Chapter 95
I looked at the bandits with sparkling eyes.
I looked at them… and soon found myself unable to hide my disappointment.
‘Seriously? What the heck?’
There were only four bandits blocking our path.
I smacked my lips.
What was this? Had the guy who escaped not told his comrades that we were coming? Or had he just run straight back to the stronghold by himself?
‘What an utterly disloyal bastard.’
If we let him go peacefully, shouldn’t he have brought his friends with him?!
‘This is troublesome…’
While I was secretly disappointed, Zhuge Ye and Paeng Ga immediately drew their weapons. Having fought against them several times already, their faces were still relaxed.
I also casually stepped backward. At the same time, the two charged at the bandits.
The battle proceeded as usual. They each took on half of the enemies, and if one of them had some room to spare or the other side seemed to be struggling, they would help out, and so on.
The only difference from before was that I was purely enjoying myself. Unlike before, when I secretly helped them by flicking stones from behind, this time I did absolutely nothing and simply watched. Except that, unlike before, I was cheering for the poor bandits.
‘Hang in there! Hang in there!’
How could four of them not even take down two brats? Why were they so weak?!
Just as I clicked my tongue and wondered whether I should help the bandits this time–
“…Retreat! Run!”
The bandits suddenly began fleeing.
“Huh?”
I opened my eyes wide.
They clearly hadn’t been losing. No, if anything, unlike before, they had only defended themselves and fought cautiously, so they weren’t even injured.
Yet despite not being in a particularly disadvantageous situation, they suddenly ran for their lives. Their behavior was completely different from just moments ago, when they had desperately charged forward as though they were determined to die together.
‘This is really suspicious.’
For now, we chased after the bandits. Even afterward, they continued behaving the same way. They would run, fight, then run again. Eventually, their ability to slip away like loaches made Paeng Ga furious.
“Why the hell are those bastards acting like that?!”
“Exactly. It seems like they have some other motive…”
‘Oh, you noticed too?’
Compared to Paeng Ga, Zhuge Ye seemed to have a slightly better head on his shoulders. Then what were they trying to accomplish by doing this?
If I were a bandit, I would come up with two methods. First, gather my comrades and wait along the path we were taking, then ambush us. But judging by the complete lack of any sign of that so far, this didn’t seem to be the case.
Then the second…
‘Set a trap and lure us in.’
Come to think of it, weren’t those bastards repeatedly pretending to flee while luring us somewhere?
As soon as I realized that, I pretended to be exhausted and slowly began moving away from them. I had no desire to stay close and get hit by some stray blade.
Before long, the bandits stopped. Then they boldly threatened us.
“Come at us! This place will become your graves!”
And the moment they stopped, I realized.
‘Well, well. Those bastards… They’ve gathered quite a crowd, haven’t they?’
I stopped where I was and quietly surveyed the surroundings.
Four in the trees, six lying in wait in the bushes, and another four… two behind each rock… There were even quite a few more running toward us from farther away.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“Ha, is this why you bastards were running away like rats?”
Paeng Ga spoke in a mocking tone.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t be bandits if you didn’t resort to such despicable tricks. All of you hiding there, come on out. I’ll slaughter every last one of you, no matter how many there are!”
“What? Having everyone come out would be a little troublesome. If you all attack at once, we’ll lo–”
“Shut up! Die!”
“AAAH! Brother Paeng!”
Paeng Ga finally charged at the bandits with his great saber, and Zhuge Ye hurriedly followed with his judge’s brush.
However, the battle unfolded differently from what I expected. The bandits, who I thought would leap out and join the attack as soon as the two charged in, remained strangely quiet once again.
I tilted my head.
What was going on? Why weren’t they attacking all at once?
If they attacked together right now, some of them might get hurt, but they could still capture the two of them…
But I soon realized why. Right beside me, I spotted a bandit hiding in a tree holding a net.
‘Ah-ha! They’re planning to capture them with a net!’
Apparently, the plan was for the four bandits to engage the two of them just enough to keep them occupied, while their comrades in the trees would throw nets over them and capture them. But that plan didn’t seem particularly easy.
“Argh!”
“What the hell, you bastards… Ack!”
The two had become accustomed to fighting, and they began taking down the bandits in an instant. Perhaps they were so fired up that they had already knocked down two of the bandits in front of them. Because of that, the four men hiding in the bushes, sensing the danger, also rushed out and joined the fight.
Of course, this wasn’t good for me.
‘No.’
Those two needed to get captured right now. I’d be able to enter the stronghold comfortably if the bandits captured them.
‘Throw the damn net already!’
