Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.7)

"Ahhhhhh - !"

What was that? Before I got the answer, Sanson simply rushed forward. He actually directly rushed into nine Urcs, what is he thinking? Actually, not directly. His target is the rightmost one. So what? I threw away my worries, and rushed to the left. The Urcs quickly gathered to each sides.Then Karl also raised his longbow and began shooting.

I didn't raise my sword, just running forward. My upper body is hence exposed. A Machetes is coming to my head. Fool, I just hoped you to do so, you have been trapped!

"The Unaware Slash!"

The machete of the Urc is bounced away, because of the reaction force, the Urc's arms are lifted, its chest is completely exposed. I flipped one more time, swinging my bastard sword upward. Huh?

The Urc jumped back a bit, made an empty space from me. Look at this guy! I finally realized the weakness of my move because I'm flipping on the same spot. This time it's my arms lifted, my chest exposed. The Urc is now swinging its machete over. Uh ah! I'm dead!

"Reverse!"

I ignored the momentum of my arms and waist, brutally struck my sword downward. I thought my waist was broken, then managed to parry the machete to the ground. That Urc because of the impact kneed down. I made a flip and then struck downward again, chopped that guy's helmet in half. But I have feeling that my waist is also cracked. The images in my eyes are looming, there is even flash.

"Wow, that's bad!"

I temporarily retreated to the back. But the other guy's machete wouldn't allow me time to rest, is immediately coming over. This guy really wants to kill me? But speaking of that, I have also already killed an Urc. I picked the easiest way I can think of.

"Ah, ah -!"

I raised my right leg, spinning the tip of my sword and stabbed out. I came up with a name of this move immediately. I am really smart.

"Grease Stirrer!"

I am moving like how I stir the grease when I make candles, spinning my sword to attack. The machete was blocked away, once I felt that the spinning tip hit something, my right foot stepped on the ground heavily, stabbed forwards according to the momentum. Ga! It feels differently from using the Unaware Slash, the feeling inside the Urc's body is transmitted from the sword to my fingertips. I suddenly got goose bumps on my whole body.

"Uh, damn. I'll just screw you up!"

I drew a huge 8 with my arm, and then began to retreat. Because the sword is spinning so fast, it became a very powerful defense. The Urcs are hesitant to get closer, I managed to retreat to a distance that I can take a breath. But once my arm stopped, a machete was coming over again. Huh? It actually ...

That machete feebly fell to the ground, the Urc which held it now has an arrow on its back. It was shot by Karl.

Then near my waist, there is a small thing rushing forward.

"Your move was so cool! Ha ha ha!"

It's the dwarf. He put his tomahawk on his shoulder, and lowered his body charging forward. Even if he didn't lower his body, he was short enough, now he is really very short. Two Urcs slashed with their machetes at the same time. But the dwarf struck with the tomahawk on his shoulder with a unbelievable speed, he hit two machetes at the same time.

Surprisingly, the two machetes are broken. Then something suddenly jumped on the back of the dwarf.

"What!"

That's Iruril. Iruril ran behind the dwarf, at the instant the dwarf hit the machetes, she stepped on the back of him and jumped forward. Then she used the two swords on her hands stabbing the vulnerable Urcs. Wow, that is really nice teamwork. But probably only Iruril thought it was a teamwork.

"Where did you step on!!"

Iruril showed a face like she didn't hear that, immediately rushed to the Urcs nearby. An Urcs stabbed with its machete crudely, but Iruril just made a spin, stretched out her right leg backwards. Then the piercing sword in her right hand broke the machete, then made another spin smoothly. Once the Urc realized that Iruril is now behind its back after the dancing-like elegant moves, it screamed almost like choking.

"Oink!!"

Iruril stabbed her left-handed dagger towards her right armpit, hit the Urc behind. Then her body spin again in the opposite direction, pulled out the dagger, and then stabbed from her left shoulder after towards the Urc's back. Then the Urc fell down.

So, I got two, Karl got one, and Iruril got three, then there should be one or two left. Where are those guys? Don't know when, Sanson has finished three and he is wiping his sword. The Dwarf took one look around and murmured:

"What the hell? Are you monsters? I didn't even get one."

Iruril took out her handkerchief and began wiping her swords without any expression. Like Balrog, this action seems to show that things just happened didn't affect her emotion at all. So...... She wouldn't get excited due to a combat? It appears that she was like doing some daily activities like eating or washing face, without a trace of emotion. Hmm.

Maybe she really had fought too many times, getting already numb now. Say, if I am 120 years old, even if there is only once a year, I would have fought more than 100 times. Compared with her, I am leaning against a tree, suffering from my low back pain. Not cool.

But so what? I am just a candle maker who got OPG accidentally.

Sanson with a sorry face is watching me rubbing my waist.

"Although you lad can do some moves that other people can't, it doesn't mean that you won't get hurt. No matter how strong you are, you would need basic skills."

"Have I ever learnt how to use a sword?"

"In fact, there is no much difference between a sword and a fist. Because you focus too much on that sword, thinking of chopping with the blade, or stabbing with the tip, so strange moves would appear. When you are fighting with your fists, would you flip around? Would you spin your fists? "

"Oh, so?"

"When you are using a weapon, the weapon is only an extension of your arm. It easy to notice when you are using a spear, which should be similar to sword. Fight by your common sense!"

I heard the words of Sanson, suddenly felt very frustrated. So I am really lack of common sense? But then I recalled Iruril last move.

"But Iruril just back-stabbed from her armpit. Anyone punches from the armpit?"

"That can only be done after you are skilled with the basis, getting very familiar with the sword itself. Only to that extent, you will be able to perform combos, or perform moves while rolling like you did."

Hmm. Is that true? Anyway, my waist seems better now. I quietly moved away from tree, then stood up. I looked at Iruril, she is searching something from her backpack. And the Dwarf is still muttering.

"What was that! Ridiculous! I wanted the fight the most, but didn't even kill one in the end!"

Karl smiled to the Dwarf.

"Because of the situation just now, we didn't introduce ourselves. My name is Karl."

"Axelhand • Eindelf."

"Ah, Mr. Eindelf. Thanks for your help."

"Help? I didn't kill even one."

Karl embarrassingly smiled, in order to rescue him from the situation, we walked over with the same smile, each introduced ourselves. Iruril is still searching her backpack like before, looks like she completely forgot us. Until she found something, she walked away to another direction. Axelhand got angry.

"Hey! Are you not willing to deal with a dwarf?"

Iruril raised her head, looked at Axelhand.

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you introduce yourself, or greet?"

"These gentlemen know my name, I thought they would help me to... "

Axelhand sharpened his eyes.

"Why wouldn't you come to talk to me directly? Are you bothered to talk to me?"

"I'm a little busy. My name is Iruril Sereniel."

Then Iruril turned away, walked to the Urcs who have fallen down. Axelhand walked towards Iruril angrily, we would also like to know what's going on, so we ran to her. Iruril is holding something like a little vial and feeding the Urcs something, once they swallowed, they exhaled a long breath. Those are the guys who got stabbed by Iruril in the back, Iruril poured some medicine on their backs also. Surprisingly, the wounds on their backs are now gone.

Axelhand is shocked and said:

"You, what are you doing? Why did you heal them?"

"Don't you want to cross the river?"

Axelhand is surprised and widened his mouth. That's right. Because it's the Bridge of Dozen, so we still need 4 more people to cross the river. So to say, Iruril is going to cure four, and then ask them to cross the river with us? Really surprisingly calm. Iruril said to me:

"Throw their weapons down the cliff. Sanson, please give me a hand."

I collected the machetes and thrown them down the cliff. A huge noise issued from the bottom, and the machetes got swept away by the rapid stream quickly, all are disappeared completely. I went back and took a look, Iruril has already cured five Urcs. Huh? Why five? Urcs have lost their weapons, Sanson is holding his sword standing in front, Axelhand is still murmuring "I didn't even kill one. Should I try it now?" kind of things, the whole situation makes people so uncomfortable.

Iruril said:

"I do not know what happened between you and the humans, I just want to cross the river. I have cured you, so that you can also cross the river. But if you refuse to, this thing will become very troublesome. '

Why is she speaking with such a solemn tone? Almost the same as the tone she talks to us. Although this is not a bad thing, she attacked them coldly, now the speech is still such calm, I can now really feel that she is different from humans. Does she have no feeling? Or her expression is different with us?

"That's my suggestion. Please help us to gather the number. If you agree, then I will give you the drugs to heal your mates here."

All the Urcs widened their eyes.

"Oink! Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Oink Oink, when we arrive there, you will not kill us? Oink!"

Iruril said without any change on her face.

"Anyway, if you do as I say, it will be good for you. If you don't want to help us, then I don't need you too, I'll hand you over to that dwarf. But if you are willing to cross the river with us, I will give your companions medicines. Think about it calmly, then you will know what to do. "

I guess even so, they can't think calmly right?

"Oink! But after we crossed the river, how can we come back? Oink! If we can't come back, what's the use of that medicine?"

"Didn't I cured five of you? Leave one here. I will give the medicine to that one, then we cross the river. Then he can heal the others."

Wow..... Really defeated by her. Her mind is really clear. Axelhand is also too surprised, now is just standing there with his mouth opened. The Urcs calculated the number, and then nodded.

"So be it, Oink. Fine, we don't any other choice. Oink Oink Oink!"

Iruril also nodded. Then she said to the Urcs.

"So we are friends now!"

Uh! I nearly fainted. Although only I know the meaning behind this sentence, other people with the dwarf  and even the Urcs are totally stunned. The Urcs with a speechless face are looking at Iruril, then shouted rudely:

"Oink Oink Oink! What are you talking about! Now we are disarmed, so we have no choice! Oink! We will definitely revenge!"

Iruril tilted her head and looked at me. Please... Don't look at me with those eyes, OK?

"They are different from you, Huchi?"

"...Yeah."

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.6)

I coughed a few times, then started watching the Urcs and Dwarfs who are shouting at each other. I said to Karl:

"We follow what the dwarf said, how about that? We attack the Urcs, capture four of them and then cross the bridge."

