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."