In the end, Bai Shi decided to take Patches with him.
He couldn't just leave the man there, after all.
Bai Shi found a rope and tied Patches's hands.
Then, he rode Torrent ahead while Patches chased from behind.
Torrent slowed down to almost a walking pace so that Patches could keep up.
Even so, Patches was panting and breathless, having to stop and rest every so often.
Fortunately, the journey wasn't very long.
By the time Patches took his last break, Bai Shi and Torrent could already see the dilapidated shack.
Patches finally breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the building.
If they hadn't arrived soon, his old bones would have given out.He'd wondered if he could sit on the horse, which would have undoubtedly made things much easier.
But Bai Shi said Torrent didn't want Patches on its back.
Patches spat at a nearby tree.
What was that about?
It was just a horse, and it dared to look down on him?
But Patches suspected it was Bai Shi who didn't want him to ride.
After all, a horse telling Bai Shi it didn't want him on its back? That was just too ridiculous.
Could anyone really communicate with animals?
But this time, Patches had truly wronged Bai Shi.
Torrent didn't want someone it disliked on its back, an intention it had just conveyed to Bai Shi.
Of course, Bai Shi didn't want the grimy Patches on Torrent either.
So, Patches just had to suffer.
But as an escaped prisoner, he had brought this on himself.
Bai Shi tugged the rope, signaling to Patches that it was time to move.
Patches reluctantly followed. If he wasn't prodded, he would have just lazed about.
The small shack was in relatively good condition compared to the many other ruins in Liurnia of the Lakes.
Not only could it provide shelter from wind and rain, but it was also above water, not submerged.
As they approached the shack, the two caught a fragrant aroma.
Following the scent, they came to the front of the shack.
No one was there, but a huge pot was set up over a fire, the source of the delicious smell.
Patches walked up and lifted the pot's lid.
The pot was filled with bright red crabs and prawns. There was no seasoning; a simple boil was enough to release a rich fragrance.
As they say, the finest ingredients require the simplest cooking methods.
Seeing the prawns and crabs in the pot, Patches sat down without a second thought and began to eat.
"Oh? To think I'd find cooked prawns and crabs here."
"My, what luck. I was just getting a bit hungry."
"In that case, I won't be shy."
Watching him make himself completely at home, Bai Shi couldn't help but retort:
"It's obvious someone lives here. How can you say you 'found' them?"
Patches, while stuffing a prawn into his mouth, was still peeling a crab, which was harder to open.
He mumbled indistinctly:
"Doesn't matter. If I saw it, it's mine."
Bai Shi shrugged.
Patches was already eating. It's not like he could pry the prawn from his mouth.
At worst, he'd just pay for it when Prawn Bro arrived.
Although Bai Shi also wanted to taste the prawns and crabs of the Lands Between, he wouldn't just take them before meeting the owner.
At the very least, he had to see the owner of the food before eating. That was his principle.
Otherwise, he might eat some strange food and get turned into a pig (he was sure of it).
Hearing the noise outside, a figure rushed out of the shack.
It was the owner of the shack and the pot, the scoundrel Raya had mentioned: Prawn Bro.
Wearing an iron mask that covered his entire head and gauntlets on his hands, Prawn Bro appeared before them.
Prawn Bro pointed a gauntleted hand at Patches's bald head and roared:
"Hey! Who are you? Why are you eating my prawns and crabs?!"
Patches, however, completely ignored him and continued to eat, even finding time to throw a few words back at Prawn Bro:
"You punk, it's your honor that I'm eating your food!"
Prawn Bro wore a prisoner's iron mask, so his expression was hidden.
But his trembling body showed how angry he was.
"Do you know who I am?"
"I'm the notorious felon from Leyndell, Royal Capital, the one they call 'Fooler of Giants'!"
Patches glanced at him disdainfully.
He'd seen plenty of people like this.
All bark and no bite, bragging about some insignificant feat.
And that mask. He could have taken it off long ago. Did he think it looked cool?
He was just wearing that prisoner's mask to put on a brave front.
Even his boasts were small-time. "Fooler of Giants," what a low-class title.
To deal with this kind of person, you had to be even more of a bluffer, to overwhelm his bravado!
And Patches, standing before Bai Shi, was a genius at this!