Iruril's eyes show that she is worried. I became very embarrassed, Karl also shook his head.

"Ah ...... If you do that you will violate the wish of the creator of this bridge, won't you? And if we fight, people may get injured."

"So we can only advise them to leave five here. I don't want to go with nine of them."

Iruril shook her head.

"If we can trust each other and follow the rules, this thing will be simple. Now it's like..."

Who doesn't know? I said to Iruril:

"Now the problem is the Urcs might not follow the rules, Iruril?"

"Why do you think that they won't follow the rules, Huchi?"

"Because they are Urcs."

"Is that so? The Urcs will probably think, because these guys are humans, dwarves and elves, so these guys can't be trusted."

My eyes are widened. Really! I looked at Karl, he nodded.

"That is right, we have to trust each other. That should be the purpose of making this bridge, but these races got much hatred elsewhere, you want them to trust each other here, it is a bit difficult. This Tyburn Highseeker is wishing too much."

At this moment.

In front of me, a Urc suddenly stood up, the Urcs which were shouting at the Dwarvf are also approaching. They are pointing at us and twittering. No, it should be said, they are pointing at our horses?

I suddenly feel creepy.

Even if three of us, Iruril and the Dwarf are all dead, as long as they got the horses, they can have twelve and cross the bridge. How stupid! This plan is absolutely unfeasible. Although our number is smaller, the Urcs think that they can win, if they want to cross the bridge, they can't have anyone of them dead. However they might be stupid enough to neglect these.

My brains quickly flashed. I must find a way, so they won't rush in. I picked up a small stone, and then deliberately stretch forward my hand and let them see clearly. The Urcs immediately looked at me with surprised eyes.

"You probably think that killing us all, taking away the horses, then you can have twelve. But that is impossible."

I smiled, then crushed the stone with my thumb and forefinger. The stone turned into powder in a glance. The Urcs began screaming and retreating. One of them began to shout:

"Oink, that, that is the candle maker! The Monstrous Candle Maker! Oink!"

Wow, I'm actually becoming so famous in this region? But the Urcs raised their weapons together.

The Dwarf who were yelling saw the machetes of the Urcs, panicked and retreated. Those machetes are much larger than the Orcs', almost as large as humans'. After a glance, the scene became a confrontation of Urcs vs Wizard - Dwarf - Human Coalition (?).

"Hey, what do you want!?"

I was shocked, so I shouted. One of the Urcs laughed and said:

"This is really great. Oink! We don't need to cross the river now! Oink, we thought you, Oink, had crossed the river. Oink Oink!"

I suddenly winced.

"You are chasing after us?"

That Urc is pounding its own chest and said:

"We are Urcs! Urcs Fighter! Oink! We have accepted the request to destroy you all! Oink! The weak Orcs  mentioned you to us with a scared tone, Oink! We have never expected, Oink, you are actually just several lads and elderly! "

Sanson figured out how it happened, he began gnashing his teeth. Seems that those Orcs which were after us requested these Urcs, so in order to catch up with us, they tried to cross the river. But we actually departed lately this morning, so we fell behind them. Sanson said in a low voice:

"Looks like there will be no good ending on this."

※ ※ ※


The Dwarf came to our side, and murmured:

"Hearing those words just now, I guess I know what is happening. You are being chased after by Orcs?"

"Yes. Really sorry. This is our business, so please stay away."

Karl pulled out his sword. The Dwarf shook his head.

"No, what are you talking about. Now, we can finally have a good fight together right?"

I looked down at this bold dwarf, and then smiled at him. The enemies are not ordinary Orcs, but Urcs, and there are nine of them, we have only five people, however, the Dwarf is showing absolutely no fear. Wait a minute, do we really have five people? I looked at Iruril. Iruril also looked at me at the same time.

"Huchi."

"Yes?"

"This morning, we've became friends, right?"

I smiled slightly. Iruril didn't seem to understand the meaning of my smile, so she tilted her head, and then she drew out her piercing sword and left hand dagger. I said:

"Wait. Their targets are us, so you can keep yourself away from this."

"Didn't you say that you would do something for me?"

"So I ran to wash my face, didn't I?"

"Then I should do something for you too. Right?"

If you are a human, then that should be correct. But I don't if that's the case for Elves. Once again, I write down in my mind: "Elves are very troublesome", and stood out. The Urcs suddenly stopped, and raised their machetes. That's a bit scary. They not only can endure the sunlight, their size is also very big, their height is probably only a little shorter than me, but their shoulders are wider than me. What should we do now?

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.5)

Huh?

We stopped moving forward hurriedly. Sanson moved his hand towards his waist, and I moved mine towards my shoulder, we are ready to pull out our weapons. In front of us there are nine Orcs, one Dwarf and one Elf.

Why are these Orcs wandering round during the day? Anyway, the Orcs are staring at the Dwarf. And the Dwarf is holding a huge tomahawk, stroking the blade and staring back at the Orcs. It reminds me of the tomahawk of Minotaur. The length is not that long, but size of the blade is similarly big.

However, even with such a big ax, the Dwarf can stand in front of nine enemies proudly, he is really amazing. Moreover, these Orcs compared with those we fought against, their bodies are larger, and they look more violent. The Orcs are staring at the Dwarf with angry expressions because of his provocation, but the Elf is actually not looking at any of those two parties, but standing in a distance from those guys and looking at the sky. We actually know this Elf.

"Iruril?"

Because the noise of the stream covered the hoofs beat, they didn't notice us until we got close. Sanson and I immediately jumped off from the horses. Sanson said to Iruril:

"Are you okay?"

Iruril tidied up her hair which got blown by the wind in the valley, and then said:

"We separated just now, and we immediately meet again."

"Don't worry, I will protect you."

"Huh?"

Iruril tilted her head. Sanson tensed up. Then I found that the situation is a bit strange. The Orcs have a overwhelmingly advantage number, but they didn't attack. And the Dwarf is not afraid at all, majestically staring at the Orcs, so it even seems like that the nine Orcs are afraid of the Dwarf. Iruril looked at me and said:

"Huchi, which side will you help?"

Uh... This is really a difficult question.

"I have to find out who needs help first."

Then the Dwarf put down the tomahawk and said:

"Fine now. Plus three, there are fourteen now."

But the Orcs' expression became very strange. One of the Orcs shouted:

"Oink! Then who will be left here?"

The Dwarf giggled with his gruff voice:

"I will kill two of you, how about that?"

"Oink! You and the Elf should be killed!"

Then Iruril stood out.

"No one should undermine the convention."

After she said, both the Orcs and the Dwarf looked at Iruril with unhappy faces. Sanson and I don't know what to do, we got confused. They actually didn't fight. But I don't understand what they are saying.

Karl asked calmly:

"Miss Sereniel, please explain the situation to us."

"Is it the first time you come here? "

"Yes."

"On the Bridge of Dozen, no matter what races you are, you can't fight."

"Can't fight?"

Sanson widened his eyes. Iruril nodded and said:

"It is the wish of the person who made this bridge, so he made the bridge that it will only move when there are twelve."

"Huh?"

Iruril pointed at the valley. We are startled.

The two cliffs are separated by about sixty cubits. However, in that the middle of the air there is a boat floating. No, I shouldn't say that it's a boat, it's just a large square which looks like a raft, there are railings on it, the structure is very simple. The most surprising thing is, it is not supported by any rope or other things, it's just simply floating in the air.

I ran to the cliff with Sanson and looked around, there can't be any hidden device. The thing is really floating in the air. There is just a circle painted on the bottom of the raft, as well as many complex patterns. That should be Magic Patterns... It's Magic!

Iruril continued to explain.

"Regardless of what races, there must be 12 individuals gathered in order to cross the bridge. As long as you can't fly, you have to comply with this rule no matter who you are. So everyone here would not fight."

Karl tilted his head and said:

"Uh... Does it work with twelve of the same race?"

"This doesn't matter though. So human businessmen or Orcs usually come with a team of twelve. But for other races it's not easy to have twelve of them traveling together. So no matter which races of them, they will be waiting here, and then cross the bridge together, and only because of that there won't be any fight here. "

Wow. Absolutely no fight? Well, it really is an amazing place. Karl nodded and said:

"That... The intention was good, but it's a bit inconvenient. If there is no twelve, the bridge is absolutely useless."

"Yes. But here is a busy place, so if you wait for a little while, gathering twelve is actually very easy. Also because of that we met again."

Aha, I know what's the problem.

Originally the Orcs, the Dwarf and Elf had a total of eleven. Therefore, in order to cross the river, although they didn't feel comfortable with each other, they didn't fight, and were waiting for the next person. But now we have three people. So the major problem is that two people must be left behind, and wait again for the next ten people.

During Iruril's explanation, the Dwarf continued roaring, shouting at each other with the Orcs.

"You disgusting jerks! Your should thank that you are on the Bridge of Dozen! Elsewhere, you would have destroyed by me!"

"Oink! How could there be such an ugly, long bearded short dwarf!"

In fact Orcs and Dwarves are impossible to take each other's size to make fun of. But these Orcs are so big that they are unlike Orcs, so they can point at the nose of the Dwarf and call him shorty. On the other hand, the Dwarf can't attack the Orcs in front of him, so he seems like going crazy. He hasn't got any foaming at his mouth, which is very amazing.

"But how can these Orcs walking around during the day?"

Probably heard me talking to myself, Iruril said:

"They are Urcs."

"Urcs?"

"They are known as a kind of Orcs. And it's the name of this branch... They are quite large aren't they? Although they also hate the sun like the other Orcs, they are still able to endure it. So the situation now is very strange. Usually Orcs won't come out during the day, so there wouldn't be any problem and you would be able to cross the river. But now Urcs and Dwarves, the two rivals, meet here."

Karl nodded and then walked away far enough from the Urcs, hesitated to say:

"Excuse me, please listen to me for a few words. Because we are latest, so we'll leave two people here and wait. Is that Okay?"

But the dwarves seems totally not willing to do according to Karl's words. He is swinging his tomahawk rudely, forcing Karl to step back.

