Chapter 23 - Sneak Attack of the goons of Mellico corp.

After the encounter with the thugs of Mellico Corp., while also meeting Vale in a less pleasant way than originally intended, something told Collin that this wasn't the last time he would meet Vale and his goons.

The tribe looked depressed at their balance after being forced to pay the toll. Collin's balance got reduced from 220 RTP to 170 RTP just like that.

"Those assholes really dared to still rip us off, even after we exposed them and their fake claims right on the spot! Just like that a big chunk of our hard-earned money ended in the hands of the damn corporation! This feels really familiar to how it was in the old world," Maya said furiously and was pacing around a bit.

"Well, there is one big difference between the corporations in the old world and the new world. We are now able to make a difference and aren't forced to live in their shadows!" Samuel replied to Maya and then tossed over her rod to her.

Collin smiled and then decided to store his minions again within Sandy so that they could recover a bit more. It had been a long day, and even though they were robots, it was obvious that they had emotions. At least from what Collin had seen from the time he spent together with his robots. So he liked to think they were sleeping fast within Sandy and dreaming about everything that happened so far. So that they were ready for whatever adventure awaited them next once they woke up.

With a spark of motivation within the tribe once more, they continued on their path back to their base, following the old rotten sign with "Galley village" barely visible on it.

However, as they entered another path that slipped back into the forest, the three thugs from earlier suddenly jumped out of the bushes and started attacking the tribe. The assault started with an arrow being shot at Maya's shoulder, causing a guaranteed critical hit due to it being a sneak attack.

Maya had 15/25 HP left.

The same was happening over at Samuel and Collin's side. Samuel was stabbed in his shoulder out of nowhere, while Collin got stabbed with a knife that flew out of the bushes. Both of them also received critical damage from the sneak attack.

"Aaargh! What the hell is this for, you damn assholes!" Maya said while grabbing her rod and raising it to the sky.

Samuel had 14/22 HP left.

Collin had 12/26 HP left.

"Where did that even come from! I thought my years of experience would at least help me a little bit. In a possible sneak attack!" Samuel yelled while tossing his knife into the bush where the knife came from that was thrown at Collin. But to no avail, as the rogue was long gone already.

Afterward, the swordsman drank a yellow potion and then shouted some strange words. He then planted his sword in the ground, which ended up having electric roots strap around the legs of the tribe, paralyzing them and dealing 4 damage to each of them.

Maya had 11/25 HP left [paralyzed].

Samuel had 10/22 HP left [paralyzed].

Collin had 8/26 HP left [paralyzed].

The swordsman thug, who seemed to be the leader of this trio, stepped forward, sword in hand.

Maya tried to move but couldn't move an inch, making her furious. The other two were also struggling but realized it was no help. They then also noticed the "paralyzed for 4 minutes" alert, so they looked helplessly but furiously at the guy who looked to be the leader, who just started laughing at them.

"Now don't give me that look, you three. After all, this is your own fault. You shouldn't have tried to swindle us by using that high-tech gadget of yours," he said.

He then turned around to his pals, raised his arms wide, and laughed. "Well, let's see how much help that gadget of yours is right now!" He unsheathed his sword.

"This is for having influenced the higher-ups into lowering our salary and making them demote us to nothing more than 'reserves' for the expedition team!"

The thugs then each went to one of the members of the tribe and sheathed and charged their weapons, all aiming at the tribe's heads. Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard.

"There are those scums, captain."

The thugs then lowered their weapons, scared at hearing those words in that voice. That was when Vale entered with a lady wearing a tactical outfit and having two swords sheathed, and also a young man with a staff on his back following them.

"Arrest those deserters after rebelling for having their pay-check lowered, with a valid reason for failing to do their job. They now dared to flee and even decided on their own accord to attack a bunch of innocent villagers," Vale said loudly. The captain nodded and arrested the trio of thugs. Vale then told the priest to heal and cure the tribe members, which he did quickly, and turned to the captain.

"Captain, may I suggest an opportunity for those three?"

"Sure you might, Vale. What do you have?"

The captain replied.

"Let's settle this little conflict between the two groups with a duel, just a fair fight between the two groups on even grounds. If our men win, they will be promoted back to their former positions. If they lose, they will be forced to work at the servant quarters in the quarry until the trio earns a total of 2000 RTP."

The captain nodded. "That sounds like a great plan and a good alternative to butchering random villagers that did something wrong. I do expect that you keep their safety as your top priority, though, Vale."

Vale did a short bow. "You have my promise, Miss Captain. I will make sure they will safely arrive at Lareyville City." He then turned to the group, who just looked confused.

"Of course, I don't want to let you three get through all of this for nothing. So, I will make sure to have some rare accessories for all three of you in case you win."

Collin first thanked the priest for healing him and his tribe, then went to discuss it a bit with his buddies. They were fine with participating in the duel. After all, they got a chance for revenge on the group who had tried to get rid of them two times already. They even get compensation, and even if they don't go in on their word, they can still explore a bit of Lareyville City to get an overview of how it is going there at the moment without the worry of getting attacked by random people.

So Collin walked back to Vale. "We are fine with participating; however, I would like to request that my minions can join me in the fight because my class isn't strong on its own, which would make this fight unfair," he said truthfully. Vale nodded and replied with a counter.

"Alright, but 5 vs. 3 is also unfair. So, I will add two more lower-level captured enemies of the Mellico Corp. to make it fair for both sides."

"Very well, it is a deal then," Collin replied, accepting the challenge.

Which satisfied Vale; he was happy he could still have a decent conversation with them, even after two blunders had happened so far.