At the inn, Yotsuba approaches and whispers in my ear.
Nell is napping. Nancy-san is at work.
Mac-kun seems to have finished writing his alchemy guidebook and is off to the printer’s.
“What happened with the robbery?”
Since that incident where someone stormed and wrecked the store, we’ve had Oliver-kun stationed there.
The store itself should be fine, though.
“Did they catch the robber?”
I spread my hands wide, gesturing that I don’t know.
That doesn’t mean I know everything about this town.
Catching robbers is really the police’s job.
“If he hasn’t been caught yet, we’ll catch him.”
Hey, what are you talking about?
Since leaving it alone might cause Yotsuba to go out of control, I write, [Don’t stick your neck into dangerous situations].
“They hurt Rion-kun.
I can’t forgive that. They deserve proper retribution.”
Yotsuba’s eyes were gleaming fiercely.
Yotsuba’s pretty detached about relationships, but even she gets angry sometimes.
Well, I get it. I wouldn’t forgive the ones who hurt Rion-kun either.
So I write, [I’ll check later if they got caught. If they haven’t, I’ll catch them myself.]
“I’m counting on you, Neko-san.”
“Nell? I need you to go out and do some shopping for me.
Wait, you are sleeping while leaving Yotsuba alone.
I guess I have no choice.”
Nancy-san woke Nell and asked her to go shopping.
I decided to tag along.
Also, I’ll try using [Search] to see if I can find any bandits.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Night. After everyone had fallen asleep.
Rion-kun, Oliver-kun, and I—the three of us headed out of town and wandered through the grasslands to the north.
Heading for a certain cave.
Relying on the moonlight? After travelling about ten kilometres, we eventually discovered a cave and peered at it stealthily from behind some weeds.
At the entrance, two men who looked like guards sat yawning.
They were laughing crudely inside, and I could hear it all the way out here.
This cave seemed to be a base used by the criminal group known as the Dark Guild [Devil’s Claw Dust].
Using [Search] and [Appraisal], I was trying to figure out who committed the robbery and where, and this cave popped up.
Using [Appraisal] on the cave dwellers from outside, they were all criminals.
It made me wonder why the police would leave a place like this alone, but I guess they never even noticed it existed.
Or maybe any police who did find it were taken care of.
Anyway, I decided to hand these cave dwellers over to the police.
Then I appeared before the man at the entrance.
“Huh? What is it? A stray cat? Shoo, shoo!”
“This one’s fat. Must be eating well in town, huh?”
At that moment, I jumped forward and touched the men’s chests. Instantly, they collapsed.
Rion-kun and Oliver-kun appeared and bound the men.
“You’re amazing, Master! What did you do?!”
“Their hearts have stopped! …Are they dead?!”
It was just a little potassium concentrated in their hearts through alchemy, causing an arrhythmia attack.
To use alchemy on people or beasts, you have to touch them. But once you do, you can do things this terrifying.
After confirming the men were bound, I healed them.
“…Huh?! What the hell is this…?”
Oliver-kun stuffed cloth into the mouths of the men who had regained consciousness, then tied additional cloth around their mouths.
“We’ll subdue the entire cave like this!”
“Aye!”
Then I would charge in, put the men to sleep, and Oliver-kun and Rion-kun would tie them up.
Repeating this, we subdued the cave in under an hour.
After that, I asked Rion-kun and Oliver-kun to bring the police from town, leaving the cleanup to them.
And so, the dark guild [Devil’s Claw Dust] vanished overnight.
As for those captured, the notoriously evil and severely guilty were sentenced to death.
Those who had no choice but to work for the dark guild, with lesser crimes, apparently became slaves.
The police officer came to the store and told me about it.