"What do you mean? Come on! You leave two people here! Those left here can stay alive. But after crossing bridge, I don't know what will happen to me!"

After listening to the words of the Dwarf, I discovered another problem.

It's the proportion of all races after crossing the bridge. Iruril said very clearly that, no one should fight here. However when the destination is reached, will we still follow the rule? So the Dwarf is calculating a good proportion of races. If we leave two Urcs here, three human, an elf and a dwarf together we have a total of five people, and seven Urcs can cross the bridge. If there will really be a fight, we still have a chance. But if only one of us cross the bridge, the number will be three to nine, we can be in great danger. Although I unconsciously put Dwarves, Elves and Human in the same team, the idea seems to be correct.

Sanson's idea is probably the same as mine. He frowned, pulled Karl over. Although he is whispering with Karl, he's so loud that even I can hear.

"We don't know what the situation will become after crossing the bridge. Three of us have to go together."

"But... Didn't you hear that, no one can fight here?"

"Orcs can't be trusted."

Karl frowned. Then Iruril said:

"Mr Dwarf, excuse me. Did you count these horses?"

Huh? The horses are counted? Well, sure. This is a matter of course. No matter what races should be counted. So, we have seventeen here waiting to cross the bridge? The Dwarf shouted excitedly:

"Right, five of you Urcs can come with me! Which one want to stay?"

"Oink! Nonsense! Human, you are the latest.You stay here with your stink horses, wait here! No, you have to give one horse to us!"

Ah. Everyone is speaking their own language now. Iruril said:

"Absolutely no fight is allowed. That way no one can cross the bridge. We must follow the rule. You have to promise this first, then we can decide who will be staying here."

I think this sentence is absolutely right. However, such a right thing, for the excited Dwarf and Urcs, it looks non-sense.

Headache. If any one of us go with them, that man will be in danger. After we cross the valley, if the Urcs change their mind, he is likely to be attacked by them. I really want to suggest that the six of us (including our horses) must pass together, but we came late, it seems a bit unreasonable.

The Dwarf is very excited, and keeps shouting: "I will take five of your lives, tie the rest with a rope to go over it!" Kind of thing. The Urcs are squeaking, asking us to give up one horse.

What the Urcs thinking is obvious. Which horse is not a problem, as long as they can cross the river, they can deal with the Elf and Dwarf easily.

Although all races are shouting at each other, there is no fight. If we really fight, regardless of who win, they can't cross the river. Because there is no twelve in the same races, in the five races here (Horse is a race too!) we need at least two races to go together. Well.... The man who built this bridge probably had thought of such a scenario! Although we are in this kind of situation, I decided to satisfy my curiosity first.

"In the end who built this bridge?"

Iruril looked at me and said:

"Strange. You actually ask an Elf about human stuffs."

"You make us the three most lack of knowledge men then. Who?"

Iruril smiled. I saw that, and realized that this was the first time I saw her smile.

"A human wizard. Called Tyburn Highseeker."

Then we, the three human's expression became very weird. Karl asked me:

"Nedval, what is last name of Tyburn? "

"Huh? Even Karl doesn't know? I don't know."

Sanson kept blinking with a confused face, and after a while, his eyes again fixed on Iruril's body. Stop staring at her! Really want to kick his leg. I don't know whether Iruril understands that kind of vision or not. She said to me:

"Do you know him?"

"We know someone who is called Tyburn, but we don't know his last name..."

Iruril tilted her head.

"I've never heard human life can be that long. The bridge was built two hundred years ago."

Two hundred years? Then it's impossible. Karl shook his head.

"Sounds that the builder should be another man."

"Maybe."

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.4)

Today's weather seems to be very good. The hot sun is burning my eyebrows.

"Huh?"

I rolled my blanket up and stood up. Sanson and Karl are sleeping in their blankets. What happened?

Nobody was actually night guarding, all of us went to sleep? But then I saw Iruril, she is sitting next to the extinguishing campfire. Iruril looked at the smoke of the campfire and said:

"You woke up?"

Iruril didn't look at me when she was speaking. I'm scared ans said:

"Ah, you helped us for the night shift, Iruril?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I heard that you couldn't sleep well for several nights because of the Orcs. "

"Ah... Thank you. "

"Am I your friend now, Huchi?"

I suddenly can't understand what she said, and scratched my head, then I remembered the dialogue last night. I suddenly felt very funny and chuckled, then walked to the campfire. When Iruril sits down, she doesn't seem to be taller than me much. Probably because her legs are too long.

"Yes. You are my friend."

"Then will you do something for me?"

Huh? Well, yes. I deliberately whack my palm with my fist to show her, and then said:

"Of course, if you care about me, you won't ask me to do something strange, so-called friends has always been this way, hasn't it?"

Sound a little cunning huh? Iruril looked at me and said:

"Then please go to wash your face."

"...Good."

I went down the cliff we slept on to a small valley to wash my face. Because the altitude is very high, so there are not many trees. In the middle of this plateau, a shallow stream draws a narrow crack on the plateau, calling it a valley is a bit strange. Autumn is deep now, the stream is cold to the point of biting. After I went back to the camping place, Karl and Sanson also woke up. Seeing both of them getting up, Iruril stood up and once again picked up the backpack next to her.

Sanson said hurriedly:

"Eh, you have to leave now?"

"Yes."

"No, why are you leaving so soon... We didn't eat breakfast... Although we don't know where your destination is, if we can travel together, that will be so much better..."

Sanson hurriedly stood up and said. Iruril looked at Sanson with a face without any expression or emotion.

"Travel together? Well, I don't have a horse."

"That why don't you ride with me?"

Iruril looked at Sanson confusedly, and Sanson showed a fainting face because of his words just now. I turned my head and chuckled.

"I don't want to cause you so much trouble."

Sanson because of making a mistake, he couldn't say anything from his mouth now. Iruril slightly nodded to me and Karl, then said:

"I Wish You a Pleasant Journey, Sunlight Always Accompanies Your Ears, Until the Sun Sets."

For this kind of anicent valedictory from Iruril, only Karl has the ability to answer.

"I Wish You a Safe Journey, Returns as if Departs, Beams with Joy."

Then Iruril turned away and left.

She went to touch each of our horses tied to a tree. The horses quietly stood there. Iruril then disappeared in the woods which has no road. We heard the sound of bushes and grass, Iruril's black hair was gone soon. A while later, we saw Iruril far on the hill, after she climbed over the hill, we could no longer see her.

"Why doesn't she walk on the road?"

After Iruril's figure completely disappeared, I said. Karl replied:

"Road is for human. Elves don't build roads."

"They don't build roads?"

Karl smiled and said:

"There is a saying: When an Elf walks in the forest, she becomes a tree; When a Man walks in the forest, he creates a trail. When an Elf looks up at the sky, she becomes a star; When a Man looks up at the sky, he creates constellations. These words illustrate the diversification of elves perfectly."

"Diversification?"

"Staying with an elf, the elf will become like that thing. Staying with a human, that thing will become like human. "

This sentence is really clever. Well, I haven't had such a good sleep for a long time(when you get woke up for the night shift, it's really a grind), and now I can feel that I am full of energy. I said:

"Then if an elf meets a human?"

"The elf will become very like human. So Sanson, your request just now was very rude."

Sanson blushed. He said:

"I, I don't know. In fact, Huchi and I can ride the same horse ..."

※ ※ ※

We kneaded some flour into dough, began to make scones on a pan. In order to keep some for lunch, we used a lot of flour. If there are some milk or eggs, the taste could be much better. But now we are living in the wild, we better not to be so pampered.

Karl only ate a little, I am the type of person who eat until getting tired, Sanson on the other hand is regardless of how much he ate, he won't get tired. When I was making the scones, Sanson was already picking up some of the scones and ate like a glutton.

"Leave me some Okay?"

"You fool. Why would you start eating only after all are toasted?"

Well, that's right. So I began to cook with one hand, and use another hand to grab the scones and eat. But I soon found that this method has a very big problem. That is, no matter how much I've made, there can't be anything left for our lunch.

Sanson and I realized that surprisingly, and Karl is looking at us with his deep eyes and smiling.

Sanson is still regretting what he had said.

"I should have just said Huchi'd ride with me..."

"Stop thinking about that, okay? It's already happened, what's the point of regretting? "

I grabbed more flour to knead, and asked them:

"About those Orcs, what are you going to do?"

"We already know where their location is, if we pretend not knowing and just walk over, I will feel very bad."

"So is there any way to solve it? Hey, don't touch! That's for lunch!"

Sanson insisted to pick one more into his mouth, revealed a pleased expression. But Carl looks upset and said:

"No way. We have missions, shouldn't go and risk our lives. This is not something that we can control. After we arrive the capital, I will report this to the defense ministers or influential individuals."

"But what about those people..."

"Although we feel very sorry, the Orcs would not arbitrarily abuse the craftsmen. And craftsmen don't often travel, so it's very difficult for the Orcs to catch more of them too, we can only be patient now, Percival. "

"Gee (Chewing sound), Yes!"

"Please clearly mark their location on the geography book, and write down the signs they said, so that when we reach the capital we can make a complete report."

"Sure!"

After breakfast, we set out. Haven't slept so well for a long time, so I feel really happy. But because we slept till so late, plus we spent so much time on making extra scones, we set out late. I began to whisper that Sanson is the one who makes us late, Sanson replied that we should able to pass through Hudyne Ridge in the afternoon, in the evening we can enter the village to rest, so he told us not to worry. Then he began to mutter again.

"I should have said Huchi'd ride with me..."

"Shut up!"

The place we slept last night looks like the boundary of a forest. When we are down to the lowlands, we gradually entered deep into a forest. Although this is just a mountain road, because it's an extension of the Central Avenue, so the road is smooth and wide. It is very suitable for horses, but because it's a bit steep, in order not to get the horses too tired, we are moving forward with a jogging speed. I've rode for several days, so I also started to get very familiar with horses.

Probably about a hour. We are around the height of rapid streams appear in valleys.

Wocha la la la!

