Catato Patch 

“Before that, I’ll twist off your head.” George growled, not intending to back off one bit. Yet as he said that, his eyes flickered. It wasn’t that he was cowardly but rather he was afraid of implicating his wife.

 

The smallfry balked at his rebuttal and immediately shifted the topic back to the culprits, not at all willing to spend anymore time on the man.

 

“My words are still the same, hand over the culprits or allow us to enter the village to search for them!”

 

“Enter the village? Dream on!” George aimed his arrow at the smallfry as he said that, emphasizing his unyielding stance.

 

“Dawson promised us that as long as we paid our tribute on time, we would not get raided. Are you trying to renege on the agreement?”

 

“This time’s different. The boss’s wolves were killed by someone, and we need to find that person,” countered the smallfry in an angry tone. In the face of George’s uncooperative attitude, the smallfry became increasingly agitated as he shouted: “At this rate, anyone who has offended the Wolf’s Fang will be able to take sanctuary within your village! Do you take us for fools? HUH?!”

 

“I know that Dawson’s formidable and neither do I object to you guys searching for the killers but I won’t allow you to enter the village.” George shook his head and replied in an even tone, choosing a more reconciliatory stance in the face of the smallfry’s bullying tactics.

 

And yet, the smallfry ignored his goodwill and continued with his aggressive tone: “So you’re set on defying us to the end huh?!”

 

“If the people you’re looking for are really in the village, I’ll find them for you, but I won’t allow you to step into the village.”

 

George flatly rejected him once more, adamantly refusing to allow the bandits passage no matter how much he threatened them. Truth be told, George’s stubbornness was only natural. After all, they were dealing with bandits here. The village hadn’t missed a tribute payment to date so there should be no reason for these bandits to trouble the villagers. Yet, wasn’t it because they had no principles to speak of the reason they were known as bandits?

 

It would be ok if they kept their hands to themselves after entering...but what if...they took a liking to someone’s property or perhaps some unfortunate girl? What were they to do then? Endure it?

 

With the conversation going nowhere despite his best efforts, the smallfry finally had enough. Rather than bear the humiliation of his failure, he decided to double down and put the final nail in the village’s coffin.

 

“In the end, you just want to shelter those criminals, don’t you? From the way I see it, those criminals might even be the villagers themselves!”

 

“I said so already, I just came back from a hunting trip so I don’t know anything about some wolf killers or whatnot. If the culprits are truly in our village, I’ll ask them to leave but there’s no way I’m letting you all into the village!”

 

“You dare to defy the Wolf’s Fang Bandit Troupe?! You’re a dead man George!”

 

“We’ll see about that!”

 

Just as the two men were about to clash, the leader of the bandit contingent stopped the smallfry with a raise of hand.

 

“George,” he said as he peered at the burly man. “I see you as a man worthy of respect, more than anything, I know of your forthright character. If you say you don’t know, then it must really be so.”

 

“Yet we aren’t lying about our wolves being killed either. Not only that, the wolves who were present then told us that the culprits had visited your village. I understand that you just got back and naturally don’t know of this matter. In that case, you should ask the villagers right now. The last thing we want is to destroy our current relationship.”

 

“Third Chief…”

 

“Shut up,” snapped the crew cut sporting, muscular man known as the Third Chief, silencing the smallfry who was unwilling to cease his taunting.  Knowing not to push his luck, the smallfry astutely stood aside. Clearly, this man who held a grudge against George didn’t have much influence within the troupe.

 

With that, a temporary agreement had been reached between the two parties. During this time he took the opportunity to question one of the young hunters who had just rushed to the scene.

 

“Kevin, did any outsiders visit our village yesterday?”

 

“Mhm.” The young hunter known as Kevin nodded his head before turning to the three of us standing at the village entrance.

 

“We did have three visitors last night, they were attended to by the village chief.” His long, blue hair bobbed up and down as he gave the older hunter an affirmative nod after which he began explaining the situation to him.

 

“They’re wandering mages who weren’t aware of the Wolf’s Fang and their wolves. The wolves had surrounded them, so they had no choice but to kill them in self-defense. When the village chief mentioned that the bandits would come and seek revenge, the three of them promised to stay behind and take responsibility for this.”

 

“Hmph…” George glared furiously at the smallfry, to be exact, his dissatisfaction which had reached its limits by now, was directed at the troupe as a whole.

