Since Gary didn't seem very brave, Lucy expected him to faint within seconds. However, much to both her surprise and boredom, even after a full minute, he continued screaming and writhing in pain; she suspected that his high adrenaline levels were likely the reason for his endurance.
As she planned to interrogate Gary along with the Marquis' son and the other subordinates accompanying him once she captured them, Lucy couldn't let him struggle until his health parameter dropped to zero. So, she kicked him in the head to knock him out, intending to pour a healing potion down his throat afterward to close his wounds.
However, since Gary's head was an extremely unpredictable moving target, Lucy didn't manage to hit him properly on the first try, needing four blows to finally put him to sleep.
"You can untie the chain around him, Yara. After I make him drink a healing potion to stop the bleeding, I'll bind him tightly with steel wire...', said Lucy, no longer considering Gary a threat, as she knew well what it meant for a fighter to lose their legs.
...Ok...", replied Yara, unsure what to make of Lucy's actions. Since she hadn't witnessed Silas' torture, as she had arrived while he was trapped in the dream controlled by Lucy, and because during her fight with Lucy, she hadn't sensed any killing intent from her, Yara believed that Lucy was more playful than decisive in combat and she didn't expect Lucy to be capable of committing such acts of violence so easily.
Moreover, Lucy seemed to actually be enjoying herself in those moments, as if she had just pulled off a prank. Although Yara had long since become desensitized to committing extreme acts of violence, cutting human beings becoming as simple for her as chopping vegetables for soup, she couldn't recall ever doing so with the same enthusiasm that Lucy displayed. For Yara, cutting someone was more of a nuisance, often creating extra work, like disposing of the body if the blow was fatal. Not to mention, she almost always had to clean her clothes and knives afterward.
But in Lucy's case, the situation was completely different, as she treated her victims like a cat playing with a mouse; for her, it seemed the process was more important than the outcome, because, once she won, her enthusiasm diminished considerably.
"You seem pretty familiar with this process. Is this something you've been doing for a long time?", Yara asked Lucy, noticing the skill with which she was tying up Gary, her curiosity about Lucy's past being reignited. She now leaned more toward believing that Lucy had grown up among demons, as such a bloodthirsty nature was not usually found in catkin, who weren't similar to cats in terms of cruelty.
"Not really. It probably seems that way because I'm just talented at it...", replied Lucy, who, busy tying up Gary, didn't think too deeply about Yara's words, taking them as a compliment. "Huh, what's with this bracelet? Is it some kind of magic item?", Lucy asked, noticing the blue gemstone-encrusted bracelet on Gary's wrist.
'This world is truly full of wonders. Even someone so incompetent can acquire such drip...', Lucy thought to herself, planning to bring things back to normal by taking Gary's bracelet, which seemed far beyond his level.
"Wait a second, Lucy! Something might be wrong with that bracelet...", Yara stopped her, feeling like she had seen similar bracelets before, though not on people in favorable circumstances.
As she moved closer to Gary to take a better look at the bracelet, Yara was almost certain she wasn't mistaken; it was nearly identical to the bracelets she had seen a few times on the wrists of slaves accompanying their masters during dungeon explorations.
"I'm afraid I have bad news: we've almost certainly been spied on. The purpose of this bracelet is to transmit what the wearer sees to another person, so it's very likely the Marquis' son saw everything that happened through Gary's eyes. However, the situation is a bit comical. Usually, this bracelet is put on the wrists of slaves sent ahead through trap-filled areas or into boss rooms by wealthy people who don't want to take risks when exploring a dungeon, so I imagine Gary wasn't too comfortable being forced to wear it by the Marquis' son when he was sent after me. Or maybe he wasn't even told what the bracelet's purpose was. Knowing Gary, he would've probably quit if he had known he was being sent on a mission that was considered suicidal from the start...", Yara said, not expecting the Marquis' son to make such a move, as she had previously thought he only had a head to keep his throat from getting wet in the rain.
'Well, dangerous situations have a way of unlocking someone's potential...', Yara found an explanation for the sudden rise in the Marquis' son's IQ.
"What?! If he saw us together, he probably realized all their plans had fallen apart. Doesn't that mean he'll try to leave the forest as quickly as possible? If he has some magical item that lets him teleport straight home, how will we ever capture him?", Lucy began to worry that the Marquis' son might slip through their fingers.
'Damn it, my mission is going to be a huge failure. Well, that's what happens when a ninja prioritizes emotional issues over the mission…', Lucy berated herself for not immediately going after the Marquis' son.
However, if she had the choice to redo everything from the moment Rina regained consciousness, Lucy was certain she wouldn't change anything, as winning Yara's love was far more valuable to her than capturing the Marquis' son, who likely didn't know much more about the Marquis' plans than the subordinate they had captured.
'Congratulations, Gary! It seems you've gone from being a pawn to a queen!', Gary suddenly became much more important to Lucy, as evidenced by her remembering his name after Yara mentioned it.
"As far as I know, he doesn't possess any magic item that allows long-distance teleportation, as such items are pretty hard to come by. But it's true that capturing him will be more difficult, as I think he has a magical item that helps him move faster. Plus, one of the Marquis' subordinates traveling with him is a level 48 Hunter, so he knows very well how to hide their tracks and leave false trails. Well, that would be the case if I hadn't secretly left marks in their shadows…", Yara explained, her last words revealing why she wasn't too worried that the Marquis' son had likely already fled.
"Seriously, Yara? So you can find them even if they've already left the area where you last saw them?", Lucy asked, regaining her excitement at Yara's words.
"Yes, as long as their shadow hasn't been purified by someone with at least a Priestess class, I'll always be able to locate them...", Yara confirmed, a little amused by the admiration in Lucy's eyes.
"Wow, Yara! You're amazing!", Lucy gave Yara a quick hug and a firm kiss on the cheek, then started urging her to lead them toward the Marquis' son as quickly as possible.
"Don't worry, Lucy! To get to the place where he had to abandon his carriage, the Marquis' son will need almost five hours even if he moves at my speed, a feat I doubt is possible, regardless of any magic item he might have to boost his speed, as his level is too low. Besides, since he's probably realized I'm no longer on his side, he'll likely try to hide for a while, knowing that I'm aware of the direction where his carriage is. Considering all this, I don't think we need to rush too much…", Yara tried to calm Lucy down, feeling too relaxed for a high-speed chase after the passionate kisses and the doses of cola she had consumed.
"But who knows what could happen? What if a bear eats them before we find them?", Lucy said, still unable to calm down after the scare that the Marquis' son might have slipped through their fingers. She wouldn't feel at ease until she saw him tied up.
"Hmmm, you're right. Then how about we bring them here instead?", Yara made a surprising suggestion.
Yara figured that now that Lucy and Rina were her girlfriends, there was no problem using one of her secret skills in front of them. Well, it wouldn't have been the first time, since the skill she used during her confrontation with Lucy to create a shadow domain came from the same category.
In any case, she always preferred quick solutions, so if she could use a skill without any worries to skip the chase through the forest after the Marquis' son and his two companions, why not use it? Besides, she thoroughly enjoyed the way Lucy looked at her with admiration.
***Author's Thoughts:
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