I heard the strange noise, so I looked at Sanson. Sanson said:

"That is the Hudyne River. Because it's a jet stream in the valley, so it sounds loud, right? We have to cross the river."

"Jet stream? We don't cross a jet stream on a horseback, right?"

"Don't be nonsense. There is a bridge."

"Wait a minute! Let me guess. It was Hudyne Ridge, then Hudyne River, so the name of the bridge, should be Hudyne Bridge right?"

"Wrong. The Bridge of Dozen. "

"What? Dozen? What does this mean?"

"I don't know. That's what the geography book says."

So we ran toward the Bridge of Dozen in this confused situation. The closer we get, the louder the sound of rushing water becomes. Now it's even difficult to talk to the person next to you in an ordinary volume.

After a while, the trees which blocked our sight instantly all disappeared. We found a huge cliff appeared in front of us. However, our attention is not on the cliff, but the thing standing in front it, we are all shocked.

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.3)

This elf although is not as tall as Sanson, she is at least as tall as Karl. I've never seen such a black hair. The black hair is tied behind her head. The eyes on her white face are also black. She is wearing a white female smock, with a bronze leather coat on it, didn't buckle up the front, so we can see its a white smock inside. She is wearing a leather pants with the same color, but on her left waist there is a very thin estoc, and there is also a dagger near her left thigh. Why does she put two swords on the same side? On the right is ... there is a quiver hung near her right hip. Looking closely, I found a composite bow in her backpack.

This is the first time in my life to see an elf. I observed her appearance thoroughly. Just like what the stories say, indeed, she is really a beautiful woman. However, for my own preference, it would be better if she was smaller. This female elf is tall, slim, her legs are long too. If to use a tree to describe her, she is a cedar. But I like cypress a little bit more. A shorter body, a narrower shoulder, neck better not to be so long too... Ahh, why am I describing the appearance of Jamini. Damn.

Don't know if she noticed that I was immersed in my own imagination, that elf nodded and said:

"My name is Iruril Sereniel. I heard the voices of Orcs, so I came over to have a look."

"I am Sanson Percival. Nice to meet you."

Karl just nodded and said: "I'm Karl." I was thinking something else, so I hurriedly introduced myself. Whenever each of us introduced ourselves, the elf Iruril would gently nod her head. After the introductions, Iruril said:

"So gentlemen, are you human travelers?"

Karl said:

"Yes. Don't know whether Miss Sereniel understands human affairs much or not, we're on the way to the capital to visit the king. This is for reporting an affair happened in where we live."

"I see."

"So is Miss Sereniel also a traveler?"

"Please call me Iruril. I am a traveler."

Then Sanson said hurriedly:

"Ah... That... Please take a seat. Oi, Huchi, fill some water in the kettle. "

Well, fine. My sleepiness has totally disappeared anyway, it's good to have some tea. Iruril sat down after saying some thank you words. Well, it seems that sometimes elves can be quite cheeky too. I took out a cup and said:

"Excuse me, you had been watching us since the beginning?"

"Yes."

"So you wanted to help us? Then I am glad to offer this tea to you."

"You said who I wanted to help?"

Huh? I suddenly can't answer. Iruril is an elf, not a human. She doesn't seem to have any reason to help human. My words were actually based on my own perception, so Iruril seemed to be accusing me of it. But I've already said it, I must go on.

"You are more similar to us, right?"

"Similar... If Gnolls fight with Orcs, Mr Nedval, which side will you help?"

Ah, I suddenly feel that if I get the wrong answer, I will be tricked miserably. If I say that I won't help both sides, then Iruril must answer so is she. I hope Karl and Sanson help me to answer, and I turned and looked at them, but Karl is just watching us with great interest, and doesn't seem to be trying to help me, Sanson has been staring at the face of Iruril . Damn! How can this man be like this? Intertwined with the hometown girl, just left for a few days, actually became like this!

I put some tea into the kettle, began to say while washing the cups:

"If that's the case... Uh! I don't know, for me there is a line. Inside the line it's friend, outside the line it's unrelated to me. And please call me Huchi. "

"Then what is the line, Huchi?"

"It's whether she cares about me or not. Orcs and Gnolls won't care about me, so I won't help both sides."

Iruril made a pondering face.

"Well, if I don't care about you, then I'm unrelated to you?"

"It's true in the current situation. Although we may become friends, you didn't help us, so we are still unrelated."

I handed the cup to her. Iruril who got the cup has very slender fingers. I also gave Karl a cup, Sanson punched my shoulder then took the cup. After Sanson took the cup, he began to stare at Iruril again. This guy will definitely screw up something.

Iruril is holding the cup with both hands, seems to be feeling the temperature of the cup. She moved her lips towards the cup and said:

"Then Huchi gave me this cup of tea, which means that you care about me. So I should treat you as a friend?"

Oh! It is too tough.

"If Miss Sereniel's heart has the same line as I do, it is possible."

"Please call me Iruril. So, seems even you think that I am an unrelated person, but in order to become friend with me, you offered me a hand."

"Well, isn't that the way to survive?"

"That if you offer your hand to the Gnolls or Orcs, then you would probably become friend with them too."

"Ah, ah, well, do you think when I offer my hand to them, they will definitely accept me as a friend?"

"Do you think that you gave me a cup of tea, then I'll treat you as my friend?"

"... I have no idea."

Even if I passed this question, don't know what she'll say next to make things difficult.

So in my first impression, I wrote down "Elf is absurd, a race which keeps teasing human.", and then began to drink the tea. Because my stomach is now warmed up, I feel a bit dozing.

A white face is presented behind Iruril's black hair, in the background of night it makes people feel strange. Her face is white and transparent, so it's difficult to focus your eyes to have a clear look at her. Karl then said:

"I don't know how you think, but your dialogue impressed me a lot."

Karl, as if listened to a conversation between me and Iruril representing the human race and the elf race, so he quietly observed in the perspective of a third party. That should be very interesting. Iruril whispered:

"It's very difficult to understand human."

"Because human is one of the few races which can follow Uphinel and Helkanes at the same time."

Iruril raised her head and looked at the night sky.

"I... I am not familiar with humans. In the past hundred and twenty years, I kept meeting humans, but now I still can't understand. Probably because of this, so my rank is still the same."

Wow, 120 years old! Elves seem to get old very slowly. But if I had lived for a hundred and twenty years, I could probably even understand slime. "You are a wriggling slime. You wriggle is very charming...."

Strange? Anyway, lived for so long, why can't she understand human? I finished the tea, covered myself with a blanket.

"(Yawn.) Children should sleep early. Sanson, sleepy?"

"No! Not at all. I'm fine."

I knew he would reply like that. I looked at Karl, he nodded.

"Then I'll sleep first. Wake me up for my night guard shift... (Yawn.)"

I drilled into the blanket. Karl continued to chat with that elf woman called Iruril. Sanson next to them is having his piercing eyes, staring at Iruril's lips. The dignity of our village is totally ruined by him! Karl said:

"I don't have confidence to understand Elf too."

"Oh?"

I didn't hear what Karl said next. I've gone into sleep.

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.2)

Anyway, looked at the behavior of these guys, my heart will not have a single thought of pardon or mercy anymore.

"You bastards! Do you know who I am? I am a candler maker. I am going to use your body fat to make candles!"

Hearing my warning full of professionalism, Sanson barely smiled. But the Orcs' reaction is very strange.

"Oink, you say you are a candle maker?"

"Yes. I've never heard of any place on this whole continent where candles are made of Orcs fat, then I'll be the first person! I should put my name on them too. The Nedval Orcs Candles!"

The Orcs suddenly started to discuss with each other excitedly. Then one guy said:

"Then, oink! That person should be taken alive."

"Wha.... What?

What is this nonsense? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry and looked at Sanson, but Sanson also put on a surprised face. Then Karl interjected.

"You two... Where do you think the Orcs get these weapons, why are there armors for them to wear? They capture human artisans, force them to make these. So they like people who have techniques."

"Huh?"

"Orcs' brains are too small, they can't learn. So they will capture skillful artisans to help them. They like blacksmiths the most.. Candle makers like you are not bad too. Although they don't like candlelight, for the captured people to work in the Orc caves, candles are necessary."

Sanson made a dumbfounding face, said:

"Hey, I'm the son of a blacksmith, so I am good at blacksmith that sort of things. What are you going to do?"

The Orcs are panic now. They started discussing around again.

"Oink! That human old man! How about you? Oink! You seem to know much about us, Oink Oink! You have a lot of knowledge?"

"Me? I like reading, I would also like to be a writer and write something, but for you, I can also be treated as a pharmacist."

The Orcs are completely excited now.

"That, oink, oink! Capture them all!"

Then Sanson laughed.

"Then we are so grateful. So when we fight with you, we don't have to worry about dying, right?"

Then I said coldly:

"Our opinion is a little bit different from yours. We will only capture a few of you. We have to rescue the captured people inside your caves."

Hearing what I said, sparks broke out from the eyes of Sanson.

"Yes! You bastards, I won't let you run!"

Sanson didn't even finish his words, began rushing forward. The scared Orcs raised their weapons, but because their arms are relatively short, so the machetes they use are smaller than human's. But the problem is that their height are too short. Sanson hastily fended off those swords slashing to his thigh. I watched this scene, and then looked around.

"Ah, ahhhhhhhh -!"

The Orcs almost had their eyes jumped out. I lifted a rock which is as large as the size of an Orc, I raised the rock high above my head and said:

"Shall we play the game of throwing stones?"

"That, that's not a candle maker! Oink, that's not a human!"

I mercilessly threw the rock. Bang bang bang! Orcs are actually so agile! Almost like a hare. But there is still one of them who had a bad luck, fell over in front of the rock. I was a little scared, so I tightly closed my eyes, but that moment my hind-brain suddenly felt a chill, so I had to open my eyes again. And I saw the scene clearly.

"Well, it is really cruel. Who actually did such a thing."