"Haha, you, 'Fooler of Giants'? Have you not heard of the great Patches?"
Patches wore a wicked grin, his mouth twisting into a smirk.
He put down the crab in his hands and cleared his throat:
"Listen up, you nameless punk!"
"I am Patches, the Giant Slayer, the mysterious merchant, the scourge of Those Who Live in Death, the man who can dig through a mine in a single day, and the part-time savior, 'Mad' Patches!"
Listening to Patches reel off this long string of titles, Bai Shi almost lost his composure.
He didn't know how Patches managed to say all those names, which had almost nothing to do with him, with a straight face.
And "Giant Slayer" was obviously something he'd just thought of after hearing the other guy's title.
The only ones that were even remotely related were "merchant" and "digging through a mine."
And yet, Prawn Bro was completely intimidated.
He was merely a "Fooler of Giants," but this man was a "Giant Slayer"!
"Y-y-you, even so! You can't steal my prawns!"
But Prawn Bro's intelligence was still normal, after all. He soon realized Patches was bluffing just like him.
"Wait, you've got a pickaxe right there. You're just some runaway miner, aren't you!"
Seeing that he was still unconvinced, Patches threw down the crab shell in his hand.
"Hoh? And do you know who this gentleman next to me is!?"
Seeing Patches about to drag him into it, Bai Shi quickly coughed to stop him.
"Ahem, ahem."
A few drops of cold sweat appeared on Patches's head.
'Oops, oops, I got carried away again.'
"I don't care who you are, you bastard! You dared to steal my prawns, I'm definitely going to beat you to a pulp!"
Prawn Bro had already raised his fists, ready to take on Patches.
"Who told you I stole them?"
Patches was still unhurried, stuffing crab meat into his mouth.
If he really wanted to fight, he would have started swinging without a word.
So, a punk is just a punk.
"What do you mean?"
Prawn Bro paused his actions, waiting for Patches to give him a convincing explanation.
Patches once again pulled a scalding hot prawn from the pot and started peeling it.
"I did say, very properly: 'Time to eat.'"
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Patches's bald head and Prawn Bro's iron mask were pressed together, the two glaring at each other.
Bai Shi hadn't said a word, just watching the two interact from the side.
As the saying goes, it takes a scoundrel to handle a scoundrel.
In front of Patches, a small-time punk like Prawn Bro was nothing.
It seemed to be working quite effectively.
Bai Shi spoke up, interrupting their continued interaction:
"Before, did you see a girl?"
"Green robes, yellow hair, didn't look very old."
Hearing Bai Shi's description, Prawn Bro knew why they were here.
"Hoh, so you know that woman."
"Looks like she didn't die by the roadside..."
"You don't need to say anymore. Since she's still alive, whatever happens to her, it's always the fault of the one who got tricked."
Bai Shi looked at him silently.
After so many battles of blood and fire, Bai Shi had naturally accumulated an incredibly powerful aura.
Meeting Bai Shi's eyes, Prawn Bro was suddenly too scared to say anything more.
Those eyes were calm, but to Prawn Bro, they were more terrifying and dreadful than ten thousand ogres.
Prawn Bro's bluff was broken:
"Tch, if you want the necklace, then just cough up the runes!"
After he spoke, he realized his back was drenched in cold sweat.
Bai Shi smiled. As long as he was willing to talk, it was fine.
As for the runes, that wasn't a big deal.
"Alright, name your price."
"And, you still have the necklace, right?"
Prawn Bro took off his gauntlets, fumbling around to get the necklace.
"Of course it's... eh, eh?"
But no matter how he searched his simple clothes, he couldn't find the necklace he always wore.
Patches laughed wantonly, waving the necklace in his hand.
"Looking for this?"
Patches looked at the necklace in his hand, which had a relief carving of a woman with a dignified air from a foreign land.
Patches stared, a bit stunned, blinked, then looked again.
Not just Prawn Bro, but Bai Shi was also surprised.
Though he hadn't been paying attention, Patches had somehow managed to swipe the necklace right under his nose?
"Give it back!"
Prawn Bro reached out to snatch it back, but Patches pulled his hand away, making him grab at empty air.
"Haha, was it your thing to begin with, for me to 'give it back'?"