However, the bandits seemed completely unprepared for things to turn out this way and were running around in confusion. Even the four men in the trees seemed torn between throwing the nets and joining the battle.
I put a hand to my forehead and let out a deep sigh.
Then I suddenly raised my head. My eyes were already shining with determination.
‘If there’s no bait… I’ll become the bait myself!’
“AAAHHH!”
I suddenly charged forward. At the same time, the two turned their gazes toward me.
“…! Brother Jin! You shouldn’t come this way…”
“Hero! There, over there! There’s a bandit! He suddenly tried to attack me, so please save me!”
“What? No, wait…!”
I pointed vaguely toward one side of the bushes and hurriedly ran toward them.
Just as the two, flustered, momentarily stopped…
“Throw it!”
A desperate shout rang out from somewhere.
At the same time, something spread wide in the sky. It looked like a spiderweb, or perhaps fireworks painting the sky… A feast of nets.
‘Ahhh.’
Come to me, net.
I spread both arms wide and willingly welcomed the descending net. The screams reaching my ears were sweet.
***
‘Mission, complete.’
Bound tightly and forced onto my knees, I secretly smiled.
My plan had ultimately succeeded. I had sacrificed myself as bait, cooperating so that the bandits could easily capture the two of them.
“This! What is this?! Untie me right now!”
“Brother Paeng, calm down! First, try cutting the net with your sword. It looks like an ordinary net, so it should be easy to cut…”
“You think I haven’t tried?! It won’t cut! This isn’t an ordinary net!”
The net couldn’t even be easily cut with a sword, whatever it was made of.
Thanks to that, while the two were flustered, the bandits pointed their swords at them and managed to capture them.
And so, we were currently prisoners of the bandits. Our entire bodies were tightly bound with ropes.
‘Yeah. I knew this would happen.’
I had gotten a feeling when I saw the net. They had no intention of killing us. I didn’t know what their objective was yet, but it seemed that from the very beginning, they intended to capture us alive.
And that meant…
“What are you grinning about, you bastard?”
Apparently, I had smiled without realizing it, because Paeng Ga beside me picked a fight with me.
I awkwardly made an excuse.
“No, I was just so flustered by this situation…”
“Flustered? Yeah, you must be flustered. We had the whole thing won if it weren’t for you, but you ruined it, so of course you’re flustered! Why did you have to come running out right then?!”
Paeng Ga shouted angrily at me.
Apparently, he was extremely displeased because he thought I had ruined everything. Fortunately, I had at least one person on my side.
“Brother Paeng! Why are you blaming Brother Jin? It wasn’t intentional, and there was nothing he could have done at the time!”
‘It was intentional.’
“The bandit hiding there attacked him. What could powerless Brother Jin have done? We were captured because we let our guard down.”
“Yeah, good for you. Look at this gentleman right here!”
“Considering I’ve been following Brother Paeng around until now, even calling me a gentleman isn’t enough.”
The two began arguing again, and eventually it was the bandits who stopped them.
“Shut your mouths, all of you! If you make any more noise, I’ll tear your mouths apart right here!”
We immediately shut our mouths. The bandit glared at us with an annoyed expression.
Just then, one of his comrades approached us.
“Are you keeping a good watch on them?”
“Ugh, don’t even get me started on how noisy they are. But why didn’t we kill them? How many of our brothers have those bastards taken down?”
“You still don’t understand? Just look at their faces.”
At his comrade’s words, the bandit turned his gaze toward us. He didn’t even look in my direction, instead examining Zhuge Ye and Paeng Ga before muttering,
“They’re pretty well-dressed.”
“Right? Anyone can tell they’re young masters from wealthy families. And considering their skills aren’t anything to scoff at, there’s a good chance they’re from one of the prestigious martial clans.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m telling you. But what do you think will happen if we kill them however we please? Their clan will surely come swarming over to avenge them. And if other Orthodox Faction masters come along too…”
“Terrifying.”
“Exactly. So the best thing to do is keep them captured for now, find out which family they belong to, and negotiate. We can squeeze some money out of them without making enemies. How good is that?”
“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”
‘Indeed.’
To think they were considering further into the future than I was.
I guess that meant they weren’t called experienced bandits for nothing?
How beautiful it was to see them know where they could safely step, and where they shouldn’t, and act accordingly.
Just as I was secretly admiring them, the words I had been waiting for finally came.
“But keeping them here is troublesome because of Flower-Glutton, and we also need to report to the stronghold lord that we captured these bastards. So it’d be best to move for now. Let’s take the ones we captured back to the stronghold and lock them in the prison.”
‘Perfect!’
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