The Orcs are now crazily rushing over. Because their attacks are so low, so Sanson is angry, and lowered his upper body even more, then did a circle slash with his long sword. Sanson upper body together with the length of his arm, combined with the length of his sword, is indeed much longer than the Orcs' machetes. Now I should also charge.

"Sideway Unaware Slash!"

My move this time, became turning sideway. Such a slash, I easily rotated three times. Although my waist feel less pain, there is still a side effect of dizziness. The livid faces of the Orcs are now more blue, that look is really interesting. Surprisingly, I rotated three times and I didn't even hit one single guy, but cut down a few trees nearby. I purposely ignored Sanson's accusatory eyes, picked up a wood and began to throw.

"I meant to cut this!"

"Don't be so exaggerating... Huchi. Even Orcs won't believe you."

Anway, judging from my OPG and Sanson's fencing, we are not something that Orcs can capture alive. The Orcs with discouraged faces are trying to escape, but this is definitely not allowed. I rushed over and grabbed one of the guys' neck. This guy is struggling and shouting, wanted to attack me in the face, but because I gave its stomach several punches, disgusting saliva is out-flowing from its mouth and it's fainted.

The other Orcs fled, we took out a rope and tied up the captured Orc. Sanson said:

"Well, Karl, if these guys caught some people, although I think searching the caves, and rescuing those people is a better idea right..."

"I also agree. But first we have to confirm that we have enough time."

Ah, thinking carefully, it's now October. We started at the end of September.

"Time should be enough. From here to the capital we need about 17 days. Coming back would account for 25 days. So a round-trip is 42 days. Of course there could actually be a difference between a few days, but it should be around one month and a half . "

Karl frowned.

"Then it's really a bit... If you want have a meeting with His Majesty, but also take the opportunity to visit the Huritchell Family, time is probably like this. A month and a half."

Sanson and I think that we are just going over there to see a few people, discuss a few things, so we can't understand why a month and a half wouldn't be enough, but only because we don't know the situation in the capital as well as the royal etiquette, so we can only remain silent. Karl's face eased down, he said:

"Wake it up. I'll interrogate it. If the time is not enough, we can make up our journey at night."

Karl made a kind expression, Sanson also seems happy and smiled. I laughed, and then slapped the Orc's face several times. It opened its eyes to look around about its situation, then fell into horror.

Karl lifted its head up and said:


"Just like what you've heard, I have a bit understanding about you guys. If you go back like this, you would be killed by your leader right? The leader will chop your head off and play around, if he gets tired of it then he will throw it away. "

The Orc seems to think it is a matter of course, so it doesn't look shocked, but Sanson and I both look surprised. Karl went on and said:

"If you don't tell us where your caves are, then we'll take you back to your leader."

Sanson and I are looking at each other. This sentence is really baffling! We thought Karl was kidding.

"Oink! Go through that mountain and go down about three hundred cubits, oink! Vine-covered crevices, oink! There are two fallen trees on both sides, that's a sign. Oink! There are totally around a hundred and fifty of us! '

"Really?! Thank you."

Karl untied the rope, it immediately began to flee. Karl looked at our faces and shrugged.

"My brothers, now you understand why they need to capture human craftsmen."


"But... But it's too over."

Sanson's cheek muscles are twitching, while thinking how ridiculous this thing is, and I chuckled. Karl touched his chin, then frowned again.

"However one hundred and fifty is indeed too much... I am curious how such a number can live here. Do they get enough income from robberies around this Hudyne Ridge? Ah, Sanson, is there any fortress or large-scale village around?"

Sanson took out a thick geography book, went next to the fire, pointed on the map:

"Yes, some distance away, there is a place named Elounda Fort. But it's quite far away. Four days away from here. Besides that there are only a few small territories. I guess they loot these small villages to live."

"If there are fortresses or metropolis nearby, they wouldn't be able to form such a large-scale group."

Karl made a worried face, we are now all bothered.

On the geography book Sanson showed us, Elounda Fort this fortress is in the south, exactly perpendicular to the east where we are going to. If we want to go there, it will not only waste too much time,  the fortress would also be unlikely to send any troops to clear the Orcs. We have no rank, it's not possible to ask the garrison to do something not in their duty.

I opened my mouth and yawned, then said my opinion.

"(Hmm----mf) Gee. Don't they sleep during the day?"


"I think so."

"Then we run into the cave during the day, then save the people quickly, how about that?"

"That's too dangerous. Impossible, Nedval. You are saying that we have to stealth among one hundred and fifty Orcs in a dark cave, to find humans, and get them out? And even Orcs should also have sentinels, shouldn't they?"

At this time, a loud and clear voice came from the woods.

"It's really a stupid plan."

"Huh?"

Sanson and I hurriedly raised our weapons. Although that's a voice of human, additionally a voice of woman, I know a lot of monsters would give a woman's voice. Anyway, because it's night, so we have to be careful. Sanson shouted:

"If you are a human, please come out!"

The voice from the woods answered.

"If I'm a human, I can refuse others' requests, right?"

Sanson is surprised and widened his mouth, looking at me with confusion in his eyes. Well, that doesn't matter! I made an impatient face to Sanson, and then shouted at the woods:

"If you don't come out, then you are a Goblin with constipation, an Orc with athlete's foot, a Werewolf with hemorrhoids!"

I am indeed a frank man. This can be proved from the face of Sanson which now looks like he's never seen such a person in his lifetime. The voice in the forest said after a moment:

"... To avoid such unpleasant speculations,  I should come out."

After a while, under the firelight there is a woman with slender body and long ears. Her ears look like elves' ears. I tilted my head and whispered to Sanson:

"Hey, that woman's ears are as long as an elf's, aren't they?"

Sanson felt strange and looked at me, then said to the woman:

"Are you the race of forest?"

... Really an elf.

Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.1)

"Wow! It's so hot! Is this even an Autumn night?"

"I'm going crazy, crazy! My head is smoking!"

These words actually have a lot of problems. The weather now is simply the weather of an autumn night, we are on a hill of the Gray Mountains edge, the Hudyne Ridge. From West Glade where our home town Heltant is, in order to go to Mid Glade which is the central area of Vyseus, we must pass through some checkpoints, Hudyne Ridge is one of them. Although here is just a corner of the Gray Mountains, in fact we should not underestimate the altitude here, so it's absolutely not a place for people shouting hot.

But our heads are really going to smoke.

Sanson and I couldn't sleep well for a couple of days, we are tired and start getting angry. Karl looked at the two of us with a flustered expression. While who looking at us with flustered expressions are not just Karl.

The Orcs are clenching their swords and staring at us. Don't these guys know how to give up? Sanson is annoyed and started to get mad on me.

"Hey, I told you it would become like this, so we should have killed them all?"

"Who the heck would know that they are really such annoying?"

On a night few days ago. We suddenly heard screams near our camp, we ran over and watched; And we hindered the Orcs' banquet. The Orcs killed a traveler (We speculate that he was a businessman), pulled out all of his stuff and they were booing.

The moment Sanson saw this scene, his eyes suddenly emitted evil light, swiftly pulled out his sword, and chopped down the head of a Orc. Other Orcs wanted to resist, but with Karl's Longbow support from behind, and Sanson's body is much larger than the enemies, those monsters were in an overwhelming adverse. So the Orcs ran to me, seemed that I look like the easiest to handle. This was my first real battle with monsters, although I was nervous, I pulled out my bastard sword patiently.

"Ah, go to hell! Unaware Slash!"

This move is my gorgeous Unaware Slash! Well, Unaware Slash is the move I used when I battled with the ogre illusion. it's a technique that utilizes the primitive and cruel power slashing from bottom to top, and then a back-flip, then attacking upward again. Its disadvantage is that the heavy upward strike will cause low back pain, but because of the strange power conferred by OPG, I can perform this continuous strike twice quickly. Although this technique suits my taste a lot, Sanson said this technique is more suitable for dying.

Real Orcs are not as stupid as those illusions, but even the first guy came over the guy tried to dodge, its ear still got hacked. The Orc jumped away immdiately.

"Phew!"

Unfortunately, the ear cut off accidentally flew into my mouth.

Because I was so disgusted and vomiting there, so the Orc fled while clutching its ear. Noticing those several monsters tried to escape, Sanson wanted to chase them down, but because I felt so disgusted and couldn't manipulate my body, so I said: "We should investigate the identity of this businessman first, and bury him." Sanson made a not too pleased face, but because Karl also agreed my suggestion, so we went to investigate the identity of the businessman, but we failed to find out anything. We heaped some stones on his body, buried him briefly, and dragged our tired bodies and moved forward.

But since the day, the Orcs seemed to want to have their revenge so much, and kept chasing us from behind. I have heard that the vengeance of Orcs is very strong, but I didn't know it's actually strong to this point. This time, they just simply surrounded us, so we have no way to escape. Hence we were forced to move back against the cliff. Behind us are layers of piled rocks and cliffs, which are extending into the clouds. In front of us is a wide hilly area, there is birch everywhere, which forms into a forest. We can see the Orcs in the gaps between those birch. Because we are burning a raging fire with the branches and leaves, so those guys can't rush in, but like this we were tortured several nights and didn't sleep well, we have came to the point that our eyes are bloodshot.


"Hey! Do you understand our language?"

I am so angry that I began talking with these guys. One of the Orcs who is carrying a super large sword stepped forward. It is bigger than the other Orcs several times. This guy seems to feel not comfortable about the fire, it kept blinking and said:

"Oink! You want to make your last words? Humans sometimes do so. Oink!"

"You look more like making your last words! You bastards! When will you give up?"

"Oink! Give what up! We must insist, until all of your hearts stop beating!"

"You are so cute. Why don't you just butter us up."

The Orc heard what I said, made a surprised expression.

"... What does this, oink, this mean?"

"I mean human children would do the same thing as you are doing here! Keep acting shamelessly!"


The Orc is still making a confused expression. I started to talk very sincerely:

"Listen. Human will get older and older won't they?"

"What is that? Oink! Isn't that for all creatures, oink, all are like that?"

Well, closer, closer.

"Ah, ah yes. However, when humans get older..."