"Then pay up!"
"Huh? I stole this with my own skill. Why should I have to pay for it?"
Prawn Bro couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a roar.
"Son of a bitch! I can't take it anymore! Let's settle this with our fists if you've got the guts!"
"Hmph, who's afraid of who? I'm not scared of a little punk like you."
——
The two agreed to a fight and went behind the shack to settle it.
The process was unknown; only the sounds of flesh hitting flesh could be heard from time to time.
...and some incomprehensible shouts.
"Ah, stand still!"
"Ha! I'm the one who's gonna mess you up!"
Bai Shi had no interest in such a pathetic squabble and didn't go to watch.
He sat down, picked up a prawn, and tasted it. It was indeed quite good.
The meat was very firm, and there was a lot of it.
He had to admit, it was a big prawn. If they were to cook the giant prawn he had defeated earlier, Bai Shi couldn't even imagine how much meat there would be.
It was very satisfying to eat. Even just boiled in water, it had a hint of fresh sweetness.
A short while later, the two came back, arm in arm.
Their moods had completely changed from before.
"Ah, Brother Patches, to think I'd meet a man like you today!"
"Haha, say no more. From now on, you're under my protection."
When the two, covered in bruises, sat down, Bai Shi asked with some confusion:
"Is it over?"
Prawn Bro was the first to speak:
"Brother Patches and I became friends through fighting. I only regret that we didn't meet sooner."
"Haha, from now on, I'll look after this guy. We'll definitely turn Liurnia of the Lakes into a paradise for prawn-eaters."
"Hehe, Brother Patches is too kind. By the way, you must be Brother Patches's big brother, right? Please, help yourself to the prawns and crabs here."
Bai Shi was dumbfounded.
*Patches, what kind of magic potion did you give him?*
"Ah, I wasn't very polite to you two earlier. I'm truly sorry."
"But, as expected, people who like prawns can't be bad people."
Bai Shi interrupted Prawn Bro, intending to get things back on track:
"Stop, stop."
"Since that's settled, let's talk about why you tricked the girl out of her necklace."
Prawn Bro touched his iron mask and began to speak:
"Heh, she came over to eat my boiled prawns. I didn't think much of it at first."
"But then she just kept eating, so much. You have no idea how crazy her appetite was."
"Since she ate so much, I had to charge her some runes, but she said she didn't have any on her."
"That girl was strange. I can't quite put my finger on it."
"I didn't want to get involved with her, so I just made up some reason, tricked her out of her necklace to cover the bill, and then shooed her away."
Patches whacked him hard on the head:
"You even rob a little kid, you're a real bastard!"
"How many runes can you get from robbing a kid? Go rob some wandering nobles, they're the big score!"
Prawn Bro had a sudden realization, as if what he said made sense.
Bai Shi held his hand out to Patches.
Patches realized what he meant and reluctantly handed the necklace to Bai Shi.
Bai Shi held the necklace up and examined it closely.
The craftsmanship was exquisite. A relief of a woman was carved on it.
It was a beautiful woman from a foreign land, possessing an unusual air.
Bai Shi knew this was the current mistress of Volcano Manor, Rykard's consort, Tanith.
Looking at the beautiful woman carved on the necklace, Bai Shi couldn't help but sigh that Tanith had aged like fine wine.
No wonder Rykard, despite her background as a dancer, took her as his consort.
But what was up with Patches's reaction?
He couldn't have fallen for her just by looking at a carving on a necklace, could he?
Bai Shi shook his head. Probably not.
"Alright, in that case, let's head back."
"If you want to find Patches in the future, you can go to Stormveil Castle."
"Bring your prawns and crabs. They might be very popular."
Prawn Bro was just a small-time thug, not truly evil.
In the game, his last words were that he wanted to walk a righteous path. Bai Shi didn't mind giving him a chance.
Bai Shi left a Golden Rune [6], worth two thousand runes, which was more than enough to pay for the prawns they ate and the necklace.
Prawn Bro held the massive rune, the likes of which he had never seen before, at a bit of a loss.
In the end, he watched the two leave, one in front of the other.
He silently made a decision in his heart:
If he could have a steady job as a cook, that didn't seem too bad.
And that way, he could let more people know the wonder of prawns and crabs.