'Huh, what happened? Where am I?' thought the man tied to the tree as he tried to open his seemingly numb eyes.

"Bang!"

"Ahhh!!"

"I guess you've slept enough! It's time to wake up and answer some questions!" Lucy told the man after delivering a powerful kick to his knee.

Suddenly awakened by the excruciating pain in his knee, which almost felt like his bones were about to break, the man glared at Lucy and, after attempting to free himself for a few seconds with no success, he began to threaten the catgirl in front of him.

"Slut, are you aware of what you're doing? Do you know who I am? If you don't untie me immediately..."

"Bang!"

"Ahhh!!"

Lucy didn't let him finish his words and with another kick to the man's other knee, she made him scream in pain once more.

"I am the one asking the questions, not you, a garbage who kills for money...", Lucy said to the man who was still wailing, being inspired by lines from The Dark Knight.

"Free me, whore, or you will see in the future what it means to wish for death!", the man started to shout again, not taking into account Lucy's words at all.

'It seems that I haven't been tough enough with him and he still hasn't realized how serious the situation is. It's truly difficult to appear frightening with a pretty face like mine. But the night has only just begun. I'm sure that eventually, I'll manage to make him obedient...', Lucy thought as she purchased a rubber baton and some health potions from the Ninja Shop.

The man didn't have time to marvel at the sudden appearance of these objects in front of Lucy, because, immediately after she put her hand on the rubber baton, she began to strike him with all her might, tearing flesh from the bones with each blow, making him feel pains that he didn't think were possible.

Lucy continued to hit the man tied to the tree, ignoring his screams and threats, and did not stop until she saw that he had lost consciousness.

'I believe it's enough. There's no point in hitting him anymore if he's no longer conscious. Let's see now how effective these health potions are. It's great that I found such a quality guinea pig, meaty enough to create all sorts of wounds...' Lucy said to herself as she left the blood-stained rubber baton and pulled out a health potion from her pocket.

After stuffing the health potion down the hostage's throat, Lucy sat on a log placed about a meter away from him and began analyzing how quickly his wounds were healing, using her ocular abilities not to miss any details.

'Hmmm, it seems that superficial wounds, no deeper than one centimeter, heal completely within a minute, leaving no scars. Unfortunately, the effect is not as good for deeper wounds, where the bleeding barely stopped after 2 minutes. Perhaps more potions of this kind or higher quality potions are needed for such wounds...'

Unfortunately, Lucy didn't have time to continue analyzing the potion's effect as the prisoner showed signs of waking up.

'The first phase of the experiment is complete. Now let's see how effectively the potion can repair broken bones.'

Lucy didn't wait for the man to say anything and immediately started hitting him, this time using the middle part of the rubber baton, with the aim of shattering his bones without causing external injuries as serious as the first time.

"Ahhhhhh!!! No, Please! Ahhhh!!"

Lucy did the same as the first time, not taking a break until the prisoner lost consciousness again.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

'Unfortunately, even with my ocular powers, it is impossible for me to see how well the bones have healed. I believe the only solution is to see if his legs can bend in some unnatural positions...', thought Lucy as she gave the prisoner another health potion.

After waiting for about 5 minutes, Lucy grabbed the tied man by one leg and noticed that everything seemed fine, as it didn't appear to be broken. Then, she took the rubber baton again and began to hit him before he could wake up on his own.

"Ah, no, please! I'll tell you everything you want...", the prisoner began to scream as soon as he was awakened by the pain from the new blows.

'Hmm, maybe that was enough to make him understand. The faster I get the answers I'm looking for, the better...', Lucy thought as she walked away from the prisoner who had started crying, without the arrogance he had displayed about a quarter of an hour ago.

"Enough with the whining! Tell me, what is your objective in this forest? Did you come to attack the lionkins' village? Do you want to capture them and make them slaves?", Lucy asked while looking the prisoner directly in the eyes, her pupils resembling two miniature night skies with four stars floating in each.

Seeing that the catgirl in front of him seemed to have some information about their mission, the tied man didn't dare to lie or omit anything, and he started to tell her everything he knew.

"Yes, our mercenary team was sent here by Marquis Olsen to find the location of the lionkins' village and attack it when most of their fighters leave for the hunt, in order to capture as many children and women as possible...."

"And why does Marquis need them?" Lucy asked after hearing his response.

"I have no idea. As long as we are paid, I don't care even if they get eaten..."

"Is it normal for humans to have slaves?" Lucy continued, trying to learn something about the situation in this world.

"Huh, isn't this common knowledge?" the tied man asked back, looking at Lucy as if she were an ignorant girl who had no idea about the world she was in.

"Bang!"

"Ahhh!!"

"You forgot? Only I have the right to ask questions. If you want to escape with your life, you'd better listen to me!" Lucy warned after giving the prisoner a kick between his legs.

'I think if I continue asking him about the general situation of the world, I'll lose the authority I gained. It's best to focus only on information related to their mission.'

"Tell me, have you identified where the lionkins' village is? In which direction should I go to reach it?" Lucy asked the prisoner, who had somewhat recovered from the blow that had a good chance of rendering him incapable of having offspring.

"Uhh, a search team found the village, the lionkins' village, but, but I don't know anything about its location. I stayed at the camp all day..." the prisoner stammered, still affected by the hit he received.

"Heh, you really don't know?"

"Bang!"

"Where are they?" Lucy asked angrily, after punching the prisoner in the face, causing the bark of the tree behind his head to crack and scatter in all directions.

"Ahhh! I don't know anything..."

"Bang!"

"Where are they?" Lucy asked again after giving the prisoner another punch, this time managing to knock out some teeth and break his nose.

"Please, I really don't know anything. I'm just a guard..." the prisoner replied, crying again.

"Well, it is possible that this clown is telling the truth. Damn it, I haven't solved anything. If I don't find the lionkins' village before they decide to attack, I won't be able to warn them in time. Now, the only solution left is to attack their camp as soon as possible! But will I be able to defeat so many people at once?"

As Lucy couldn't decide at that moment, she tried to gather more information about the camp's organization and its members from the now extremely obedient prisoner.

............................

'It's going to be tough, but I don't think it's impossible...' Lucy said to herself after hearing the prisoner's answers.

"I guess that's all I had to ask. See, it wasn't so bad. And if you had been as obedient from the beginning, our conversation would probably have been even more pleasant", Lucy told the prisoner after deciding to conclude the interrogation.

"So, can you let me go now? I'll go far away and I won't tell anyone about what happened! I swear on all that is holy!", the prisoner said to Lucy, a flame of hope for life igniting in his eyes.

"You are right. You will indeed go far...", Lucy replied, putting her hand on the steel wire with which the prisoner was tied and activating the Wind Blessing skill.

"Ahhhhhh!"

[You have defeated a level 26 Swordman. You gained 1435 experience points and 1435 points for the Ninja Shop.]

Looking without any remorse at the prisoner, who had turned into something resembling sliced bread, Lucy concluded that such a death was fitting for such wretched individuals, with only a slight regret that she killed the four who wanted to capture her too quickly.

'Well, there's no point crying over spilled milk. Besides, the end result is the same. Yaaaawn! It's been a very long day. I think it would be good to try and get at least four hours of sleep and then head to the camp to arrive before it gets light and they leave for the lionkins' village. I think I should buy an alarm clock from the Ninja Shop....'

Lucy wasted no time and quickly prepared for sleep, settling into her hammock about fifteen minutes after finishing the interrogation. Then, allowing herself to be hypnotized by its gentle rocking, she slowly slipped into the realm of dreams.