Ch. 51 Patches

“Patches Bandit Group, we have guests!”

The bald man’s voice had just fallen.

Four or five guys of various heights scrambled up from below the cliff, blocking the retreat of Mia and the others.

“???”

Where were they hiding?

Kalé’s eyes widened in panic.

The bandits were holding a hodgepodge of weapons and wearing a hodgepodge of clothes.

Among them were both Tarnished and Erdtree Folk.

Although there weren’t many people, the species diversity was shockingly high.

Patches was blocking the bridge exit all by himself.

The Spirit Wolves crouched down angrily, emitting threatening growls.

Wilden gripped his spear tightly.

“Don’t move,” Patches said, looking at Wilden, who was nervously gripping his weapon. Patches held his greatshield in front of him, exposing only his head, and pressed the blade of his spear against the suspension bridge’s ropes.

Wilden frowned tightly.

This was the worst-case scenario.

The situation now was that the group was in a completely disadvantageous position.

This was a suspension bridge, fixed entirely by ropes anchored at both ends of the bridge. No matter how sturdy the ropes were, they were still ropes, not steel cables, not stone.

Once the two ends of the bridge were controlled, the people on the bridge could be said to be at their mercy.

Cutting the suspension ropes and letting everyone fall into the rushing river below was something the bandits could do easily.

And if they wanted to charge forward to resist, they would first have to run across those wooden planks where one had to be careful not to miss a step even when walking slowly.

Compared to the distance Wilden would need to run, the time it would take for the bald bandit in front to cut the ropes was negligible.

The three Spirit Wolves also clearly saw the crisis right before them; they stared intently at Patches.

“That’s right,” Patches nodded with satisfaction. “Hurry up and hand over your money.”

Patches’ cunning eyes watched them. Seeing that the group hadn’t made a move for a long time, he spoke again: “What’s the matter?”

He put on an air of being very reasonable and spouted nonsense: “This bridge you’re walking on was built by us, you know. It wouldn’t be right not to pay a bridge toll, would it?”

Somehow, the accent this Patches spoke with felt very annoying.

Not to mention whether this sturdy suspension bridge could have been built by Patches and his group of ragged-looking lackeys.

Just regarding the bridge toll, Mia knew this notorious guy was going to hike up the price and extort them.

What? You ask why Mia knows Patches is notorious?

Everyone who plays Soulslike games knows Patches! That old rascal Miyazaki has this jerk appear in almost every work, and his character design is pretty much the same.

Like Wilden, Mia could also see how disadvantageous their position was while standing on the suspension bridge.

None of them had any proper ranged attack capabilities…

Mia had never tried using fire to attack such a distant target, and furthermore, being on a suspension bridge, one careless use of fire could lead to tragedy.

When that happened, there would be no need for anyone to cut the ropes; Mia could kill everyone herself.

If there was really no other way, she would just have to bite the bullet and take the loss.

Although she didn’t have a single coin in her pocket…

“How much money do you want!”

But she couldn’t lose her nerve.

While shouting at Patches, Mia was also quickly thinking of a way to break the deadlock.

Since forcing their way through wasn’t an option, and using fire was problematic…

She would listen to what Patches had to say first.

The bald man scrutinized the group, especially Mia.

“Judging by your attire and the fact that you have a local as a guard, you shouldn’t be short on money, right?”

Patches commented, rubbing his chin.

“How about this: I’ll give you a discount. Three thousand Runes per Soldier, for a total of ten thousand Runes. Let’s just call it making friends, how about that?”

“How did you calculate three thousand per Soldier coming to a total of ten thousand!”

Mia roared in frustration.

“That donkey counts as one-third of a Soldier!” Patches shouted back righteously. “I didn’t even count your dogs!”

Who are you calling a dog?

The three Spirit Wolves barked in indignation simultaneously.

The bald man shrank his neck, and it was clear he lacked confidence.

“Hmm…” Mia saw Patches’s cowardice.

A plan suddenly popped into her head, though she wasn’t sure if it would work.

“No money!” Mia shouted righteously.

“…” This time it was Patches’s turn to be stunned, completely not expecting that Mia, on the bridge, was not afraid of his threats at all.

Rubbing his nose, he shouted helplessly, “Take out anything valuable, and that will count as paying!”

“We don’t have that either!”

Want her to pay a bandit?

Even if she were captured and humiliated, she wouldn’t yield!

After shouting, Mia took a breath and yelled again, “No money, but you can have my life. If you’re capable, go ahead and tear down this bridge!”

“Huh?!?”

The others weren’t panicked, but Kalé started to panic.

Mia turned back and gave him a determined look.

She was betting that Patches wouldn’t dare cut the bridge.

She looked at Patches, who stood on the other side of the bridge, eyes wide in disbelief.

Mia had bet correctly.

Patches’s face, which looked wicked at first glance, was filled with astonishment.

“If you’ve got the guts, do it!”

Mia added fuel to the fire.

Judging by this guy’s proficiency, this was clearly not his first time extorting travelers crossing the bridge.

He must have made some money from this bridge.

If he cut the bridge himself, wouldn’t he be cutting off his own source of income?

Besides, Patches’s underlings were on the other side of the bridge.

Would he dare to cut the ropes just like that?

Heh heh.

Watching Patches, who didn’t know what to do, Mia proudly held her head high in her heart.

I am a female lecturer who is proficient in human nature.gif

“I’m telling you! We won’t hand over anything!”