Ongoing investigation

"Good, stay right there, and refresh your memory because I have some questions for you… Yo, old man, are you good? Heal."

"Y-YES!"

The brown-haired girl declared, pointing her finger at the last bandit, making him unceremoniously piss himself, before she spoke up to the shopkeeper, who ended up falling to the floor together with the pair of headless corpses.

"...!"

The man engulfed in the faint green light opened his eyes and flinched, jumping up and away from the bodies with an understandable disturbance and disgust as a lot of their blood ended up on him.

"Thanks for the cooperation. Clean up the mess yourself, though."

"Wh-what…?!"

The girl raised her hand and nodded at the terrified shopkeeper, completely ignoring his weak cry and approaching the surrendered bandit.

"Clean up the mess yourself. Alright. You. Let's not bother this kind uncle's cleaning duty any longer. We'll have a nice conversation somewhere el…"

The girl repeated herself while rolling her eyes and announced to the bandit, grabbing his arm and pulling…

*SQUELCH*

"GRYAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Perseverance almighty…!"

…it off the socket, tearing it off and causing the bandit to scream his lungs out in agony while the shopkeeper's legs gave out, and he fell on his back while calling out the goddess's name.

"...eh?! Wait, what…? Technically, the fight is over, so this shouldn't count as an attack…!"

The girl hissed through her teeth in disbelief over the mishap.

"AAAAAAARGHHH!"

"Oh, shut it. You're acting as if nothing worse ever happened to you."

The bandit continued howling and wiggling on the ground in horrible pain, to which the girl rolled her eyes and scoffed at him. Then she carefully placed the torn-off arm more or less back in its place.

"UGAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Intermediate Heal. Blood Vessel Reconnection. Nerve regrow. Now shut up, or else I'll give you a real reason to scream."

She declared, and her magic reconnected the bandit's limb back to his torso. However, since he continued howling, the girl glared at him coldly and said in a bone-chilling voice.

"!!!"

Despite still being in pain, the bandit bit his lips shut, but that only ended up with him throwing a coughing fit as the tears, snot, and drool irritated his throat.

"And what the hell you're doing?! Cleaning blood and bodies is one thing, but why are you adding clearing up your mucus from the floor to this poor man's list?! Get your ass up and follow me, or I will tear you in half like a stick of celery! And I mean vertically."

"!!!"

The girl called out, scolding the bandit and verbally forcing him to stand up and walk after her while shivering uncontrollably.

"Old man, hire security or something so there will be no next time."

"W-wait…! M-Miss, who are you…?!"

The brown-haired girl walked out the door, calling out to the shopkeeper, but stopped for a moment as he called back to her.

"Uuuuuummmm…"

The girl froze up, with her mouth agape, as she clearly didn't prepare for that situation.

Her eyes wandered around the pawnshop for a bit, but the only things that caught her eyes were the dead bodies of the three bandits she ended…

"...end…"

"End…?"

She mumbled, making the shopkeeper raise his brow and ask, thinking that he had misheard her.

"Yeeees… End. I am the End. Don't be an asshole, or I will come for you too."

"I…! I Understand…!"

At a loss, the girl nodded her head and pointed finger guns at the shopkeeper while announcing. Despite it being exceedingly awkward, considering how she effortlessly killed three people with a similar motion, the shopkeeper cried out desperately in a high-pitched voice, covering his head with both arms.

"...good… Have a nice day."

Feeling the burning embarrassment, End backed off, leaving the shop after waving the shopkeeper goodbye.

The fourth bandit didn't even use the earlier chance to escape. Instead, he obediently followed wherever the girl went.

Even though he wasn't making things difficult for her in a physical sense, having a guy showcasing a mental breakdown and bawl his eyes out while hyperventilating following her wasn't all that great, so the girl was keeping an eye out for an abandoned building or an alley where she could take him for questioning.

Luck was on her side as in that part of the Jade City, such places were plenty.

"Here."

"!!!"

End declared, pointing at the entrance to the dark alley behind a shabby butcher shop that anyone with a shred of common sense would suspect of not being honest about what kind of meat they were dealing with. Her free captive became pale as a ghost, forgetting to cry out of pure terror.

"Now then, lover-boy. Be so kind as to tell me how I can get to your boss."

"I-I don't think that John has his own house or hideout, but he often stays in the Crooked Fang tavern! Y-you can ask ask anyone! Everyone knows about it, I swear!"

The moment she finished her question, the bandit hastily answered as he was barely keeping himself together.

"See? It wasn't that har… Wait… Everyone knows…?"

End nodded with a satisfied smile, but that smile soon disappeared from her face as she blinked and inquired.

"You mean everyone, like, in the sense that every bandit knows where to find him, don't you?"

"N-no… Everyone knows. J-John isn't important enough to get the attention of real bosses or guards, so he walks out in the open. Only common people fear him…"

She closed her eyes for a second before asking and biting her lips, waiting for an answer that ended up being exactly what she did not want to hear.

"...oh, for the love of… But at least he will be able to point me to those more important guys, right?"

End groaned under her breath before pulling herself together and insisting.

"Y-yes! I-I believe so!"

The bandit trembled so hard as if he was about to fall into pieces, but he did answer, nodding vigorously.

"Good. In that case, you are…"

"N-NOOO…!"

The girl breathed out and raised her hand, but before she could do anything else, the bandit began screeching in utter horror.

"...hngh…!"

*thump*

"..."

The next moment, his eyes bulged out and rolled into his head, flashing white, and he put both hands to his chest over his heart before falling to the ground face-first while the girl watched him in disorientation.

"...free to go…?"

End finished what she originally meant to say, pointing the other way with her hand. She blinked a few times, staring at the motionless bandit.

"...eh…? Umm… Heal."

Since the man was just lying there, the girl tilted her head awkwardly and reached her hand towards him, casting the spell that engulfed his body in a pale green light.

…to no effect…

"Hold up…"

End blinked a few more times before she leaned down over the body, being extremely careful so that her action would not register as an attack under any circumstances, and used her index and middle fingers to check for the pulse on the man's neck.

And…

"Oh, what the hell?! Why did you kick the bucket?! I wasn't going to kill you, you moron!"

After confirming the bandit's death, the girl straightened her back and called out, shaking her head in disbelief at the stupidity of the situation.

She rolled her eyes and left the alley all pissed off and annoyed.