Use Your Skull as a Bowl

Seeing their greatswords and an opportunity to restore their honor, the Meitengheim men naturally had no intention of backing down!

The group stealthily crept toward the valley.

This really did seem to be the pirates' hideout. Once they got closer, Li Ang spotted a cave.

Several pirates were tending a fire outside the cave, apparently cooking soup. Smoke curled into the air, carrying the savory scent of wild mushrooms.

Mm, with the setting sun hanging low, it really was mealtime... Li Ang's stomach obligingly let out a growl.

Then, as if it were contagious, more hungry rumblings followed, the Meitengheim men's stomachs growling one after another.

They stared at the large clay pot hanging over the fire, their eyes practically glowing green—it seemed their desire for food far outweighed their desire to recover their equipment...

Li Ang suddenly understood what Kloze had meant by "as long as there's food to eat"...

The two burly bare-chested men truly looked starving. They raised their crude greatswords and were about to charge in head-on, but Li Ang promptly yanked them back.

Li Ang had the starving brutes hide behind a dirt mound. He dismounted as well, intending to scout ahead first—he planned to launch a sneak attack.

He really did not want to do this dangerous work himself, but his men had no equipment... He had spent so much money to get them. Any casualties here would be his own loss!

His chainmail might not have been high quality, but it offered some protection at least. And its bluish-gray color happened to blend in with the valley.

So, if a sneak attack was possible, there was no reason to charge in head-on.

But this pirate camp had clearly posted hidden sentries. Li Ang had barely crept closer when he heard someone above call out, "Someone's there? Who is that?!"

What a poor start. He had been spotted while still dozens of meters from the cave entrance...

He looked toward the voice but saw no one. It had come from a small patch of woods halfway up the slope.

Of course, calling it a mountain was generous. It was merely a dirt slope a little over ten meters high.

Li Ang's hand twitched, but he did not draw his sword. Instead, he put on the look of a country bumpkin. "I... I'm just passing through. Could I buy something to eat...?"

As he spoke, he spread his hands to show that he meant no harm.

Kloze was quite clever. Lying in wait behind them, he saw that Li Ang had not drawn his sword and was instead drawing the pirates' attention. He took two men and circled around behind the dirt slope.

A pirate carrying a light crossbow emerged from the bushes on the slope. He looked Li Ang over, swept his gaze around Li Ang's surroundings, then aimed his bolt at him.

The pirates by the fire rose as well, drew their weapons, and slowly closed in on him.

Li Ang suddenly sensed something was wrong. None of these pirates said a word, and their eyes were guarded. The crossbowman on the slope had been aiming for several seconds already!

These pirates had not fallen for it... Damn!

Li Ang abruptly rolled across the ground. A sharp whoosh tore past his ear, and when he looked back, a crossbow bolt was deeply embedded where he had just been standing.

"Take them out!"

Li Ang shouted, then drew his sword and charged at the nearest pirate.

The sneak attack had failed, so they could only fight head-on. These pirates were far more alert than he had expected.

One pirate shouted, "I'll use your skull as a bowl!"

Several pirates rushed at Li Ang.

But then a group of bare-chested burly men vaulted out from behind the dirt slope. Howling, they charged forward to meet the pirates.

The crossbowman on the slope was restringing his crossbow when Kloze pounced on him from behind and cut him in two with a single slash.

Kloze then charged down from the slope and headed straight for the cave entrance, where he happened to block a group of poorly dressed people who had emerged to investigate the commotion.

Li Ang knew the Meitengheim people came from a land covered in mountains, so they were surely formidable in mountain combat. Yet he discovered that he had still underestimated these Meitengheim men's fighting ability.

They could have simply charged in head-on from the start...

These Meitengheim people ran over the slopes like the wind. More than ten pale, bare-chested brutes darted through the mountains in every direction, dazzling the eye...

Though they wore no armor, and only five of them had swords, in this mountainous terrain the pirates were effortlessly routed by these brutes like a flock of chicks. They could not even escape.

Li Ang could practically stand to the side and watch the show. All he lacked was a handful of sunflower seeds.

Before long, the battle was over. The pirates had completely lost their ability to fight, while his own men had suffered no losses at all—aside from one unlucky fellow whose foot had been pierced by a sharp stone, everyone else was virtually unscathed.

Li Ang happily whistled. He now felt safer than ever before.

And as soon as the battle ended, these bare-chested brutes began gulping down the fragrant mushroom soup in unison, completely ignoring the pirate corpses strewn around the fire.

Li Ang curled his lip in disgust, found a clean helmet, filled it with soup, and went into the cave—these gluttons had such terrible table manners that they made him feel as though he were in a pigsty.

There really was a stockpile of food and weapons in the cave. Much of it was the Meitengheim men's original equipment—broad infantry plate armor, two-handed swords, and infantry hammers.

This steel armor offered excellent protection, but it was extremely heavy—just the sort of equipment Meitengheim was known for, rugged yet practical.

Its practicality, however, applied only to the Meitengheim people.

That was because all of the steel armor was made exceptionally broad, suitable only for the Meitengheim people's massive builds.

That was probably why the armor had not been sold off right away—it was too large, and most Pande people could not wear it properly, making it hard to sell quickly.

No matter what, these dozen or so bare-chested brutes had finally recovered their familiar equipment. The group no longer looked like "businessmen" delivering goods to some noblewoman's home, but like an army.

Kloze, however, still did not seem satisfied. His expression was especially grim as he searched through the spoils.

Li Ang could roughly guess why he was unhappy—there were thirty suits of the same armor, yet he had only a dozen or so Meitengheim men left under his command.

There had only been a dozen or so pirates here as well, and most had already stopped breathing—the Meitengheim people had been merciless, especially Kloze, who had left almost no one alive.

Li Ang's heart ached. Had he known these bastards were so capable in the mountains, he should have sold his chainmail and bought a few blunt weapons, such as infantry hammers—then perhaps fewer pirates would have died. Captured prisoners could be sold as slaves for money...

But now, of the only two surviving prisoners, one lay inside the cave—that pirate had apparently been injured long before and had not fought at all.

To Li Ang, this fellow was probably worthless, because he only had one leg and could not be sold...

The other was a young man with iron shackles around his legs.

He looked quite honest, and rather... delicate.

Moreover, Li Ang's group had not shackled him—he had originally been inside the cave, taking care of the injured pirate.

Could it be that these pirates were...? Li Ang and Kloze looked at the handsome young man, then exchanged a glance. Both wore rather improper expressions, clearly having thought of certain more avant-garde possibilities.