I unwittingly got close to this guy's face, while gradually lowered my voice. The Orc became very nervous. I smiled at it kindly and said:

"They become more cunning! "

I nimbly grabbed this guy under my armpit, then put my sword on its neck. The Orc wanted to resist, but my arm grabbed harder. The Orc issued some nervous cry.

"Hey, if you dare to come over, I'll immediately kill this guy!"


I looked at Karl and Sanson with a triumphant face. How am I? But the two of them looked very strange. These two men are using a surprised expression, like they found an unique rare thing on the world, looking at me.

Orcs are also. One of them finally said:

"Oink, then?"

"I, didn't I say! If you dare to come then I'll kill it!"

"Dare to come, then kill, oink, so what?"

"Isn't that bad if it gets killed"

"What, oink, what does that mean, oink, you say it's bad to kill it? Oink! Didn't you say you will kill it?"

"Hey, what's wrong with them?"

Then Sanson shook his head and said:

"Huchi, Orcs don't care about hostages."

What? How would there be such a thing?


"How... How is this... No, then why are they trying to revenge for their companions? If they don't care about their companions' lives, then revenge..."

"Orcs won't think a fool who got captured as hostage is their companion. And the so-called revenge is not for their companions, is for the hatred that they couldn't get the businessman's stuffs. It's because we hindered them."

I was so surprised and widened my mouth.

"These frenzied bastards!"

Because I was too angry, so I twisted the guy's neck under my arm, and threw it back to the Orcs. Although the Orcs were surprised by my strength, they still began dealing with the guy I threw back who is no longer their race in their eyes first. The Orcs are waving their machetes, that guy who was in my armpit didn't even have a chance to scream, became meat. I looked at this scene, and felt nauseated.

"Woo... It's too over."

"That's the nature of these guys. The male Orcs don't know when they will die."

"What about female?"

Even in this case there is curiosity, so apparently I am a Human. Karl began to explain.

"Orcs absolutely won't touch those female. If human wants to offense those mother female, that's absolutely not feasible too. Usually those female Orcs hide in the caves and never come out, but even hero like King Rhuterino, as long as he offenses a female Orc, he would be dead too. "

"Oh, really?"

The Orcs has completed their job, began to turn their weapons to us. Ouch, we almost fell into a hazard because of the chatter.

Chapter One: Riding Towards the Dawn (Pt.24 Final)

In the candlelight wholeheartedly making the sword belt, is this girl really Jamini? She is fully focusing on the needlework, her face muscles are all relaxed, revealing a serene face. I unwittingly said:

"My destiny... Really strange. Even in Summer, I couldn't imagine that I actually would be going to the capital. And now because it's Autumn..."

Jamini is stitching while answering:

"Because it's Autumn?"

"Yea. Into the Autumn, Cathselprime appeared, I became a wizard's assistant, Dad became Amutaat's captive, and lastly I have to go to the capital. I had heard that Autumn has magic..."

"What do you mean? Why do you say that Autumn has magic?"

"This is Autumn. During Spring and Summer, the vitality of all lives on the earth burns vigorously. But once they're touched by the hand of Autumn, this vitality disappears. And soon after it'll be Winter, which represents death. So Autumn is very mysterious. The dying life. The looming death. In the short while between the vitality disappears and the death comes, all mysterious things will happen. That is the magical time appears in Autumn."

"Magihal Kime? (Magical Time?) "

Jamini is trying to cut the thread with her teeth, so the pronunciation is a bit strange. She could wait until the line is cut before she spoke, but she just said it out. Really cute. I smiled. I tell her the story about this magical time that Karl likes a lot.

"In different places, this so-called Magical Time is different too. What can be determined is that, it must be in a certain period during Autumn. If someone happened to get to a place which's in Magical Time, he will meet  a variety of rare things. In the short autumn, from the fallen leaves covering the earth, until the first snow descending, this person will get a memory that remains forever, that sometimes he himself may not notice. He might just remember what happened in that Autumn, after a few years, or when he gets old, he would suddenly found the time special. But in case someone know that he has entered the Magical Time, from the fallen leaves covering the earth, until the first snow descending, he can achieve something amazing. "

"Oh my god ..."

"When King Rhuterino started the Glorious Seven Weeks War, it was also the time that leaves started falling. You should know the story of him defeating Dragon Lord? In the end of the tragic war, Dragon Lord finally fell down. But then snow began floating down from the sky. As a result, King Rhuterino couldn't even lift his sword, so Dragon King just fled. And King Rhuterino could no longer use a sword since then."

"So, that period was..."

"The Magical Autumn of King Rhuterino. Before the onset of Winter, he completed the greatest thing in his life, but at the same time that thing is also uncompleted."

Why does Karl like this story? I wonder if it's related to this incomplete ending? I don't like this kind of stories. I like the one which is simple and complete. But this story seems to suit Jaimini's taste. Jamini is holding her cheeks, made an expression showing that she's immersed in the fantasy. Then Jamini seemed to suddenly awake, and said:

"Done. Put it on and have a look. "

I looked at the sword belt that Jamini made for me. She's not able to make a delicate belt that can be worn around the waist, so this is just a thing that is attached to the scabbard, and can be hung on the shoulder. Once I put the bastard sword on my shoulder, Jamini said like apologizing:

"It'd be great if it can be tied on your waist..."

"Not at all. Now my both hands are free, I also feel very comfortable when I walk. It's fine."

I put on this thing, and then tried to pull out my sword, managed to pull it out uneasily. What do you expect? this is not an ordinary sword, but a 2 cubits long greatsword. I bothered for a while, then moved my left arm around to the back, pulled down the scabbard and tried to pull again. This time I pulled it out smoothly. I suddenly feel great that I don't have a shield. I deliberately showed Jamini that I can pull out the sword easily, and then said:

"Clang! Not bad huh? It suits exactly with the length of my arm. Thank you."

Jamini chuckled. I plugged the sword back again and said:

"It's very late already. You should go. Go home, I'll take you back."

Jamini picked up her shawl on the bed, wrapped her head and shoulder. I took a lamp and went out.

"Do you want to try riding?"

Jamini riding on Jamini. Ha, really interesting. Although Jamini looked a bit scared, she agreed.

I took the horse over, made it stood still and then looked at Jamini. Jamini looks a bit embarrassed. In fact, so am I. I grabbed Jamini's waist, lifted her to the horseback. It was a simple task for me, moreover I have OPG now, she is even lighter. Jamini is sitting sideways on the horseback, I gave her the lamp, and then grabbed the rein and began bringing the horse to walk. In the wind of the autumn night, the rare crunch sound makes people feel very unique. If it's winter night, the leaves will be like going to fall, issue buzzing sound, but autumn night is not like this. We are listening to the sounds of crickets, walking into the woods. Jamini on the horse is holding the oil lamp, the light shines us into a gray. The surrounding trees also seem to absorb the light directly.

But I feel very happy. Tomorrow, I'm going to depart. While we are going to be right back, but even just for a while, the scenes around seem to become brand-new, are approaching to me. I plugged one hand in my pants, and another hand is grabbing the rein, walking while whistling. The horse is very well-behaved and obedient. Does this guy know Jamini has the same name as it? Why is it so docile? Jamini who's sitting on the house is stroking the horse's mane, and also singing along with my whistles. Occasionally her hand would block the light from the oil lamp on her another hand, she would see the shadow and scare herself, then quickly put her hand down. Whenever this happened, Jamini would nervously scream, and I would giggle.

Joyce said that the two of us are like a noble lady and a knight apprentice? Now this scenario seems to be really alike. I have nothing to say.

※

Huh? Strange. The road became shorter? We can now see Jamini's home in front. I scratched my head, and let the horse stop, and then turned my head and stretched out my arms. Jamini didn't think anything and jumped down. At the moment I seized Jamini's waist in the air, a plan emerge in my mind.

I grabbed Jamini but didn't put her down, I said:

"Oh really. Jamini?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want me to give you a suggestion?"

"What?"

"You have to be careful, don't put yourself into a situation that you can't escape."

Jamini didn't understand what I'm saying, but I still followed my plan. Jamini is now in my arms, where can she escape? Jamini's eyes suddenly widened...

※

....After a while, I put Jamini down, then picked up the lamp she dropped on the ground, rode on the horse and ran away like lightning. Than Jamini began to yell:

"Hey! Huchi! Your bad! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

That's why I told her not to fall into a situation that she can't escape. Even so, I'm no where better than her. Judging by I think Jamini is beautiful this fact, I will probably be her knight for a lifetime. It seems that this is my miserable fate.

※ ※ ※

The next day before the sun rises, in the gray dawn, I nailed up my house's door.

I thought I am doing something awesome, but think about it carefully, I'm just nailing up a door. But the problem is, this is the home I've stayed for 17 years since I was born.

I heard that our king had a bad brother. This brother should have been the king. But he has a very bad personality, his behavior is also a mess, so the House of Lords banished his identity, put his brother into the seat of the Crown Prince.

The story of this banished Crown Prince reminds me one thing that is very consistent with my current situation. This banished prince nailed up his room one day. The internal staffs of the palace were surprised, and asked him the reason, he said:

"My future is out there somewhere, so I have to go outside, but the past I cherish is inside here, so I will come back before I die. Without the past there will be no future, so I want this room sealed until that time."

Then he ran out of the palace, on that day he got banished by the House of Lords.

Yes, no matter what kind of wanderer, in the end there is a place for him to go back. Maybe the home he escaped from, or homeland, even orphans, he has somewhere hiding his precious memories. He will yearn this place throughout his life constantly, and gain the power to continue travelling from the yearn. Conversely, to nail up his own past, means that he is going to put himself to an adventurous future.

Ah! I'm too good in speaking. Because my heart was strangely excited suddenly, I accidentally hammered my finger twice.

I tossed my finger while locked up the workshop, then I put on the harnesses on the horse, began to go to  Karl's home. While the morning mist shrouded around, I've never got lost because of this.

Karl is doing the same works as I did before. He stopped and noticed me, then showed a smile.

"Ah, you are really early, Nedval."

I smiled, took the hammer with nails from him, nailed one in each room. Carl shook his head with a smile.