 

Not counting their other deeds, the act of waylaying travellers alone had caused the village significant hardships. With the roads becoming this treacherous, smaller merchants wouldn’t dare make a trip to the village while larger merchant convoys wouldn’t even bother with the miniscule revenue…

 

With nowhere else to turn to, the hamlet had no choice but to offload their goods at a pittance...perhaps, calling it a tribute would be more accurate.

 

Now, these shameless curs had the gall to ask for compensation from them, despite their wolves being the ones who attacked first; getting themselves killed in the process. How shameless could these lowlifes get!

 

With me in the lead, Ancarin and Regine stuck closely to my back as we weaved through the hunters and came face to face with the bandits. As we got closer, the wolves became increasingly agitated, growling louder with each step we took while giving us a bloodthirsty stare that spoke volumes about their desire to rip us apart.

 

Kevin leaned in and whispered into George’s ears: “It’s them…”

 

George nodded, not saying a word as he stood by passively.

 

Judging by the wolves’ reaction, it was clear to everyone who the culprits were, us. The Third Chief casually glanced at our group before saying blandly, without making a move: “Looks like the perpetrators are here.”

 

Yet just as he finished saying this, his eyes zeroed in on Ancarin’s face, staring at it with unbridled lust.

 

“So you’re the ones who killed our wolves.” Seeing that his chief was silent, the smallfry stepped up in his place to question us. However, did this potato not see the staff in her hands or did he think that the 100 odd bandits and 14 wolves behind him made him invincible? Either way, his arrogance didn’t decrease at all as he said: “Hand over your valuables, cut off one of your arms and we’ll consider this matter settled.”

 

“And if I refuse?” Ancarin brandished her staff as her pale face perked up, putting her sickly charms on full display.

 

“Wow, aren’t you a beauty!”

 

Only now did the smallfry get a good look at Ancarin. His eyes widened as he noticed her beauty. At the same time, his mouth began salivating without his knowledge; it was an embarrassing display but his comrades behind weren’t much better either.

 

“Don’t worry little beauty, you don’t have to cut off your arm, all you have to do is follow us back to our mountain hideout for some fun. We’ll be sure to raise you right and proper there.”

 

“Come on, let’s have a bit of fun. This brother guarantees that nothing will happen to you.”

 

Their words became progressively more crass as their lust got the better of them, some even sticking their hands into their pants...oh god, my eyes!

 

This was why you could not communicate with bandits! They were just too crude.

 

“Bast*rds! A bunch of uncivilized bast*rds!” The Third Chief yelled at his misbehaving subordinates, his booming voice stunned the men for a good few seconds.

 

*slap slap* However, he didn’t just stop there, with a swing of his arms,  he slapped the two idiots who were cleaning their rifles in public. Just as his subordinates started wondering what was up with their chief, the burly man turned to Ancarin and flashed her a smile that made his face look like a puckered up butthole.

 

“Don’t be scared, Little Lady. Uncle has taught these hooligans a lesson, they won’t bully you anymore. Isn’t he really kind? By the way, didn’t you kill a couple of wolves raised by Uncle’s family yesterday? Don’t you know how hard it was for Uncle to raise them? How are you going to repay Uncle?”

 

Ah, that sudden change of tone...an old uncle coaxing a loli…

 

“It was them who tried to bite me first...I was scared so I defended myself…” Ancarin immediately picked up on his intentions and in the blink of an eye, turned into a naive loli. In the cutest voice she could muster, she asked the bandit chief: “I didn’t mean it...will you forgive little old me? Pretty please?”

 

Even without the makeup on her face, Ancarin was a beautiful girl. But with that makeup giving her a sickly countenance, it made her beauty stand out even more. Just looking at her pale face made one wish to protect and treasure her. With her looks working in her favor, even her contrived acting managed to pass off as being real.

 

“It’s alright, don’t worry. As long as you play a game with Uncle, Uncle will take it as nothing has ever happened, alright?”

 

His face lit up at her coy expression, his mind already imagining how exciting it would be to deflower this beautiful little virgin…

 

Sorry to break it to you buddy, but while she’s young, she’s definitely a veteran of the bed considering what she went through with Duran...besides she’s pregnant, it’s just that the pregnancy is only a month old so you don’t notice it.

 

The burly chief slowly closed in on her with his hands opened up like a pair of chicken claws; his lust clearly written all over his reddened face. All he wanted to do now was to grab her by the waist this very instant and carry her off to the hideout.

 

However, before he could grab her, she scurried behind my back.