Alice, who had left with Christina and Mira at the beginning, was nowhere to be seen. She rarely ran anywhere and lacked stamina, so she arrived at Skoda Tavern later than the others.
Leaning against the doorframe, she panted heavily.
"M-Miss Mira... you're... so fast..."
As Alice looked up, she saw the police searching the kitchen. At that moment, a beautiful melody began to play.
"Praise be to the great Goddess of Fate, Fatelis. Thank You for blessing us with days of happiness. We will cherish every wonderful moment You have given us, la la la..."
Alice reached into her pocket and took out her phone. It was her ringtone—a hymn she had recorded herself.
The caller ID displayed Jacob's name.
Jacob and Grace had quietly slipped away as soon as the police's arrival distracted everyone, with Jacob leading Grace out unnoticed.
"It's Mr. Jacob. Hello."
Alice answered the call, held the phone to her ear, and walked into the narrow alley between two buildings while speaking. Jacob's voice came through the receiver.
"We've already left the tavern. The hidden door is underneath one of the kitchen cabinets."
"The police seem to have already found it."
"That's good."
"But someone reported a fight earlier. You two aren't hurt, are you?"
"...It's a long story. Grace was the one who started fighting."
"So it really was you two?!"
"It was all an accident."
"Still, thanks to that accident, the police finally agreed to come."
"So the food poisoning excuse didn't work?"
"That chief said protecting the police's reputation was more important. It made me so mad!"
The moment Alice mentioned the police chief, her anger flared up again.
"For a commoner, he's got an awful lot of nerve."
"By the way, where did Ms. Eis go?"
Ethefelis had wandered off before they entered the police station. Meanwhile, Jacob, standing in a quiet alley, glanced toward a nearby corner before answering.
"She's with us."
"Why?"
"When someone builds a hidden room, they usually build an emergency escape route too. Ethefelis came to block the escape exit. We happened to run into her after entering this deserted alley."
While investigating the hidden door earlier, Ethefelis had also discovered the escape route. Jacob simply hadn't asked, so she never brought it up.
At that very moment, Ethefelis was sitting atop a massive metal cube about two meters long, wide, and tall, casually swinging her legs.
She had stacked several wooden crates she found somewhere, then used derived magic of fire elemental, the metal magic to create the enormous block.
The metal was osmium—the densest metal in the world.
No matter how hard the men inside tried, they would never be able to move it.
"Miss Eis is amazing! She even figured that out!"
"Yeah. We can already hear the people involved with the Phinto Powder operation trying to escape."
Besides the men desperately slamming themselves against the blocked exit, several others standing farther back suddenly noticed the police arriving.
"The police! The police are here!"
The fierce-looking middle-aged man immediately cursed in panic.
"What the hell are the people upstairs doing?! Why didn't they warn us?! Did you break the door open yet?!"
"It won't budge!"
"Damn it! They abandoned us!"
The man shouted those strange words in despair.
Moments later, the police stormed in and arrested everyone.
Jacob, Grace, and Ethefelis could all hear the officers shouting, "Don't move!"
"Oh... sounds like they've all been arrested. Alice, are you still there?"
Alice had been silent for a while. Just after Jacob spoke, she suddenly cried out in panic.
"I-I'm not the Saintess! You have the wrong person!"
"Alice, what's wrong?! What happened?! Hey! Answer me!"
Her words immediately threw Jacob into a panic as well, but no matter how many times he called her name, there was no response.
Jacob frowned as he stared at the phone's dark screen.
The call had been disconnected.
Ethefelis jumped down from the metal block and walked over to Jacob. Grace also approached him with concern.
"Mr. Jacob, what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure. I'm going to find Alice."
"I'm coming too."
"No. The people at the tavern recognize you. You and Ethefelis stay here. We'll be back soon."
"...Okay."
This time, Grace didn't insist on following him. She accepted his decision calmly, though the sadness on her face was obvious as she watched Jacob physically walk farther and farther away.
Seeing how much more honest Grace had become with her feelings, Ethefelis couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips into a faint smile.