"You can now control your strength very well. Looks very natural huh?"

"Because I received that kind of ridiculous training everyday. What's on your back?"

There's a longbow on his back. Karl shrugged his shoulders, said:

"Because, after all, it's a trip, we have to be armed, don't we? I still know a little archery."

"But where's Sanson?"

Then there was a sound of hooves, Sanson's shadow appeared in the fog. He hastily stopped the two horses and then jumped down.

"Hah..Hah.... Sorry! You waited long?"

"No, no. We were just ready."

I looked at the face of Sanson, almost laughed out loudly. Sanson's eyes are red. He probably cried in the morning when he stepped out from his home. No, no. Hum, how would he let his father Joyce see him like this... Ahhh!

I approached Sanson. Sanson saw me making a sinister smile and walking towards him, immediately put out a vigilance expression. I suddenly drilled my nose to Sanson's chest, Sanson was scared and stepped back.

"Ah... It smells so good!"

Sanson not just swallowed my bait, even peremptorily swallowed the hook.

"Hey! Huchi, what, what's the smell?"

"You turn really fast! Hehehehe! "

He must have hesitated for a long time, then finally sneaked to see the girl on the way to here.

Then he must hugged and cried with her. I deliberately imitated the sound of a man and a woman said:

"You've just came back, now you are leaving again!"

"I'm sorry, but I am a soldier..... Wouuu, in fact, I don't want to leave too, Wouaaaa!"

"Ah, so this is our destiny? We should use love to face this punishment bravely!"

Sanson's face is turning red and green, I laughed and got on the horse. Karl got to know which one is his horse, then loaded his stuffs on it, then got on the horse with skilled actions. Really good at riding. Envy. But Sanson is still dejected, with a depressed expression. Karl found that Sanson looks lost, began as if to cheer him up.

"Percival, don't worry. We are not going to do something like fighting Amurtaat, are we? And if you can perfectly fulfill your duty in this mission, then its the greatest loyalty to our thane. '

"This, this is certainly! I'll lead the way."

"Do you know the way?"

"Last night I read the geography books until late night. So the path, time, necessary supplies places and estimated speed are all considered."

"Then I trust you, we'll just follow you."

Sanson even made a salute, and then began to walk in front of us. The fog is very thick, and it's forest, so there is no way to run. Therefore, we are slowly walking out of the village.

Once we are outside of the village, Sanson began to accelerate, made the first step to the capital with the speed of a rushing horse. Now the sun is rising, the road ahead us is dyed golden. Such a starting really give us a very good mood. The fog instantly dispersed, we all increased our speed all a sudden. The pain yesterday came back again. My waist is very painful, but because Sanson and Karl are running easily, so I can't be left behind alone too.

The sun is irradiating at our eyes, the wind is striking at our eyelids, it feels warm and cold.

The three of us began riding towards the dawn.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※  End of Chapter One  ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

Chapter One: Riding Towards the Dawn (Pt.23)

After a day of work, the adults sitting on the chairs in front of their houses, all widened their eyes greatly. The children in the village are screaming and running in, girls are clenching their hands, looking at us with surprised visions.

My body aches haven't been eliminated, even I'm sitting on the horseback, my whole body is still in pain. And the horse is also same as me. Sanson and I are riding the horses walking on the main road of the village.

"Wow! Noble Lady Jamini's Admirer Knights Huchi is riding!"

I made a miserable smile to the cheering villagers. My whole body is stiff, and I can't control my arms too. Then I saw Jamini who has a flower on her head, playing around with the children in the village. Ah! Really can't take her anymore. Jamini seemed to notice the noises here, turned her head, so the four eyes of us are intersecting.

"Wow!"

The villagers are cheering. They probably think that I'd be like in the stories, picking up Jamini and let her sit on the saddle, and then riding towards the sunset. But in fact I don't have this idea at all. Even if I really want to do this, I can't. Because my body's pain is almost killing me!

Jamini looked at me with astonished eyes, and then came up to me. The villagers originally stood between me and Jamini immediately retreated to both sides. God, these people's actions are really unified. Jamini hesitantly walked over, and then touched the horse's cheek.

"Really beautiful... What's its name?"

"Jamini."

Jamini (The human!) blushed, the villagers began chuckling. In fact she didn't know why I name the horse like this! Jamini with the red face didn't know what to do, looked around for a while, and then touched her head. Then she finally realized there is a flower on her head. Gosh, really stupid.

Jamini took this flower off, put it on the ear of the horse. Surprisingly, Jamini (The horse!) actually stood obediently there and let her put the flower on! How could there be such a guy? Then I found a frightening fact. That is when girls want to turn into another look, they can immediately turn. Jamini who was bouncing around with the village kids just now, now actually turned into some kind of saint, said with a very slim and elegant voice:

"A horse with the same name as me. I'll give you this flower, you have serve your master nicely."

The voice trembled a little, but it's very clear from the beginning to the end.

Then Jamini turned back and ran away. The villagers are cheering again, and I just want to pass away.

I almost got immediately arrested by these people to Sinderella's Song. If it's not Sanson, I would probably be drinking there all night. Sanson said there are a lot of things to be prepared, gently sent away the villagers swarmed around us, I finally managed to escape from there.

Sanson went into the grocery store, asked the boss for the things we need. Tools like bags and ropes on horses, oil lamps, a few bowls, flint and ignition device, needle and thread, knives, iron bars, and a tripod for cooking, kettles, three large buckets... It will take forever to name them all. Anyway, we tied and put all these things on my horse, Sanson's horse, and the horse of Karl that we brought along. And then I followed Sanson to his home.

Blacksmith Joyce didn't say anything, just gave us an oil lamp, pots and pans, knives and hand axes, and gave us some plasters and herbs. Then Sanson's mother gave us some kelp, bacon, flour, corn flour, salt, pepper... Why am I naming them again? Anyway she gave us this kind of stuff. We put these categorized things on the horseback.

Sanson's mother asked me to stay at her home for dinner and sleep for the night, but I declined. Because I still want to tidy up my home a little bit, and I should nail the door, and lots of other things to do. The most important thing is, I want to have a good sleep in my own house today. So I am riding on Jamini, began to go back to my home.

I had stayed in the castle for the past several days, returning home after this long period, it should be quite deserted. Anyway, just take a sleep tonight, going to depart on tomorrow morning, so I don't want to clean up much. Maybe just make a fast dinner, eat and then go to sleep will be fine.

But when I went near my home, I was shocked.

The lamp is lit.

Is that father? No. Father was captured by Amurtaat. I got off from my horse, tied it and pulled out my bastard sword, and went close to my house. Perhaps my father escaped? Although I don't believe that will be the case, soldiers should first go back to the castle. Is that a thief?

Not possible. There is nothing to steal in my home, and in fact there is no thief such kind of characters in our village. A thief probably will not go to such a ghastly place like our village to do business.

So, is that a tramp nearby found that here's empty, so ran into it? This is possible. Our house is quite remote, plus I'm not here for a few days, the atmosphere looks very like an empty house.

"You're a dead. Watch how I finish you."

I'm sneaking up to my house, and then went close to the door. I'm ready to kick the door and rush in, but the door suddenly opened.

"Ah! Hey, Jamini? Uhhhhh!"

Gosh, really awful! Jamini opened the door, and then splashed water, that was all splashed on me. This stupid girl, actually didn't see me standing outside in the dark, and didn't notice me until she splashed all the water in the pot.

"Ah! Huchi, What are you doing here?"

"This question should be asked me!"

"That ask!"

"Uh! Jamini, what are you doing here?"

Don't know why, I feel like I am an idiot. Jamini giggled, then immediately handed me a towel hanged on the wall. I smiled, took off the hard leather, then wiped my body, and then began to rub my armor. Gosh, My hard leather! But this girl, what did she actually do in someone else's home?

"What are you doing here?"

"Preparing dinner! I heard that you are going to the capital tomorrow? Therefore I want to make something tasty for you."

"... You have just washed me, now you can chop me into pieces?"

"Oi, Huchi! You should go to take a bath!"

I stood up and muttered.

"Thank you so much."

"If it's not me, who else will help you to prepare these?"

I smiled, and went outside. Just got splashed by the water, took off my shirt and immediately went outside, so my body is shivering. Oh! Really cold. I deliberately waved my arms, and then went to the bucket nearby and began washing my body.

Ahchooo, ah, so cold.

I generally took the bath, and then went to the woods, brought the other Jamini who was tied back.

Oops, there's actually no place that I can be tie a horse around my house? I worried for a while, and first I unloaded all the things on the horseback, then I found a long rope, tied to the horse's rein, then carried it to the workshop. Because the rope is long enough, if it gets hungry it can go outside finding grass to eat, it can also drink water when it's thirsty.

※ ※

I suddenly envy the Jamini eating grass outside so much, but in order to keep my manner, I said to the Jamini in front of me:

"Thank you, I'm full. It's really a pleasant meal."

This is not a bad thing that someone make a farewell party for me when I leave the village. Even this person's cooking skill is bad enough, but I should be very grateful on her sincerity alone, shouldn't I?

Jamini told me to scoop some water for her, then began washing up the dishes. Well, she looks ridiculously beautiful at the moment. I have to stop thinking this, so I picked up a grindstone, began to grind my sword. Blacksmith Joyce has sharpened it very well, so there is no need to spend much time to grind it. This kind of daily grind, is to prevent it from rusting, and its life can be extended.

Then Jamini was like recalled something, patted her hands.

"Hey! Huchi, don't you feel bothered holding this sword with your hands and running around?"

"Huh? What, I have to do that."

"But you can't travel like this. Let me see... Do you have any leather band or spare belt?"

I tilted my head, went to the workshop and picked a leather band over. Jamini immediately came up with a needle and thread, started making a belt tying on my scabbard.

Damn. She is so beautiful.

※

Chapter One: Riding Towards the Dawn (Pt.22)

"Huchi Nedval - "

"Understood."

