously in the Oddity threads as intelligence that needs probing."
As for why the subsequent verification was handed over to other departments instead of continuing the investigation themselves:
It was mainly because for Section 6, which possessed the Void Hunter-level Hoshimi Miyabi, combat power was overflowing. Wasting it on this kind of thing would not be worth the loss.
So normally speaking, even if Hoshimi Miyabi had nothing to do, she remained in a state of standby to prevent crises that could appear at any time.
After all, given the sudden nature of Hollow disasters, no one could say for sure when a disaster might suddenly appear.
And incidents of powerful Ethereals inside Hollow Zero suddenly attacking human strongholds, or imminent Shiyu Tower events, emerged one after another.
One never knew when they would happen.
As a rapid response department specifically established in New Eridu to target Hollow disasters—literally—Section 6 naturally had to prioritize dealing with Hollow disasters when things happened.
After all, incidents requiring Section 6's deployment related to Hollows...
Were basically major events concerning either whether the people of New Eridu could live to see tomorrow's sun (rapid death) or whether there would be Ether energy to use tomorrow (chronic demise).
So for most people.
It was better for Hoshimi Miyabi to remain idle.
As for other operations to catch ordinary criminals, it was better to leave them to other departments specifically targeted at these matters.
Hoshimi Miyabi had actually anticipated this.
She nodded without hesitation, agreeing to Tsukishiro Yanagi and the higher-ups' handling of the subsequent intelligence from the House of Oddities website.
But after thinking of that man who had run away from her hands just now, Hoshimi Miyabi's movement of nodding in agreement suddenly stopped.
Should the pursuit of that man also be handed over to others?
No, that won't do.
She had just been played so miserably, yet now she was to hand the investigation directly to others.
Leaving aside whether other departments could cope with the strength that man had implicitly revealed, just handing it over to others like this—what difference was there from running away?
Thus, Hoshimi Miyabi's eyes instantly became very sharp.
"I have no objections to the other matters."
She turned her head to look at Tsukishiro Yanagi and said seriously:
"But there is one incident. That person... who slipped away before our eyes earlier... as long as there is relevant intelligence on him, it must be synchronized to our Section 6!"
"We will continue to pursue him afterwards!"
He managed to run away successfully this time, but next time, once she was on guard, it wouldn't be so certain!
And Tsukishiro Yanagi naturally had no intention of refusing.
As someone who had also been played, Hoshimi Miyabi's thoughts fit her intentions exactly.
Hoshimi Miyabi and Tsukishiro Yanagi reached a consensus. Soukaku didn't understand these things at all. And as the only existence who understood but had no clue what was going on...
Asaba Harumasa listened to the conversation between the two with a face full of bewilderment.
The phrase "What happened?" circled in his mind like a demonic sound loop. So, he could only attempt to ask Soukaku, whom he usually secretly took out to play every day and thus had the best relationship with.
As a result, he heard the confused Soukaku constantly muttering to herself:
"First place in the New World Dung Pod Contest... what exactly is that? What is the New World? And what is a Dung Pod?"
Meanwhile, on the other side.
The arrangements belonging to this incident had been decided. And just then, Hoshimi Miyabi brought up another unrelated matter.
"By the way, Yanagi."
Saying this, Hoshimi Miyabi looked up as if she had suddenly remembered it:
"I made an appointment a week ago with a good friend I made online. We are to meet at Lumina Square in three days, and I will teach her some sword techniques. So I need to take a day off on that day."
Hearing this, Tsukishiro Yanagi immediately looked at Hoshimi Miyabi with some surprise and said:
"The Section Chief actually has online friends?"
Hearing these words, Hoshimi Miyabi's good-looking brows unconsciously furrowed slightly. She said with a bit of dissatisfaction:
"I am not some deeply sheltered young miss who knows nothing of the world. Of course, I would have online friends."
Although...
Isn't someone who could get their family heirloom sword swindled away by a stranger on the road exactly a deeply sheltered young miss who knows nothing of the world?
Though she was somewhat worried that Hoshimi Miyabi was being scammed again, Tsukishiro Yanagi didn't tactlessly say this out loud. She merely nodded in full cooperation.
At least after being scammed that time.
Through the constant indoctrination and education by that pink-haired woman, Hoshimi Miyabi's ability to identify scams had become much stronger.
At least in terms of cunning (scamming ability), that Nicole from Cunning Hares was unmatched among the people she knew.
Oh... it seems the name of that organization was recently changed to Cunning Hares.
So there shouldn't be any problem.
Probably.
At the same time.
Andrew, who had just returned to the Seliana Smithy on his bike with Meow-Da, looked at Soldier 11—Xia Lin—in front of him with great confusion.
He repeated what she had just said:
"You're saying you want to apply to go to Lumina Square in three days to meet a master you knew online?"
He saw Soldier 11 nod with incomparable seriousness and say:
"Yes, Officer. The appointment was made a week ago, so I am hereby applying to you for approval to go out."
"Uh..."
Listening to Soldier 11's serious, by-the-book answer, Andrew instantly felt a bit speechless.
He had already emphasized many times that in terms of freedom, the Silver Squad currently had no restrictions; she could just go wherever she wanted.
After all, their ID cards had long been prepared with the help of the Mayor.
And the ID cards given personally by the Mayor were at least much more reliable than the fake citizen ID he asked Nicole to handle for himself.
But even so.
Every time she went out, Soldier 11 insisted on reporting the application to him and only doing it after receiving consent.
Although there was a long way to go, there was still a bit of benefit to this.
At least now, after hearing this news, Andrew knew about Soldier 11's decision to meet an online friend.
It was just that.
Compared to Soldier 11 naively thinking she was going to learn some sword moves and techniques from an online friend, Andrew was more worried about whether she was encountering a scam.
After all, he had heard from Wise previously.
She seemed to be undergoing a lot of strange training every day recently because of some online friend's suggestions.
For example, strange training like distinguishing how many types of chili peppers were used and what their ratios were while eating explosively spicy ramen.
But before actually meeting once to confirm whether the other party was a scammer or not, there was no reason to refuse right now.
Moreover, what if it really was an ordinary online friend?
For Soldier 11, whose living environment was closed off, knowing more online friends was indeed very beneficial for her.
So Andrew nodded decisively and said:
"No problem. Go if you want to."
It wasn't until this moment that although Soldier 11, who had received consent, still wore the same cold expression, Andrew—who had lived with the Silver Squad for a long time and could detect emotions from various expressionless faces—could still tell.
She was indeed very happy.
In that case, he couldn't stop her even more.
____
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