Hearing my answer, deacon Hamel seemed to get a bit flustered, but still nodded his head. I said:

"Because I'm not a regular army, so this is not sending troops. Anyway for my age I can't even join the self-defense forces, so it's suitable to send me. That would be nice, because my father's affair is still hanging  there. If I get to know the truth, I will probably go to annoy you first, Mr deacon."

Deacon Hamel made a wry smile.

"Though you are arrogant, but you seems equally trustworthy."

I glanced at Tyburn. If he can go together, then there's nothing to be afraid of. Tyburn seemed to see through my heart and said:

"If the situation allows, honestly I would also like to go with you. However, this place really makes people worry. Huchi, you have to be careful and careful. Although you've already faced stone golems and ogres, those were just illusions. The reality is completely different. If you forget this, you're dead. Understand?"

"Understood."

"Don't worry about Jamini. I wouldn't let her to meet other guys..."

"Shut up!"

Karl smiled and said:

"So do two of you need any special preparation? No? Then we should start off earlier. Please make your preparation and come to my house tomorrow morning. I don't want the others finding my true identity, can you help me?"

Sanson is not quite sure what he was talking about, but still hurriedly nodded. Karl said:

"I will be responsible for meeting the King His Majesty, and the preparing the money. You two should discuss a bit, please help to handle the travelling things. Percival, please look into that how can we arrive the capital in the fastest way. If you want to make villagers feel easier you can spread the news that some of us are going to the capital, but please don't mention my name."

"No worries!"

Deacon Hamel stood up and walked to the desk, opened the drawer with a key, and took out a box and a wallet. He gave the wallet to Sanson, asked him to buy some items we'll need. Then he gave the box and to Karl.

"This is the seal and the appointment, and the Heltant Fief certificates, also the harvest right cerificate of all forest products and agricultural products. You are now the sole deputy of Heltant Fief.

"Sure."

Sanson suddenly stood up from his chair. Once I sat down he immediately pulled me up, he said:

"So we will be excused first, go for the preparation. Mr... Mr...."

"Just call me Karl as usual."

"Okay, Karl, you know riding?"

Karl smiled and nodded. But my face was twisted into a mess. Horse? I quickly turned my head to Tyburn.

"Wait a minute! Tyburn, you are a wizard right? Can you just cast a magic, and let us fly to the capital? Right! Teleport! Last time you called Balrog, that...That...What spell was that? "

Tyburn chuckled and said:

"Fool! Are you Balrog?"

"Huh?"

"It's very difficult to explain. Because I'm blind, so I can't correctly perform Teleport Wrap. But Balrog is a very powerful devil, so even I can only set the approximation coordinates, he can still cooperate with me and come. In fact, this is also related to that Balrog has the ability 'Gate'..."

"I won't understand even if you continue. Forget about that, stop."

Then Sanson didn't give me further opportunity to speak, dragged me out of the office. The remaining three people are like discussing some incredible things, but I won't understand anyway. Sanson hurriedly asked me:

"Hey, hey, Huchi, you didn't seem to be very surprised. Who is Karl actually?"

"Karl of coure is Karl. Otherwise who do you think he is?"

"Come on, Huchi, tell me."

"Didn't he just say?! ' My brother's seat when he's not here...' You still don't understand?"

Sanson said with a surprised expression:

"That he is the younger brother of the thane?"

"Correct. Half brother. So the age difference is quite big. "

"Ah!"

Karl is the half brother of the thane. His mother was a maid in the castle, so Karl has long abandoned the care of his own identity. He left the village and traveled around when he was young, after he grew up, he came back. Our too kind thane wanted to invite him back to home as a real brother, Karl declined, but requested to let him quietly live in the forest. Hence Karl lives his mysterious life in all the curious eyes. Hearing what I said, Sanson nodded.

"This time it's my turn to ask question. Do you want to go by horse?"

"Of course. Otherwise, such a long way, do you want to go on foot? It will be over five or six months for a round trip."

"Of course not, but also not riding."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know riding."

Sanson laughed.

"It doesn't matter. Who were born with riding skills? You will get familiar gradually."

"Ah..."

"I'll give you a suggestion. It is very important to let the horse know its master."

There is glow in my eyes, but Sanson didn't see.

Sanson and I went to the stables behind the castle.

The horse guard O'Neill in the stable heard that I have to ride to the capital, made a surprised face. Come on, this uncle, I am more surprised than you. He shook his head, and brought us into the stables.

Sanson has his own horse, so he has no problem. Coming here is to find the horses for me and Karl. O'Neill is telling us which trained horses have no master yet, and let me take a look to those horses. Even if he showed me the horses, does he want me to know how to choose one?

I said to O'Neill:

"Hey, if I ask you to choose between a pure wax candle and an admix candle, how would you choose?"

O'Neill laughed. He took a look at my physique, then helped me to pick one directly. The horse is chestnut-colored,  looks really handsome. Compared to Sanson's large horse 'Meteor' athough it looks small, I also don't like that kind of scarily large horse. I am quietly staring at the horse, the horse is also quietly staring at me. The eyes of the horse are very strange. The eyelids are round, looks like it's being scared, but still very ferocious and scary. I slightly turned my head, crossed my arms and gazed at the horse. The horse snorted at me. Neighhhhh.

Sanson laughed and said:

"Huchi, you and this guy should try to adapt to each other today. I'll prepare the other things for the trip."

I nodded, Sanson drove his horse and left.

O'Neill smiled, and then brought a saddle and other harnesses in front of me. I am standing there confusedly and watching, so O'Neill demonstrates to me how to plug the bit, how to pull the tape on its head, how to tie the tape under its chin, and how to put on the pad before putting on the saddle, how to tie the tape on its chest and stomach. It looks not difficult at all. O'Neill slowly showed me his every action, then untied all of them, asked me to try.

Fine, I'll try.

I picked up the horse bit, wanted to put it into horse's mouth. But what happened? The obedient horse of O'Neill , when I get close to it, it shakes its head and begins to move back. I looked at O'Neill with my suspicious eyes, but he just smiled.

I snapped my fingers. Didn't Sanson say that we have to let the horse know its master?

"Well, anyway, I have to ride you. If you resist less, the two of us can have a more pleasant relationship. Understand?"

O'Neill watched my serious face, and began to laugh. I grunted, then use my arms to entangle the horse's neck.

"Ahh!"

I grabbed the horse's neck tightly under my arm, and then used another hand to push the bit into its mouth, O'Neill saw this and made a fainting expression. The horse also wants to resist, but what am I wearing on my hands? Aren't they OPG? I continued to push the bit into the proper position, and then tied the tape on it. Then I moved back a little, in order to let it see that I want to put the saddle on its back.

"Come, now should be its turn. If you dare to resist, I'll make you kneel before I tie it. Understand?"

The horse didn't even give a glance to my words, directly ran away. Gosh, I'm going crazy.

※ ※ ※

After some wrestling, the horse seems to know that I am its master. Of course, before that I suffered a lot. I got kicked by the horse's hind legs several times, I also kicked the horse several times. O'Neill nodded and said:

"The is the first time I see such a matching horse and master."

Anyway, now it stands obediently, allows me to tie the things on it. Let it bite the horse bit, tie the tape on its head, then the chin. Put on the pad, then the saddle. Then tighten the tape on the stomach and chest properly. It's very difficult to do it 'properly'. I asked O'Neill how tight should it be, but he said just properly tight, I really don't get him. But in fact, after thinking carefully, if someone ask me what level of fire should they use to cook the candle wax, I will probably also can only answer him 'proper level'.

"Can I ride it now?"

I've learned how to equip the harness, and it's already afternoon. However because we have to depart tomorrow, so I don't have any other time. O'Neill guided me how to climb on the saddle. This guy is now very obedient, so it's very simple to learn that.

O'Neill tied a long rope on the horse bit, then asked me to try to run.

"Hey, you have tied up the horse, how do we run?"

"Circles."

So the horse and I make O'Neill as the center, began to circle. So I am not learning how to manipulate the horse, but how to stay on a horse. I said that, O'Neill nodded.

"Ah. It's better for you to start from learning how to not fall from a horse."

Then O'Neill suddenly issued some kind of instructions. Although I don't understand what he said, the horse immediately began getting faster and faster, and I immediately got shaken faster and faster. I am very afraid, so I released the rein, grabbed the horse neck. O'Neill couldn't take this and said:

"Harden your legs, relax your upper body, and gently shake."

Harden my legs? Relax my upper body and gently shake? I straightened my waist up, my feet began to step on stirrup heavily. It feels more comfortable, but now I look like a scarecrow, seems to make O'Neill want to laugh.

Anyway, after I fell down two or three times, I finally realized the trick. I must make the impact on my foot disappear at my waist. So the important parts are my feet stepping on the stirrups and my knees, they must move gently and rhythmically.

Once I got to such a degree, O'Neill began to teach me about the rein. This is very simple. Just pull the rein in the direction to go, and then give the horse a little signal with heel. If you want to stop, just move the center of gravity backward, then pull the rein up. If you want to speed up, move the center of gravity moved forward, then kick the horse's stomach with the stirrup.

Don't know if O'Neill has decided to make me a crash course, I've ran like this for a hour, he did't even let me take a rest, and finally untied the rope and let me casually ran. Once the rope was untied, the horse seemed to restore its nature, (Frankly it's that I was just sitting on the horseback, and what the horse did, was completely out of my hand) began desperately resisting. In order to make it know that resistance is useless, I kicked its stomach heavily.

Gosh! The horse suddenly gone mad, and began to rush. Oh right, kicking the horse means Go! Then what means Stop? I don't know what to do! Although I finally found ways to make it stop, once the horse stopped, my whole body flew forward.

 "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

※

Late in the afternoon, Sanson who came to watch my progress shook his head.

"Did you fight with the horse?"

I nodded, Sanson showed a even more surprised face. O'Neill told him to see the horse I rode. The entire horse body is smoking bubble-like sweat, it's panting. Sanson is surprised and widen his mouth:

"Then make its name Jamini!"

Horse and I glared at each other with abominated eyes, while O'Neill and Saon is mutually patting their shoulders and laughing.